Casey Thrice!

I really wasn't planning to post anything else about little casey for a while -- but sometimes he gets really, really stupid. OK, I can overlook that because it's so common, but when he lies . . . well I can't help another post.

So let's set the stage, Casey posted this little POS: "Free to Think: Caroline Crocker's New Book Tells Story of Discrimination Against Intelligent Design". I was planning on just reading the post and heading off to bed. But when he started it with a lie . . . I had to post one more time.

"While Chris Comer's lawsuit made a bogus case for discrimination, there are cases documenting genuine discrimination against scientists who support intelligent design (ID)."

Simple question, was Chris Comer's lawsuit about discrimination? No it was not! In 2008, Comer filed a suit that the policy she was terminated for (requiring Texas Education Agency employees to be neutral on the subject of creationism -- even though evolution is part of the curriculum) was unconstitutional, and that she was fired without due process. Her lawsuit sought a court order overturning the neutrality policy on teaching creationism and declaring that her dismissal was illegal under the Constitution and her reinstatement.

Anyone else see any sign of Comer suing for discrimination? In fact she might have done better for suing for some form of discrimination -- or maybe harassment would be a better term. But the choice was hers and she did not sue for being discriminated against. ( Here are a few references for your pleasure: http://www.texscience.org/reviews/tea-science-director-resigns.htm, http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-tea_03tex.ART.State.Edition1.4de5960.html?npc, http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/09/09-50401-CV0.wpd.pdf)

Now I can understand why casey has trouble identifying discrimination. After all his bosses at the Discovery Institute have been whining for a while about people like Richard Sternberg, Guillero Gonzales, Michael Egnor, and Catherine Croker and frequently claiming that they were discriminated against. They are currently holding up David Coppedge as their martyr of the Month -- as discussed in the previous post (Casey Duecy). They are constantly portrayed as martyrs for the ID cause. They were even mis-represented as such in the Stein mockumentary 'Expelled:'. So far no evidence of discrimination has been found for any of them, but it might be a reason why casey, a lawyer himself, has no actual idea of what discrimination means.

So why would little casey lie?

It's easy, he is building a strawman to convince people that his buddy Crocker was discriminated against. Not so! Croker was a part-time biology instructor hired to teach a specific subject in accordance with the established guidelines -- she flunked on a number of issues -- one of which is her violation of school policy by teaching 'problems with evolution' and 'intelligent design'. Personally I would have fired her for those violations. The school simply told her to knock it off and stick with the curriculum. A university spokesman said she was not renewed for reasons unrelated to her views on intelligent design, and that though they wholeheartedly supported academic freedom, "teachers also have a responsibility to stick to subjects they were hired to teach, and intelligent design belonged in a religion class, not biology." You can read more about it here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/03/AR2006020300822_pf.html. Oh and the italics were added by yours truly -- in case you wondered.

Her defense was academic freedom, but as anyone with half-a-brain knows academic freedom does not mean you can introduce unrelated material as if it were part of the curriculum. She was hired to teach biology, not religion . She should have been fired! Catherine Croker was not discriminated against, she was let go at the end of her contract. But in an effort to turn Croker into a more sympathetic figure, casey lied about Christine Comer's case and then lied about the reasons for Croker not being renewed.

Anyone else see why when I read anything from the DI, little casey's stuff in particular, I take it with a large bag of salt? It's not prejudice, it's experience.