Saturday, July 21, 2007
Somewhere in Texas
"Gov. Rick Perry has appointed conservative Dr. Don McLeroy to head the state’s Board of Education," reports Houston Press blogger Margaret Downing, "And the expectation is that McLeroy will lead the way into creationism in the upcoming board debate over state textbooks."
"Looks like Texas is on the move to be as stupid as Kansas," writes Downing.
There's no denying Kansas has its share of stupidity. We've had two run-ins with creationists over the science curriculum. We're home to Phill Kline. We've even had a creationist state senator and candidate for Secretary of State, Kay O'Connor, who opposes women's suffrage.
Even so, there are many who would say Kansas can't hold a candle to Texas in the hotly contested stupidity competition. For example, Warren Chisum, a self-described creationist and chairman of the Texas House Appropriations Committee, distributed a letter to colleagues calling Darwin's theory of evolution nothing more than a Jewish plot.
The letter Chisum distributed was written by a Georgia man who believes, "The Bible teaches that the Earth is stationary and immovable at the center of a 'small' universe with the sun, moon, and stars going around it every day. All observational and experimental evidence - and non-occult math, i.e., true science - supports the Bible teaching."
And Texas, we shouldn't forget, generously allowed its vast stockpile of village idiots to be depleted by one when it sent George Bush, another ID supporter, to the White House.
Hard as it is for Red State Rabble to forgive that last one, we still wish our friends in Texas well. Here in Kansas sensible people have fought back. We've restored real science to the public school curriculum. We've organized to defeat the religious zealots in the elections and won back a moderate majority on the state school board. We're confident that Texas can do the same.
For those who want to follow this developing battle, Texas Citizens for Science, has just posted a PowerPoint presentation on "Textbook Selection, Science Education, and Church-State Separation in Texas" on its site.
"Looks like Texas is on the move to be as stupid as Kansas," writes Downing.
There's no denying Kansas has its share of stupidity. We've had two run-ins with creationists over the science curriculum. We're home to Phill Kline. We've even had a creationist state senator and candidate for Secretary of State, Kay O'Connor, who opposes women's suffrage.
Even so, there are many who would say Kansas can't hold a candle to Texas in the hotly contested stupidity competition. For example, Warren Chisum, a self-described creationist and chairman of the Texas House Appropriations Committee, distributed a letter to colleagues calling Darwin's theory of evolution nothing more than a Jewish plot.
The letter Chisum distributed was written by a Georgia man who believes, "The Bible teaches that the Earth is stationary and immovable at the center of a 'small' universe with the sun, moon, and stars going around it every day. All observational and experimental evidence - and non-occult math, i.e., true science - supports the Bible teaching."
And Texas, we shouldn't forget, generously allowed its vast stockpile of village idiots to be depleted by one when it sent George Bush, another ID supporter, to the White House.
Hard as it is for Red State Rabble to forgive that last one, we still wish our friends in Texas well. Here in Kansas sensible people have fought back. We've restored real science to the public school curriculum. We've organized to defeat the religious zealots in the elections and won back a moderate majority on the state school board. We're confident that Texas can do the same.
For those who want to follow this developing battle, Texas Citizens for Science, has just posted a PowerPoint presentation on "Textbook Selection, Science Education, and Church-State Separation in Texas" on its site.
