Rep. Joe Barton of the great state of Texas had a gold-star day yesterday. He outsmarted a Nobel-Prize winner! Barton sits on the House Energy & Commerce Committee. He asked Energy Secretary Steven Chu a simple question:

“How did all the oil and gas get to Alaska?”

Chu started talking about “millions of years,” and “plates bumping into each other,” or some such nonsense. It was clear he had no idea what he was talking about and probably didn’t even know what oil was. And this guy is supposed to be the Secretary of Energy?

It was a real “the emperor has no clothes” moment. I can’t imagine how embarrassed and humiliated Chu must have felt. As the internet kids say: “MEH, FAIL LOLZ.”

Anyway, Barton was feeling pretty good about his incisive line of questioning — justifiably so — and he went on Twitter (amazing computer program that allows politicians to stay in touch with their constituents and thereby build a better-informed electorate, up to 140 characters at a time) and wrote:

“I seemed [sic] to have baffled the Energy Sec with basic question – Where does oil come from?“

SCORE!

Here are some other questions Barton should have asked:

“Why can’t I see the wind? Is it made of ghosts?”

“How did all that water get in the ocean?”

“How come sometimes when I look at a cloud, it reminds me of a shape, like a horse or an airplane or something?”

“How come things are all different colors?”

“If solar power is so great, why isn’t there a Psalm in the Bible that says, ‘Solar power is so great / that is my honest opinion, sayeth the Lord’?”

“If global warming is so real, how come I had never heard of it until people started talking about it?”

“How did this thumb on the end of my arm get stuck up my ass?”

Send me your eco-stumpers. I’ll forward them to “Nobel-Prize winner” Steven Chu — and then we’ll find out how “smart” he really so-called is.