I doubt "militan creationists" have that much clout, but I could be wrong. Regardless, unless something is done, and soon, the US will be relegated to the bottom of tech barrel.
Try this article:
http://www.geocities.com/lclane2/Texastextbooks.html
The gist is that since Texas is the largest purchaser of textbooks, publishers gear their books to being accepted there and militant Creationists focus their efforts there.
I agree completely that in the sciences we are already behind many places and it's going to get worse for the forseeable future.
There is a political aspect I did not mention in my prior post. Many way-left folk like crystals, gaia and fuzzy studies funded by non-accountable agencies, and many way-right folks want goal directed research aimed at immediate use and preferably funded by relevant profit making industries. The combination is deadly.