Texas representative guffaws: "So you're saying the continents just 'drifted'?

[Pope John Pol Pot II]

So if you are so smart Mr. Scientist, maybe you can explain how all that oil could git ta Alaska?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/24/rep-joe-barton-brags-abou_n_191042.html

Oh my....

[Puck]

:bang:

And Chu basically says, no, there's this thing called PLATE TECTONICS. And then Barton's like, "WHOA, PLATES? THAT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE WHAT JESUS WOULD DO?"

Someone take the fool out back behind the wood shed.

[VoxRat]

Oh my, indeed.

Words fail me.

To think... this guy was elected to the US House of Representatives.
It's scary. It really is.

What do you suppose he was trying to get at?
That if Alaska used to be warm enough to produce feedstock for oil, then all this panic about climate change is just a lot of nonsense?

[Pope John Pol Pot II]

Oh my, indeed.

Words fail me.

To think... this guy was elected to the US House of Representatives.
It's scary. It really is.

What do you suppose he was trying to get at?
That if Alaska used to be warm enough to produce feedstock for oil, then all this panic about climate change is just a lot of nonsense?


I'm pretty sure he's getting at something like that. Maybe:

Hot weather can even produce oil in a cold northerly Arctic place like Alaska.
The world's 6,000 years old, so if we heat it again real hot NOW, by global warming, we will have oil coming out from everywhere in just a few years! No need for conservation!

[tjakey]

Maybe we should just let Texas go...really.

[Pendaric]

Explain to me again how you guys got to be a superpower?

[DMB]

How does a guy like that get elected? :confused:

[Barbarian]

How does a guy like that get elected? :confused:It's a representative body, remember?

[BigEvil]

Explain to me again how you guys got to be a superpower?

Because our country is based on christian values.

No...wait...

Because we spend alot of money on really big cars.

uh....

Because we once had God in our schools?

Oh! I got it!

We hired a bunch of Germans to build us "da bomb!"

[Notta]

And the Secretary of Energy initially laughed at the question. Good for him!!

[Pope John Pol Pot II]

Maybe we should just let Texas go...really.

...and don't let Oklahoma hit you in the ass on the way out!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCLz7XQOIOQ

[VoxRat]

And the Secretary of Energy initially laughed at the question. Good for him!!
It looked a lot like:

"Heh-heh. Good one. Wait! ... Holy Shit! This guy is serious!"

[David M]

Did you notice the caption on the video is "Energy Secretary puzzled by simple question", more like "Energy secretary asked question by puzzled simpleton."

[PostMortem]

Congressman Dumb Ass even sent a Tweet about it (http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/rep-joe-barton-i-stumped-nobel-prize-winning-scientist.php):

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/barton-tweet-400.jpg

[Worldtraveller]

I think Michelle Bachman is trying to out-stupid the guy from TX. (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/04/minnesota_once_again_embarrass.php)

[nygreenguy]

I think Michelle Bachman is trying to out-stupid the guy from TX. (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/04/minnesota_once_again_embarrass.php)

its natural, its natural, its natural.......

So is arsenic and cyanide...

3%,3%,3%....

Imagine if chlorine gas was 3% of the atmosphere....

Whats wrong lady, why cant you breathe? Its only 3% chlorine.

Im glad the guy from oregon called her on her bullshit.

[Mung Dynasty]

Some of the comments there are great.

My 8-yo son was stunned that she called CO2 harmless and suggested *exactly* the same demonstration involving a small room, a tank of CO2, and the rep from MN. He said, "After a minute or two, she'll get it."

But then he asked me a harder question, "How could she ever get elected?"

Good question, really.

Andy Seidl, I propose we put your eight year old son in congress instead of this woman. I think he'd do a lot better for our nation.

Seriously, if an eight year old can out-think you, you probably shouldn't have a job requiring thought at all, let alone holding one of the most powerful positions in government.

[VoxRat]

Congressman Dumb Ass even sent a Tweet about it (http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/rep-joe-barton-i-stumped-nobel-prize-winning-scientist.php):

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/barton-tweet-400.jpg

:eek: OMG! :eek:

This guy doesn't even realize after the fact what an ass he's made of himself!?

:eek:

Is there a way of knowing how long after the exchange with Chu this twitter was sent?

Is it conceivable that, even now, this clown thinks he looks smarter than a 3d grader?


ETA: I predict this will be on The Daily Show, Monday night.

[VoxRat]

...
ETA: I predict this will be on The Daily Show, Monday night.I wrote that before I watched the Michelle Bachmann thing.

Now I realize there is an embarrassment of choices.

[PostMortem]

Is there a way of knowing how long after the exchange with Chu this twitter was sent?

Sent at (http://twitter.com/RepJoeBarton): 12:25 PM Apr 22nd Unfortunately I don't know what time zone that is.

