Naming Someone Who Hates Public Schools to Head the State Ed Board? Gov. Perry, You Can't Be Serious!
By Susie Madrak Thursday Jul 09, 2009 4:00pmHoo wee. Via Fred Clark, this story about Texas Gov. Rick Perry considering the appointment of a right-wing extremist Christian to head the state's Board of education.
Oh, and she just happens to despise public education, thinks it's unconstitutional and thinks public schools should be abolished. (She also thinks Barack Obama is getting ready to impose martial law.) Yep, she sounds perfect for the job - at least, in Wacky Wingnut World.
Fred sums it up nicely:
...Just like the fire departments, school boards seem to attract a significant unhinged minority of firebugs -- people who just want to destroy public education and laugh while it burns.
Dunbar is a member of what one blogger called "the Texas Taliban," a coalition of state school board fundamentalists. Since this is the year the board purchases new textbooks, their goal is to make sure the textbooks selected are as wingnutty and deliciously wacky as their own personal beliefs.
By the way, she's a graduate of Regent University School of Law, founded by that noted legal scholar, Pat Robertson. Another notable grad? Monica Goodling.
AUSTIN — Critics who engineered the recent ouster of State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, in part because of his strong religious beliefs, could end up with someone even more outspoken in her faith.
Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, who advocated more Christianity in the public square last year with the publication of her book, One Nation Under God, is among those that Gov. Rick Perry is considering to lead the State Board of Education, some of her colleagues say.
Critics are gasping and allies are cheering over speculation that Dunbar, a lawyer, could win a promotion to the leadership spot.
“It would certainly cause angst among the same members of the pagan left that rejected Don McLeroy because he was a man of faith,” said David Bradley, R-Beaumont, one of the seven socially conservative members on the 15-person board.
Nicely done, Dave. So any mainstream Christians who dare to disagree with you are secret pagan sympathizers!
Perry’s office declined to comment until “a final decision is made.”
[...] In a book published last year, Dunbar argued the country’s founding fathers created “an emphatically Christian government” and that government should be guided by a “biblical litmus test.” She endorses a belief system that requires “any person desiring to govern have a sincere knowledge and appreciation for the Word of God in order to rightly govern.”
Also in the book, she calls public education a “subtly deceptive tool of perversion.”
The establishment of public schools is unconstitutional and even “tyrannical,” she wrote, because it threatens the authority of families, granted by God through Scripture, to direct the instruction of their children.
Perry’s appointment of Dunbar would send a statement “that
the governor shares her shocking hostility toward public education,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an organization that monitors the State Board of Education.“Just as bad, he would be siding with a faction of self-righteous politicians on the board who have made it crystal clear that they believe the only real Christians are the ones who agree with them,” Miller said. “If the governor really decides that selling out our kids like this is a good re-election strategy, then this state has an even bigger problem than we thought.”
From the Houston Chronicle's Lisa Falkenberg (hmm. Isn't that a Communist-sounding name?):
If the chatter from some board members proves correct, and Gov. Rick Perry is indeed considering appointing member Cynthia Dunbar as the board’s new leader, we may find ourselves reminiscing fondly about the good ol’ days when Chairman McLeroy simply disregarded experts, sidelined teachers and insisted on inserting his religious beliefs into public policy-making.
Dunbar’s shortcomings go far beyond ideology and poor leadership skills to beliefs promoting paranoia and bigotry.
This is the same Richmond Republican who penned an online essay shortly before the presidential election warning Barack Obama was plotting with terrorists to attack the country. She refused to retract her claim, even under pressure from Republicans.
Gov. Perry will do just about anything to woo the far right fundamentalists, won't he?
Login or Register to post comments.
Perry also just finished calling a special session of the legislature in an effort (among other stupid ideas) to turn Texas highways into privately owned toll roads. The legislature didn't want that kind of action and walked away from it with no action taken. Thank God.
Perry is definitely running for President, and the MSM will praise him as the GOP's new rising star, because of all the MSM's former rising GOP stars (Palin, Sanford, Jindal) have flamed out.
if that a**-wipe does run, I hope his whole closet-case shennanigans comes out..no pun intended.
