This woman wants your kids

Barbara Cargill is running for State Board of Education place 8 seat. The Texas SBoE writes the curriculum that will be used for future textbook. She is Guv. Goodhair's hand picked successor to that whacky dentist, Don McLeroy.

Doesn't get out much, does she? Bless her pointed little head...

Dear Barbara and her cohorts are the product of decades of slow inflitration into the SBoE by dominionist xian zealots. For more information on the ongoing battle for the minds of Texas school children, read the TFN Timeline of textbook censorship.

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Dumb and Dumber?

Zero Tolerance (ZT) policies almost always lead to some disaster or another. Experience should have demonstrated that by now, but some school districts are slow learners. Nobody loves a ZT policy with the exception of some apparently clueless school administrators.

Nobody loves a lawsuit happy lawyer either, and when said lawyer mounts a high horse in defense of his cheating son, there will probably be no winners. The old Curmudgeon spins a fine analysis of this sordid tale of incompetence, ignorance and ineptitude. It should come as no surprise that this story originates from The Golden State.

“No one wins here. The school looks bad for developing a frankly rather dumb, inflexible, and apparently poorly written policy; the district has to divert funds from its educational programs to defend a lawsuit against the likes of Berghouse, who appears to be everything that is worst about lawyers and parents rolled into one smug little package. The boy is punished not merely by having such a pain in the ass for a father, but may, because of the publicity this case generates (I’m happy to help, by the way), actually be more likely to be turned down by his chosen university.

More importantly, however, the entire American education system suffers, as schools across the country increasingly take note of the perils of enforcing standards—whether they be for scholarship, integrity, whatever. And that portends a bleaker future for all of us.”

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Religious wingnut supports rewriting history

This is what is running for the Texas State Board of Education.

 

The social studies curriculum this loon supports with her own alternate version of history was roundly criticized even by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute. The religious wingnuts are staging a hostile takeover of Texas public schools with the intent of indoctrinating the children with their false history and religious myths.

In a state where (1) a large percentage of rural, voting age citizens shun education in favor of just accepting what they are told, and (2) 51% identify themselves as "very conservative", and (3) straight party ticket voting is allowed, reason and intellectualism may well be driven somewhere north of the Red River.

I miss Ann Richards and Moly Ivins.

H/T

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Teaching pseudo-science drives scientists away

Once again we see it in the news… evangelical xians attempting to foment their dominionistic dreams by foisting their myths on the children. The same thing keeps happening over and again… in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia, and several other states. These are just those few that could be found with a quick key word search of the internet.

There is the ongoing battle for control of education here in Texas, and in June of 2001 the Republican led U.S. Senate tried to pass an anti-evolution measure as their first bill out of the box.

This one, like many of these unwise laws, will wind up in court. Knowing the myth peddlers as we do we can expect them to appeal any losses all the way to SCOTUS. The protagonist in this case is a 19-year-old former student from Baton rouge, and he will likely win his case. American youth will be the ones leading this country back from the fringes of a second dark age. Kids will be our vaccine against ignorance.

At the hearing, Zack Kopplin, a first-year student at Rice University who launched the repeal effort while a senior at Baton Rouge Magnet High School, told the committee that the law was hurting Louisiana's reputation. Kevin Carman, the dean of Louisiana State University's Department of Science, confirmed it, saying that two scientists he was trying to recruit to the university cited the law as their reason not to accept and one scientist already at LSU departed because of worries about the quality of his children's science education. "Teaching pseudo-science drives scientists away," Carman said.

Probably the leading, grass roots youth organizations engaged in the effort to keep pseudo-science and religious mumbo-jumbo out of public education is the Secular Students Alliance. If you’re a secular parent wishing to expose your children to positive role models, please check this group out. If you’re feeling philanthropic and looking for somewhere to donate a few bucks, the SSA will provide lasting reward.

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Tea Bag Obfuscation

"The late comedian George Carlin used to say America was built on a double standard: 'This country was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free.”

