California State Councilman Keith Richman is a moderate Republican and has tried to call attention to some of the stupidities of the state legislature.
In response to Pluto's downgrade he put forward
this bill. Key parts:
Quote:
WHEREAS, The mean-spirited International Astronomical Union
decided on August 24, 2006, to disrespect Pluto by stripping Pluto of
its planetary status and reclassifying it as a lowly dwarf planet;
...
WHEREAS, Downgrading Pluto's status will cause psychological harm
to some Californians who question their place in the universe and
worry about the instability of universal constants;
...
WHEREAS, The deletion of Pluto as a planet is a hasty,
ill-considered scientific heresy similar to questioning the
Copernican theory, drawing maps of a round world, and proving the
existence of the time and space continuum
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He played it straight to see the response he would get from his fellow legislators. In the end he got 50+ cosponsors from both sides of the aisle.
Next he will attempt to legislate that pi equals 3. I bet he gets traction.