Governor Rick finds a different loon for the Texas Board of Ed but affirms his support for "The Republican War on Science"

Gail Lowe, an "outspoken creationist" with no visible

educational credentials, is Texas Gov. Rick Perry's

choice to head the State Board of Education.

"The scientists identify poor media coverage of science as a key problem. And, journalistic analyses of media reporting on global warming agree with that. Thus, the challenge isn’t expert knowledge, but communicating that knowledge to the general public with a thick and confusing media filter while dealing with determined disinformation campaigns."

-- A Siegel, in a Get Energy Smart Now blogpost,
"Republicans reject Science; Scientists reject Republicans"

by Ken

This is what comes of setting the bar low. All laughingstock Texas Gov. Rick Perry had to do was get out the word that he was thinking of appointing a fugitive mental patient to chair the State Board of Education, and his actual designation of a merely unqualified intellectual hooligan becomes a sort of act of "moderation." At the same time, since there's nothing remotely moderate about the designee, it seems unlikely that he's risking fallout from the neanderthals whose hearts and minds he's wooing in his struggle to win renomination against the challenge of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

As our Capitol Annex colleague Vince Leibowitz noted in connection with the reports that certifiable wingnut loon Cynthia Dunbar was being considered for the job: "If Perry does this, it is part of his ongoing campaign to govern Texas solely for the amusement of one million Republican Primary voters who will likely decide between Perry and U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison next March. Perry’s got to shore up his rightwing base, and a Cynthia Dunbar appointment would no doubt earn him a lot of points in that camp."

Rachel Weiner reported yesterday on the Huffington Post:

Gail Lowe: Perry Picks Creationist To Run State Education Board

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has chosen Gail Lowe, an outspoken creationist, to run the state's Board of Education.

It was actually the less controversial choice. Cynthia Dunbar, reportedly under consideration for the post, believed government should be guided by a "biblical litmus test" and thought public education was a "subtly deceptive tool of perversion." (She home-schooled her own children.) She has also endorsed conspiracy theories suggesting President Obama is not a natural-born citizen.

Lowe, on the other hand, thinks evolution should be taught and "kids ought to be able to hold religious beliefs and still study science without any conflict." But in 2008, she took the position that "biology textbooks which do not teach both the scientific strengths and weaknesses of the theory of evolution must be rejected by the board." She has voted against new textbooks that do not contain those "weaknesses." She is a newspaper editor, not a teacher.

Lowe will replace Don McLeroy, another self-described creationist and dentist whose reappointment was blocked by Democrats. He had been chairman of the board since 2007 and will remain a member.

Freedom of speech being a bedrock of American democracy, Gail Lowe is free to say anything she likes about the theory of evolution. But anyone who fantasizes a role for her in the education of American schoolchildren has an obligation to recognize that nothing she says about "the strengths and weaknesses of the theory of evolution" can be allowed to have any influence of any kind over educational policy because she gives no evidence of any knowledge of (a) the theory of evolution, (b) its "scientific strengths and weaknesses," or (c) anything else to do with science. She is simply spewing the reality-thumbing propaganda of Crap Christianity.

It is tiresome to have to say it yet again, and pointless too, because the people who need to grasp these simple realities have disconnected the batteries that power their brains. Still, actual scientists have been addressing the "weaknesses" of evolutionary theory since evolutionary theory was first formulated, which is why the theory has evolved to such a great extent. That's how science works. It's not like propaganda, which is simply concocted in the minds of people to suit their prejudices and agendas. So-called "creationism" bears no relation to science; it's just a facade invented to advance the Crap Christian agenda while pretending the motivation is something other than crap-religious.

Just the other day our colleague A Siegel was reporting on his Get Energy Smart Now blog ("Republicans reject Science; Scientists reject Republicans") on a Pew Research poll ("Public Praises Science; Scientists Fault Public, Media") that appears to document a more or less terminal divide between science and scientists on the one hand and The Republican War on Science on the other:

* “Both scientists and the public overwhelmingly say it is appropriate for scientists to become active in political debates about such issues as nuclear power or stem cell research.”
* While scientists self-identify as liberal, most American’s don’t see scientists as liberal. Thus, engaged experts might view themselves as politically liberal, the general public is likely not to view them in this way.
* Scientists are the third most respected profession (after the military and teachers)

These three combine to suggest that scientists could be strong spokesman for “liberal”, “progressive”, “science-based” policy.

As Stephen Colbert put it, “reality has a well-known liberal bias”. Scientists work in, specialize in understanding reality. Should it shock anyone that they have a liberal bias?

Now, disinformation on key issues clearly has had an impact. 87% of scientists state that evolution is the result of natural processes with just 32 percent public agreement.