So observes Wall Street Journal writer Sam Favate in his piece Tennessee Tea Party Wants Schools to Be Nicer to Founding Fathers.

“Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.”

So say the right wing activists pushing this change in textbook standards. Opponents to this silly revision correctly observe that this is simply an effort to veil the truth. In other words... another wingnut effort to indoctrinate the children with revisionist history.

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Exercising a Heckler's Veto...

...or the fear of loss of power?

"...do we want them to proceed ploddingly from one standardized test to the next, concerned only with dining on the reheated and prefabricated meals that schools put before them, never dabbling in anything that might offend or cause controversy or headlines? Of course, young people who explore and learn and engage and write on their own are independent in ways that might not please people whose power depends upon them acting like junior stenographers."

Ken makes some really fine observations in this story of a bright, skeptical 17-year-old, his treatment by some small-minded individuals, poor decisions by school administrators, and a society's loss of direction.

Pop on over to Popehat to read the rest of the article.

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What Did Jesus Do?

Answering Religious Conservatives Who Oppose Bullying Prevention Legislation

Daniel B. Weddle and student Kathryn E. New, University of Missouri at Kansas City - School of Law
 New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, Vol. 37, p. 325, 2011

Abstract:

Conservative Christian organizations assert that anti-bullying programs are a stealth effort by gay activists to introduce into American schools an aggressive lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) agenda. They contend that legislation and bullying prevention programs that mention gays are an attempt to indoctrinate children to embrace homosexual lifestyles; tolerate homosexual behavior; and celebrate homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender identity.

These voices are having an impact on state legislatures and the damage is immense. Educational research has made clear the devastating effects of bullying upon children, and LGBT students are among the most often targeted and least protected students. Given that schools are already failing to address bullying effectively, efforts to thwart protection of any group of students -- especially one that is routinely targeted -- is unconscionable.

Yet these devoted Christians zealously interfere with protection of LGBT students from abuse by their peers and believe wholeheartedly that they are doing children and Christ a great service.

We believe they fundamentally misunderstand three things: the dynamics of bullying, the law pertaining to student-on-student abuse, and the example and teachings of Christ. This Article addresses these misunderstandings. We propose a response to the distortions that are used to promote what is an anti-gay agenda that represents neither the teachings of the Bible nor the position of most Christians and evangelicals, whom these organizations purport to represent.

Our hope is that, once the distortions are debunked, thinking Christians will reject the misguided efforts of a relatively few but influential individuals and organizations. If new voices can confront the misleading claims of anti-gay zealots with informed educational, legal, and Biblical responses, perhaps the distortions will be seen for what they are by Christians and non-Christians alike.

Full article available at SSRN,

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Rick Perry's Texas Miracle

"Texas trails most other states and many developed countries in the percentage of young adults with a college degree, and demographic changes suggest the underperformance will worsen as time goes on."

But we have one hell of an economy... for now. And the whole country has the same opportunity. Don't forget to vote on next year on November 6th.

Or is that November 12th. I can never remember.

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Suit Claims Philosophy Course Was Unconstitutional Instruction In Christian Apologetics

In an unusual case, a student at Arizona's Paradise Valley Community College last week filed a lawsuit charging that the instructor in a Philosophy course (Introduction to Ethics) "failed to teach the Philosophy Class according to the Course Description and instead taught her own Christian worldview."  

The complaint (full text) in Smith v. State of Arizona, (D AZ, filed 7/20/2011), claims that the course instructor, Adjunct Professor Kelly Burton, assigned for the course a portion of a book written by another instructor at the community college: Surrendra Gangadean, Philosophical Foundation: A Critical Analysis of Basic Beliefs. It is alleged that the assigned chapters were theological and present the author's view of Moral Law rather than the theories of philosophers promised by the course description. 

The suit claims that the course is in fact  one in Christian Apologetics, and that  teaching it violates the Establishment Clause as well as Art. 2, Sec. 12 of the Arizona Constitution banning use of public funds for religious instruction. The complaint also alleges breach of an implied contract.

