EDUCATION: Like it did with science, the Texas State Board of Education injects Republican ideology into educational standards for social studies

Posted on September 17, 2009

One of the ironies of the evolution debate is that if those changes get implemented, Texas will get out-competed by smarter, fitter states whose education systems evolve to keep up with the latest science.

— Michael E. Webber

Not too long ago, the right-wingers unreasonably went berserk over President Obama’s speech to schoolchildren across the country. These right-wingers claimed indoctrination. However, these conservatives, republicans, right wingers, or whatever you want to call them, with their narrow ideology, are uncompromising and the true harbingers of indoctrination.

Recently, the Texas State Board of Education decided to look “at adding mentions of contemporary conservatives Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh to the required curriculum standards.” From TPMMuckraker:

Now, a panel of experts appointed by the GOP-controlled State Board of Education has released reviews of the proposed curriculum, which, as we noted recently, would require students to be conversant in Reaganomics and the heroes of movement conservatism.

More from TPMMuckraker:

While Republicans are busy gnashing their teeth over President Obama’s imminent indoctrination of the nation’s schoolchildren, there’s an education story bubbling up in Texas that could have considerably more far-reaching consequences.

. . .

Approved textbooks, the standards say, must teach the Texan student to “identify significant conservative advocacy organizations and individuals, such as Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly, and the Moral Majority.” No analogous liberal figures or groups are required, prompting protests from some legislators and committee members. (Read an excerpt here.)

The standards on Nixon: “describe Richard M. Nixon’s role in the normalization of relations with China and the policy of detente.”

On Reagan: “describe Ronald Reagan’s role in restoring national confidence, such as Reaganomics and Peace with Strength.” (That’s it.)

The Cold War section is rendered as “U.S. responses to Soviet aggression after World War II … “

Texas State Board of Education chairman Dan McLeroy—a creationist—wants to teach children both the strengths and weaknesses of the theory of evolution. From Salon:

Dan McLeroy, the Texas State Board of Education chairman, a dentist and self-described creationist, led the charge to mandate teaching the “strengths and weaknesses” of the theory of evolution. After three days of high-pitched argument on both sides, the 15-member board, by a vote of 8-7, rejected the language, relieving textbook authors and publishers of the pressure to insert what opponents called “junk science” into their pages. But in a compromise that alarms and dismays many science education advocates, the board did adopt language that attempts to cast a shadow of doubt over the validity of the central evolutionary concepts of natural selection and common ancestry.

Proponents of the theory of intelligent design, and other brands of neo-creationism, argue that evolution is inadequate to the job of explaining the diversity and history of life on earth. If they can cast doubts about evolution’s validity, they have a chance to fill the authority vacuum with the tenets of creationism. But since late 2005, when a federal judge in Dover, Pa., ruled that intelligent design was a form of creationism, and that its introduction into public high school curricula was unconstitutional, advocates of teaching neo-creationism have been forced to seek other ways into public science classrooms. Enter the “strengths and weaknesses” strategy, crafted by the Seattle-based, pro-intelligent-design think thank, Discovery Institute.

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RACE RELATIONS: President Jimmy Carter says race is a factor in opposition to President Obama

Posted on September 16, 2009

Yesterday, former President Jimmy Carter said what many of us have already observed and what many individuals don’t want to admit: “There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.”

I agree with former President Jimmy Carter, because being from the South, I’ve witnessed plenty of virulent and willful racism in addition to unintentional racism and blatant ignorance there. From The New York Times quoting former President Jimmy Carter:

The former president first weighed in on Tuesday during a question-and-answer session at the Carter Center in Atlanta. Mr. Carter responded to a question about Mr. Wilson’s eruption by saying that he did believe it was laced with racism. Coupling the Wilson remark with the images in recent weeks of angry demonstrators wielding signs depicting Mr. Obama as a Nazi or as Adolf Hitler, Mr. Carter said: “There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.”

He lamented the tone of disrespect toward the current president, adding: “Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a sincere debate on whether we should have a national program on health care. It’s deeper than that.”

On “Hardball” today, Chris Matthews compared 2008 exit poll data to illustrate geographical differences amongst white voters that voted for President Obama. From Equal Justice Initiative:

Analysis of votes cast for president on November 4, 2008, shows that the percentage of white Alabama voters who supported President-Elect Barack Obama was the lowest in the country, at only 10%.

