Among the most important elected positions are for positions on state boards of education. The Texas board of education is a particularly powerful one that is also dominated by right wing extremists who want to ruin public education and want to mix religion with science. That makes this year's Texas Board of Education races among the most important in the country...and yet are largely ignored.

There are two particular races for progressives to focus on. This is adapted from a Daily Kos diary: (with some additions)

VOTE FOR CHANGE IN NOVEMBER - State Board of Education District 10 and District 5

There is a way to change the direction of the Texas State Board of Education - and the states across the nation which are influenced by this board.

The best way to change this direction is to support and elect the Democratic challengers in these races.

District 10 - Dr. Judy Jennings.

The State Board of Education sets policy for Texas public schools. But Republican board member Cynthia Dunbar calls public education a “subtly deceptive tool of perversion” and likens sending one's children to public school with "throwing them into the enemy's flames."
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Overwhelmingly Texas seems to be the state that is MOST in need of healthcare reform. Massachussetts is the state that needs it the least.

From Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/votes/house/health...

Here are the districts with greater than 30% of their people uninsured:
TX-20: 31.3%
TX-29: 43.0%
TX-9: 37.3%
TX-15: 36.6%
TX-18: 36%
TX-30: 38.4%
TX-28: 35.5%
TX-27: 32.0%
TX-16: 34.6%
TX-32: 35.7%
FL-21: 31.3%
FL-23: 34.1%
FL-25: 31.3%
FL-17: 35.9%
FL-18: 32.7%
CA-31: 42.4%
CA-34: 38.0%
CA-33: 30.2%
CA-47: 31.7%
IL-4: 32.2%
GA-4: 30.2%
AZ-4: 34.5%

TX: 10 districts
FL: 5 districts
CA: 4 districts
GA: 1 district
AZ: 1 district
IL: 1 district

Texas REALLY stands out as needing help insuring its citizens, with Florida and California distant seconds.

Now here are the districts with fewer than 10% uninsured:
MA-8: 6.8%
MA-10: 5.1%
MA-4: 4.0%
MA-6: 4.1%
MA-5: 4.0%
MA-9: 4.3%
MA-7: 5.2%
MA-3: 3.7%
MA-2: 4.3%
MA-1: 4.5%
PA-4: 8.6%
PA-6: 7.9%
PA-8: 6.9%
PA-18: 7.6%
PA-19: 9.6%
PA-13: 9.6%
PA-7: 7.3%
MN-1: 8.9%
MN-6: 7.7%
MN-2: 6.9%
MN-3: 7.4%
NJ-11: 7.4%
NJ-5: 9.3%
NJ-7: 8.0%
NJ-12: 7.6%
NY-3: 7.2%
NY-26: 7.0%
WI-5: 6.2%
WI-6: 8.7%
WI-2: 9.0%
HI-1: 6.0%
HI-2: 9.4%
WA-8: 9.8%
IL-13: 8.2%
IA-3: 9.2%
MO-2: 7.9%
CT-2: 9.0%
CA-30: 9.6%
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Happy Alamo Day: Let Us Honor The Alamo By Fighting Immigration

Happy Alamo Day! It's hard to believe it, but the Alamo fell 172 years ago today. As we commemorate the Alamo let us consider these words: Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes*. If you listen closely, you can hear the Alamo's warning cry. And it is warning us against an imminent threat. Sadly, few people realize the connection between national security and immigration. Let us look at the history: 3/6/1836. The Alamo. Never Forget. We live in a post 3/6/1836 world. And we need to be thinking in a post 3/6/1836 mind set. For centuries we've been unable to eliminate the debilitating terrorist campaign of Montezuma's revenge, which continues to attack our values and our bowels. Readers: don't say I didn't warn you. Because by the time a cell of undocumented Mexican gardeners drives their lawnmowers into the pentagon, it will be too late.

In all seriousness, this is my real message for all the people out there who tell "aliens" to go back to where they come from and get out of "our" country: unless your name consists of a gerund adjective followed by an animal, this actually isn't your country either!

* George Santayana actually wrote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" in The Life of Reason: Reason in Common Sense but, since nobody learns from history, Santayana is almost always misquoted.
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