I don’t understand how Texans can bear it, myself — their board of education has made them a laughingstock. I always thought they had some pride down there.
That one panel captures creationist logic perfectly. They’ve battened on global warming as an issue that they believe helps their cause.
“Scientists clearly have no idea what they’re talking about. They made those mistakes in that report, after all.”
Therefore, the earth is 6,000 years old.”
“And Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs.”
It would be funny if it wasn’t exactly what I’ve heard people claim.
Is it too late to give Texas back to Mexico?
Take my Board of Eduction, please.
Hey, Texas isn’t going to do anything halfway.
And this includes the Board of Education making asses of themselves.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
On behalf of other Texas atheists, freethinkers and teachers please don’t be so quick to throw us out with the bath water. The SBOE is currenlty overpopulated with morons, we know. That is why many were voted out recently but before their terms are up they are trying to pass as much crap as possible because it stays for 10 years. It’s a stupid system that we need to change.
I’d write more but I have to go teach biology to my community college students; whom I inundate with evolution and critical thinking.
It is a strange system indeed that allows totally unqualified people decide on curricula.
Creationism, ChemTrails, UFO sightings.
The second you dismiss any of them for lack of evidence, (or mock the belief in such despite said lack) they claim you’re not open-minded and refuse to consider the validity of their points.
It’s a completely incomprehensible to them that we actually have considered the validity of their points and found them to lack any substance.
The chemtrail nut I was arguing with recently used a government report on aerosol pollution as his “proof” that all the governments of the world are working together covertly to change the environment with spraying.
No matter how many times I pointed out that his “proof” never references efforts to do so, does not mention planes equipped with spraying devices, etc. and strictly deals with pollution, he couldn’t get over the fact that I was close minded in my approach to the matter.
He also refused to call his belief a conspiracy, despite the covert world-government theme, because that would make him sound like a nut.
Sigh.
Why not just let Texas secede and then put up a website that makes it seem attractive for the remaining nuts to move there. Include mention of reptile overlords, and aliens with exotic but plugs.
Astronomers must be really upset that they can only see as far as 6% of the diameter of our galaxy, and nothing outside of it.
They would be, if god hadn’t deceptively faked it just to give their sciency minds something to do. Idle hands…
sigh
I have always said and believed that the victor writes history. Now, I have lived long enough to prove it.
I do the big difference between theists and non-theists is theists don’t give a fuck if your not theist – they openly admit to your face you and your children are stupid and will rot in hell. They know what they believe will change the universe for the best. They are willing to put life, family, carreers and walets on the line – both in ancient and modern times.
What theists have been doing for the last 2,000 – 10,000 years is working. What non-theists are doing is not.
Seems to be working pretty well in Western Europe. Enough to have the Churches running scared that they will lose what influence they still have left, which is not a lot in a number of Western European countries. For a spectacular example of religion losing influence look to Ireland.
Big Fat Whale made fun of ’em a couple weeks ago too.
exotic but plugs.
I hesistate to ask what an exotic but plug might be. Exotic alien butt plugs are bad enough.
It’s certainly painful at times. Even living here in Austin no longer provides enough insulation from the stupid. The best I can do is make sure that my young kiddos are smarter than the SBOE, which even at age 10 has not been particularly difficult.
Dianne, I am waiting for the more inclusive exotic and plugs.
Goheels (@2):
Technically, we didn’t take them from Mexico: As anyone who attended school in Texas could tell you, Texas was an independent republic at the time of annexation, having defeated Mexico in the War of Independence (1835-1836). However, Santa Anna (has there been an occasion since when the sitting president of a major nation actually led its troops on the field of battle?) was deposed in absentia, the Mexican government never ratified the Treaties of Velasco, and many consider the Mexican War to have been essentially a continuation of the Texas Revolution.
