This Week in Stoopid: Of Humans, Moose and Bears – the Texas Bored of “Education” and Montana’s Cowardly and/or Dastardly GOP [*cough* well, Of Humans]

I try all week, every week, to avoid reading the news.  I’d much rather read new of good tidings than bad these days, with everything going on in the world.   Of course, I fail miserably. (This may have to do with my refusal to unsubscribe from my various newsletters.)  But, I just can’t help but click on the thing I know will piss me off.  This week’s Stoopid is particularly painful, because 1/4 of my family hails from Montana.  As for Texas, well…there’s always bbq…and Austin…and the Space Centers…

I love Montana.  I spent practically every other summer there, from the year my step-father (who was my piano teacher) married my mother, back in 1982 till I went to university.  My step-dad’s family hail from Billings.  My step-grandmother – who is distantly related to the artist and writer, Frederick Remington – was a high school English teacher.  My step-grandfather , who could play every instrument under the sun, was a band director. He taught me how to play percussion.  I have this great “A River Runs Through It” photo of my step-grandfather, knee-deep in his waders in the and fast-flowing river behind the cabin, casting his fly into the rush – my dog, Scruffy picking her way over the stone in the creek bed alongside him.   I really miss him.  My step-grandmother is still truckin’, but has Alzheimer’s.  She’s lost what used to be a very sharp mind (of course, she also adored Bill O’Reilly, a.k.a. he-who-will-never-darken-my-tv-screen-with-his-RWnutjob-presence), but is quite happily puttering away at an assisted living home.  My grandparents had/have a cabin up in Red Lodge, in Custer National Forest. not far from Yellowstone.  A creek runs next to it, and way out in the back clearing, moose bed down with their calves.  Bears wander by occasionally.   On one of our last visits up there before we moved to New Zealand, I had a rather closer encounter with a black bear than I would have liked.  I was walking.  I sat down on a tree stump.  I heard Steven shouting and pointing .  I jumped up and looked behind me just in time to see the backside of the big, sneaky, fuzzy bouncing back into the woods.   I guess, it just got curious and crept up behind me to take a peek.  It was also, apparently, more afraid of little old me than it should have been.  Good times.

That’s what I love about Montana.

What I don’t love about Montana? – its GOP.  What are they doing now?  Still trying to ban homosexuality – by blatant disregard of the Montana Supreme Court.  It’s the party’s official platform, even though the Montana Supreme Court killed the relevant/related laws in 1997.  Even people like State Senator, John Bruggemen R-Polson who make toothless, empty, vanity brave statements like, “Should it get taken out? Absolutely. Does anybody think we should be arresting homosexual people? If you take that stand, you really probably shouldn’t be in the Republican Party,” can’t bring themselves to make a case for action in convincing the Legislature to excise the platform.  Obviously, this isn’t that important of an issue.  Equal rights? Who needs them?  The Crime section of the GOP’s platform explicitly states, ““We support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal.” Super fishy, I’d say.  But, considering people like my crazy step-uncle  (i.e. he who is has been  working on a 100 volume treatise on Stalingrad for the last 10 years, and who could not be more bigoted, prejudiced, misogynist, homophobic, racist and armed), not surprising. *Sigh*

Speaking of…

Hey there, Texas  State Board of Education! *waves, with one finger*  What’s with the resolution stating that , “”diverse reviewers have repeatedly documented gross pro-Islamic, anti-Christian distortions in social studies texts across the U.S. and that past social studies textbooks in Texas also have been “tainted” with pro-Islamic, anti-Christian views.”   So, the textbooks are being too nice to Islam and Muslims for your liking?   Gee, textbook revenue must really be going downhill.   Here’s an idea.  Maybe you could just rip out all that sketchy, pro-Islamic-skewered history in those textbooks and just superglue in a photo of a mosque with a giant “666” scrawled in a red Sharpie over it, and name the book, “People Who Have Always Been More Evil Than Christians, and Will Always Be More Evil Than Christians.”

Is that “pro-Christian” enough for you?

*words in bold brought to you by the “5 word challenge” through the VOX Diaspora

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Grandpa and Scruffy at the river behind the cabin - Red Lodge, Montana (my brother in the background) - Summer 1986

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High School Student Raises Red Flag on Conservative Bias in Textbook – GOOD FOR HIM!

Conservative bias alleged in textbook – Education- msnbc.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24018762

Conservative bias alleged in textbook Publisher now says it will review the book, as will College Board The Associated Press updated 7:04 p.m. ET April 8, 2008 WASHINGTON – Talk about a civics lesson: A high-school senior has raised questions about political bias in a popular textbook on U.S. government, and legal scholars and top scientists say the teen’s criticism is well-founded. They say "American Government" by conservatives James Wilson and John Dilulio presents a skewed view of topics from global warming to separation of church and state. The publisher now says it will review the book, as will the College Board, which oversees college-level Advanced Placement courses used in high schools. Matthew LaClair of Kearny, N.J., recently brought his concerns to the attention of the Center for Inquiry, an Amherst, N.Y., think tank that promotes science and has issued a scathing report about the textbook. "I just realized from my own knowledge that some of this stuff in the book is just plain wrong," said LaClair, who is using the book as part of an AP government class at Kearny High School. Textbook is widely used The textbook is designed for a college audience, but also is widely used in AP American government courses, said Richard Blake, a spokesman for the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Co. Blake said the company "will be working with the authors to evaluate in detail the criticisms of the Center for Inquiry." Blake said some disputed passages already have been excised from the newest edition of the book. Both authors are considered conservative. Dilulio, a University of Pennsylvania professor, formerly worked for the Bush administration as director of faith-based initiatives. Wilson is the Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. Neither responded immediately to calls seeking comment. LaClair said he was particularly upset about the book’s treatment of global warming. James Hansen, the director of NASA Goddard Ins…

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