Cobb County schools needed new biology books.

The textbook selection committee chose books recommended by the state. The books included concepts about evolution, a widely accepted scientific theory. The committee, working in March 2002, told the school board to buy nearly $8 million worth.

Enter Marjorie Rogers, a parent for whom evolution is a theory that doesn't fly.

Her 2,300-signature petition decrying "Darwinism, unchallenged" prompted the school system to put evolution disclaimers on the inside front cover of the science books used in middle and high schools. And that, in turn, prompted another group of parents to file a federal lawsuit with potentially national implications.

Arguments start Monday before U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper in Atlanta in a case that could stir comparisons to the 1925 trial in Dayton, Tenn., when John Scopes was tried for teaching evolution.

The trial is expected to raise these questions:

• Is Intelligent Design, a leading alternate theory espoused by many opponents of evolution, religious? Intelligent Design holds that the variety of life on Earth results from a purposeful design rather than random mutation and that a higher intelligence guides the process.

• And, if the theory is found to be religious, do Cobb's disclaimers, which don't mention religion or Intelligent Design by name, violate the separation between church and state?

Six parents have sued the Cobb school system over the disclaimers, which read, "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

Filed in August 2002, the parents' lawsuit is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union. It contends that the placement of the disclaimers restricts the teaching of evolution, promotes and requires the teaching of creationism and Intelligent Design and discriminates against particular religions.

The school system, Georgia's second-largest with more than 102,000 students, contends the disclaimers in science books do nothing more than promote "respectful discourse that is going to naturally arise," said system attorney Linwood Gunn.

Some people don't want the system to "teach evolution as dogma or force people to choose between evolution and dogma," Gunn said.

Gunn's attempts to have the lawsuit dismissed were turned down by Cooper in a series of rulings this year.

WASHINGTON — Lobbyists for the nation's leading business groups have been toasting the success of what they describe as an unprecedented effort this year to help elect President Bush and Republican congressional candidates. Now they plan to collect on that investment.

"With his victory and better numbers in the Senate and the House, we hope we would get to some things we believe are long overdue," said Dirk Van Dongen, president of the National Assn. of Wholesaler-Distributors and a leader of this year's effort to mobilize the business community behind the Bush candidacy.

Business was generally pleased with the first four years under Bush, but Tuesday's victory now brings within grasp some of the things it was unable to secure in his first term.

The list, according to interviews with lobbyists and trade associations, includes making tax cuts for capital gains and dividends permanent, limiting liability lawsuits, changing bankruptcy laws and opening previously restricted land in Alaska and elsewhere for energy exploration.

Business groups also count on more narrow shifts, such as changing health insurance rules in a way that benefits some of the GOP's most ardent allies, easing corporate government reform measures at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and making specific adjustments to the tax code.

Assembling interest group wish lists and agendas is a postelection rite in Washington, a modern-day spoils system in action. For businesses, spending time and money on a campaign is a practical and tactical decision, literally an investment.

The so-called values issue, at least as it's being popularly tossed around, is overrated.

Last week's election was extremely close and a modest shift in any number of factors might have changed the outcome. If the weather had been better in Ohio. ...If the wait to get into the voting booth hadn't been so ungodly long in certain Democratic precincts. ... Or maybe if those younger voters had actually voted. ...

I think a case could be made that ignorance played at least as big a role in the election's outcome as values. A recent survey by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland found that nearly 70 percent of President Bush's supporters believe the U.S. has come up with "clear evidence" that Saddam Hussein was working closely with Al Qaeda. A third of the president's supporters believe weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. And more than a third believe that a substantial majority of world opinion supported the U.S.-led invasion.

This is scary. How do you make a rational political pitch to people who have put that part of their brain on hold? No wonder Bush won.

The survey, and an accompanying report, showed that there's a fair amount of cluelessness in the ranks of the values crowd. The report said, "It is clear that supporters of the president are more likely to have misperceptions than those who oppose him."

