It’s just one more report to throw on the pyre of reports to be burned if it ever turns out as skeptics say and others hope, global climate change is just a momentary trend: From 1999 to 2006, the pace of glacier melting worldwide picked up.
We had a cold winter; skeptics will argue that the winter of 2007-2008 was not included, and it reverses the trend.
If only that were so.
9 Comments | 
Accuracy, Environmental protection, Global warming, Politics, Reason, Science | Tagged: Climate change, environment, Glaciers, Politics | 
Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Freedom of Conscience Day?
James Madison’s birth day is March 16, Sunday. He was born in 1751, in Conway, King George County, Virginia.
Father of the Constitution, fourth President of the U.S., Great Collaborator, and life-long champion for religious freedom and freedom of speech, press and thought: How should we mark his birthday?
9 Comments | 1787, Bill of Rights, Education, First Amendment, Free press, Free speech, Freedom - Political, Freedom of Information, Freedom of the Press, History, James Madison, Politics, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Founder, History, James Madison, Politics, Religion | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
I miss Ann Richards.
Photo of Ann Richards with her motorcycle, from the Texas State Library & Archives Commission, Prints and Photographs Collection
Here’s an excerpt from Molly Ivins’ column of September 18, 2006, the week after Ann died.
She knew how to deal with teenage egos: Instead of pointing out to a kid who was pouring charcoal lighter on a live fire that he was idiot, Ann said, “Honey, if you keep doing that, the fire is going to climb right back up to that can in your hand and explode and give you horrible injuries, and it will just ruin my entire weekend.”
She knew what it was like to have four young children and to be so tired you cried while folding the laundry. She knew and valued Wise Women like Virginia Whitten and Helen Hadley.
At a long-ago political do at Scholz Garten in Austin, everybody who was anybody was there meetin’ and greetin’ at a furious pace. A group of us got the tired feet and went to lean our butts against a table at the back wall of the bar. Perched like birds in a row were Bob Bullock, then state comptroller, moi, Charles Miles, the head of Bullock’s personnel department, and Ms. Ann Richards. Bullock, 20 years in Texas politics, knew every sorry, no good sumbitch in the entire state. Some old racist judge from East Texas came up to him, “Bob, my boy, how are you?”
Bullock said, “Judge, I’d like you to meet my friends: This is Molly Ivins with the Texas Observer.”
The judge peered up at me and said, “How yew, little lady?”
Bullock, “And this is Charles Miles, the head of my personnel department.” Miles, who is black, stuck out his hand, and the judge got an expression on his face as though he had just stepped into a fresh cowpie. He reached out and touched Charlie’s palm with one finger, while turning eagerly to the pretty, blonde, blue-eyed Ann Richards. “And who is this lovely lady?”
Ann beamed and replied, “I am Mrs. Miles.”
One of the most moving memories I have of Ann is her sitting in a circle with a group of prisoners. Ann and Bullock had started a rehab program in prisons, the single most effective thing that can be done to cut recidivism (George W. Bush later destroyed the program). The governor of Texas looked at the cons and said, “My name is Ann, and I am an alcoholic.”
She devoted untold hours to helping other alcoholics, and anyone who ever heard her speak at an AA convention knows how close laughter and tears can be.
One to make history, one to record it.
I miss Molly Ivins.
1 Comment | A Good Story, Government, Politics, Texas | Tagged: Ann Richards, Famous stories, Good Government, hope, Molly Ivins, Politics, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
“Expelled!” producers gave away free tickets. They invited legislators personally. But only about 100 people showed up for an IMAX showing of the movie in Tallahassee, Florida.
Hey, I got 1,000 times that many people to click on an 8-frame .gif animation of an ancient goat. Real science trumps creationism again.
Real science is almost always more popular than faux-science and bad religion, but that will not stop creationists from creating trouble in any state agency in any state they can.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Pharyngula.
[Yes, I’m aware of the historical implications of the headline.]
88 Comments | Creationism, Evolution, History, Movies, Politics, Science, State school boards | Tagged: Ben Stein, Creationism, Evolution, Florida, Media, Politics, Science, State school boards | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
With voters going overwhelmingly for Democrats in the past few weeks, Republicans and conservatives seem to be getting desperate for a fix of bad news for Democrats — so desperate they’ll create hoax news if they can’t find any real stuff (as if the wars were not bad enough, not deserving of our attention enough).
Some hoaxers spread the old hoax about Nancy Pelosi asking for new taxes. Not true.
