MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has devised a clever scheme to prevent Tea Party school board members in Gilbert, Arizona, from censoring parts of a high school Honors Biology textbook.
The board voted in October to remove two pages dealing with contraception and abortion. As Maddow noted, "The textbooks are just dry, clinical textbooks. They don't take a position on abortion. They simply say that it exists as a medical procedure." But the conservative majority on the board found even neutral references to the procedure objectionable. Their plan to fix the textbooks? "The cheapest, least destructive way to solve this problem is to remove the page," board member Daryl Colvin said.
However, the three members of the Tea Party majority on the board lost their reelection bids this month, although there's speculation that the lame duck conservatives will still seek to remove the pages before their tenures are complete.
So Maddow announced on her show last night that she has set up a website, ArizonaHonorsBiology.com, to allow students and any other interested parties to view the controversial pages just in case they're removed.
“They’re lovely in their boring biology-ness," Maddow said. "So if you want to brush up on how a baby’s made or how contraception works and all that stuff at a 10th grade level, be my guest.”
“Arizona may be conservative, but Arizona, you are still part of the United States,” she continued. “You really can’t pretend some parts of biology don’t exist because they make you feel oogy.”
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