Thanks Texas

You feel that little tremor last week? A sort of tremble in your brain stem and a cold shiver up your spine? Yeah, that was our country getting dumber.

The State Board of Education on Friday passed science curriculum standards that members described as a compromise between those who are critical of teaching evolutionary theories without scrutiny and those who feared attacks on evolution would lead to the teaching of creationism in Texas schools.

After the 13-2 vote, it was social conservatives on the board who were doing most of the celebrating while scientists expressed concerns.

The new standards remove current requirements that students be taught the "strengths and weaknesses" of scientific theories. Instead, teachers will be required to have students scrutinize "all sides" of the theories.

I always like it when hundreds of years of tested and re-tested science supported by 99.9999999% of the scientific field is given the same weight as the people who added up all the ages of people in the bible and decided to wage a political battle over it. Some say this, others say this, who can tell the difference? If only science was a subject where testable hypotheses were used to prove and advance knowledge within the field. But it isn't, science is just people's opinions on stuff and thus all opinions must be debated with equal merit. 

Texas also decided global warming wasn't petro-friendly enough and put out an APB to stone Pythagoras on sight. Round earth? Texas doesn't think so Mr. a² + b² = c².

Added Bonus: Texas scrapping it out with Mississippi and Louisiana for the bottom rung of US educational rankings means the burning stupid is going to bleed into other states, as large states tend to set the textbook requirements. Thanks Texas, you are the gift that keeps on giving.