Check out some of the Tweets sent to Joe Barton after his stupid remarks (http://search.twitter.com/search?q=RepJoeBarton). I wonder if he actually reads the messages he gets?

Here's a small selection and I'd suggest if you Twitter that you add to it.


Oil was created by Jesus in Texas about 100 years ago, then dinosaurs and Sarah Palin carried it to Alaska.

you are a fucking moron. Its a sad day in america when you think you stump your advisor idiot.

I was born in Texas. I learned about plate tectonics and continental drift in school in Amarillo. So what's your excuse?

He was baffled because you expected him to answer a complex question with a simple answer you dolt.

I think he was baffled as to how such a moron got elected to congress.

Dumber Than Dirt. Much, MUCH Dumber.

[Daynna]

"Oil was created by Jesus in Texas about 100 years ago, then dinosaurs and Sarah Palin carried it to Alaska."

Has me laughing

[LoneWolf]

How clueless is Barton that he thought he actually stumped Dr. Chu, who happens to be a Nobel Prize winner by the way, in that exchange? I can understand being ignorant on certain subjects, I'm ignorant on PLENTY of subjects. But to be so arrogant in one's ignorance just makes one look like an asshat.

[Eudaimonist]

Explain to me again how you guys got to be a superpower?

Whatever it was, I think we lost it long ago and are just driving on fumes now.


eudaimonia,

Mark

[Ray Moscow]

Explain to me again how you guys got to be a superpower?

You don't have to be smart to beat people up. That's the main lesson I got from school.

[Ray Moscow]

How clueless is Barton that he thought he actually stumped Dr. Chu, who happens to be a Nobel Prize winner by the way, in that exchange? I can understand being ignorant on certain subjects, I'm ignorant on PLENTY of subjects. But to be so arrogant in one's ignorance just makes one look like an asshat.

There's a reason why he's a "representative" of Texas.

Ray (former Texas resident)

[Matty]

Texas should secede. I would love to see the sort of society that mental giants like Barton would create. My guess is that they would bring back trial by ordeal within a week. In fact, they could have a tourism based economy - just take visitors around in armored vehicles for 'medieval safaris'.

"And on your left, we can see some villagers ducking a suspected witch!'
Lol.

[Garnet]

Is Barton taking any heat for this idiocy other than twitter comments?

[tjakey]

The sad reality seems to be that stupid people are too stupid to understand how stupid they really are.

[VoxRat]

The sad reality seems to be that stupid people are too stupid to understand how stupid they really are.A genetics doctor at the hospital where I work let me in on a little secret.

She and her colleagues whose jobs entail consulting with parents do their best to be sympathetic, and understanding, and sensitive to the fact that not everyone is aware of, or receptive to, all the relevant background information as those who devote their professional lives to it. And yet...

Sometimes you just have to recognize that all the explaining, all the patience, and all the political correctness in the world is not going to budge the understanding of some individuals one iota. When bringing a colleague up to speed on a patient (well, parent), the cryptic abbreviation they use to communicate that conclusion in such a case is "RAS" (stands for "rocks are smarter")

And there's something to that. Rocks are, indeed, too stupid to realize how stupid they really are. But at least they don't think they're clever!

[Ray Moscow]

OK, stupid people are just a fact of life. (And I'm probably related to most of them.)

But what bothers me is when they are elected or appointed to important positions of governance. That means that either the majority of the electorate is equally stupid, or else just doesn't care that they are choosing stupid people to lead them.

[BioBeing]

[QUOTE=tjakey;30104]Sometimes you just have to recognize that all the explaining, all the patience, and all the political correctness in the world is not going to budge the understanding of some individuals one iota. When bringing a colleague up to speed on a patient (well, parent), the cryptic abbreviation they use to communicate that conclusion in such a case is "RAS" (stands for "rocks are smarter")

My wife (a clinical social worker) was in a meeting once and the colleague next to her was writing O D D on her note pad. My wife whispered to her "Oppositional Defiance Disorder?" and the lady said back "no - just plain odd!".

[VoxRat]

OK, stupid people are just a fact of life. (And I'm probably related to most of them.)

But what bothers me is when they are elected or appointed to important positions of governance. That means that either the majority of the electorate is equally stupid, or else just doesn't care that they are choosing stupid people to lead them.See, that's the other thing in favor of rocks. I've never known one to run for office!

[Steviepinhead]

Texas is not just a big state. It's a big RED state. If Texas really did secede, the Dems would have an even bigger lock on the rest of the country than they do at the moment...

In short, worse things could happen.

[Steviepinhead]

Actually, the more I think about this, the more I'm wondering if SuperSport stood for election the last time around...

[Pope John Pol Pot II]

OK, stupid people are just a fact of life. (And I'm probably related to most of them.)

