Don't Move to Texas

The current big news is Texas's new Board of Education statewide curriculum.
It is utter [insert derogatory word of choice].

First off; the things added:

• Republican resurgency
• National Rifle Association
• Required to include that the Founding Fathers possibly didn't really mean that the church and state should be seperated.

Next; the vocabulary replaced:

• Imperialism to expansionism
• Capitolism to free trade system
• Slave trade to atlantic triangular trade

Last; a paraphrase of a quote from the Nightly News: the Board wasn't "trying to make it conservative, they were trying to move it toward the middle".

This is especially disturbing since I just finished reading the book Lies My Teacher Told Me.

Links to other reports:

Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change

Progressive Texas Board of Education Candidates Promise to Undo Textbook Changes

Jefferson v Board of Education

Brief History: The Textbook Wars

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Some links for you all

I'll be out for awhile, so here's entertaining and sometimes-informative links.

Compare the House, Senate, and Reconciliation Bills
Top Ten Notable Apocalypses That (Obviously) Didn't Happen
Why Do People Swear?
Narcissism Epidemic Spreads Among College Students

Omega Males and the Women Who Hate Them - this one is a list of stereotypes. I can't really comment on this one, not being in any of the categories listed. Any guys want to add some input?

Enjoy your varied Spring/Easter Breaks and Times, everyone!

Thanksgiving: It's historically innnacurate

Truth.
Here are misconceptions about the great American holiday.

The Puritans came to America.
The Puritans did not come to America. The Separatists came to America.

The Pilgrims were from England.
They went from England to the Netherlands and then back to England and took a ship to America.

The Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower.
They originally had two ships: the Mayflower and the Speedwell. The Speedwell was too leaky to make the transatlantic voyage.

The Pilgrims came to America to flee from religious persecution.
Not all of them. Just over half of the people we now call Pilgrims were on the trip to make money off the land. The Separatists called them the Strangers.

The Pilgrims landed in Plymouth.
They were aiming for northern Virginia (they were being funded by the Virginia Company) and turned up off the coast of Cape Cod. They tried to correct course, but were forced back to Cape Cod and made first landfall in Princetown. They resupplied and then sailed to Plymouth, which wasn't even Plymouth; it was the area John Smith had named Patuxet.

Samoset and Squanto helped the Pilgrims through the winter.
Samoset and Tisquantum helped the Pilgrims through the winter.

Surely there are some people at this point going, 'no, that's wrong; Thanksgiving never happened anything like that!'. Go take it up with National Geographic. They published the book all this is from.