"Subtitles:" "Completed, resynced AsifAkheirESL@teachers.org (Thnx Preuzeto's abridged TV subs) [gavel]" "The Senate Committee on Nominations will come to order." "Mr. Chair, thank you." "Thank you for the opportunity to question chairman McLeroy." "I think this is one of the most important jobs in Texas." "There are 15 bills floating around here to strip your authority." "To make sure that you have nothing to do with curriculum and nothing to do with selecting textbooks." "You've created a hornet's nest like I've never seen here." "Now, the perception out there is that you, as chair, have done everything conceivably possible to make sure that Intelligent Design is what is taught in the state's textbooks." "How would you respond to that?" "The question is:" "did I try to put Intelligent Design in the books?" "I'd say that'd be false." "Absolutely false." "That you've done everything possible as chairman to push that point of view." "Now, what would you say?" "What would you respond to that?" "I would say that's not true." "I would say I did everything I did to bring up the... ..some of the scientific difficulties of evolution." "I would say that would be absolutely true." "Yes, sir." "Hey, fellas," "It's March." "That means it's time for the year's 'mote' exciting television event." "Say it with me." "The Texas School Board hearings." "Why didn't you say it with me?" "[laughter]" "I want you to explain, how can the Texas Board of Education have the power to change textbooks, really, all over the entire country?" "Why does this matter to the rest of us?" "Typically, it's been Texas and California, the two biggest textbook purchasers in the country, that really dictate the rest of the country." "Whatever textbooks they select then affects the rest of the country." "Because the publishers publish those kinds of books, and the rest of the country follows." "You have been quoted as saying that the amount of power you have, at times, boggles your mind." "Well, I did say that." "I wished I hadn't have said that." "But I did say that, because it is pretty influential." "Each step of the way, evolution deniers and opponents on the board have thumbed their nose at science and made clear that their own personal ideological beliefs are more important than giving Texas kids the education they need to succeed in college" "and in the jobs of the 21st century." "Okay, okay." "♪♪ [soft music]" "♪♪" "Wait." "Keep your chin down." "Perfect, just like that." "[air hissing]" "Open a little wider." " Ah." " Open a little wider." " Ah, ah." "[drill]" "Hey, Michael, you ever thought much about evolution, the idea that we all share a common ancestor with that tree out front?" "You ever thought much about it?" "You know, not really." "Yeah, most people haven't thought much about it." "I think... it's quite a big claim that people make, you know..." "I'm a skeptic myself." "There's no way." "Anyway..." "I think what we've done in Texas is unbelievably significant." "It has to do with the definition of science." "[air hissing] [grinding]" "So now the debate is over: "What's science?"" "It's gonna be in every single text book." "The kids are gonna know what science is." "And science is the use of evidence to make testable... explanations of natural phenomena." "Rinse out real good." "I'm gonna be asking you some true-false questions just to see what you know already." "before we even start that..." "I want to know what you guys know already about evolution." "What have you guys heard about evolution?" "What are your ideas when you" "Yes, Joey." "Monkeys turn into humans." "Monkeys turn into humans." "You know, everybody always says that." "I want to clear this up right now." "Evolution doesn't necessarily say" "That we evolved from monkeys, alright?" "Especially the monkeys that we see now, like an orangutan or a gorilla, alright?" "It doesn't say that." "What it does say" "Is that a long, long time ago," "We may have had a common ancestor with a monkey." "You guys know what I mean by "common ancestor"?" "like, your mom, maybe." "You and your cousin have a common ancestor." "Alright who is your common ancestor to your cousin" "Your grandma." "Your grandmother, right?" "Does that mean that you came from your cousin?" "No." "This week, the Texas State Board of Education" "Was reviewing the Texas Curriculum Standards for science." "Grades kindergarten through graduation were being reviewed, but all conversation, all debate, and all eyes were focused on two words:" ""strengths and weaknesses"." "And it was all about evolution." "Evolution is a theory, so it's not really valid." "True or false?" "Some scientists do consider it--Evolution-- to be scientific fact." "And so the controversy is:" "At what point can we call evolution a fact?" "And that's where people get into that heated debate." "Is it a theory, or is it a fact?" "Texas science teachers Were called upon to review the curriculum standards." "and they recommended that the words:" ""strengths and weaknesses", that had been in the curriculum be removed." "Because they recognized that those words:" ""strengths and weaknesses"" "no longer had the regular meaning." "They had been drafted into the political arsenal of creationists to promote creationism and undermine the teaching of evolution." "As an organization that cares about our fundamental liberties, we wanna make sure that the classroom is one of the places where those types of liberties are still safe." "And the problem is if you take out the "strengths and weaknesses" language you're gonna have an environment of censorship in the classroom on these science issues." " Hey, Miss." " Yes, Sir." "So that means, like, that Charles Darwin dude don't believe in God or something?" "The theory of evolution does not necessarily say that you cannot be religious." "Okay?" "And it should not conflict with whatever religious beliefs you have." "I know there are people that are very fired up about it." "on both sides of the spectrum." "And, they've made a compromise." "And hopefully both groups are happy." "But maybe both groups are not happy with it." "When you see a canyon, you see all these layers, right?" "Bottom line is, our students need to know the science of evolution... and they do need to be able to ask questions." "OK, so you will keep me posted." "Initially, the Texas Freedom Network was founded to counter the efforts of the religious right in Texas, not in the hot button issues that you typically see, like abortion and gay and lesbian rights." "but instead, the religious right was promoting policies far outside the mainstream in a number of other areas." "Particularly public education." "I'm leaving to get Caroline in about five minutes," "And then I think I'm coming back here." "OK, thank you." "See you later." "Yeah, I'm not out yet." "Every single issue that we deal with has some component of the separation of church and state or religious freedom in it." "But our mission is to promote religious freedom, civil liberties, and quality public education in Texas." "So they're gonna be here about 4:00." "We're gonna go back to the office" "Really quickly." "So how was your day?" "Fine." "Yeah?" "Tell me about it." "Governor Perry has found a way to use the State Board of Education to keep his base here in Texas happy." "And his base is really the far right." "And Don McLeroy has, since being appointed chair of the State Board of Education, really been a lightning rod." "♪♪ [bluesy guitar]" "♪♪" "When I first held my son in my arms and I realized the kind of world he'd live in," "I started paying attention to politics." "I was never very interested in politics that much." "I always voted," "But when my kids were very little," "I got really interested in education." "I got interested in politics." "I've been elected by my constituents," "And I've told them what I'm for, and I'm gonna do the best I can to help, you know, forward those ideas," "And frankly, it's because these children are precious little kids." "This is one place where I will mention my religion." "My religion says that we're all created in the image of God." "And because every little child is created in the image of God," "I want to see that they have the best opportunity possible." "If you want to control and shape the politics of a state, controlling and shaping what students learn in public schools from age 5 through age 18 is a really, really smart strategy." "And we have witnessed an intense focus on gaining that control by the far-right faction." "[applause]" "Good morning." "My name is Steven Schafersman." "I'm president