I Guess They Want To Beat Out Oklahoma

Perhaps, Texas Governor Rick Perry, when he threatened secession last year, meant, only, intellectually.



Texas Textbook MASSACRE: 'Ultraconservatives' Approve Radical Changes To State Education Curriculum

The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum's world history standards on Enlightenment thinking, “replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.”

[snip]

We’re just picking ourselves up off the floor. The board’s far-right faction has spent months now proclaiming the importance of emphasizing America’s exceptionalism in social studies classrooms. But today they voted to remove one of the greatest of America’s Founders, Thomas Jefferson, from a standard about the influence of great political philosophers on political revolutions from 1750 to today.

Matt Duss, over on Think Progress, shows how this dovetails with the NeoNitWit philosophy, and notes, with Texas being the second largest market for school textbooks , "It seems like a really bad idea to let the market determine the history we teach our children."



But wait, there's more!

Looks like they'll be buying white paint, by the tanker-load;

Efforts by Hispanic board members to include more Latino figures as role models for the state’s large Hispanic population were consistently defeated, prompting one member, Mary Helen Berlanga, to storm out of a meeting late Thursday night, saying, “They can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don’t exist.”

“They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians,” she said. “They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.”

And, let's not leave the Good Lord out of this;

12:28 – Board member Mavis Knight offers the following amendment: “examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others.” Knight points out that students should understand that the Founders believed religious freedom was so important that they insisted on separation of church and state.

12:32 – Board member Cynthia Dunbar argues that the Founders didn’t intend for separation of church and state in America. And she’s off on a long lecture about why the Founders intended to promote religion. She calls this amendment “not historically accurate.”

12:35 – Knight’s amendment fails on a straight party-line vote, 5-10. Republicans vote no, Democrats vote yes.

12:38 – Let the word go out here: The Texas State Board of Education today refused to require that students learn that the Constitution prevents the U.S. government from promoting one religion over all others. They voted to lie to students by omission.

Holy Phony Longhorns, Batman!

Last year, when we wrote about Oklahoma, thanks to 75% of their high school students not being able to name the first U.S. President, was bucking to be the location for the Idiocracy sequel, we now see that Texas was planning to give them a run for it.

Tough call, could be a toss up, or maybe, Texas gets saved for the Prequel, on how the state actually sanctioned teaching their children to be dumber than doorknobs.

Just another chapter for the Right Wing Freak show, in their Sisyphus role of pushing that stone back up the hill, trying to make up their own facts.

The Loon Star State

Holy Cow!

If we were to bestow our "Ignorant Dolt of the Week", on Chuck Norris, Glenn Beck, and the gang at Restore The Republic, we would have to retire it.

Or, otherwise, endure crippled fingers, being fed intraveniously, while writing a never-ending post.

Norris, in his "I may run for president of Texas"

On Glenn Beck's radio show last week, I quipped in response to our wayward federal government, "I may run for president of Texas." 

That need may be a reality sooner than we think. If not me, someone someday may again be running for president of the Lone Star state, if the state of the union continues to turn into the enemy of the state. 

From the East Coast to the "Left Coast," America seems to be moving further and further from its founders' vision and government.

[Snip]

When I appeared on Glenn Beck's radio show, he told me that someone had asked him, "Do you really believe that there is going to be trouble in the future?" And he answered, "If this country starts to spiral out of control and Mexico melts down or whatever, if it really starts to spiral out of control, before America allows a country to become a totalitarian country (which it would have under I think the Republicans as well in this situation; they were taking us to the same place, just slower), Americans won't stand for it. There will be parts of the country that will rise up." Then Glenn asked me and his listening audience, "And where's that going to come from?" He answered his own question, "Texas, it's going to come from Texas. Do you agree with that Chuck?" I replied, "Oh yeah!" Definitely

[Snip]

For those losing hope, and others wanting to rekindle the patriotic fires of early America, I encourage you to join Fox News' Glenn Beck, me and millions of people across the country in the live telecast, "We Surround Them," on Friday afternoon (March 13 at 5 p.m. ET, 4 p.m. CT and 2 p.m. PST). Thousands of cell groups will be united around the country in solidarity over the concerns for our nation. You can host or attend a viewing party by going to Glenn's website. My wife Gena and I will be hosting one from our Texas ranch, in which we've invited many family members, friends and law enforcement to join us. It's our way of saying "We're united, we're tired of the corruption, and we're not going to take it anymore!"

