Archive for December, 2010

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Creationist Poll FAIL

December 14, 2010

The Louisiana Family Forum is upset that its state Board of Elementary and Secondary Schools voted overwhelmingly last week to approve new biology textbooks that don’t include creationist arguments against evolution. So the LFF posted a poll question on its website:

Do you support BESE’s decision today to approve a list of Biology textbooks with known false and inaccurate information?

And how do you think people responded to that absurdly biased (and inaccurate) question? Not as the LFF would have preferred. As of this morning, 9,452 people had responded: 96% saying that, yes, they do support the BESE’s decision. Oops.

Maybe you want to register your support for the BESE’s pro-science education decision. The poll question is on the upper left portion of the web page.

UPDATE: Well, shoot. The LFF has now changed the poll question. Now its:

Do you trust “Obama and the Lame-Duck congress” to protect the American tax payer in the pending tax debate?

Two votes so far, both yes.

Posted in evolution, science, science and religion | 9 Comments »

The Right Lies Again in the TX Speaker Battle

December 13, 2010

TFN Insider has already reported about the religious campaign the far right has been waging against Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio. Now PolitiFact offers a clear example of how the religious right is also spreading distortions and falsehoods in the effort to replace Straus with another speaker far more likely to obey their commands on radical social policies.

PolitiFact notes today that Texas Eagle Forum has claimed that Straus “was co-author of a bill that would have allowed Planned Parenthood to control public school sex education.” But after looking at the public record, PolitiFact rates that claim as a “Pants on Fire” lie.

(more…)

Posted in Donna Garner, Joe Straus, Liberty Institute, Pat Carlson, sex education, Texas Eagle Forum | 5 Comments »

Always Check Your Work, Students

December 10, 2010

Even Twitter feeds…

(Hat tip: Lee Nichols of the Austin Chronicle)



Posted in Ken Mercer | 8 Comments »

Sound Science Education Wins in Louisiana

December 9, 2010

The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Schools voted 8-2 today to approve new biology textbooks that creationists relentlessly attacked because of their coverage of evolutionary science. Today’s vote represents a huge setback for religious-right pressure groups like the Louisiana Family Forum, which demanded that the textbooks include creationist ideology based on junk science.

The Louisiana Coalition for Science, which championed sound education throughout the debate, has more here. The National Center for Science Education has details here. TFN Insider reported about the Louisiana textbook battle here and here.

Posted in evolution | 8 Comments »

Politics, Curriculum and Textbooks

December 9, 2010

The religious right doesn’t just target science and social studies when it comes to politicizing public school classrooms. The movement’s pressure groups attack education on a broad front, pushing a divisive agenda throughout the public school curriculum — including even reading and English classes. Educational Research Analysts, the old right-wing warhorse of the textbooks “culture wars” in Texas, makes that clear on its website.

ERA, founded by the late Mel and Norma Gabler in East Texas, lists on its website the criteria by which it judges the quality of reading textbooks. The heavy emphasis on phonics is predictable. But so are the requirements ERA establishes for content in reading programs. Among the group’s demands:

Equal stress on Europe’s literary, religious, and cultural heritage compared to other regions

Diverse views on current controversial issues, when raised (e.g., “global warming,” feminism, evolution)

No sensational violence, offensive language or illustrations, occultism, or deviant lifestyles (e.g., homosexuality)

No politically-correct stereotypes of oppressors and/or victims by race, class, creed, or gender

(more…)

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

To Our Readers: Help TFN Keep Fighting

December 8, 2010

Update: A little over one week left in TFN’s matching donor challenge. Double the impact of your year-end gift to TFN, and help our Insider blog keep a close eye on the religious right in 2011.

TFN Insider readers know that this has been a busy year for the Texas Freedom Network. We have been fighting hard to defeat efforts by right-wing extremists to rewrite history in our public schools, politicize our children’s education, threaten the separation of church and state and keep young people ignorant about how to protect themselves from unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Our public opinion research and citizen education and training opportunities have provided important lobbying tools for activists across the state.

All of that work, frankly, costs money. So as this year comes to a close, we are asking TFN Insider readers and other supporters to consider donating to help fund our critical work in 2011.

With so much at stake, a few generous TFN donors have established a 2010 Matching Gift Challenge. That means every dollar you donate before the December 31 deadline will be matched dollar-for-dollar — up to the $50,000 limit of our matching gift.

Well-heeled donors poured millions of dollars into far-right causes and pressure groups in the months leading up to last month’s elections. And they are prepared to keep spending mountains of cash to support a divisive and destructive agenda that threatens the values we all hold dear.

The Texas Freedom Network is proud to work with a coalition of other organizations on a range of issues critical to the future of this state. But it remains true that TFN is the only organization that fights the religious and radical right in Texas on a broad front, full-time, 365 days out of the year.

We’re glad that so many people come to this site for reliable information about politics and the radical right in Texas. And we will be grateful for any support you can provide as we continue our work for a Texas that respects religious freedom, defends civil liberties for all and promotes strong public schools.

