Jindal and Louisiana Republicans fight to teach science of dragons and faith healing

[Timshel]

If you want to see bone deep stupid then watch the second video where the state Senator asks if e coli can be turned into a human with refrigeration.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health...h_healing.html

Last month, for the third year in a row, Louisiana’s Senate Education Committee killed a bill to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act. LSEA is stealth legislation that creates a loophole for creationism to be snuck into public school science classes. LSEA allows classroom use of supplemental creationist materials that “critique” evolution.


To get a sense of the supplemental materials approved under this law, you need look no further than its proponents. Suzanne Passman, who runs CreationEvidence.info, testifies in support of LSEA every year. (You can see her testimony here and here.) She highlights LSEA on her website and suggests supplemental materials from the Institute for Creation Research, Answers in Genesis (source of the Creation Museum), and the Discovery Institute, a think tank for intelligent design creationism. She also offers to provide notes from creationist lectures she has attended; my favorite is “Jurassic Prank,” which discusses “dragons as real creatures” and shows that “people saw dinosaurs and not so long ago.”


You might think that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Brown University biology major and someone who recently called on the Republican Party to “stop being the stupid party,” would not support nonsense such as critiquing evolution with dragons. You’d be wrong. Jindal recently re-emphasized his support for teaching creationism in public schools through LSEA. As he said in an interview with NBC News:

“We have what’s called the Science Education Act that says if a teacher wants to supplement those materials, if the school board’s OK with that, if the state school board’s OK with that, they can supplement those materials.

“I’ve got no problem if a school board, a local school board, says we want to teach our kids about creationism, that some people have these beliefs as well. Let’s teach them about intelligent design. I think teach them the best science.”

Evolution is not the only scientific theory that is controversial to Louisiana politicians. Apparently, modern medicine is also subject to debate. Louisiana state Sen. Elbert Guillory had a novel argument in defense of LSEA: It should not be repealed because he doesn’t want to “prematurely” declare that faith healing is “pseudo-science.”

During this year’s state Senate hearing to repeal LSEA, Guillory explained that he wouldn’t want to keep the “science” behind an experience he had with a witch doctor—who “wore no shoes, was semi-clothed, used a lot of bones that he threw around”—out of a public school science classroom.

[Howey]

Proof positive stupid isn't genetic, it's learned.

[Timshel]

BTW, this is written by the teen activist Zack Kopplin who is now a student at Rice.

Zack Kopplin is a science education activist who has fought against creationism being taught with public money and is fighting for more funding for science. He is a winner of the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award and the National Center for Science Education’s Friend of Darwin Award. His newest campaign is calling for a Second Giant Leap for Humankind with increased teaching and funding of evidence-based science. Follow him on Twitter at@zackkopplin.

[Topspin]

Sheds a little light on how hard the weed fight is gonna take in swamp invested cousin marryville huh!

[Mott the Hoople]

If you want to see bone deep stupid then watch the second video where the state Senator asks if e coli can be turned into a human with refrigeration.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health...h_healing.html

Last month, for the third year in a row, Louisiana’s Senate Education Committee killed a bill to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act. LSEA is stealth legislation that creates a loophole for creationism to be snuck into public school science classes. LSEA allows classroom use of supplemental creationist materials that “critique” evolution.


To get a sense of the supplemental materials approved under this law, you need look no further than its proponents. Suzanne Passman, who runs CreationEvidence.info, testifies in support of LSEA every year. (You can see her testimony here and here.) She highlights LSEA on her website and suggests supplemental materials from the Institute for Creation Research, Answers in Genesis (source of the Creation Museum), and the Discovery Institute, a think tank for intelligent design creationism. She also offers to provide notes from creationist lectures she has attended; my favorite is “Jurassic Prank,” which discusses “dragons as real creatures” and shows that “people saw dinosaurs and not so long ago.”


You might think that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Brown University biology major and someone who recently called on the Republican Party to “stop being the stupid party,” would not support nonsense such as critiquing evolution with dragons. You’d be wrong. Jindal recently re-emphasized his support for teaching creationism in public schools through LSEA. As he said in an interview with NBC News:

“We have what’s called the Science Education Act that says if a teacher wants to supplement those materials, if the school board’s OK with that, if the state school board’s OK with that, they can supplement those materials.

“I’ve got no problem if a school board, a local school board, says we want to teach our kids about creationism, that some people have these beliefs as well. Let’s teach them about intelligent design. I think teach them the best science.”

Evolution is not the only scientific theory that is controversial to Louisiana politicians. Apparently, modern medicine is also subject to debate. Louisiana state Sen. Elbert Guillory had a novel argument in defense of LSEA: It should not be repealed because he doesn’t want to “prematurely” declare that faith healing is “pseudo-science.”

During this year’s state Senate hearing to repeal LSEA, Guillory explained that he wouldn’t want to keep the “science” behind an experience he had with a witch doctor—who “wore no shoes, was semi-clothed, used a lot of bones that he threw around”—out of a public school science classroom.

What's really disgusting is Jindhals out and out right pandering of right wing nut jobs in Louisianna. He has a BS in Biology from Brown University so he definately knows better. The man should be ashamed of himself!

[Mott the Hoople]

Sheds a little light on how hard the weed fight is gonna take in swamp invested cousin marryville huh!

It's going to end up costing your State a log of taxpayers money as eventually it will go to court and the LSEA doesn't pass the Lemmon test. Which means it's going to be a bunch of LA taxpayers money wasted and the State will end up with a reputation for being backwards and scientifically illiterate.

[Topspin]

It's going to end up costing your State a log of taxpayers money as eventually it will go to court and the LSEA doesn't pass the Lemmon test. Which means it's going to be a bunch of LA taxpayers money wasted and the State will end up with a reputation for being backwards and scientifically illiterate.

Long running play down here!

[Steelplate]

Long running play down here!

You ain't kidding...I lived there for a while and would visit my sister occasionally when I moved back to PA.

On one visit, my sister told me that a candidate's political slogan was "all it takes fo the people of LA to be happy is a pickup truck with a gun rack"

well...what would seem like an insult to most people, struck a chord with the voters and the guy won.