Not only is Georgia eliminating evolution from their curriculum, they’re getting rid of history, too!

In the proposed changes, teachers will spend two or three weeks discussing the foundation of our country, with the remaining time devoted to studying events from 1876 to the present. Gone is any mention of the Louisiana Purchase or Lewis and Clark. There will be no discussion of Indian removal and the Trail of Tears.

Students probably will not be remembering the Alamo; it won’t be a topic of discussion in Georgia’s high schools. Daniel Webster and Henry Clay will be omitted, as well as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and the Underground Railroad.

Search in vain for discussion of the Civil War; that topic is off limits. In a course entitled “American History,” students will not study our most devastating war. There is no mention of Fort Sumter, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee or anything else associated with those years.

Though teachers supposedly have no time to discuss topics essential to understanding our heritage, the curriculum suggests they have their students write a 1920s radio drama. Teachers are also encouraged to assign essays about dating in the Jazz Age and to show segments from “All in the Family,” “Good Times” and “Chico and the Man.”

I think that’s probably the most depressing news I’ve read all week.

(link via Kevin Drum)

UPDATE: It appears that I might have been too hasty to judge Georgia. Apparently some of the material is simply going to be covered in earlier classes. However, that doesn’t change the fact that some of what’s on the curriculum for the older kids is awfully damn stupid.

Thankfully, these guys were caught.

William Krar and Judith Bruey assembled a frightening arsenal in three rented storage units in this East Texas town, and federal authorities are trying to figure out why.

A raid in April found nearly two pounds of a cyanide compound and other chemicals that could create enough poisonous gas to kill everyone inside a space as large as a big-chain bookstore or a small-town civic center.

Authorities also discovered nearly half a million rounds of ammunition, more than 60 pipe bombs, machine guns, silencers and remote-controlled bombs disguised as briefcases, plus pamphlets on how to make chemical weapons, and anti-Semitic, anti-black and anti-government books.

Radical Muslims are not the only terrorists.

Sure, I have my differences with Oliver Willis on politics, but we’ve always kept up a good blog relationship. There’s respect on both ends and he’s not on my daily reads list for nothing. But now, though, I’m not so sure.

Oliver, Oliver, Oliver–rooting for Carolina? I don’t know if I can forgive that.

The Chiefs may be my #1 team, but after living for five years in New England, the Pats are my #2, and they’re clearly the superior team in this game. I hope they stomp Carolina into the ground. Even Oliver recognizes this–he’s picked them to win. But he won’t be rooting for them. If you ask me, that’s unpatriotic.

Here’s a theological conundrum for you. When spammers and comment spammers die, do they go to the same circle of hell, or do they have separate ones? And how are spammers punished in the afterlife? I’m thinking something like the end of the Star Trek episode where Harry Mudd has to deal with a thousand duplicates of his nagging, shrewish housewife.

What do you think?

“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
– P.J. O’Rourke

Via Henry, I discovered that ABC has even more on Iraq bribing prominent politicians with oil contracts.

Among those named: Indonesia President Megawati Sukarnoputri, an outspoken opponent of U.S.-Iraq policy, who received a contract for 10 million barrels of oil — about a $5 million profit. . .

. . .According to the document, France was the second-largest beneficiary, with tens of millions of barrels awarded to Patrick Maugein, a close political associate and financial backer of French President Jacques Chirac.

Maugein, individually and through companies connected to him, received contracts for some 36 million barrels. Chirac’s office said it was unaware of Maugein’s deals, which Maugein told ABCNEWS are perfectly legal.

The single biggest set of contracts were given to the Russian government and Russian political figures, more than 1.3 billion barrels in all — including 92 million barrels to individual officials in the office of President Vladimir Putin.

This, of course, says nothing about the people who honestly believed and do believe that the war in Iraq was a bad idea. However, it does kick the leg out of one of their primary arguments–namely, that we alienated “allies,” particularly France and Russia, prohibiting a U.N. approved attack on Iraq. This finding calls into question whether we could have ever gotten such support at all.

“The uncompromising attitude is more indicative of an inner uncertainty than a deep conviction. The implacable stand is directed more against the doubt within than the assailant without.”
– Eric Hoffer

Does this really surprise anyone?

Documents from Saddam Hussein’s oil ministry reveal he used oil to bribe top French officials into opposing the imminent U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The oil ministry papers, described by the independent Baghdad newspaper al-Mada, are apparently authentic and will become the basis of an official investigation by the new Iraqi Governing Council, the Independent reported Wednesday.

I’m willing to suspend judgment a little bit until the documents are authenticated, but I’d be willing to bet it’s true.

“Look, Marge. You don’t know what it’s like. I’m the one out there every day putting his ass on the line. And I’m not out of order. You’re out of order! The whole freakin’ system is out of order! You want the truth? You want the truth?? You can’t handle the truth! ‘Cause when you reach over and put your hand into a pile of goo that was your best friend’s face, you’ll know what to do! Forget it, Marge! It’s Chinatown!”
– Homer Simpson

You know, when I log onto CNN.com and check out the headlines, you know it’s going to be bad when the “Other Top Stories” include links to a minor league baseball player regretting having been in a gay porn video, Halle Berry getting hurt doing that awful looking Catwoman movie, and Bill Clinton sending just 2 emails during his presidency. *sigh* I guess that’s why they fill up all that time with talking heads!

And I wonder why it’s so hard for me to post things up lately.