There's a ton in his closet, after all, he is a GOPer. And the MSM will have egg on their faces again for annointing another "rising star".
Doesn't he like extracting protein from sausage with suction?
The bloggers need to start going after the Media now. These people are the worst.
I wish to god Texas would secede already. I'm sick to death of their dragging national scholastic standards down to their Neanderthal level. You wanna force your residents to follow your willfully ignorant, racist agenda? Fine. Fucking LEAVE, then.
this ignorance on the part of the left is also what part of the problem.
Teaxas reasonably okay for a while, no paradise mind you, until the whack jobs from out of state, usually up North came flooding in. There are a LOT of decent people here, who are unfortunantely trapped. If it came to that idicy of secession, would YOU willing to be able to take in the flood of refugees? Probably not.
The a-holes here that consider secession viable, are few and have no clear idea of the reality it would take to turn this place into a viable separate country, nor the chaos it would create.
So please, with all due respect keep that sort of talk to yourself, lest you sound like a wing-nut of the left.
And some of these people would still hate it. That's because bigotry and intolerance are mindless reflex and have nothing to do with reason or with justification and regional bigotry is still bigotry.
I have no idea why people would insist that I leave the union because some ridiculous right winger is governor. A governorship which is BTW, probably the least powerful in the nation.
about Texas wanting to secede. It is not like their governor said it publicly... oh, wait...
What, are we supposed to believe that the idea of secession is some Northern plot? No fucking way. There's been bitching about it in Texas for over a century now.
Bush said a lot of stupid things, most things, actually. Yet is did not represent what ALL americans think. That said...Perry is a isolationist a-hole and not what passes for common thought.
with the fact that the motherf*cking governor of your state, publicly talked about secession. In fact, it seems that talking about secession, sometimes is like the national sport down there.
Now, is it fair to call all Texans wingnuts? Nope. However... playing coy about the whole secession as being some sort of defamation campaign made up by them Yankees is taking playing the victim to a whole new level. Don't you think?
being asked to bail out California as well as corporate America.
Ignorance, really? So the knuckle-dragging fundie standards being set for Texas schoolbooks ISN'T influencing publishers to produce puerile crap designed to keep kids in a state of blissful fundie stupidity? Gee, I guess all that carping about standards that I see coming from education professionals must have been a hallucination or something.
I am Texas born, Texas bred and when I die I'll be Texas dead and I'll put up my progressive chops against anybody's, any day! You are guilty of stereotyping and I don't see any difference in your behavior and that of the Valley Swim Club's.
Regional bigotry is still bigotry.
As for Dunbar, I will be astonished if she gets confirmed even if Perry nominates her. If McLeroy couldn't get confirmed, no chance she will be.
If your state is being run by wingnut dipshits, who voted them into office? You want things to change, then do something about it.
then we can say the same about all Americans then, seem WE ALL seemed to have voted Bush into office for 8 years, and did nothing about it.
at all did. Two words: fixed elections. Remember?
Should we blamed ALL Americans for the actions of Republicans?
it? He was appointed to the office by the Supreme Court in 2000, and by 2004, Diebold had all the machines in place to make it look like he was elected legitimately. We just let it go, while they stole the country. That's on all of us.
I admire your spunk.
I am SOOOOOOOO glad to be out of Texas. I used to live in Beaumont, where Bradley is from.
Sheesh!!
From State education board approves science standards:
(supposed to be a general comment, not a reply .. oops!)
school books and or software for schools ? And isn't it in Texas? Remember when Barbara Bush got some press for donating money to Katrina victims but required the money to be spent buying software from one of her sons? Damn, they're inbred down there.
Ther Bush family is NOT from Texas thank you. They're from up NORTH. Stop painting with such a large brush, you sound like right-wing a-holes when you do it and give Billo, Rush etc plenty of ammunition when you do.
The boosh's are from Connecticut.