Interestingly, I’m now listening to the audiobook of a biography of Lincoln, who was a Whig member of the House during the Mexican War, and was a vocal opponent of Polk’s war policy, and it’s astounding how similar the arguments of 1836 are to the arguments of 2003, et seq., regarding the Iraq War. In those days, of course, it was the Democrats who were fighting trumped up wars on false pretenses, and then accusing war opponents of being unpatriotic and not supporting the troops. The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh?
BTW, is Lincoln still taught in the Texas schools?
Yes, you talk to charming, funny, well mannered people here in the Lone Star State and then someone who seems perfectly sane tells you empiricism/materialism/rationalism are religions, the supernatural is natural and that yogis and Jesus levitated but science just hasn’t explained it yet. Incredulous, you turn to the college educated people to his right and left and they just stare back with goat-like eyes and a calmness that let’s you know they have similar beliefs as well. It’s surreal and sad.
Isn’t it funny how every TV-angelist, freakin’ ultraconservative teabagging “Baby Killer” shouting sonuvabitch plus his supporters and all 3 name serial killers seem to have a Texas connection. The sane and rational here are outnumbered by wackaloons 5-1, you just can’t always tell it by their demeanor.
Shouldn’t think so. Wasn’t he a communist or something ? All that freeing of slaves, the man clearly had no respect for property rights.
Glad to hear that theists no longer wish to force their beliefs into curricula.
Oh, except that’s exactly part of what’s at issue with the theocrats at the Texas BOE.
Glen D
http:/tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
“Astronomers must be really upset that they can only see as far as 6% of the diameter of our galaxy, and nothing outside of it.”
If you assume the 6,000 rather than the 15 billion generally used as a yardstick, you get something tiny such as 0.0000004%. Roughly equivalent to the aggregate IQ of the Texas Board of Education.
I’m embarrassed to say I live in Texas, where everything is bigger including the stupidity levels.
Jeeze, airplanes are not held up by Angels, they’re held up by Thetans.
Are you aware of the Juneteenth (originally June 19,1865) celebration in Texas?
Emancipation for Texas slaves was not announced until three years after the original proclamation of September 22,1862. (Shhhhhhh! mebbe they won’t notice if nobody sez nothin…) Let’s just say that Texas Conservatives have their own slant on Honest Abe but Jefferson was the better target because of miscegenation and that Bible editing/Deist crap.
Yes, it was a typo.
One letter off in the post, and that’s what everyone dwells on.
And that is why the creationists are winning.
The people opposed to them are too busy pointing out typos on the internet to challenge them.
Sometimes, I think that’s exactly what’s going on here.
As in: it’s just standard Texas boast stuff. They see someone else being stupid, and they just get all competitive. They’re all like: ‘Y’all think that‘s dumb? Why, in Texas, that boy’d be in the enrichment class…’
(/’Now this here, this is stupid…’)
#17: after Santa Anna, there was also Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in France, who evaded from jail by dressing as a carpenter (thus earning the nickname Badinguet for the remainder of his career), was elected (the first) president of France in 1848, staged a coup d’État in 1851 (why do you think this is a French word? both Bonapartes invented the modern concept), proclaimed himself emperor, and got captured by the Prussians at the head of his army in 1870.
I thought Rick Perry argued that Texas had a constitutional right to secede? Maybe by ramming just a bit more healthcare down their throats, they might be prompted to do so, thereby removing their republican congresscritters and members of the electoral college…
Pretty sure Juneteenth isn’t just a Texas thing.
It’s no joke, baby.
Jefferson is out, and Calvin and Aquinas are in.
@21
He said galaxy, not universe.
Oh, really? Funny that non-religious/atheist is the only consistently growing segment in our population demographics (faith/non-faith). Total “Christian” is down 10.2% from 1991. Total non-Christian is up 0.5% and that’s mostly growth in Buddhist and other eastern religions.
OTOH, atheism is up… So, I think what atheists are doing is working quite well.
Texas: Bored of Education
IOt’s called “having fun with,” not “dwelling on.” And you might want to think about getting over yourself.
@ KOPD
I see your point, but why not compare with the whole shebang & not just one provincial corner of it?
