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They take all our tax money and return nothing.

For every federal tax dollar that Texas paid to the US in 2005, Texas received 94 cents. Texas ranks #35 among the 50 states and DC:

http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/22685.html [Scroll to page 43]

They dumb down the rest of the nation

Various measures of academic ranking are subjective, but this one puts Texas at #25, almost right smack on the national average:

http://www.morganquitno.com/edrank.htm

and they are also probably largely responsible for most of the failed mortgages.

In 2007, the mortgage foreclosure rate in Texas was 1.21%, compared with 1.33% in the West South Central region and 1.69% nationally:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-12-06-delinquency-chart_N.htm

I have to admit: you may have set the record for the most ignorance shown in a single post on Slashdot.

Well this is the same state that passed the law that effectively makes people of latino descent (or anyone with something odd about them) need to carry their birth certificate or other ID on them at all times, regardless of their nationality. They also passed a law requiring that their presidential candidates need to prove they were born in the U.S. What did you expect from the state ranked 50th in education? Somehow I don't expect enlightened thinking and rationality out of the bunch running AZ right now...

True, but the border states rank close to the bottom.

Just so everybody in the world doesn't thing Mississippians are a bunch of barefoot yokels, see here.

And according to this, sure, MS is number 48, but Alabama isn't far ahead at 45. Dumb and dumber?

Disclaimer: Mississippi native, resident and long time Mensa member (and no, they don't have a special test for Mississippians).

Agreed. More than half of the 21 factors are bogus:

http://www.morganquitno.com/edfact06.htm#FACTORS

The bottom line should be student performance. Schools don't exist so that teachers can have jobs. Schools exist to educate our children.

Perhaps not surprisingly, California ranks almost dead last in education.

Using the arbitrary ranking system of someone who appears to have an agenda of increasing funding for schools and decreasing class sizes. Many of the factors have absolutely nothing to do with student performance.

Perhaps not surprisingly, California ranks almost dead last in education.

One of the most idiotic posts I've seen in a while. The biggest farm state is California. I can tell you're from California because you're an idiot and California ranks near the bottom in the Smartest State competition.

Ermm, he said "similar backwater states". California and West Virginia rank pretty low in national education. As do Alabama, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Kansas isn't so bad (in the top 50%), but it's not top 10.

http://www.morganquitno.com/edrank06.htm

I call BS. In this year's rankings, DC is #19, behind cities like Memphis, Trenton, and Kansas City. DC has improved greatly since the handgun ban was passed.

As for the murder rate - it definitely does not drop immediately once you cross the border. I'll grant you that the Virginia border takes you into reasonable areas for the most part, but if you go across the Maryland border into PG County, don't tell me that you're going somewhere safe. Frankly, much of the blight is being pushed out of DC into VA and MD due simply to the increasing cost of downtown real-estate. Ten years ago I would never have considered living in Southwest, but now the area is undergoing massive investment, and in my time living there I never had any problems.

The Newton method is something generally taught in trigonometry in high school. At least, it was taught to me, and I was going to school in Florida, which is a low man on the totem pole.

If you went to high school, took trig, and don't remember, then I'd say you probably don't remember much of it.

also happens to be the 6th most dangerous city in the US. Open source adoption leads to crime? Hmmmmm?

No, not trolling... low funds lead to crime and open source... just kinda funny :)

Miami has the highest crime rate in the country, and has for some time. [...] Highest murder rate, everything.

Really? Where are you getting that claim?

The FBI's Uniform Crime Reports deliberately don't rank the cities. But others compile rankings from them and you can check them against the FBI's report on their web site.

According to this Wikipedia article, compiled from the FBI's 2003 UCR (which is referenced there if you want to check), Miami's violent crime rate is significantly-to-far below that of a number of other cities, such as Detroit MI, Irvington NJ, and Atlanta, GA. It's even below that of Springfiled MA - in a state more gun-unfrindly than California.

For murder rate it's even farther behind. Ranked 31 at 19.4/100,000, less than half that of Baltimore MD and Washington DC (with it's federally-enforced near-total gun ban). Gary IN takes the lead there (at 67.0), but many other big names leave Miami in the dust: Camden NJ, Detroit again, Ritchmond and Oakland CA, Newark NJ, Philidelphia PA, I could go on.

Do you have a source for your claim? Or are you just making it up as you go?

New Orleans is ranked eighth on this most dangerous cities list as of 2004. That's pre-hurricane data. My sources have their state and local governments as one of the most corrupt in the US. Would you walk around this city with a laptop? You could paint a target on your back too.

And yet I am, as are millions of other people who are not from Kansas.

Your attempts are sarcasm are not humorous.

I said as much. Is reading comprehension in Kansas as bad as their science curriculum?

See above.

