The Far Right’s ‘Big Lie’

One of the major goals of the “big lie” tactic is to so discredit an opponent that his or her argument on an issue — no matter how reasonable and sound — has no chance of breaking through the rage of the self-righteous, intolerant and poorly informed. The debate over curriculum standards in public schools has […]

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Barton and Beck, Together at Last

Chris Rodda (Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right’s Alternate Version of American History) has a piece up on Huffington Post about the growing ties between David Barton and wacky FOX News host Glenn Beck. Barton, whom far-right members of the Texas State Board of Education last year put on a key panel helping revise social […]

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UT Faculty Focus on Social Studies Standards

Faculty members at the state’s largest public university clearly are growing increasingly wary as they watch the State Board of Education vandalize and politicize social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools. Two upcoming events will highlight their concerns. The Texas IP Fellows will host a debate over the proposed social studies standards at 3 p.m. […]

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Lawmakers to Texas Ed Board: It’s Time to Talk

Today Texas lawmakers picked up a bigger megaphone to get the attention of a bitterly divided, out-of-control State Board of Education. At a Capitol press conference, members of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC) announced that they are scheduling a public hearing for April 28 to examine how and why the state board has run off the […]

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The Federal Reserve and the Bible

Perhaps others were just as puzzled as we were when the religious-right bloc on the Texas State Board of Education went after the Federal Reserve System earlier this month. At the board’s March 11 meeting, Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, proposed the following standard for revised curriculum standards for high school economics: “(A)nalyze the decline in value […]

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