Just when you think creationists are safely tucked away in the backwoods hick towns of the country, along comes New York State Assemblyman Daniel Hooker (R — there's a surprise). Mr. Hooker has drafted a bill which would, if adopted, mandate the teaching of intelligent design creationism in public schools. From the NCSE:

Assembly Bill 8036, introduced on May 3, 2005, and referred to the Committee on Education, would require that "all pupils in grades kindergarten through twelve in all public schools in the state ... receive instruction in both theories of intelligent design and evolution." It also charges New York's commissioner of education to assist in developing curricula and local boards of education to provide "appropriate training and curriculum materials ... to ensure that all aspects of the theories, along with any supportive data, are fully examined through such course of study." A08036, if enacted, would take effect immediately.

Wow, that's pretty bold. And by "pretty bold" we mean "fucking stupid." We're pretty sure this little piece of legislation will never go anywhere, but in a way it's scary that it was even proposed in New York State. It's also scary that this moron thinks that children in kindergarten should be included in his little religious indoctrination exercise. Get 'em early, eh Danny?

Taking a look at the rest of the NCSE article, we get a sense for what kind of person Mr. Hooker really is:

The bill's sole sponsor, Daniel L. Hooker (R), represents Assembly District 127, encompassing parts of Greene, Otsego, Delaware, Schoharie, Ulster, Columbia, and Chenango counties. Hooker also recently introduced bills that would, if enacted, permit the display of the Ten Commandments on public buildings and grounds (A08073), declassify sexual orientation from civil right status (A07916), and prohibit the solemnization of same-sex marriages (A07723).

Well, he's certainly got his bases covered. He's managed to touch on every one of the radical right's agenda items all by his lonesome! Let's see...allowing the Ten Commandments in public buildings, making it permissible to discriminate based on sexual orientation, and banning gay marriage...wait — where's prayer in school? Shame on you, Mr. Hooker.

How does a fanatic like this get elected in a Blue State? Well, speaking from experience, we can say that there are parts of New York State that are much more like the South than the Northeast. If, let's say, you were blindfolded and pushed out of a plane only to land in one of the more "rustic" places in Upstate New York and had to guess which state you were in (assuming you weren't up to your eyeballs in snow), you would likely guess Mississippi.

And that's the whole problem. A Blue State isn't really blue at all. What it really means, in general, is that there's a large city or two in a given state in which the population density is sufficient to overcome the voters in the small towns. Sure, most of the people in New York State live in or around Manhattan; but most of the state by area is a far cry from urban.

As we said, we're pretty confident that this little wonder will die before it gets anywhere, along with all of Hooker's collected works — but we'll sleep a little less easy just knowing that this guy is out there.