A daily miasma of frivolity by two wanna-be cultural critics. Or: just, like, some good links, dude.

Tag Archives: texas

Nov 24 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Could Texas Become A Blue State?

Could Texas Become A Blue State?

Fantastic feature in the New Yorker by Ryan Lizza. The overal thrust of the piece is thusly. Texas has 38 electoral votes — if Texas flips blue it will be nearly impossible for a Republican to make it to the White House. The Hispanic population of Texas is increasing rapidly and there will come a point in the near future where Texas won’t be winnable for Republicans unless they can win a significant share of the Hispanic vote.

A simple observation but Lizza does a lot of really great reporting to underscore this and also to map out what various Republican factions, both in Texas and nationally, are trying to do about it. Set some time aside and read this, for real.

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Aug 16 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Victory for Science in Texas Public Schools

Victory for Science in Texas Public Schools

Texas Freedom Network:

As we told you late last month, the State Board of Education approved instructional materials in science that could be used in Texas public schools for the better part of the next decade. In all, the board approved materials from nine publishers. But in the case of one of those publishers, Holt McDougal, it did so on the condition that it make changes of so-called “errors” that were based on the objections of a well-known creationist who reviewed the materials. […]

Well, those changes are now in (click here to download a PDF) and so are the reviews. TFN, NCSE and other scientists have reviewed the changes and have found them to be in line with established, fact-based science.

Here’s the head-exploding part for the creationists. Not only does the final version of Holt not include creationist arguments against evolution, but they also include language explicitly affirming Darwin’s theories.

Go science.

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