Of Texas Citizens for Science," "And I was a member" "Of the Earth and Space Science Standards Writing Panel." "I have been following this organization for 28 years, and there has been an effort over this entire time, for three decades, to oppose science, specifically evolution and the origin of life." "This is a healthy debate that's going on." "If you look at the hundreds of people that came to this hearing, a lot of people are interested in this issue." "And there's clearly big groups on both sides." "And what you're gonna hear is teachers, scientists, professors, parents, concerned citizens across the state of Texas that have voiced their opinion that they want the "strengths and weaknesses" standard to remain." "Texas is really the first place where that new political strategy of promoting the weaknesses of evolution is having a test." "You're actually saying that students have no business critiquing scientific theories or even scientific hypotheses?" "Mr Mercer high school students don't have the expertise or the ability to do that in a scientific context." "So when you say: 'critique the strengths and weaknesses'" "I don't know what that means." "That is not scientific language" "In science we investigate, analyze do research, test hypotheses and critiques are done in the literature and among scientists" "It's been requirement the last 20 years." "How many items of litigation have you involved with the state with the current requirement?" "I'm aware of the requirement for the last 20 years it's been a problem for the last 20 years." "The rule has been used by anti-evolutionists like the Discovery Institute to come into Texas and try to get bogus weaknesses put in biology textbooks" "They're trying to intimidate and make teachers afraid of teaching evolution" "That's what the main goal of this process is." "Science education and evolution education particularly is very politicised in the Texas Board of Education" "And the creationist majority wanted to have the TEKS reviewed by experts in science (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills)" "The moderates selected three competent well known Texas scientists." "Local guys." "The conservatives chose two out-of-state Intelligent Design supporters and it seems odd that they weren't able to find" "3 experts in Texas for this." "They had to go to a national organization" "The Discovery Institute for Stephen Meyer." "He's not really a scientist, he's a historian of science" "But he's an expert on Intelligent Design, that's for sure" "I'd like to present 4 binders containing over 100 articles from mainstream science journals most of them peer reviewed." "Each of which presents either a weakness in contemporary evolutionary theory or a weakness in what is one of the sandard aguments that are commonly made in its favour" "I chose Stephen C. Meyer and his credentials are very impressive to me because he brings the aspect of it not just being strictly scientific" "But the history of science and the philosophy and how it plays into it and I think that's really what we're dealing with more than just black and white science" "There is a lot of concern, if teaching weaknesses is the same thing as bringing religion or creationism into the classroom." "That's not what we want and it's a very different thing that would be bringing in a religious alternative." "But there's an irony in this." "If you exempt a theory from critical evaluation, if you teach it as dogma that can't be questioned, then you're doing the very thing that people fear of bringing religion into a discussion of science" "They are masters of deceit." "They are masters at the using rhetoric to say one thing" "while they mean something quite different" "As in saying we have no intention of... introducing creationism into the classroom" "They first start out by saying" "Intelligent Design has nothing to do with creationism." "It has nothing to do with religion." "It is science." "All we say is, the evidence shows there was an intelligent designer but we do not claim to know what or who that intelligent designer is" "But it's of course obviously transparent that the intelligent designer has to be the Creator." "I think we should be teaching evolution" "The way we teach it at the university level." "We should be teaching the scientific consensus on this." "The high school classroom is no place to fight the culture wars." "If the criticisms of evolution become established science, fine!" "That's great!" "It'll trickle down into high school." "Are you aware that, In the last 20 years, there has not-- we have not had a section on intelligent design or creationism?" "That's correct." "What you are discussing now is whether you will teach the denigration of evolution, which is a longtime creationist strategy." "To promote creationism through the back door." "Had there ever been any evidence of evolutionary fraud?" "Of course." "Should we be allowed to teach that as examples of bad science?" "Certainly," "Just like you can teach examples of political chicanery." "Thank you." "[laughter] [murmuring]" "♪♪ [soft music]" "♪♪" "There are a lot of issues that I care about," "But I don't wake up in the morning and think," "I can't wait to go to T.F.N. because I love to lobby or, I wanna craft public policy." "I wake up in the morning because I have two daughters, and they go to public school, and they deserve absolutely everything I can do to ensure that they and every other student attending public schools gets the best possible education." "And the curriculum is the building blocks." "The schoolhouse is the place where that incredible benefit accrues." "And the State Board of Education, these days, seems to be doing everything they can, to mess it up." "I'm president of the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund and we are putting on this Board of Education candidate training today" "The Texas Freedom Network Education Fund was created in 1996 and we focus on research and citizen education and leadership training on the issues of religious freedom, civil liberties and public education" "The State Board of Education in our opinion is probably one of the most important bodies in this state in determining education policy and the content of what our kids in the public schools learn from kindergarten to graduation." "It's a down ballot race that almost no one has ever heard of before with districts that have over a million potential voters in them" "That's an extremely unique circumstance" "So we thought that it was really important to do this kind of training for anyone who's interested in the campaign" "♪♪ [soft music]" "♪♪" "Participating in the review of the science standards was really a very awakening lesson for me," "Because what I discovered, much to my chagrin, is that the level of just plain ignorance of the basic facts of science, the basic terminology that science uses that the average eighth grader knows very well, those terms, those concepts, those ideas" "were not only alien to most of the board members, but, in fact, most of the board members had completely faulty understandings of those." "And we're not talking about interpretations;" "we're talking about the facts." "If we simply have analyzed and evaluate, and every sensible person understands-- including the textbook writers." "Understands that that includes any weaknesses where they exist, they're gonna put it in." "But it has to be on a legitimate scientific basis." "So "legitimate" only means if it's not challenging" "Neo-darwisinem-- Darwinism" "Or what do you mean by that?" "Clarify that." "The alternative to Darwinism, in order to be debatable, must be of equal scientific merit." "Not demonstrated, not proven, but of equal scientific merit." "When we ask a student" "When I ask my students to evaluate this particular skull as to whether or not it belongs to a new species or a preexisting one, if I make the argument that it should belong to a new species, what's the weakness of that argument?" "And that's what 'evaluate' means." "But if I ask them," ""show me the weakness in this argument?"" "Perhaps the argument has no weakness." "And so I'm asking them to do something that probably should not be done because it doesn't need to be done." "But I would argue this:" "that a hearty discourse on any issue, by asking them to show you the weakness when there is none, only serves to underscore the fact that it is strong." "There is no fear from asking that if there truly is no weakness." "You're absolutely right." "And we're talking here not about what happens in the classrooms but