How much are AIG 'Science' Textbooks Actually Worth? Apparently $1.00!

Checking my news feeds today and I came across something  . . . well depending on your POV on various things it could either be amusing, pitiful, not surprising in the least.  In fact it might be all those and more.  I found it, at first amusing -- which you might have noticed is my immediate reaction to so many things.  Then I did feel a bit of pity for the person involved, and when I thought things through I realized I wasn't surprised in the least.  I guess I should tell you what this is all about.  Take a look:

From the link (Make an Offer) you can see that someone spent over $300 in Answers in Genesis 'textbooks' and is selling them for any amount, and the asking price is $1.  Can you see why I am amused?

I guess the buyer found these 'texts' to be less than useful.  I do have to wonder why they listed them under the 'Textbook' heading, I mean look at the picture.  Do those look like any textbooks you used in school?  They look more like pamphlets. although the seller does say CD's are included.  But still, many of my textbooks came with CDs and those were still actual texts, not a few sheets of paper stapled together.  Maybe the difference is they were stapled through the spine and not just up in the corner?

I don't know about you, but I was never one to part ways with good textbooks.  They remained valuable reference material for years.  Granted the Operating Systems text from 1990 is a bit dated by today's standard, it was still useful for nearly a decade after it was written -- well, the UNIX parts were more so than the DOS, and the less said about Windows 2.11 the better.  But I still have a number of my textbooks and I still have all the electronic texts books from my Master's Program.  I was never one to get rid of something still useful.  While my wife sometimes teases me, telling me my office is one box away from an episode of Hoarders, the books I have are all still useful and used often.  When I started my new job a couple of years ago I was able to being 10 books into office that all were current and applicable to the job at hand!

Plus, when I did get rid of them, there is always a college bookstore around looking for used books or other students who hope to get by with the previous edition instead of shelling out the serious bucks for the latest and greatest.  I can't even imagine trying to sell them for $1 on a trading post website!  If that's all they are worth, you might as well use them in your chimney starter.

The pity I did feel was realizing that someone fell for little kennie ham's excuse for science to the tune of $300.  What was it PT Barnum said, there is a sucker born every minute?  Whoever shelled out real money for these pamphlets must really feel more than  a little foolish.  If not, then I have this bridge in Brooklyn I really want to get off my hands!  Just give me a call!

Like I said, once I thought about it I really wasn't very surprised.  Back in 2009 my wife and I spent a few hours at his first abortion, the so-called Creation 'Museum'.  I described it more of a carnival ride than a museum.  You followed this prepared path that shows kennie's story until you get dumped out into the gift shop.  The books and things I saw there were nothing more than reinforcement for kennie's tale of foolishness and would certainly be worth absolutely nothing when it comes to actual science.  No, I didn't buy anything.  I figured kennie got enough of my money with the admission fee.

As for this offering, if you are the market you might think about it because it seems a good deal.  Over on eBay some of these same books are going for over $22 each.

So if you really want read kennie's ridiculous take on science, you can do it for a better price than on eBay, but at least eBay has the 'Matter' book, which was missing from the first post.  Well, in any event, have fun!  My personal take, as you probably guessed, is that any price over $0.00, you are paying too much, unless you are lining a birdcage or scooping up behind your dog.

Shades of Kristin Macguire

What is it about South Carolina?  Remember Kristin Macguire, the homeschooler Mom who ended up heading the State School Board briefly a few years back.  During her tenure, she caused extra expense by bringing in a couple of Young Earth Creationists to question the already selected science textbook.  Yes, the selection process had been followed, decisions were already made and, at the last minute, the incoming school board president, Macguire, brings in a couple of ringers to push her personal religious belief on the students of South Carolina.  That time sanity prevailed and the already selected textbooks were voting in after a number reviews and public testimony and additional time and expense.  I guess every school board has time and money to burn, right?

Well history is sorta repeating itself.  In this article "S.C. Education Department out of the loop in writing of new evolution standard" in the Post and Courier, things are still not kosher in SC.  While the headline tells the story, it's not the whole story.  Apparently in an effort to deal with some of the contentious issues around getting a new science standard approved, a new 'compromise' standard was drafted.  Guess who wasn't involved . . .but more interesting guess who was?  Obviously the Education Department, whose job it is to draft standards, was not involved.  However, a certain organization from the Northwest had inside knowledge of the process and was invited by . . . guess who to play?  You got it, Mike Fair -- yes, that Mike Fair -- he invited the Discovery Institute.  They presented to the group drafting the new standard.