That doesn’t stop more hoaxers from spreading the falsehoods. And spreading them. And spreading them. And spreading the hoaxes. Lying to Vietnam veterans. Spreading the false hoaxes via “answer” boards. And spreading the falsehoods. Lying to gullible political activists. Spreading the hoax to even more, gullible political activists.
Don’t any of these people read newspapers? Haven’t they got the internet, which would link them to Pelosi’s office, or to the Thomas site at the Library of Congress to track the supposed legislation, or to Snopes.com, or Urban Legends? Don’t any of these hoax spreaders have the sense or decency to ask whether the proposal makes any sense?
Critical thinking is more than saying “I think [people I disagree with] are ugly.”
Leave a Comment » | Accuracy, Economics, Hoaxes, Politics | Tagged: hoax, Nancy Pelosi, Politics, windfall taxes | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Greg Laden wrote a wonderful piece about teachers under fire for teaching evolution.
It’s specific to evolution, so biology, psychology and social studies teachers should take note (yes, social studies — the Scopes trial shows up even in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)).
But teachers under fire for other things should read it, too.
Laden also links to last year’s special edition of the McGill Journal of Education, from Canada’s McGill University. That’s the issue on teaching evolution. It’s got something for policy makers, too — see the article by Dr. Eugenie Scott on why “teaching the controversy” is academically flaccid, and not legally correct.
Leave a Comment » | Creationism, Evolution, Politics, Reason, Teaching | Tagged: Creationism, Evolution, Politics, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
More than 1,000 people showed up for our precinct caucus. That’s 200 times more people than have showed in any previous year. I didn’t get elected convention chairman by default, nor did I even get nominated. The parking problems anticipated by The New Republic all came to pass — and no one really cared.
It was fantastic to watch.
Obama got 89% of the 55 delegates to our Senatorial District Convention; Clinton got 11%.
More, later I hope, when I get a few minutes to write about it.
1 Comment | Political conventions, Politics, Presidents, Texas | Tagged: 2008, Clinton, Obama, Politics, presidential campaign, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Attention focused on one usually-obscure race for a seat on the Texas State Board of Education helped Republican Pat Hardy turn back a malicious challenge. Hardy won her primary against secretive Barney Maddox, a urologist who spent a lot of money on specifically-targeted mailings, but who also refused to speak with reporters or anyone else asking questions.
Showing just how odd and treacherous is the situation in Texas, Hardy got assists from science bloggers across the nation, though her position on science is far from what science advocates would like. Hardy’s genial “don’t gut the textbooks” stand was preferred to Maddox’s mad-dog, teach-creationism-in-science position.
Maddox refused to comment on the election, of course.
Hardy’s district includes parts of Ft. Worth and surrounding counties. According to the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram:
State Board of Education
Social conservatives failed in their attempt to take control of the State Board of Education on Tuesday when incumbent Pat Hardy of Fort Worth retained her seat against a challenge from Cleburne’s Barney Maddox.
Hardy, a career educator, has been a moderate voice on the board. The 15-member body still shows a close ideological split, but Hardy has helped keep it on a straight path.
The board’s powers come from its ability to influence the public school curriculum and the selection of textbooks. District 11covers about three-fourths of Tarrant County, plus all of Ellis, Johnson and Parker counties. There is no Democratic nominee for this seat in the November election.
Maddox’s entry in the race had set the stage for debate over the scientific theory of evolution, which he has described as “fairy tales.” Hardy took a better course: Teach kids about all theories, she said, from creation to evolution, and give them enough information to make up their own minds about what to believe.
Spoken like a teacher — and a person who should hold a seat on the State Board of Education
Tip of the old scrub brush to reader Ediacaran. Thanks, Bret.
Update: News specific to this race from the Fort Worth paper.
5 Comments | Creationism, Education, Elections, Evolution, Politics, Science, State school boards, Texas | Tagged: 2008 campaign, Creationism, Education, Elections, Evolution, Science, Texas State School Board | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Our precinct caucus is almost always a sedate affair. While our precinct votes heavily Democratic, few of the voters are interested in working much more for the party machinery, especially if it involves giving up a couple of weekends to attend conventions.
So in the past decade we’ve been in this precinct, caucuses have been tiny. Five people was the high water mark. A couple of times we’ve had one other person. In years I was not the precinct chair, the precinct chair didn’t bother to show. More often I’ve been the only person there, and had to work hard to recruit 23 delegates and 23 alternates to our senatorial district convention. We don’t have that many relatives in Texas, let alone in this precinct.
