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Texas Evolution Lobby Making Power Grabs to Promote Their Censorship Agenda
Discovery Institute ^
| May 28, 2009
| Casey Luskin
Posted on 05/29/2009 11:20:59 AM PDT by GodGunsGuts
A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article from last month, Education Board in Texas Faces Curbs, revealed how the Texas evolution-lobby has been seeking to use both censorship and power grabs to promote their agenda. First, they sought to censor from Texas students any instruction on scientific weaknesses in evolution. Having lost that fight before the Texas State Board of Education (TSBOE), they have tried to use other tactics to punish the board for adopting science standards that teach evolution objectively, or to grab power away from the democratically elected board.
In a move that can only be attributed to political retribution, today Texas evolutionists successfully blocked the reappointment of Dr. Don McLeroy as chair of the TSBOE. Practically speaking, this move will change little, as it is almost guaranteed that a like-minded conservative will be appointed in McLeroys place to chair the TSBOE. The travesty here is that, to my knowledge, no one has put forth any legitimate charges that McLeroy was not fair-minded in how he chaired TSBOE meetings. If this move will have little practical impact and Dr. McLeroy is a competent chair, why did the Texas evolution lobby push so hard for this ephemeral and pyrrhic media victory? The answer is simple: it's political retribution from evolutionists who like to expel people whose politics dont advance their pro-Darwin-only agenda.
The attack on McLeroy hasnt been the only power-grab sought by the Texas evolution-lobby in recent weeks. A number of bills submitted this session have sought to strip the Texas State Board of Education of its power to do things like set the curriculum or approve textbooks, or alternatively, to make the Board non-elected. As the WSJ reported:
Some lawmakers -- mostly Democrats -- say they have had enough. The most far-reaching proposals would strip the Texas board of its authority to set curricula and approve textbooks. Depending on the bill, that power would be transferred to the state education agency, a legislative board or the commissioner of education. Other bills would transform the board to an appointed rather than elected body, require Webcasting of meetings, and take away the board's control of a vast pot of school funding.
A Texas political commentary blog offered a keen observation about what is going on here:
A lot of politicians -- all too many of them Republicans -- love to campaign on socially-conservative themes like pro-life and family values but then behind the scenes in Austin treat the social right like a bunch of lepers. This session, these politicians see an opportunity because of the change in House leadership and board's recent highly publicized debate over the role of evolution in the science curriculum. So we've had a lot more hearings on bills to strip the board of its powers.
The Texas evolution-lobby has been
cheering on these bills, which they call bipartisan, stating the following: Senate Bill 2275 by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, would strip the state board of authority over approving curriculum standards and textbooks (among other things). According to the bill itself, it would result in transferring authority from the State Board of Education to the commissioner of education. Thankfully, SB 2275 a pure power-grab bill does not seem to be going anywhere.
What makes evolutionists so scared that they must resort to these tactics? Contrary to the WSJs article, Texas students will not learn about creationist objections to evolution, but scientific challenges found in the mainstream peer-reviewed scientific literature. Teaching students about real science that challenges evolution is what the Texas evolution lobby fears the most. Thus, they are willing to resort to extreme tactics to enforce their agendaeven when it sharply contravenes the will of the people.
All this amounts to an attempt to take control of the public school curriculum out of the hands of qualified elected officials and taxpaying and voting parents and put it into the hands of bureaucrats. Once the Texas evolution lobby has total vertical control of the curriculum, they hope to then also controlthrough indoctrinationthe minds of the next generation of voters. Perhaps then Texas evolutionists will feel safe returning power to the people.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: abortion; atheismandstate; catholic; christian; corruption; creation; evolution; fools; freedomfromreligion; goodgodimnutz; intelligentdesign; moralabsolutes; prolife; science; secularhumanism; texas; theory
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To: metmom; DaveLoneRanger; editor-surveyor; betty boop; Alamo-Girl; MrB; GourmetDan; Fichori; ...
To: GodGunsGuts
To: Alamo-Girl
How is Texas going to purge these people after the “divorce”?
4
posted on
05/29/2009 11:23:31 AM PDT
by
MrB
(Go Galt now, Bowman later)
To: MrB
To: All
To: Alamo-Girl
Seriously, removing the gov’t benes and welfare isn’t going to affect some of them.
