Anti-Public School Evangelicals Now Control Alabama and Texas Education Boards

[misterhighwasted]

Anti-Public School Evangelicals Now Control Alabama and Texas Education Boards

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/08/02/anti-public-school-evangelicals-control-alabama-texas-education-boards.html
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There is a predilection among Republican governors devoted to a theocratic America to transfer taxpayer money set aside for public schools to private evangelical madrassas to both keep their residents ignorant and indoctrinate them in neo-Christian dogmata and superstition.
This week, Alabama Republican Governor Robert Bentley followed Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s lead and appointed a fiercely anti-public school Christian fundamentalist to lead the Alabama Board of Education to transform the state’s public education system into a 12-year Christian indoctrination camp for Alabama children. But, one might say, at least the Alabama governor chose an evangelical freak who has passion, knowledge, and at least a decade of experience in public education that qualifies him to control the state’s public education system, but that is not the case.

The 28-year old fundamentalist Christian, Matthew Brown, who is running Alabama’s public school system is a highway designer who attended a Christian college. He has never set foot in or attended a public school in his evangelical life. He also believes public education is an abomination before his god and says he will never allow his children to get near a public school. Brown is also renown for his illegal campaign to defund Alabama’s public education system; what Alabama governor Bentley considers excellent qualifications to run the Board of Education. According to Bentley, the leader of the Board of Education’s fundamentalist Christian ‘education’ and hatred of public schools is consistent with the Republican Party’s political philosophy that will allow him to “bring a unique perspective to the Board of Education.”

Last year, the new Education leader was successful in a drive to cut education funding and defeat an education improvement tax to purposely put a monumental strain on Alabama’s education resources. Brown also fits nicely with Republican philosophy because according to Alabama’s Secretary of State, he violated several provisions of the state’s Fair Campaign Practices Act like any proper and highly motivated evangelical Republican.

Regardless Brown’s record of religious bias against the public education system, and against the advice of his staff and state education leaders, Governor Bentley appointed the unqualified, inexperienced, openly hostile 28-year-old in charge of public education because “Brown is a young man after Bentley’s own heart.” Since being elected in 2010, Bentley has signed legislation transferring over $30 million a year away from public schools to private evangelical school voucher programs. Bentley signed another law that allows private religious charter schools to open across Alabama and gave them sole authority to approve new religious charter schools over the objection of local school boards. Plus, despite his new Education chief has no education experience except attending a Christian college, Bentley is enamored with Brown because “he believes in Jesus.” That “Jesus qualified” designation is tantamount to allowing an fourth grader to perform brain surgery because they saw a microscope on television, but in Alabama and Texas belief in Jesus qualifies one to lead the public schools.


SNIP
Both Abbott’s (TEXAS) and Bentley’s (ALABAMA) appointments of highly unqualified religious fanatics with no experience in public education is founded on their desire to abolish public schools and replace them with a taxpayer-funded evangelical madrassa system; a two-fold assault on America. First, misappropriating taxpayer dollars for biblical instruction is patently unconstitutional, and second, it is another tactic to wipe out America’s public education system as part of their crusade toward government by theocracy. A crusade, by the way, that most in government are terrified of challenging because god, Jesus, and bible apparently supersede the U.S. Constitution, or government officials would put a stop to it.
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And from the comment section:

"Worse yet it is the Texas School board that approves all the text books that are used in public schools throughout the Nation. "
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"The appointment of Matthew Brown to the Alabama School Board came with a total of $100,000 annual compensation. You mentioned his job as a DESIGN ENGINEER for the County Highway Dept. which is a Merit System job that would require experience and responsible engineering qualifications. A college degree in mechanical engineering, the Pensacola Christian College describes it as engineering according to God’s law,without experience in Civil Engineering for Highways or any qualifying work experience seems to be an “in your face” appointment. A strait-jacket education and no experience adds up to half-educated, and this is scary when you consider that the students in the School District will be in the work force in just a few years…half educated. You mention textbooks but not the Printers. Check the sources of the Printing Companies and you will likely find tax-exempt operations owned by Churches. WE have a problem. "

I encourage everyone to vote straight ticket DEM in the Gen Election regardless of who your Dem President choice is.
City, county, state & national, just please do not sit out the 2016 election.

