Mr_raccoon sez, "Remember Lamar Smith (the guy who tried to pass off SOPA as being good for the internet)? Well there is a lot of talk about his chairing the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. The GOP is set to vote on this today. This is like making an arsonist the fire-chief."

  • Finnagain

    See!? Government cannot work!

  • http://anomicofficedrone.com/ AnomicOfficeDrone

    “This is like making an arsonist the fire-chief.”

    The arsonist is busy.  They already made him chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the House Judiciary Committee, and the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

    • niktemadur

      Is there anything these a-holes don’t get wrong, on purpose it seems?

      • Finnagain

         They are intent on proving definitively that government does not, and can not, function. So vote republican, or something. Incompetent Luddite nitwits, or corrupt money grubbers? Trick question! They can be both!

        • niktemadur

          You just might be right in your assessment, but republicans are ultimately shooting themselves in the foot and seem to be too stupid to notice.

          Case in point, The Daily Dish had this tidbit from A Letter From A Millennial Voter:

          We are a technological generation. We came of age during the rise of the Internet, and we have embraced it, and in turn we have revolutionized its use (Zuckerberg, et al). We see the Republican party as anti-science, anti-technology know-nothings. We want no part of that.

          It’s just one excellent reason of many why young ‘uns vote against the GOP in droves.

  • BillGlover

    “This is like making an arsonist the fire-chief.”

    That makes perfect sense for certain values of “fireman.”

  • http://www.facebook.com/benjamin.graham919 Benjamin Graham

    Also on the same committee is Rep. Paul Broun, a doctor, who said, “All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell.” Who picks these committee members?

    • Finnagain

       Who picks these committee members?

      People dedicated to proving that Gummint Don’t Work Rite!

      • jhertzli

        They’re right!

    • Antinous / Moderator

      The voters. Or at least enough of them to make a credible electoral win. I’m hoping that the secession movement really takes off.

    • Coderjoe

      Well, dag nabbit, he’s a doctor! He MUST know what he’s talking about! Let’s vote for him!

      • http://www.facebook.com/benjamin.graham919 Benjamin Graham

        Actually, he just ran unopposed in the recent election. After the comments became public, many of his constituents began a Darwin for Congress campaign. I don’t know the exact number, but Charles Darwin actually received a substantial amount of votes as a write-in candidate.

      • Ms. Anne Thrope

        Actually he only did house calls because his credentials aren’t in order and the hospitals won’t extend him privileges.  He only got into the state medical school because his “deddie” was a state politician.

    • jhertzli

      I thought the development of embryology in the 19th century was what produced anti-abortion laws with teeth. Before then the fact that an embryo is a human being (since an embryo is both human and a being) was a guess.

      If this clown decides that nukes are Satanic manifestations of Hellfire next, I won’t be a bit surprised.

      If some BoingBoing commenters agree with him on that point, I will also be unsurprised.

  • http://twitter.com/dethbird dethbird

    great job!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/K7HK2DSSN47RUX7F6EXRGHK5O4 matt

    This guy does not even believe that climate change is anthropogenic. Well, apparently the idea that congress is a joke may not have reached its peak yet. Really wasn’t expecting more anyways

  • jimmoffet

    Don’t we already know, empirically, that fire-fighters have a wildly outsized probability of committing arson?

    You know Lamar Smith downloads hella porn via p2p.

    I’ll bet if we tried hard enough we could catch him.

  • Neill “Dire” Mitchell

    In an institution where Peter “If civilians are killed in an attack on a military installation, it is certainly regrettable, but I will not morally blame the IRA for it” King can be Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee then pretty much anything goes.

  • strangefriend
  • usuallyconfused

    Hell, why not?  take a look at the other members of this committee – like Todd “legitimate rape” Akin.

    Lamar Smith is most likely one of the more progressive members…….

  • GregS

    See? The system works! 

  • JProffitt71

    I love our Republicans. So. So. Much.

  • corydodt

    I thought this was just the standard way committee chairs were chosen.

  • jhertzli

    I just remembered SOPA isn’t the only bone-headed proposal from Congresscritter Smith.