Two presidential campaigns work hard: This year should be different, we’re told.
Will Texas be a disaster? I doubt it — the disaster would occur at the senatorial district convention, I think.
I need the time tonight to work on lesson plans, though. Against my small-d democratic better sense, I almost hope everyone else votes and goes home, leaving me to try to recruit 23 delegates and 23 alternates . . .
Wish me luck!
4 Comments | Elections, Politics, Presidents, Texas | Tagged: 2008 campaign, Elections, Texas caucuses | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
I tried to vote in Texas’s early voting process Friday. I opted out when, at 6:00 p.m., the line to vote in our usually-sleepy end of Dallas County was up to three hours long (the last voters made it inside the building at 9:08 p.m. — with another 90 minutes of standing in line).
The Obama earthquake is particularly heavy in our precinct. We may have been the most enthusiastic precinct in Texas for Gore and Kerry, and two years ago our voting pushed Dallas County into the Democratic column for judges, sweeping dozens of Republican incumbents out of office. This year, voting by and for Democrats is more than double the early voting totals then. Our precinct is one of many in 2008.
However the Clinton/Obama drama plays out in Texas and Ohio, this demonstration of democratic muscle — in favor of the Democrats — should worry Republicans. If the numbers are repeated in nearby precincts, which have similar demographics, and in similar suburban districts around Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Austin, Republican incumbents in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate will be in trouble. No amount of advertising could avert a change in Texas’s party alignment at the national level.
Obama mania, and ennui from Republican control, combine to make a voting tsunami.
At this moment, from where I sit, it appears Democrats will win Texas’s U.S. Senate seat held by Republican John Cornyn. U.S. Representatives such as Kenny Marchant, who unseated Democratic Whip Martin Frost four years ago, should consider new employment beginning January 2009.
Republicans in Texas were talking about voting in the Democratic primary this year, to vote for Hillary Clinton, in the hopes that waving that particular flag would anger conservative Christians enough to motivate them to vote against her.
That’s a thin hook on which to hang hopes of election wins. There are not enough conservative, religious voters in America to overcome the wave of discontent with the present, and hope for the future, this election race has created. If Texas voters realize the power they wield, and they use it in November, the political world will reel and rock.
Alas for Republicans, that’s not a big “if.”
Will the ground move on Tuesday night?
Yes.
4,000 screaming fans welcome Barack Obama to Republican stronghold Duncanville, Texas, in the Sandra Meadows Arena, February 27, 2008. Cellphone photo copyright © 2008 by first-time voter James Darrell; used with permission.
3 Comments | Elections, Politics, Texas | Tagged: 2008, Clinton, Cornyn, election, Obama, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Sane members of the Texas State Board of Education hold a slim majority over scripture-at-any-cost-in-science-books creationists.
Creationists are hammering away to defeat at least two incumbent board members to tip the balance, in classic stealth campaigns where they hide their intentions and spend oodles of money hoping to do evil by catching most voters asleep. The creationists are campaigning to beat conservative, religious Baptists, because the Baptists are “too liberal” on evolution.
Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow presents the facts in the State Education District 11 race, where a secretive urologist who patterns his campaign tactics after Kim Jong Il is outspending the sane incumbent at least $12 to $1. The entire column is below the fold.
District 11 includes most of Tarrant County (Fort Worth), and Parker, Ellis and Johnson counties.
Social studies is also at risk here: The stealth candidate, Barney Maddox, is making false claims against Texas social studies teachers and Texas social studies books, especially history books. The guy looks like an ill-informed nutcase, and he has a good chance of winning.
For example, the campaign flier says: “Barney Maddox believes social studies textbooks should devote more space to American presidents than Marilyn Monroe and that the vicious attack of 9-11 should be portrayed as an aggressive act by terrorists, not an American conspiracy.”
Marilyn Monroe makes no appearance in some books; presidents get 100 times more space in any book you choose. No book portrays 9-11 as an American conspiracy. The man campaigns like your standard, wild-eyed nutcase.
Call, write and e-mail everyone you know in Texas to warn them to vote against Barney Maddox, and for Pat Hardy, in the District 11 State School Board race. Your friends may not live in that district, but they should know. There are other racess with similar problems.
Early voting in this primary ends tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 4, is election day.
Blow’s column, below the fold.