[Fred Sanders]

1. The Christian pastor education-controllers and the Muslim pastor education-controllers of Saudi Arabia, is there a difference?

Why are the appointments of highly unqualified religious extremists, 28 years old?, to top educational positions not news anymore?

Is this just now the new news norm, like 320 million guns and the mass murder of children and innocents...."just get used to it, nothing can be done"... So why bother reporting on it, especially when you can watch Trump, sharks, and oceanic airplane debris?

[misterhighwasted]

2. I see no difference at all Fred Sanders.

Just another Holy War with no end in sight.

I think the GOP will be doing all they can before the next election to secure their destructive legacy. They have that power now, but maybe not so much after 2016.

The Supreme Court appointees can NOT be left to a RW GOP President.

2016 election will be the tipping point for America.

[Fred Sanders]

3. I can hardly believe what is being written in the article is true...that America does not know about this is a

national criminal act of media negligence.

The federal Constitution is being shredded, the secular state is being entirely ignored.

Although I see there was plenty of time, money and resources for a phoney smear story on Clinton, by "America's newspaper of record"!

Or maybe it is not really a crimanl act of media negligence at all?

[misterhighwasted]

9. It is quite stunning isn't it.

The media is here only to assist the RW sleight-of-hand magic show. They realized so long ago that human beings are easily distracted & entertained.
Like the magician on stage asking some guy if he is missing his wallet?
There on stage he holds up the wallet and says "is this it"..and the audience applauds in wonder as to "how did he do that?"

[misterhighwasted]

4. Well stated Fred sanders, & who controlls the media?

"separation of church & state" . The RW fundies do not recognize anything our US Constitution says that doesn't allow for their march forward. It is simply ignored.

"The Constitution..it's just a piece of paper.."...GW Bush.

Didn't one of the Bush sons receive a govt contract to write, sell, publish or print school textbooks while George was Pres? Maybe it was Silverado Savings fiasco, Neil Bush.

How & when did Texas end up being the standard bearer of all textbooks in the US public school system?

The Bush Crime Family has a long grifting history in the US.

[MineralMan]

5. I thank my good sense that I don't live in either of those states.

Ugh! I hope voters in them wake up and change things.

[Fred Sanders]

8. They might wake up and then find out they lack the ID to vote. Unless they have a gun permit. Same states.

"Papers, please!", coming to a street near you soon if the whole country does not wake up.

[MineralMan]

10. Or not. Most people have driver's licenses.

I believe those are sufficient as ID. Now, if they'll just go to the polls and vote, eh?

Voter ID is a bad thing, but affects a small percentage of people. Failing to turn out is far more important. We need to conduct an unprecedented turnout of Democrats in every state. We need to help those without IDs get them. It's really up to us to turn this stuff around. We can do it, if we're willing in each state with these laws to get up off our butts and just do it.

I don't live in either of those states, so I can't help with those GOTV efforts there. I'll be working in Minnesota, though, but we don't have a Voter ID law, and people can register at the polling place on election day. We have that because we have worked long and hard to get it and to defeat a Voter ID amendment to our Constitution.

It's up to Texans and residents of other states that are trying to suppress voting to see that the strategy doesn't work. Democrats in each state have the responsibility in their state for what goes on there. If every Democrat went to the polls, there would be no red states. Why hasn't that happened?

GOTFV Folks!

[Fred Sanders]

11. Disagree. It is a huge problem that Republicans systemically push to restrict minority voting using voter ID laws.

Not to mention refusing to restore the VPA and reducing polling hours, etc. which does affect a huge number of minority voters, as study after study has found.

Take NC for example.

I do hope you understand the implications of all that?

Turnout is one thing, voter suppression is another.

They are both equally important, one should not be ignored or downplayed in favour of the other.