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H/T Howard Friedman

Majority rule

We’ve had several discussions in this space regarding the Christian majority in our country, and of the efforts expended by activists asserting that majority into the public realm. These efforts range from religious displays in public buildings; religious slogans on our currency and modifications to our Pledge of Allegiance; a fabricated “War on Christmas” leading to boycotts of businesses for the "sin" of inclusiveness; to the attempts at mind control by school textbook review committees.

It is the protections our Founders wrote into our Constitution that prevent the activists within the Christian majority, or any majority, from running roughshod over the rest of us.

There is a very strong reason that our Founders placed such importance on protecting the minority from the will of the majority. They had personal experience with religious persecution and were determined that it would never happen in the United States. Other countries are not so fortunate, and the minority is paying the price. We should learn a lesson from this.

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Louisiana is smarter than Texas

Texas, Kentucky and Louisiana have been in a close race to see who can out-stupid whom. It's official...for now at least...that Louisiana is smarter than Texas.

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.

The anti-science religionists are working to keep Texas in last place, but Kentucky is still in the running neck and neck with South Carolina, with neither very far behind.

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H/T

Education in Texas: A Fairy Tale

Quote from Texas Governor Rick Perry, from a recent interview in the San Angelo Standard Times.

"I am a firm believer in intelligent design as a matter of faith and intellect, and I believe it should be presented in schools alongside the theories of evolution. The State Board of Education has been charged with the task of adopting curriculum requirements for Texas public schools and recently adopted guidelines that call for the examination of all sides of a scientific theory, which will encourage critical thinking in our students, an essential learning skill."

H/T

This is not conservatism. Neither Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, nor even Ronald Reagan or Gerald Ford would recognize what the Grand Old Party has become. This is radical extremism cloaked in Republican clothing, practicing scientific denialism and historical revisionism on a grand scale, and this is the reason the Republican party has lost me... probably for good.

Texas Governor's Race

Bill White, the Democrat challenging incumbent Texas Governor Rick Perry, has found a sore spot to pick.

It’s almost May, which means that the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) is near to finalizing the laughable social studies curriculum revision for Texas public schools.  Just about everybody has weighed in on this potential debacle, and now Bill White is leveling his guns. Rick Perry, you see, appointed the clown leading this circus.

White was in Austin Saturday speaking to teachers at the Association of Texas Professional Educators convention. Speaking broadly on some of the education challenges facing Texas, White told a packed room what he plans to do to make sure students are better prepared to enter the workforce. He also talked about what he calls a flawed testing system, challenges with the student-to-teacher ratio and how many Texans are being priced out of higher education.

Pointing at the state’s high dropout rate, White said "I'll be active in leadership, in bringing kids back to school. There's many strategies to do it, not just one solution. We need to start early with early childhood educations that work, prepare young people for the classroom. They've proved to be a high return on investment."

The main focus of the talk, however, took aim at recent amendments the State Board of Education made to social studies curriculum standards; amendments written by the overwhelmingly right wing and creationist members of the board.

In a 10-5 vote on March 12, the SBOE gave preliminary approval to the new standards, even though they were opposed by leading experts in the field and by reasonable people everywhere. They are changes dictated by politics and ideology rather than truth or educational interests.

Speaking to this, White said that a line needs to be drawn between what politicians want, and those who make front-line decisions on education. "The amendment process injected politics into our school books and classrooms," White has said, and that was "a step in the wrong direction."

White called on Gov. Rick Perry to urge the SBOE chair to send the amendments back to the original curriculum review teams, a move already laughed off by Perry.

White wants to be sure Texans are well equipped to enter the workforce, something that will be crippled if our educational standards are less than world class. Because Texas is one of the largest purchasers of textbooks nationally, the curriculum changes could resonate across the country. The debate has already garnered national attention with other states already making moves to limit the damage.

