Vitter secures $100K for Louisiana anti-evolution group

I was about to log off and head to bed when I saw this article which goes to show just how disingenuous David Vitter and his Christianist allies have come to be. I guess if you land $100K for an anti-evolution program, the Christianist will close their eyes to one's frequent visits to prostitutes. Here are highlights from Raw Story (http://rawstory.com//news/2007/Vitter_secures_100K_for_Louisiana_antievolution_0924.html):

In a move ostensibly aimed at providing "better science education" in Louisiana schools, Sen. David Vitter has secured $100,000 in taxpayer dollars to fund an anti-evolution effort spearheaded by a religious group politically connected to the alleged prostitute-soliciting Republican. Vitter secured an earmark in an upcoming labor, health and education financing bill for the Louisiana Family Forum, which The New Orleans Times Picayune reports has "taken the lead in promoting 'origins science,' which includes the possibility of divine intervention in the creation of the universe."

The group was founded by Tony Perkins, a former Louisiana state lawmaker who now leads the conservative Family Research Council [and who has ties to Klan Leader David Duke]. The Louisiana Family Forum works to "present biblical principals" on public policy issues, and until a reporter questioned them about it, the group's Web site included a "battle plan to combat evolution," which argued the theory "has no place in the classroom." Despite Vitter's admission earlier this year that he used a Washington, DC, call-girl service and allegations that he frequented prostitutes in New Orleans, the first-term Republican has maintained the support of religious conservatives in his home state.

Critics torpedoed the idea that Vitter's earmark was anything but an attempt to federally subsidize religious instruction. "This is a misappropriation of public funds," Charles Kincade, a civil rights lawyer in Monroe, La., who has been involved in church-state cases told the Times Picayune. "It's a backdoor attempt to push a religious agenda in the public school system."