See blog entry below. Check back this week for detailed analysis.
Christmas & Social Studies Vote Next Week! Sign the Petition & Act Now!
January 5, 2010Click here for an update on this issuehttps://texaslegislativeupdate.wordpress.com/
Sign the “Keep Christmas” Petition. http://www.christmastextbooks.com/
Will Christmas stay or go? Will the Founding Fathers be given the respect they deserve? Will Columbus be buried in a lone corner of the curriculum? Will the effort to remove Veterans Day be stopped once and for all. Will teaching about our state and national religious heritage be changed? And much more!
Just a few questions that could receive more clear answers next week at the State Board of Education hearing & VOTE on all of the statewide Social Studies curriculum for K-12, next Wednesday. This hearing and VOTE will affect every public school student.
SIGN OUR PETITION!!! (Click link for petition) http://www.christmastextbooks.com/ Don’t Mess With Christmas in Texas!!
We will deliver the petition results and numbers to the SBOE members next week.
After months of discussion……………..THE SBOE WILL VOTE ON THESE ISSUES NEXT WEEK!!
We need educators (former and current) and parents, and others to come testify with us at the hearing!
This Friday from 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., you can call 512-463-9581 or fax: 512-936-4319 to have your name on the testimony list for the Wednesday, January 13th hearing at the TEA building, here in Austin.
You want to testify on Item #6 for next Wednesday. http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=7691
If you plan to testify and/or attend, please let us know so we can be of help to you. email us at legislative@freemarket.org
If you cannot come to testify, please call your State Board of Education member and let them know your concern for the future of Social Studies curriculum in Texas. Tell them to keep Christmas, respect the Founding Fathers and preserve our religious heritage in Social Studies classes. Click here for contact information. https://texaslegislativeupdate.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/texas-state-board-of-education-contact-information/
Want to Make A Difference for Faith, Family & Freedoms? Give A Year-End Gift
December 28, 2009Click here to Donate to our work TODAY!
(President of Free Market Foundation shown above as legal counsel for Hannah Giles, who helping take down ACORN.)
As you know, we, at Free Market Foundation/Liberty Legal Institute, are a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization. We are funded solely by private donations. We could not do the work we do without the support of so many generous persons.
But our battles (and victories) have been many this year, and we need a strong December and finish for 2009 to cover the expenses for defending freedoms and family values in the courts, legislature and media.
Click here to donate to our work today!
2009 HIGHLIGHTS/VICTORIES!!!
In the Courts
- We won our third landmark case on religious freedom in the past three years at the Texas Supreme Court – this time protecting all churches in an opinion that national experts hailed as “groundbreaking”.
- We won the first written decision from the IRS for pastors and churches nationwide in over a decade, explicitly protecting pastors’ rights to speak to the political issues of the day and equip their congregants to vote their values.
- We argued, along with the Texas Solicitor General, at the Federal Court of Appeals to defend the Texas Moment of Silence law, and we won! Now, we’re fighting again at federal appeals to defend the words “under God” in the Texas pledge in a lawsuit brought by an atheist plaintiff.
- And there’s more- our brief was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Summum case; we’ve won numerous victories for churches literally being banned from existing; we represent Hannah Giles, who has been sued by ACORN; we represent all the major veterans groups in the Mojave Desert Cross case at the U.S. Supreme Court; and, we represent Houston City Councilwoman, Ann Clutterbuck, in a lawsuit brought to try to ban prayers at city council meetings.
In the Legislature
We won the major battle at our State Board of Education, stopping the liberal attempt to strip our students of academic freedom and their right to test the strengths and weaknesses of all scientific theories, including evolution.
- We led the charge, reversing the State Board of Education committee decision to remove Christmas from the coverage of religious holidays in our Social Studies books and standards.
- We won a last-minute veto from the Governor on a frightening bill which would have changed the Texas law on parental rights to allow government officials to take away and interrogate anyone’s children with no notice or requirement of “just cause.”
- Defeated Planned Parenthood’s attempt to takeover sex education in Texas.
- Defeated dangerous so-called “Hate Crimes” legislation.
- We helped lead the largest Pro-Life lobby day at the Capitol, with live ultrasounds performed for legislators.
- We tracked over 150 bills, testified in 25 legislative hearings, and held 9 press conferences during the Texas Legislative Session.