While you’re working at making the world safe for science, wander over to the Texas Freedom Network’s site, and sign the petition saying you’ll stand up for science. Tell ’em Ed sent you.
20 Comments | Accuracy, Campaigns, Creationism, Ethics, Politics, TAKS, Texas, Textbooks, War on Education, War on Science | Tagged: 2008, Barney Maddox, Creationism, Pat Hardy, state board of education, Texas, War on Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Legendary California Assemblyman, and former Mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown is in Dallas tonight, speaking at the Dallas Public Library in promotion of his new book, Basic Brown: My Life and Times.
Update: Alas, the great photo of Willie Brown from thomashawk has been taken down since the original posting date; this one will have to do, from dogeatdogma
Orrin Hatch had some tussle with the Utah NAACP in the mid-1980s. By way of apology, he volunteered to go speak to one of their meetings on a topic of their choice.
Never say there is no humor in politics. The NAACP called to clear time on Hatch’s calendar, and once they got that secured, announced they wanted him to introduce Willie Brown.
At the time Brown was quite controversial, seen as a very partisan Democrat, and the opposite of the sort of guy a rising conservative like Orrin Hatch should ever introduce. Hatch saw disaster. I drew the assignment to draft an introduction and figure some way for Hatch to bow out.
Let me put in plugs for Terri Smith and Jeanne Lopatto here. Terri was secretary for the press office I ran at the Senate Labor Committee, Jeanne was press assistant. They made up a formidable political advance and research team that I would not hesitate to take on the campaign trail today, more than two decades later.
Smith and Lopatto put together the life history and legislative accomplishments of Brown, and when we looked at it, we thought Hatch had a great opportunity. Brown rose up from poverty, much as Hatch had. And while he was known as a partisan Democrat outside of California, he won election as Speaker of the California House by brilliant assembly of a coalition of Republicans and Democrats, beating out the favored candidates of both parties. He made legislative history when he kept that coalition alive to move legislation good for California.
Our press office was quite unpopular when we recommended a full-court press on getting reporters out to cover the affair. When Hatch read the introduction and understood Brown’s life, he told us he thought it was a big gamble, but he’d do it.
Hatch and Brown had a lot in common. Hatch came back from the dinner smiling, and extolling the virtues of Brown and bipartisan work.
That part of the genius of Willie Brown you don’t often hear: He’s a very likable guy, and he will work with people of all factions to get good laws. It’s also a side of Orrin Hatch you don’t often see: He’ll work happily with other factions, when he has the facts of the matters.
Terri Smith’s book is here. Jeanne Lopatto, late of the Department of Energy, toils away in Washington still. [Obama? Clinton? McCain? Bid for the team — it’s a sure bet you don’t want us working for your opposition . . .]
And Willie Brown’s promoting his biography in Dallas tonight. Details below the fold.
Leave a Comment » | History, Politics | Tagged: History, Orrin Hatch, Politics, Willie Brown | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Barack Obama came to Duncanville today. Bill Clinton was two miles away, at Mountain View Community College, yesterday. Texas hasn’t seen this level of attention from presidential candidates since we’ve been in the state (since 1987).
I had tickets to see Obama, but we had a called faculty meeting that ran long; they gave away my seat!
We’ll have to await reports from younger son James, who will be voting for his first time in the primary.
Older son Kenny, and Kathryn, caught Obama downtown, last week.
I think I’m the only one in the family who hasn’t committed to Obama. It’s a phenomenal campaign. More observations later tonight, I hope — off to symphony rehearsal.
Leave a Comment » | Campaigns, Capturing history, Politics, Presidents | Tagged: 2008 campaign, Obama, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Image: Battle of Vera Cruz, artist unknown by me.
If the prossecution of the war has, in expenses, already equalled the better half of the country, how long it’s future prosecution, will be in equalling, the less valuable half, is not a speculative, but a practical question, pressing closely upon us. And yet it is a question which the President seems to never have thought of. As to the mode of terminating the war, and securing peace, the President is equally wandering and indefinite. First, it is to be done by a more vigorous prossecution of the war in the vital parts of the enemies country; and, after apparently, talking himself tired, on this point, the President drops down into a half despairing tone, and tells us that “with a people distracted and divided by contending factions, and a government subject to constant changes, by successive revolutions, the continued success of our arms may fail to secure a satisfactory peace[.]” Then he suggests the propriety of wheedling the Mexican people to desert the counsels of their own leaders, and trusting in our protection, to set up a government from which we can secure a satisfactory peace; telling us, that “this may become the only mode of obtaining such a peace.” But soon he falls into doubt of this too; and then drops back on to the already half abandoned ground of “more vigorous prossecution.[“] All this shows that the President is, in no wise, satisfied with his own positions. First he takes up one, and in attempting to argue us into it, he argues himself out of it; then seizes another, and goes through the same process; and then, confused at being able to think of nothing new, he snatches up the old one again, which he has some time before cast off. His mind, tasked beyond it’s power, is running hither and thither, like some tortured creature, on a burning surface, finding no position, on which it can settle down, and be at ease.