what happens when we're selecting textbooks." "I understand that." "But the textbooks are only going to use areas that are going to promote discussion within the classroom." "That's right, but you remember in 2003, when that language was there, there was a large discussion going on about," ""well, this particular science textbook" ""does not talk about any weakness in evolution." "We should reject it."" "Textbook publishers were being leaned upon very heavily back in 2003 to add a lot of creationist-inspired nonsense to their books so that they could meet the standard of the TEKS of strengths and weaknesses." "And this is very scary for textbook publishers, because none of them really want to put all this so-called weaknesses of evolution in the books." "But if Texas requires them to do it, they have to do it." "You have a gate-keeper that you have to get past to get to the marking room." "In Texas the gate-keeper is the Standards from the State Board of Education Review" "You've gotta make sure that you get through that gate." "Otherwise you don't have an opporunity to sell your materials in a very significant market" "In Texas the law was that every child would have a new book every 7 years." "And so they would adopt on a cycle" "And when they bought the product they bought 110% of the enrolment right out of the chute." "So they put a huge amount of money that Texas was putting in." "That meant that a publisher could publish at the Texas cycle to the Texas mandates" "and recoup its investment by the start" "But if you go too far with material" "to address those gatekeeper concerns you run the risk of being rejected in the market place" "There is the catch for the publishers" "Being on the State lists in Texas all that does is give you the license to go out and sell your materials in the market it doesn't guarantee that you'll sell a single book" "I'm currently a freelance science writer writing textbooks for a national textbook publishing company." "My publishers recognize, as do I, that in order for a text book to be approved by the Board of Education the standard must be covered completely" "Science is based on testing and evaluation." "If you can't design an experiment to test something, you'll have a very hard time learning anything about it." "Alternative theories that attempt to explain the diversity of species on this planet and the origin of life are simply not testable and, therefore, not science." "Why would you want students to read nonscientific ideas in a science book?" "Thank you." "Miss Dunbar?" "So would you feel as a textbook author that if the language 'strengths and weaknesses' was stricken, that "analyze and evaluate"" "would give you an onus to present evidence that's supportive and nonsupportive?" "[sighs]" "It's hard to find scientific evidence that's not supportive of that theory." "[grumblings]" " Whoo!" "[gavel]" "We will be silent in the audience." "I want to tell you if it's outbursts like that," "I'll empty the room and just have the testifiers come in to testify." "We are not gonna have any outbursts like that." "Thank you." "OK, let me simplify the question for you [beep]" "OK, turn this way a bit." "Open wide as you can." "I became a Christian when I was 29." "And within that first year of" "After putting my trust in Jesus Christ," "I was fully convinced that you could fully trust the Bible." "And 30 years later, I'm even more convinced." "I'm also convinced about" "It's biblical principles that made this country free." "And as a board member, it's not my role to force my view on it, and I have not." "I guarantee you." "I have not." "Well, this filling you've had there about 30, 40 years." "We really need to replace it, OK?" "[buzzing]" "I think the most Orwellian-named group in this whole entire culture war battle is the Texas Freedom Network." "I don't know--I kind of think they're kind of a self-perpetuating liberal organization, and the only way they can keep going is just to keep attacking us." "But I think, really, one of the most amazing things is," "I've gotten to know Kathy Miller." "Kathy Miller's gotten to know me." "We've talked about things." "And I'm surprised that she still sees that the religious conservatives" "Like me, like Gail, like Barbara are such a threat." "I really do not understand her fear of the conservatives." "I really don't understand it." "I just..." "I don't understand Kathy Miller." "If you'd pray with me, please." "Father, we thank you for an opportunity to come together again and discuss the business of the public education in our great state." "As we deliberate now, we ask that you would give us wisdom and discernment as we make important policy decisions." "Help us to implement our decisions in the best way possible." "We pray in Jesus' name, Amen." "It was clear that there were not eight votes to force the 'strength and weaknesses' language into the curriculum standards." "Unfortunately, some members of the Board," "I believe, were fearful of the politics of teaching evolution." "And they felt a need to engage in a compromise with the far-right members of the Board so that it couldn't be a clear win or loss for anyone." "That compromise process began with some-- a language that, actually, a genuine expert," "Dr. Ron Wetherington from SMU" "He had introduced some language talking about 'analyze and evaluate scientific evidence for the theory of evolution'." "Cynthia Dunbar seized upon 'analyze and evaluate' because she saw the political potential and capital in that language." "I was not choosing words from a political standpoint." "It was just, 'analyze and evaluate' that Ron Wetherington had put forward," "I knew from my scientific background that that was appropriate language to use." "And we wanted that pertaining to all scientific theories." "She convinced Bob Craig, the Republican from Lubbock who's one of the moderates, to work with her to develop language that says, 'analyze and evaluate 'using scientific evidence'" ""all sides" of the theory of evolution."" "And it's the "all sides"" "that will likely present problems when textbook publishers begin their work drafting textbooks." "The motion is:" "after testing, to insert the words including," ""examining all sides of scientific evidence."" "Do we have copies?" "We're not gonna discuss it till we get a copy." "Just take a five-minute break." "One thing that you should understand about the State Board of Education is that every single time the Board takes a break, a Board member is surrounded by people lobbying from both sides of this issue." ""analyze and evaluate how evolution explains the complexity of the cell."" ""how evolution explains"" "I mean, that's what Y'all don't understand." "You don't understand the pressure that we're under." "A vote in favour puts this in the TEKS" "All those..." "Oh, we'll take a record vote" "OK, the motion carries 13 to 2" "Mr Nunez and Mrs Berlanga voted no" "It was a loss" "Yes we shut the door to the urging that we teach" ""strengths and weaknesses"" "But we threw the windows open to creationists and intelligent design theorists trying to insert that stuff in our textbooks in the future by the new adoption of examine "all sides" of the debate" "Yesterday we had vote were they left out the 'strengths and weaknesses' language which to a lot of people, made them think:" ""look the Board must want to allow censorship and no discussion"" "Then we had a vote today adding the language of 'examining all sides' and the word 'critique' into the current standards that have now been adopted." "That's just as good as saying 'strengths and weaknesses' if not better" "I personally don't know what 'all sides' means." "I don't know what 'all' means in any of this but I know it's better than not having that strengths... and that first one I'd like to look at is section 112.34 which was striked 7B" "There's a fear that those who may have some ulterior motives would use that to introduce something that we don't believe is sound science" "So I've been sitting here reading, and I'm thinking:" "'OK, what are we instructing our teachers to do?" "'" "OK, in 'A', we're talking about evolutionary theory universal common ancestry, and they're looking at how that evidence is provided among groups." "You can read the list" "Right, now we need to take it a step further" "We need to bump it up." "We need to engage our students even more" "So with Dr, McLeroy's additional language it kind of puts the period at the end of the sentence." "That's how I think of it So, you know, why are they not changed let's let our kids talk about