Texas

Could Texas' Gingrich-Based High School History Curriculum Go National?

Justin Elliott | September 4, 2009, 9:02AM

While Republicans are busy gnashing their teeth over President Obama's imminent indoctrination of the nation's schoolchildren, there's an education story bubbling up in Texas that could have considerably more far-reaching consequences.

The GOP-controlled State Board of Education is working on a new set of statewide textbook standards for, among other subjects, U.S. History Studies Since Reconstruction. And it turns out what the board decides may end up having implications far beyond the Lone Star State.

The first draft of the standards, released at the end of July, is a doozy. It lays out a kind of Human Events version of U.S. history.

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Topics: Newt Gingrich, Texas, Textbooks

War In Afghanistan

Study: More Contractors In Afghanistan Than Military Personnel -- Highest Ratio Ever

Justin Elliott | September 1, 2009, 11:44AM

Private Defense Department contractors outnumber the ranks of uniformed U.S. military in Afghanistan, according to a Congressional Research Service study obtained by the invaluable Secrecy News.

As of March, there were over 68,000 contractors in Afghanistan and over 52,000 military personnel (Read the report in .pdf format here.)

At 57% of total Defense Department workforce, the number of contractors represents "the highest recorded percentage of contractors used by DOD in any conflict in the history of the United States," the study concludes.

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Topics: Afghanistan, War In Afghanistan

Faithful Word Baptist Church

Secret Service 'Aware Of' Gun-Toter And Pastor's Prayers For Obama To Die

Justin Elliott | August 31, 2009, 12:14PM

Asked about pastor Steven Anderson and gun-toter Chris Broughton's repeated wishes for President Barack Obama to die, Special Agent Darrin Blackford of the Secret Service sends along this statement:

"We are aware of the situation and appropriate follow up will be conducted."

Broughton is the member of Anderson's Faithful Word Baptist Church who brought an AR-15 rifle and a hand gun to an Obama event in Phoenix earlier this month. Anderson later confirmed to TPMmuckraker that just 24 hours before that show of arms-bearing, Broughton attended the pastor's fiery sermon in which he prayed for "Obama to melt like a snail tonight" for being a "socialist devil, murderer, infanticide."

And yesterday, Broughton and Anderson took their statements even further, with the pastor saying he'd like Obama to die of brain cancer like Ted Kennedy, and Broughton for the first time publicly saying that he, too, would like the president to be dead.

No word on what form the Secret Service's follow up will take. And the agency would not comment on a CNN report that it interviewed Anderson.

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Topics: Chris Broughton, Faithful Word Baptist Church, Gun-Toters, Steven Anderson

Gun-Toters

Gun-Toter From Obama Event: I, Like My Pastor, Want The President To Die

Justin Elliott | August 31, 2009, 11:18AM

The violent anti-Obama sentiment coming out of central Arizona managed to get still more toxic over the weekend.

Chris Broughton, the man who brought an AR-15 rifle and a handgun to an Arizona Obama rally earlier this month, says he "concurs" with his fundamentalist pastor's prayer for President Obama "to die and go to hell."

And in an interview with a local TV station, pastor Steven Anderson himself elaborated on his statement to TPMmuckraker that he would prefer Obama to die of natural causes so "he's not some martyr."

"I don't want him to be a martyr, we don't need another holiday. I'd like to see him die, like Ted Kennedy, of brain cancer," Anderson now says.

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Topics: Chris Broughton, Faithful Word Baptist Church, Gun-Toters, Steven Anderson

Rick Renzi

Renzi's Lawyers Argue Bush DOJ Leaked Info For Political Gain On Eve Of Election

Justin Elliott | August 30, 2009, 9:27AM

We now have the lawyers of a former Republican Congressman arguing that the Bush Administration encouraged the Justice Department to leak information on an ongoing probe for "partisan political reasons."

The twist comes in a motion filed Thursday in the case of ex-Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ), who was indicted on 36 corruption counts in February 2008. (Read the motion here.)

His lawyers are demanding that the government show why it should not be held in contempt for disclosing information from grand jury proceedings.

The motion lays out the facts we now know, thanks to documents recently released by the House Judiciary Committee, about the White House's apparently successful attempt to secure favorable DOJ leaks on the Renzi probe in the days before the 2006 election.

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Topics: Harriet Miers, Justice Department, Rick Renzi