Louisiana baloney
22 May 2008 by Stardust
The Louisiana legislature is about to make a tremendous mistake:
Bogus On The Bayou: Louisiana Legislators Consider Dragging Science Education Back Into The Swamp
. . . Despite frantic objections from public school teachers, the scientific community and advocates of church-state separation, the House education committee yesterday approved unanimously a Religious Right bill designed to undercut the teaching of evolution.
As the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported today, Senate Bill 733 would allow Louisiana public school science teachers to use “supplemental materials” when discussing evolution, global warming and human cloning.
That may sound innocuous, but in fact, the measure is meant to swing open the door to bogus “scientific” materials undercutting the teaching of evolution. The bill is the handiwork of the Louisiana Family Forum, the Discovery Institute and others forces determined to damage science education and roll back constitutional safeguards. They’re using “academic freedom” as a wedge to break down the wall of separation between church and state.
Yesterday’s hearing was packed with home-schoolers wearing stickers in support of the bill. Home schoolers won’t be affected by the measure, of course, so it doesn’t take much analysis to see what’s going on here. (Kids, you may have learned something about politics, but you flunked science. Be sure to tell your momma when you get home so she can change your report cards.)
22 May 2008, on 9:24 pm
Do you think they might go as far as to hire pastors to be science teachers?
22 May 2008, on 9:40 pm
Do you think they might go as far as to hire pastors to be science teachers?
I wouldn’t be surprised. Our school districts already have several pastors sitting on the school boards making curriculum decisions. It sucks.
22 May 2008, on 10:09 pm
Arthur C. Clark remarked that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I wonder if they would still be so adamant if some how we could extinguish the magic kingdom in their life and send them back 2000 years to the life they are prescribing.
23 May 2008, on 12:45 am
If this continues, I’m leaving the country. I’m not kidding. My wife and I have already started looking at the immigration laws of Canada and Australia. I’m tired of these nut-jobs.
23 May 2008, on 9:31 am
Hate to say it, but my wife and I are thinking along the same lines as Bowen. She’s an EU citizen and we have lots of family in the UK. It would be relatively easy to get EU citizenship for our kids and move to a modern country.
23 May 2008, on 11:52 am
More proof, I’d say, of Chris Hitchen’s: “Religion poisons everything” mantra.
When leaders in high places…AND the majority of the media…REALLY don’t actually “get it”, RE idiots like Hagee and Paisley etc., is there really much hope for true rationality in this country?
The basis of all brainwashed-based religions are so obviously stupid, tyrannical, and totally whack, in light of our current scientific knowledge of even our own “Milky Way” galaxy; it’s actually ASTOUNDING how seemingly brain-dead the majority of people are in this country.
I’m reminded almost daily, just reading, or hearing on cable, the accounts of terrible tornado damage, etc. and can’t help notice the obvious attention given to outright superstition in quotes about “prayer” and all the totally selfish notions of some deity’s supposed ‘favoritism’.
In other words…in contrast to a favorite advertising ploy…”People are NOT smart”!…?
No…People are fucking stupid…and downright nuts, in a very disturbingly high number of instances!
Or, to put it another way?…Am I ‘PROUD’ to be an American?…
[Yeah, like...should I even be 'PROUD' to be a fucking human?
(Ummm...perhaps...ONLY when I'm fucking?)]…
For that matter…Am I proud to be a…
“MILKY WAYSIAN”?
FUCK, NO!!!
Oh…ummm…”Got Milk”?
(wipes a milk mustache off)
23 May 2008, on 1:03 pm
Now, see, here was where the fight was, while our attention was focused on that back wall of the Lancaster city council chamber and those largely innocuous words; “in god we
trust”- which is, of course, an anagram for “Got Turd Wine?” with the accompanying mental image of Lucille Ball stomping Karl Rove to a pulp with her bare feet in a Bakelite jacuzzi.Seriously, this is probably gonna take a visit to the United States Supreme Court eventually. When the lawsuit is inevitably filed, after the first fuckwit teacher embracing this new legislation hauls in materials from Ham, Hovind, or the Very-Disco* Institute to their science classroom, science and the First Amendment will triumph once again. The bill will be reworded to prohibit such cretarded taintsweat from being included on that “supplemental materials” list or it will be scrapped altogether.
Given the flurry of local or statewide endeavors to wedge that crap into science classrooms, either the next one up or the appeal of a loser from one of the earlier cases will wind up on the Supreme Court docket. There, even the militantly medieval Antonin Scalia will see ID for what it is and give it the permanent bum’s rush from our public schools.
On it’s flight down the front stairs, Intelligent Design will knock a pontificating Michael Newdow ass over teakettle. He’ll lose consciousness briefly, come to looking confusedly at the assembled concerned passers by, muttering “oh, god. oh, god” over and over, and promptly sue himself for such language.
23 May 2008, on 1:48 pm
No, this is a good thing, for students can now learn the truth about the origin of life here on earth: paleocontact!
At long last the fascistically suppressed truths valiantly espoused by Velikovsky, Sitchin, and Erich von Daniken will now proudly take their deserved place in the American public science classroom.
