Cynical Nation

DBK reads Kos so I don't have to, and comes back with the tale of Texas House Appropriations Committee Chairman Warren Chisum, who seems to be grounded in a decidedly Ptolemaic worldview.

Still, it's enough to set the world a-spinning that the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, the most powerful committee in the House, distributed to legislators a memo pitching crazed wingers who believe the earth stands still -- doesn't spin on its axis or revolve around the Sun -- that Copernicus was part of a Jewish conspiracy to undermine the Old Testament.

And "Jewish conspiracy to undermine the Old Testament" is probably the funniest line I've read all day.

Of course upon careful reading, you'll find that Chisum doesn't directly espouse the Ptolemaic viewpoint himself, but merely forwards along a memo -- which also doesn't disavow heliocentrism, but if you follow some of the web links referenced in the document and then do some more clicking, you'll eventually get to the Ptolemaic stuff.

Regardless, it seems Chisum (heh) doesn't have too many degrees of separation between himself and Loonville. Ah well, "Keep Austin Weird," as they say.