US House Science Committee Member: Evolution Is a Lie From Hell | Hacker News Reader

US House Science Committee Member: Evolution Is a Lie From Hell

bostonherald.com

35 pointsmindstab9 comments

Science fact on biological evolution can be found in the carefully written online FAQ "29+ Evidences for Macroevolution: The Scientific Case for Common Descent."

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/

Now that I've referred readers of Hacker News about where to find good information on the factual issue underlying the political controversy being discussed here, I'll note for the record that experienced and thoughtful participants on Hacker News have advised the community, when asked how to make the community better,

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3174656

"Not submit or upvote stories which are fundamentally about politics (even politics within a thirty mile radius of a computer!), because they predictably descend into value-free flame wars."

and

"I try hard not to respond to any political posts."

I think that flagging political articles to mark them as actively off-topic for this community is a very good idea.

Also on the House Science Committee is Todd Akin (R, MO), who claimed on Aug. 19, 2012 on a TV interview that pregnancy from rape is rare because "If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down" and that abortion shouldn't be allowed even if a pregnancy does result from rape because "the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child."

Indeed.

This image was on reddit the other day, showing quotes from members of the House Science Committee. There are no citations, but I don't doubt the quotes are true: http://i.imgur.com/Uoua1.jpg

Truly disturbing.

I'm not sure if this is HN material, but anyway: This is terrifying. As someone who doesn't live in the US and enjoys a secular government, this is like culture shock, even more so because this person is supposed to be a (medical) doctor, and is legally in charge of "Science, Space and Technology".

Aren't there any IQ/education requirements for a committee handling IQ and education?

In the US a straight up IQ requirement would quite possibly be unconstitutional because courts have found that IQ tests can have disparating impact on minorities.

I agree there should be something though... this isn't supposed to happen. Voters are supposed to not vote in utter morons, and they are supposed to be able to tell if someone is an utter moron because they had mandatory primary education.

Something is not working.

(Sadly, Paul Broun probably meets any education based requirements you could realistically propose. He has a B.S. in Chemistry and is an M.D. iirc)

The problem isn't the politician's IQ. An intelligent politician who wants to be reelected will say the things his constituents want to hear, and implement the policies his constituents believe will make their lives better.

The problem is that he believes -- probably correctly -- that a significant portion of his constituency will find this argument compelling.

If I were a betting man, I'd say he doesn't actually believe that, he's just playing the political game and pandering to his voters. <warning: about to be excessively stereotypical> Or he's just from the Souf...

Chances are his voters would vote for him regardless. He is representing Georgia and seems to reliably win by a landslide. The only threat he has is in the primaries, and the guy who is running against him doesn't even seem to have a wikipedia page.

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