that" "I think it's a fantastic TEKS and I support it" "This is the one that I didn't understand last time and ended up voting for it." "But I've learned something that" "I should not vote on things that I really don't understand and it does a disservice" "This standard represents questions... that our students can handle." "It is so scientific..." "It's not complicated" "It doesn't take mathematics" "I disagree with these experts" "Somebody's gotta stand up to experts that are just..." "I don't know why they're doing it" "They're wonderful people but the fossil record does to it why take it out" "The textbooks would say:" "'there's the sudden appearence' that this... that... that is..." "It does raise problems for the idea of common ancestry." "Thank you for letting me make my plea and I would really like you to think before you push this button." "Thank you." "The vote is 8 to 7, the language will be struck." "What's happening is, ideology has (triumphed) science." "The reason the Board members voted the way they did was 'cause the scientists told them to" "This is what they said." "And it hits ..." "That's not wha..." "The scientist are not..." "They lost their luster" "'Cause the evidence doesn't support it" "Evidence doesn't support it" "Evidence doesn't support it" "To both the teachers, that they have academic freedom to allow and encourage discussion within the classroom and also to the publishers that we do language from both sides to be brought in..." "There are not many Board members who say," ""I am an expert in string theory." ""I am an expert in gravitational theory." "And I will talk to you about that."" "But they will sure talk to you about evolution." "And that is a mixture of ignorance and arrogance, which is a flammable mixture." "Miss Miller." "I've got a question, Just" "Would somebody explain to me what stasis is?" "Dr. McLeroy, you are wonderful at explaining things." "Stasis is just the equilibrium of an organism." "when you see it in the fossil record." "When you first see it as you go up those-- from old rock layers to new ones, all of a sudden, something appears." "Stasis is just the term that it's equal." "It just stays the same, and when it disappears, it's still the same." "And that's just a fact in the fossil record." "OK, the question is" "Mr. Chairman, I" "Now, we're taking the vote." "We call--the vote--I'm sorry." "I'm gonna abstain from this vote." "I haven't had a chance to..." "OK, that's fine." "OK." "I think you need to use your brain." "You make a decision:" "'yes or no', or you abstain." "We need to do it, do it thoughtfully, but the time comes for leadership, and sometimes that leadership means you just have to make a choice." "We'll take a recorded vote on this." "So 13 'yesses' and 2 'nos'." "The motion passes." "I would like to thank my fellow Board members." "That is wonderful." "It covers the words... 'sudden appearance and stasis' which is in the data." "It's probably a lot better than the standard I wrote." "Thank you." "...any further amendments..." "It's really disappointing to see this happen, because the standards that the Board of Education" "Got from the writing comittees... were pretty decent when it came to evolution," "And they've just amended the dickens out of them," "And now we've got standards that are very distinctly compromised in the creationist direction." " thanks for all your work." " you bet." " thank you so much." "what this means is that there's gonna be pressure on the publishers to put this into the textbooks." "And that's too bad, 'cause that doesn't help the science education of kids in Texas very much." "The way I would understand it, if I can speak for the other" "Board members who changed their votes." "They were trying to balance these two key demands." "They had this pro-evolutionist side that said this language was unscientific." "They had this other side that said," ""we want you to support the strengths and weaknesses"." "So they came up with a compromise." "They got rid of the bad language," "And, therefore, they voted to support the new standards." "Frankly, it was great." "It was a failure of strategy of the--of Eugenie Scott's, what it was." "And Kathy Miller." "♪ ...that's along the way" "♪ So faith, hope, and charity ♪" "You've been quoted as saying" "The earth is 6,000 years old." "That's my personal belief." "You said:" "I disagree with these experts." "Someone has to stand up to them." "Scientific consensus means nothing." "Do you at least get that you're a point of significant controversy in the state of Texas?" "Oh, absolutely." "And I think you need to have a Board that's willing to take some controversy and to make some controversial decisions." "I'm embarrassed by that." "I'm embarrassed that I said it." "I wished I hadn't said that." "Can you perceive how that might create controversy?" "Can you see?" "I agree." "You said education is too important not to be politicized." "It came across the wrong way, but the only reason I got involved in education is because I see all children as created in God's image." "♪ How do I know?" "♪ The Bible tells me so" "Isn't that a cool song?" "Don has always treated me very fairly." "I find him very congenial as a person." "And he has always been, I think, fair in conducting all the public testimony in public hearings." "What I find objectionable is the conflict between his ethical responsibility to foster the letter and spirit of the law in TEKS science mandates and his personal conviction as a young earth creationist that evolution has never happened" "And that the belief in evolution is atheistic." "Leaders must lead." "And Dr. Mcleroy has proven conclusively that he is less concerned with leading the Board than he is with fighting the battle." "Members, let's leave him to his battle, and let's request the Governor find a true leader to chair the Texas Board of Education." "Now here come certain preachers on radio and TV and in the mail, telling us, on a bunch of political issues, that there's just one Christian position." "And implying, if we don't agree, we're not good Christians." "My problem is I know my boy's as good a Christian as me." "My wife -- she's better." "So maybe there's something wrong when people, even preachers suggest that other people are good Christians or bad Christians, depending on their political views." "That's not the American way." "The public hearings in Texas provided an opportunity for what we now call special interest groups to come forward and take their views and apply them to the textbook process." "And of course the most famous people were Mel and Norma Gabler from Longview." "They set up a foundation and hired people to go through every submitted textbook and look for errors of either fact or interpretation." "Humanism is prevalent in our textbooks from cover to cover, in all grades and all subjects." "The Gablers were tremendously influential." "And, as they were probably at the peak of their influence with the Board, into Texas comes 'People for the American Way'." "Those little tips on end..." "Right." "That's all that's proven fact." "Science rests on doubt." "Creationism rests on faith." "That is a major difference between science and religion." "You are not interested in science." "I am absolu..." "I want scientific evidence to be shown, and if you're..." "There is no scientific evidence to disprove the theory of evolution." "...plenty of scientific evidence which will disprove it." "For instance..." "You would win the Nobel Prize if you had scientific evidence to disprove the theory of evolution." "They've been critiquing textbooks since 1961." "And because of the bizarre provision in Texas law they were basically the only people that were able to come in and critique the books." "And thus, the State Board of Education and the publishers were almost captives of the Gablers and their fundamentalist allies." "In pointing out what is going on here in Texas with this organized effort to restrict what goes into textbooks and restrict which textbooks are selected, this not just a Texas phenomenon." "It may be more apparent here but the same type of thing is going on in Iowa and Ohio New York and other places." "The Gablers who operate here in Texas and are very influential on the textbook process here, sell their reviews, their critiques of books all over the country." "Since the Moral Majority under Falwell and then Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition issues of education and what is taught in public schools across the country have been a central focus for culture warriors on