A few excerpts from House BIll 2548 (the link is to a PDF file) from Arkansas:
Somebody regurgitated a creationist list into his legislation, without checking …
Have I mentioned lately how much it pisses me off when people try to legislate science?
I hope they’re at least going to be intellectually honest and require that every single scientific “fact” better described as a theory (that is, most of science) is identified as such–not just the ones that the creation nuts want to undermine.
This is exactly why I voted against annual legislative sessions in our state. Unfortunately, it passed, so I’m sure someone is drafting similar legislation for us as we speak.
Dr. J
Archaeopteryx as a missing link has been “proven false or fraudulent”? Gosh, who knew? :rolleyes:
scary!
I hope all you Arkansasian Dopers will write to your reps to vote this turd down.
Like the “Theory of Gravity”
One day, I know when I drop my keys they will fall up…I just haven’t dropped them enough times.
You’d think Arkansas would be the one state where it was most obvious that humans had evolved from lower primates…
(I kid, I kid. I kid my Arkansan friends 'cause I love 'em…)
Obviously Arkansas has not learned from the debacle in Kansas.
From what I read of this, I can guess with near certainty that the legislation was directly adapted from Jonathan Wells’ Icons of Evolution. That’s the book that questions the significance of common biological examples, from embryology to the peppered moth. It seems this noble lawmaker wants nothing more than to guard schools against fraudulent theories – such as Linda Rondstadt’s resemblance to a silicon crystal.
**(E) The theory that fossils represents missing links between life forms. It can not be proven that any fossil had any offspring. **
No, I guess it can’t. Technically. You got me there, bubba.
He forgot to mention the “theory” that stars are millions of light-years away. It can not be proven that the speed of light has always been the same. It’s entirely possible that God created the light in transit. The eminent natural philosopher Dr. Kent Hovind says so.
Guess what? Now Washington state is working on a creationism law, too. Sheesh…
Is this where I start spraypainting the old graffitti “Arkansas is Darwin’s rewind button”?.
I was under the impression that the legislation on pi insisted that the area of a circle was the same as that of a square of the same “diameter”, essentially making pi = 4?
Legislating what is and isn’t true has to rank as one of mankind’s all time dumbest achievements.
pan
Hey, it’s me. A real live arkie doper - also a constituent of one of the bill’s sponsors (Jim Bob Duggar). Have been in touch with him, various skeptical organizations,letters to editors, etc., about this.
Here’s the good part - last election season, his wife (and one of their 13 CHILDREN) came to my door as we were leaving. I tried to be nice (sorry, won’t vote for him, etc.) and was VERY persistent. I finally said “I won’t vote for him cause he’s a fuckin’ Nazi - now get the hell out of my way (I had gotten in the van) or I’ll run you over.” I actually had to start backing up before they moved.
PS - here’s my web site about the schools around here in northwest Arkansas.
I have a digital satellite TV system in my house. It has an on-screen programming guide that provides descriptions of the various shows that are coming on, in a manner similar to TV guide listings.
At 9 pm Pacific Time tonight (about 20 minutes from now), The Discovery Channel will show a program titled Three Minutes to Impact. This is the description of the program, verbatim, from the on-screen programming guide:
I guess astronomers and “evolutionists” don’t qualify as scientists, then. :rolleyes:
The bill has passed committee - and that idiot Hovind is involved. You people wouldn’t BELIEVE what it’s like living among these ignorant throwbacks.
Here’s my favorite part of the debate in the committee:
Yes, I do. But that also overlooks the likelihood that kids will act like monkeys no matter what you teach 'em, you ignorant hick.
http://fyi.cnn.com/2001/fyi/teachers.ednews/03/22/arkansas.evolution.reut/index.html
You have my pity, clubber. Hovind, indeed? It’s worse than I thought. I thought it was bad enough when the local Baptist temple was hoodwinked into letting him lecture. But the Arkansas legislature…?
Damn, I wish we had legislative hearings like that here. Then again, I’m glad we don’t have turkeys like this guy.
I don’t think Kent Hovind is worried about his tax dollars, though. He doesn’t live in Arkansas, of course. He claims to be a citizen of the “Republic of Florida.” And the good doctor claims that the “gift offerings” he receives for his 700 annual lectures (!) are tax-exempt.
–Grump “monkey’s nephew” y
And what would be so bad about that? I haven’t yet heard of a monkey shooting up his classmates or spray-painting swastikas on a building. Of course, incidents of feces-flinging might go up…
I take it you haven’t visited a HS bathroom lately 
And then we’d just slap the Ten Commandments up on the walls of the kids-behaving-like-monkeys schools and the feces-flinging would come to an abrupt end, because that’s how powerful those really old religious laws are. The monkeys would pay more attention to something nailed on a wall than to the upbringing they got from their momma and daddy monkeys. Honest.