But the family after WWII and Prescott being disgraced for being a hitler supporter, has summered in Maine and wintered in Texas. In Maine, they call them 'flatlanders" but in Texas we call them "carpetbaggers". Same thing really and they are no more genuine Mainers than they are true Texans.
we don't seem to here bashing everyone from Connecticut on here, how odd. It makes my skin crawl, every time Bush (any of them) called themselves Texans. And then having the airport in Houston named after that criminal of a father.
to call it Bush Airport. It's still Houston Intercontinental for me.
...it's still Washington National Airport, too. Renaming it was a real slap in the face to the people working in the control tower.
Photo of War Criminal Prescott, wife, GWH Bush, Barbara & little GW the day they landed in Texas
... not just 4. Interesting.
I see Conquest, Death, Famine, War, and Prescott in that pic.
You people nurtured him and made him governor. I am insulting the Bush family, not Texans. And what I said is true. What I meant about the inbreeding is to be applied only to the Bushites.
Nuture him, not make him governor.....you are still painting with a broad brush there.....And I don't deny what you say about the Bushes, a truly evil family...yet you still insult the people that did NOT support them.
I haven't ever been categorized as anything other than someone from NYC, and all the insults that follow from that. If I tell you I have always loved and admired Molly Ivins, would that make it up to you?
Because I believe that regional bigotry is still bigotry. Trust me, I've put up with a lot more of that kind of thing than you have, yet I've always been able to resist judging people based on where they live.
As for Molly, I wish she was still alive. She was a national treasure, not a state one.
You have been shit upon and abused more than I have.
But I'm willing to bet that I've taken a lot more grief over Bush claiming to be from Texas than you have for being from New York state.
Get over yourself. Sheesh!
In fact, I wasn't even trying to fuss with you. I started off trying to answer your question about Ignite!, when you asked about it. Trust me, I'm the easiest person in the world to get along with. Watch. I'll leave since you believe me to be an asshole if that will make you feel better.
Out!
:)
I'm just pointing out the broad brush that you were using there. Yes, Tezas has it's faults, it used to be whenever I went , people would ask me relatively harmless stuff about were's my hat and boots, and do I know J.R. Ewing...etc. I just hate getting lumped in with the ignorants in this state. Lots of decent people here, just not sure what happened to turn it oh so wrong.
Thanks and
Hugs.
I'm a gay man, so don't freak out. ;)
Just republicans.
scare me more.
Dude, we totally had a gay man who was the president of our Young Republicans club in college. I wonder if he's still a believer after all this time? Off to facebook-stalk.
I thought I was well grounded in Texas figures but I haven't heard of that one.
Dallas, Southfork, Miss Ellie?
Where WHERE you during the 80s?
;)
The eighties was my no television period. I was too poor in the early eighties and I was in the Navy in the middle and late eighties.
I was more into music then, Kate Bush, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Lena Lovich, Nina Hagen, Kraftwerk and Klaus Nomi.
In the Air Force I seemed to have my own room a lot.
In the Air Force they looked at my pallor, my lack of stature (5'3"), my almond shaped eyes, lack of cowboy boots and hat, and my not caring for sports as suspicious that I was a Texan.
My face tends to get a reddish hue however, whenever I'm over-heated on a hot day, and some health problems (pinkish then).
The Dallas VA tells me I had better avoid direct sunlight as much as possible. I've been sunburned in January.
You are just a precious little snowflake aren't you?
;)
Hug...not too tight though. ;)
For some reason they all though I was half Korean or half Vietnamese.
...some magical golden plates, buried up there in Palmyra, NY? ;)
.
So that's where my pa's dentures went!
♥ :))))
Because they wanted to uproot the shrub.
Karl Rove did by smearing Ann Richards. For myself, I have never voted for any Bush for any office. Liberalicious is correct, you are trying to make me responsible for wingnuts, just because they reside in the same state in which I was BORN. Yep! Guess I should have chosen my birthplace more carefully.
creep." I did not even know you are from Texas, so how could I have the motive you ascribe to me? I am not of that school of philosophy that blames people for the behavior of others. Unless I am joking.