I haven't heard any of the postelection commentators talk about ignorance and its effect on the outcome. It's all values, all the time. Traumatized Democrats are wringing their hands and trying to figure out how to appeal to voters who have arrogantly claimed the moral high ground and can't stop babbling about their self-proclaimed superiority. Potential candidates are boning up on new prayers and purchasing time-shares in front-row-center pews.

A more practical approach might be for Democrats to add teach-ins to their outreach efforts. Anything that shrinks the ranks of the clueless would be helpful.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 - With the elections over, Congress and the Bush administration are moving ahead with ambitious environmental agendas that include revamping signature laws on air pollution and endangered species and reviving a moribund energy bill that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration.

In addition, the administration intends to accelerate conservation efforts by distributing billions of dollars to private landowners for the preservation of wetlands and wildlife habitats. The White House also plans to announce next month a new effort to clean up the Great Lakes.

• Everything in the first graf will happen--with teeth. The pollution laws will be weakened if not revoked, the endangered species act will be disemboweled, and the energy bill will open vast tracts of forest, wild places, and National Parks to oil and gas exploration which the corporations that take out the leases will pay peanuts for. We, the people, will, as usual with the Pubs, get nothing from the theft of our resources to line their pockets.



• Everything in the second graf will happen, too, but there won't be any money attached to the bill and the expense of this unfunded Federal mandate will be dumped in the laps of the Democratic states that surround the Great Lakes, states Junior lost in the election.

Let's get this straight as quickly as possible: These guys have no intention of letting go of power. They will do whatever they have to do to keep it. They stole the last election in Florida, they stole this one in Ohio and New Mexico. They will steal the next one if they have to, wherever they have to, and the next and the next. They will use their power to do this, and they won't apologize. The days of free and fair elections are over. They will win bigger with every theft, and claim a 'mandate' that demands they continue the policies so friendly to them and antithetical to the rest of us. They will use the 200 years we have built up learning to trust election results against us, and they won't apologize for that, either.

We are living in Argentina when the junta was in charge; in Franco's Spain; in Mussolini's Italy. Elections have become frauds designed for no other purpose than to legitimize the people who are stealing them. With control like that, they have no reason to bargain with us, no reason even to listen to differing or dissenting opinions, and they won't. 'Reaching out' is pointless under these conditions. You can't compromise with fascists. You can't bargain with them, reason with them, or appeal to them. They don't feel pity or remorse, and they will never NEVER stop.

The country has changed, maybe forever. The new reality is harsh, Draconian. Any plans for a political future that assume otherwise are so much spitting into the wind. We must understand and accept the new reality as fast as we can. Every day we lose is a day we will never get back.

First and foremost, I have not conceded. John Kerry can concede all he damn well wants, but to not count the rest of the votes is a crime worse than any dimpled chad. Even if it's just for "the record" the ballots should all be counted. And fraud claims should be investigated. Is that such a horrible thing to do? Just count the freakin' ballots. That's all I ask. If Kerry still loses both Florida and Ohio, then so be it. I will lick my wounds and move on. But Gore conceded early in 2000. And in the end, Gore would have won. But he gave up too early on America. And America suffered for it. Kerry said he would have fought for us. He said he wasn't going to give up. Even Edwards said last night that no concessions would be made until the final ballot was counted. But what happened between last night and today? Too much spin from the spin-doctors?

I fear for tomorrow. I fear the idea of sending my nephews off to war in a draft. I fear even more deficits and social programs cut from those who really need it most. I fear thousands more dying in Iraq. I fear thousands dying in America. And I fear new justices being decided for the Supreme Court who will tear out the blessed pages of the Constitution. It's a dark day for democracy. And it may get darker.

But the fight in me is not over. I still love the nation that I grew to idealize and respect, my nation, and I'm going to fight for it. Not for Bush. Not for Kerry. Not for Dean or Clark or McCain or even Obama. Not for any politician. But for the people. The people who died trying to make this country better. The people of the present who are currently suffering from injustices. And the people of tomorrow who will suffer for today's actions.

