[Dialogue] Hang in, and Raise Hell

Wed Jan 11 16:22:30 EST 2006

Colleagues, another good one from Molly. Peace, Harry 
  _____  

AlterNet

Hang in, and Raise Hell

By Molly Ivins, AlterNet
Posted on January 11, 2006, Printed on January 11, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/30690/

The governor of Texas is despicable. Of all the crass pandering, of all the
gross political kowtowing to ignorance, we haven't seen anything this rank
from Gov. Goodhair since, gee, last fall.

Then, he was trying to draw attention away from his spectacular failure on
public schools by convincing Texans that gay marriage was a horrible threat
to us all. Now, he's trying to disguise the fact that the schools are in
freefall by proposing we teach creationism in biology classes.

The funding of the whole school system is so unfair it has been declared
unconstitutional by the Texas Supreme Court. All last year, Perry haplessly
called special session after special session, trying to fix the problem, and
couldn't get anywhere -- not an iota, not a scintilla of leadership.

Instead of facing the grave crisis that may yet result in the schools being
closed down, Perry has blithely gone off on creationism -- teach the little
perishers the Earth is 6,000 years old, that people lived at the same time
as dinosaurs and who cares if the school building is falling apart?

Perry faced a potential primary challenge from State Comptroller Carole
Keeton Strayhorn. The Texas Republican Party is now so completely dominated
by the Christian right, however, that a relative moderate like Strayhorn has
no chance against Perry, who has been assiduously kissing the feet, to say
the least, of the most extreme elements of the party. So Strayhorn announced
she would seek election as an independent, and Perry played the creationism
card. Gee, let's all have a big discussion about gays, creationism and
covenant marriage -- that'll solve the state's staggering problems with
schools and health care.

In case you missed it, the court decision everyone has been waiting for on
teaching creationism in the schools came out on Dec. 20, and it explains,
quite clearly, why creationism cannot be taught as science in this country.
Because it isn't science, it's religion.

The decision in the Dover, Pa., school board case by Judge John Jones III, a
Republican and Bush appointee, is well worth reading. It annihilates the
case for teaching creationism. Calling creationism "intelligent design"
changes nothing and is disingenuous to the point of being painful. Perry
emphasized the equally disingenuous notion that there is "controversy" about
evolution, supposedly two sides equally worth considering, so we should
"teach the controversy." His spokesperson, Kathy Walt, actually said
teaching different theories is part of "developing students' critical
thinking skills." That's pathetic.

One hears evolution dismissed as "just a theory," as though all of science
weren't based on theory and eternally subject to new evidence to the
contrary. In science, gravity is "just a theory" -- and if you ever drop
something and it falls up, they'll reconsider the whole theory for you.
That's just how "theoretical" evolution is -- constantly subject to evidence
and proof. But creationism cannot be tested and proved against evidence
using the scientific method -- that is why it is not science, it is faith.

Meanwhile, it's heartening to note that political nincompoopery is not
limited to Texas. A couple of recent quotes out of Washington, D.C., cause
the jaw to drop. Our very own Tom DeLay, upon announcing he would quit as
majority leader, said: "During my time in Congress, I have always acted in
an ethical manner, within the rules of our body and the law of our land. I
am fully confident time will bear this out." Good grief, the man was
sanctioned three times by the House ethics committee last year alone.

Equally stupefying is the attempted emergence of Newt Gingrich, of all
people, as an arbiter of ethics. Gingrich has been going about the media,
holding forth on the shortcomings of today's Republicans.

Let's see, that would be the same Newt Gingrich who originally started using
the lobby as an arm of the Republican Party, right? Same Gingrich had the
distinction of being the only House speaker to be reprimanded by his
colleagues for ethical wrongdoing? Same Gingrich who was accused of misusing
nonprofit organizations for political purposes, personally benefiting from
political contributions, cutting a sleazy book deal and giving false
statements to ethics investigators? Same Gingrich who was fined $300,000 for
said lying? I thought it was that Gingrich.

They must really think we're morons.

On the general subject of political corruption, do not fall into the fatal
error of cynicism. You do your country a great disservice by saying things
like: "Eh, they're all crooks. Nothing anyone can do about it. Money will
always find a way."

The answer is perpetual reform. Fix it, and if corruption comes back again,
you just whack back at it again. The system as it is encourages corruption
and must be changed. Public campaign financing is the best answer in the
long-term -- all this "lobby reform" talk is hopelessly inadequate. Hang in,
and raise hell -- this is a heaven-sent opportunity to clean it up. Don't
blow the chance with cheap cynicism. 

Molly Ivins writes about politics, Texas and other bizarre happenings. 

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