[MineralMan]

12. That's one way they do it. Limiting polling places in Democratic areas is another.

Both can be overcome, but complaints about it aren't how that will happen. Especially complaints from people who don't live in those states. Those are completely useless.

In every state where that is a problem, it will take local Democratic organizations going all out to overcome this. If you don't live there, you can't affect it in any way in time for the 2016 elections.

Here's what will fix this: A massive Democratic GOTV effort in the 2020 election. 2020 is a census year, so the state legislatures elected in 2020 will be doing the redistricting. If we do what we did in 2010, it's hopeless. Census years need to cause the biggest GOTV efforts ever seen. Since 2020 is also a Presidential election year, maybe we'll manage to get a decent turnout.

American politics and elections are NOT just about the Presidential election. When will we learn that, I wonder?

Look to your own state and community. That's where you can help make changes. You will have zero effect anywhere else.

[Fred Sanders]

13. To me that is just playing the same old rigged game by rigged rules...more fundamental change

needs to happen, like independent redistricting boards and election commissions....like they do in every other modern democratic nation.

We need a new game board and a new game with new rules.

[MineralMan]

14. See, how are you going to get those things?

Independent redistricting and election commissions are set up by state legislatures. We have both in my state. Our legislatures put them in place, and they work great.

It's great to call for such things, but unless you know how they happen, such calls are useless. When it comes to elections and voting, states control their own processes, and the federal government rarely, if ever, steps in to force them to do differently.

If you want changes in a state, you have to elect legislators in that state who will make the changes. That's just fundamental.

Do you live in either state that was mentioned? If not, you aren't going to get any sort of change in those states. What state do you live in? If it has voter suppression, your battle begins right where you live. If it doesn't, that's because people in your state have elected legislators who won't create such things.

States control elections and election policies. That is the basic fact, and it's constitutional. The Federal government can do very little in that regard. We even failed to pass the Voting Rights Act when it came up again.

GOTV! If you want control you have to elect people who agree with you. What percentage of Democrats turned out in your state in 2014? Why was it so low? There's your answer.

[YvonneCa]

24. This is bigger than two...

...states. Common Core was part of the solution, coming from NGA, with the hope of some federal control over public education. It's been demonized by the right...by saying that education is a 'states' rights' issue.

[Iliyah]

6. Corporate media adhere to their corporate masters.

The mangling of education across the country has been the goal of religious fanatics for years. That's why voting especially in non-presidential season is sooooooooooo important.

Many in the minority communities across the country is fully aware of this travesty. Teaching the actual American history is being taught in homes, churches, and other areas outside of the school system.

Unfortunately it has come to that.

[Fred Sanders]

7. Not just the media....what happened to the constitutional protections against this religious shit? Where are the courts?

These are children being brainwashed that have no choice..it is systemic child abuse.

[erronis]

15. Education along with healthcare, water, air, life itself

Is not for free.



Thanks to Toon Roundup: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027037913

[progressoid]

16. Troglodytes

[lark]

17. This is going to backfire on them big time.

When hardly any of AL or TX school kids are able to score well enough on FCAT's or ACT's to go to any out of state college, the moms and dads are going to wonder why and raise total hell with the state. In fact, unless the state run universities totally change their admissions criteria away from FCAT's or ACT's (which I imagine is already in the works) the kids won't even qualify for in-state universities.

The thing the RW doesn't get, but will, is that actions have consequences. We've been saving them from the worst of their instincts, but not anymore in all states, due to heavy gerrymandering.

[misterhighwasted]

23. I hope you are right. Problem is, the tax exempt Christian Universities..

..will march their pre-programmed little soldiers from K-12 through their front door.
The 28 yr old Christian University Grad that was just given a top position as Ed Director in Alabama, is a fine example.

The alternative is hope your child can get on the waiting list for a Charter school that doesn't preach god & doesn't have to adhere to Common Core teaching.
The end game is profit, no matter what direction you go.

The GOP cannot be allowed to move any further into our political system.
Its the 2016 election that will determine our future.

