S. Dakota Legislature Declares Astrology Among Forces Affecting Weather & Climate - Not A Joke

[hatrack]

Here in the U.S. we have a never-ending competition among the states to see which one can enact the dumbest laws. This past week, the South Dakota House of Representatives passed a law that tells schoolteachers how to present the evidence for global warming. The lawmakers who wrote the bill clearly don’t believe that global warming is a reality, so they simply created a law to promote their version of reality. Interestingly, they used the same strategy used by creationists in their efforts to ban the teaching of evolution: the “teach the controversy” approach, where you claim you simply want children to hear both sides of the issue. But the part that really got my attention was the law’s claim that “astrological dynamics” are one of the driving forces behind global climate change.

The South Dakota bill, which was passed 36-30 (not all the legislators are idiots; here’s the roll call vote), includes a number of delightful errors, which are worth examining one by one. Let’s start with the most entertaining claim:

"That there are a variety of climatological, meteorological, astrological, thermological, cosmological, and ecological dynamics that can effect (sic) world weather phenomena and that the significance and interrelativity of these factors is largely speculative."

Wow! The South Dakota legislature has declared, by majority vote, that the ancient pseudoscience of astrology “can effect world weather”! Astrology, of course, is a superstitious belief that the movements of stars and planets can affect our daily lives here on Earth, a belief that has no basis in science. Some people – including, apparently, the South Dakota legislature – still take it seriously, although most view astrological forecasts as light entertainment.

EDIT

http://blogs.forbes.com/sciencebiz/2010/03/south-dakota-legislature-declares-that-astrology-can-explain-global-warming/

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Oh yes THEY ARE a joke...This is what the local taxpayers are underwriting????

[hatrack]

3. Be sure to read the whole article - just when you think the idiocy can't increase, somehow, it does.

Amazing.

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Guess they truly were vying for the "Dumbest State in the Union" title.

It is really sad...and scary..when people are sooo stupid, that they do not even realize how stupid they are.

[tom_paine]

12. As we spiral headlong to the New Dark Ages, you ain't seen NOTHING yet!

I will never stop thinking the idiocy CAN and WILL increase.

Not just because the trend is now going on 40 years and nigh irreversible (well past the "tipping point") but because, in terms of historical human idiocy, the past shows us how low we can and almost certainly will go.

[phantom power]

2. I cannot seem to lower my expectations enough to avoid disappointment.

[damyank913]

4. Me thinks that they shoulda left out a dictionary from that pile of books they burned.

[GodlessBiker]

5. Cosmological? I don't think the Andromeda Galaxy has an effect on our weather.

[wtmusic]

13. Oh yeah? Just wait about 4.5 billion years, Mr. Smarty Pants. nt

[GodlessBiker]

15. Oh, that whole collision thing? Bah humbug!

[sharp_stick]

6. I don't know who to say

is dumber, the assholes trying to write up such an idiotic and useless "law" or the assholes that regularly vote them into office.

I would be so embarrassed to be a member of that legislative body that I would seriously consider ritual suicide to get it over with.

[Turbineguy]

8. I think DU needs to set up

some sort of award to deal with this. It could be our own version of the Darwin Awards.

The Most Ignorant Legislative Body Award. Something like that. Competition out there is fierce.

[madrchsod]

9. this just in...south dakota house of representatives diagnosed with st anthony`s fire

the citizen`s of south dakota are calling for a special election.....

[hatrack]

11. We should be so lucky . . .

:eyes:

[progressoid]

10. Oy.

I'll email that to a couple science teachers I know. Ought to be good for a laugh. A sad sad laugh.

[wtmusic]

14. Maybe someone can prove that astrology DOESN'T effect the weather???

:banghead:

[XemaSab]

16. When the sun is in Capricorn, it's cold and rainy here

When the sun is in Leo, it's hella hot.

There. Astrology totally affects the weather. D

[Nihil]

18. Oh I wish you hadn't said that ...

:spank: :spank: :spank:

[northofdenali]

17. Oh well. You've got Fairbanks beat, fer shur!

Our dumbest "law" is that it's illegal to get a moose drunk.

Are your legislators for real? They truly believe this shit?