This is what we're up against in government when it comes to teaching evolution

[JohnnyRingo]

Last edited Sun Jan 27, 2013, 04:28 PM - Edit history (1)

(Cross posted from GD with different title)

At the recent republican summit, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal boldly suggested that his party stop being "the stupid party", even though he seems to believe "The Exorcist" is a docu-drama.

Late last year Jindal signed into law a bill that gave Louisiana schools taxpayer funded vouchers to teach creationism and anti-evolution theories in science class, despite the fact it was ruled unconstitutional and illegal. The law mentions by name three specific studies that make conservative republicans extremely joyous: evolution, climate change, and creation.

Though sold as "freedom to teach", there are no provisions for anti-religious teachings. That would still be legally taboo in Louisiana schools. Instead, the man who wants to be known as one of the "smart guys" in politics wants to teach his state's students that science is nothing more than a democratic plot to indoctrinate their children.

Last year a young man stood up to fight the state on this matter. Nineteen year old Zack Kopplin went before the Louisiana senate and argued with state legislators to defeat the "Louisiana Science Education Act" (LSEA) before it became state law. At the hearing he faced LA Senator Mark Walsworth who clearly does not understand evolution at all. He wondered how scientific proof of evolution transfers to human evolution.

The experiment outlined in the video below by science teacher Darlene Reaves explains how E.coli bacteria would evolve after only a few generations in a lab. Walsworth doesn't understand that an complex organism like human beings takes billions of years to evolve, and the experiment used bacteria for the interest of time. He asked if that E.coli could evolve into a human being, figuring that made his point that we were indeed created at our current state of being:

Watch Ms Carter Peterson bristle as Quinn debases scientists "with all those little letters behind their names":

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Here Zak and state senator Karen Carter Peterson, a champion of science, answer questions from creationist, lawyer, and state senator Julie Quinn. Listen to the hate and contempt in Senator Quinns voice as she cites scientists "with all those little letters after their names" in her attempt to discredit teaching science in the classroom. "Party of stupid" indeed:

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Kudos to Ms Reaves senator Carter Peterson for standing up to Republican state senator Quinn and proving that republicans will never evolve beyond the stupid party that they find a source of great pride. And much thanks to Zak for showing that all young people of Louisiana will not re-enter the dark ages willingly.

[Scuba]

1. You cain't show me one of them e-colis turning into a hooman! That's proof there's no evolution!

[xocet]

2. "Ain't nobody kin see them thar ecoils fixin' ta tern hoomin nether. Ain't no Devilooshun!" n/t

[Warpy]

3. Well, sir, you take a planet that's not to hot, not too cold

has a lot of water and is just the right size and you put e coli on it and then you wait for approximately three and a half billion years.

Of course, you might make something superior to human beings who would then travel here and kick your sorry butt, but that's how it's done.

[freshwest]

4. Government reflects the private will of the voters. Not what they say in public.

I watched the religious right grow after Reagan was elected although many didn't believe it could happen.

Conservative social issues had been simmering since the late sixties and early seventies. A lot of what some of us saw as a golden era for human rights and taking care of the environment were hated.

So when conservatives found a man who used the dog whistles they wanted to hear, they voted GOP. Some recieved some unintended consequences, the same as 2010. To others the effects were exactly what they wanted to see happen.

I fear right wing religion has taken such a hold that these demagogues are simply reflecting what the voters dare not debate for fear of ridicule. When their leaders are mocked, they cling to them even stronger, feeling that they are taking the heat off of them.

I look to the future they are creating for the next generation with dread.

[JohnnyRingo]

5. But it doesn't seem that long ago that we saw...

Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich sitting on a bench in a PSA mutually warning us of climate change.

I think the anti-science movement is picking up steam.

[freshwest]

6. Denial makes the road to the grave easier. Anything to get one's mind off the inevitable.

Wonderful gymnastics of the mind are being indulged as we speak. It's as if people as trying to escape into a dream world of the past, that never was, because for them, change is too painful and their children are falling into it. That's likely too simple a picture of the stupidifcation our brainwashed religious youth. Along with that they are taught to be extremely hostile to all other ways of thinking and a great many people they despise. They are ignorant of the scriptures and theology, no idea of philosophy, science or history. When I speak to them, I feel a numbing sense of loss and fear for those who will be here with them in coming years.

[kimtjj195_tx]

7. It's appalling, isn't it?

I mean this is the United States. We're supposed to be ahead of the other countries, right? The reality couldn't be farther from the truth. And as long as this nonsense is being taught, we'll only fall further behind.