Why am I saying history is repeating itself?  Well just like Kristin, certain players ignore the rules and push a personal religious agenda.  One of the Board members himself didn't know this re-drafting was going on.  That's right the group whose job it is to write the standards and at least one of the people who approve such standards were out of the loop!  Once again South Carolina violated their own rules and procedures for the express purpose of trying to weaken science education.  This time they invited the DI, an organization dedicated to doing just that. Anyone else see a problem here?

Let's hope sanity once again breaks out and this 'compromise' standard goes the way of the dodo.  Is it too much to hope that Mike Fair's political career goes the same way?

Louisiana Politics over Science

The lovely State of Louisiana is under yet another attack on its education system, this time about its choice for Biology Textbooks. Please note that as part of a regular process a State appointed review committee has already finished and recommended several Earth Science and Biology texts. The decision by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) was delayed because of comments made about the presence of Evolution in the texts.

You might remember that something similar has happened in Texas and also South Carolina. In fact it really does parallel South Carolina (Ms. Kristin Maguire strikes) when the newly elected president of the state school board brought in two shills to make negative comments about the biology textbooks up for approval and dragged out the process for months while she held public hearings. In that case common sense and science won. In this case a panel called the 'Textbook/Media/Library Advisory Council', which even the Advocate refers to as a 'little known' panel, gets to weigh in with a recommendation. Where was this panel on all the other textbooks already approved?

The contention, voiced by members of the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF) -- drafters of the poorly named ‘Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA)’ -- is that there is too much Evolution in the textbooks presented for approval. Oh isn't that just too bad! A science textbook that presents a scientific theory is just too much for the LFF. But then when your own website says:

"It is our mission to persuasively present biblical principles in the centers of influence on issues affecting the family through research, communication and networking."

I can see why any mention of evolution makes them uncomfortable.

A couple of other responders to the issue complained about a noticeable lack of Intelligent Design! Well I certainly hope so, or Louisiana would be facing a Dover-style smack-down. Sorta like 1987 with Edwards v. Aguillard and also in 2002 when the BESE voted against the LFF's proposal to insert evolutionary disclaimers in textbooks.

Well not everyone in Louisiana is in favor of changing the textbook recommended by the original committee. The Advocate also published an opinion piece in favor of science over politics. I loved this:

"But it is the duty of the committee members not to be politicians — a couple of the members are state legislators — or representatives of public opinion. The committee members have a duty to reject intrusion of pseudo-science, such as creationism or its offshoot “intelligent design,” into science classrooms."

The comments with that article were almost all in favor of science, except for one who did the standard Creationist misrepresentation of what is a scientific theory.

Just a note, apparently the State Legislators in question are also the two who introduced the aforementioned LSEA to each of the Legislative houses. I think the cards are stacked against a quality education in Louisiana. I am not the only one concerned. One of my favorite reporters, Lauri Lebo over on Religious Dispatches, "Louisiana Citizens Horrified that there’s Evolution in Science Books" asked

"Anybody want to place a bet on what the panel will recommend?"

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There may actually be some good news. Just today The Advocate reported

"A state advisory panel voted 8-4 Friday afternoon to endorse a series of high school science textbooks that have come under fire for how they describe evolution."

As expected 2 of the “no” votes were cast by Senate Education Committee Chairman Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, and House Education Committee Vice-Chairman Frank Hoffmann, R-West Monroe. Nevers and Hoffman were the chief sponsors of the LSEA in the Louisiana Senate and House of Representatives back in 2008.

We still need to keep an eye on this since this is only a recommendation and the actual final approval is slated for next month by the BESE. I am sure other LFF proponents will be campaigning, but hopefully with the original recommendations made by the committee who reviewed new textbooks being upheld by the Textbook/Media/Library Advisory Council will have sufficient weight. I wonder how long it will take the Discovery Institute to spin up a response -- or maybe they are still gun shy of Louisiana ever since Livingston Parish elected to go the Creationism route and avoid the bad idea known as Intelligent Design.