The Institute for Creation Research (really!?) is suing the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board because the board will not accept their application to issue a master’s degree in science education. So now they’re suing in federal court.

Really, just how many things do they want to be wrong at? These are young earth creationists who have a literal interpretation belief in the Bible — meaning they think the world is actually 6,000 years old and was actually built in six 24 hour days.

And now they want to be able to issue science degrees that would allow their “graduates” to take jobs in Texas schools teaching science. I’m sorry, but when you have no basic foundation of the fundamentals of science, you are not qualified to teach it.

This would be like someone who actually believes that Field of Dreams happened teaching the history of baseball, only teaching what they were told by that movie.

Money quote from the original article:

Among the institute’s arguments in the lawsuit: “The monopolistic realities of the science education market in Texas (and in America generally) would limit creationist learners to science education opportunities from evolutionist graduate schools.”

It says the institute is “the only graduate school which specializes in creationism-informed science education.”

Here’s a tip for you — when you are the only “school” in the country offering a specific course, and every other school on the face of the Earth is telling you that you are 100 percent wrong about your science, there is a reason that you are the only one teaching it.

And for the record, graduate schools aren’t “evolutionist,” they’re scientific. Go ahead and take your creation theories to any of these “evolutionist” schools and put them through the scientific process. Perhaps engaging in actual science will allow you to see what science is and how it works. Only when you are willing to learn the facts are you able to understand them. Having a fairy tale and fighting anyone who dares tell you that you have no proof of anything is no way to conduct science.

I can take people going to church and being religious, but when it comes to trying to force people to believe in something that is so scientifically unsound is downright criminal.

Why is it that every creationist vs. school argument takes place in Texas? Really, at this point, that state deserves the population that it is trying to grow.

Also not to be ignored:

“Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, has introduced a bill that would, in effect, exempt the institute from state rules that degree-granting universities must follow.”

Yeah, there’s a guy who deserves to be reelected (note: sarcasm). How do these people have jobs? Introducing a bill that would exempt an institute that teaches proven falsehoods from state rules for issuing degrees? Why not offer medical licenses to witch doctors while you’re at it — there’s about as much real science in each.

What is it about the Republican Party being so anti-science. Really, if a scientist told the GOP that the sky and oceans both appeared to be blue, they’d try to find an opposing viewpoint and argue it.

First and foremost is the evolution debacle. Now, let me clarify and say that not all Republicans are anti-evolution. But I will say that I am comfortable saying that 99 percent creationists are Republicans. Don’t ask me to back that up with statistics, it’s just an educated guess.

Now, Bobby “The Page” Jindal gets on the television in the Republican rebuttal to President Obama’s address to Congress and rips on the stimulus package because it includes “$140 million for something called ‘volcano monitoring.’ Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.”

Really? Of all of the wasted money in this bill, you had to signal out one that would act to prepare for and predict a natural disaster like volcano eruptions. Perhaps the Governor of Louisiana needs a refresher course in just what natural disasters can do to people. How’s New Orleans doing these days anyway?

Others have been quick to point out that the bill does not send $140 million to volcano monitoring, but to the US Geological Survey, which happens to also do volcano monitoring.

Did anyone else think that this sounded an awful lot like Sarah Palin’s mockery of fruit fly research. Do Republicans really think that the world of science is no more than a fun little experiment kit, like the one you get when you’re eight years old? They must realize that there are actual benefits from scientific research and that for the most part, they are only seeking absolute truths.

It’s a shame that they have this across-the-board feeling about science, because at this point, they can’t even join the conversation and get taken seriously.

I happen to agree with (some) Republicans on the science of global warming. I don’t doubt a warming trend, but I think that there is too much weight being put into human influence and not enough weight put into sun variations, natural cycles and unreliable past data. I don’t deny that human caused global warming could be happening, but I don’t think that it is settled science fact, like some other issues. I have no problem with further exploration and testing and monitoring, but I think the decision to make permanent, harsh decisions about global warming are the wrong solution.

But because of their opinions towards science in all of these other ill-advised arguments, Republicans have lost their ability to be a part of the science discussion. And that’s a damn shame, since leaving one party in charge of anything is a recipe for disaster.

Not having a strong, informed Republican voice in matters of science shouldn’t matter, since government and science have no business mixing, but it does matter. Democrats have made it their goal to force people to live their way, and their way includes over-the-top regulations on the environment and probably whatever else they can seize control of to please their hippie donors.

Parity is essential, even in matters that shouldn’t be at all related to government.

If this party really thinks that Jindal and Palin are the future of their party, they are in for a really rough few years. That in turn will lead to some rough years for the American people. If the Democrats don’t fear the election of Republicans, they have no reason to get anything done. For that reason alone, it’s imperative that Republicans find themselves a smart, pro-science, fiscally-conservative, socially-moderate candidate. That is the only way they can win, and the threat of a win is the only way that anything can get accomplished.