The pictures of Iraqi children who've lost arms from the bombs my tax dollars bought make me shed tears, but I recognize that the war was the right thing to do, given the information we had available at the time the decision was made.

President Bush's close relationships to people like John Ashcroft scare me. I hate the PATRIOT Act and am fearful of what might be part of PATRIOT II. The two dumbest trial balloons I've heard floated for his second-term agenda are privatizing Social Security and abolishing the income tax. When he says that God chose him to be President during this time of trial, I am embarrassed. I roll my eyes.

President Bush won on values, yes, but not hatred of gays or any other stereotype you have in your head about Bush voters like me.

He won because he has values, clearly defined values, and even though I agree with little of what he believes, at least I know what he believes. At least I know that he really does believe in something. At least I know that he will do what he says he will do.

(emphasis in the original)

Do you maybe, just maybe, see where I'm coming from?

AUSTIN, Tex., Nov. 5 (AP) - The Texas Board of Education approved new health textbooks for the state's high schools and middle schools on Friday after the publishers agreed to change wordings in the texts to depict marriage strictly as the union of a man and a woman.

The decision involves two of the biggest textbook publishers and is another example of Texas' exerting its market influence as the nation's second-largest buyer of textbooks. Officials say the decision could affect hundreds of thousands of books in Texas alone.

On Thursday, a board member said that proposed new books ran counter to a Texas law banning the recognition of gay civil unions because the texts used terms like "married partners" instead of "husband and wife."

After hearing the debate on Thursday, one publisher, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, agreed to include a definition of marriage as a "lifelong union between a husband and a wife." The definition, which was added to middle school textbooks, was already in Holt's high school editions, Rick Blake, a company spokesman, said.

The other publisher, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, changed phrases like "when two people marry" and "partners" to "when a man and a woman marry" and "husbands and wives."

"The board expressed an interest in having us" make the change, Mr. Blake said. "We thought it was a reasonable thing to do."

But Mr. Blake said the publisher did not plan to add its definition of marriage in books to be sold outside Texas

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 - Angry conservatives flooded Senate phone and fax lines on Friday demanding that Republicans prevent Senator Arlen Specter from presiding over the Judiciary Committee after he remarked that strongly anti-abortion judicial nominees might be rejected in the Senate.

Republican lawmakers and top Senate aides, speaking privately for the most part, said the uproar from the right was becoming an impediment for Mr. Specter, a Pennsylvania lawmaker who has coveted the chairmanship. They said while it was likely he would still get the post, it was no longer a certainty.

"He is not out of the woods,'' said one Senate aide who is closely monitoring developments on the Judiciary Committee, echoing a sentiment expressed by Republican senators and other party officials.

Most of those Republicans said they initially believed that Mr. Specter's subsequent clarification would protect him. Mr. Specter said he did not mean his remarks as a warning to Mr. Bush not to nominate to the Supreme Court a judge who would be inclined to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion.

But the Republican officials said that continuing resistance to his taking the chairmanship of the committee that examines judicial nominees was being fanned by conservative talk radio hosts and groups outraged over his comments.

Lawmakers and aides said Mr. Specter's comments have touched a nerve because Democratic resistance to Mr. Bush's judicial nominees was a key element of Republican election campaigns and a likely factor in the defeat of Senator Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader, in South Dakota. In addition, the expanded Republican Senate majority is strongly anti-abortion.

The outpouring illustrated how the party's conservative wing has been emboldened by the White House victory and the strengthening of Republican majorities in Congress, potentially raising new hazards for moderate Republicans who might want to break from the president or House and Senate leadership on major issues.

Cherokee County fifth-graders are reading literature that includes profanity and that needs to stop, several parents said Thursday at the school board meeting.

The parents condemned the school system's method of approving books for elementary students as well as the process for challenging an offensive book. They said there needs to be more rigorous screening of elementary level books that contain possibly objectionable words and there needs to be a way to alert parents to these possibilities before the books are assigned.

