Archive for August, 2010

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TFN, National Groups Support Resolution

August 10, 2010

The Texas Freedom Network just issued the following press release:

TFN Joins National Groups Opposing Politicization of Curriculum Standards in Texas

Letter Supports U.S. House Resolution Calling for Experts to Determine Standards, Not Politicians

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 5, 2010

The Texas Freedom Network and the Texas Faith Network have joined nearly two dozen national organizations in support of a U.S. House resolution criticizing the politicization of social studies curriculum standards by the State Board of Education in Texas.

“We have joined with members of Congress and other advocates for public education, religious freedom and civil liberties in calling on politicians to stop undermining the education of Texas schoolchildren,” TFN President Kathy Miller said today. “Curriculum standards and textbooks should be written by teachers and scholars, not by politicians who are more interested in promoting their own personal agendas than sound scholarship in our public schools.”

(more…)

Posted in Congress, State Board of Education | 3 Comments »

Has Peter Marshall Come Unhinged?

August 9, 2010

Reading his increasingly vitriolic commentaries, one begins to question the Rev. Peter Marshall‘s grasp of reality. Yet the State Board of Education put him in a prominent position to influence what millions of public school children in Texas will learn in their social studies classrooms. The mind still reels at the thought.

In any case, consider two recent commentaries posted on his website. Marshall’s July 22 commentary about Islam included this stunning and vicious attack on Muslim Americans:

“When it comes to the reality of Islam in America, can a good or devout Muslim be a good American? No. The answer, my friends, is a flat ‘no!’ The only Muslim that could possibly be a good American is a Muslim that is non-practicing, or one that is in the process of repudiating Islam. Why? Because Islam is completely incompatible with either Christianity or patriotic Americanism.”

Marshall then offered a bizarre rant about President Obama in his July 29 commentary:

(I)rony abounds when one realizes that our current President, who claimed in his election campaign to really be ‘one of the people,’ and that he could ‘hear’ the plights and needs of the poor, the less fortunate, etc., etc., is in fact the most elitist President in our entire history. He is the product of an elite Hawaiian prep school, Columbia University, and Harvard Law School. That’s about as elitist as it gets in America. Further, he was on the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School. When you listen to the velvet sounds of his mellifluous baritone you are hearing the carefully modulated expressions of one who has been groomed for his present position for a very long time. He is an elitist of the elite.

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Posted in Barack Obama, Islam, Peter Marshall | 33 Comments »

Fox, Schools and the Anti-Muslim Campaign

August 7, 2010

The Texas State Board of Education debate over social studies curriculum standards last spring drew unprecedented coverage from the national media, most of it reasonably balanced. The exception was coverage from Fox News, including commentator Tucker Carlson. Carlson and his Fox colleagues made so many false and misleading statements on-air about the debate that we lost count. Even the Texas Education Agency issued a press release sharply criticizing Fox’s distorted coverage. The coverage was so biased that Fox aired a photograph of Kathy Miller — Texas Freedom Network’s president — and two other critics of the state board under the heading “Textbook Troublemakers.” Fair and balanced? What a joke.

Among the most absurd charges aired on Fox was that “multicultural groups” were distorting public school curricula around the country by undermining Christianity and promoting Islam instead. Well, Carlson is at it again.

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Posted in education, FOX News, Islam | 8 Comments »

They’re STILL Lying to Voters

August 6, 2010

We just got a look at the new candidate questionnaire from Liberty Institute, the Texas affiliate of the far-right group Focus on the Family. None of the questions are particularly surprising — they hit the list of issues typical for this group (such as abstinence-only/sex education, anti-gay discrimination, Ten Commandments in public schools, private school vouchers). But is it too much to ask that Liberty write questions that are based on, well, the truth? Example:

“Do you support the current law which says the [State Board of Education] may reject a textbook if it believes the book is unsuitable?”

There is no such law.

(more…)

Posted in elections, Liberty Institute | 7 Comments »

Seriously Out of Touch

August 5, 2010

Can they get any sillier?

Liberty Institute, the Texas affiliate of the far-right group Focus on the Family, just sent out a statement claiming that today’s Senate confirmation of Elena Kagan as a U.S. Supreme Court justice “will most likely move the Court even further to the left.”

“Even further to the left”? That kind of silly statement shows you how out of touch the lawyers and lobbyists at Liberty Institute really are.

(more…)

Posted in Liberty Institute | 7 Comments »

Blame Hitler or Darwin?

August 5, 2010

During the debate over science curriculum standards in Texas early last year, anti-science fanatics argued that serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer’s depravity was the result of “believing” in evolution. Yeah, that was pretty crazy. But it’s not any crazier than the more common smear tactic of tying the acceptance of evolutionary science to Nazi Germany. The far-right group American Family Association sent out an e-mail yesterday doing just that.

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Posted in American Family Association, evolution, religious right | 14 Comments »

Stirring Words for Religious Freedom

August 4, 2010

As the right’s anti-religious freedom campaign against American Muslims gathers team, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered a stirring speech yesterday about a proposed Muslim community center near the site of the 9/11 terrorist attack. Mayor Bloomberg’s powerful words echo an enduring American principle: our Constitution protects the religious freedom of all people and their right to worship as they choose without government interference.

Bloomberg’s speech came yesterday amid continued attacks on the religious freedom of Muslim Americans. Excerpts from the speech:

(more…)

Posted in Islam, religious freedom | 15 Comments »

Proposed Resolution Hits Texas Ed Board

August 4, 2010

The hits keep coming. Last Friday Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, filed a U.S. House resolution criticizing the Texas State Board of Education‘s recklessly political revision of social studies curriculum standards for public schools. The resolution has four other sponsors, all members of Congress from Texas: Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, Ruben Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso and Gene Green, D-Houston.

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Posted in social studies, State Board of Education | 1 Comment »

John Cornyn and Gay Republicans

August 3, 2010

Here’s something not many folks expected to see: Republican Texas Senator John Cornyn will speak in September at a national fundraiser for Log Cabin Republicans, an organization for gay GOP members.

John Cornyn? The same guy who opposes same-sex marriage and the repeal of the ban on gay and lesbian members in the military? Yeah, same guy. Also the same guy who said this a few years ago in support of a federal constitutional amendment to bar same-sex marriage:

“It does not affect your daily life very much if your neighbor marries a box turtle. But that does not mean it is right. . . . Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife.”

(more…)

Posted in John Cornyn, LGBT issues | 8 Comments »

The Right’s Distortions on Sex Education

August 2, 2010

Montanans are seeing a classic right-wing distortion campaign on sex education — much like we saw during the 2009 legislative session in Austin. You will recall that last year right-wing opponents in Texas screamed that medically accurate, evidence-based sex education would “promote recreational and gay sex.” Unfortunately, absurd scare tactics like that cowed enough lawmakers to kill legislation that would have improved the dismal state of sex education in Texas. Remember that a teen gets pregnant every ten minutes in Texas — a state with one of the nation’s highest teen birthrates even as more than 9 in 10 school districts teach no medically accurate information on contraception and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.

Now look at Montana. (more…)

Posted in sex education | 3 Comments »

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