Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Just how utterly clueless are the religious right intelli-phobes on the Texas State Board of Education? They banned a children's book author with a very common name because one of the dolts on the board did an Amazon search and found a different author with the same name had written a book about Marxism.
What do the authors of the children's book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and a 2008 book called Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation have in common?Both are named Bill Martin and, for now, neither is being added to Texas schoolbooks.
In its haste to sort out the state's social studies curriculum standards this month, the State Board of Education tossed children's author Martin, who died in 2004, from a proposal for the third-grade section. Board member Pat Hardy, R-Weatherford, who made the motion, cited books he had written for adults that contain "very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system."
Trouble is, the Bill Martin Jr. who wrote the Brown Bear series never wrote anything political, unless you count a book that taught kids how to say the Pledge of Allegiance, his friends said. The book on Marxism was written by Bill Martin, a philosophy professor at DePaul University in Chicago.
Here's the best part - the explanation for how this crack board of researchers came to this point:
Hardy said she was trusting the research of another board member, Terri Leo, R-Spring, when she made her motion and comments about Martin's writing. Leo had sent her an e-mail alerting her to Bill Martin Jr.'s listing on the Borders .com Web site as the author of Ethical Marxism. Leo's note also said she hadn't read the book."She said that that was what he wrote, and I said: ' ... It's a good enough reason for me to get rid of someone,' " said Hardy, who has complained vehemently about the volume of names being added to the curriculum standards.
In an e-mail exchange, Leo said she planned to make a motion to replace Bill Martin and sent Hardy a list of possible alternatives. Hardy said she thought she was doing what Leo wanted when she made the motion.
Leo, however, said she wasn't asking Hardy to make any motions. She said she didn't do any "research."
"Since I didn't check it out, I wasn't about to make the motion," Leo said, adding that she never meant for her "FYI" e-mail to Hardy to be spoken about in a public forum.
Hardy said that her interest was in paring down that list and she didn't mean to offend anyone.
Okay, so here's the obvious question for Terri Leo: If you didn't intend to get Martin banned and you hadn't done the research on it, why didn't you object to the motion to ban him and point out that you hadn't done any real research on the guy? I don't have the minutes for the meeting (they aren't available yet), but I spoke to someone who was there and he said the entire religious right block voted for the motion as a block, including Leo.
These people would be hilarious if they weren't so dangerous.
Politics
Comments
"...contain very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system."
"And therefore?", someone should have asked.
Posted by: diegopig | January 26, 2010 9:34 AM
"unless you count a book that taught kids how to say the Pledge of Allegiance"
You need a book for that? Isn't the Pledge itself enough?
Posted by: Ginger Yellow | January 26, 2010 9:43 AM
Therefore his childrens books must contain secret brainwashing that will cause the kids to grow up into liberalgaymuslimevolutionists and work for the antichrist. It's obvious if you remember to turn your brain off before responding.
Posted by: Matty | January 26, 2010 9:45 AM
I wonder if there's a "Pat Hardy" on any of the various sex offender lists in this country, and if so, why is such a person allowed to serve on a school board?
Posted by: Taz | January 26, 2010 9:52 AM
"Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I see a people's revolution, starting with me."
Yeah, I can see that as a best-selling kid's book.
Posted by: James Hanley | January 26, 2010 9:55 AM
“Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?”
“I see a red commie looking at me.”
“Red Commie, red Commie what do you see?”
“I see a Yellow Dog Capitalist looking at me.”
“Yellow dog, Yellow dog, what do you see?”
“I see an Australopithecus looking at me.”
“Australopithecus, Australopithecus, what do you see?”
“I see the fools of the Texas SBOE looking at me.”
Posted by: Chilidog | January 26, 2010 9:57 AM
From the comments to the story, by someone posting as "cbelt":
Brown bear, brown bear, what do I see?
I see Commies behind every tree!
Brown bear, brown bear, what do I see?
I see morons in your BOE!
Posted by: Taz | January 26, 2010 9:59 AM
Compelled to provide quotes . . .
"It's worse than a crime; it's a blunder." - Fouché's judgment on Napoleon's illegal abduction and murder ("execution") of the duc d'Enghien
"To know that one knows what one knows, and to know that one doesn't know what one doesn't know, there lies true wisdom." - Confucius
"To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable, but to be certain is to be ridiculous." - Chinese Proverb
"What men want is not knowledge, but certainty." - Bertrand Russell
"It is impossible to make people understand their ignorance; for it requires knowledge to perceive it and therefore he that can perceive it hath it not." - Jeremy Taylor
"Ignorance and inconsideration are the two great causes of the ruin of mankind." - John Tillotson
"Against logic there is no armor like ignorance." - Laurence J. Peter
"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." MLK Jr.
"It is worse still to be ignorant of your ignorance." - Saint Jerome
"The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism." - William Osler
Posted by: Michael Heath | January 26, 2010 10:04 AM
Um, pardon the interruption, but aren't the Brown Bear books a little young for third-graders? If my 2-year-old is still learning to read "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear" by the time she's 8, there's a problem.
Posted by: Jeff | January 26, 2010 10:19 AM
Using their standards, Terri Leo is actually a photographer living in California. As such she should be removed from the Texas Board of Education, which requires its members to be residents there.
Posted by: Abby Normal | January 26, 2010 10:22 AM
I forgot to mention the grand irony that the author of the pledge of allegiance was, in fact, a socialist.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | January 26, 2010 10:27 AM
@Matty:
the antichrist is hiring? i wonder if he has good benefits?
Posted by: rob | January 26, 2010 10:51 AM
rob - don't do it, the wages are terrible. - Dingo
Posted by: DingoJack | January 26, 2010 10:59 AM
Well I hear you get to retire somewhere with a nice warm climate.
