Dear Texas: It's YOUR turn to wear the dunce hat.

Well, you knew it had to happen in Texas eventually:

[Texas Gov. Rick "Goodhair"] Perry "supports the teaching of the theory of intelligent design," spokeswoman Kathy Walt said. "Texas schools teach the theory of evolution; intelligent design is a valid scientific theory, and he believes it should be taught as well."

Now, a number of people are going to think to themselves, "Why is Texas going to put itself through what just happened in Dover, Pennsylvania?" But the thing to notice here is that what Perry is proposing in Texas is not what happened in Dover. Far from it.

It will probably come as a surprise to many readers that there was no attempt in Dover to insert ID "curriculum" into the classroom. Rather, the school board had decreed that a simple four-paragraph "statement" be made on the first day of class -- a statement about which the students would not be allowed to ask any questions. (Students who objected to listening to the statement would have been allowed to leave the room.)

Here's the entire text of that statement:

The Pennsylvania Academic Standards require students to learn about Darwin’s theory of evolution and eventually to take a standardized test of which evolution is a part.

Because Darwin’s theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is discovered. The theory is not a fact. Gaps in the theory exist for which there is no evidence. A theory is defined as a well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations.

Intelligent design is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin’s view. The reference book, “Of Pandas and People,” is available for students who might be interested in gaining an understanding of what intelligent design actually involves.

With respect to any theory, students are encouraged to keep an open mind. The school leaves the discussion of the origins of life to individual students and their families. As a standards-driven district, class instruction focuses upon preparing students to achieve proficiency on standards-based assessments.

In short, there was no attempt to insert ID material into the course itself at any point, which means that, if Perry is actually talking about teaching intelligent design in the public school system, he's going far beyond what was proposed in Dover.

More on this whole idea of ID "curriculum" later.