Bad news

Uh oh. Governor Perry just appointed a creationist, Don McLeroy, to head the Texas State Board of Education. I worry that B and I might have to someday debrief our son every day when he comes home from school. Or at least give him early training about the Flying Spaghetti Monster...

This is from an opinion piece in the Statesman:

In 2001, McLeroy and a majority of the board rejected the only Advanced Placement textbook for high school environmental science because its views on global warming and other events didn't comport with the beliefs of the board majority. The book wasn't factual and was anti-American and anti-Christian, the majority claimed. Meanwhile, dozens of colleges and universities were using the textbook, including Baylor University, the nation's largest Baptist college.

Here is a quote from McLeroy's own website (btw, have I ever mentioned that the abuse of quotation marks is one of my pet peeves?):

Thus, the most amazing "orthodoxy" which dominates the educational establishment "leviathan" today is the slighting of "facts and knowledge" for emphasis on problem-solving and critical thinking. Problem solving and critical thinking are secondary skills.

Thanks god for term limits, at least.