Stupid Texans!

Don't you just love polls? They tell us such interesting things about ourselves. Of course, everything hinges on the way the poll question is worded, and, for that reason, one has to look at who conducted the poll and consider what axe they have to grind before deciding whether to take the results well-salted. But I really doubt that the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune newspaper have any desire to make Texans look particularly bad, so I tend to believe that their poll is on the level.

Here are just a few of the "facts" that the pollsters found that Texans believe:

- 38 percent agreed with the statement "God created human beings pretty much in their present form about 10,000 years ago."
- 22 percent said life has existed in its present form since the beginning of time.
- 51 percent disagreed with the statement, "human beings as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals."
- 41 percent were aware that humans did not live at the same time as the dinosaurs.

The poll also found that Republicans were more likely to believe the above-stated "facts" than Democrats and that supporters of Kay Bailey Hutchison for Republican nominee for governer were even MORE likely to believe them.

When I casually mentioned the findings of the poll to my husband, the born and bred Texan who refuses to live anywhere else, his response was, "Not surprising - there are an awful lot of stupid people in Texas!"

In that case, we've certainly got the right governor. Rick Perry is now suing the EPA - on our dime, by the way - over its intent to regulate greenhouse gases as a pollutant. Never mind that the Supreme Court, which Perry probably loves, has said that the EPA has that right and responsibility. No, ol' Ricky, you see, doesn't believe in all that global warming, human-produced greenhouse gases crap, and he's going to prove to the world that we don't need no stinkin' EPA telling our oil refineries what they can and cannot emit!

Of course, I'm sure that the fact that Perry, who apparently wants Texas to secede from the United States of America, is trying to fend off Kay Bailey Hutchison and tea party darling Debra Medina in the Republican primary in a couple of weeks has nothing to do with this. He would not be so cynical as to spend perfectly good state money on a quixotic quest meant to appeal to those tea partiers and far-righters. Oh, by the way, let me introduce you to my pet dinosaur.

I wonder if the UT/Texas Tribune pollsters polled our esteemed governor. Even if they didn't, I'm sure he would strongly endorse the poll's results - especially if it would win him a few votes.

Poor Texas.