The Faulty Logic of Republicans on Education

Recently, I penned a piece exposing the Democrat’s faulty logic in continuing to press forward with health care reform in the face of widespread opposition. In that piece, I made it clear that Democratic politicians are not alone in their use of faulty logic to promote a personal agenda. Indeed, Republicans are just as guilty of the charge. Consider the faulty logic displayed by the Bush administration in the build-up for the invasion of Iraq. Even many “third party” and independent candidates build their political platform on a foundation of faulty logic. Perhaps that’s why so many rational people find the world of politics so disgusting; it’s a world void of logic.

It seems that some elected officials make the mistake of assuming that we live in a democracy, when in actuality the United State is a constitutional republic. Other politicians profess to understand the distinction, yet continue to govern as though in a simple democracy.  On Friday, Republican members of the Texas State Board of Education voted to adopt new social studies and history curriculum that would, among other things, refer to the United States government as a “constitutional republic” instead of a “democracy”. Ironically, they relied solely on a democratic principle–the simple majority–to ram through the curriculum’s most controversial elements.

At the heart of the “Texas Textbook War,” is the attempt on the behalf of cultural conservatives to inject their beliefs into the textbooks. This includes their belief that the United States was founded on “Judeo-Christian values,” studies of the role of conservative political action committees during the 20th Century, and an ultra-conservative interpretation of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. While there is definitely a time and place to debate these ideas in the classroom, they would be taught as fact if the current curriculum survives a final vote in May.

Not surprisingly, the attempt to radically alter the way history and social studies are taught in Texas’ classrooms has generated intense opposition from Democrats and many Republicans. Earlier this month, two of the board’s most outspoken cultural conservatives, most notably Dr. Don McLeroy, lost Republican primary elections to opponents who oppose this curriculum. McLaren remains defiant in the face of defeat, and vowed to push through the curriculum before relinquishing his seat, a maneuver that would make Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama smile.

The biggest difference between a democracy and a constitutional republic is the allocation of protections of the minority from the “tyranny of the majority.” The Constitution serves as the primary guarantor of the rights of the minority, but Republicans on the SBOE seem to reject that notion as well. On Thursday, they blocked a measure introduced by a Democrat that would have taught the importance of “separation of church and state” as contained in the First Amendment.  While Republicans claim to support the idea that we live in a constitutional republic, their actions indicate they favor a simple democracy when the results further their agenda.

Students should be taught the difference between a “democracy” and a “constitutional republic.” The nuances between the two forms of government seem to baffle even the most astute politicians. Elected officials have the responsibility to ensure balance exists between competing ideas in the classroom, but must understand that one extremist stance does not balance out another extremist stance. Perhaps educators can use the examples of Democrats on health care reform and Republicans on textbook adoptions as examples of the dangers of simple democracy and to teach the protections provided by a constitutional republic.   Until then, we the people must remain resolute in combating faulty logic wherever it may occur in the realm of politics. Our freedom and liberty, not to mention our children’s future, depend on it.

Texas Textbook Wars Part II

Just when you thought the Texas Textbook Wars could not get any more absurd,  Republicans on the SBOE blocked a measure yesterday that would have taught students the importance of the First Amendment. 

Really?

This proves my theory that these zealots are not interested in democracy, but rather in living in either a theocracy or an idiocracy.

Do evangelicals not realize that “separation of church and state” actually protects them? If there were no “separation of church and state,” and Christianity was allowed to be taught as truth in the classroom, there would be nothing in place to stop a more progressive brand of Christianity being taught–one that might challenge their kids to question their parent’s narrow interpretation of Christianity.

Also, not only does the First Amendment guarantee the “separation of church and state”, but also the “separation of state and church.” In other words, it prevents the Federal government from coming into your church and telling you what you may preach and how you may preach it.

Many of the early immigrants to this country came escaping countries with state sponsored churches. Why would we want to revert to the practices of England?

You ask me, there is a lot of value for both conservatives and progressives, Democrats and Republicans, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, etc. in the “separation of church and state.”

I said it during the Bush years and I’ll say it again, Christian extremists are scared to death of the First Amendment, not only because of “separation of church and state”, but also because of the guarantee of “freedom of speech.” In the end, that is what this argument is about.

