Perhaps I’m the Discovery Institute’s patsy, too, but my understanding is that the textbooks cover more than evolution and it’s critics. As we know, there are differing theories and findings out there on global warming and other scientific debates. There are actual debates on these topics — as, for instance, was the case surrounding Al Gore’s propagations in An Inconvenient Truth. I don’t think it’s unconstitutional to let kids know, hey, this guy won a Nobel Prize for his documentary but a lot of actual scientists question his facts and priorities… I haven’t read the textbooks in question, but it seems to me a public school can’t cover all of science without covering some of the real-life national debates. I don’t want public schools reading Cardinal Schönborn’s tract on creation and evolution, but these issues can’t really be taught divorced from reality.

I also think it’s safe to say Jindal has been proving himself nobody’s patsy. He’s his own man, with a solid political and moral core, and if he keeps it, and acts on it, he’ll be quite the national leader down the line (not this year! Louisiana needs him!).