Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
If you enjoyed Don McLeroy and Terri Leo in the first Texas Intellect Massacre, where they butchered the science standards with the Chainsaw of Jesus, wait till you see the sequel. These murderers of reason have now set their sights on the social studies curriculum and they're appointing a panel of "experts" -- read "wingnut ideologues" -- to screw up that subject too. My friends at the Texas Freedom Network report:
The Texas State Board of Education is set to appoint a social studies curriculum "expert" panel that includes absurdly unqualified ideologues who are hostile to public education and argue that laws and public policies should be based on their narrow interpretations of the Bible.
Who's going to be showing up in the sequel for more than a cameo appearance? Get a load of these villains:
TFN has obtained the names of "experts" appointed by far-right state board members. Those panelists will guide the revision of social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools. They include David Barton of the fundamentalist, Texas-based group WallBuilders, whose degree is in religious education, not the social sciences, and the Rev. Peter Marshall of Peter Marshall Ministries in Massachusetts, who suggests that California wildfires and Hurricane Katrina were divine punishments for tolerance of homosexuality.The two have argued that the Constitution doesn't protect separation of church and state and hold a variety of other extreme views related to religion, education and government, TFN President Kathy Miller said.
"It's absurd to suggest that Texas universities don't have accomplished scholars in the field who are more qualified than ideologues who share a narrow political agenda," Miller said. "What's next? Rush Limbaugh on the 'expert' panel? It's clear now that just appointing a new chairman won't end this board's outrageous efforts to politicize the education of our schoolchildren. It's time for the Legislature to make sweeping changes to the board and its control over what our kids learn in public schools."
"With Don McLeroy's confirmation hanging in the balance in the Senate and lawmakers considering 15 bills that would strip the state board of its authority, these board members continue trying to push extremist politics into Texas classrooms," she said. "It's as if they're daring the Legislature to call them on it."
Barton, former vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party, is a self-styled "historian" without any formal training in the field. He argues that separation of church and state is a "myth" and that the nation's laws should be based on Scripture. He says, for example, that the Bible forbids taxes on income and capital gains. Yet even such groups as Texas Baptists Committed and the Baptist Joint Committee have sharply criticized Barton's interpretations of the Constitution and history.
You can read some of Marshall's insanity here. And more on Barton here.
Politics
Comments
What are the starting odds on the new Texas social studies standards pushing the "Christian nation" meme on the students? Im guessing 1:5 or so.
Posted by: Lorax | May 1, 2009 9:26 AM
It looks like there may be a small ray of sunshine. Apparently McLeroy won't be confirmed as Chairman of the Board of Education by the Texas senate:
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/04/30/mcleroy_confirmation_blocked.html
The downside is that according the the article McLeroy will still be on the board, and Governor Perry gets to appoint someone else and there are plenty of creationists on the board for him to choose from (including my representative, Terri Leo).
Posted by: ca_geologist | May 1, 2009 9:41 AM
To hell with waiting for Texas to secede, I say we kick them out of the Union.
Posted by: Owen | May 1, 2009 9:47 AM
Don McLeroy and Terri Leo are playing a very dangerous game here.
It is one thing to advance creationism because so many years of disinformation have been invested toward the cause, and folks see little harm in protecting the Genesis story as an alternative theory alongside a somewhat peripheral biology topic.
But it seems likely to me that ordinary citizens won't cotton to the Christian Revisionist agenda when it comes to church/state issues or the narrative of American history. Most folks, I think, will easily see that as going too far, and Don McLeroy and Terri Leo will find themselves in very hot water.
Posted by: Gingerbaker | May 1, 2009 9:57 AM
You're not from around here are you?
I think you are giving my fellow citizens waaay to much credit. All of the knuckle-draggers on the Board of Education were elected fair and square. As was our governor, who appointed McLeroy chair of the whole mess.
Posted by: Tex | May 1, 2009 10:29 AM
But it seems likely to me that ordinary citizens won't cotton to the Christian Revisionist agenda when it comes to church/state issues or the narrative of American history.
Living in Texas myself, I say you're far too optimistic.
Posted by: schism | May 1, 2009 10:32 AM
Remember that Texas is where ex-President George "we make our own reality through lying" Bush comes from. High Priest Perry is cut from the same cloth. About the best we can hope for is that this (and other) antic(s) will cost some of these morons their seats on the boards, and Perry his governorship. I'm not going to hold my breath, though.
Posted by: Badger3k | May 1, 2009 11:17 AM
He he.
Hey, c'mon partners. Texas went 44.8M McCain/ 35.3M Obama. That's pretty close and Democrats have come closer.
Of course, Texas does seem a bit wacky at some of the local levels! :D
Posted by: Gingerbaker | May 1, 2009 11:25 AM
Gingerbaker @ # 8: Texas went 44.8M McCain/ 35.3M Obama.
