Perhaps all is not lost for Texas after all.

Courtesy of the National Center for Science Education:

Pop the champagne corks. The Texas Board of Education has unanimously come down on the side of evolution. In an 8-0 vote, the board today approved scientifically accurate high school biology textbook supplements from established mainstream publishers--and did not approve the creationist-backed supplements from International Databases, LLC.

"This is a huge victory for Texas students and teachers," said Josh Rosenau, NCSE programs and policy director, who testified at the hearings this week. In his testimony, Rosenau urged the board to approve the supplements--recommended by a review panel largely composed of scientists and science educators--without amendments, and to reject International Database's creationist submission. The board did just that, and asked for only minimal changes to the approved supplements.

In hearings yesterday, NCSE members and allies showed up in force. At least four times as many people testified in favor of the supplements as written, versus those opposing the supplements or demanding significant changes.

Ultimately, the board approved the Holt supplement, and directed Commissioner of Education Robert Scott to review the list of supposed errors, and to develop amended language for Holt to incorporate. NCSE and Texas education groups are confident Scott's revisions will reflect the current state of evolutionary biology, and not any creationist alternatives.

Dr. Eugenie Scott, NCSE's Executive Director is celebrating the decision. "These supplements reflect the overwhelming scientific consensus that evolution is the core of modern biology, and is a central and vital concept in any biology class. That these supplements were adopted unanimously reflects a long overdue change in the board. I commend the board for its refusal to politicize science education."

Well I guess this is a glimmer of sanity in a state which still has Rick Perry as it Governor and whose abstinence only sex education program causes it to have the highest teen birth rate in the nation.


Oh well, at least now that Texans understand that evolution is fact they might soon realize that Rick Perry is somewhat further down that evolutionary trail than one might expect for the Governor of their state.

I mean seriously, is this guy even able to use rudimentary stone tools yet?

Palin propaganda film sells out in Grapevine, Texas. That might be impressive if anybody had ever HEARD of Grapevine, Texas.

Courtesy of Reuters:

"The Undefeated," a glowing look at failed vice-presidential candidate and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has already sold out a show in Grapevine, Texas (population 46,000), according to the distributor Cinedigm.

Grapevine isn't exactly a teeming metropolis but the film is set to roll out across Tea Party country in 10 AMC theaters.

In addition to Grapevine, the documentary by conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon will expand to Indianapolis, Ind.; Independence, Mo.; Kennesaw, Ga.; Houston, Texas; Orlando, Fla.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Highlands Ranch, Colo.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Orange, Calif.

 The film opens tomorrow if anybody is looking for an accidental comedy, an opportunity to be surrounded by assholes, or a cure for insomnia.

Currently the website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 0%, which means that of the eight people who have seen this cinematic beatification of Sarah Palin, ALL of them gave it a "rotten" rating, but ONLY because that is the lowest rating available on the website.

Below is a screenshot featuring the professional film critics who were subjected to this celluloid abortion because their jobs demanded it of them. I figured their opinion of the movie was worth noting.

I captured this screenshot because, as we all know, the minute this post goes up Rotten Tomatoes will be inundated with positive reviews of this "film" by Palin-bots, the majority of who have not yet even seen the movie.

As revealed in Frank Bailey's book, THAT is how Palin and her supporters handle bad, or negative, press, by hijacking the polls or attacking the critics, or both.

Still I am more than positive that nothing they can do will save this clunker from joining films like "Ishtar," "Battlefield Earth," and "Freddy got Fingered" as one of the worst films of all time.

Since we are on the topic of Palin failings, I should also inform you that all of that talk by her sycophants of "Sarah Palin's Alaska" possibly earning an Emmy turned out to be bullshit as well:


Outstanding Reality Show
The Amazing Race
American Idol
Dancing With the Stars
Project Runway
So You Think You Can Dance
Top Chef

However as kind of a booby prize it looks like Bristol's complete lack of rhythm, poor work ethic, and bizarre weight gain did not keep DWTS from getting nominated. So that should make the Grizzled Mama feel better right?

Ah, who are we kidding? That bitch only cares about one person, and that person is HER!

If you wake up on August sixth wondering where all of the batshit crazy Christian ministers have gone, they will be with Rick Perry in Texas.

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Wow!  I don't think there are nearly enough mental health facilities in the country to contain all of THAT crazy!

