Religious-righters are twisting and redefining “religious liberty” so much that the term itself is in danger of becoming almost meaningless. Fortunately, a growing number of mainstream religious leaders from around the state are calling out the nonsense. The latest battleground: public subsidies (such as vouchers) for religious schools. The rabidly anti-gay, religious-right group Houston Area Pastor Council, which also goes by […]
For another indication of just how much the paranoid, right-wing political fringe has become embedded in Texas government, check out what Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s “Grassroots Advisory Board” is up to. Today the panel of Tea Party activists released a letter criticizing Gov. Greg Abbott’s plans to expand pre-K programs in the state. Those programs, the advisory board insists, will undermine parental […]
Call your senator TODAY in opposition to this reckless raid on funding for neighborhood public schools. Click here to find the name and phone number for your senator. Big moves behind the scenes tell us the Senate could take up a massive private school voucher bill this week. It’s critical that you call your senator […]
Members of the Texas State Board of Education aren’t the only politicians pushing the national campaign to turn public schools into tools for indoctrinating students with right-wing ideology. A columnist for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel looks at how that campaign is unfolding in other states. In Florida, for example, lawmakers are pushing a bill that would require […]
We already told you that the political activists who promoted the witch hunt that appears to have gutted the CSCOPE curriculum tool were already turning their attention to new targets. Well, check out this new post on the blog “Red Hot Conservative” written by Ginger Russell, one of the most vocal CSCOPE critics. What’s got […]
Who is behind efforts to toss out of office two Pflugerville Independent School District board members who support giving the domestic partners of district employees access to health insurance? Pflugerville is located in Travis County, and the school district includes parts of north Austin. Various religious-right groups and activists have criticized Pflugerville school board members […]
The Texas Freedom Network has long insisted that educators should play an important role in making decisions concerning public schools. So it should be no surprise that today TFN is endorsing two candidates for the Pflugerville Independent School District Board of Trustees — Carol Fletcher and Mario Acosta — who together have 60 years of […]
Texans are painfully aware by now (or should be) how the right revises history for political purposes. Even the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute, for example, has criticized right-wingers on the Texas State Board of Education for adopting new social studies curriculum standards that represent a “politicized distortion of history.” Now The New Yorker magazine […]
Rick Santorum just cannot help himself. Political pundits and strategists affiliated with his own party have been virtually screaming at him, telling him that if he wants any shot at winning in November he needs to quit the culture wars and stick to jobs, jobs, jobs. But, again, he just can’t help himself. On Thursday, […]