Teach the controversy!
23 May 2008, on 6:55 pm
PANSPERMIAtm!!!
23 May 2008, on 10:07 pm
Louisiana? Shouldn’t make much difference. Regardless of what they’re taught, most of the kids will be unable to understand it or articulate it anyway.
24 May 2008, on 12:08 am
I share the same sentiments as Bowen and Brooklyn Boy–If our country continues on it’s current course, with IDiot non-sense such as this being posed as “science,” it wont be long before we are all living in a backwater Third-world theocracy that has no idea what science even is. I think most people fail to see or choose to ignor the economic ramifications of these actions.
And as with everything else, attempts to point this out to the brain-washed are futile, as the U.S.A. is, after all, manifestly destined to maintain it’s position of greatness, regardless–cuz gawd lubs us, he duz. Doesn’t matter how stoopid or incompetent or scientifically ignorant our next generation might be, because we duz haz gawd. Gob will either save us, or Jebus will Rupture the true believers to the eternal Disney World, thereby saving us from our immeasurable stupidity.
Man this shit makes me angry.
24 May 2008, on 1:11 am
So far it isn’t. Being taught much in our schools that is. Fortunately, wherever it crops up- like the noxious corpse flower crossed with kudzu that it is, some good local folks, along with groups like Defcon or FFRF or even the ACLU step up to the plate, haul it into court, where a judge kicks it back under the rock that it came from.
The movie they made failed spectacularly and not just in scientific circles- the mainstream media pretty much universally panned it. And, now, a judge has stopped it from being sold or released while the suit against the movie makers by Yoko Ono- for the use of “Imagine” without permission or license- plays out.
Yes, we have some unqualified instructors in our classrooms. Some because they actually believe the cretarded nonsense and others because they fear the reaction of those who do. Still, it’s not as widespread as it may seem. You know, like termites are widespread but there’s Orkin or Terminex.
24 May 2008, on 11:55 am
Old Viking is right…Louisiana’s reading scores have stunk for a number of years…
From edweek.org:
Paul G. Pastorek, Louisianas schools chief, said that while the state often receives high marks for its school accountability program, student achievement has been mired near the bottom of national scores for years.
We are tired of being 50th in the country in 4th grade reading, Mr. Pastorek said in an interview, referring to Louisianas performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress .
24 May 2008, on 5:08 pm
RDZ–I like the metaphor, but unlike creatardation, the corpse plant is rather interesting and not a total waste of time to study. And I even suspect the corpse plant may even be more intelligent than your average creatard.
I’d like to be as optimistic as you are, but considering how high the level of belief in IDiocy is in this country, compared with other industrialized nations, and the fact that this percentage is so slow to change, combined with a number of other factors, I’m truly concerned for the future of this country.
24 May 2008, on 11:05 pm
Finally, a way to grade the whackadoodlery pinched like loaves from the mouths of the cretarded. Presenting the Hovind Scale!
27 May 2008, on 5:25 pm
This makes me feel so bad for Louisiana; there are some rational, logical folks there, believe it or not (including some family members of mine).
I don’t recall a single incident with any kind of creotard during my salad years at LSU, but then the university precincts probably constituted a kind of natural defense – at least at the time. Good, quality programs plus a hugely diverse student and faculty population and a fun nightlife added up to a great experience, for me anyway.
Now outside campus – yeah, I can see where the problems might have already been brewing, even back then…
29 May 2008, on 1:21 pm
That’s a pretty good reason for businesses and industries to pull out of LA; it’s the beginning of a process of stupiding-down the future work force.
29 May 2008, on 1:33 pm
I like this whole thing. I have a child and grandchildren not yet in the work force, and I like that their competition will be people with this kind of education. (Good for them but not for the country, of course.)
29 May 2008, on 2:17 pm
Golly gee Mr. Science tell us more!!!!
Can’t. The shows been cancelled. Say hello to Mr. Wizard.
Jesus H. Horus, what’s a Pagan to do?
29 May 2008, on 7:30 pm
“If this continues, Im leaving the country. Im not kidding. My wife and I have already started looking at the immigration laws of Canada and Australia. Im tired of these nut-jobs.” – Bowen
Sorry, Bowen, you wouldn’t be much safer here in the used-to-be-Great White North; we now have our own crop of homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic, bible-thumping,neocon christofascist warlovers running things here too:
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9085
If I ever put the money together, I’ll be heading for New Zealand.
N. (heartbroken progressive Canadian)
29 May 2008, on 7:46 pm
La’s legislature is trying to get this into the federal courts and eventually before John Robert’s Supreme Court. Next step? Prayer (Xian, of course) into public schools again. That’s the second step in the right wings plan. After that, dismantle the rest of anything progressive or secular. Welcome(back)to the 19th century.
30 May 2008, on 12:33 pm
Take heart prospective immigrants to Canada.
The evil that has infected our Dominion of Canada (neoconism),will be eradicated by a simple election. Not complicated like the U.S. but merely too long in coming.