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Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscience ... - 8/14/2013 7:22:41 AM   
kalikshama


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The petition reads:

quote:

"Science textbooks should provide our children with the best and most broadly accepted science information — it is unacceptable to cave to right-wing politicians and include religious pseudoscience in your publications."


The right-wing majority on the Texas State Board of Education wants to revise the state's standards for science textbooks to require the addition of religious pseudoscience when teaching subjects like biology. And this isn't just bad news for Texas schoolchildren, because the Texas standards will impact the textbooks used by millions of students nationwide.

The Texas State Board of Education recently invited a small group of people to review the biology textbooks that will be used for the next eight years, starting in 2014. But more than half of the reviewers are right-wing religious ideologues,1 some of whom are even skeptics of Darwin's theory of evolution — considered one of the most reliably established facts in science, and a central tenet of biology.2

The ultimate goal of these sham textbook reviews — and Texas Board of Education curriculum reform — is to enshrine right-wing ideology into Texas textbooks. What's worse, because of the scale of production of these textbooks, the dictates of the Texas State Board of Education will be included in textbooks used by millions of students in other states.

We can't let them get away with replacing long-accepted scientific principles with religious pseudoscience and propaganda.3

Tell textbook publishers to stand up to the Texas State Board of Education and only publish books that are based on sound, peer-reviewed science scholarship. Click here to sign the petition.

...Textbook publishers can refuse to make suggested changes, or pull out of the state's business altogether, just as publisher Holt, Rinehart and Winston did in 1994, when Texas requested over 400 revisions in five health textbooks — including the removal of toll-free phone numbers for teenage suicide prevention groups.6

We're not going to change the minds of some of the theocrats elected to the Texas State Board of Education. But we can pressure publishers not to compromise their science textbooks by caving to the board's unreasonable demands.

The final review of these textbooks won't happen until November, and these textbooks could be in classrooms for a decade. Now's the time to put pressure on textbook publishers to stop accepting this scientifically debunked information.

Tell textbook publishers to stand up to the Texas State Board of Education and only publish books that are based on sound, peer-reviewed science scholarship. Click the link below to sign the petition automatically:

http://act.credoaction.com/sign/texas_textbooks/?rd=1

Thank you for standing up for science.

< Message edited by kalikshama -- 8/14/2013 7:25:26 AM >


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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 7:26:49 AM   
Hillwilliam


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Attachment (1)

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Kinkier than a cheap garden hose.

Whoever said "Religion is the opiate of the masses" never heard Right Wing talk radio.

Don't blame me, I voted for Gary Johnson.

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 7:28:11 AM   
Hillwilliam


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Attachment (1)

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Kinkier than a cheap garden hose.

Whoever said "Religion is the opiate of the masses" never heard Right Wing talk radio.

Don't blame me, I voted for Gary Johnson.

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 11:14:16 AM   
eulero83


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FR

Sorry if I'm being naive... but isn't this fraud and power abuse?

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 11:14:56 AM   
Hillwilliam


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quote:

ORIGINAL: eulero83

FR

Sorry if I'm being naive... but isn't this fraud and power abuse?

Since when has fraud and power abuse ever stopped religious fanatics?

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Kinkier than a cheap garden hose.

Whoever said "Religion is the opiate of the masses" never heard Right Wing talk radio.

Don't blame me, I voted for Gary Johnson.

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:17:50 PM   
Marc2b


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I've always been leery of signing petitions but in this case I'll make an exception.

Deliberately teaching kids bullshit just pisses me off.

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:19:22 PM   
Hillwilliam


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Marc2b

I've always been leery of signing petitions but in this case I'll make an exception.

Deliberately teaching kids bullshit just pisses me off.

The coolest part is that in 10 years, they'll whine about how our kids are farther behind in math and science and blame the liberals.

_____________________________

Kinkier than a cheap garden hose.

Whoever said "Religion is the opiate of the masses" never heard Right Wing talk radio.

Don't blame me, I voted for Gary Johnson.