Perry makes Dubya look like a genius. This entire Good ‘ol boy conservative network is a monument to the ridiculousness that is Texas Politics. Did’ja know there’s a Texas pledge with a new “under God” phrase in it that the school kids have to recite everyday courtecy Rick Perry?
Oh, and Perry loves him some McLeroy & Dunbar.
Wait… creationists are winning? And pedantry is the reason?
Come on, Mike… please be serious for a minute, would you?
Actually the rest of the one more “lets kick all them stupid [INSERT SOUTHERN STATE HERE] out” comment was more my issue.
Jefferson is out, and Calvin and Aquinas are in.
This is funny. For the last week in the Sins Of Omission thread, a weird troll by the name of Daniel Smith has been arguing for the existence of an unchanging mover (god) by using Aquinas and Aristotle era natural physics.
Only since 1980, Rev.
#6
But how else would you do it? We can’t leave it to professionals. It might result in children who know more than their parents. They might even end up thinking that their parents were WRONG on occasion.
It would be the end of civilization. Much better to just dumb down the children. They’ll ask fewer questions that way.
Yeah I was speaking presently. I’m pretty sure there are Juneteenth celebrations here in SC.
Sometimes the angels get tired and accidentally drop a plane. Other times they just chuck them through tall buildings.
i’m so over myself i don’t even bother to hit the shift key. maybe i’m just lazy.
anyway, texas is weird.
BigDumbChimp
I never said kick anyone out.
People like Perry want to secede, let them.
And make it more attractive to those who think like him.
But don’t round anyone up.
IaMoL #18 wrote:
That’s not exclusive to Texas by any means. People really, really don’t understand the value and scope of the scientific method; instead, they go by “common sense,” personal experience, and their conviction that having faith in something extraordinary is the mark of a wise, deep, sensitive person.
I have tried to explain to charming, funny, well-mannered, well-educated people that I don’t accept the consensus of modern science because I “trust” scientists, as people. No: science is the method you choose when you don’t trust scientists. It’s a competitive, diverse, ruthless method of cross-checking, where, if someone or some group makes a mistake, or lies — another group will catch them. Reality is a harsh measure.
Instead, they prefer to see the scientific community as a monolithic, hegemonic network of good ol’ boys — so it’s all just a matter of picking the right individuals, to trust.
They’re also so used to the idea that religion pulls from special revelation (ie gets to just make stuff up), that they think scientists must be doing the same thing. All beliefs are based on faith. So researchers must choose to go with gut intuitions, and then protect them from having to be changed. Just like they do.
@36
The topic of the post is Texas.
McElroy and his cronies get their way. That seems like winning, doesn’t it? The battles are currently in their favor, even if the war will not be.
Janine, you can only have exotic or plugs.
RevBDC:
I see IaMoL has already responded, but yeah, the all-knowing wiki confirms that Juneteenth is celebrated around the nation, and is an official state holiday in 35 states. That said, what it celebrates is directly related to Texas: To wit, the date news of the Emancipation Proclamation arrived in Galveston, nearly 3 years after the fact.
And yes, IaMoL, I was aware of Juneteenth, largely because of the great parties and concerts that (in my day, in any case) accompanied it… but I don’t recall being taught anything about it in school.
Yeah… that whole conversation has just been bizarre… entertaining, but bizarre…
It goes to show just how complex the mental gymnastics can be when you’re completely mentally wedded to an absurd idea. Smith keeps redefining what he thinks the “unchanging changer” is, or what it properties might be, every time it’s shown how the logic he’s using is fatally flawed. And it’s all ok because when you’re starting with a totally imaginary, untestable and unobservable phenomenon, you can play Calvinball all you want to get around any argument. Just imagine it differently, and POOF! It is different. And then we have to go through the arduous process of knocking the logic down again.
It’s exhausting but I admire the likes of Owlmirrow, Sastra, Paul W. and others who’ve continued to engage and refute him despite his weird obsession with Aquinas. I actually am starting to think he might believe he is Aquinas.