the right." "If you truly, truly follow a biblical world view there's no way you can look at education as not being important." "And it's kind of the viewpoint that I've said, you know," "Abraham Lincoln was credited with saying that the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will become the philosophy of the government in the next." "Liberty University is very young." "Its foundings were in the 1970's." "And yet it has grown in that time to being the largest Christian Evangelical university in the world." "We have, including all the online students, I think somewhere in excess of 50,000 or more" "I don't remember the exact number." "But a very large student body." "♪" "They say college is the most important years of your life." "You have no idea!" "♪ L. U.!" "♪Ah caint heah you!" "♪ L. U.!" "♪ ..." "To see what can be done when there's a pursuit of excellence when there's a need of being that, when students find a place that they can go that is going to embrace their position and their beliefs," "I think it's amazing." "And I just hope that on some small scale that my life can reflect making similar changes ... for good." "What's really interesting about the State Board of Education and this larger idea of the culture wars across the country, is Cynthia Dunbar." "Cynthia Dunbar teaches at Jerry Falwell's university, attended Pat Robertson's university, so she's really, kind of, been bred in the culture war movement, through her education." "And she does clearly want to dictate what students are taught in public schools as part of her overall political strategy." "So she really does embody that bigger goal for the far right movement in this country." "Well, I had always been involved in community service and because of that there were various people who knew who I was." "And so was approached about considering running for this position." "And there aren't a lot of people out there trying to make sure that the students have the best possible education, the best academic freedom, and that, why should other kids fall through the cracks just because I knew mine were gonna be OK." "[radio chatter]" "Here it is." "Here it is." "... we've got a problem." "Don McLeroy, our representative on the Texas State Board of Education, believes the earth is less than 10,000 years old, that humans walked with dinosaurs, and that supernatural explanations are valid science." "Come on, Texans, on march 2nd, let's send this guy home!" "Keep the State Board of Education smart!" "Yeah, smart... vote against Don McLeroy in the Republican primary." "Paid for by Citizens for a Smart State Board of Education." "Best thing about that ad though, is it's told everybody that I'm running." "You know, even some of my good friends don't even know I was running for reelection." "You just don't walk around livin' your life telling everybody, "hey, I'm running for reelection."" "You know, that gets kind of boring, living your life like that." "All right, good evening." "My name is Michael Alvard," "And this is Biased Transmission" "Our guests tonight are the two candidates in the Republican primary for the District 9 position on the Texas State Board of Education." "We have in our studio Don McLeroy, the incumbent." "He's been on this Board for 11 years." "His opponent is Thomas Ratliff, a legislative consultant living in Mount Pleasant, Texas." " Don." " Yes, sir." "There was some committee meeting," "And I have the date here, July 16th." "You said that education is too important to not be politicized." "The things that we work on, the big decisions we make, have been adopted by political bodies." "They can only be changed by a political body." "Mr. Ratliff and I are both politicians." "We're both running for a political office." "And in that context, I think that's important." "I agree with that." "I think the difference is, your local School Board is elected in non-partisan elections." "So you can still have an elected body do it." "You just don't have to have a party label or a donkey or an elephant pin on your lapel to run for that." "I think it has a tendency to start becoming more focused on political than it does on educational." "Alright why don't we move on and talk about some of these expert" "My understanding is that some Board members have been criticised for choosing out-of-State experts that have no apparent expertise in the field." "The standard right now, or the process or procedure is, if 2 Board members agree that they're qualified they're qualified." "And I think that is a pitiful, low standard." "They need to say:" "before we can even consider you, you gotta have a Bachelor's, or a Master's or field experience, or something." "Rather than just 2 or more members agree that they're qualified.." "...they're qualified." "Alright." "He says you believe the earth is just a few thousand years old and that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time." "Is that something you believe?" "Yessir, it is." "I am a Young Earth Creationist." "I would never advocate that in a public school" "Young Earth Creationism." "But that is my personal view." "The challenge is on one hand he does believe that from his religious convictions which I respect but on the other hand when he was debating the evolution and creationism issue he talks about the Cambrian explosion which he says happened 550 million years ago." "550 million, and 10,000 -- there's a disconnect, so..." "Don?" "Well, that's what I'm saying, my young earth views do not come into play when we're talking about it" "And frankly, I don't really have time to debate it now, but I'll talk to you about it afterwards." "I know that." "I know..." "What other force, other than natural selection, do you want them to consider?" "How did it happen?" "Yeah, yeah, but what would that be?" " I mean..." " I don't know." "I want to see what they put in the books." "My question is: how?" "How could a cell that gets trapped in another cell" "Gradually change into mitochondria?" "These are all scientific questions that we just don't have the answers to yet." "Of course, and that's what you get a chance to do." "All the scientists in the new textbooks get an opportunity." " You're being disingenuous." " No, I'm not." "You want to introduce the hand of god into these..." "No, I don't." "No, no, no..." "I didn't put anything..." "If we had put the hand of God in there..." "If we'd have put the hand of God in there, we would have had those standards challenged immediately." " Sure." " Absolutely." "I got what I wanted." "I got exactly what I wanted." "Neat place!" "I ask these kids this question:" "what was it about the world... that made 2,000 years ago... the perfect time for God to become a man?" "Y'know, why did Christ come 2,000 years ago?" "Why didn't he come 4,000 years ago?" "Why didn't he come 1,000 years ago?" "Why didn't he wait till today?" "He'd 'a had the internet." "Hm, hm!" "Or would the internet even be here if Christianity had never happened?" "Isn't that a neat idea?" "Well, and you can also say that if it hadn't been for Christianity some other religion would have filled that gap." "Because the world was ripe for it." "Yeah..." "So it could have been anything." "Now see, I would disagree on that part." "The conservatives generally don't treat experts any differently than they treat non-experts." "That is to say that science has no greater value than non-science." "Science is great, but it doesn't deserve the plateau that they put it on." "I am a skeptic!" "I'm a skeptic,when the National Academy comes out." "Especially when they pass things that have an ideological bent to it." "Like evolution has an ideological bent." "I mean, where do we come from?" "How did consciousness come?" "All these different things." "To me..." "The purpose of an education is to arm students with the ability to be 'informed' skeptics." "And one case in point, this hits right home with you." "You don't claim that dinosaurs and humans walked side by side, do you?" "'Course I do!" "You know, in my view of the world that all life would have been created at the beginning." "So dinosaurs were on the ark?" "Yes, that's what I would teach." "That's what I believe." "How big was that ark?" "Plenty big!" "It had to be one hell of a ship in order to get all these..." "It really was." "There's... people have been..." "You could put all the critters on the ark." "You know one of the problems that we had with all of this, is, as I've said before, the power of words and words that take on new meanings..." "Yeah." "'Weaknesses' OK?" "Yeah." "It is not a weakness to