Please click here to support the work of the Texas Freedom Network.

Posted in Texas Freedom Network | 3 Comments »

Creationists Face Big Louisiana Defeat?

December 7, 2010

A Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Schools committee has given its approval to new biology textbooks that have been under heavy attack by creationists and anti-evolution pressure groups. The 6-1 vote today sends the matter to the full board, which is expected to take a final vote on Thursday. All six committee members who voted to approve the biology textbooks today sit on the full board, which means creationists in Louisiana could see a crushing defeat in two days.

(Thanks to Glenn at the National Center for Science Education for the heads-up on today’s vote in Louisiana.)

Posted in evolution | 5 Comments »

Texas Eagle Forum’s Contempt for Democracy

December 7, 2010

The political extremists who run Texas Eagle Forum — the state affiliate of Phyllis Schlafly’s far-right group — apparently think voters have too much influence over our nation’s laws and lawmakers. The group’s fall newsletter, Torch, includes an article attacking “democracy” and even the direct election of U.S. senators. Declaring that “America is not a democracy,” the article sharply criticizes passage of  the 17th Amendment (added to the Constitution nearly a century ago), which calls for U.S. senators to be elected directly by each state’s voters (rather than chosen by state legislatures):

“The 17th Amendment destroyed a major safeguard of the federal republic by allowing senators to be chosen by the public, rather than by the states.”

The article, headlined “Save the Republic from Democracy,” was originally published on the fringe-right website WorldNetDaily last August. The writer, Henry Lamb, has openly called for the repeal of the 17th Amendment. He and others on the right are especially angry that the U.S. Senate passed health care reform earlier this year. Of course, senators who voted for health care reform were simply doing what they had promised voters they would do. But Lamb and Texas Eagle Forum think that’s a problem.

(more…)

Posted in Texas Eagle Forum | 5 Comments »

Science Under Siege — Louisiana Edition II

December 6, 2010

The religious right’s war on science continues this week when Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) meets to consider the adoption of new biology textbooks for the state’s public schools. Two special panels that included educators, scientists and scholars have already approved the proposed biology textbooks. (The National Center for Science Education has more here. TFN Insider wrote about the Louisiana battle last month.)  But creationists on the BESE still oppose final approval because the textbooks don’t include junk-science arguments against evolution. Here’s a recap of what’s been happening so far.

The Louisiana Coalition for Science has been working hard to turn back the assault on sound science education in the state. Lauri Lebo at Religion Dispatches has been following the story and has good background here and here.

A BESE committee — the Student/School Performance and Support Committee, chaired by creationist Dale Bayard — is set to hear testimony from the public at a public hearing on Tuesday. The full board will take up the issue Wednesday and Thursday.

Posted in evolution | 3 Comments »

Talking Points

December 2, 2010

From today’s TFN News Clips:

“[I]f the Beshear administration is determined that Kentucky should cash in on its stereotypes — and wants to fight Indiana to snare the theme park — why stop with creationism? How about a Flat-Earth Museum? Or one devoted to the notion that the sun revolves around the Earth? Why not a museum to celebrate the history and pageantry of methamphetamines and Oxycontin? Surely a spot can be found for an Obesity Museum (with a snack bar). And while we’re at it, let’s redo the state’s slogan. Let’s try: Kentucky — Unbridled Laughingstock.”

– The Louisville Courier-Journal, editorializing against the Kentucky governor’s efforts to promote a creationism theme park in the state, possibly with tax dollars.

Stay informed with TFN News Clips, a daily digest of news about politics and the religious right. Subscribe here.

Posted in Talking Points | 10 Comments »

More ‘Perversion’ from Dave Welch

December 2, 2010

“I will be very candid in asking a question of the pastors of Houston – are we collectively more upset about moral perversion and sin flowing from our city hall through the radical agenda of Mayor Parker and her GLBTQIA allies as we are about being taxed? Are we more grieved about the late term pre-born babies now being murdered in greater numbers in our backyard as about our budgets?”

– An excerpt from an e-mail today from the Houston Area Pastor Council’s Dave Welch, who just can’t get over the choice of city voters to elect an openly lesbian mayor last year.

Posted in Dave Welch | 3 Comments »

A ‘Christian, Conservative’ Speaker

December 1, 2010

That’s what one State Republican Executive Committee member says he — and, supposedly, other Texans — wants as the next Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. The Texas Observer reports that SREC member John Cook said the following to another committee member in a Thursday (Nov. 30) e-mail:

“WE elected a house with Christian, conservative values. We now want a true Christian, conservative running it. This is not about Straus, this is about getting what the people want.”

The report about Cook’s e-mail comes as Christian-right pressure groups insist that they haven’t embarked on a religious crusade to replace current Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, a San Antonio Republican who is Jewish. (See here and here for more about that.)

Posted in Joe Straus, Texas Legislature | 5 Comments »

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