Texas Freedom Network

Far-right pressure groups are still screaming about “religious discrimination” as the culprit in the Texas Senate’s failure last week to confirm Don McLeroy, R-College Station, as chairman of the State Board of Education. Today, for example, Free Market Foundation Focus on the Family-Texas is again making that absurd charge:

We are outraged that SBOE Chairman, Don McLeroy, was blocked from confirmation by 11 Democrat Senators. Despite our best efforts to the contrary, the Senate discussion focused on his Christian beliefs and the opinion of the N.Y. Times. Outrageous.

As we have already pointed out, these reckless attempts to manipulate people of faith are cynical and deeply dishonest. (Some might say un-Christian as well.)

A number of senators spoke eloquently against McLeroy’s confirmation, including Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio; Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso; and Rodney Ellis, D-Houston. You can watch the full Senate video of the debate here. Click on the archive for May 28. Debate on McLeroy’s confirmation begins shortly after the 1:12 mark.

One of the most eloquent speeches came from Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin. If you don’t have time to watch the full debate, we have an audio file of Sen. Watson’s appeal to his colleagues to put the education of Texas schoolchildren above partisan politics and personal agendas. Click here to listen.

Please take the time to thank Sen. Watson and his colleagues who voted against McLeroy’s confirmation. They stood against continuing efforts to politicize our kids’ education and drag our public schools into the seemingly endless “culture wars.” They put the interests of Texas schoolchildren and their families first. Senators who voted against confirmation were Davis, Ellis, Gallegos, Hinojosa, Shapleigh, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, West, Whitmire and Zaffirini. You can find contact information for senators here.

We thought you might like to see one of the e-mails making the rounds. This is from a Texas religious-righter, who addressed his screed to “Texas Officials” and the “Texas SBOE.”

The “BORKING” of Dr. Don McLeroy … !!!

We have now seen it happen many, many times … a perfectly good and decent person is “Politically Assassinated” by Liberal Democrats for the crime of “NOT being a Liberal Democrat.”

This UGLY, Un-American PATHOLOGY became famous back in 1987 when it was successfully used against  Robert Bork on national tv. Because Bork boldly spoke out against Judges who “Legislate from the Bench,” the Liberal Democrats in the US Senate, orchestrated a vicious smear campaign against him and denied him a seat on the US Supreme Court.

Now, the highly partisan Sen. Kirk Watson and Sen. Eliot Shapleigh and the highly partisan TEXAS FREEDOM NETWORK, have successfully brought the Satanic art of “BORKING” to Texas … ; they recently managed to smear Dr. Don McLeroy, a good and decent man, with sickening LIES. This tag-team of DEMONS claimed that Dr. McLeroy tried to force CREATIONISM into the Science Classroom, and they told this brazen LIE over and over again.

The TRUTH is that Dr. McLeroy and the SBOE have simply asked that the SCIENTIFIC METHOD be applied fairly and universally in the Science Classroom; in particular, they have ask that the SCIENTIFIC METHOD even be applied to two SACRED-COWS/RELIGIONS of the Liberal Democrats, namely, (1) Darwinian Evolution and (2) Global Warming.

However, as we all know, the TEXAS FREEDOM NETWORK and its political allies, have responded to the reasonable requirements of the SBOE, with CONTRIVED NEAR-RIOTS at several public hearings. And most recently, as if on cue, the highly partisan Sen. Watson and Sen. Shapleigh have added insult to injury, by blaming these CONTRIVED NEAR-RIOTS of the TFN, on the clearly innocent Dr. McLeroy.

In conclusion, the good and decent people of Texas have at least one very powerful recourse to this insane, demonic BORKING; following the example of St. Paul, we can “spiritually deliver” Sen. Watson and Sen. Shapleigh and the TFN, to their very own evil Leader (1 Cor 5: 4-5; 1 Tim 1: 18-20).