{"id":564,"date":"2008-04-28T08:58:34","date_gmt":"2008-04-28T12:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=564"},"modified":"2008-08-31T16:06:47","modified_gmt":"2008-08-31T20:06:47","slug":"final-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=564","title":{"rendered":"Final week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the final week of the state legislative session. Today will most likely see the final vote in the House on the anti-evolution bill, so keep an eye on the bill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s page<\/a> to find out the end result. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t anticipate any surprises there.<\/p>\n

What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened so far<\/strong>: The Senate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s deceptively named \u00e2\u20ac\u0153academic freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d bill (SB 2692) sailed through its committee hearings and floor vote. Despite spirited debate and opposition from Senate democrats, the bill was still easily approved and shipped over to the House. Meanwhile, the House\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bill (HB1483) started off as a carbon copy of the Senate one. But once it hit the Schools and Learning committee, the bill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sponsor, Rep. Hays, offered a complete revision. The longer original bill was swapped out for a single sentence to be inserted in law, requiring a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153critical analysis\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of evolution. As in the Senate, House democrats were vocal against the bill, regardless of form. The bill reached the full House, but since the Senate bill had already been approved and was now before the House, Rep. Hays did a little bill juggling. He formally dumped his bill and instead took up the Senate bill, but then stripped the Senate bill content and replaced it with his House bill single line text (House page<\/a> for the Senate bill). From my outsider, novice point of view that was a strange move. House democrats were able to successfully tweak Hays\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 bill by adding the word scientific to the sentence. That bill is now up for its final vote in the House.<\/p>\n

Future moves<\/strong>: First, the House has to vote on the bill. Barring any earth-shattering surprises, the bill should be approved. That creates a dilemma. The approved Senate version is completely different from the House version. The two will then have to be reconciled. It should be noted that when the Senate bill was voted on, its sponsor, Sen. Storms, offered a last-minute amendment to change the bill text to match the shorter House version. That attempt failed. As far as working out the differences in the two bills, the St. Petersburg Times education blog<\/a> noted: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Key senators have indicated they did not expect to take up the measure again if it drastically differs from their already approved bill.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In a more colorful statement, a Herald Tribune article<\/a> said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, who voted for the evolution bill and spoke in favor of it, was more blunt about the shrinking time frame. He said Hays \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmust be hitting the sauce if he thinks he’s going to send the bill back here.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Something to be afraid of<\/strong>: A common refrain of the bill sponsors is why are people afraid of critical analysis of evolution? If it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a rock solid theory, then schools should welcome the critical analysis. What do you have to fear? Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a shocking admission for you: we are afraid. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not fear of a good, scientific examination. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what folks like Hays are offering. We are afraid of manufactured controversy and unscientific ideas being presented in a science class where students who have never been exposed to the smelly crap of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153creation science,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153intelligent design\u00e2\u20ac\u009d could be confused and misled into believing there is something wrong with the science in their textbooks. The purpose of this so-called critical analysis is to sow doubt where there is no legitimate, scientific doubt. As was seen in Dover, Pa.,<\/a> this critical analysis is dressed up to look like science, when it is actually nothing more than a Trojan horse, completely devoid of anything resembling real science. Unfortunately, it took an expensive federal court case to bring the nonsense there to a stop.<\/p>\n

What will happen by the end of the week? I have no idea. I guess we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll find out together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the final week of the state legislative session. Today will most likely see the final vote in the House on the anti-evolution bill, so keep an eye on the bill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s page to find out the end result. I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-96","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":794,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=794","url_meta":{"origin":564,"position":0},"title":"The new legislative session","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The shape of the next Florida legislative session is developing. As we watch and prepare for any bills that might affect science education, or education overall, here is a snapshot of the past and the future of the state Senate. I will try to do a similar analysis for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"ID Creationism\" bills '09"","block_context":{"text":"\"ID Creationism\" bills '09","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=27"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2615,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2615","url_meta":{"origin":564,"position":1},"title":"Lots and lots of bill updates today","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite a bit to talk about today. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll start with the Religious Liberties bills that we oppose on the grounds they can negatively impact science education. One passed the Senate judiciary committee this afternoon on a narrow, party line vote of 5-4. I spoke at this meeting but I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '17"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '17","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":551,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=551","url_meta":{"origin":564,"position":2},"title":"Trying to keep my lunch down","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I had an interesting time during lunch today. I watched Senator Storms stand before the Senate to defend her deceptively named \u00e2\u20ac\u0153academic freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d bill around noontime. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get to see the whole thing, but what I did see was train wreck fascinating. First there was the matter of Senators\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08"","block_context":{"text":"\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":945,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=945","url_meta":{"origin":564,"position":3},"title":"End of course bill moves forward","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Orlando Sentinal education blog, School Zone, reports that the bill\u00c2\u00a0proposing to\u00c2\u00a0do away with the 11th grade science FCAT and replace it with end of course exams got its first nod of approval. Florida's high school students would be required to take biology 1 and pass a state final exam\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":496,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=496","url_meta":{"origin":564,"position":4},"title":"Tracking the bills","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a summary\/tracking post that was updated throughout the Florida legislative session concerning two anti-evolution bills that were introduced in the Senate and House. Fortunately, the bills never made it into law in 2008. STATE SENATE SB 2692 Teaching Chemical and Biological Evolution; Cites act as the \"Academic Freedom\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08"","block_context":{"text":"\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":835,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=835","url_meta":{"origin":564,"position":5},"title":"Florida’s Greatest Menace III: Tongue-torturing tactics","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"(This is the\u00c2\u00a0third part in the Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greatest Menace series. For an introduction to the series, go here.) Ascended or descended Leo Stalnaker certainly didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like the idea of dance halls operating on Sundays. When the young man ran for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives in 1926\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 5 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 5 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=835#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/phoenix_sm.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}