Science On The March

On a chilly (by Georgia standards) Sunday morning, I drove back home to Atlanta from my weekend of work (and a few concerts) in Athens, Georgia.  Part of the route back home was on the Athens Perimeter Highway, also known as the Paul Broun Highway.

Remember our old friend Paul Broun?  The Georgia Congressman who said in 2009 that "the idea of human-induced global climate change is one of the greatest hoaxes perpetrated out of the scientific community?"   Who said back in 2008 that President Obama intends to establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship? 

"It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force," Rep. Paul Broun said. "I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism."  

At a town hall meeting last year, Broun was asked by an elderly constituent, "Who's going to shoot Obama?" Broun later denounced the question, but angry rhetoric like his leads people to ask things like that.

Most recently, during a September 27 speech at a sportsman's banquet, Broun, a medical doctor, said that evolution, embryology and the Big Bang theory were "lies straight from the pit of hell" meant to convince people that they do not need a savior.

"God's word is true," Broun said, according to a video posted on the church's website. "I've come to understand that.  All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell. And it's lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior." Broun also said that he believes the Earth is about 9,000 years old and that it was made in six days.

The Republican lawmaker is running unopposed for re-election in November.  He currently serves on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.  You know who else is on that committee?  Todd ("women can't get pregnant from legitimate rape") Akin.

I've lately been trying to avoid political posts on this blog, but sometimes it's all just too much.