say I don't know." "It is not a weakness to say:" "this is a gap we haven't filled yet." "It's not a weakness to say:" "we can't answer that question." "I dunno, to me it's..." "Whoa!" "Well maybe the idea's wrong." "Don it's been a great pleasure." "It is, always a pleasure." "I love your home." "This is awesome." "Thank you for inviting me in." "You bet." "It was a pleasure to have you here." "As I said in the testimony that" "I personally liked you very much and I respect your integrity and your honesty -- sometimes you're honest to a fault, you know?" "But I simply felt that you could have done a lot more in preventing the schisms that separated the... moderates from the far right." "We needed new leadership to control that disintegration that I saw happening on the Board." "Well I respect your opinion, I just.. disagree." "Yeah" "Yeah" "But I mean, y'know, all through it I admired you ... your conduct." "I tried to keep the meetings going up" "Thought I did a pretty good job, actually." "Well, you did some good things." "Thanks, I try my best." "Yeah, alright." "Well, let's go." "Good luck with your class." "Thank you, thank you." "Say hi to the kids." "Are you getting to work on creating the test now?" "The final?" "No, I... yes I've already submitted my question for the test." "Oh.. for this course, you mean." "I'm going out the wrong door." "For my human evolution course I haven't made the exam up yet." "OK, OK." "♪♪" "♪♪ [applause]" "Welcome back to Hardball." "Students in Texas will likely soon have a new angle on what they're taught in Social Studies classes." "The focus of one protracted debate during a discussion about what should be in World History texts was whether or not they should use the terms:" "BC" " Before Christ and AD" " Anno Domini, the year of our Lord when referring to certain periods of time in history" "They identify conservatives in the past... who students should learn about, which is fine." "And then they eliminate" " Absolutely." "Right, and then they eliminate people from the past... who they don't agree with." "But that's how it works." "The winners..." "The winners write history." "Is there further discussion of the amendment?" "Dr. Mcleroy." "I'd like to go to 6 E." "I would like to add:" ""describe the causes and key organizations" ""and individuals of the Conservative Resurgence" ""of the 1980s and 1990s," ""including Phyllis Schlafly," ""the Contract with America," ""The Heritage Foundation, The Moral Majority," "And the National Rifle Association."" "Is there a second?" " Second." "I have an amendment for B" " Ronald Reagan" "Describe Ronald Reagan's and then insert:" ""leadership in restoring national confidence"" "Economics 16 A," "I would like to strike the words 'women' and 'minority'" "Discuss the meaning and historical significance of the mottoes:" "'E PLURIBUS UNUM' and 'In God we trust'." "Then like to go to Government, 18A" ""to evaluate the impact of New Deal legislation on the historical roles of State and Federal governments"" "21A we're talking about citizenship." "I would like to insert the word 'non violent' before the word 'protesting' and how later release of the Verana papers (Venona?" ") confirms the suspicions of communist infiltration in US government." "All those in favour of Dr. McLeroy's amendment..." "Seven all those opposed... one hand?" "Dr McLeroy?" "On 23D" "I would like to delete 'hip-hop' and insert 'country music'." "Is there a second?" "OK discussion about the merits of removing 'hip-hop' and replacing it with 'country and western music'?" "Mr Allen." "I just would like to know why we would drop 'hip-hop'." "It's a music genre that doesn't need to be in our TEKS" "I guess I would be wanting to know what do you actually think hip-hop is before you delete it." "You might be deleting something you know nothing about." "Maybe we could have 'country and western' added in, but leave the 'hip-hop'." "I mean..." "Is Mr. Craig offering an amendment?" "Yes." "(..." "I guess we have to...)" "I came about this kind of accidentally," "Just started kind of watching it, like most people, you know." "Not really aware of what it does." "And then you start reading the paper, and you think, good grief." "What's going on?" "He's well-intentioned." "But maybe he spends 5% of his time on State Board Of Education stuff." "So he's gonna tell somebody that has an undergraduate, Masters, Doctorate, and 20 years of teaching experience how to do their job when they've done it 100% of their time." "I..." "I just don't share that philosophy." "You know." "I'm sure you know my campaign treasurer Jinny Preston" "Well I did see some friendly faces back there." "Hi." "...under God, amen." "Amen." "What direction do you wanna go?" "Do you wanna go to the... 'left', or do you wanna go to the right?" "We have taken on the far left in the last several years and we have won." "In science class we ended up with standards that support scientific integrity in the classroom and my opponent has said he was a moderate Republican." "And I never seen a moderate stand up to the far left on anything." "We are turning education in a vastly different direction." "So, thank you." "The goal of my campaign is not about me." "It's not about me winning, it's not about me losing." "It's about a parent of two kids in public schools who wants to make our public schools the best the can be." "Our kids don't go to 'red' schools or 'blue' schools." "They don't wear donkey pins or elephant pins to class." "They go to their local school and they want a good education." "And I wanna take politics out of the State Board of Education." "Thank you." "Well, thank you all for coming out." "Get all your friends to get out to vote that's the main thing" "We're pushing along." "I know, you all are awesome." "Thank you so much Jeff." "This is awesome..." "Great!" "♪♪" "There's some people who'd argue that we're not a Christian nation." "As far as not founded on biblical principles." "These people are called 'Secular Humanists'." "And they say there is no truth." "They say there is no God." "And they say that we just evolved." "Which principles are in the Decloration of Independence?" "Christians say there's Truth, that we're created in the image of God, and?" "Creator." "There's a creator -- there' a God." "So which principles are our country founded on?" "They're founded on biblical principles." "OK?" "Y'know why I'm teaching you this lesson?" "I don't want the principles that this country was founded to die in the graves of our fathers." "I want you all to take up the banner and carry it forward." "Our country's built on these principles" "If we turn away from these principles, will we keep the country we have?" "No!" "And they're under attack, which you'll see in a minute." "The Social Studies Curriculum adoption was even more political, if that's possible, than the science adoption." "And the separation of church and state is the crux of the battle." "And when Mavis Knight introduced her amendment, she didn't even use the words 'separation of church and state'." "She used the words, 'that government can't promote or denigrate any faith'." "And Cynthia Dunbar passionately argued against this." "Examine the reasons the founding fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others." "Mavis Knight's amendment was too broad and too amorphous." "And talking about barring, which speaks of it in a negative light." "When how the founding fathers viewed it was in terms of jurisdiction." "That the civil government did not have the jurisdiction to impede upon the ability of religious exercise." "Free exercise came from a sermon by William Cooper, where he specifically coined the phrase, 'as to the free exercise Of his holy religion'." "This debate is too broad." "And one of the things that we keep being hounded by the other side is that the conservatives are trying to inject religion into the TEKS" "No, we're not." "But nor do we want our religious history to be tainted and drawn from a viewpoint that is not historically accurate." "So I cannot support this motion." "This will be a recorded vote." "All those in favor of the amendment of a new '1C' as proposed by member Knight... should vote - yes." "Opposed to the amendment should vote - no." "I am stunned that this Board rejected teaching students about the first amendment to the constitution's protections for religious freedom in this country and that the government is barred from promoting or disfavoring any religious perspective over all others." "That's just shocking." "Particularly since they've been proclaiming