Randi Rhodes Show - March 15 2010

Monday, March 15, 2010 George Bush once famously asked “Is our children learning?” If they’re from Bush’s home state of Texas, the answer soon may be “no, they isn’t.” Conservatives on the Texas Board of Education have instituted sweeping changes in the Texas schools’ curriculum. I’m a little surprised. Who knew Texas had a Board of Education? The new social studies curriculum will put a conservative stamp on history. More accurately, it will stamp out any history that’s not conservative. As the nation’s second-largest textbook market, Texas has enormous leverage over publishers, who make their standard textbooks conform to the specifications of their biggest customers. There’s free-market economics for you—if enough people are ignorant, then everybody has to be ignorant. As The Washington Monthly said, “when it comes to textbooks, what happens in Texas rarely stays in Texas.” At least the textbooks should come with some kind of disclaimer. “The contents of this book aren’t true anywhere except Texas.” Maybe the simplest textbook disclaimer would just say “Warning: contents under extreme pressure… from ultra-conservative nutbags.” The Texas Board of Education made some huge changes. In the world of education in Texas from now on the “three ‘R’s” are going to be “reading, writing, and revisionism.”. Conservatives don’t like Thomas Jefferson because he coined the term “separation between church and state.” So the Board removed Jefferson from a section of the Texas curriculum, replacing him with St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, and others. If you have no idea who John Calvin is, don’t worry. That means you probably have a pretty accurate knowledge of real American history. The board also now requires that students learn about “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.” Hey, I want kids to learn about all that stuff. Well, not so much learn about it, as be warned about it. It looks like the only thing these Texans want anybody to remember is the Alamo. And they don’t want people to remember that accurately. The hard-right conservatives on the Texas Board of Education probably want textbooks to say that Phyllis Schaflaly was at the Alamo.

udp://tracker.openbittorrent.com:80
udp://open.demonii.com:1337
udp://tracker.coppersurfer.tk:6969
udp://exodus.desync.com:6969

captainronito (2010-03-18)

Thanks again!

 480v (2010-03-18)

Thanks...been waiting for some recent Randi Rhodes

captainronito (2010-03-25)

Sonews isnt posting any more?
Sad