Official Texas Republican Party 2012 Platform

[filkertom]

Oh my:

The sanctity of human life, created in the image of God, which should be protected from fertilization to natural death.

... which is pretty interesting, coming from a state which so vigorously uses the death penalty, but let's move on:

Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

In other words, directly opposing the entire point and function of education.

Immunizations ― All adult citizens should have the legal right to conscientiously choose which vaccines are administered to themselves or their minor children without penalty for refusing a vaccine. We oppose any effort by any authority to mandate such vaccines or any medical database that would contain personal records of citizens without their consent.

Okay, gotta write "Texas... has a vector in it" (from the hit musical The Best Little Biological Weapons Lab In Texas) before seanan_mcguire does.

Controversial Theories – We support objective teaching and equal treatment of all sides of scientific theories. We believe theories such as life origins and environmental change should be taught as challengeable scientific theories subject to change as new data is produced. Teachers and students should be able to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these theories openly and without fear of retribution or discrimination of any kind.

Translation: "That's already what happens in states with actual educators, but we want to throw in as much God as possible without being laughed at."

Protection from Extreme Environmentalists – We strongly oppose all efforts of the extreme environmental groups that stymie legitimate business interests. We strongly oppose those efforts that attempt to use the environmental causes to purposefully disrupt and stop those interests within the oil and gas industry. We strongly support the immediate repeal of the Endangered Species Act. We strongly oppose the listing of the dune sage brush lizard either as a threatened or an endangered species. We believe the Environmental Protection Agency should be abolished.

Literal translation: Money is indeed more important than breathing.

This is the official party line. In its own way, absolute proof that evolution is in action -- one of the things most often forgot about evolutionary factors is that they aren't all positive. It's not strictly "survival of the fittest", it's "survival of whatever wins out", which in this case is power-hungry, blinding greed.

I just don't know how people can think like this.