The rest of the country co-opted Juneteenth to celebrate since it’s perfect for a huge Summer celebration versus the back to school September blahs – a terrible time to stop and think about freedom. I’m also sure many descendants of slaves nationally are well under six degrees of separation from Texas Juneteenth celebrants.
Surely, you jest!
….and you think pedantry is the reason?
Again… get over yourself.
So the minority (or majority, I don’t have the numbers) interests of people in Texas that don’t want to secede don’t matter?
Texans are people, too. Just because they’re outside your Monkeysphere doesn’t mean you’re not being an ass when you don’t bother considering them as actual people with their own interests, wants, and needs independent of their crazy governor.
Of which until IaMoL mentioned it, I was pretty much unaware of the details.
It goes pretty far in explaining why the kids here who absolutely hate school seem to be the brightest.
Oh, I’ll say one more thing though. The school board is horrible, the schools here suck, but a lot of the teachers are actually great.
I had a science teacher in middle school who was tacitly fired for teaching evolution as an accepted scientific theory. He had actually made a supplement book with illustrations of plant life etc. during different periods in the Earth’s history. His drawings were freaking great. I actually saved the little book he made. It was the one and only time I was ever taught the approximate age of the earth in the public school system, for the record.
I had the fortune of having some very cool African American teachers and coaches here in north central Texas back in the late 70s. The black high school just happened to burn down on the east side of town just a month before the only other brand new high school opened in 1970 (how’s that for instantaneous desegregation?) The elementary and middle schools were desegregated at that same time. We did have a week of AA studies in history in high school without a complaint by 1976 I’m happy to say. I remember feeling outrage when we were told how long it took for Texas slaves to be released from the original emancipation date.
@53 Paul,
And if their elected representatives secede them out, then welcome those who no longer want to live there with open arms into other states and Canada.
If you’re in the minority in a state and it DOES secede, what magic wand is going to undo that for you?
Erm… ‘Kay. For what it’s worth, me, I just sorta figured:
… was meant to be taken as comic hyperbole, not so much a genuine proposal all of Texas could just get the hell gone.
I mean, geez, folks. Yes, it’s an old joke. But c’mon. Throw the tomatoes for that, if anything.
I’d also mention that I do, in fact, know some smart people from Texas who do not actually seem to believe in the Grays… But I’d be afraid it might come off too much like: ‘But one my best friends is Texan…’
All this said, I do trust it’s understood I do not believe excessive pedantry is likely to be the reason McElroy and Co. got away with their stupid shit…
(/Howevs, if anyone makes fun of my sentence structure, You grammar Nazis are letting the terrorists win!!!)
@#8
“Astronomers must be really upset that they can only see as far as 6% of the diameter of our galaxy, and nothing outside of it.”
The Andromeda galaxy is visible with the naked eye and quite definitely outside of our galaxy (what with it being another galaxy). It’s 2.5 million light years away.
The galaxy M81 is 12 million light years away and can also be seen with the naked eye, though not by me. I have bad eyesight.
Our own galaxy is about 100,000 light years across. 6% of that would be 6,000 light years. The furthest star which can be seen with the naked eye is mu-cephei, thought to be about 4000 light years away so that is at least in the ballpark of you figure, but that doesn’t take into account the use of telescopes which extend our range dramatically. I understand there is a satellite called the Hubble telescope. You may have heard of it. It can see things that are at distances of up to 12 billion light years away.
Your figure of 6% is wrong in every way imaginable.
I know you probably realize this, but Perry isn’t serious about seceding, he’s just playing to the peanut gallery. Perry isn’t stupid; he’s one of the best natural politicians I’ve ever seen (the fact that he’s the longest-serving Governor in TX history is not an accident). He’s not a teabagger, but he knows how to talk to them. Given that he won the last election with a 39% plurality, he’d be stupid not to reach out to every constituency he can, crazy or not.
As for the TxSBOE, we’re trying. Several SBOE members, including McLeroy, lost their primaries earlier this month. Small comfort in the face of these latest changes, I know, but at least those voters were capable of some embarrassment.