A pretty good trick, given that the Census Bureau says the whole state's population is 23,385,340.
Maybe an outside audit of Texas's voting system is in order (and I say this as a Floridian, for crysake...).
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | May 1, 2009 11:55 AM
Sorry, my bad - push those decimals points over one place. Thanks.
Posted by: Gingerbaker | May 1, 2009 12:01 PM
The number of people living in the state has relatively little effect on the electoral process in Texas, as 'Landslide' Lyndon Johnson proved may year ago. Indeed, his press secretary, the late Jack Valenti, once said he wanted to be burried in Texas so he could remain active in politics.
Posted by: Tex | May 1, 2009 12:26 PM
^ What Tex and Schism said.
As Molly Ivins said of our legislature, "If there weren't a bunch of idiots in there, it wouldn't be a representative body."
Posted by: Coragyps | May 1, 2009 1:48 PM
Posted by: WScott | May 1, 2009 2:12 PM
The good news is that there is a bipartisan bill in the state legislature to remove curriculum and textbook decisions from the board:
http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/05/01/0501stateboard.html
Even that wacko, Warren Chisum, warned that the legislators' wrath might signal to the board that it "needs to look internally and focus on its core responsibilities." Another splashy and embarrasing fight so soon after the science TEKS might just be the straw the legislature's camel can't take.
Posted by: John Pieret | May 1, 2009 4:22 PM
On the one hand, I don't think anything will come of this. This kind of thing pops up here in Texas every so often, but it never gets through the whole process.
On the other, this could be worse in the long run than creationism. At least creationism in schools, while problematic, isn't likely to do much damage in the long run: anyone with any real interest in biology and any intelligence at all won't buy into it.
Posted by: sff | May 1, 2009 6:56 PM
I assume I'm not the only one surprised to find out that once they felt they'd gotten what they wanted in regards to science, they immediately turned on history. I really am just so tired of this b.s. On the bright side, the Lege has gotten so fed up with their shenanigans that they've decided to make the Board an empty sinecure. The fact that its far-right members are allies of Perry, and that he's currently an even bigger laughing stock in Austin than most of our governors, means they may even go through with it.
If there's one good thing you can say about the Texas Lege, its that they always know which way the wind is blowing.
Posted by: Julian | May 1, 2009 11:12 PM
Every time someone says that this is a Christian Nation, they already have. Which came first: "We're a Christian Nation" or anti-evolution?
Posted by: Pi Guy | May 2, 2009 7:58 AM
When the textbook manufacturers in TX find that they cannot sell their textbooks to other public schools in the US because of their content, then something WILL be done about this mess.
Republicans NEVER proceed with a plan if it is going to cost any big business a loss in profits.
Who would fund their campaigns if they hurt big business?
Posted by: Arliss | May 2, 2009 12:37 PM
This is what I feared. Most people don't use evolution in their day-to-day lives. I certainly don't. However, it's important in for reasons of principle. Once you establish that you get to pick what you teach based on how you wished the world works, basically every subject gets undermined, with history (my field) hit probably worst of all.
Posted by: Ace of Sevens | May 2, 2009 5:40 PM
I still really don't understand why textbook manufacturers give a hoot about Texas. Books, I don't think, are actually type set anymore.
I think they all use digital files, so it should be no more trouble for a textbook house to print a million copies of a book for Texas, and then automatically have a slightly different version coming off the machine for other states, all with appropriate bindings and carton labels, automatically placed on separate pallets for shipment, etc.
I am pretty sure magazines do this on a monthly basis for distribution to various regions around the US. Heck, it is extremely cost effective to publish your own photographic book, with completely unique formatting and contents even with a very low number of total copies. As long as you have a standard paper and paper size selection the computer does the rest, doesn't it?
Posted by: Gingerbaker | May 2, 2009 6:15 PM
sff -
At least creationism in schools, while problematic, isn't likely to do much damage in the long run: anyone with any real interest in biology and any intelligence at all won't buy into it.
The problem is that most people just don't have any interest in biology, religious or not. The problem with allowing creationist bullshit into schools is that it perpetuates complete and utter ignorance that spills over into other aspects of intellectual development.
Gingerbaker -
I still really don't understand why textbook manufacturers give a hoot about Texas. Books, I don't think, are actually type set anymore.
It's my understanding that the cost has little to do with mechanics of producing the actual final product - ie. the printed book. The expense is in vetting and accrediting. For example, it is apparently quite expensive to make what ultimately amount to relatively small changes from one edition of a particular text to another.
As an aside, I am really hoping that more of my text books become available as an e-text...
Posted by: DuWayne | May 3, 2009 10:58 AM
"The expense is in vetting and accrediting."
Well. there's your problem. How do you accredit a text book that has pure nonsense in it?
Posted by: Tom | May 4, 2009 7:36 AM