This is about a debate among candidates competing for a seat in the Louisiana state legislature. It’s like a contest among the inmates of a lunatic asylum who are trying to choose one of themselves as “most likely to succeed.”
In the Daily Advertiser of Lafayette, Louisiana we read Hardy a no-show during first of four local debates. It tells us that Vincent Pierre and Roshell Jones are both challenging state representative Rickey Hardy in an election on 22 October. All three are from Lafayette, and they’re all Democrats. This shows us that anti-science idiocy abides in all political parties.
Nothing about their debate interests us except for one brief moment near the end when creationism was mentioned. But first you may need some background on the tragedy of Louisiana, a state that refuses to emerge from the Tenth Century. Most of you can skip the next few indented paragraphs:
In 2008, Louisiana became the only state in the US to pass an anti-science, anti-evolution, pro-creationism “Academic Freedom” law modeled after the Academic Freedom Act promoted by the neo-theocrats at the Discovery Institute‘s creationist public relations and lobbying operation, the Center for Science and Culture (a/k/a the Discoveroids, a/k/a the cdesign proponentsists).
That law was misleadingly named the Louisiana Science Education Act (the “LSEA”). The legislature passed it almost unanimously — a fine example of bi-partisan ignorance. The bill was promoted in that state by the Discoveroids’ accomplices, the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF), run by Rev. Gene Mills, and it was signed by the state’s ambition-crazed governor, Bobby Jindal, the Exorcist.
This legislative triumph of stupidity was almost undone when some particularly unrestrained morons on the school board in Livingston Parish publicly declared their intention to use their power under the LSEA to teach raw creationism in science class, but the Discoveroids were able to calm things down while staying in the background (see: Bruce Chapman’s Louisiana Damage Control).
Their glorious achievement was again threatened by Zachary Kopplin, a high school senior, with his Campaign to Repeal Louisiana’s Creationism Law, but the Discoveroids’ useful idiots in the legislature remained disciplined and the Louisiana Creationism Repeal Failed in Committee.
You’re almost up to date. There’s one item that we didn’t write about because it wasn’t that important, but we’ll toss it in. A couple of months ago we spotted a column by Phyllis Schlafly, a lovely and gracious lady who should have retired to the rocking chair on her porch a few decades ago. That was Evolutionists Fail to Repeal Science Law. She praised the Louisiana legislators for their wisdom.
Now that you’re fully briefed, let’s get to what we found today in the Daily Advertiser. Near the end of the article it says, with bold font added by us:
One difference [between the candidates], however, came when a moderator asked about the Louisiana Science Education Act, which allows public schools to teach creationism on a level comparable to evolution.
While Pierre said he could not answer the question because he was “not sure what the particular legislation entails,” Jones said she sees “no harm in creationism being taught in our public schools.”
So there you are. In the context of debating creationists, we sometimes say “Don’t bring a slide rule to a knife fight.” But that’s not applicable in Louisiana because no one in that state will understand what we’re talking about. They haven’t advanced beyond the stone axe.
Copyright © 2011. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.
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The Sensuous Curmudgeon 
This is why I am still in exile from my beloved Louisiana.