Good, then you know this did not just happen yesterday, but has in fact become an ugly pattern with Kansas over the last few years. I don't have time to sort out which batches of kids are and aren't being screwed over in that State. Your community needs to understand that science is not going away.

Ok... the 2001 decision was turned over the next year- which was before it could be implemented. This decision will not go into effect until August of 2008, and I assure you it will be overturned before that. Even if it isn't, I don't care. All the policy says is that it will allow materials that are critical of evolution. If this theory is so great and ID so weak and lame, won't the comparison of the two make evolution's position stronger, not weaker? Also won't Kansas school children be able to use critical thinking skills? Instead of one theory being shoved down their throats, they now have a choice. Since evolution is so much better, it won't even matter that ID is being taught, right? Or do you think that your mighty theory will crumble to pieces like the piece of crap it is when it isn't the only thing being taught?

It will. It has, and that you do not see it means it has clearly affected your learning abilities. The degree is worthless because the State brazenly fails to meet a necessary standard of science education, and who knows how many other areas it fails you as well. If you think that's OK, then it is you who should not be in management or in any way involved in the HR process.

You are ignorant. Tell me what control the Kansas State Board of Education has over the state's colleges? What? Zero? I have taken several science classes at Washburn U, and they all preached evolution. I even had to memorize the all of the major eras of evolution in Kansas for my Kansas Historical Geology class.

It is not my theory, it is a scientific theory. It is not "preached", and it is not particularly "fine". What it is is science and as such belongs in a science curriculum, and other things do not. You have misplaced your outrage. It is not my actions that should be upsetting you, it is the actions of your own community that need to corrected.

Error 404: Humor Not Found. I happen to agree with what they did, so my outrage is not misplaced. It is preached. It is part of the scientific community's mantra and they preach it.

Yes, pretty much. As I said, I don't have the time to figure out who has and hasn't been tainted by your sub-standard educational system, and by how much.

Sub-standard? Kansas is ranked 13th in education. http://www.morganquitno.com/edrank.htm

Yes, it is! That's the whole point! There are permanent damages that result in your State's dismissive attitude towards science. It has gone back and forth so much that it has become clear to me that your representatives don't know up from down. Why should you get credit for being right next year if you're just going to get it all wrong again in 3 years?

Well, I live in Lawrence, and the rep for my section of Kansas voted against this. As far as your permanent damage idea, Kansas is ranked 29th in the State Economy Index. As far as science goes, we are ranked 42. So even with our dismissive attitude, somehow 8 states are below us... As far as Kansans with degrees or some form of higher education, we are ranked 14th. http://www.neweconomyindex.org/states/2002/kansas. html

The biggest problem in society today is our government is out of control. The reason that is the case is because the public is uneducated

Your argument is contradicted by the fact that this legislation is happening in Massachusetts which has been ranked the "smartest" state in the country several years running (See: http://www.morganquitno.com/edrank.htm). ;)

"You sort of suspect that Californians and New Yorkers might be a tad more educated and informed than Montanans and Kansans?"

And you would sort of not be right.

According to the Education State Rankings Annual Survey, New York does indeed rank higher at 6th, with Montana at 10th, Kansas at 15th, and California dragging in at 43rd.

Basically, though, you just picked a couple bad examples, since most of the "Red" states do come in the bottom half...

However, that survey mainly looks at k-12 education quality...maybe not quite what we're looking for.

According to the census, the rankings for high school and college graduates as a percent of total population are as follows (in that order):

New York: 82.0% (t-33), 29.3% (12)
California: 79.0% (t-44), 28.5% (13)
Montana: 88.3% (7), 24.8% (t-23)
Kansas: 87.5% (12), 26.7% (18)

So MT and KS have more high school graduates, but less college graduates (although they are above average, unlike NY and CA on HS grads). Seems pretty inconclusive either way.

My personal observations growing up in a blue upper midwest state (rural), and living in a red western state (rural), blue midwest state (urban), and a red midwest state (urban), spending significant time in an eastern blue state (urban), and spending the last 7+ years at institutions of higher learning are:

1) There are idiots in equal quantities everywhere without any regard to political affiliation.
2) People in rural areas tend to have a better understanding of urban issues than urban residents do of rural issues, although I wouldn't consider the majority of either group well informed about the other.
3) People in the rural west are more socially liberal and fiscally conservative than those in the rural midwest. Urban dwellers are more socially and fiscally liberal than both.
4) Degrees don't necessarily mean someone is informed or intelligent.

Yeah, you insensitive ass. At least they're not Mississippi!

And hey, you guys moved up a notch from last year! It must be due to your recent move to indoor plumbing.

Of course...the albuquerque metro area also has its downfalls, such as being ranked the 8th overall most dangerous metro area in the United State http://www.morganquitno.com/cit04pop.htm#METRO

Now look at this listing of states by crime rate. Vermont is safest at #1, righthand column.

QED.