American exceptionalism." "And this is one of our nation's founding principles that sets us apart." "Father I ask that you would forgive us for taking prayer out of the schools" "Father when that happened" "Secular Humanism slathered in and Father it began to penetrate every part of the curriculum" "But today Lord we reach up into heaven and we say:" ""on this day Your kingdom come," "Your will be done in public education once again"." "We draw the line in the sand today." "And we say, no more." "Lord, I ask that You would invade our schools." "Invade our country." "Invade our homes." "Invade our churches with Your presence, that we would truly be hunger for righteousness and for truth." "Because truth is not a thing." "It is a person." "And it is the person of Jesus Christ." "And Your word tells us that if You be lifted up," "You will draw all men unto you." "And so, God, that's what we do right now." "We repent on behalf of our nation." "We repent on behalf of ourselves and our families, God." "And we lift You up." "And we want to see you exalted, God." "In Jesus' name, we pray," "Amen." "[applause]" "Amen!" "As we're here at the Lincoln Memorial," "I think it's very fitting." "I think ours is the greatest nation on earth, and I think that the framework of a Constitutional Republic that our founders crafted is brilliant and has preserved for us the greatest protection of our liberties." "And I just want to make sure that that historical effort is documented." "As it is in these memorials in stone," "I want it to be crafted in stone in our textbooks." "Explain the impact of the writings of John Locke," "Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire," "Charles de Montesquieu," "Jean-Jacques Rousseau," "Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, and Sir William Blackstone on political revolutions from 1750 to the present." "It does take out reference to Thomas Jefferson, but the reason is not that I don't think his ideas were important;" "it's just that this is a list of political philosophers from which the founding fathers based their ideologies and their principles." "Mr. Craig." "It appears to me that the work group members had specifically the desire to talk about the Enlightenment ideas and also to mention these particular individuals." "Plus I think Thomas Jefferson still needs to be there, so I will support what the work group members had recommended." "My intent was in no way to strike at Jefferson, to 'minimalize' his impact." "I love Jefferson." "I'm a huge fan." "The problem is that Enlightenment, current day, is understood from the viewpoint of the Secular Humanistic ideology." "If you want to see how those philosophers played out, look at the distinction between the French revolution and the American revolution." "One was a Secular Humanistic " " Voltaire,..." "Anti-Judeo-Christian beliefs." "The other was what Jefferson put forward in the Decloration of Independence:" ""the laws of nature and nature's God."" "When you have added people like Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin to the standards -- the standard says, "the student understands" ""how contemporary political systems have developed from earlier systems of government" -- where does Thomas Aquinas fall in that?" "Yeah, uh, sir..." "He doesn't." "Absolutely, Thomas Aquinas is the philosopher that started the original ideology of the laws of nature." "And it's from that that was developed all the political philosophies that brought forward the foundations of civil jurisprudence." "And the same thing with Calvin." "No one knows anything of American liberty if they don't know of the writings of Calvin." "The fact that they have not been included up to this point shows that there's a dearth of understanding of any kind of philosophy beyond 'Enlightenment'." "Well, I think you're stretching it a bit." "Certainly Plato in his 'Republic' had a lot to say about government relationships to citizens that could have been added here as well." "Why isn't Thomas Jefferson seen as a leader of revolutionary thinking in the 18th and 19th century?" "He wrote the Declaration of Independence." "Right, well, and, actually," "I'm really glad that you even put that forward, because it's been misrepresented in the media a lot, that Thomas Jefferson was actually stricken from the TEKS, which is not accurate." "He's actually listed in several places within-- throughout the document, including the political philosophies of the founding fathers." "I'm with Don McLeroy." "He's considered the leader of the conservative bloc." "Mr. Mcleroy, how is the meeting going?" "We're a bunch of lay citizens on the State Board of Education, and we want to make sure that our children are taught good, solid American history." "And I think we're in step with most of the majority of Americans." "Most gracious Heavenly Father, as we look to our past to guide us, let us reflect on the convictions of those who have gone before us." "I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing that the Good Book and the spirit of the Savior have, from the beginning, been our guiding geniuses." "Whether we look to the first Charter of Virginia or the Charter of New England or the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the same objective is present:" "a Christian land governed by Christian principles." "I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the Christian religion." "I like, also, to believe that as long as we do so, no great harm can come to our country." "All this I pray in the name of my Lord and Savior," "Jesus Christ." "Amen." "Mrs. Cargill." "18 F." "This would also be new." ""formulate generalizations" ""on how economic freedom improved the human condition compared to communist command communities"." "This is really the last minute." "Today we're gonna vote-- Final vote on this." "Have not been able to consult with anybody," "And then here we are today at the last minute looking at new language." "I've read it." "I am thinking, and it is highly appropriate for students to learn to the value of the free enterprise system." "Is there any further discussion?" "I hear things like, "this is our privilege."" "And we are changing the intent of the writers." "Speak to the issue of the privilege of members to make amendments." "I tend to remember this was in my job description." "Striking John Calvin and inserting Thomas Jefferson." "The amendment fails." "Mr. Mercer." "After John Calvin, I'd like to insert" "Thomas Jefferson and James Madison." "Thomas Jefferson comma James Madison." "We're changing everything in this section." "I am proposing that under number 1, we delete "constitutional republic"" "and insert "democratic society."" "All those opposed." "The amendment fails." "You have to have an objective in the standard." "That's how you write standards." "I guess I just have to say, you have to trust me on this, but I actually do teach political philosophies at the Doctoral level." "The amendment carries 11 to 3." "I wish to re-insert the name Oscar Romero." "I would like to offer an amendment, a motion to insert the name 'Hussein' in between 'Barack' and 'Obama'." "I feel that I have let down the students in our state." "Because all those kids that are in school right now, and they get to college, they're gonna learn for the first time the real history." "There is no way that we can go forward with this document." "It's not representative of my district." "It's not representative of..." "Explain instances of institutional racism in American society." "All those opposed." "The amendment fails." "We don't want to talk about discrimination." "So there!" "These books?" "Oh, we don't want to read these." "My gosh!" "[thud]" "I am ashamed of what we have done to the teachers and to the students of this state." "The Board is open for the vote." "We're voting on second reading and final adoption of chapter 113, sub-chapter 'C'..." "High school, as amended." "9 to 5." "Motion carries." "At least in science, we were able to hold a majority of eight to not let the far-right faction win every vote every time and win the day." "On history, because they attacked it from all angles and all sides, because every far-right Board member brought amendments to the table, it was devastating." "I have to say that the folks in my office probably spent two weeks nursing our wounds," "'Cause it was just-- it was a really brutal fight." "I enjoyed my time on the Board." "However, it was a lot of work, and I did it as public service." "and I'd like to step back and say, okay, I did the best that I could