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California Moves To Block Texas' Textbook Changes

eldavojohn writes "Yesterday the Texas textbook controversy was reported internationally but the news today heats up the debate as California, a state on the other side of the political spectrum, introduces legislation that would block these textbook changes inside California. Democrat Senator Leland Yee (you may know him as a senator often tackling ESRB ratings on video games) introduced SB1451, which would require California's school board to review books for any of Texas' changes and block the material if any such are found. The bill's text alleges that said changes would be 'a sharp departure from widely accepted historical teachings' and 'a threat to the apolitical nature of public school governance and academic content standards in California.'"

9 of 857 comments (clear)

  1. Good, let CA and TX fight it out. by NevarMore · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If the liberals that are ruining the USA are fighting the conservatives that are ruining the USA then the rest of us can have some peace and quiet for a while.

    1. Re:Good, let CA and TX fight it out. by IANAAC · · Score: 4, Interesting
      You reminded me of something...

      I recently found a book that belonged to my grandmother, titled "The strange tactics of extremism" (H&B Overstreet), written in the early 60s.

      It basically deals with the John Birch Society and Communism of the era and their tactics, but reading it, you see the EXACT same tactics being used by the extreme liberals and extreme conservatives in this country today.

      I thought it was an interesting read, anyway.

  2. Re: Fight them by Black+Parrot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you can't fight them... Put a fence around and let them devolve in peace.

    Or just invoke Mohnihan's Law: they're entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  3. Re:Fight them by jedidiah · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...another fine bit of "historical spin".

    It was American settlers that were doing the original settling and subsequent rebelling.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  4. Texas a lot like Peru in the 80s by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In Peru, in the 80s, there was a group of maoist nutjobs called the "Shining Path," who vowed, among other things, to surround the cities from the countryside. What they were and are is a rural terrorist organization.

    I've traveled in rural Texas recently. What you have there are a lot of poor, uneducated, disenfranchised white people sporting racist tatoos buying knives and swords at stands by the side of the road. The gun trade is a bit more private but still quite active. The textbook changes just reflect a wider change in worldview in the rural south. What they are poised to do are to become the next generation of terrorist nutjobs fobbing bombs at wealthier people, mostly in cities. They're just waiting for the next corn-pone Hitler, which the networks that gave us the Becks and Palins of the world will be all too happy to provide.

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    Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
  5. Re:Fight them by AndersOSU · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Calling the War for Southern Independence a civil war is an example of historical spin.

    Pardon? It was both a civil war and a war for independence. If the south would have succeeded in seceding it would be called a war of independence today. The unionists prevailed, so because the primary feature of the war was that it was between two groups who were part of the same country both before and after the conflict, it is accurate to call it a civil war.

    I don't go picking fights with people who insist on calling is a war of independence (because as I've mentioned it was), but I do consider that they're trying to make it something more noble than it was. The only thing that irritates me is people who persist in flying the battle flag of the confederacy. I know that they've been taught that it's a sign of southern heritage, but this is a perfect example of politicization of history. It's a battle flag. It symbolizes rebellion against the United States of America. The only heritage it is attached to is a heritage of racially motivated anti-government sentiment. What really cracks me up is people who fly the flag of a failed rebellion and yet claim to be patriots.

  6. Re:Fight them by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not a good guy? Not a good president?

    Oooo-kay. He submitted year-after-year to the Virginia government laws to abolish slavery (which of course got turned down every time). He was firmly anti-slavery (as we many of the Founders like Washington, Adams, etc) He added the Right of Freedom of Religion to the Virginia Constitution, in spite of stern opposition from the official State church. He (along with his successor) paid off the U.S. National Debt for the first and only time in history.

    He formed the Democratic Party. He founded a university and allowed several of his students to attend for free. When Washington was burned to the ground, he denoted his entire personal library to rebuild the LOC. He stood against the power of Megacorps and the Central Bank, and vetoed it out of existence (I wish our current president would do that).

    TJ not a good guy? YES he was. I wish he was running for president today. He'd have not only my vote, but also my free services as a volunteer to help him succeed. Jefferson was not a perfect man, but he was still a far better president/statesman/freedom fighter than any we've had since 1900.

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    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  7. Re:Fight them by maxume · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Spanish government had been active in those areas before there was a Mexico. And I'm not sure pointing at Mexican atrocities is a particularly effective way of defending American atrocities (not that the Indians were simply quiet, innocent victims, there was plenty of violence from lots of corners). The whole thing is one of many historical messes I am glad to say that I did not take part in.

    My point was mostly that your response still painted an overly simplistic view of the situation (which I would say is the wrong tack to take when you are complaining that they have poorly characterized things).

    --
    Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  8. Re:Fight them by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This wasn't some secret plot by the United States government... "OK, you guys go live in the Texas territories for 20 years, then rebel, then form your own republic for 10 years, then join the Union. Our plan is foolproof!".

    Actually, if you examine history closely, you'll find that most settlements and colonisations(by Anglo-Saxons at least) follow this exact model. Settlement is ostensibly a completely private enterprise, but usually has the tacit approval of government and the explicit backing of powerful elements within or around government. The settlement of Texas was always supported and sold as part of the American manifest destiny franchise, and everyone knew it--especially the Texan settlers.

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    May the Maths Be with you!