But quoting Crosby, Stills Nash and Young doesn't make me feel better. You said "You people nurtured him...", and whether you knew I was from Texas or not, it was directed at me and every other person who frequents this blog and is from or lives in Texas.
The problem was when he was running against Ann Richards, his party was throwing money in every direction, and ABC was only showing his political commercials and none of Ann's, and I think the other networks followed suit.
It was almost as if she wasn't running for reelection unless he mentions her like he did referring to her as that woman with...and he indicated with his hands a huge bouffant.
When a reporter asked Ann about how she felt about that, she said, "I'm glad he was describing Dolly Parton."
Not CSN&Y, but, Buffalo Springfield. The song was "For What It's Worth", a description of the political atmosphere of the late '60's and early '70's. You remember-- the Viet Nam Era. Some of the band members were the same, since they jumped back and forth between bands all of the time.
And the office for "Ignite!" in Austin is just a place to get mail. I have no idea where those materials are produced.
I don't count Neil (I doubt the Bush family does either), as he's basically a inept failed version of Dumbya. And that's saying something.
Posed by savannah43 and since I have been to that office, (or more properly to the one down the hall), many times, I thought I could add something to the conversation.
I'm SOOOOOOO glad I've never even been there, and never will.
The state itself is beautiful, but it's infested with wacko right-wing lunatics.
Plenty of other beautiful places on earth. So many I'll never see them all, so...
Rather go somewhere gorgeous and enlightened.
;-)
Nothing but love, Edwin. You left yourself wide open for that. Couldn't help myself and "an yong ha se yo!"
Actually some parts of South Korea are very beautiful.
I saw M*A*S*H!
Kidding, that was all outside of L.A.
But if you look at Korea on Google Earth you can see very nice stuff.
What's funny, is that on the thread below about Sweden (?) being one "species" could be applied as well to Korea in that they are largely of one ethnicity.
Totally, and they're damn proud of it.
I mentioned their mixed blood in one of my classes and one student banged her first on the table and said, "NO. One blood, one people."
I shot her a glance like, "check that chick out". After class, a few students came to me and said, "What you said is true."
Korea has tons of gorgeous countryside: mountains come right down to the sea, dotted with beautiful rivers and temples.
I find it funny people can get so emotional about a piece of turf they live on. Say what you like about Canada, I won't care. (My YouTube inbox is full of Canada hate-mail.)
The Koreans have their own ideas about things, and sometimes it seems a little, shall I say, provincial, but I also spend two months a year is SE Asia, and one in Canada, seeking enlightenement; my groove. And SE Asia is very very very groovy. Canada is home and has GREAT pot, and is a very decent place to live.
The planet is full of groove, you just have to look for it. Yes, in Texas too, I'm sure. Let's not forget Janis!!! An icon.
Are you the Scarborough Dude?
Definitely not what it used to be. But after living in California for a few years, I realize that something went terribly wrong here.
Name one that isn't. It's a matter of degree and even New England has it's share.
... the trick is to not let them take over the whole nuthouse.
roaches really.
I haven't checked my ash tray recently.
I lived there for about 12 years from end of '79 on into the early 90's. There are many very nice and good people. The loonies are in the news so it gets a bad rap. My ex father-in-law, born and raised in Houston, said years ago that if Texas were to leave the U.S. he would be leaving Texas. Even then he knew that secession was crazy talk (and he is a Republican by nature also).
She hates education but wants to lead the board of education. Typical GOPer.
Sounds like Lamar Alexander, who campaigned (for President) on eliminating the department of education, but was Education Secretary during the Reagain years.
Or Judd Gregg initially accepting the nomination for Commerce Secretary, despite sponsoring legislation to eliminate the Commerce department.
Obama is appointing industry shills and lobbiests' to the FDA, Agriculture, and who knows?
I understand ron paul is in the new movie Bruno.
I hope he gets his buttons pushed. LOL.
Don't want to spoil it for anyone, but his buttons are pushed, and he says something on camera that he probably regretted saying. It shouldn't be held against him.
Here's the latest poll: How Does Talibunny's Resignation Affect Your Opinion of Her?
