John “Don” McLeroy is chairman of the Texas State Board of Education. Why is Texas usually center ring in the Creationist Science circus? It doesn’t help that the chairman is a Level 5 FrontLump.

Case in point: this page does a proper smackdown, with strong evidence, showing that an alleged educator is unfathomably anti-learning and advancement. Don McLeroy has recently endorsed, by way of formal recommendation, a book that advocates Creationism, and rips into evolution as an atheist strategy to… what… rob us of our precious bodily fluids, perhaps.

There is no excuse for any person, of any learning, to deny the reality of evolution. Whether or not you want it to exist, it exists. Every popular form of rebuttal has been shredded countless times, it has been demonstrated on both the micro and macro levels, and happens in real time. Disbelieving evolution is akin to disbelieving in gravity. The strangest irony for the Czar is that millions of creationists deny evolution, but enjoy a continued existence thanks to medicines and antibiotics which result from evolution.

The biggest problem with denying evolution is that few scientific discoveries are more scientific: natural selection, by extension evolution, is about as simple a process as it gets. Observation leads to hypothesis, and continued testing leads to conclusion. Peer review recreates findings independently and predicts possible outcomes. Outcomes are tested and proven to match up. Contradictions are identified, tested, and resolved: if incorrect, they are rejected; if correct, the theory is amended to account for them. If A, then B. QED. There are few cleaner examples of science in action.

For an educator to fail any rudimentary understanding of the scientific method is a complete hypocrisy. A creationist in any educational standards-making position, let alone chairman, is equivalent to making an arsonist a fire chief. Think about the broader picture of what this means: he literally and knowingly is taking the educational direction of millions of people down a stultifyingly useless path. And it isn’t like the path is unmarked: for over 100 years, the evidence in favor of evolution has been piling up, and the evidence against completely non-existent. And while liberal blogs are pointing out McLeroy’s GOP leaning, the Czar reminds them that a belief in creationism is a staggeringly liberal acceptance of an ancient cultural throwback with no ties to anything that actually gets work done. Creationism is bad business, and therefore inherently non-conservative. Ye have been warned.

The Czar has met and known hundreds of people from Texas. Why would you let this man mess with you? You deserve better.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.