The candidate filing period for the 2010 Texas elections opens on Thursday (December 3), but many candidates for the Texas State Board of Education are already off and running – and early indications are that far-right incumbents on the state board will face stiff challenges for re-election.
Let’s look first at the most interesting Republican Primary races that are developing.
Concerned Women for America — which exists “to protect and promote Biblical values among all citizens” — tells us in an e-mail blast that Americans don’t like pornography:
“While cultural elites downplay the negative influences of pornography, a new study by Harris Interactive shows that the American public is not so accepting of it.”
We didn’t find the poll on the Harris Web site, but we did see a related Oct. 28 press release from the far-right group Morality in Media:
“Overall, 76% of U.S. adults disagree that ‘viewing hardcore adult pornography on the Internet is morally acceptable’ and 74% disagree that “viewing hardcore adult pornography on the Internet provides, generally, harmless entertainment,” according to a survey commissioned by Morality in Media and conducted by Harris Interactive.”
That may very well be the case, but we couldn’t help but recall how often the far right blames sexual immorality of any sort on “liberals.” In fact, the Morality in Media press release points a finger at the Clinton administration in the 1990s: “Under President Clinton, the Justice Department turned its back to the proliferation of hardcore adult pornography on the Internet.”
And then we were reminded of a Harvard study we saw earlier this year. The study indicated that eight of the top 10 online porn-consuming states lean Republican and voted for John McCain in 2008. Six of the 10 states rated as the smallest consumers of online pornography voted for Barack Obama. Hmmm…
It’s bad enough when legislators try to use government to promote their own religious views over those of everybody else. It’s even worse when politicians try to use the courts to do it. So anyone who supports religious freedom should be concerned that former state Rep. Rick Green — a Republican from Dripping Springs southwest of Austin — is seeking a seat on the Texas Supreme Court. And if he wins, Texas will have a justice who not only opposes separation of church and state but also excuses torture by our own government.
Sometimes when you think you’ve seen it all…
For the far right, opposing proposed health insurance reform isn’t enough. Now they want people to protest by refusing health insurance coverage that reform efforts might make available to them. Check out this excerpt from an e-mail fundraising appeal from the executive director of the United States Justice Foundation:
“I’m asking you to flatly refuse to buy government insurance. And, if needed, the United States Justice Foundation (USJF) will represent you in court, to defend your decision. You have my word.”
Oh, goodie. But will the USFJ also pay for treatment if that uninsured patriot gets cancer or is crippled in an auto accident? And what about his kids? Will USJF pay for their hospitalization when they can’t get the asthma medicine or insulin they need because Mom and Dad are unemployed and have lost their health insurance?
We have already documented the contempt many Texas State Board of Education members have for expertise in making decisions on curriculum standards. We noted one example Thursday, when far-right board members rejected any more formal input from teachers and academics on proposed new social studies curriculum standards. On Friday Thursday the board also weakened the role of experts in textbooks adoptions.
From today’s TFN News Clips:
“I think we’re going to see the same Cathie Adams we’ve seen for two decades. That’s somebody who uses extreme and divisive rhetoric to promote a political agenda and if you get in her way, whether you’re Republican or not, she’ll go after you.”
– Dan Quinn, Texas Freedom Network’s communications director, talking about Cathie Adams’ election as chair of the Texas Republican Party. Adams had been head of the far-right Texas Eagle Forum.
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From today’s TFN News Clips:
“There’s a cultural war going on in our society today. I feel that homosexual behavior is an affront to the family values of one man-one woman, and homosexual behavior, to any society that’s embraced it, has led to the extinction of that society.”
– Dave Wilson, longtime anti-gay activist, defending his new mail piece to Houston voters attacking one of the candidates in the city’s mayoral runoff election because she is a lesbian
Stay informed with TFN News Clips, a daily digest of news about politics and the religious right. Subscribe here.
From today’s TFN News Clips:
“It’s pretty clear the organizational Republican Party in the state has been pretty much totally captured by the extreme right, with Cathie Adams being the most recent example by winning the vote in their executive committee.”
– Richard Murray, a University of Houston political scientist, in a story about the Texas governor’s race and its implications for the state Republican Party. Cathie Adams became chair of the Texas GOP in October.
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The Texas State Board of Education has made clear that it will hold a public hearing on proposed social studies curriculum standards in January. But far-right pressure groups apparently decided to preempt that hearing today.
Despite no prior public indication from the board that there would be extensive testimony on the standards today, nearly two dozen people have signed up to testify about the proposed social studies standards this afternoon. And the list of testifiers is a “who’s who” of far-right pressure groups. Speakers include MerryLynn Gerstenschlager from Texas Eagle Forum, Peggy Venable from Americans for Prosperity, Jonathan Saenz from the Free Market Foundation Focus on the Family-Texas and Brooke Terry from Texas Public Policy Foundation.
And get this: Nancy Jones from Texas Tea Party also signed up to speak. That should be enlightening. Will she bring along signs accusing teachers of being Nazis and communists? Will she shout down any other speakers? From what we’ve seen around the country, you never know with the Tea Party folks. Oh, the drama…
Bill Ames, a far-right activist on one of the social studies curriculum teams who has attacked teachers and fellow curriculum writers as leftists, is listed as the first speaker. Ames also complained earlier this year about an “over-representation of minorities” in the standards. Any guesses where his testimony will go?
As always, TFN is monitoring the meeting. Keep an eye on TFN Insider for news and updates. You can find a link to a live Web cast of the state board meeting here.
Here’s a new one for the “why it’s a bad idea to allow ideologues to write history standards” file — a file that is growing by the day, thanks to the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE).
Today’s example comes from the Rev. Peter Marshall, appointed earlier this year by far-right SBOE members Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, and Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, to the “expert” panel advising the board on new social studies curriculum standards. (Read about Marshall’s appalling lack of qualifications here.) Marshall writes a weekly commentary on his “Peter Marshall Ministries” Web site, which typically consists of boiler-plate attacks on liberals, communists and moderate Republicans, all of whom supposedly pose an imminent threat to America’s very existence (in Marshall’s bizarre theology, at any rate). In this week’s commentary — entitled “Alien Invasion” – Marshall proposes an alarming solution to the tragic shooting in Fort Hood:
Apparently, there are about 4000 Muslims in the United States Military. They should be immediately examined — all of them.
Now before you go and jump to the conclusion that Marshall is suggesting the government round up American Muslims and force them into detention camps (à la the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II), let’s hear him out.
