>>I am going to disagree with you reasonably, or at least try to. Not about the racism angle. We have been down that road before and it didn't get any of us anywhere. What I disagree about is your opinion that Rick Perry is being caricatured. IMO when someone calls evolution "just a theory" in this day and age it tells me he is either uneducated or pandering shamelessly to the Tea Party and other hard core conservatives. Yes, all politicians from all points on the spectrum pander to some extent. I thought this statement from Perry was major cause for concern, that's all.
>>
>
>Excuse me... but when did it become the LAW of evolution? I believe its still called the Theory of evolution....

Yes, but as I'm sure you well know, the way the word "theory" is used there doesn't mean it's speculative.

Lots of definitions at merriam-webster.com, but the ones relevant to this discussion are:

5
: a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena [the wave theory of light]
6
a : a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation b : an unproved assumption : conjecture c : a body of theorems presenting a concise systematic view of a subject [theory of equations]

From context, it's pretty clear that Perry means 6b. But the scientific expression "theory of evolution" is 5 or 6c.

We say "theory of gravity," too, but I don't run into too many people who refer to gravity as "just a theory."

Tamar