THE CRAZINESS IS NOT LOCALIZED

A few weeks ago we had state legislators from Tennessee agreeing to be plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Barack Obama's presidential eligibility. Now, in Missouri, I see we have a birther bill:

Missouri Representative Wayne Cooper (R-Camdenton) has introduced HJR 34. It has 15 Republican co-sponsors. It requires presidential candidates to submit a Birth Certificate to the Secretary of State, and says a certificate of live birth is not an adequate substitute.

(In the legislation this is tacked on to the usual right-wing voting-law wish list -- mandatory photo ID for voting, a ban on same-day registration, etc.)

And yes, folks, 16 out of 89 Republicans in the Missouri House sponsored this.

Representative Cooper (full name: Robert Wayne Cooper) is also fond of introducing anti-evolution legislation, including one bill that required termination of public school teachers who failed to give equal time to intelligent design. Cooper is a physician and the president of Graceland Ministries, Inc., in Missouri. He attended the 2005 U.S. National Commission for UNESCO Annual Conference as a commission member; his bio on the State Department Web site notes his work as a "missionary doctor in the Philippines with the Campus Crusade for Christ from 1970 to 1980," as well as the fact that, in the Missouri House, he serves on the (gulp!) Homeland Security committee.