While in most states, President-Elect Obama obtained at least a third of the white vote, in the Deep South states of Alabama (10%), Mississippi (11%), and Louisiana (14%), there was an unprecedented lack of support among white voters for the Democratic presidential candidate.

White voters in Alabama provided only half the support for Barack Obama that was given to 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry, who received 19% of the white vote.

The Color Line provides some national data (more exit poll results from CNN can be found here):

Obama only received 41% of the White male vote (vs. 57% for McCain) and 46% of the White female vote (vs. 53% for McCain).

Furthermore, the belief that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States is largely a Southern belief. From The Virginian-Pilot:

But a new robocall survey by Public Policy Polling shows that only 53 percent of all Virginians believe the president was born in the United States. Among Virginia Republicans, the number is 32 percent. A full 41 percent of Virginia Republicans believe Obama was born elsewhere.

According to a similar survey by DailyKos/Research2000, 77 percent of all Americans believe the president was born in America. In the South, though, that number is a mere 47 percent. Among Republicans nationwide, believers in the president’s Hawaiian birth amount to just 42 percent.

Despite the empirical data, not everyone agrees with former President Jimmy Carter—including the Obama Administration:

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PIC TO SHARE: Some frogs bypass the tadpole stage

Posted on September 15, 2009

Moist environments in the tropics allow some frogs to forgo the tadpole stage and hatch directly into froglets. Another example of this adaptation can be found in the Bryophryne spp. of Peru. From National Geographic:

[A] male Oreophryne frog in Papua, New Guinea, guards his clutch and two newly hatched froglets that rest atop the egg mass. Like many of the Microhylidae family, these frogs bypass the tadpole stage, developing fully within the egg. Male frogs embrace their clutch each night to keep the eggs moist and protect them from predators such as insects.

NEW SPECIES of frogs discovered in Peru

Posted on September 15, 2009

These new species of frog, discovered in Peru, are found in high altitudinal forests, and they lay terrestrial eggs from which froglets—not tadpoles—hatch. More images and information on these new discoveries can be found at Wildlife Extra:

The three new species are small frogs, up to 24 mm long in females and 19 mm in males. In contrast to most amphibian species, eggs of these frogs are laid in moist, terrestrial microhabitats, such as under mosses or the leaf litter, and embryos do not develop into aquatic tadpoles. Instead, minute froglets hatch from the eggs to lead a fully terrestrial life. The mother remain near the eggs to protect them from insect predators and dessication. Clutches contain 18-25 eggs that measure approximately 4-5 mm in diameter. Recently hatched froglets measure approximately 5 mm in snout-vent length.

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TEA PARTY SHENANIGANS: What ~2 million people really looks like

Posted on September 15, 2009

Thousands of protestors gathered over the weekend in Washington, D.C., to protest the Obama Administration’s agenda for the country. However, controversy over the number of protestors attending the rally ensued after several exaggerated estimates were perpetuated either negligently or purposefully by Michelle Malkin, Matt Kibbe of FreedomWorks, and careless Twitters.

The promoters of disinformation claimed the number of protestors in Washington D.C., were at 1 million to 1.5 million people, though other outrageous estimates were also declared. According to the D.C. Fire & EMS Department, ”unofficial crowds [numbered] 60,000-75,000.” To further delegitimize their cause, “tea party protesters trying to tout the size of their march on Washington last weekend . . . pass[ed] around a photo of a packed National Mall. But the picture is years old.” More from the Los Angeles Times:

As our colleague in Washington, Joe Markman, writes today, several conservative groups behind the march say that as many as 2 million people turned out to protest everything from Obama’s proposed healthcare overhaul to the legitimacy of his election.

Others, however, say the crowd was much smaller. A spokesman for the District of Columbia Fire Department made an unofficial estimate of 60,000 to 70,000 people.

Arguments about crowd estimates are, as Markman writes, “as much a part of Washington as its granite monuments.”
This one took a rather scandalous turn, however, when a photo circulated among conservatives as proof of a larger crowd was revealed to be a fake.

As a comparison to the 9/12 tea party protests, President Barack Obama’s inauguration had some 1.8 million attendees. Here’s what almost 2 million people looks like:

Image Credit: AP Photo/Susan Walsh. Via The Big Picture at Boston.com