With really relevant responses such as "I always wanted to take a shit on her face, but NOW I want to wait until I've eaten three huge barbeque meals and a half gallon of baked beans! Yee-HAH!"
www.stinque.com
Help us read American's mind!
Oh boy
All you need is god.
never go out in the mid-day sun.
ahhh more religious lunacy
The sainted Molly Ivins called Texas the "National Laboratory for Bad Government" for a reason (even if my native state of Oklahoma and California seem to be giving them a run for their money these days).
Heheheh. He, a politician, said "pagan". Next he will abolish witches. Heheheh.
Got to keep the churchies seperated from politics or this is what you get! they get all in your face about none of their business. "got to keep them seperated".
Sort of like naming someone from Monsanto to the FDA don't you think?
.
Although it's possible this'll go through, I think the average Texan would be against it.
Just recently they over-turned the requirement to teach "all theories" concerning the origins of Man. The conservaturds were arguing that it was tradition.
But it's only been 20 years, and all those meetings that confirmed "all theories," were only two, since they meet ever ten years.
The Gablers seem to be reaching from beyond the grave.
...Fixin’ To Rewrite The Social Studies Textbooks In The Lone Star State (And Maybe Your State Too)
July/August 2009 Featured
By Rob Boston
Snip - When the Texas State Board of Education issued a list of proposed “experts” to sit on a social studies curriculum panel, one name immediately leaped out to defenders of church-state separation: David Barton.
[ http://www.au.org/media/church-and-state/arch... ]
It is no wonder she opposes education, it has so obviously failed her.
If this is what she was taught in Law School, she should sue. Although she should probably hire a lawyer that went to a different school, you know, someone who knows the law and basic Constitutional concepts. A little Science and History would be helpful too
This is just weird, freaky, and scary.
Do all female right-wing nutcases look like her?
Michele Bachmann
Jean Schmidt
Katherine Harris
Was there some sort of genetic experiment or inbreeding that went on 40 or 50 years ago to produce these "Spawn of Satan" clones?
Creeps me out.
/
Are they all blue eyed? You may be on to something....
Bela Lugosi was blue-eyed.
.
Welcome to new
Stepford.
Thought they needed robots? think again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6FoJKEtUpc
I was thinking the same thing. Maybe they should all participate in a genetic research study to see if they share some sort of mutation that accounts for the constantly startled, prissy appearance and the malignant personality.
"religion poisons everything."
First politics poisoned their religion and then their religion poisoned their politics.
Mixing religion and politics is like mixing arsenic with sipping whiskey. It dilutes the one and ruins the taste of the other. I'm just not sure which is which.
For Christopher Hitchens book? ;)
●
Well I gotta toddle off.
Time to shower with some Marius Fabre Huile d'Olive Mimosa scented soap of Marseilles France.
I'd like to meditate too to recharge my batteries (I can't sleep nude in the light of the full moon anymore), but my neighbors are making too much noise.
?
in most parts of the world. Even France.
Though I was referring to sleeping nude. ;)
Sometimes YS's posts are like a psychology experiment.
He among others at C&L's have taught me much.
Thank you for your time Tyler √
And...it's even legal to dance in the nude under the full moon, which I do quite often! ;)
Is that stuff legal in TX
Thu, 07/09/2009 - 18:46 — Truth_Critic
_____________________________________________________
Only until I start humping peoples legs.
We all know those Victorians were decadent. The ladies planted moon gardens: all white flowers to reflect the moon's light. They shot up heroin and sat out in their moon gardens, moon-bathing. The vogue was moonlight gave them all the "sunlight" they needed: a soft reflection from the moon, while preserving their lily-whiteness. And here people always though they were prigs. Nuh-uh!
RUMPELSTILTSKIN?
People like her make me doubt Evolution. How did she make it through puberty! Boggles the mind.
Nothing worse that a pro secessionist America hating Christofascist
this woman is downright scary.
That's what the greatest of our founding fathers were. Read the Jefferson Bible sometime...where Thomas Jefferson pulled all the crap out (he called it "as easy as finding diamonds in a dunghill"). His version of the Bible...less fairy tale nonsense...comes in at a little over 40 pages.