But what bothers me is when they are elected or appointed to important positions of governance. That means that either the majority of the electorate is equally stupid, or else just doesn't care that they are choosing stupid people to lead them.

Man, it's even worse than that. If Barton was representing, say, the dairy country of Iowa, one could maybe laugh off his oil comments. But this guy represents Texas OIL country. If a representative in Iowa made some sort of public comment that milk is produced by bulls, the district would be in an uproar. The problem with representing a particular cretinous district of Texas though is that they aren't going to vote Barton out of anything, since most Texans don't know anything about geology either- except what they learn from church.

[VoxRat]

Did you see the Oliver Stone movie, "W"?
Who knows how close it was to reality on any given detail; I suspect "not far".

W's shown running for congressman (from Texas; maybe Barton's district, for all I know), and losing by a hair because he was out-fundied, and promising to never let that happen again.

[damitall]

The sad reality seems to be that stupid people are too stupid to understand how stupid they really are.

Yep, it's a well known phenomenon (http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp7761121.pdf)

[Oolon Colluphid]

Oh! I got it!

We hired a bunch of Germans to build us "da bomb!"
"Once ze rockets are up, who cares vere zey come down
That's not my department," says Wernher von Braun

-- Tom Lehrer

[Oolon Colluphid]

I'll bet this guy is a 1906 San Francisco Earthquake denier (http://www.theonion.com/content/news/san_francisco_historians_condemn) too.

[Zebulon]

OK, stupid people are just a fact of life. (And I'm probably related to most of them.)

But what bothers me is when they are elected or appointed to important positions of governance. That means that either the majority of the electorate is equally stupid, or else just doesn't care that they are choosing stupid people to lead them.

The qualifications for public office these days seem to be money, narcissism, shamelessness and dogged persistence.

[purple_kathryn]

I'm guessing someone skipped his geography lessons.

[lex]

Is Texas a state of mind, or a state of never mind?

[Notta]

The Texas Board of Education just passed an amendment that changed the age of the universe: Disover Magazine (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/05/06/texas-is-only-6000-years-old/).

Ah, Texas! Land of the free and home of the terminally stupid.

[Pope John Pol Pot II]

The Texas Board of Education just passed an amendment that changed the age of the universe: Disover Magazine (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/05/06/texas-is-only-6000-years-old/).

Ah, Texas! Land of the free and home of the terminally stupid.

Holy Crap! Truly unbelievable. And the ammendment to change the age of the Earth to 6,000 years passes the Texas Board of Education by 11-3.

[DMB]

I noticed among the comments this link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/06/us-creationism-teacher-first-amendment)

Oh dear!

[LoneWolf]

The Texas Board of Education just passed an amendment that changed the age of the universe: Disover Magazine (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/05/06/texas-is-only-6000-years-old/).

Ah, Texas! Land of the free and home of the terminally stupid.

It is nice to know such things are subject to the democratic process. You know, I have been feeling a bit wieghed down lately. Can we pass a resolution reducing the force of gravity?

[Matty]

I noticed among the comments this link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/06/us-creationism-teacher-first-amendment)

Oh dear!

fucked up.

[dancer_rnb]

We'd be screaming bloody murder if the teacher was a creationist and the court decided otherwise.

[Ray Moscow]

On a similar note:

The Matthews/Tancredo mutual ignorance session (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/05/the_matthewstancredo_mutual_ig.php)

[Anne]

Hey Matty!

See why we're a bunch of little governing bodies?

We have Maine on one end, nice and civilized, if a bit slow (OMG--- Maine is full of stupid people to this NYer--- they have signs like 'do not drive tractor on highway' on the side of the road--- and 'use wipers when it is raining'. Shudder) and Texas on the other.

I really do not like much of anything to ever come out of Texas. I know that makes me intolerant, but fuckit. I've way more in common with Canada than I do with anyone south of the MD line.

Hell, driving over the PA/NY border makes me relax... Driving through customs to get to Canada doesn't phases me.

[BioBeing]

I noticed among the comments this link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/06/us-creationism-teacher-first-amendment)

Oh dear!

This case is being talked about here (http://www.secularcafe.org/showthread.php?t=1660).

[Valheru]

Something just occurred to me: What if this guy really does know how tectonics work, and how oil is formed and whatnot, but is merely saying what he thinks his constituents want to hear?

[Steviepinhead]

A legislator ignoring his own private convictions to pander to his constituents!

Valheru, seriously, how can you even imagine such a thing?

[Notta]

Something just occurred to me: What if this guy really does know how tectonics work, and how oil is formed and whatnot, but is merely saying what he thinks his constituents want to hear?He's most likely a product of Texas schools already, which means he probably never learned about it, given the state of science education in Texas.

And if he went to a Bible-based school, he most CERTAINLY never read anything about plate tectonics or oil formation outside of the account of Genesis.