- Had nearly 50,000 hits on our Texas Legislative Update Blog
In the Media/Culture
- We were featured in over 2,000 interviews and stories this year including O’Reilly, Hannity, ABC National News, CNN, the New York Times, C-SPAN, the front page of the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and many, many other national and local media.
- We held two major press conferences at the National Press Club as well as others outside the U.S. Supreme Court including the Mojave Desert Memorial case where the ACLU is attacking the cross and our veterans’ memorials nationwide.
- We launched www.donttearmedown.com leading to more than two million views of our video and to interviews reaching 10 million through radio and t.v. alone.
$450,000 Taxpayer Dollars for Abortions & Planned Parenthood in Texas? Action Item!
December 2, 2009Update! A vote will come this Thursday, December 10 by the Travis Count Health District (TCHD)! The sign up for the meeting will start at 5:00 p.m. and the meeting will start at 5:30 p.m. and this is only issue on the agenda for the meeting. Call now (512-978-8000) to stop this! Email us if you can come testify against this proposal this week, on Thursday, or if you would just like to stand with us at the hearing! legislative@freemarket.org
See Details below. Click here to DOWNLOAD & SIGN THE PETITION! Petition against TCHD property tax-funded abortions Fill up the the petition and send it back to us by Wednesday, Dec. 9th; FAX to: 512-478-2229.
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The Travis County Health District will meet this week, Thursday, December 10th, at 5:00 p.m., to have a public hearing, only to discuss and vote on $450,000 of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions. We also have reason to believe that Planned Parenthood will be seeking a portion of this money. See more details from the last hearing on this by clicking here.
STAND WITH US & STOP THIS IRRESPONSIBLE SPENDING: Call the Travis County Health District (512-978-8000) and tell them you don’t want your tax dollars to be used to pay for abortions. If you live in the Travis County area or know people that do, PLEASE alert them to this problem! They TCHD will vote next week and you can rest assured they are being heavily influenced by the pro-abortion lobbyists and staff.
Planned Parenthood had two persons there testifying IN FAVOR of tax dollars being used for abortions at the last TCHD meeting on this issue.
Email us at legislative@freemarket.org if you would like to come to the hearing next week. We need your local support!
Make a Call! 512-978-8000
Send a Fax! 512-978-8156
LOCATION for Hearing on December 10th:
Travis County Commissioners Courtroom
Granger Building, First Floor
314 West 11th Street
Austin, Texas
We will be testifying ourselves, but we need a huge turnout from Travis county residents to also testify! We will help you prepare for the 1-3 minutes you will have to speak.
Click here for details of more Government funding of PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN TEXAS. https://texaslegislativeupdate.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/planned-parenthood-sex-ed-with-goverment-funding-controversy-continues/
Bible Curriculum Starts in Public Schools!
August 26, 2009Click below for more details about how we successfully fought off attacks by the ACLU and Austin Liberals to defend the well-established constitutional right to having Bible curriculum in public school. This link includes details about the new state law that went into effect this school year and how the ACLU agreed that a Bible can be used as a textbook in public schools!!
Click here for important details http://www.freemarket.org/Legislature_Issues_BibleCurriculum.aspx
Here’s some of our analysis on Bible curriculum:
Purpose – to help students understand history and culture, and great works of art and literature. See the following examples:
- Literary works – Shakespeare, John Milton, Canterbury Tales
They presuppose that one has some knowledge of the Bible and that knowledge will assist in a greater understanding of such literature. - Arts – Painting of the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci (considered “one of the most widely appreciated masterpieces in the world).
- The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy -“No one in the English-speaking world can be considered literate without a basic knowledge of the Bible…The Bible is also essential for understanding many of the moral and spiritual values of our culture, whatever our religious beliefs.”
- The American School Board Journal reported in 1998 that 80% of the respondents to its poll favor teaching the Bible in public schools.
Constitutional: The United States Supreme Court has stated –
- “[I]t might well be said that one’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment,” School Dist. of Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 225 (1963)(June 17, 1963)
- The “study of religions and of the Bible from a literary and historic viewpoint, presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, need not collide with the First Amendment’s prohibition…” Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97, 106 (1968)(November 12, 1968)
For more on Bible curriculum, visit http://www.freemarket.org/Legislature_Issues_BibleCurriculum.aspx.