Again, it is a singular omission in this message, that it, no where intimates when the President expects the war to terminate. At it’s beginning, Genl. Scott was, by this same President, driven into disfavor, if not disgrace, for intimating that peace could not be conquered in less than three or four months. But now, at the end of about twenty months, during which time our arms have given us the most splendid successes–every department, and every part, land and water, officers and privates, regulars and volunteers, doing all that men could do, and hundreds of things which it had ever before been thought men could not do,–after all this, this same President gives us a long message, without showing us, that, as to the end, he himself, has, even an imaginary conception. As I have before said, he knows not where he is. He is a bewildered, confounded, and miserably perplexed man. God grant he may be able to show, there is not something about his conscious, more painful than all his mental perplexity!
Leave a Comment » | DBQ sources, Famous quotes, Historic documents, History, Mexican War, Politics, Quotes, War | Tagged: Abraham Lincoln, Politics, Quotes, U.S.-Mexican War, War | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
I was one of Bae’s kids, too.
Sad note from the Hinckley Institute of Politics (note the funeral is today, for those in Salt Lake City):
The former, present, and future interns, staff, faculty, and family of the Hinckley Institute of Politics mourn the passing of former Hinckley Institute Assistant Director, Bae B. Gardner. I first walked in the door of the Hinckley Institute in the fall of 1988. It immediately felt like a second home and the main reason was Bae. I am proudly one of “Bae’s kids.” Unless you share that distinction, it is impossible to fully convey the loss we feel today with Bae’s passing. Bae was not just an administrator to her “kids.” She was a mother, friend, cheerleader, mentor, and confidant. Indeed, she supported and sustained me from that first day as an inquiring student through the present as the Hinckley Institute’s director. Bae had the unique talent of making students feel that they had unlimited potential and the tireless ability to provide them with life-changing opportunities. The Hinckley Institute and I will forever be grateful for the legacy she established and the love she exhibited during her incredible years of service at the Hinckley Institute.
Kirk L. Jowers
Director, Hinckley Institute of PoliticsViewing and Funeral Service
Saturday, February 23rd
Viewing: 11:00 am. Service: 1:00 pm.Foothill LDS 7th Ward Chapel
2215 E. Roosevelt Avenue
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108In lieu of flowers, the Gardner family has suggested that donations may be made to the Bae B. Gardner Internship in Public Policy scholarship fund administered by the Hinckley Institute of Politics. Donations can be made online or by calling the University of Utah Development Office at 801.581.6825. Donations can also be mailed to the Hinckley Institute at 260 S. Central Campus Dr. Rm. 253. Salt Lake City, UT 84112. For more information call the Hinckley Institute of Politics at 801.581.8501.
I had applied for an internship with the National Wildlife Federation. Bae thought I had a chance at a different internship, so she copied the form and sent it to the Secretary of the Senate. I lost the NWF internship on a .01 gradepoint difference. I got the internship at the Senate, and it changed my life.
Of course, I was on the road debating when the word came through that they wanted me in Washington. Bae called me late at night at home, minutes before my acceptance would have been overdue. Four days later I was working in the Capitol. Whenever I meet with other Hinckley Interns, I learn she did more for everyone else.
My first real office was a few feet from the Senate Chamber, with a view down the mall to the Washington Monument, and a chandalier 8 feet across. I got floor privileges to the Senate, and with Mike Mansfield’s name on my ID card, I had access to the White House and almost any other government building in town.
That sort of education is priceless. Thanks to Bae Gardner.
Bae should be remembered as a hero for education, a champion for college kids, and one who played a role in more good public policy decisions than few others in history, by promoting good kids to good experience that they applied later in public service.
I wish the service were streamed on the web somewhere. I’ll bet it’ll be something to see and hear.
3 Comments | Heroes, Personal, Politics | Tagged: Heroes, Higher education, Personal, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
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Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 