Well, here in Texas we have a “plague” called “Southern Baptists. As one sage said about a hundred years ago (aptly describing Southern Baptists), “The problem with Baptists [Southern] is that when they baptize them, they don’t hold them under the water long enough…..” Sadly, the man who said that was shot in the back where the suspenders crossed by a Southern Baptist.

Well, their influence can be seen everywhere. From gambling to alcohol. You can’t serve alcohol after 2 in the morning. You can’t sell it before noon on Sunday. No liquor stores are open on Sunday in Texas. And in some places the towns are “dry” which means you have to buy a “membership” in a club or bar in order to buy a drink. Or you have to have a “Uni” card. Which is just another way of our government to stick it’s nose in your personal and private business. And the local town makes a buck or two off the issuing of said card.

In Texas, it wasn’t until the early 1970’s that you could buy liquor by the drink. It wasn’t always like that. But some clowns with bibles in their hands decided what was best for everyone else. They didn’t ask, they just went ahead and assumed it was the best for everyone. Kinda like Prohibition was back in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. All that did was lead to organized crime, a lot of killings and some people, like Joe Kennedy making a fortune off smuggling booze into the US.

Maybe one day, we’ll learn…. But that’s not what this blog is about.

Anyway, I saw this cartoon in the Sunday edition of the Houston Chronicle by cartoonist Nick Anderson 7-26-09. I can’t think of any other picture, article, editorial, that sums up the “Creationists” attacks on our education system.

But this is the “Bible Belt” and there is the Southern Baptist Convention. And other such groups.

You have that groups who is trying to take control of what our kids learn in public schools. Yup, it’s about “creationists” verses “evolutionists.” Oh, sorry, and “Intelligent Design” or ID as I call it.

“I. D” is short for, “I Dumb.”

Well you’ve got a bible pounding dentist whose at the head of the State Board. And he’s asked all his patients what they think and they agree with him. I’m sure no one finds this wide spread survey at all “odd.” I mean, who is going to argue with someone whose going to drill on your teeth? Makes me think of the seen in the movie “Marathon Man” when the former Nazi doctor is working over the main character of the stories teeth, sans pain killer.

To counter all this there is the American Atheists in Austin. Mrs. O’Hare, may she rest in peace, is still remembered down here. And there are those, like me who will not let her be forgotten nor her work. Back in college I went to hear her speak. It was fun. Colorful. Very colorful, and fun.