By the Book

The Texas Board of Education is being persuaded to purchase textbooks that give a decidedly conservative slant to history to counteract what they consider to be liberal "propaganda" in the current crop of history books published for the public schools.

The conservative bloc on the Texas State Board of Education won a string of victories Friday, obtaining approval for an amendment requiring high school U.S. history students to know about Phyllis Schlafly and the Contract with America as well as inserting a clause that aims to justify McCarthyism.

Outspoken conservative board member Don McLeroy, who reportedly spent over three hours personally proposing changes to the textbook standards, even wanted to cut "hip-hop" in favor of "country" in a section about the impact of cultural movements. That amendment failed.

The board also voted to delay further debate on the nationally influential standards until March, with a final adoption vote now scheduled for May.

It sounds like they've removed the word "irony" from their state-approved dictionaries.

Crossposted.