[lark]

26. Even that will be a consequence.

There aren't enough Christian colleges to take everyone from those states who've been indoctrinated in "the stupid".

[misterhighwasted]

27. True. They will build them as fast as they built the prisons.

More than ever, deny them tax free status. They have well abused that welfare program

[packman]

31. Right from Christian elem. school thru the pipeline

to Oral Roberts or any other Christian school or university. I live near Pensacola and have driven past the Pensacola Christian College. impressive grounds and buildings behind a wall and metal fence. It would truly scare the crap out of me that they are giving out engineering degrees according to God's laws.

Really they are thumbing there collective noses at the SAT's and other admission tests and could care less about the secular schools. There only purpose is to churn out fundamentalist and have them secure positions of power and authority. A degree , regardless of the school issuing, has its own force of respectability . Yes, it may be worthless, but it is something that still opens a lot of doors.

[Arugula Latte]

18. Religion has gone unchallenged in this country for WAY too long.

People make a separate religion out of shushing others who criticize these idiotic, baseless beliefs. Even here on DU, we're all supposed to pretend that all supernatural nonsensical fairytales are completely valid and we need to "respect" them at all times.

Bullshit.

This is just one small example of the fruits we are reaping from this enabling and promoting of primitive mythology.

[misterhighwasted]

20. This is scary as hell..to see how far they have come and also see how near they are to having it all

Find the head of the snake and we'll have a good chance of saving our generations from an impossible life in a theocratic government.

[mountain grammy]

29. Yes, WAY too long. Enough!

[Dawson Leery]

33. +1,000,000

The literalists need to be confronted, challenged, and refuted.

[hifiguy]

35. Wish I could rec this 1000 times.

Greed and superstition are rapidly destroying this society, likely beyond repair.

[misterhighwasted]

19. And Who ARE The Printers That Profit From Printing The Texbooks? Looking for the Money Trail..

Anyone know how to find out who the printers are & who they are aligned with?

Really stinking sucks that everything has to be traced to the root of the problem.
Who else profits from the KKKristian drive for theocracy as government?

Saudi Arabia by design. yippee!

[happyslug]

21. This has less to do with Religion then Race

Public education in the South was segregated till the early 1970s, yes the 1970s, the 1954 Court Ruling had almost no affect on desegregation of Southern Schools, it took the education reform acts of the post Watergate Congress to get the south to desegregate their public schools. That act, the first Federal Act to aid Grade school and High School education provided Federal Funds to such schools only if they were desegregated. This forced the South to desegregate their public schools, but that lead to many, if not most, whites transferring their children to private segregated schools and leaving the African Americans in the under funded public school system.

Now, most of these schools were organized by local fundamentalist churches, who in turn taught the students they fundamentalist dogma. As racism became no longer an acceptable dogma, it was forgotten but keeping the races separate became more and more important. Given the disparity between the funded private schools and the under funded public schools, even imports from the North sent they children to the private all white schools. To provide extra funds to these school is where the whole voucher system came from, it was a way to get public money to these all white private schools by saying the money was to the PARENTS of the child not the school and thus the money was NOT to support religion, but the children right to go to school of their parent's choice.

Thus RACE not Religion is the driving force behind this movement and always has been, religion is just the cover story for it is much more acceptable then race.

[Starry Messenger]

22. I research everyone running downticket these days.

Even the judges. I google their names.

[misterhighwasted]

25. Yes, nothing can be taken at face value ehn the GOP is calling the shots. Follow the money..

The tentacles of this beast are endless but all connected
UGH!

[Turbineguy]

28. They are already here....

[hifiguy]

30. This society is doomed.

Abso-fuckin-lutely DOOMED.

[packman]

32. OH, NO WE AIN'T

We always have recourse to get private help:

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[hifiguy]

34. Dear IPU/FSM/Princess Celestia

I need a drink.

On second thought make that a bottle.

Even better, TWO bottles.

I wonder how long the convulsive laughter lasts in Berlin, Seoul or Beijing when they hear or read shit like the OP.