This is what the matter is with Kansas.

What Happened When an Extremist, Christian Fundamentalist Got to Run a Whole State

The tide comes in, the tide goes out....

We all came from primordial ooze.... Which might explain the Republicans' desire to return to simpler times...

"In the race to take on Obama, playing dumb about foreign affairs is the politically clever thing to do"

How Newt is channeling “The Producers”

One who takes issue with Naomi Wolf's article about the DHS and the mayors involved with a nation-wide crackdown of the OWS.

I think I like this new generation... teen tweeter won't apologize to Brownback.  Update:  Brownback backs down.

The NYTimes and LATimes both came out against SOPA and PIPA.

Brownback blowback

Brownback is shocked that a teacher did not get tenure because of his beliefs. Read his qualifications carefully.

DES MOINES, Ia— U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, Republican candidate for President, today commented on the denial of tenure to Iowa State University Professor Guillermo Gonzales.

"When I was informed that Professor Guillermo Gonzalez was denied tenure, I was puzzled given his excellent academic record of achievement and faithful service. I understand that now two of Dr. Gonzalez's colleagues have indicated that Gonzalez's interest in intelligent design theory was, at least in part, responsible for this denial of tenure. This is rather alarming."

Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez is currently an Assistant Professor of Astronomy at Iowa State University, and has authored more than 65 scientific papers and articles. Dr. Gonzalez developed the concept of the Galactic Habitable Zone and co-authored "The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery, which was published in 2004." The Privileged Planet provides scientific evidence for intelligent design theory, which challenges neo-Darwinism's claim that the development of the universe is the result of an unpredictable and purposeless process. Intelligent design theory rather explores recent discoveries in the fields of physics, cosmology, biochemistry, genetics, and paleontology that logically point to an intelligent cause in the development of life and the cosmos.

Brownback continued, "Observation, testing, and the development of reasonable hypotheses have long been integral to good science. Scholars, such as Professor Guillermo Gonzales, ought not to be intimidated nor silenced by those in the academic community who would rather dismiss a well-reasoned hypothesis than debate it on its merits. Such an assault on academic freedom does not bode well for the advancement of true science."

John Pieret of Thoughts in a Haystack has a different explanation:

Senator Sam ("I ain't no monkey") Brownback, who famously made his case for being the second President of the 21st Century by demonstrating that he hasn't yet made it through to the end of the 19th, is shocked … shocked … that Guillermo Gonzalez has been denied tenure despite his allegedly "well-reasoned hypothesis" set forth in a popular work of supposed science published by Regnery Publishing, which describes itself not as a publisher of works of science but as the "nation's leading conservative publisher." The writing of the book was actually funded, as Ed Brayton points out, by the John Templeton Foundation, instead of a scientific organization like, oh, say, NASA.

Update 5/24: PZ Myers at Pharyngula has more:

It also includes comments from Bob Park, which reflect my own views on this—his ID ideas were fair game for the tenure review.

But Park says that a researcher's views on intelligent design cannot be divorced from the tenure decision. Anyone who believes that an intelligent force set the Earth's location doesn't understand probability's role in the Universe, Park argues. Such a person is hardly qualified to teach others about the scientific method. "We're entrusting the minds of our students to this person," he says.

And there's also the best informed person on this topic, the chair of the department.

Eli Rosenberg, who chairs Iowa State's physics department, concedes that Gonzalez's belief in intelligent design did come up during the tenure process. "I'd be a fool if I said it was not [discussed]," he says. But, he adds, "intelligent design was not a major or even a big factor in this decision." Four of twelve tenure candidates have been turned down in the past decade, he says. "We are a fairly hard-nosed department."

Senator Brownback, we have questions to ask you

Senator, could you please explain your connection to 'The Family'? And why do you admire Hitler?

The Nitpicker at Unclaimed Territory:
"The group is known primarily as "the Family." It was the focus of an excellent (if frightening) expose by Jeff Sharlet in the March 2003 Atlantic Monthly. An excerpt from the piece shows just how far outside the mainstream the group is. The group's leader, Doug Coe, explaining how the Family works to Kansas congressman Todd Tiahrt. Coe says it's based on

"A covenant...Like the Mafia,” Doug clarified. “Look at the strength of their bonds.” He made a fist and held it before Tiahrt's face. Tiahrt nodded, squinting. “See, for them it's honor,” Doug said. “For us, it's Jesus.”

Coe listed other men who had changed the world through the strength of the covenants they had forged with their “brothers”: “Look at Hitler,” he said. “Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, Bin Laden.” The Family, of course, possessed a weapon those leaders lacked: the “total Jesus” of a brotherhood in Christ.

Brownback, who wanted to get to the bottom of Judge Neff's partygoing habits, is a particularly powerful leader in this group and lived with other members of the group in a Washington, D.C., mansion at the unheard of D.C.-era rent of $600 a month, according to a separate Sharlet article. No one seems to have asked him about this great deal, however, or whether he believes that Jesus--or most Americans--would get behind a Christian schutzstaffel or al Qaeda in a religious "great leap forward.""

Nitpicker linked to this expose which gives the overview.

The weirdness of Sam Brownback.

He has no idea what he'll be facing if he steps out of his Kansas delusions to run for president in the real world. Mustang Bobby has more of his fantasies:
"In his dream America, the one he believes both the Bible and the Constitution promise, the state will simply wither away. In its place will be a country so suffused with God and the free market that the social fabric of the last hundred years -- schools, Social Security, welfare -- will be privatized or simply done away with. There will be no abortions; sex will be confined to heterosexual marriage. Men will lead families, mothers will tend children, and big business and the church will take care of all."