Thursday, January 14, 2010

Texas: Gettin' Dumber!

While looking at Texas' relentless pursuit to make itself as stupid as possible, it's difficult to decide which tactic will be the most efficient: refusing to accept the just-began-under-SocialBama's commie policy of using government money for education, or changing history textbooks to reflect a history that is unrecognizable to the rest of the world. Will be fun to watch.  But the textbook bit I like because it 1) is absolutely batshit and 2) points to something that I already knew about:
Texas is the nation’s second-largest textbook market and one of the few biggies where the state picks what books schools can buy rather than leaving it up to the whims of local districts, which means publishers that get their books approved can count on millions of dollars in sales.
I actually knew this because of my having met Eric Kraft, the creator of Xmastime Hall of Famer Peter Leroy, which gives me another chance to implore everybody to buy the book!  :)
Mostly I'm reminded of a college professor who introduced me to my super-slice Peter Leroy, and his telling of the first time he met the author Eric Kraft - he had been expecting to meet a small-time, scrambling to have his little stories published in whatever periodical would have them writer. Turns out Kraft had put together a series of children's textbooks that were accepted as the standard curricula for Texas and California. My professor was still chuckling almost two decades later at his slight disappointment upon seeing Kraft come rolling up the street in his brand new Porsche.

2 comments:

mlgolden said...

Just confirmed. DT & the Shakes, the Rational Herdsmen & and possible unconfirmed guests will reunite for one show 6/26/10. Cardinal Point Winery, Afton, VA. many more details to follow!

Xmastime said...

"Xmastime likes this"