I guess we’ll just have to remove any means of power from them - that’ll do it.
7
posted on
05/29/2009 11:26:00 AM PDT
by
MrB
(Go Galt now, Bowman later)
To: GodGunsGuts
The Texas evolution-lobby LOL!
Let me guess, there's also a Texas Gravity Lobby?
8
posted on
05/29/2009 11:26:33 AM PDT
by
qam1
(There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
To: qam1
There’s a global warming lobby, a fetus isn’t human lobby, and a homosexuality is genetic lobby.
All are theories.
9
posted on
05/29/2009 11:36:05 AM PDT
by
a fool in paradise
(Justice is blind. Sonia Sotomayor is not even qualified to sit on an IMPARTIAL jury.)
To: qam1
> Let me guess, there’s also a Texas Gravity Lobby?
Unlike the effects of gravity, which can be empirically observed, evolution relies on drawings and conjectures about what may have, could have, might have, probably have, happened.
Everybody has watched an object fall to the ground.
Nobody has seen a shrew turn into a bat.
10
posted on
05/29/2009 11:37:10 AM PDT
by
Westbrook
(Having more children does not divide your love, it multiplies it.)
To: MrB
Actually I would imagine the majority of Texans find the attempt by any group to run roughshod over their collective will to be rather amusing ... at first.
To try to convince by debate is one thing, but to get pushy with Texans is well .... not very smart.
Remember Goliad, the Alamo and San Jacinto!
To: qam1
My home state is doing so well in these bad times. It would be a shame if this was clouded by pseudoscientists trying to teach kids biblical literalism in science class.
To: qam1
==Let me guess, there’s also a Texas Gravity Lobby?
Yes. It was originally started by Sir Isaac Newton way back in 18th century England. He was of course a biblical creationist.
To: GodGunsGuts
And yet it was only Newton’s scientific theories that posited natural causes for natural phenomena that accomplished anything.
As a theologian Newton was a heretic.
As an alchemist Newton was a quack.
It was only where he found MATERIAL causes to explain MATERIAL phenomena that he made any progress in science.
14
posted on
05/29/2009 11:41:27 AM PDT
by
allmendream
("Wealth is EARNED not distributed, so how could it be redistributed?")
To: Westbrook
Where as the theory of creationism depends on ?
15
posted on
05/29/2009 11:47:09 AM PDT
by
sticker
To: GodGunsGuts
Pretty obvious which side of this thing has stuff to hide, isn’t it?
To: sticker
> Where as the theory of creationism depends on ?
Who said anything about creationism?
We were talking about evolutionism.
In any event, they are both theories employed to explain the same evidence based on different world views.
However, given the endless frauds in evolutionism, e.g. Haekel, Nebraska Man, Piltdown Man, Java Man, Ntional Geographic’s “Dino Bird”, etc, and the fact that no explanation exists for organs that would be “vestigial” until wholly functioning, e.g. the eye, I would say that Intelligent Design is the more intelligent explanation.
However, if you want to believe...
* Everything came from nowhere out of nothing for no apparent reason.
* Life is just a curious side effect of an unknowing, uncaring cosmos.
* A man is a dog is a bear is a pig.
* When you die you are just so much compost.
* Ergo, the best you can hope for is a life of self-gratification and a painless extinction.
... I certainly won’t try to stop you.
Just don’t expect me to gladly furnish moneys by the threat of lethal force to propagate your silly, even dangerous, notions.
17
posted on
05/29/2009 12:00:22 PM PDT
by
Westbrook
(Having more children does not divide your love, it multiplies it.)
To: GodGunsGuts
the Texas evolution-lobby
Those guys are pikers! The Texas Round Earth lobby actually got our textbooks changed!
18
posted on
05/29/2009 12:01:21 PM PDT
by
BJClinton
(One Big Ass Mistake America)
To: qam1
Let me guess, there's also a Texas Gravity Lobby?
Yeah, they're really holding our kids down!
19
posted on
05/29/2009 12:02:22 PM PDT
by
BJClinton
(One Big Ass Mistake America)
To: Alamo-Girl
Remember Goliad, the Alamo and San Jacinto!
We went 1 - 2.
20
posted on
05/29/2009 12:03:40 PM PDT
by
BJClinton
(One Big Ass Mistake America)
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