In a previous post, I said that the Dover school system needs more than a bake sale to get over its issues. I was referring to a fundraiser set up by the political action committee Dover CARES (Citizens Actively Reviewing Educational Strategies). This group is trying to displace the school board that introduced intelligent design into the science curricula thereby dragging the small town through a knock-down, drag-out, First Amendment case ? one that challenges no less than the tenets of scientific inquiry.

Well the battle, predictably perhaps, has spilled into the streets. With Dover CARES publishing newspaper ads calling for a regime change, incumbent school board members found a way to drag the challengers through the mud ? mainly by noting their association with the American Civil Liberties Union in a direct mail campaign. The ACLU is representing the plaintiffs in the court case against the Dover school board. Alan Bonsell (without full buy-in from other incumbents, but writing in their name) was happy to remind voters that the ACLU has also defended the rights of terrorists and the North American Man/Boy Love Organization. Board member Ron Short had not read the letter prior to its mailing but agreed with the sentiment, ?I fear the ACLU more than I fear al-Qaida.?

Those are odd sentiments from a board that has been trying to position Intelligent Design as an underdog theory being blocked by a monolith of science culture.

The Thomas More Law Center, the Christian legal team defending the board member in court, have indeed proposed the case as a freedom-of-speech issue. One might wonder if the school board had approached the ACLU first, whether they would have gotten the representation they?re now complaining about the other side having. Who could make a better case for a policy not violating separation of church and state, the ACLU or a group that says they have God on their side? Oh well, too late to switch teams now.

Or is it?

Dover CARES cashed two checks ? totaling $120 ? from the Thomas More Law Center. But it's not what you think. Sandi Bowser, president of the teacher?s union, signed her witness fees paid by the More center to the PAC, which apparently got a chuckle from members.