The presidential election is over, but the wingnuts are still out there smearing Barack Obama. Needing a news fix after weeks of sitting glued in front of the computer screen every evening reading all the latest commentary on the presidential race, I prowled quickly through most of my favorite links. A headline link in the Austin American-Statesman caught my eye: "Directing Education from the Fringe: Cynthia Dunbar's Seditious Attack on Obama Shames Texas."
Cynthia Dunbar is an elected member of the state board of education, representing "the northern half of Austin and Travis County, as well as Bastrop, Williamson, Fayette, Lee, Milam and part of Fort Bend counties, among others." Ms. Dunbar published a screed on the Christian Worldview Network in which she repeats the lie that Barack Obama was born in Kenya instead of Hawaii and so can't be an American citizen. That particular wingnut idea has been proven to be wrong again and again: see FactCheck.org. Gee, a member of the Texas state board of education repeating such a discredited theory really gives one confidence in the state of education in Texas!
Dunbar also calls the Judicial Branch of the United States the "militant Leftist Judicial Branch." "Militant Leftist" compared to what: Nazi Germany? An Obama presidency, according to Dunbar, will be "the end of America as we know her." And she fully expects a conspiracy of Obama supporters to launch an attack on America in order to have martial law declared so that the powers of the presidency will be expanded.
When criticized for her comments, Dunbar showed no regret. This is a woman who helps supervise public education in Texas (her own children aren't even in public school--she home schools them). And where did Dunbar get her law degree? From Pat Robertson's Regent University School of Law, that source of mediocre federal appointments (many in the Department of Justice) of the Bush administration. (More than 150 alumni of Regent University alumni were given federal government positions by the Bush administration. Remember Monica Goodling?). When is Cynthia Dunbar up for re-election? Too often we pay close attention to national elections but little attention to local elections. However, most national candidates begin their careers in those little local elections. Know your local candidates! They could be choosing your kids' textbooks some day. . . . or running for president.