Going to California

Stephanie and I are currently in the planning stages of honeymoon. At first, we decided a trip to Napa & Sonoma would be nice, so we went to our local bookstore and bought a couple of books on traveling in the region. After reading the books and conducting some exhaustive Internet research, we decided that the region might be a little stuffy for our tastes, so we looked south on the map, down the California coastline and decided on Santa Barbara, a region that appears to offer a little more than fine wine and gourmet food. Yesterday, we purchased a couple of travel books on Santa Barbara and I couldn’t help but to notice a common theme throughout these books and the ones I purchased on Napa/Sonoma–California is fragile.

Electrical shortages, droughts, wildfires, earthquakes, tar on the beaches and the overwhelming fear that one more molecule of carbon dioxide may forever destroy their eco-system were all discussed in detail in the books I read. It reminded me of the first time I heard the term “eco-anxiety,” anxiety brought on by the fear that one is bringing on the end of the world by their lifestyle.  Indeed, buried within the words in these books was the admission by the author that they played some role (and the allegation that we the reader played a role) in causing all of these problems plaguing California, including the earthquakes.

The real anxiety is the anxiety created in the mind of the reader by the authors. If I get a rental car that is not a hybrid, will the locals try to drag us through the city streets and place us in the stocks for the rest of the natives to throw rotten (organic) vegetables at us. If I take a 10 minute shower, will a gestapo like agent show up our hotel door demanding to know why our water usage is twice that of the average California resident. If we choose to use the air conditioner, instead of opening our windows, will we be verbally assaulted? If we use more than one square of toilet paper, will Sheryl Crow and Laurie David show up to protest?

I am looking forward to our trip out West. Santa Barbara seems like a wonderful place to visit and I know it will make a great honeymoon location; however, I don’t think there could be a place in the continental United States more drastically different than my native Texas than coastal California.

Texans love their land as well, but we don’t fear it and we don’t let it control our lives. While residents of Santa Barbara continue to fight oil companies drilling off their coast line, Texans understand the positive impact drilling can have on an economy and understand the minimal impact it has on the local environment. Indeed, drilling continues to this day on Caddo Lake, one of the most biologically diverse wetlands in the United States.

Texans learn to live with the whims of Mother Nature as well. While earthquakes are uncommon (legend holds Caddo Lake was formed by an earthquake), we live in the middle of “tornado alley” and face nature’s wrecking ball every spring. We accept it as part of living in this part of the country and we don’t blame the personal habits of other people for these natural disasters. Before the threat of power outages became a reality in Texas, we began addressing the problem and discussing our options. We managed all of this and still have one of the best state economies in the United States.

When we invite tourists to our great state, we remind them to be good stewards and “don’t mess with Texas,” but we do so without fear or intimidation. Perhaps authors writing about California travel should adopt the same philosophy.

The TCU/Boise State Problem

For all your BCS related questions, click here.

For the next month, football will dominate water cooler and cocktail chatter. A lot of that talk will center around the BCS games. This year’s slate of BCS bowl games features Ohio State and Oregon in the Rose Bowl, Georgia Tech and Iowa in the Orange Bowl, Florida and Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl, Boise State and TCU in the Fiesta Bowl and Alabama and Texas squaring off in the BCS National Championship Game. While Alabama and Texas will play for title, the Fiesta Bowl match-up of TCU/Boise State seems to be generating the most discussion.

Both teams enter the game undefeated and ranked in the top 10. The two teams faced each other last season in the Poinsettia Bowl, which turned out to one of the most exciting games of the 2008-2009 season. By all indications, this will be one hell of a game. However, most Fiesta Bowl talk focuses on the controversy rather than the game itself.

Both teams play in non-automatic qualifying conferences and both had much bigger aspirations heading into the BCS selection. As members of the non-automatic qualifying conferences, the knock against both TCU and Boise State is that they lack the strength of schedule of the teams from the six BCS affiliated conferences. Never mind the fact the Boise State posted a dominating victory over Oregon, who plays in BCS bowl game this season, and TCU posted three wins over three top 25 teams.

TCU and Boise argue that they are willing to play any team, any time, any where, but many traditional powers refuse to play them for fear of losing. They felt that the in the BCS they would be afforded the opportunity to play one of the traditional powers, at a neutral site, in a prime-time, made for national television environment.   TCU even had faint hopes that they could be selected to play for the national title, but at worst given a shot to play Florida, Georgia Tech or Iowa. Instead, TCU and Boise State were paired together–two non-automatic qualifiers squaring off in a meaningless game.