@AJ Milne
If I had any hero cookies, I would certainly give one to you :)
Refugee Texans are welcome to camp here.
@58 Mike,
No matter how much stupid the evacuees think they’re escaping, they’ll change their minds about Canada when January rolls around. We have cold AND stupid. Too much cold, too much stupid.
@60
Your sarcasm detector seems to be malfunctioning.
Here is a poster the TBOE can make use of to get all of those silly books that mentions Thomas Jefferson.
What is their take on Jefferson Davis?
That “whoosh”ing sound you hear is the poster’s point going right over your head.
The Mexicans might not want it back.
To be fair, the reasons could be benevolent. For god loves astronomers and wants to ensure them gainful employment. And god so loved biologists that he sent them his only beloved Darwin. . . .
Or maybe it’s just enrichment. Like those bright squishy things you toss into the octopus tank. . . .
In light of the Colgate Twins episode, apologies to Mike for being over sensitive and failing to utilize my hyperbole detector.
Babies? Or puppies? I get it sooooo confused, which one goes in the shark tank (when it’s not being used for obnoxious British twits in bad films)?
As a Texan, I’m embarrassed.
Hope it’s okay to post a link to my cartoon on the matter:
Jefferson We Hardly Knew You
I was fine with the original post from Mike… I too assumed a bit of “tongue in cheek”…
but I still say to this:
Come on…
Yes, we Texans in Austin have to put up with a lot of wackiness, including gravity denial. I didn’t believe it until I saw that a local church produced this video – “Theory, Fact, or Fiction?”
Matt (@60):
KOPD (@64) and truthspeaker (@66) have already suggested you might want to buy a clue, but the funny thing is your own post highlights the key hint regarding the snark that zoomed over your head:
Now, how long does it take light to travel 6,000 ly? And so how old would the universe be if we couldn’t see anything farther away than that? And does that impied age for the universe ring any bells for you? We’ll wait….
In fairness to you, though, Newfie (the person who posted #8) does have a history of being “wrong in every way imaginable” around here on other subjects; maybe that’s what you had in mind?
Penfold @ 6
It’s worse than you think, some of these wingnuts homeschool their kids and were educated at Liberty U
@#47
Or plugs huh? Are we still talking inclusive ones, or are we dealing with exclusivity now? :)
For those with disposable income, Sensible Party Rebecca Bell-Metereau is running as a Democrat against Silly Party Ken Mercer; and Sensible Party Judy Jennings is running as a Democrat for the seat formerly held by Very Silly Party Cynthia Dunbar. (Jennings is not running against Dunbar, who decided not to run for re-election. Dunbar’s Very Silly Party endorsed successor is currently facing a run off against another Very Silly Party challenger for the GOP nomination; the winner will face Jennings.)
abb3w,
Ken Mercer is definitely a member of the Very Silly Party, like Dunbar and her would-be successor Brian Russell. Russell’s opponent, Marsha Farney, appears to be less silly, and I hope she wins the runoff (she just barely garnered the most votes in the three-way general election).
This pretty much sums up what irrationality is all about.
Eileen #63…speak for yourself. Southern British Columbia has had the mildest winter ever. :)
The Daily Show last week had a “funny” clip of the Texas School Board hearings debating the inclusion of (ironically, someone I can’t remember) where the argument for not including him is that no one knows who he is. That’s right, they were arguing that the schools should only teach things people already know.
Their interests, wants and needs are what made him governor in the first place. Or is it your contention that the people of Texas didn’t vote for him?
Some of us voted against him, and some of us couldn’t vote. Just saying.
It doesn’t surprise me at all that the creationists, PR masters that they are, are trying to latch on to climate change. I can’t recall an editorial cartoon claiming that evolution as a hoax, but the same can’t be said of global warming.
Does someone have a link of what the Texas Board of Education is actually doing?
Jojame:
Www. google.com
In that big blank enter: Texas Board of Education.