Posted by: Matty | January 26, 2010 11:00 AM
So are these the same people running the No Fly List?
Posted by: Seeing Eye Chick | January 26, 2010 11:25 AM
I know Marxists are supposed to be atheists, but I happen to know that this Bill Martin (the professor) worships Chris Squire as a deity, and in fact one of his other books is about Yes. (Maybe that's what set Terri Leo off -- after all, she's a Genesis fan!).
Posted by: Dave M | January 26, 2010 11:32 AM
Abby, that's nothing Pat Hardy seems to write in some kind of Forin. Do his patriotic English speaking supporters know about this? and as for selling paintings, what kind of way is that for a Texan to earn a living?
Posted by: Matty | January 26, 2010 12:03 PM
Welcome to e-mail protocol 101! The social conventions in regards to face to face conversations also apply to e-mail. Just as with gabbing with your best friend, if you send something by e-mail, expect it to get out. If Leo really did not want this to happen (it seems unlikely that this was the case) then she shouldn't have sent the e-mail at all.
Posted by: Jeremy Shaffer | January 26, 2010 12:44 PM
While this is an amusing anecdote, it is also a sobering reminder that we need more educators on the board, and that we need to bring the focus of the board back to educating future generations of Texans. This is why I’m running for Texas State Board of Education, District 5. Visit http://www.voterebecca.com for more information.
Thank you,
Rebecca Bell-Metereau
Posted by: Rebecca Bell-Metereau | January 26, 2010 1:00 PM
These nutters must be in the pay of a foreign power, because training Texans to become ignorant could only help powers inimical to our interests.
Posted by: larrump | January 26, 2010 1:39 PM
If I had to ban books by an author for some reason (though as a supporter of free speech, I wouldn't do so unless forced) and had a choice between one who wrote about Marxism and one who wrote books telling children to recite the pledge of allegiance, I'd definitely choose the latter.
Posted by: Miko | January 26, 2010 1:41 PM
Jeff @9
I agree that the book is a bit young for 3rd grade but it has a couple of positives. It puts a book on the school shelf that the kids recognize and may draw them to look at more. It also provides the student an easy reading aloud opportunity.
Sadly, with the morons in Texass choosing books and setting standards, education is fading fast and there may be many kids in 3rd grade who would find the book a challenge.
Posted by: MikeMa | January 26, 2010 1:48 PM
Jeff @9
I agree that the book is a bit young for 3rd grade but it has a couple of positives. It puts a book on the school shelf that the kids recognize and may draw them to look at more. It also provides the student an easy reading aloud opportunity.
Sadly, with the morons in Texass choosing books and setting standards, education is fading fast and there may be many kids in 3rd grade who would find the book a challenge.
Posted by: MikeMa | January 26, 2010 1:52 PM
I got inspired:
http://fakeposters.com.s3.amazonaws.com/results/2010/01/27/o4u6vx692n.jpg
Posted by: Joe Shelby | January 26, 2010 1:57 PM
I looked at Rebecca Bell-Metereau's campaign site and have decided that she seems genuine. I don't know if she's got a chance to win, but I contributed $25 bucks anyway...and I don't even live in Texas.
Posted by: bybelknap, FCD | January 26, 2010 2:05 PM
@ Michael Heath #8:
Sorry, I just can't resist adding this one:
"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we do not know we don’t know." - Donald Rumsfeld
:P
Posted by: Zmidponk | January 26, 2010 3:24 PM
When will people learn that banning books will only make more people read them? If they really hate a book, they ought to assign it for homework; then nobody would ever read it.
Posted by: catgirl | January 26, 2010 3:27 PM
"These people would be hilarious if they weren't so dangerous."
That sums it up really nicely.
Posted by: Kel | January 26, 2010 3:57 PM
This is a problem in all levels of education. People seem to go through cycles, and we are at another high point in people wanting to suppress and silence the voices of those they disagree with. I've seen a number of school districts either drop books because of lone parent complaints, put together authorized book lists and then gradually eliminate books (again often because just one parent doesn't agree with the content), and I've seen teachers scramble to defend books that anyone with any common sense recognizes as legitimate valuable educational resources. What really irks me is when parents object to books (like in this case) where they have no idea what the book actually says, but read somewhere that someone else with similar political ideology said the book was "bad."
Posted by: dogmeatib | January 26, 2010 6:41 PM
Someone needs to send this story to the writers at the Daily Show and/or the Colbert Report.
I imagine either could put such inanity to good use.
Posted by: Troy Britain | January 26, 2010 8:51 PM
How did Pat Hardy, a financial astrologer, get to be on the BOE?
I mean, isn't that, like, witchcraft or something? Should the school kids in Texas be influenced by a witch? I think not!
Posted by: jpf | January 26, 2010 10:57 PM
@ 19. Rebecca,
You are in my district and you absolutely have my vote!
Posted by: Vickie | January 27, 2010 12:58 AM
In a similar vein to this, over at PZ Myers' blog, there is an entry about a mother who complained to a school district and managed to get a DICTIONARY banned. Why? Because it had a definition of 'oral sex' in it.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/01/stop_sitting_there_reading_thi.php
Posted by: Zmidponk | January 27, 2010 7:34 AM
Imagine if someone with an Arabic-sounding last name had made that statement.
Posted by: ebohlman | January 27, 2010 11:44 AM
The Texas BOE. Making work more difficult for The Onion every day.
Posted by: Van Buren | January 27, 2010 8:03 PM
Thank you, bybelknap and Vickie (and many others, I'm sure) for your support. I'm trying to make a difference and with the help of people like you, I believe I can.
Posted by: Rebecca Bell-Metereau | January 28, 2010 12:44 PM