Lest we get too smug about the number of Americans out there who attack the teaching of evolution in our schools, or who force the National Parks Service to accept books which suggest that the Grand Canyon was created by Noah’s flood, have a look at this clip from the French version of the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It’s three minutes long, but please, watch the whole thing.
For reference, the question on the board is: “Which body orbits the Earth?”
The fiancee in the audience has a look on her face that seems to say, “dear God, I’m marrying a moron.” So, you decide: were the audience members who picked ‘B’ having the guy on like the 2% who said that Mars orbited the Earth, or do the people of France truly believe the sun revolves around them?
Link courtesy Blevkog. Copernicus and Galileo must be spinning in their graves.
The Jefferson Koran
Courtesy of the Vanity Press comes one of the best examples of an individual rising above the rhetoric, and putting the bigots firmly in their place:
Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, found himself under attack last month when he announced he’d take his oath of office on the Koran — especially from Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, who called it a threat to American values.
Yet the holy book at tomorrow’s ceremony has an unassailably all-American provenance. We’ve learned that the new congressman — in a savvy bit of political symbolism — will hold the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson….
Goode, who represents Jefferson’s birthplace of Albemarle County, had no comment yesterday.
(link)
Return of the Hotstove
Greg Staples was planning to take a longer break, but the cabinet shuffle and the Wajid Khan incident brought him back. The latest Hotstove is here with Scott Tribe and Stephen Taylor. It was a fun hour, and you should all give it a listen.