Watch The Revisionaries on PBS. See more from Independent Lens.

From PBS, "The Revisionaries" is an important look at how a few right wing religious fanatics duped a state into teaching kids in public schools that evolution and creationism in science class, and that students need to be taught about the importance of the "Heritage Foundation" in history textbooks.

Once every decade, the highly politicized Texas State Board of Education rewrites the teaching and textbook standards for its nearly five million schoolchildren. When an unabashed creationist seeks re-election as chairman, the theory of evolution and U.S. history are caught in the crosshairs, which could impact the classroom curricula not only of Texas, but also of the nation as a whole.

This is a must see in order to keep it from happening in other states.

In Austin, Texas, 15 people influence what is taught to the next generation of American children. Once every decade, the highly politicized Texas State Board of Education rewrites the teaching and textbook standards for its nearly five million schoolchildren. And when it comes to textbooks, what happens in Texas affects the nation as a whole. Texas is one of the nation's largest textbook markets because it is one of the few where the state decides what books schools can buy rather than leaving it up to local districts, which means publishers that get their books approved can count on millions of dollars in sales. Further, publishers craft their standard textbooks based on the requirements of the biggest buyers. As a result, the Texas board has the power to shape the textbooks that children around the country read for years to come.

Don McLeroy, a dentist, Sunday school teacher, and avowed young-earth creationist, leads the Religious Right charge. After briefly serving on his local school board, McLeroy was elected to the Texas State Board of Education and later appointed chairman. During his time on the board, McLeroy has overseen the adoption of new science and history curriculum standards, drawing national attention and placing Texas on the front line of the so-called “culture wars.”

In his last term, McLeroy, aided by Cynthia Dunbar, an attorney from Houston and professor of Law at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, finds himself not only fighting to change what Americans are taught, but also fighting to retain his seat on the board. Challenged by Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, and Ron Wetherington, an anthropology professor from Southern Methodist University in Texas, McLeroy faces his toughest term yet.

The Revisionaries shines a spotlight on the key players effecting U.S. high school textbooks, with characters representing a wide array of personalities and desires. Some see the board as a stepping-stone to future political success. Others see it as their ordained quest to preserve the teachings of the Bible. Still others see it as their duty to ensure that their children, who are in the public schools, have access to the best possible education that will prepare them to compete for jobs in the global marketplace. In all of this, one thing is assured, these board members are in the right place at the right time. They have the opportunity to affect a generation of Americans.

Filmed for over three years, filmmaker Scott Thurman has captured all of the intense debates, vote trading, and compromises amongst the board members. He shows the back room discussions between the board members and the experts, and is with them as they make their decisions. But, first and foremost, The Revisionaries is about people, those few passionate citizens who are fighting to shape the course of American education, and the future of America with it.

The Revisionaries is 55 minutes long, and you can watch it here or here at PBS's website.

The company that syndicates Rush Limbaugh entered a float into the Christmas Parade in Raleigh, North Carolina...what could possibly go wrong?

Bob Dumas is the local right-wing shock jock in Raleigh, North Carolina. He and his show G105 “Showgram” decided to have a "special" float .

As described by the News & Observer:

The entry featured a black man dressed in a skirt with fairy wings, strapped to a harness that was suspended from the back of a tow truck. Dumas, riding on the float, described the scene to parade goers as “Tyrone the Black Christmas Fairy” who was going to turn “crackers” into Beyonce.

No need to adjust the settings on your computer, or make an emergency appointment with the optometrist, it says exactly what you think it says.

Radio Ink reports that the stunt follows "a familiar pattern: the hosts enrage some of the local citizenry, Showgram fans rally to their defense, the station gets free publicity and then apologizes."

Jennifer Martin of The Greater Raleigh Merchants Association told Radio Ink:

“We were told it would be the ghost of Christmas Present Angel, and he would be floating over the air and not hanging from the back,” Martin said. “I can tell you we are going to have a sit-down with G105 with and their producers.”

Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane wrote on Facebook to a concerned citizen. “Raleigh will not tolerate racism or anything that comes remotely close. This parade is a Raleigh tradition that includes everyone and should be treated as such.”

Jennifer Martin, executive director of the merchants association, said “They apologized for what they’ve done and they regret that what they did was insensitive, and they will not be doing that display again.”

Got that? No racism in Raleigh, so just move along now...nothing to see here.

