The Fordham Institute study, etc.

The sad fact is that I wouldn't have even known about The State of  State Science Standards 2012 if it hadn't been mentioned all too briefly on CBS' news radio network this morning. That being said, some reaction has already come trickling in from Texas, and the Houston Chronicle posted reactions ranging from the intelligent (Steven Schafersman of Texas Citizens for Science) to the incredibly vapid (Don McLeroy - yes, that Don McLeroy).

For argument's sake, my home state - Illinois - rated a D. Not good. Not good at all.

(Also on WTTFTG)

There's more than corn in Indiana - but not much more, apparently

In yet another example of what happens when state legislators choose to play the religious demagoguery card in order to curry votes, Indiana Senate Bill 89 made it out of committee despite the fact that it would probably be ruled unconstitutional by SCOTUS if the standards in play since Edwards v. Aguillard in 1987 are anything to go by.

(Also in WTTFTG)

Anti-science follies in state legislatures, 2011-12

A while ago, a post on the NCSE web site declared that in 2012 at least six bills opposed to the teaching of the theory of evolution (many of which also opposed even the mention of scientific research into anthropogenic global warming) had been prefiled or proposed by state legislators in states ranging from Indiana to Oklahoma. If you also take all of 2011 into account, this means that no less than 13 such bills have been proposed in a period of slightly over a year. Although the following information is available on the NCSE web site, I thought that it'd be instructive to list each bill and its sponsors over that period of time. The listings are according to date of filing or report, state, number of bill and sponsors of that bill (and their party affiliation and district in the legislative house they're seated in) in order.

2011

January 5th, Kentucky: House Bill 169: Tim Moore (R-26th)
January 13th, Missouri: House Bill 195; Andew Koenig (R-88th), 13 others
January 19th, Oklahoma: Senate Bill 554; Josh Brecheen (R-6th)
January 20th, Oklahoma: House Bill 1551; Sally Kern (R-84th)
February 1st, New Mexico: House Bill 302; Thomas A. Anderson (R-29th)
February 9th, Tennessee: House Bill 368; Bill Dunn (R-16th)
February 16th, Tennessee: Senate Bill 893: Bo Watson (R-11th) 
December 21st, New Hampshire; House Bill 1148; Jerry Bergevin (R-17th)
December 21st, New Hampshire: House Bill 1457; Gary Hopper (R-7th) and John Burt (R-7th)
December 29th, Indiana: Senate Bill 89; Dennis Kruse (R-14th)

2012

January 10th, Missouri: House Bill 1227; Rick Brattin (R-124th), 5 others
January 11th, Missouri: House Bill 1276: Andrew Koenig (R-88th), 13 others
January 20th, Oklahoma: Senate Bill 1742; Josh Brecheen (R-6th)

(Also available at WTTFTG)

State legislature anti-science follies

It's the beginning of another year and that means that a state legislator or two (and probably closer to you than you'd like) is courting the wingnut vote through proposing "education" bills that attack the theory of evolution, anthropogenic global warming or both. Unsurprisingly, new bills are being proposed in both Oklahoma and Missouri, but it seems that the best (read: worst) efforts of a like-minded panderer in Indiana may be going nowhere fast judging by the adverse publicity it's starting to pick up.

Cretins of the moment

Two for the price of one, this time: the "winners" are eternal crank Peter Duesberg and fundamentalist loudmouth Bryan Fischer for promotining Duesberg's old pile of HIV quackery for all the usual wrong reasons.

Cretin of the moment

Rick Santorum, for looking into a mirror and somehow seeing a honest man completely free of hypocrisy concerning the issue of political interference in science looking out. At least he's consistent in terms of being a political freak show.

New Hampshire: Bergevin/Hopper all over again

If you were reading Lurker back in July you might remember a couple of anti-evolution bills that were presented to the New Hampshire House of Representatives by Jerry Bergevin (R-17th district) and Gary Hopper (R-7th). Unfortunately, the National Center for Science Education has confirmed that both bills have been prefiled and are scheduled for hearings in front of the House Education Committee on February 9th and 14th of next year. Hopefully they'll  both go nowhere fast, but you can never tell in this bizarre little political climate we're living in. Stay tuned.

(Also at WTTFTG)

Higgs? Or not?

The latest from CERN on the ATLAS and CMS experiments concerning the Standard Model Higgs boson, both from the horse's mouth and in a more digestible form at New Scientist.

(Also at WTTFTG)

We've all seen this particular movie before

On the Internet, even advocating a perfectly good idea can cost you; maybe not money, but certainly your sense of security in advocating that idea. This is especially true in the case of skepticism-oriented blogs when dealing with litigation-happy individuals who don't like having their suspect ideas questioned in public. Orac at Respectful Insolence has recently authored a series of articles on attempts by, er, "alternative cancer therapy" physician (read: probable q**ck) Stanislaw Burzynski and his lawsuit-threatening email goon Marc Stephens to silence Andy Lewis of Quackometer; the articles are far too detailed for me to quote at length here, but you can find them at Insolence or (if you're interested in reading them right now) in four easy pieces (namely, 1, 2, 3 and 4).

(UPDATE: Quackometer itself is currently down as of 6:28 CST; whether this has anything to with the Burzynski/Stephens case is strictly left up to the morbid curiosity of the reader.)

(Also at WTTFTG).

Texas and science curricula: same old song, different verse

Just when you thought that the Texas textbook question had been solved in favor of actual scientific rigor, the same old nonsense concerning textbooks rears its ugly head again (a full-length analysis of the issue by the Texas Freedom Network can be found in PDF form here). This was a tiresome issue a long time ago; now it's getting to be beyond tiresome and quickly turning idiotic instead. 

(Also at WTTFTG)

Lynn Margulis, 1938-2011

In Memoriam.(Courtesy the New York Times)