Or is that too difficult for you?
I am a little uhhh ‘shook’ by the title of this post. I failed to mention it earlier in my post #20(or whatever it was).
“The Texas Board of Education is officially the biggest joke in the world”
Obviously the wrong people think it is a joke. Or the joke is on these people who think its a joke. Joke or not we watched it happen. Like god inscribed the 10 commandments so has Texas our school books. They were successfully able to rewrite history to support their religion and personal agenda.
@ Post #84 the schoolboard is doing what good theists ought to do by any means necessary – promote their god.
He has previously shown a lack of how to Google. Goes with his backwards ideas I think.
I asked for the link since I haven’t read all that much on this subject. But from what I have read the only thing that stood out as outrageous to me was cutting Thomas Jefferson, supposedly for advocating separation of church and state. I can see arguing the current interpretation of “separation of church and state” should not be taught. Jefferson’s use of it was related to the establishment clause of the first amendment which the right would generally support and not that government should have no relationship to religion at all. Cutting Jefferson though is pretty reckless and I am shocked by that.
I don’t see how putting in Aquinas and Calvin is trying to support religion. They were major figures in history. I would think atheists would support the teaching of Calvin. He invented an especially screwed up religion. Calvinism lead to the Huguenots who fought with the Catholics in the French wars of religion. It was those wars that lead to the founding fathers not to favor any religion.
My contention is that it is a basic principle that we protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. If you don’t see how this could apply in the “fuck the South, let them secede” case, it’s really not worth discussing with you.
In total agreement – Just hoping we get rid of Perry also.
I teach 4th grade. When I teach about adaptations – I teach evolution. I turn the whole “question scientific thought” TEKS on its head and make them question where “authorities” get their information. I am going to make a point of teaching about the people cut from the history curriculum. I have more freedom due to the tech class I teach.
That is the only way government can be neutral on religion. Otherwise, it has to “pick and chose” that which religions it supports. Totally inclusive or totally exclusive. The latter is easier. Many Xians get upset if government supports Wiccans.
@Nerd #91
I would agree that would be a good idea for the government to be completely separate from any religion but what the right is arguing is that there is nothing in the constitution that says you can’t have things like “In God We Trust” or “Wiccans are cool” on money.
*rolls eyes*
You would be the one to express your approval of obvious brainwashing and the wrecking of education.
As usually, they, the right wingers, are full of smelly decaying excrement. The government should not even support any of the 1000+ imaginary deities, much less a religion. The easiest course is for it to ignore every religion and god. Then, you absolutely cannot be accused of supporting any one of them (religions or deities).
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of Religion.”
I’m pretty sure the Constitution disagrees.
Jojame don’t take the look at google personal: but try – texas board of education AND crazy…
aquinas would be fine except tboe trying to teach that aquinas was the inspiration for the revolution NOT the enlightenment. Can’t teach the enlightenment in texas – all that talk of reason and such. They really want to rewrite what happened in the 18th century into something that it wasn’t.
If you have to lie to prove your point; the point you are trying to prove is probably a lie.
jojame the idiot, do you think it is constitutional for your banknotes to say “in allah we trust”?
Remind me, what did Aquinas do besides pontificate about religion?
@ 80 :
“The Daily Show last week had a “funny” clip of the Texas School Board hearings debating the inclusion of (ironically, someone I can’t remember) where the argument for not including him is that no one knows who he is. That’s right, they were arguing that the schools should only teach things people already know”
Here it is:
“Don’t Mess With Textbooks: Since no one knows who Oscar Romero is, the Texas school board decides not to include him in the curriculum.”
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-march-17-2010/don-t-mess-with-textbooks
I don’t think anyone is seriously suggesting Texas should secede (the whacked-out asses you guys elected as governor and BOE members notwithstanding), but merely expressing frustration at the people who are not merely content to wallow in their own stupidity, but feel the need to inflict it on everyone else in the state, and possibly the nation. Maybe you should direct your anger at the cause of that frustration (in other words, Texans) and stop shooting the messenger.
