Memo: Stop teaching evolution (What's the Matter with Texas and Georgia?)

[brooklynite]

AUSTIN – The second most powerful member of the Texas House has circulated a Georgia lawmaker's call for a broad assault on teaching of evolution.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, used House operations Tuesday to deliver a memo from Georgia state Rep. Ben Bridges.

The memo assails what it calls "the evolution monopoly in the schools."

Mr. Bridges' memo claims that teaching evolution amounts to indoctrinating students in an ancient Jewish sect's beliefs.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-evolution_14tex.ART.State.Edition1.298e1cb.html

[MuseRider]

1. As bad as this is

all I can say is thank god it is not Kansas anymore.

[damntexdem]

29. Whose state School Board just yesterday voted in good science standards.

But here in Texas, we get the second-most powerful member of our House sending around a 'memo' that cites for evidence a website of people who deny that the earth rotates or orbits the sun: www.fixedearth.com.

But the courts did throw out the Georgia stickers. And the federal court in the Dover, Penna case ruled that Intelligent Design was Creationism, so religion, so couldn't be taught in public school. So, some good news. Still, consider that American Creationism is now trying to corrupt education in, at least, Australia, England, Nigeria, Russia, and Turkey.

[MindPilot]

2. Obviously the ancient Jewish sects were far more in touch with reality

than today's christians.

What's next, stopping the "gravity monopoly"?

[Toots]

21. Gravity is only a theory after all....the truth of the matter is...

This Universe Sucks....

[WindRavenX]

3. Which is more out of touch with reality: TX or GA?

I seem to recall that both also had "warning" sticker on the bio textbooks because of evolution :eyes:

[xxqqqzme]

7. a court recently ordered those stickers removed.

I was unaware of the stickers - these people are dangerous. Do they expect their children to go to college?

[sugapablo]

16. Sticker

[Jagger69]

14. It's a dead heat in a photo-finish LOL NM

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Wow, I didn't know that ancient Jewish sects (tribes?) were so advanced as to

understand evolution. I certainly couldn't tell that from the Old Testament of the Bible.

[tonkatoy57]

5. Can they really be this dumb?

Are they really this dumb?

My father used to say that there isn't a group of people dumber than a state legislature and I'm beginning to understand what he meant.

I guess, when you stop to think about it it's not so hard to fathom. You take a bunch of farmers, insurance agents, small town business owners, throw in some single issue zealots, add lots of money, liquor, and hookers and shit like this is what you get.

As an aside, when I read this my first thought was, "I wonder what Molly Ivins will have to say about this"? Unfortunately, my second thought was that Molly's no longer with us and is unable to skewer these idiots like only she could.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. I can't tell how many of them are playing along with the satire

and how many of them have fallen for it.

The referenced website, http://www.fixedearth.com/ , is, I think, a spoof (does anyone really think the Sun really orbits the Earth?)

The Earth is not rotating...nor is it going around the sun.

The universe is not one ten trillionth the size we are told.

Today’s cosmology fulfills an anti-Bible religious plan disguised as "science".

The whole scheme from Copernicanism to Big Bangism is a factless lie.

Those lies have planted the Truth-killing virus of evolutionism

But does Mr. Bridges in the Georgia legislature realise this? Does Warren Chisum think the earth isn't rotating? Does the Dallas Morning News realise what they're reporting? It would be hilarious to see Republicans actually try to introduce legislation wanting schools to teach that the Sun goes round the Earth, and that 400 years of astronomy have all been wrong. That they claim it's a 'Jewish plot' just makes them look bigoted as well as dumb.

[reprobate]

19. We must accept the fact that the earth is the center of the universe.

It's actually the universe that revolves on it's axis around the earth, which is, of course, stationary.

Not only is it stationary, it was even created with a watermark so doubters could be convinced.

Of course, you can only see the watermark by standing on Sirius and looking back.

[damntexdem]

31. The problem is that it's hard to tell nowadays.

There really are idiots out these demented enough to believe this crap and create websites. What a dim future prospect: sarcasm will die a painful death at the hands of credulity.

