Hey Kentuckians, are those students a’lern’n evolushun?


I was born in Lexington, but moved to Austin decades ago as a kid with the first wave of IBM immigrants traveling from blue grass to lone stars. Austin’s great, but Kentucky to Texas is not exactly a political improvement for a budding rational atheist. Because sadly, in many ways they’re the same, including creationism:

Arstech — After dictating that schools in the state include tests based on national standards, the state lawmakers were shocked to find that evolution made a prominent appearance on the science tests. …

“I would hope that creationism is presented as a theory in the classroom, in a science classroom, alongside evolution,” the Lexington Herald-Leader quotes Senator David Givens as saying. Givens is apparently unaware that creationism is not a theory, and that the Supreme Court has ruled that teaching it is a violation of the establishment clause.

The same report quotes Representative Ben Waide, who demonstrated his lack of scientific knowledge by saying, “The theory of evolution is a theory, and essentially the theory of evolution is not science—Darwin made it up.” Waide went on to say that “Under the most rudimentary, basic scientific examination, the theory of evolution has never stood up to scientific scrutiny.”

The legislators apparently asked ACT whether it could create a Kentucky-specific version of the test; one that, presumably, would be a sort of formal recognition of the state’s distaste for mainstream science. They were told, however, that doing so would be prohibitively expensive.

These jokers should certainly know their made up theories alright. Iraq has WMD, abortion causes insanity, cutting taxes on billionaires will spur the economy, deregulating Wall Street will create gobs of jobs, and global warming is a hoax are just a few of the wacky debunked notions they proudly believe to this day.

But the prohibitive cost! Ahh, that’s the real litmus test, or more of a lie detector really. Maybe these self-professed steely eyed budget-cutting granny starvers are now busy as unevolved little bees scheming up ways to fund their theocracy with sweet taxpayer cash. Maybe. But odds are when it comes to spending money on education of any kind — even creationism in K-12 classrooms — the billionaire Kochwhore wing is calling the shots and they don’t want a penny of potential tax cuts wasted on any of that thar book lern’n, even if it’s the good book.

Comments

  1. The Lorax says

    So the theory of evolution is a theory, and therefore not worthy of being taught in the classroom.

    But the theory of creationism is also a theory, and therefore deserves equal time.

    *HULK SMASH FACE INTO DESK*

  2. grumpyoldfart says

    Givens:

    I would hope that creationism is presented as a theory in the classroom, in a science classroom, alongside evolution.

    Waide:

    The theory of evolution is a theory, and essentially the theory of evolution is not science—Darwin made it up.

    I’ll bet both of those clowns get re-elected.

  3. busterggi says

    The more I compare the behavior of fundies hollering about evolution and the behavior of pant-hooting chimps the more I start to wonder if evolution really doesn’t ahppen.

  4. F says

    Yeah, I spent some time in southern Ohio, which also has its own issues, as well as being way too close to Kentucky. Although southern Indiana could be a bit freaky, too.

  5. lanir says

    Nice to know ACT shares my current work ethic. “The company pays for work. Other people’s lies are their problem, not mine. Stupid costs extra.”

  6. left0ver1under says

    In regard to ignorance and slightly-OT, I saw this exchange elsewhere during the olympics. The ignorant Southerner was not from Kentucky, but the same principle applies:

    Southerner: “Is it just me or do Kenyan Marathoners have more teeth than their mouths can handle?”

    Respondent: “It just seems that way because where you’re from you don’t see that many teeth, so 20 or more teeth in one mouth sorta freaks you out. I assure you, Kenyans only have 32 teeth.

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