Bristol Palin book signing in Fredericksburg, yet another Texas sized tragedy for the family of grifters.

Courtesy of the delightfully named blog, I Tried Being Tasteful:

We didn’t attend the big event which kicked off at 6 pm because we had the grandkids here and because we really didn’t give a hoot. However we did end up at Walmart later in the evening after our weekly pilgrimage to McDonald’s.

When my husband was checking out at Walmart he went to the express checkout that happened to be right next to the area where Ms. Palin had been holding court.

The checker had been there the whole time and said that Bristol had left after only 20 mins. to a half hour of signing. There was even a point where there was no one waiting, so she graciously (to her credit) went around and introduced herself to the employees in the area.

In the grand tradition of her Mama Grizzly, she’d brought little Tripp (have I got the name right? With all the Tripps, Tracks, Trigs, etc., it’s hard to keep up) along for added value. No Sarah, though.

What kind of a country is this, where a hateful, over privileged, young "single mother" cannot attempt to destroy the reputation of her baby's father by essentially accusing him of date rape and then get paid millions of dollars for it?  I thought this was America!

And this happened in TEXAS!  Where else in the WHOLE world could Bristol Palin hope to be more welcomed than in Texas?

(P.S. Please visit the link to the blog that printed this story.  I am sure you agree they deserve some IM love for this awesome post!)

Will Texas be the first state to eliminate public education?

Texas Legislature doing what it does best... removing tax dollars from public education.

Slightly more than 10 years ago, Texas provided up to 70 percent of the total budget for public education. Local government, mostly via home property taxes, provided the remaining 30 percent. Currently, those percentages are reversed and now the state is looking to provide even less to public schools in the Special Legislative Session under proposed Senate Bill 1 that seeks to cut public education financing down another 6 percent.

During the past decade legislators and various members of the elite business sector have given lip service to finding financing for Texas public education, but every year or two committees failed and fewer tax dollars were provided. The Texas Constitution outlines the state's responsibility to provide our children with a quality education; however, every year the Governor and Legislators have taken chunks of tax dollars slated for public education and have diverted them instead to various other special interests.

Few Texans should be surprised that their state wants to remove more financing from public education, since it has been doing so almost every year for the past decade. However, it is a sad commentary of a state that is almost last on the list of states providing quality public education.

Currently, it is quite clear that there has been an active push by Texas legislators to develop private education and to eliminate its responsibility for public education. In fact, many legislators already sit on the boards of private, charter and religious schools. Special interests continue to push for a voucher program to enable parents to take their children out of public schools and use the vouchers for private enrollment.

Viewing the education issue completely, we may see that the state of Texas wishes to maintain educational objectives for the wealthy elite rather than for the majority of Texans. Furthermore, by crying budget poverty Texas sees the opportunity to remove most or all tax dollars that finance public education and to divert those tax dollars to other special interests.

It is sad enough that Texas Governor Rick Perry and legislators have no problem shirking their responsibility to the majority of children in Texas by cutting the financing for public education, but, it is callous, irresponsible and un-American to remove educational opportunities for the majority of our children and their parents under the veil of secrecy and cries of state fiscal poverty.

Our legislators are trying to eliminate public education behind closed legislative doors. SB 1 is the largest attempt of any previous bill to eliminate the financing of public education for our children and it is a symptom of special interest politics permeating throughout Texas.

If the majority of voters sit back and do nothing, Texas may succeed as the first state in the US to eliminate public education.

(Courtesy of Buzzflash, written by Peter Stern is a former Director of Information Services in private industry and government, a University Professor, Public School Administrator and Teacher. He is a disabled Vietnam Veteran and holds three post-graduate degrees.)

I cannot tell you how MUCH this shit pisses me off!

The Republicans have been actively trying to destroy the public school system since back when Reagan was in office and NOBODY seems to be calling them out on it.

School vouchers, Charter schools, No Child Left Behind, these all sound like good ideas, but when you REALLY examine the agenda behind them  you quickly realize that their entire purpose is to make the public school system look ineffective, and essentially broken, in order to justify taking away their funding.