[LastDemocratInSC]

45. Marshall Hall and his website are not satire

He has been around for at least a decade. So has Gerardus Bouw and this site:

http://www.geocentricity.com/

None of this is satire. You'll find references to others, as well, on these sites.

[AlinPA]

6. I hope the knowledgeable people in GA and TX ( I believe they do) outnumber

the dumb ass creationist knuckle-draggers.

[RubyDuby in GA]

12. In GA - no they do not outnumber the dumb ass creationist knuckle draggers

As witnessed by the re-election of Sonny "Bubba" Perdue and the still unbelievable high approval ratings for Bush, and our two idiot senators, Chambliss and Iskason.

Oh and then there's that damn woman that keeps suing to get the Harry Potter books off the school library shelves...

I hang my head in shame...

[SemperEadem]

36. and here I thought publicans

were the party for doing away with frivolous lawsuits.

[xxqqqzme]

8. ..."Indisputable evidence – long

hidden but now available to everyone – demonstrates conclusively that so-called 'secular evolution science' is the Big Bang, 15-billion-year, alternate 'creation scenario' of the Pharisee Religion," writes Mr. Bridges, a Republican from Cleveland, Ga. He has argued against teaching of evolution in Georgia schools for several years....

....Mr. Bridges also supplies a link to a document that describes scientists Carl Sagan and Albert Einstein as "Kabbalists" and laments "Hollywood's unrelenting role in flooding the movie theaters with explicit or implicit endorsement of evolutionism."

I think benji-boy is in dire need of some powerful meds.

And the chisum adds...."You ought to teach creation as well as the fact of evolution," Mr. Chisum said, though he said "all of those kinds of sciences have holes in them. ... But I'm not about teaching religion in schools."



Those kinds????? of science....is that the same as 'some people'?

I am sooooo relieved to know he doesn't want religion taught in schools....

[IndianaGreen]

25. Modern Judaism is the descendant of the Pharisee tradition

A tradition which was demonized by the Christian Gospels in an effort to shift blame for Jesus's death from the Romans to the Jews.

One can see where the "Big Bang," not to mention the distance in light-years between galaxies, would be a stumbling block to those imbeciles that believe the entire universe is only 5,000 years old.

[slackmaster]

9. Did someone say something about Jewish sex?

[area51]

48. LOL!

Thanks for the first laugh of my day. :hi:

[Jagger69]

11. Welcome to Texas

Why would this surprise anyone? I guess anyone who's never been to the Lone Star state might not understand but this type of reactionary dogmatism is very representative of the narrow-minded viewpoints taken by the majority of Texans. We get used to it living down here.

[RubyDuby in GA]

13. We try to keep a lid on our crazy in Georgia, but sometimes it's just too much to keep

a lid on. The inmates truly do run the asylum here.

[damntexdem]

32. Hey, c'mon, don't badmouth the state so: after all, ...

Chisum is only the SECOND-most powerful member of the House. ;-)

[VegasWolf]

42. Welcome to DU!! I hope you live in Austin where at least there are some intelligent

people!

[lovuian]

15. Unfortunately Science doesn't exist for these people

very sad state of affairs

[grytpype]

17. Texas: the national laboratory for bad government (Molly Ivins)

Yep. They try it out in Texas, and then they roll it out nationwide.

[electron_blue]

18. It's friggin everywehre. Not just TX or KS or GA

Critical thinking is no longer a valued skill in this culture. People are downright proud of the fact that they "can't do math" and science is not far behind.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[brentspeak]

22. Uh, what's your purpose here?

[brentspeak]

23. Memo from Rove to local Republicans: keep the divide-and-conquer issues strategy going

We'll see more efforts like this in other state houses, that's for sure.

[Acadia Blue]

24. These people are so afraid of dieing because they know how really

bad they are and the wrong they have done on earth, so they support any idiot thing in the name of their ignorant religion. They are as bad as the fundamentalist muslims imho.

[Doondoo]

26. These people will never stop but they WILL keep on losing this fight.

[villager]

27. actually, the first story of creation in Genesis does replicate the general tropes of evolution

Glad to see a Fundie conceding the point.

Of course, his "savior" came from a "Jewish sect," too, so he might run into trouble there...

