SBOE Textbook Review - Letter to the Editor sent but not published

I commend the Austin American-Statesman for publishing “Two takes on textbook strife,” (5/18/10).

One take was written by the Texas Freedom Network (TFN), an organization that lost my trust.

Eight years ago, I volunteered to review textbooks for the Texas Board of Education. I was astounded by the number of factual errors I found. I conveyed these to the publishers, as well as some dangling concepts.

One textbook states “John Locke believed that all people are born with certain rights (‘inalienable rights’).” Locke’s reasoning was not explained. This was corrected by the publisher to read: “Locke believed that God created people who all, equally, had certain rights. To deny people these rights would be going against God ….Thomas Jefferson added these ideas to the Declaration of Independence.”

Notwithstanding the truth, the TFN cast me into their bucket of stereotypes as a far right promoter of Christianity!

The Central Texas Republican Assembly Endorses Republican Primary Candidates

Austin, Texas — Tuesday night the Central Texas Republican Assembly (CTRA) endorsed several candidates running in the Republican Primary. The CTRA endorses candidates only in contested Republican Primary races for districts solely within or covering portions of Travis, Bastrop and Hays Counties.

The CTRA is one of six chartered chapters of the Texas Republican Assembly (TXRA), which itself is affiliated with the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA). Cast in the mold of President Ronald Reagan, the Assemblies aspire to remain the 'Republican Wing of the Republican Party', meaning they consider themselves to be fiscal and social conservatives and they seek to endorse candidates who they consider are fiscal and social conservatives.

Regarding the endorsement process, CTRA President Timothy Bradberry said, “Many candidates seek our endorsement. To get that endorsement they present themselves to the membership at forums, undergo scrutiny by an endorsement committee and ultimately must garner the votes of two-thirds of the members at an endorsement meeting.”

Bradberry also said, “In the Primary we identify and support conservatives. We wholeheartedly back the candidates we endorse. In the General Election we support the Republicans, meaning that the CTRA will respect the will of the Republicans who vote in the Primary even if our endorsed candidates do not win the primary. After all, we are Republicans.”

The CTRA endorsements for the 2010 Primary are as follows (“I” indicates Incumbent):

• Patrick McGuinness for Texas House of Representatives, District 50
• Ken Mercer for Texas State Board of Education, District 5
• Michael T. McCaul (I) for U.S. House of Representatives, District 10
• Lamar Smith (I) for U.S. House of Representatives, District 21
• Donna Campbell for U.S. House of Representatives, District 25

In addition to making the CTRA endorsements listed above a delegation of the CTRA caucused with a delegation of the Williamson County Republican Assembly (WilcoRA) in Ft. Worth at the Texas Republican Assembly Endorsement Convention on February 6th and made the following joint endorsement:

• Brian Russell for State Board of Education, District 10

The Central Texas Republican Assembly (CTRA) is a Charter member of the Texas Republican Assembly, which is affiliated with the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, “the Republican Wing of the Republican Party.”

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The Left's War on American History

The Left's War on U.S. History in Texas TEKS update included an attempt to take out Veteran's day:

Embarrassed by SBOE testimony from the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Brooke Terry, and by being told the inconvenient fact that Veterans Day is an official American and Texas holiday, the review panel quietly returned Veterans Day to the list.

Another gem in this article is the "bullying, partisan letter" by Senator Shapleigh to try to shame the head of SBOE into towing the politically correct liberal version of history. There is much irony in a partisan ideologue like Senator Shapleigh doing the 'pot, kettle, black' routine on the SBOE.