Christofascist Idiot Watch Update!, January Edition

I've been thinking about the blog a lot lately. Sometimes I worry that I'm just too cranky. And lately I've thought about de-emphasizing the latest 'Christofascist idiocy' and all the other dumb things that the right-wingers and Christianists do to outrage sensible reality-based people on a daily basis. But it's sooooooo hard. Like Al Pacino in The Godfather Part III: "Everytime I try to get out, they pull me back in.", and so it goes. I don't know why I keep doing it; their power is on the wane, their ridiculous ideology bound to be the used, discarded condom of history(yeah, I know, I've used that analogy before but it's just so appropriate and rude). So, dear readers, I'm still going to try to squeeze in more lighter, positive fare. But not right now. Time for the CFIW update, this time from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

This week in Federal Way schools, it got a lot more inconvenient to show one of the top-grossing documentaries in U.S. history, the global-warming alert "An Inconvenient Truth."

After a parent who supports the teaching of creationism and opposes sex education complained about the film, the Federal Way School Board on Tuesday placed what it labeled a moratorium on showing the film. The movie consists largely of a computer presentation by former Vice President Al Gore recounting scientists' findings.

"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher," said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. "The information that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. ... The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn't in the DVD."

Yeesh, where to begin? The stupid hurts my eyes. This guy is partially correct, however, in that if we don't act on climate change soon, everything will 'burn up', in a manner of speaking.

School Board members adopted a three-point policy that says teachers who want to show the movie must ensure that a "credible, legitimate opposing view will be presented," that they must get the OK of the principal and the superintendent, and that any teachers who have shown the film must now present an "opposing view."

The requirement to represent another side follows district policy to represent both sides of a controversial issue, board President Ed Barney said.

Ok, fair enough, present an opposing view. Seems reasonable. But, unfortunately for 'Frosty', like in the evolution/ 'intelligent design' controversy, there's pretty much a consensus in the scientific community in regards to global warming and its reality. Sure, there are a few 'scientists' out there that deny it, but more often than not, they usually are funded by think tanks and policy centers that get huge amounts of money from petrochemical companies. This notion of presenting an 'opposing view', no matter how ridiculous is truly one of the few weapons that makers of fringe claims still seem to use. I know you've probably heard it before, but by that (il)logic, when classes teach about the Holocaust, should they give equal time to holocaust deniers, as well? And don't tell me it's not the same thing, because it is.