Word out of the Governor's office late (yesterday) afternoon has Rick Perry setting Dec. 16 as the date for the runoff election between Democrat Chris Bell and Republican Joan Huffman to fill the unexpired term of retired Sen. Kyle Janek (R-Houston).
Early voting will run from Dec. 8 through Dec. 12 ...
The verdict from Texas scientists is nearly unanimous: 98 percent favor the unadulterated teaching of evolution in public school classrooms, according to a report released Monday as the State Board of Education prepares to weigh in on the controversy.
A vast majority of the scientists say students would be harmed if the state requires the teaching of the "weaknesses" of evolution, according to the survey conducted for the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund, an organization that works on issues involving religious freedom, civil liberties and public education.
"With 94 percent of Texas faculty ... telling me it (teaching the weaknesses) shouldn't be there, I tend to believe them," said Raymond Eve, a sociologist at the University of Texas at Arlington who did the study.
More than 450 biology or biological anthropology professors at 50 Texas colleges and universities participated in a 59-question survey. Many of those faculty members help determine admission of students into Texas' colleges and universities, Eve said.
"Their responses should send parents a clear message that those who want to play politics with science education are putting our kids at risk," he said.
The handling of evolution is the most contentious part in the state's rewrite of the science curriculum standards for public schools. The State Board will have a public hearing on Wednesday and vote on the new science standards early next year. The new guidelines are formally known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS.Social conservatives on the 15-member State Board of Education are likely to push for those standards to include a requirement that high school science teachers teach the weaknesses of evolution.
"There's no one on this board that is trying to inject intelligent design or creationism," said board member David Bradley, R-Beaumont. "They are trying to whip up into a frenzy over something that is not going to happen. But by trying to remove strengths and weaknesses, yes, they will get a fight."
Unfortunately we failed to knock Dominionist David Bradey off the SBOE. Here's another example of what we're up against:
Public school students should be exposed to all sides of the evolution debate, said Casey Luskin, a spokesman for the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, a conservative think tank that advocates the teaching of evidence for and against evolution in public schools.
"It's a facade to pretend that there are no scientific weaknesses of evolution, and not teaching the scientific weaknesses to students will prevent them from learning about the facts of biology, and it will harm their critical thinking skills," Luskin said.
He downplayed the survey of Texas scientists.
"This self-selecting survey shows just how ideological the Darwinists have become because they are now resorting to scientific votes to reinforce a climate of intimidation that shuts down scientific criticism of evolution," Luskin said.
A report by the famous -- or is it infamous -- Open Source Dem:
The purpose, if any, of the initial meeting of the SDEC was to initiate newly-elected members into the peculiar ways of the TDP. The most notable aspect of the meeting was that which was not mentioned:
There was no mention of Barack Obama’s campaign or election.
There was no mention of registration or turnout differentials on statewide and local races.
There was no mention of the lawsuit newly filed in Harris County over voter-registration issues.
The SDEC itself was described as the “legislative” arm of the party. Members were told they were “conduits”; money up and message down. They were warned against tinkering with the rules or questioning received wisdom as to interpretation of statutes.
Some notable success in local elections was attributed exclusively to providential intervention of the late Fred Baron, his anointed prophet, Matt Angle, and their worshipful apostles in Austin. Since this divine guidance is already perfect, there will evidently be no need to consider lessons learned from success or failure, for instance, of 3.7 $MM in campaign expenditure (a) including no GOTV outlay, as directed by the previous SDEC, (b) disclosed only after the fact, and (c) mostly squandered on media in losing races.
Hey, let's start an argument. Did the Democrats' big push in Harris County succeed this year? It all depends on your expectation.
The bottom line:If you're a Democrat who thought this year's effort was going to be like the old eyedrops Murine -- and take the red out of Houston -- maybe you should be seeing red.
But if you're a Democrat who was just looking for progress in Harris County -- which until Nov. 4 hadn't voted Democratic in a presidential election since 1964; and in a countywide race, since 1994 -- you could be smiling.
Democrats won the straight ticket vote by over 40K while losing it by over 40K just 4 years ago.None of this was an accident or good luck. Democrats worked together, devised a smart and realistic strategic plan and stuck to it. They raised money and spent it strategically, using sophisticated targeting and clear messages. They did not count on an Obama wave but were able to take advantage of the enthusiasm for Obama. They made a clear, strong case that Republican leadership in Harris County had failed.
Harris County Republicans were not caught off guard. They raised and spent more than Democrats. They simply got outworked and outmanuevered.
Harris County has moved from being a Republican County to one where Democrats have a marginal advantage. It will take continued work and commitment by local Dems to grow and lock in this advantage.
Lower-than-expected turnout—especially on Election Day—scuttled Democratic hopes for a sweep. The Harris County Democratic Party hoped that 1.3 million voters would cast ballots. And during the early voting period, when more than 726,000 people voted, Democrats seemed well on their way to hitting their turnout targets. Most Democratic candidates led their races in the early voter totals.But the plan fell apart on Election Day. Not even 450,000 voters turned out on November 4, roughly 200,000 fewer than expected. The GOP dominated among those voters. It was the scenario feared by some Democratic activists, who had worried that the Harris County coordinated campaign wasn’t devoting enough resources to get-out-the-vote efforts. They had few paid organizers focused on ushering voters to the polls.
Harris County is majority Democratic—at least on paper—if only they all voted, says Fred Lewis, who worked on Democratic campaign efforts in Houston. Democrats don’t need to persuade people with advertising. They have enough potential voters. The problem has been low turnout. And it still is.
Mann, like Wythe, doesn't blame any demographic or geographic for it, but there's going to be some devils in those details. And there's always a little room for finger-pointing and recriminations.