in the job that I was given in the framework that we operate in." "But looking down the road, do I think that education, which is inherently religious, is something that has to be a primary secular purpose when that goes against the religious ideology of the majority of Americans?" "Their godless left-wing culture has taken over the mainstream media." "They have taken over our universities." "Thousands of professors have converted our universities into left-wing seminaries." "And for the last two years, with the help of their young converts, these so-called experts have taken over our national government." "Well, I disagree with those experts." "Somebody's got to stand up to experts." "[cheers]" "You are the last best hope." "It is your activism that is the last best hope for keeping Texas new curriculum standards." "Texas new curriculum standards are the last best hope for American education." "and American education is the last best hope for America, which is the last best hope of earth." "Thank you." "[cheers]" "Thank you, Don." "♪♪" "♪ I am a man" "♪ 'with' constant sorrow" "♪ I've seen trouble" "♪ all my day" "One of the nice things about being a dentist is when you, uh" "I have an audience every day, every morn-- you know, all day long," "I have about seven or eight different people that I get to practice on." "and they can't do much talking back." "I know." "it's just wonderful." "Yeah, they're cap" "You've got a captive audience, Don't you?" "And most of 'em are ideologically aligned with me," "And if they're not, they need to hear it anyway, right?" "♪♪" "♪♪" "How are y'all doing?" "Good." "How are you?" "Okay." "There you go." "Hey, good." "I'm out here trying to get people to vote for me." "I hope they will." "There's some professors that have been running radio ads, and I've heard three of 'em just this morning" "In the little bit of the radio I've listened to." "And they mocked me." "It's amazing." "They say, "hey, Texans", and it's a real hillbilly voice." ""Hey, Texans, we have a problem." ""Don McLeroy serves on the State Board of Education." ""He believes the earth's less than 10,000 years old and that men walked with dinosaurs."" "And guess what they call themselves." ""the Citizens for a Smart State Board of Education."" "Hi." "Appreciate your support for State Board Education." "Thanks for coming out today." "Hi." "Appreciate your vote for State Board Education." "All right, we're going over to the student center" "Over at Texas AM." "So here's the campus." "Are you voting?" "Yes." "Oh, vote for Don McLeroy for State Board of Education, OK?" "Thank you." "See, you could see she was a voter." "I mean" "How can you tell?" "'Cause she wasn't going to class." "Keep the State Board of Education smart." "Vote against Don McLeroy in the Republican primary." "Ha, ha!" "But on the fifth day," "He creates the breath of life." "The creatures." "'Cause he makes fish and birds." "Alright!" "Hey, Texans, we have a problem." "Don McLeroy." "58.76 ... 41.24." "I'll take it." "Let's go eat." "Whew." "I'm behind." "OK, OK." "See you later." "♪♪ [piano]" "♪♪" "Collin county..." "He's ahead by 300." "Here's mine." "I'm behind." "That's not good." "Ah, I don't know what to do." "Heh!" "Just gonna pace the floor." "♪♪" "♪♪" "[birds]" "Lord, we thank you for the opportunity we have to study your word." "Your word is the truth." "It is the absolute truth." "We know it's the truth." "We got lots of reasons for it." "One of 'em is from the lesson we see today." "We're gonna talk about the flood," "The judgment of the flood of Noah." "The main thing you got to realize about this lesson is, this is sin." "God's gonna destroy it." "But he's gonna save 8 people" "And a bunch of critters, OK?" "And what's the purpose of it?" "To judge sin." "They actually show what it could be." "You got storage on the top." "You got the bottom deck-- would be all the poop, right?" "And the middle deck would be where all the critters live, right?" "And so then they could shovel all that poop" "Down in there, right?" "And then Noah and the grains..." "They could live up there." "And they could go along the top, maybe, and just put some food in for the critters, alright?" "Make sense?" "Three decks?" "Yep." "Pretty smart to me!" "Pretty good design!" "People don't think there was enough room for all the animals on the ark." "What do y'all think?" " Yes." " I think there was." "You think there was?" "Let's go to the park." "We're gonna have some fun." "Come on." " Ooh, park." " Whoo-hoo!" "What about dinosaurs?" "Were dinosaurs on the ark?" "No." "Sure they were!" "We don't know!" "We'll have 4 cones" "For the 4 corners of the ark." "And then we'll see how many animals" "You all can think of to see if you can fill it up," "Okay?" "Start thinkin' of critters." "Think of all the critters." " Deer!" " A bird!" " Deers!" "Oh, deers!" " Antelope." " Fox!" "Antelopes." " Monkeys!" " Caribou!" " Caribous." " Zebras." " Zebras!" "Aw, man, here we go." "Antelopes." "Mountain goats." "What else?" " Rams." " Rams?" "Okay." " Boars." " Boars!" "Oh, and the pigs, the wild pigs." " Beavers." " Beavers." "There you go." " Platypus!" " Platypuses." "Scorpions." "Iguanas." " Crickets!" " Monkeys!" "I will tell you this:" "it is an absolute fact that there is plenty of room for all the creatures to have fit on that ark." "Plenty of room for two of each." " How high?" " Ostrich." "One, two, three, four." "♪♪ [guitar]" "♪♪ ... and will, to the best of my ability," "Protect, defend, and preserve the constitution and laws of the United States." "[all] The constitution and laws of the United States." "And of this state." "And of this state." "So help me God." "So help me God." "[applause]" "Well, Don, you've had sort of a painful experience here at the ballot box." "Tell me what you're gonna do from here on." "Well, you win some, you lose some." "I lost my first key vote, --was last" "A year ago may, when I didn't get confirmed as chairman." "And at the time, I was really disappointed." "Well, guess what that opened the door for." "It opened a opportunity to lead on making a lot of amendments in the social studies." "And frankly, I can see that it was very, kind of maybe, providential that I was not the Chairman of the Board for the social studies." "After all of these years of this political infighting, what's the answer?" "Can Texas ever come into the 21st century with any degree of rationality and any hope for re-instituting decent education for our kids?" "That will happen long after my grandchildren have passed away," "I'm afraid." "But I am not an eternal optimist." "Lord, we pray for guidance for this meeting." "We pray for wisdom from You." "And, Lord, we thank You that You have brought us to this place." "In Jesus' name, amen." "I ran a very good campaign." "I lost a very close vote to a very strong opponent." "And it's only a two-year term that was up for battle that I lost." "And we're gonna have all seats up for grabs at the next election, which is less than two years away." "Voters in Texas have to become more aware of what's going into our classrooms." "This is about the content of what kids in Texas public schools learn from age 5 to 18." "It will change the face of our state for decades to come; it matters." "And Texas voters need to understand the issues, know more about these candidates." "And we would have a very different" "State Board of Education if that were true." "♪♪" "♪♪" "The evolutionary science, in which I participate, never asks the question of the origin of life." "Mainly because we simply don't know." "And trying to give the answer is like trying to write a fairy tale." "And so when people ask me," ""how do you explain the origin of life?"" "I simply say," ""I don't know." "How do you explain it?"" "♪♪" "In the end," "I think he is gradually gonna have to recognize, when we focus on the issues of the origin of life and ultimately the inclusion of the code in life, that there's no way that that could randomly happen." "Well, I mean, the origin of life is an incredible mystery," "But it's also an incredible mystery, because we were sitting under this beautiful tree," "this ancient oak tree that's been here for" "I don't know how many-- hundreds of years." "And according to the books, the evolution books, we share a common ancestor with that tree way back in time." "The first life first appeared, origin of life, and then somehow it branched off." "All goes back to original life." "And they have no explanation." "♪♪" "♪♪" "♪♪" "♪♪" "Subtitles:" "Completed, resynced AsifAkheirESL@teachers.org"