Texas + Religion = Stupidity

Here are a couple of reasons why religion in Texas continues to f*** up this state.

From Newsweek:
Texas produces more carbon emissions than most countries, but the state government and business community don't seem too concerned.

Were the Lonestar State to secede from the union it would be the world's eighth-largest emitter of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, just behind Canada, with 630 million metric tons spewed into the atmosphere in 2005, according to new figures released this week by the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration. That's actually a reduction of 40 million metric tons since 2003, when Texas was the globe's seventh-largest CO₂ contributor. But even though the state is improving, Texas still outpaces the combined emissions of California and Pennsylvania, the states with the second- and third-highest CO₂ outputs.

And why does Texas continue to lead the nation in carbon emissions? It is the nation's leading producer of energy, and with more cattle and oil refineries than any other state, it is essentially America's power plant, gas pump and beef basket. That's well and good. However, it's Governor Rick Perry, a right-wing religious nut job who swallows everything his buddy President Bush feeds him, who continuously holds things back:

But to many Texans, environmental activism looks too much like big government threatening the state's business interests. Under Republican Gov. Rick Perry, Texas has dug in its heels when it comes to enacting any state initiatives aimed at cutting emissions or promoting efficiency. Perry publicly doubts that global warming is a manmade problem—something his predecessor George W. Bush has acknowledged—and pokes fun at those who do. Last year Perry remarked that Al Gore's mouth is the country's leading source of carbon dioxide, not Texas.

In another show of blind stupidity, there's a chance than a school board electron from the 11th District could elect a creation science supporter:

Board member Pat Hardy, R-Fort Worth, is being challenged in the GOP primary by Cleburne urologist Barney Maddox, a critic of the theory of evolution who calls it a "myth" on a creation science Web site and who once testified that Texas schoolchildren are "brainwashed" into believing in evolution.

PZ Meyers from Pharyngula sums this up nicely:

There's a school board election in District 11 of Texas that has a clear choice: Pat Hardy is the pro-science candidate, despite being a conservative, religious Baptist, while her opponent is a deranged lunatic who is quietly outspending her 12:1 while avoiding the public eye altogether. You do not want to vote for Barney Maddox — he is an "ill-informed nutcase".

Isn't this weird? Here in Minnesota, we're affected by the outcomes of local school board races in Texas — allowing ignorant, raving lunatics to make textbook decisions there is going to shape the choices we get to make here. So if you know any Texans, spread the word: Barney Maddox is bad news.

If he wins, I suppose that means Texas will be teaching kids crappy science who in turn, if they grow up to be scientists, will continue to ignore the issue of global warming because destroying Texas and the world will more quickly bring about the return of geezus.

It's okay to weep for us Texas. I won't mind. In fact, I'm about to do that myself.

UPDATE: Intelligence and reason won in the school board election! There's hope for this state yet.