Science In Texas Science Curriculum?

Evidently Texas wants to be very careful that science doesn't sneak into their science curriculum. Now anybody familiar with the BushCo theocracy and the fact that Texass spawned this Constitutionally challenged kinglet shouldn't be surprised that the 19th, 20th, and dawning 21st Centuries have passed them by. They have fired the Texas Education Agency's head of science curriculum for an email informing of a speaking event by an opponent of Creationism. The person demanding the head of Chris Comer is...wait for it...a former Bush appointee to the US Education Department, Lizzette Reynolds, who was also an advisor to Gov. GW Bush.

The Austin American-Statesman quotes Lizztte, an hour and a half after the email, "an offense that calls for termination." To get a feeling for what is going on in Texass one need only check Agency spokesperson Debbie Radcliffe:

Ratcliffe said that although there are no written rules defining what agency employees can say regarding evolution, creationism or intelligent design, employees in the curriculum department were verbally warned recently to be careful when dealing with issues that might come up as part of the state's upcoming curriculum adoption process.

"An employee shouldn't say something that's contrary to the curriculum, and they shouldn't look like they are siding with one camp over another," Ratcliffe said. "It's no secret that there are political differences on the State Board of Education. ... And employees have to be able to work with all the members in a fair way without the perception that they are siding with one group or another. That's why it's important for us to be neutral on issues and just to say what the policy is and not to create it ourselves."

Now there certainly is no reason to think theocracy and politics might have something to do with this:

She said charges of misconduct against Comer were prompted by a lack of professionalism and not by politics associated with the hiring of a former Bush administration employee as Comer's boss or the appointment of a self-avowed creationist to chair the State Board of Education.

Nah, GeorgeII and religious nuttery certainly certainly had nothing to do with this mess. I don't really care about religions and their views of creation and the age of the Earth, it just isn't my business. I do have real strong views about the importance of science being science. The game of pretending ID is not a religious postulation and that it is not a Judeo/Christian postulation is ridiculous. Getting naked and painting yourself blue to dance around oak trees is no more scientific. I have all kinds of tools on a job site that demand that you don't believe they're magic, even if god is looking over your shoulder a power saw will take your hand off.

Board Chairman Don McLeroy said that he does expect evolution to be a hot topic during the upcoming review and that neither he nor anyone else on the board had anything to do with Comer's resignation. ...

...McLeroy said that although he is a creationist, he doesn't necessarily think creationism should be taught in schools. Rather, he said, he supports current curriculum standards that say students should "analyze, review and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weaknesses."

McLeroy said he would support changes that further spell out what evolution's strengths and weaknesses are.

As the world gets to be a more competitive place, the US descends into a morass of superstition and theocratic science of wish it were true. You know of any real important jobs that have a use for a degree in magic? We've already had the international politics of wishing is truth, let's perpetuate it in our public schools - in Texass anyhow.

What exactly has happened to that place? It just doesn't seem possible that a couple Bush terms could ... -oh-