Bad Astronomy

Abode not in the truth

Phill Kline used to be Attorney General for Kansas, but lost out to Republican-turned-Democrat Paul Morrison in 2006. While he was AG, he was involved in the humiliation that was creationism and Kansas when the State Board of Education tried to downplay evolution in the science standards. Kline’s involvement was thus:

Also on February 9th [2005], State Attorney General Phill Kline announced during private meetings with the Board’s conservative majority members that he would defend the use of textbook stickers that say evolution is a theory, not a fact. Kline held two meetings, each attended by three members. Sue Gamble, a moderate Board member, said the meetings violated, in spirit, the state’s open-meetings law, which requires meetings of six or more board members be open to the public. Kline denied any violation, saying that discussions that took place were not kept secret. But the topic has already captured the attention of the press, particularly following last month’s ruling in Georgia that such stickers are unconstitutional. One op-ed contributed to the Kansas City Star cautioned that “sticky notes that challenge evolution as not factually based will invite a lawsuit, as they did in Georgia. That would cost the cash-strapped state money to mount a defense.”

One would expect the State AG to understand the idea of unconstitutionality, wouldn’t you?

Ah, but Kline, now a district attorney for Johnson County, has trouble with the law quite a bit. The most recent turn? It appears that he’s not a Johnson County resident:

Law requires that Phil Kline reside in Johnson County, where he serves as DA. If he doesn’t he must “resign or be removed from office.”

After weeks of staking out a crummy apartment–located on top of a storage facility owned by Phil Kline supporters where he pays $400 per month–KCTV5 never once saw Mr. Kline or his wife come home to the apartment.

Then after following Mr. Kline and his wife on camera numerous times from work they found both Phil Kline and his wife driving to Topeka and staying at a residence they own there. His wife also regularly picks up his daughter from a Topeka school and she too stays at the Topeka home with her parents.

Topeka, incidentally, is in Shawnee County, not Johnson County.

Oops! I guess when you spend a lot of time defending the falsehood that is creationism, you get used to bearing false witness. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Hard to say. Maybe Kline can ask Kent Hovind for advice.

Kline has a very skeevy past (google Phill Kline and Bill O’Reilly if you can stomach the results), with lots of shady goings-on. It sounds to me like we may be about to see another creationist (or at least a defender of such) go down in flames. If what they believe is true, then Kline better get used to flames.

Tip o’ the 1940s press fedora to C&L.