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:20:55 PM   
Marc2b


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quote:







I've said it before and I'll say it again: we should kick Texas out of the Union and admit Puerto Rico... we'd gain more culturally and intellectually that we'd loose. Also, we'd still have fifty states so we wouldn't have to fiddle around with the flag.

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:29:58 PM   
eulero83


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam


quote:

ORIGINAL: eulero83

FR

Sorry if I'm being naive... but isn't this fraud and power abuse?

Since when has fraud and power abuse ever stopped religious fanatics?


I don't know here it's the comunist party that "corrects" history books but not science's ones, than I really never met a protestant italian citizen I know they hide somewhere in the mountains near turin but never seen one in the flesh, so it's a creationist free land.
On the other hand rigging public decisional process in order to favour our relatives, friends and political supporters is a national sport and tradiction.

Now I stop being ironic, this is a crime as they are favouring authors that support the same politicians they are endorsed by imposing to publish a proven lie in text books, in order to gain more support, it's not even a victimless crime as all the children studing on that books will have their right to education violated. For the fact that the bribe is not given from A to B but from A to C to B doesn't mean there is no improper profit.

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:31:48 PM   
Zonie63


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I never could understand this thing about statewide textbooks anyway. Why not just let the individual teachers choose the texts they feel is best for teaching their course? I remember that my teachers only used a portion of the textbook and supplemented it with other texts and materials. The officially sanctioned textbooks were a bit lacking, so the teachers would add other materials to the coursework which weren't part of the official text.

I suppose the whole practice of making every school and district in the state buy the same textbook can be quite a boon for publishers. Sure, maybe some will be more reputable and take the high road, but there will be those few who will say, "Hey, if there's a hefty paycheck in it, I'll write whatever you tell me to write."

The best way to avoid this is to just let individual schools and teachers decide what textbooks to use. By centralizing it, it puts a lot of buying power in the hands of just a few people, the kind of buying power that any business would sit up and take notice of.




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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:31:54 PM   
Marc2b


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quote:

Since when has fraud and power abuse ever stopped religious fanatics?


For many, fraud and power abuse is the appeal of religious fanaticism.

"Oh goody! I get to bully people and it's okay because God says it's okay!"

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:32:23 PM   
Moonhead


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It's worth asking who benefits from imbeciles wrecking your education system.
Back in the '50s, it was the Russians. These days, it seems to be a fair chunk of south east Asia who are profitting from the American school system treating fairy stories and science as being interchangeable. Who's profiting from stem cell research now?

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:34:53 PM   
mnottertail


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I will hazard the guess that it ain't Texans.

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:35:50 PM   
li2013


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pseudo scientists and materialist pseudo skeptics are both as bad as each other

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:38:34 PM   
Moonhead


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quote:

ORIGINAL: li2013

pseudo scientists and materialist pseudo skeptics are both as bad as each other

How so? The latter group do a lot less harm than the former group, unless your God is such a pussy that He can't bear a little criticism from infidels.
A God who's as fragile as Tinkerbelle isn't worth worshipping...

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:39:40 PM   
li2013


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I never mentioned God, you did twice.

I stand by what I said

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:48:41 PM   
Moonhead


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The only pseudo scientists under discussion here are the idiots trying to crossdress faith in an absurdity as a scientific theory.

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 12:53:08 PM   
eulero83


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quote:

ORIGINAL: li2013

pseudo scientists and materialist pseudo skeptics are both as bad as each other


what does it means? If applied to science your sentence is just bullshit, if applied to life it's just a sentence with no real value.

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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 1:40:01 PM   
evesgrden


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Marc2b

I've always been leery of signing petitions but in this case I'll make an exception.

Deliberately teaching kids bullshit just pisses me off.



Same here. I signed the petitiion too.


I think if the state can add a chapter on creationism to all the scientific texts, then a chapter on evolution should be added to all religious texts.



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RE: Don't let right-wing Texans put debunked pseudoscie... - 8/14/2013 1:54:55 PM   
RottenJohnny


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quote:

ORIGINAL: evesgrden
I think if the state can add a chapter on creationism to all the scientific texts, then a chapter on evolution should be added to all religious texts.


I wonder how Constantine would have handled this.

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