Utterly Meaningless

LOTD

Filed on January 19, 2010 at 7:40 am under by dcobranchi

My friend the editor allows the religious nutcakes to take over his LttE page today. *sigh*

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DEAR TIM TEBOW,

Filed on at 7:20 am under by dcobranchi

Have you ever heard the term “over-exposed”? The Super Bowl is neither the time nor the place to be “preaching” about a controversial political issue.

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REASON TO HOMESCHOOL #1,245,757

Filed on at 7:12 am under by dcobranchi

So that you can teach your kids real science and history as opposed to wacko Christianist/GOP propaganda.

McLeroy flipped through the pages and explained what he saw as the gaping holes in Darwin’s theory. “I don’t care what the educational political lobby and their allies on the left say,” he declared at one point. “Evolution is hooey.” This bled into a rant about American history. “The secular humanists may argue that we are a secular nation,” McLeroy said, jabbing his finger in the air for emphasis. “But we are a Christian nation founded on Christian principles. The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan—he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes.”

Views like these are relatively common in East Texas, a region that prides itself on being the buckle of the Bible Belt. But McLeroy is no ordinary citizen. The jovial creationist sits on the Texas State Board of Education, where he is one of the leaders of an activist bloc that holds enormous sway over the body’s decisions. As the state goes through the once-in-a-decade process of rewriting the standards for its textbooks, the faction is using its clout to infuse them with ultraconservative ideals. Among other things, they aim to rehabilitate Joseph McCarthy, bring global-warming denial into science class, and downplay the contributions of the civil rights movement.

Battles over textbooks are nothing new, especially in Texas, where bitter skirmishes regularly erupt over everything from sex education to phonics and new math. But never before has the board’s right wing wielded so much power over the writing of the state’s standards. And when it comes to textbooks, what happens in Texas rarely stays in Texas. The reasons for this are economic: Texas is the nation’s second-largest textbook market and one of the few biggies where the state picks what books schools can buy rather than leaving it up to the whims of local districts, which means publishers that get their books approved can count on millions of dollars in sales. As a result, the Lone Star State has outsized influence over the reading material used in classrooms nationwide, since publishers craft their standard textbooks based on the specs of the biggest buyers. As one senior industry executive told me, “Publishers will do whatever it takes to get on the Texas list.”

So, in the next few years, g-school textbooks across the country might teach the kids that McCarthy was right, that Ronald Reagan should be beatified, and that Newt Gingrich was (and is) a visionary.

FSM save us from Texas!

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I LOVE CRAIGSLIST

Filed on January 16, 2010 at 2:27 pm under by dcobranchi

Just bought a nearly new $350 ladder for $100.

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STATE OF DELUSION

Filed on January 2, 2010 at 2:10 pm under by dcobranchi

SC’s educational radio station is running a show next week during which they’ll debate whether or not SC Gov. Mark Sanford has a legitimate shot at the presidency in 2012.

I had to check the calendar to make sure it was January 1st and not April 1st.

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