White called on Perry today to ask lame duck SBOE chair McLeroy to delay the vote until newly elected board members are in office. This would be a wise and reasonable move, which is exactly why Perry will likely reject it.

Some of the flat-earthers on the board were defeated in recent primary elections, and one has voluntarily decided against seeking reelection. Delaying the vote until a new board is seated would likely cause the amendments to fail. White recognizes this, and likely so does Perry.

"Texas voters have voted against those who are extreme and hyper-political," said White campaign spokesperson Katy Bacon. "If Rick Perry won't show some leadership about the process, he should at least respect Texans who've said they don't want the current, controversial SBOE making decisions about their children's future."

It isn’t just the Democratic challenger who recognizes McLeroy for the nutjob he is.  McLeroy has engaged in such extreme antics that the Texas Senate refused to confirm him in 2009, the second time Perry appointed him, and he was defeated in the spring primary election. 


This isn’t a new windmill for White. Nearly a month ago he called on Perry to ask McLeroy to send amendments back to the original curriculum review teams. Perry responded, saying of the SBOE that he was not going to "try to outsmart them."

Think about that one for a moment…

Since White started making his comments about having the revised standards sent back to expert review teams, the Texas Council for the Social Studies and the Texas Social Studies Supervisors Association have weighed in saying, "state education standards should be balanced and neutral and not reflective of political viewpoints."

The Chair of the SBOE is appointed by the Governor. The 15-member board is elected to represent districts. The Board currently is dominated by Christian, creationist extremists who were elected in part because of the gerrymandering back in 2001.

More importantly though, they were elected because the religious right targeted the SBOE as a priority, knowing that the way to increase their ranks was to be found in the creative revisionism of curriculum standard, such as we see now.

Much of this happened while reasonable Texans were not looking. It was a conspiracy, and we slept through it. We’re awake now and recognize that we have to put all our efforts into reversing the damage. The Governor’s race is important, and so is the 2012 election when the entire 15-member SBOE is up for election. We must stay focused on that.

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Quote

Think Texas State Board of Education...

“I don’t think anybody anywhere can talk about the future of their people or of an organization without talking about education. Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future.”


- Wilma Mankiller, Chief of the Cherokee Nation - RIP
 
H/T

Revisionism refuted

On Wednesday, March 24th, The Texas Freedom Network posted a fine essay on their online publication, the TFN Insider, completely refuting the Texas State Board of Education’s ill advised efforts to repeal recorded history in favor of their Christian revisionism.

In case you’ve missed it, the TxSBOE has recently issued social studies curriculum standards in which they amputated Thomas Jefferson in favor of Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and Sir. William Blackstone, on the grounds that the Jeffersonian argument for separation of church and state was “misplaced” in the standard.

The original standard read:

“explain the impact of Enlightenment ideas from John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Thomas Jefferson on political revolutions from 1750 to the present.”

That was before Christian conservative boardmember Cynthia Dunbar, of the Houston area, convinced the board to alter the standard just a bit.

“explain the impact of the writings of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and Sir William Blackstone.”

The TxSBOE has sought no guidance from real historians, insisting instead that their own opinions are factual. TxSBOE Chairperson Gail Lowe, another Christian conservative from the Texas Hill Country town of Lampasas, said this about the earlier standard and the reason for the change: “This was inappropriate placement of Jefferson’s name. Jefferson was not himself an Enlightenment philosopher, although he was heavily influenced by the writings of these individuals.”

Jefferson not an enlightenment philosopher… hmmm…

So, since the Board was wont to seek the professional help they so desperately need, the TFN did it for them, posing the question of Jefferson’s enlightened status to an expert in colonial American history, SMU professor Dr. Edward Countryman. Dr. Countryman, who doesn’t have a dog in the hunt other than to care about truth in educational standards, completely strips the hide off of the revisionist’s argument.