It reminds me of jobs where they require you to have experience before applying, but there is no way to get the experience when all the related jobs require experience. For example, in order for an actor to make a living, he or she must be a member of Actors’ Equity Association. Almost all professional theaters in the United States are Equity affiliated and you must be a member of the union in order to perform. In order to join the union, you must have performances in Equity houses under your belt. Of course, there are exceptions to these rules, just like TCU and Boise State are the exceptions in the BCS, but in most cases the rule apply.

In order for schools like TCU and Boise to prove that they are worthy of BCS bids and legitimate national title contenders they need to prove themselves against BCS schools. The BCS denied this opportunity to these two schools out of fear of the BCS affiliated schools being embarrassed by the non-automatic qualifiers.

Some experts feel that TCU and Boise State deserve each other. Colin Cowherd, one of ESPN’s generic radio personalities, made the statement on his Monday program that TCU and Boise State should be happy to just be invited to the BCS, that TCU had “cankles” and didn’t deserve a big time BCS bowl game because they didn’t sell out all of their home games.

This is obviously flawed logic. A team’s fan support is not an indicator of the quality of their program. If we extended this logic to the NFL then the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings, the top two teams in the NFC, should not be allowed the right to play in the Super Bowl even if they win the NFC. Both the Saints and Vikings are small market teams and have had trouble selling out home games over the years. Indeed, the Vikings feared they would have to blackout home games this season until they signed Brett Favre.

The BCS fears schools like TCU and Boise State having success, because the more success these programs have, the more irrelevant the BCS becomes.

Smoaky resigns from KTBB

Our East Texas bureau reports that David Smoak has resigned as “Sports Director and Talk Host at KTBB radio.” A trip to Smoaky.com confrimed this report.  It appears that Smoak will continue to maintain his site, a haven of heated discussions on all-things sports, especially high school football.

Texans love their high school football and the Piney Woods house some of the sports’ most passionate fans. Smoaky understands this passion and he developed a successful media strategy that provided East Texans with informative and entertaining coverage of high school football for over 20 years.  While media personalities in larger markets look down their nose at high school football, Smoaky devoted a majority of his to time to the it, earning him the reputation of being one of the state’s foremost experts on the sport.

Growing up in East Texas, I have fond memories of watching David Smoak as the sports anchor for a local television station. His high school football scoreboard was a must see every Friday night. As a college student in Tyler, I rediscovered how great Smoaky was when I found his sports talk radio program on the AM side of the dial.  Later on, I would have the opportunity to work with Smoaky on several different occassions while working for TexasPrepXtra.com. He was willing to do whatever it took to help young, aspiring journlists get the experience they needed.

It remains to be seen whether or not this signals the end of Smoaky’s career.  I’ve found a couple of different statements regarding his move on his website and both of them are deliberately worded, leading me to believe there some contractual issues yet to be answered. I tend to believe that Smoaky will continue doing what he loves, covering sports. I’m just no sure in what capacity.

If this does signal the end of his media career, it’s a sad day for East Texas sports fans. Smoaky’s work went far beyond high school football. He was the first local reporter in East Texas to begin live coverage from Cowboys’ training camp.  When Smoaky traveled to camp, he always brought along a huge smoaker and would provide food for the entire media contingent. Through his food and his professionalism, Smoaky developed many contacts throughout the state, friends who would often drop in on his program. No other media program has his connections and they will find it hard to book the types of guests his fans have grown accustomed to.

Heres to a very short stint off the air for David Smoak! East Texas sports fans need him.

Does defense win championships?

We’ve all heard the old adage regarding football, “offense may win games, but defense wins championships,” a philosophy I firmly believe. However, I came across an interesting stat.

I’m a Texan and I love my high school football. I was reading through the Dave Campbell’s 2009 Texas Football magazine and noticed the season summary for the 2008 Class 4A Division II state champions, the Sulphur Springs Wildcats.  I first noticed the final score of the state championship game, 69-49, and thought it must be an anomaly. However, as I went down the results of Sulphur Springs’ schedule I noticed a distinct pattern. The Wildcats scored a ton of points, but also gave up a ton of points.

