You are right, they're nuts. They also number approximately 30-40 (if you limit the list to actual faculty at US universities), out of over 150,000 college faculty members in the country.

In contrast, what got people so worked about about ID was that it was going to be made a part of the curriclulum for every single high school in the state of Kansas. That's a way bigger deal than one science teacher out in Buffalo Hoof hawking creationism to his students. Likewise in the Dover case, the precedent was going to be important for schools all over the nation.

We also don't know that all those signatories are actually _teaching_ anything about 9/11 in their classes. I'd sure be skeptical about any of them, but I'd be way more upset once you show me they are actually bringing that into their classroom, vs signing up with some internet group.

For what it's worth -- I'm not sure I count as Cultural Elite -- I've smacked down 9/11 conspiracicism whenever I've seen it at liberal sites. As do many many others. Whenever it shows up at DailyKos, there is quite the pile-on fest as commenters attack the consipiracist. Indeed, it's one of the few reasons for diaries to be deleted and posters banned at the site.