Whether this intervention will manage to sway the Board or not is unknown, but perhaps the TFN’s efforts will help enlighten some of the more astute Texans on the efforts of a small, inbred tribe of cultists, and the damage revisionism will inevitably cause to our school kids. It does not matter if you are godded or godless, you should recognize the necessity of accuracy in curriculum standards.

Please read Dr. Countryman’s full reply, then please link to the TFN.

Help spread the word.

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Texas' education standards cause nationwide alarm

There are several news stories and opinion pieces published recently from around the country, indicating a real level of concern over the proposed, soon to become real, schoolbook standards in Texas.

Educators and legislators across the nation are baffled by the glaring inaccuracies proposed, and apparently accepted by the SBOE. The concern is such that one California legislator has proposed a bill that would keep those standards out of California schools.

Others are just laughing, saying Texans are proud of their ignorance.

The Texas State Board of Education is top-heavy with young-earth creationists who would rewrite history and science to fit an ignorant and myopic worldview.

Regardless of how it seems, not all Texans are that ignorant. These idiopathic zealots on the Board deny documented, verifiable evidence and force their own ignorance upon the rest of us.

Still, reasonable Texans seem powerless to stop the malignant devolvement from within, but there could be hope from outside the state. If enough school systems and state boards refused to buy books containing the Texas brand of revisionism, the publishers might be forced to print alternate versions of the same book to suit different markets. That would be costly.

Another possible solution would be for textbook publishers simply to reject the TxSBOE’s standards, simply refusing to print texts meeting the obviously inaccurate standards.

…but I guess we can figure that won’t happen.

So what do we do? As a first step we can all join Just Educate, a grassroots effort being pushed by the Texas Freedom Network with the goal of persuading politicians in Texas the future of our kids is being compromised by the politicized nature of SBOE actions, and to ensure that sound scholarship, not personal agenda, guides Texas public school curriculum.

Reasonable Texans are tired of our state being the laughingstock of the world.

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Another Brick in the Wall

The valedictorian at an Indianapolis High School does not wish to participate in a student-led Christian prayer at his graduation ceremony, and has filed suit challenging the school’s policy of allowing seniors to vote on the practice.

18 year-old Eric Workman says the school’s prayer policy violates the first amendment, and with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, he is asking a federal judge to intervene. Workman’s senior class approved the prayer by majority vote, a practice that he believes subjects religious practice to majority rule.

Workman complains that graduates and the audience should not be forced into a "religious exercise" during graduation ceremonies, and that Greenwood Community High School cannot override our Constitution's separation of church and state.

Workman says the prayer question was among several issues contained on a ballot passed out by school staff at a September, 2009 mandatory assembly. He learned from an unnamed school employee that a majority of seniors had voted in favor of the prayer, but that several had voted against it.

In spite of minority dissent, according to Workman's complaint, "a majority of the seniors voted to have the prayer and therefore it would be occurring at the graduation."

The complaint further states that the public high school and its principal have "established a forum, in the school itself, for religious debate and have subjected religious practice to a majority vote."

David Edds, Greenwood Superintendent of Schools, said a student-approved prayer has been a long-standing feature at graduation, but attorney Ken Falk of the ACLU says, customary or not, allowing the prayer, or even allowing the vote, violates previous SCOTUS rulings finding religion in public school-sponsored events to be a violation of the First Amendment.

The lawsuit names the school district and the Greenwood’s principal as defendants.

Local preacher Shan Rutherford fails to understand the unique protections offered by our Constitution, and disagrees that such a prayer violates student rights.

“If I lived in a Muslim nation, a Hindu nation or anything else, I would expect to go along with the majority,” said Rutherford. “He’s [Workman] trying to go with minority rule. To me, that’s wrong in a democracy, one that was founded on Christian principles.”

Pastor Rutherford has it wrong on all counts. If born in a Muslim or Hindu nation, Rev. Rutherford, having apparently fallen for the Myth of Jesus, would likely have fallen for whatever religious myths to which he was exposed, so I can see why he might defend the majority rule misconception.

