What's so "intelligent" about Intelligent Design? In a word, nothing.

It's creationism, repackaged, with a catchy new name. The trouble is, gold-plating junk doesn't compensate for the fact that it's still junk. And that's what Intelligent Design is: junk science.

The basic premise of the ID theory is that some biological systems are so complex that someone (ID proponents don't like to say God, even though that's exactly who they're talking about) must have designed them.

The English language is complex, too, but that doesn't mean that it was designed by God.

Closing arguments were heard yesterday in a trial to decide whether the Dover, Pennsylvania school board can teach ID as an alternative to evolution. It's important to remember, though, that these are not two equal theories. One has mountains of evidence to support it, and the other is based on nothing but hopes and wishes. I think Richard Dawkins says it best.

Intelligent Design belongs in church, not in the classroom.

And no matter how much certain people want something to be true, that doesn't make it so.