There is an anti-evolution kangaroo court going on in Kansas right now, with a string of creationist pseudoscientists being trotted out in hearings held by the state board of education, all with the intent of injecting nonsense into schoolkids' educations. Qualified scientists are boycotting the event, a worrisome strategy since it gives the creationists an open microphone, but so far it seems to be working—their foolishness is what is being exposed. However, I haven't been writing much about the hearings because I just assumed that everyone who read Pharyngula was also reading the other weblogs with all the news (although that story that the good right-wing Christians of Kansas are calling on an the testimony of an Islamic extremist was too juicy to resist). I got a couple of e-mail requests last night to explain what's going on, though, so maybe everyone doesn't follow this as avidly as I do…so let me direct your attention to a couple of good sources.

Pat Hayes of Red State Rabble is right there—he's attending the news conferences and the hearings. He's been posting reports regularly; you can read the summary so far (which will be obsolete soon as he adds more), and he has accounts of the woeful bias of the board of education members and the willful blindness of ID creationist witnesses. Some of his accounts have also been posted to the Panda's Thumb.

Josh Rosenau of Thoughts from Kansas has also been following the case closely and posting analyses. He has observed that the witnesses are ignorant and unqualified, and is also optimistic that it's going to backfire on the creationists.

I'm hoping for a good outcome, too, but I'm more cynical. All too often, foolishness loudly declaimed is accepted by those who want the lies to be true, no matter how ridiculous what they say might be. On the other hand, now that the Son of a conservative God rejects ID creationism, maybe a few of them will stop to think.