Democracy Now! premieres "The United States of ALEC," a special report by legendary journalist Bill Moyers on how the secretive American Legislative Exchange Council has helped corporate America propose and even draft legislation for states across the country. ALEC brings together major U.S. corporations and right-wing legislators to craft and vote on "model" bills behind closed doors. It has come under increasing scrutiny for its role in promoting "stand your ground" gun laws, voter suppression bills, union-busting policies and other controversial legislation. Although billing itself as a "nonpartisan public-private partnership," ALEC is actually a national network of state politicians and powerful corporations principally concerned with increasing corporate profits without public scrutiny. Moyers’ special will air this weekend on Moyers & Company, but first airs on Democracy Now! today. "The United States of ALEC" is a collaboration between Okapi Productions, LLC and the Schumann Media Center.

A full transcript is available online here.

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Conservative columnist and Fox News commentator, Michelle Malkin is having a really tough time lately. As she throws gasoline on every fire, or would-be fire that comes up in the media, no one will dance around the flames with her. It seems it's getting difficult to be a right-wing extremist these days.

On Wednesday, Malkin thought she was going to have a great day after catching wind of a couple of reporters who were captured planning to ensure that Romney was asked if he regretted the tone and timing of his statement condemning President Barack Obama’s response to Tuesday’s embassy attacks.

“If it looks, sounds, talks like journo-tools for Obama, it is what it is,” said Malkin.

Imagine her dismay when told that The Hill columnist Juan Williams said that coordinating a line of questioning ahead of a press conference was a common practice among reporters. Perhaps sensing that the flames she was trying to ignite would diminish, she declared to Sean Hannity that she had "seen how the sausage is made in these sausage factories," so maybe when no one will dance around her flames she holds cook outs? Sort of like when life hands you lemons, make lemonade?

It wasn't long for Ms. Malkin to wait before the fatal attacks in Libya lit a spark in her again this week. "These optics suck," she angrily yelped on Fox News. As she blasted the Obama administration for not being psychic and fortifying "these embassies on the 11th anniversary of 9-11," I thought to myself that first of all, it wasn't an embassy that was attacked, it was a consulate that Ambassador Stevens was visiting. Then next, I wondered if she called up George W. Bush every year to blast him for not fortifying our foreign embassies? Probably not, eh?

Next thing I knew, Malkin is literally screaming that basically everyone should be as angry as she is because "Every Friday is riot Friday," and she really wants us to remember that because she seemed really just beside herself as she cried out "Will we ever forget? Never forget!" It was hard to believe that Hannity let her ramble on like that, you'd think he would be rather embarrassed to have her on the show. There was no mention of meat during that episode.

I'm not sure of the date of the next time I caught Ms. Malkin on Fox News, but she was trying to start a fire with Chris Rock, and he's a funny guy. First, Malkin screeches that "Left-wing "Holly-Weirdos" are sooo out of touch with the American mainstream," which made me laugh just a little. A right-wing extremist like Malkin accusing Hollywood of being out of touch with the mainstream? The irony! But then she brings up a graphic with a copy of one of Chris Rock's "tweets" from back on July 4th that said:

"Happy white peoples independence day the slaves weren't free but i'm sure they enjoyed the fireworks"

You can see in the video how unhinged she gets over this one as she screams out "Chris Rock, You make a living running your mouth off. Hey! Just like me. That's something to celebrate. You can't do that everywhere else in the world, you know!"

Maybe someone should tell her that Chris is a comedian, and also that he has a point. Now that he mentions it, blacks celebrating "freedom" while they were still in chains in this country...well, I'm just saying, he has a point.

That was all I caught of Michelle Malkin screaming this week, and it sure was more than enough. Even fellow Fox News contributor Tamara Holder said of Malkin, "I don't know her personally, but I am not a fan of her debating style. I think she probably needs to get laid. She's very angry." Malkin mentions this on her Facebook page...blames it on the "Vulgar left." Always with the gas on the fire, and it's always the left's fault.

A federal judge has refused to throw out a request from James O’Keefe, who infamously and secretly filmed an ACORN worker while supposedly pretending to be a pimp. The selectively-edited video, typical of O’Keefe’s punk hackery, ultimately led to the defunding of ACORN by Congress and its subsequent bankruptcy.

The video above, from The Rachel Maddow Show that originally aired on April 6, 2010, is part one of that show that details the unedited version of O'Keefe's video which was initially used to depict the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) as assisting a pimp and his accompanying prostitute in human trafficking to show that... wasn't... quite... how it happened.

This portion of the video details everything, including how the defunding of ACORN by Congress was later ruled unconstitutional, and the GAO's 38-page report that surveyed over 31 federal agencies, probing how ACORN used federal funds and whether adequate controls on spending existed. The report found no evidence of fraud, lax oversight or misuse of federal funds. All this came too late for the not-for-profit group, unfortunately. Part two of the show can be viewed here.