;-)

[MGKrebs]

28. Wow.

Copernicus was wrong.
The Earth doesn't rotate.
Astronomy is a Jewish plot.

OoooK.

[MasonJar]

30. This is a parody I hope. No one in office could be that "moranic,"

n'est pas? I vote for Texas as the ultimate in "screwed-up-ness." It is the home of Crawford's wilted brain syndrome. Sorry, Texas DUs; I am only kidding. I love y'all. After all I can hardly talk as my state is represented by the sourest one (personified,) Mitch McConnell.

[damntexdem]

33. Even if the web site is a parody, of which it is hard to be sure, ...

two members of state legislatures still circulated this crap as serious political information. Yes, I'm afraid, all-too-many in office can be precisely this stupid.

[slackmaster]

34. The geocentric Web site fixedearth.com is very serious

I even got a paper brochure from that outfit mailed to my address (to the name of a former owner who is deceased).

[SemperEadem]

35. indocrinating students in ancient Jewish beliefs?

what does this asshole think the Old Testement is?

[yellowcanine]

37. I thought Darwin was Anglican. Who knew he was Jewish? Just goes to show, you learn something new

every day.

[hayu_lol]

39. "Ancient Beliefs?" ...

Why hell, they can't be a day over 6000 years. 8^) LOL

[cyr330]

38. What's the matter with Georgia & Texas?

Just look at the people that those states elect to represent them; what IS wrong with them?

[MGKrebs]

40. It's kind of like adolescence.

People here have been repressed in one way or another for so long, whether through racism or anti-Lincolnism or bad education or bad religion or too much fried and boiled foods, that now that we are relatively free, we have to go through this "rebelling against the status quo" thing before we can make some actual progress. Give us another 10 years and we'll be the pinnacle- the acme!- of enlightened thought and behavior.







I hope.

[Skittles]

47. HEY

just so you know, I live in this g.d. state - and I never voted for those cretins :o

[sutz12]

41. As always, they project their own beliers onto others....

After all, the Creation story they like to push onto others, comes from the Book of Genesis, which is, I believe, an "ancient Jewish sect's beliefs." After all, it is supposedly written by Moses, who is a Jewish patriarch.

You can see the strategy they have been trying to take. Much like in Mann Ghoulter's book, they paste the label "Religion" on evolution so they can try to maneuver the courts into calling that a violation of separation of church and state.

They have totally failed to convince anybody with any common sense and the ability to engage in critical thinking that their patchwork brand of "Goddidit ID Creationism" is a real science. So in their dim witted ignorance, they have to accuse non-believers that science is a religion. Hey, everybody has a religion, right? Science must be a religion or so many people wouldn't 'believe' in it. Yup, it's a religion, just like Catholicism, or Judaism, etc.

In science, the 'monopoly' is based on evidence, proof, sceptical review, and rational thinking; silly stuff like that. To them, it's a religious conspiracy. It's the only way they can think.

[Gman]

43. No man's life, liberty or property is safe

when the Texas legislature is in session.

[VegasWolf]

44. Seriously, is this country that used to be the US now permanently stuck on STUPID? nt

[Judi Lynn]

46. Evolution Memo Prompts Call for Apology

Feb 18, 6:09 AM EST

Evolution Memo Prompts Call for Apology

By GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) -- A Jewish organization is demanding an apology from a Georgia legislator for a memo that says the teaching of evolution should be banned because it is a myth propagated by an ancient Jewish sect.

State Rep. Ben Bridges denies writing the memo, which attributes the Big Bang theory to Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism.

Bridges has long opposed the teaching of evolution in Georgia classrooms and has introduced legislation requiring only that "scientific fact" be taught.

Marshall Hall, president of the Fair Education Foundation, says the Republican lawmaker gave him approval to write the memo, which has been distributed to legislators in several states, including California and Texas.
(snip/...)

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EVOLUTION_JEWS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-02-18-06-09-17



Rep. Ben Bridges

[HuffleClaw]

49. the folks behind that 'campaign' are complete fucking loons

who believe (literally) the universe itself revolves around the earth and that ALL of evolution and celestial science is a JEWISH CONSPIRACY.