Or fuck off. It’s up to you.
So what, tsg, should Paul do with all that anger at me? I didn’t vote for Perry but I’m a Texan and Paul should be angry with me, right? I deserve it.
Yeah, I get that you guys are just pissed that the assholes over here are being assholes. I seriously hope you’re not from the US though with that attitude. Because you inflicted Bush on the world in that case.
I’m not from Texas, I’m from California.
Yes, and if a Mexican comes to the US and subsequently disagrees with something the US does, it’s acceptable to say they should gtfo since they don’t like it here, right? After all, nobody’s forcing them to do anything.
I’m not angry, I’m pointing out an offensive statement.
Fuck you.
@99
I’m surprised they didn’t confuse him with George Romero. No, really: they confused Bill Martin, Jr., author of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you See? with the author of the same name who wrote Ethical Marxism.
My mistake.
Yeah, because that’s precisely the same thing.
Your concern is noted.
My example was more charitable. “Just let them secede and the problem is fixed” completely ignores the wishes, intents, and desires of people who were born in Texas as part of the US, raised in Texas as part of the US, and want it to remain that way, simply because someone was tired of hearing a politician spew overblown rhetoric. Just because you like poking fun at hicks and rednecks doesn’t make it less offensive or rude.
And as Ol’Greg hinted, the way you feel about Texas is the way most of the world feels about the US. So yeah, taking the loud morons as being representative of and speaking for everyone else is probably something you want to rethink.
And that’s why they’re idiotic, because the Establishment Clause clearly prohibits those things.
With good reason. In the US as a whole, just like Texas, the loud morons aren’t just loud and moronic, they’re in the majority
Like I said, I doubt anyone is seriously suggesting that. They’re merely expressing frustration.
I see, criticizing the Texas governor and BoE, and by extension the people who put them in office, for doing something stupid is a smear against “rednecks and hicks”. Wait, what?
I agree with them. I’m also smart enough to know I’m not in the group that they’re complaining about, even when they say “Americans”, because I don’t act that way, nor did I vote for the people who do. But there are plenty of fucking morons in this country who did and I’m sure as shit not going to blame the rest of the world for simply pointing it out.
Who said I was? In what universe does a generality necessarily hold true for every individual?
Recently 48 of 50 state governors met to agree on national standards for educatiion i.e. what kids throughout the nation should know. Guess which one of the 2 states did not attend. Yep, gov. Perry of texas who claimed “Texans know best how to educate our children” Yeah Texas knows best, we have creationists designing our science curriculum and now these morons want to eliminate TJ from the curriculum because he supported separation of church and state. Even the conservative journalist Jonathon Gurwitz in the San Antonio Express News criticized this.
Hey, be nice. Mexicans don’t want to have to deal with Texans, either.
erm…
Actually there is a small but vehement set of people who do want Texas to secede. They would be a lot more trouble than they are but since they schism more often than modern Omnianism, they are not much of an issue. Every now and then one of them attracts a genuine nut case (instead of the usual crowd of losers) and something bad happens or almost happens. No worse than any bunch of “patriot” groups elsewhere.
The truth is that Texas has a bunch of idiotes, idiotes muy estupidos. So does California and New Mexico and South Carolina. And New Hampshire. We have this quirk of history that Texas was an independent nation for roughly a decade and that is where all that nonsense comes from.
But while making your remarks about secession, please remember that something like 40 percent of voting Texans voted for Obama. Gerrymandering has so far successfully kept that 40 percent a small minority within their own districts, but we are making progress.