Look it is no exaggeration on my part to say that I had some of the BEST public school teachers you can imagine, who spent long hours working to inspire me to channel my hyperactivity toward sports and my over active mind toward writing. Nor is it much of an exaggeration to suggest that my life was literally saved by an Assistant Principal who called me down to his office halfway through my Junior year, closed the door behind me, and proceeded to read me the riot act about getting into so many fistfights.  He told me, using language I had never heard an educator use before, to straighten up and get my act together before I found myself being the smartest guy on cell block 15. He also challenged me to stop taking from the school, and to "use that ridiculous IQ of yours" to give something back.

Do you know how they say that kids never listen?  Well I DID listen to him, and afterward had the best, most productive Senior year of high school anybody could ever hope to have.  And if I had stubbornly refused to listen chances are I would have been expelled, and would therefore never had that very first taste of success that let me know what I could achieve when I really set my mind to it.

THAT is what my public school education did for me. And I resent the hell out of those who are trying to take that educational opportunity away from our children and grandchildren.

If you are financially capable of paying for a private school education for your child, or you prefer a charter school, more power to you, but these options should not come at the expense of a well funded public education system. Not in America.

Top Ten Things Rick Perry Does NOT Want You To Know.

From Think Progress:

(1) PERRY ALLOWED THE EXECUTION OF A LIKELY INNOCENT MAN, THEN IMPEDED AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE MATTER

(2) PERRY WANTS TO REPEAL THE 16th AND 17th AMENDMENTS, ENDING DIRECT ELECTION OF U.S. SENATORS AND THE FEDERAL INCOME TAX

(3) PERRY PROPOSED LETTING STATES DROP OUT OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICAID

(4) TEXAS IS THE COUNTRY’S BIGGEST POLLUTER, BUT PERRY SUED THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT FOR DISAPPROVING OF THE STATE’S AIR QUALITY STANDARDS

(5) PERRY DESIGNATED AS “EMERGENCY LEGISLATION” A BILL REQUIRING ALL WOMEN SEEKING ABORTIONS TO HAVE SONOGRAMS FIRST

(6) PERRY GUTTED CHILDCARE SERVICES EVEN AS TEXAS CHILDHOOD POVERTY HIT 25 PERCENT

(7) PERRY WAS A STRONG SUPPORTER OF TEXAS’S ANTI-SODOMY LAWS

(8) PERRY IS A STIMULUS HYPOCRITE WHO LOUDLY CRITICIZED FEDERAL RECOVERY MONEY BUT USED IT TO BALANCE HIS STATE’S BUDGET

(9) PERRY SAID THAT TEXAS MIGHT HAVE TO SECEDE FROM THE UNITED STATES

10) DESPITE HAVING THE WORST UNINSURED RATE IN THE COUNTRY, PERRY CLAIMS THAT TEXAS HAS “THE BEST HEALTH CARE IN THE COUNTRY”

As I mentioned before Perry is perhaps the only Republican that really concerns me, simply because he is all hair, southern charm, and Texas bullshit, which is EXACTLY the kind of Republican candidate that comes right out of central casting for the GOP faithful.

Essentially he has the looks of Mitt Romney, the swagger of George W. Bush, and the fundamentalist religious credentials of a Sarah Palin. (Yes I KNOW hers are fake, but the bots don't give a rat's ass.)

They take on look at this guy and they will see, almost literally, a cowboy in a white hat ready to ride into Washington and run "Black Barack" right out of town.

However after reading this article I have to admit I do feel somewhat more convinced that he might self-destruct before November as well.  And that is how I like my Republican Presidential candidates; Full of hot air, and fatally flawed.

Perhaps the only Republican that concerns me for 2012, is Texas Governor Rick Perry.

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That secession thing is bad, but is it bad enough to stop this guy if he decided to run?

Reason #48 not to vote for Sarah Palin for anything

It is no surprise that Sarah endorsed Rick Perry who like her husband Todd favors secessionism.

Rick also allows his religious beliefs to dictate his policies (anti-gay, anti-abortion) He also agrees with the strict right wing nutjob beliefs of Rev John Hagee.  He also believes Texas has the right to secede from the Union.  (A little incident called the Civil War circa 1861-65 took care of that).  And he is a fiscal conservative yet took several trips to outside the United States where he billed the State of Texas for security detail costing over a million dollars.

After President Obama went to Alabama to see the tornado damage, Perry bitched that Obama was ignoring Texas.  This coming from a guy to who favors seccession.