Young Workman, however, learned the reason for, and the meaning of, the separation clause in high school civics… a class apparently skipped by the Rev. Rutherford.

If majority rule was the intent of the founders, slavery would likely still be the law of the land, and the burning of witches might be accepted religious practice. The separation clause exists for the same reason as all other sections of our Constitution… because our founders, understanding that human rights are not subject to vote, wished to protect the minority from the majority.

SCOTUS has historically recognized this to be true. Opinions prohibiting schools allowing or promoting prayer include McCollum v. Board of Education, (1948), in which the court found religious instruction in public schools a violation of the establishment clause and therefore unconstitutional.

In the landmark Warren court decision, Engel v. Vitale, (1962), several New York families complained that their children were forced to participate in the recital of a prayer composed by school officials. Praying to "Almighty God," they claimed, contradicted their non-Christian religious beliefs. SCOTUS agreed.

In Murray v. Curlett, (1963) and the related Abington School District v. Schempp, (1963) SCOTUS ruled against compulsory bible reading as part of public school curriculum.

More recently, in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2002) SCOTUS ruled that a Texas high school could not allow students to deliver Christian prayers over the public address system at football games.

These decisions leave little doubt but that the high court believes that religion does not belong in, and should not be sponsored by, public schools.

Still, school boards keep testing the limits. One must wonder how many more slap-downs will be required before America’s public schools get out of the religion business.

Thankfully, or so it seems, young Workman has a grasp of the true value of our Constitution… that it was crafted to protect the minority from majority rule. Regardless of the Circuit Court's ruling the case will make its way to the high court, the durability of our Constitution will prevail, and SCOTUS will undoubtedly rule in Workman's favor.

As to the Rev. Rutherford’s Christian Nation myth, well that has been thoroughly debunked as well.

Will they ever learn?

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McLeroy is out… Mercer isn’t

The primary results are in.

To nobody's surprise, Gov. Goodhair won the Republican gubernatorial contest, handing a surprisingly lopsided defeat to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Considering that Texas managed to survive the current recession in better condition than other states, and our secessionist homeboy and teabag sympathizer painted Kay with the “Washington insider” mud brush, the only surprise was the margin.

The down-ticket Republican races were more interesting; especially the contests for seats on the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE). This is the joke of a State agency about which I have previously rather caustically written.

It wasn't always that way, but since the same election that swept Ann Richards, our last (and one of our best) Democratic Governor out of office and replacing her with The Shrub in 1994, the Texas SBOE has been populated with extremists, fundamentalists, creationists and young-Earth revisionists intent on turning Texas schools into Redneck, Madrases-like temples of indoctrination, and a complete laughing stock within U.S. education circles.

Of particular interest to me was the Place 9 seat, pitting incumbent former SBOE chairperson, Baptist fundamentalist, science denier and history revisionist Don McLeroy, against a more politically moderate, pro-education challenger, Bill Ratliff. Ratliff is the son of former Texas Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff, Sr., and thus had name recognition.

I’ve mentioned McLeroy before.

The vote wasn't a runaway, but Ratliff seems to have pulled a rabbit out of the hat.

The other SBOE primary race I was watching didn’t turn out so well. Place 5 incumbent Ken Mercer beat his closest opponent by a ratio greater than 2 to 1. Mercer is another of the fundamentalists attempting to rewrite curriculum standards to match their creationist revisionism, so this is a shame, but with Ratliff on the board perhaps Mercer’s effect will be diluted.

Because of the efforts of these Texas Taliban to deny science and rewrite history to match their King James inspired visions, the board gained a reputation as “the most dysfunctional agency in Texas government.”

Paul Burka, writing in this month’s Texas Monthly magazine, provides some interesting history of the trials and tribulations of the SBOE, including quotes from retiring board member Cynthia Dunbar’s book, One Nation Under God: a “subtly deceptive tool of perversion

“Rather than address how to improve public schools, [the SBOE] seek to slay dragons—evolution, sex education, whole language, new ways of teaching math, unpatriotic depictions of Texas and American history.”