[T]he near consensus among scientists about global warming is not mirrored in the general public. While 84% of scientists say the earth is getting warmer because of human activity such as burning fossil fuels, just 49% of the public agrees.

These sort of significant gaps between expert and informed knowledge and general, public view should be -- are -- troubling. The scientists identify poor media coverage of science as a key problem. And, journalistic analyses of media reporting on global warming agree with that. Thus, the challenge isn’t expert knowledge, but communicating that knowledge to the general public with a thick and confusing media filter while dealing with determined disinformation campaigns.

UPDATE: Battle For The Texas Governor's Mansion --
Conservative vs. Secessionist

Kay Bailey Hutchison, one of Texas' two far right senators, is making it official: she's in the race to win the governorship from lunatic fringe Texas Governor Rick Perry. She has $12 million cash on hand and he has $9 million. Both, of course, are 100% owned by Big Business special interests. And Perry, the further right of the two, claims that Sarah Palin will be in Texas campaigning for him. I think the Democrats are putting up Kinky Friedman. Why not? -- Howie

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Will Texas joke Gov. Rick Perry name a wingnut foe of public schools (and avowed Obama-hater) to head the State Board of Ed?

Texas gubernatorial dim bulb Rick Perry -- having it all

"All things come to those who wait."

-- old saying

"She wrote in her book that sending our children to public schools is 'throwing them into the enemy’s flames even as the children of Israel threw their children to Moloch.' ”

-- TFN Insider, quoting rumored Texas SBOE chair nominee Cynthia Dunbar (right)

by Ken

Is Texas Gov. Rick Perry having it all or what?

Sure, he faces the formidable roadblock of a fellow Republican, popular U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, threatening his reelection -- and bringing to her primary challenge the unfair advantage of a measurable IQ. But otherwise, things are going just great for our Rick.

* First it was former Illiois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, with all that fancy-pants Democratic hair (like Democrats know how to do hair!), getting himself into all that trouble and eventually getting thrown out of office, leaving no doubt about who has the Loveliest Gubernatorial Hair.

* Then Princess Sarah, governor of the only state bigger than Texas, up and abdicated her throne, and there went the most credible challenge to our Rick as the Dimmest Gubernatorial Bulb.

We're so accustomed to thinking of these people as figures of fun, objects of derision, that we may lose sight of the harm they have the power to do -- for example, the power to mess with the minds of our children. At the moment my Texas colleague Vince Leibowitz (of the blog Capitol Annex) is sounding the alarm about the possible appointment of a certifiable wingut loon, an avowed hater of both public schools and one Barack Obama, to chair Texas's State Board of Education.

Vince directs us to a post on the Texas Freedom Networks' TFN Insider blog (see the on-site version for links):

Could it get any worse? Could someone who despises public education soon be heading up the board tasked with managing the Texas public school system? Well, the buzz suggesting that Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, may be the next chair of the Texas State Board of Education is growing louder, writes Hearst Capitol bureau reporter Gary Scharrer for the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News.

Look, we were under no illusions when the Texas Senate wisely rejected the confirmation of Don McLeroy as board chair in May. We knew Gov. Rick Perry would likely choose another member of the board’s far-right faction as chair (even though there are other far more responsible conservative Republicans on the board). After all, the far-right faction represents his electoral base, which he will need in his re-election battle next year.

But surely even the governor realizes that choosing an extremist like Dunbar would be almost inconceivably reckless and irresponsible. Dunbar has clearly expressed her loathing for public education in her book One Nation Under God, calling public schools a “tool of perversion,” “unconstitutional” and “tryannical.” She has also personally rejected the public school system, home-schooling her children. In fact, she wrote in her book that sending our children to public schools is “throwing them into the enemy’s flames even as the children of Israel threw their children to Moloch.”

Just before the November election, Dunbar also authored a vicious Internet rant in which she called Barack Obama a terrorist sympathizer who wants to seize total power by declaring martial law. In another Internet screed, she charged that Obama is promoting Marxism by calling for “shared sacrifice and social responsibility.” (Not surprisingly, both essays have been removed from the Web sites that published them.)

By appointing Dunbar, Gov. Perry would be sending a clear message that he shares Dunbar’s extremism and her contempt for education. He would be putting his political fortunes ahead of the education of nearly 5 million Texas schoolchildren. In short, such an appointment would be a shocking betrayal of all those children and their families.

Vince adds:

Needless to say, if Perry does this, it is part of his ongoing campaign to govern Texas solely for the amusement of one million Republican Primary voters who will likely decide between Perry and U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison next March.

Perry’s got to shore up his rightwing base, and a Cynthia Dunbar appointment would no doubt earn him a lot of points in that camp.

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