They finished the season as champions with a 14-2 record, but they gave up an average of 30.6 points per game. They’re are girls basketball teams that give up less points per game. Their defense gave up at least 16 points in every game, only held one time to less than 20 points and gave up 30+ points, 7 times.

In spite of these numbers,  I still believe that defense wins championships. What this proves is that the playoff system for Texas high school football has been extremely watered down ever since they went to the two division/two champions format for each classification.  Just as the BCS needs a face lift, the Texas high school football playoff systems needs some restructuring as well.

Texas Voter ID Bill

The Texas state Senate passed a voter ID bill on Wednesday.  It’s legislation with good intentions, but there’s no way it will make it past Obama’s justic department. Opponents of the bill feel that it would discourage many members of minority voting blocks who might not have access to photo ID’s. I say, call their bluff.

Instead of requiring a voter to show a photo ID in addition to their voter registration card, make Texas voter registration cards photo ID’s. In other words, attach a photo fhe voter to the voter registration card.

How would the goons with La Raza and ACORN attack that measure?

I love Texas ! I’ve lived here my entire life, so I admit to some built-in bias, but this is a pretty damn good state to live in.  Even though I’ve lived here for 30 years, it wasn’t until this past weekend that I made my first trip to West Texas. I must say it was an awesome experience. After spending so much time in the Piney Woods of East Texas, it was amazing to see a competly different landscape in the same state.

Where else can you see this

 

this

 

 

this

 

this

 

this

 

 

and this

 

 

in the same great state.

I definitely think every Texan should make every effort to visit every corner of this state. It is well worth. In the meantime, I plan on workin on a book, “Everything I Needed to Know About Texas I Learned From High School Football.” A look into how, as a child, I learned about different towns and cities in Texas by reading Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine, learning the schools in each town, their mascots and their enrollment.

Dallas city-owned convention center hotel

I have vehemently opposed the proposed city-owned convention center hotel Dallas mayor, Tom Lepert, has tried to force down the city’s resident’s throats. While Barack Obama may try to force socialism on us on the Federal level, the city of Dallas has no business dabbling in something best left to the private sector. Now we find out that taxpayers may get left holding the bill for the hotel.

We just thought Laura Miller’s reign was bad for the city!

Kudos to Angela Hunt, a constant voice of reason on the city council, for opposing this measure from the beginning. I enourage all registered Dallas voters to get out on May 9 and vote against this hotel. Your voice can still be heard.

Rowlett’s Rent problem

On February 1, 1896, Giacomo Puccini’s classic opera, La boheme, opened in Turin, Italy. Almost 100 years to the day, on January 25, 1996, a modern day version of La boheme called Rent opened off-Broadway. Since its’ opening, Rent has inspired and moved many, but a small vocal minority continues to attack the musical and its’ fans. Whether out of ignorance, bigotry, homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, those who choose to attack fail to see the irony in attacking a performance whose central theme involves looking past all that divides us, to see all that which unites us, and to cherish those around us one minute at a time—five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred times a year.

 

Last week, I read about Rowlett High School’s attempt to stage Rent: School Edition, a version of the musical edited for high school performances. Initially, I Googled “Rent school edition” to see how it differed from the original Broadway musical and found that the changes were made with the blessings of Jonathon Larson’s estate, settling my first worry. Next, I felt jealous that a high school had the opportunity to perform one of the greatest works of art of the 20^th Century and wished that I had had similar opportunities in high school. After my fears resided and envy faded, I began to probe into the story deeper. I found the same bigoted response from certain individuals.

 

It is the same bigoted response my friend received a few years ago. He served as youth pastor at a church in the area. An avid fan of Broadway musicals, he hung a Rent poster in his office. When the senior pastor saw the poster, he made several derogatory comments regarding homosexuals and my friend soon found himself out of a job.

 

It’s the same bigoted response I hear when people continually refer to Rent as the “the AIDS musical,” or the same bigoted response I hear from Christian conservatives preying on the fears of others in their community.

 

In the end, it reveals ignorance and a weak faith. Anyone remotely familiar with Rent understands the universal themes explored therein—truth, beauty, love and the relationships that bind us all together. Only those who have never seen the musical, those who go on only what they’ve heard from their pastor, those lacking knowledge or comprehension of Rent’s message—the ignorant—would believe the bigoted responses.