So when Dunbar says "...the country’s founding fathers created “an emphatically Christian government” and that government should be guided by a “biblical litmus test.” SHE'S EITHER IGNORANT, A LIAR, OR NEEDS A FRESH LAYER OF TIN-FOIL ON HER HAT.
In other words, no different from any other Republican.
... this lady probably is an ignorant liar with an advanced case of psychosis.
In other words, a great modern republican.
Remember when Perry was bloviating about Texas seceeding from the USA? It's such a good idea that perhaps the USA should just jump the gun and evict them. They could then build another fence on the north border of the Free Republic of Texas.
Who'll have the more historically inaccurate textbooks, Japan or Texas.
I guess the Texas Bar doesn't require applicants to pass an ethics test, otherwise how Cynthia Bin Dunbar here got barred is beyond me.
Old posts that tell a story of NCLB at the federal level and takeovers of school boards in Colorado at the local level as the tools employed by the right to dismantle public ed.
http://*******.com/mhcxn
http://*******.com/mhcze
There too, the State BOE was stacked with private school advocates.
They are just like the taliban. fixed on one path and not about to stray from it. Well actually they are not about to let you stray from it. You will come to see they are the party of do as I say not as I do!
republicanism is a mental illness!
Yep. pity.
"First God made idiots, that was for practice. Then he made school boards."
Oh, sweet secession. Texas is thy name.
I'll 2nd that!
That's the problem with mixing religion and politics. Many people who are religious seem to feel that if you claim you're a Christian, you can't do anything wrong, and you can't have any bad ideas. They're given a free pass.
This is why Texas has one of the worst public education systems. These people will never learn! I believe about 45% of high school kids drop out.
These people are fucking terrorists!
It's merely a matter of time before they start blowing shit up...hell they've already started shooting people!
... the more I wish for success with their succession.
She's the Texas Version of Michelle Bachman. I can't stand this woman and I am stranded in a place where there isn't much I can do about it.
The Right Wing Christian Fundamentalists have a hold in these kinds of offices because they started out in postions like local school boards and local office. The counter to this is to get 3rd Party candidates to do the same thing. These people don't really represent what Texans truly believe. They get in office because of those pockets in rural areas who do support them, give them a platform to gain experience to move up the chain into State Office. Combine that with an apathetic electorate and you get Dunbar.
I've been begging Houston Mayor Bill White to run for State Office. He would make a great Governor, but he is happy as Mayor. Our State really needs him and I think he is the only one who has even a chance, especially given how he told off FEMA last year when they had their heads up their asses during Hurricane Ike.
They also have too many elections here in Texas. There's always some new amendment to vote for (by voting against it), so must people tune them out.
Then the elderly and retired dominate the election polls.
problem during elections is the lack of choices. There is usually only one person on the ticket for most of the local offices. I have thought of running for local office, but I wouldn't make it in the press.
Most of our judges run as republicans and unopposed.
the tinkering and gerry-mandering our old friend and bug exterminator extraordinaire Delay did in the redistricting process. We were definitely leaning Blue before that time. I remember a time when 17 or more of our 32 Reps were Democrats. They cut San Antonio in half and ever since, my home town looks more and more conservative.
Texas must be full of these Right Wing-NutO idiots and haters.
From Michelle Bachmann
is Perry's new chairwoman for the State Board of Education. She's a Republican from Lampasas. According to the bio on the state board website, all three of her children attended Lampasas Public Schools and she has served on their school board and as a school volunteer.
She was mentioned as a possible candidate early on, but didn't sound as if she cared much for the idea.
Better than Dunbar, though.
Perry is taking a page from his predecessor's playbook. Dubya appointed Spence Abraham as Secretary of Energy, 2 years after Abraham had co-sponsored a bill to abolish the Dept of Energy. This also came after Abraham had just been voted out of the Senate, putting him in the company of other popularly rejected appointees like Ashcroft. (Ashcroft had just lost election to a dead man when Bush appointed him Attorney General.)
Login or Register to post comments.