Again, Sam Houston put it well when he gave the marching orders, "We view ourselves on the eve of battle. We are nerved for the contest, and must conquer or perish. It is vain to look for present aid: None is at hand. We must now act or abandon all hope! Rally to the standard, and be no longer the scoff of mercenary tongues! Be men, be free men, that your children may bless their father's name."

And, Norris ends, with what else, a plug;

(Note: Speaking of showdowns, Chuck is also inviting anyone near the Houston area this weekend to see a good example of the raw Texas fighting spirit by joining him and others for the national martial arts event, "Showdown in H-Town.")

On Beck's "We Surround Them" page, he lists the "Nine Principle" from those crazy kids at Restore The Republic;

The Nine Principles

1. America is good. 

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life. 

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government. 

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it. 

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results. 

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable. 

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion. 

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

Dana Houle aka DHinMI has a good line;

Well, I'm glad they're convening on a Texas ranch. Because, you know, gun-loving people making seditious comments on Texas ranches...well, that never turns out bad. As Kossack ablington sardonically put it, "it's like the Obama house parties, but with more guns!"

Will Bunch, at Attytood, has a good handle on it;

Meanwhile, less than two months into the Obama administration, right-wingers are stocking the basement pantry, piling up the shotguns and organizing "cells," all with the help of a talk-show host who coincidentially became unhinged after he drove down the ratings at CNN Headline News, something that most people didn't think was possible. There's a lot to hash out in this country over the next few years but it's becoming more and more clear who respects the Constitution, and who does not.

Steven D., on Booman Tribune, has "Questions";

And why are Glenn Beck and Chuck Norris pimping for another revolution by "right wing cells" to overthrow the elected government of the United States? For what else can a program to be aired by Beck with the name "We Surround Them" possibly refer to other than a threat of violence against not only the Obama administration but also anyone and everyone who doesn't believe as Norris and Beck do?

Vanishing American, a supporter of the secession and resistance, has his wistful doubts the Big T can pull it off;

I would like to think Norris (and Beck) are right about Texas, though my confidence varies. Sometimes I believe the old spirit is still there, then I have to face the sober reality that Texas is now a different place, populated by different people than in its glory days, during the war for independence and the days of the Republic. And when I say that, I don't just mean the presence of millions of immigrants and others whose roots are not Texan, but the fact that the younger generations have grown up in a different world and have been thoroughly indoctrinated against all that the old Texas stood for.

But then at other times, I feel sure there is enough of the old spirit present that a resurgent Texas is possible.

Sounds, kind of like, a chicken-fried, Texas-version of the old Monty Python "Poor Sketch" - "Oooooh, we used to dream of living in a corridor. It would have been a palace to us" ..."You can't tell the young people of the day that. They won't believe you."

Boy, what would they be plotting if Hillary won?

Sounds like we need to cut some Stimulus Money to the Secret Service, to keep tabs on these dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds.

While these nitwits have their big meet, on one of Norris's Texas ranches, planning and plotting the overthrow of the country, perhaps the rest of can start the debate on why the hell did we ever fight with Mexico over Texas?

Bonus Looney Tunes 

Ron Moore: Chuck Norris claims thousands of right wing cell groups exist and will rebel against U.S. government

Alan Colmes: Chuck Norris May Run For President Of Texas

ALERT - Restore The Republic Message To All Armed Forces
H/T to Steve D. on Booman Tribune

Libby Spencer: Nearly seditious

Glenn Greenwald: Fox News "war games" the coming civil war

David Neiwert: Glenn Beck wants to kick California out of the Union