A new study from the Guttmacher Institute shows that the nation’s abortion rate in 2008-11 fell to its lowest level since the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing the procedure across the country. What’s behind the decline? From Guttmacher’s press release: “With abortion rates falling in almost all states, our study did not […]
TFNEF
Some Good News: Texas Ed Board Revises Textbook Adoption Rules
This week we got a hopeful sign — at least a little one — that politics might not entirely govern the State Board of Education’s upcoming adoption of new social studies textbooks. Partly in reaction to how anti-evolution activists nearly hijacked the adoption of science textbooks last year, state board members adopted new rules that […]
Because It Was None of Your Damn Business, Rep. Zedler
Self-described “conservatives” like Texas state Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, constantly insist that they hate when “big government” intrudes into the personal lives of individuals. But their own words and actions often reveal the hypocrisy behind such claims. The truth is that they support intrusive government when they can use it to impose their own beliefs […]
Texas Textbook Activist Insists Civil Rights Successes Led to 'Burning and Looting,' Slavery Was a Minor Cause of Civil War
Another sign that the social studies textbook adoption in Texas this year is going to be messy: A political activist who helped write new curriculum standards for the state’s public schools in 2009 is insisting that new textbooks under consideration this year should promote his revisionist views on issues such as slavery and the Civil […]
'Forcing Evolution into Texas Schools'?
Anti-science zealots can be pretty (unintentionally) comical. The Austin American-Statesman published an article today (behind a paywall) about Responsive Education Solutions charter schools teaching junk science that attacks evolution and promotes creationism as a valid scientific alternative. The article prompted one right-wing activist to claim in an online screed this morning: “Libs bullying to force evolution into Texas […]
