Texas Rewrites History: Part Two

Texas, how could you? Two years ago we were concerned about the religiously-biased advisors who were planning to restructure the Texas Social Studies curriculum to "emphasize the roles of the Bible, the Christian faith and the civic virtue of religion in the study of American history."

Now not only has that passed, but a whole bunch of important facts have been written out of the Texas history books. Like what?

1. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams are no longer important founding fathers. The important ones are Christian thinkers like Benjamin Rush, John Hancock and John Jay. (To quote John Jay; "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers. And it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.")

2. That labor movement in the 1900s that got us worker's rights and trade unions? Not important anymore. Instead students will learn how "the free enterprise system drives technological innovation ... such as cell phones, inexpensive personal computers and global positioning products."

3. Malcom X was not an important historical figure; he will no longer be in textbooks. But instead Texans will study moral thinker Jerry Falwell, who believes that "feminists and homosexuals were partially responsible for the 9/11 attacks."

So...how would you like to go to school in Texas?

Texas: Now Unquestionably the Reddest State Ever

When I wrote about Hell-On-Earth heatwave disasters last week, I thought I was being clever. Now there's an actual RIVER OF BLOOD in Texas, and I'm afraid that we'll see a plague of locusts next. Seriously, what the frick? I don't believe in the Bible but when The Weather Channel starts sounding like the the End of Days, you have to take note.

This Red River is not actual blood, but a bacterial sludge fed by dead fish and oil runoff pollution. Intense drought and heat lowered the San Angelo water so much that it became stagnant, unable to move. While the water evaporated, the pollution stayed behind, and the remaining muck was too toxic to support the fish. As they all died, their rotting corpses robbed the water of oxygen, which made it a perfect environment for the Rosy-faced Chromatiaceae bacteria.

So, although not actual blood, the San Angelo Reservoir is looking pretty scary. The worst part? These Red Rivers lead to a Red Lake, which actually provides DRINKING water for San Angelo and its surrounding communities in Tom Green County. I haven't heard of anyone turning on their tap and screaming bloody murder, so the drought must have kept this reservoir from reaching the pipelines. SO FAR. God only knows what will happen the next time a rainstorm hits Texas.

Don't Post that Video!

Don't share a copyrighted video on your site, because now you can get arrested. Brian McCarthy is a 32-year-old Texan who ran channelsurfing.net until he was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week. Channelsurfing.net let users watch videos that were not supposed to be free, including sports and pay-per-view events. By embedding these videos on his site, Brian only linked to someone else's copy of the vid, he did not possess the file anywhere on his web space. He did allow users to watch pirated videos without leaving his website. Brian made $90,000+ a year from advertisers on his site.

By doing this, Brian managed to upset the UFC, WWE, NFL, NBA, and NHL who were supposed to be charging to broadcast these events. He now faces up to 5 years in prison.

Should Brian be going to jail? Copyright infringement is normally a civil offense, NOT criminal. But Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is claiming it's criminal this time because Brian profited off the distribution of illegal content. This is a stretch in the power of ICE, because no one has been arrested who didn't actually host pirated content before.

Now, what Brian did at channelsurfing.net is something like building a house with windows where you can look out and see something illegal. He then let people into this house for free and encouraged them to watch the illegal goings-on, while making a profit from advertisements in the house. He is only the secondary offender and has not created the illegal content himself. Really, Brian's crime is promoting free information while finding another way to make a profit. And now ICE says that is a criminal offense.

If Brian goes to jail, its likely more people will get arrested or fined for embedding copyrighted videos on their site. Techdirt.com writes, "it should worry almost anyone who has a website and has ever embedded videos. I have, for example, frequently embedded YouTube videos on this site -- and some of those videos might have been infringing. On top of that, I make some money from advertising on this site. Does that mean I now face criminal liability? I certainly hope not, but that seems to be the incredibly chilling message that ICE is sending. It immediately makes me question if I can ever embed another video without first getting explicit permission from the copyright holder."

While we all laugh at the fact that "ICE" is "chilling," let's think about this. The internet makes it very easy to share information. Do we want to change that by arresting people for sharing certain kinds of information? Internet censorship is already on the rise. Countries and schools can block any site deemed offensive or inappropriate. If we don't stop censorship at some point, how soon until we are all forced to "see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil?"

Texas Rewrites History

Would you like all the value of sending your kids to Sunday school, without having to pay any tuition? Then you may be interested in moving to Texas, the first state to consider making Christian values a priority in public schools.

The Texas Board of Education appointed six experts to review the state's social studies curriculum. My favorite is Reverend Peter Marshall, an evangelical minister who preaches that Watergate, the Vietnam War and Hurricane Katrina were God's judgments on the nation's sexual immorality. The other reviewers are not as exciting, only half of them identify as conservative. Their goals include a desire to "emphasize the roles of the Bible, the Christian faith and the civic virtue of religion in the study of American history." These 3 members say the new curriculum "should clearly present Christianity as an overall force for good -- and a key reason for American exceptionalism, the notion that the country stands above and apart."

Will these changes actually take place? Well, it's still early in the process. The above recommendations will go to Texas teachers who are meeting this summer to write new standards. They can accept, modify, or reject any suggestions from the expert panel. Whatever the teachers deem best will be sent to the Texas Board of Ed, the only group who can actually revise the standards. Bur for those of you unable to afford Catholic school, there's still hope. The 15-member Board of Ed is known as a conservative-dominated body.