It seems we’ve always had our troubles with the fundamentalists in this state . William Cowper Brann, an early 20th century journalist from Waco, TX, once observed, “I have nothing against the Baptists. I just believe they were not held under long enough."

Brann died after he was shot in the back by an irate Baptist.

SIDEBAR: McLeroy’s campaign was bankrolled in part by donations from Houston builder Bob Perry, one of the nation’s biggest campaign contributors, and the person who gave huge donations to the campaigns of former Texas Governor and U.S. President George W. Bush, and to current Texas Governor Rick Perry (no relation). Bob Perry is also the builder who tried (unsuccessfully so far), to screw a retired Fort Worth area couple by building a defective home, then reneging on the warranty.

That backfired on him, and now he has to pay. He may not be funding any more campaigns for awhile.
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UPDATE: The xtian press isn't very pleased about McLeroy's loss. Editorials appeared overnight in the Christian Press, and the Baptist Standard.
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Point / Counterpoint

POINT:

The preacher is David Grice, of the Lighthouse Baptist Church, just down the road from me in Grand Prairie, Texas. This sermon was videoed a little over a year ago.

COUNTERPOINT:

The video by Edward Current was posted to You Tube at about the same time as preacher Grices’, but there is no apparent connection between the two.

SUMMATION:

H/T

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Desperation

Desperate to derail the Obama administration using any means possible, right wingnuts have latched on to the President’s proposed speech, claiming that it will be an attempt to “indoctrinate” children with a mythical socialist agenda.

Here are some examples of the garbage talk taken from the news over the past couple of days:

“The timing it seems to me is political, and I don't like the idea of getting our children involved in politics.'' Sebastian Martinez, Miami, Florida parent of three public school children. Martinez will keep his children home rather than expose them to the Obama speech.

Jim Greer, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, signed off on a statement, posted on the organizations web site, saying the speech would be using "taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda.'' The statement continues; “the idea that schoolchildren across our nation will be forced to watch the president justify his plans for government-run healthcare, banks and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other president, is not only infuriating but goes against the beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power.” Greer has since backed water a bit, stating that he did not read it before affixing his signature to it.

Steve Russell (R. Oklahoma) says, "As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education - it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality. This is something you'd expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq."

Glenn Beck, my favorite slobbering Faux wingnut says, “The government and its friends are indoctrinating our children all for control of their minds, your freedom of choice and our future.”

My Guv, Rick Perry, commented, “While President Obama talking directly to school children could be a memorable moment in their young lives, I am troubled that local school boards and superintendents were not involved in the process. State law gives parents the discretion over whether they think this is appropriate for their children. I hope schools will provide a suitable alternative for students not participating in this event. I also hope that this is not an indication of the federal government further encroaching on states’ authority over education.”

And senior senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, follows suit by opining, “I share the concerns of many parents about the President addressing schools in a way that leaves little choice for parents if the speech includes a political agenda. The original worksheet (PDF. Find the political agenda, if you can) put out by the Department of Education raised this possibility and caused a legitimate public outcry”

Legitimate, eh? Where was this outcry when then President George H.W. Bush made a similar address to schools in 1991? The talk was about drug abuse, and to be fair, it did draw some criticism from Democrats accusing Republican’s of making the event into a campaign commercial, but even so, there was no media hysteria and certainly no threat from parents to withdraw kids from school.

One of the better analyses of this hubbub I’ve read comes from Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, a statewide school monitoring group. “It’s hard to imagine anything more ridiculous than attacking the president of the United States for talking to students about the importance of getting a good education and being a good citizen. I wish our elected leaders were responsible enough to denounce this kind of wild-eyed paranoia. But the problem is too many of them are actually feeding this kind of nonsense — like when the governor flirts with secessionists and state Board of Education members say the president sympathizes with terrorists.”

I couldn't have said it better.

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