Also note that some of the TxBoE have been screaming bloody murder through the whole process. They’ve been outvoted, but they are hardly acquiescent. And we aren’t through yet. There is another round of discussions and public hearings in May. If you actually care how about sending a donation to the Texas Freedom Network a group of believers and non-believers who are fighting for Texas children. That’s one kind of accommodationism I’ll tolerate. You can also email the SBOE and tell them what you think. Since textbook companies for schools all across the country pay a lot of attention to what Texas buys, they should have to listen to you too. Here’s their address: sboesupport@tea.state.tx.us
Some of this thread, and discussions similar to it, are far too much tempest for the teapot in question. “In God we trust” is about as innocuous, vague and non-referential as you can get; since the term “god” means so many different things AND so many different non-things to so many, it’s semantically void. Apropos is Humpty Dumpty’s observation on the meaning/power of a word: “It’s a question of who’s to be master.” As an example, whenever I’m asked, “Do you believe in God?” I always respond, “Which one?” Usually the discussion finds other topics to discuss/amuse/deflect. That question is closely related to “Do you believe the Bible?” which, being realistically interpreted, is “Do you believe what I’m about to tell you about the Bible?” I always respond, “Which one?” The presence of markings on some of the currency passing through my hands has absolutely no relevance to me, the currency or its passage through my hands. (Other than the requisite phrase, “legal tender.”) I would deem it quasi-masochistic to get all torqued over certain engraving marks that I never even look at. As Lazarus Long observed, “When the locals rub blue clay in their navels….” the blue clay is nothing to me or my navel whether the locals esteem it or not. Some goodly portion of this flailing about over having “In God we trust” on our currency borders on self-flagellation – which, I am told, is esteemed in some cultures. I don’t like pain. It hurts.
Is it too late to give Texas back to Mexico?
The Mexicans might not want it back.
Are you kidding????? it took us two wars to take the church out of the goverment and still are trying to come back… Imagine a flock of conservatives with money…
Already one of our more conservative state is trying to remove the oficial biology textbook, because it dares to suggest that homosexuality is not a sin, and because it explains about masturbation and anticonception . (High school level)
Some of this thread, and discussions similar to it, are far too much tempest for the teapot in question. “In God we trust” is about as innocuous, vague and non-referential as you can get; since the term “god” means so many different things
In Mexico we have and old joke… that the american bill does not says “in god we trust” but “in this god we trust”…
Peter H,
No. It’s merely semantically ambiguous.
Allow me to clarify: I doubt that anyone here, to whom the complaints were being leveled, was serious when they suggested that Texas should secede.
The reactions of the American people, and Congress, when the phrase “under god” in the Pledge of Allegiance was being challenged says otherwise. Few people react that strongly to a word that is “semantically void”.
Peace. I can’t speak for Paul but I don’t really care if you hate me for living here. We’re all pretty much fighting the same things anyway :/
@114
Here the old, old joke is “in gold we trust.” It does say a lot.
James F: Ken Mercer is definitely a member of the Very Silly Party, like Dunbar and her would-be successor Brian Russell.
I’ve only been classifying Dunbar and McLeroy as Very Silly Party; Mercer, along with Lowe, Cargill, Leo, and Bradley as Silly Party; Miller, Hardy, and Agosto as Slightly Silly; Craig as Slightly Sensible Party; and Nuñez, Berlanga, Allen, and Knight as Sensible Party. (I’m not sure where Clayton, who beat out Miller, will fall; probably between Slightly Sensible and Silly, but it’s not impossible he’s a stealth candidate from the Sensible Party.)
Mercer is probably the Silliest of the remaining Silly Party, and is likely to drift more Silly with the removal of both current Very Silly Party members. However, after a search, he doesn’t seem to have spewed enough ludicrous nonsense to meet my expectations to be considered Very Silly Party in the way Don “Stand Up to Experts” McLeroy and Cynthia “Deceptive Tool of Perversion” Dunbar have.
Well, hell, as if we Texans don’t have enough problems, what with all the idjits and Republicans down here raising cain about having to live in a modern secular democracy . . .
Here come the folks telling us to secede. That ain’t gonna solve your problem, people; you’ll still have Oklahoma, Georgia, Utah, etc., to worry about.
Send some money to the Texas Freedom Network and/or join up. Join Texas Citizens for Science. We are waging cultural war down here, I promise you, and we could use the reinforcements.