The call to fire Comer came from Lizzette Reynolds, who previously worked in the U.S. Department of Education. She also served as deputy legislative director for Gov. George W. Bush. She joined the Texas Education Agency as the senior adviser on statewide initiatives in January.

Reynolds, who was out sick the day Comer forwarded the e-mail, received a copy from an unnamed source and forwarded it to Comer's bosses less than two hours after Comer sent it.

"This is highly inappropriate," Reynolds said in an e-mail to Comer's supervisors. "I believe this is an offense that calls for termination or, at the very least, reassignment of responsibilities.

"This is something that the State Board, the Governor's Office and members of the Legislature would be extremely upset to see because it assumes this is a subject that the agency supports."

The subject of the email is question? A local appearance by one of the major witnesses in the Dover intelligent design case, and author of "Inside Creationism's Trojan Horse," a book highly critical of the intelligent design movement.

So, to recap, the head of science education in Texas was suspended with recommendation to fire because she was opposed to ID. The sheer audacity and stupidity of the "right" continues to astound me.

State science curriculum director resigns