Better late than never. An apt commentary by Noam Chomsky on "Intelligent Design."
Khaleej Times - Unlike Intelligent Design, for which the evidence is zero, malignant design has tons of empirical evidence, much more than Darwinian evolution, by some criteria: the world's cruelty. Be that as it may, the background of the current evolution/intelligent design controversy is the widespread rejection of science, a phenomenon with deep roots in American history that has been cynically exploited for narrow political gain during the last quarter-century. Intelligent Design raises the question whether it is intelligent to disregard scientific evidence about matters of supreme importance to the nation and world - like global warming.
I think this is a totally accurate and very compressed view of the problem, which to be fair goes far beyond just Creationism or "Intelligent Design." The evidence to suggest a negative trend, or if you want to polemicize, a war on science, is plentiful. And much of it is coming from an unholy alliance corporate apologists and Christian sects which is funnelled through the above-mentioned political gain. There is nothing natural about it. Certainly not corporations and the Christian advances made in recent decades can be seen as the artificial and painstaking creation and rejuvenation of a Republican voter base. One could also, I suppose, trace it back to conservative thinkers such a Leo Strauss and his apprentices. Those that seem to court the idea of religion because it serves their broadside on political liberalism and what they see as a scattered, relativistic and feeble populace.

Aside from ID advances and climatology, the rejection of science include, but is not limited to the wetland policy, cloning and embryonic stem cell research, space research, RnD funding, the Data Quality Act as well as wildlife preservation.