Lynn Holtzclaw said her fifth-grade son brought home two books this year, "Bearstone" and "Charley Skedaddle," that included swear words like damn and hell. "Before you lay your head down tonight you should really think about this issue," Holtzclaw told the board.

Board president Kelly Campbell told the parents that the system has a policy to deal with "challenged" books and the parents should follow that procedure. But the parent said the process is too little, too late. By the time they challenge a book, their children already have discovered the offending words or phrases by reading the book.

When Holtzclaw complained to her son's teacher and principal, she was told to let her son read another book or block out the offending words. But she and other parents said they don't have time to check every book their child reads. The parents said the school system should contact the publisher of the books and demand that the words be removed for any future orders.

"Parents aren't aware that these words are in their books," said Melissa Sims, whose son also read the books at R.M. Moore Elementary School. "What else are they letting through?"

Books and other instructional materials are selected by a group of principals, teachers, media specialists, students, parents and other school system officials.

The parents said they are specifically concerned with books used at the elementary level.

"We just want the words removed. They're great books," Sims said.

The parents are circulating a petition to get the school board to change its policy. Sims said Thursday that more than 300 people have signed.

• From archy by way of The Gadflyer

  I was not elected to serve one party, but to serve one nation. The President of the United States is the President of every single American, of every race and every background. Whether you voted for me or not, I will do my best to serve your interests and I will work to earn your respect.
  - George W. Bush, December 14, 2000
  
  So today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent: To make this nation stronger and better I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust.
  - George W. Bush, November 3, 2004

  Aww, come on baby. You gotta believe me. I really mean it this time.
  
  Do not trust the drunk on the porch promising that this is the last time for his bad behavior. He'll say all those pretty words that make us so weak: unity, tolerance, bipartisan spirit, compassion, respect for others, fair play. He'll say anything to get in, but we know, as soon we turn our back, he'll be back to his old triumphalist and unilateralist tricks.
  
  Deadbolt the door. Turn off the porch light. Turn on the radio and turn it up till we can't hear his pretty words. Tomorrow we're calling the locksmith and starting a new life.



• From Paul Krugman:

  President Bush isn't a conservative. He's a radical - the leader of a coalition that deeply dislikes America as it is. Part of that coalition wants to tear down the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt, eviscerating Social Security and, eventually, Medicare. Another part wants to break down the barriers between church and state. And thanks to a heavy turnout by evangelical Christians, Mr. Bush has four more years to advance that radical agenda.

  ---

  I don't hope for more and worse scandals and failures during Mr. Bush's second term, but I do expect them. The resurgence of Al Qaeda, the debacle in Iraq, the explosion of the budget deficit and the failure to create jobs weren't things that just happened to occur on Mr. Bush's watch. They were the consequences of bad policies made by people who let ideology trump reality.
  
  Those people still have Mr. Bush's ear, and his election victory will only give them the confidence to make even bigger mistakes.



• From Thomas Frank:

  While conservatives were sharpening their sense of class victimization, Democrats had all but abandoned the field. For some time, the centrist Democratic establishment in Washington has been enamored of the notion that, since the industrial age is ending, the party must forget about blue-collar workers and their issues and embrace the "professional" class. During the 2004 campaign these new, business-friendly Democrats received high-profile assistance from idealistic tycoons and openly embraced trendy management theory. They imagined themselves the "metro" party of cool billionaires engaged in some kind of cosmic combat with the square billionaires of the "retro" Republican Party.
  
  Yet this would have been a perfect year to give the Republicans a Trumanesque spanking for the many corporate scandals that they have countenanced and, in some ways, enabled. Taking such a stand would also have provided Democrats with a way to address and maybe even defeat the angry populism that informs the "values" issues while simultaneously mobilizing their base.



• Bush's first act as the newly re-elected President? He's taking a vacation.


•