Yet even with the release of the original videos before they were edited, and being completely cleared of any wrongdoing by Congress, disparaging reports continue to pop up in the conservative media. Conveniently, they "forget" to mention that fake scandalmonger O'Keefe is a convicted criminal, or that ACORN was cleared by Congress.

Juan Carlos Vera sued O’Keefe, and his associate Hanna Giles in Federal Court on privacy claims, related to O’Keefe secretly filming Vera at an ACORN office in National City in 2009.

Courthouse News Service reports:

"ACORN is in the business of providing counseling and support for the community on various matters," Lorenz wrote. "By its very nature, the organization handles personal matters with individual clients. Defendants walked into ACORN and asked for plaintiff's help with tax forms. ... Specifically, they solicited his help with setting up an illegal prostitution business with underaged girls. ... Plaintiff, as a worker for an organization like ACORN, reasonably believed that the content of the conversation was sensitive enough that it would remain private."
O'Keefe duped Vera by asking if the conversation would remain confidential, before he launched into details of the nonexistent scheme, Lorenz wrote.
Over the course of a 40-minute conversation, Lorenz noted, the three "abruptly paused their conversation" after Vera's supervisor, David Lagstein, entered the office, and continued talking after the supervisor left.
"Based on the surrounding circumstances, plaintiff reasonably believed that the conversation was private because it was held in his office with no one else present, and he believed that no one else was listening in on his conversation," Lorenz wrote.
Because of this "genuine dispute," Lorenz denied O'Keefe's motion for summary judgment.

Pretrial hearings are set for October 15, 2012.

I happen to know a few former ACORNS, all wonderful, kind-hearted people who -- not surprisingly -- again work helping those in need. (Yes, Fox News, former ACORNS have new jobs...is that okay with you?)

If having a day in court with James O'Keefe brings them any solace or would bring some sense of justice, after all the years of great service they provided while with ACORN, and enduring this right-wing witch-hunt, let the ACORN lawsuits commence.

Your Moment of Clarity #162: Your Vote WILL Be Stolen And Here's How.

Keep fighting,

~Lee

Bill opens this week’s show by explaining how last week’s Supreme Court decision not to reconsider Citizens United exposes the hoax that Citizens United was ever about “free” speech. In reality, Bill says, it’s about carpet bombing elections “with all the tonnage your rich paymasters want to buy.”

Full transcript after the jump...

Continue reading »

I received an email from Melanie Nathan, co-producer of "Gay U.S.A. The Movie", with the video trailer for the film above. You may recall reading about Melanie and producer Kristina Lapinski here at Occupy America, and their brave confrontation with Rick Santorum over gay rights.

According to Lapinski, "The prime goal of the film is to educate those who are uninformed, misinformed or indifferent about the gay community and our fight for equality. My goal is to complete this film in time for 2012 elections to influence those voting on ballot measures across the county."

I have covered almost every aspect of the LGBT movement’s struggle on political and social issues from across the United States in a way that also reaches across the generational divide. Nothing like this has ever been done before that covers the full spectrum of issues.

The film has led me to stories from individuals and families to politicians, activists, and to clergy. I have spent time living in the homes of my characters, including PFLAG mom, Janet Souza, a Christian, who embraced her gay son though her journey of reconciliation, and a lesbian couple , Carol & Nan in New York who could finally marry after 38 years together.

I have interviewed the service members impacted by Don´t Ask Don´t tell, and stayed with the Wilfahrt family who lost their gay son, Corp. Andrew Wilfahrt in the Afghanistan War. The Wilfahrts are now fighting to keep their state of Minnesota from a marriage amendment in the Constitution.

I have filmed myself having a confrontation with Newt Gingrich & Rick Santorum at an exclusive Tea Party debate, and I have been baptized by Rick Warren while coming out as a lesbian.

The full list of participants including featured stories, well known people in the LGBT movement and politicians can be found at www.gayusathemovie.com/about.

The film runs through all cycles of life, from the happiest to the saddest of scenes, weddings to teen suicide memorials. It covers so much.

Now I am ready to shoot the final phase of the project and then will head into post production.

Wouldn't it be a kick in the pants to right-wing hatemongers like Rick Santorum if his own anti-gay rhetoric helped lead a push that not only helped these two talented women finish their film, but also led a charge towards true LGBT equality under the law?

If you'd like to help contribute to see this film completed, you can do so online here. The pair have a modest goal of $7,500 left to achieve their goal.