Anti-Pi Update: Now, The Cover-Up

Published Mar 16 2009, 05:21 PM by David S. Bernstein

[Update: All of the "Anti-Pi 10" just voted for Final Vote Results for Roll Call 128 .header {font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase;} .upper {text-transform: uppercase;} Professional Social Work Month and World Social Work Day!]

Offices of the 10 Congressional pi-haters (or are they pi-deniers? pi-skeptics?) have been avoiding my attempts to pin them down on a motives behind their recent vote. However, it turns out that one of them, freshman Republican Jason Chaffetz, wrote this on Twitter after the vote:

I cannot support Pi Day as just one day. It should go on forever. I voted "Nay." It passed 391-10.

However, just a week earlier, Chaffetz voted "Yea" on House Resolution 146, designating Read Across America Day, and on House Concurrent Resolution 14, supporting the goals and ideals of Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week.

Is Chaffetz suggesting that -- unlike the year-round activity of dividing a circle's circumference by its radius -- reading should be just a one-day-a-year project? That we should be unaware of MS the other 51 weeks?

I am not the only one on this story. The Houston Chronicle got this out of a spokesperson for Ron Paul, another Pi Day dissenter:

Without discussing it with him directly, I assume that pursuant to his oath of office, he could not come up with a good reason to vote for it. Personally, I don't see why you would need an act of Congress for this kind of thing.

...and this from Ted "No-Pi" Poe's press secretary:

Congressman Poe has nothing against recognizing the National Science Foundation's math and science education programs, the NO vote was simply a protest vote - we should actually be passing legislation that directly funds and promotes science and math education instead of just recognizing their efforts. There are several matters of greater importance that directly affect the American people at this time before the House and those issues should be taken up without any further delay.

Oh, please! Paul, like Chaffetz, found "good reason to vote for" the reading and MS resolutions. Poe did too; were there no matters of greater importance a week earlier?

In fact, this year Chaffetz, Paul, and Poe have all seen fit to vote in favor of Peace Officers Memorial Day; National Engineers Week; National Girls and Women in Sports Day; National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week; National Stalking Awareness Month; National School Counseling Week; National Data Privacy Day; and National Mentoring Month. (Yes, this is your United States Congress in action.)

Pi Day is the very first such resolution any of them has voted against.

So why did they vote against this resolution? Why is Pi Day different from all other Days (and Weeks, and Months)?

And why are they now fabricating reasons for their vote? Why won't they tell us the truth? (Someone should tell Chaffetz: it's never the crime that brings you down, it's the cover-up tweeting afterward.)