According to the Texas Freedom Network's live blogging of the confirmation hearing for Dr. Don McLeroy, chairman of the Texas State Board of Education, Dr. McElroy seems to think that the teaching of evolution is destroying America's soul in science. Dr. McLeroy, a dentist from Bryan, Texas, didn't elaborate on how our country's soul is being destroyed by teaching accepted, consensus science.

Last week we discussed a bill that is in committee in the Texas House that addresses the odd-sounding issue of "litigious grandparents".

Apparently Governor Perry's warm up act of cynically embracing the 10th Amendment was just the beginning of his contrived pandering. Yesterday at the Austin Tea Party, the Governor brought his A-game and took the nuttiness to a whole new level. From the Huffington Post:

In what I can only guess was a warm up act to his hitting the Tea Party social circuit later today, Governor Rick Perry tilted at the biggest windmill of his political career yesterday. Salon's War Room quotes Governor Perry:

The 10th Amendment was enacted by folks who remembered what it was like to have a very oppressive government, to be under the thumb of tyrants in an all-powerful government. Unfortunately, the protections it guarantees have melted away over the course of the years... I believe the federal government has become oppressive. I believe it's become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of its citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state.

Last week, State Representative Phil King (R-Waco) filed an ominously-titled bill called the Texas Parental Rights Restoration Act (HB 2084) in the House Human Services Committee. The casual observer might infer that all manner of calamity is happening to Texas parents by the title of this bill. Are the liberals making parents schedule multicultural playdates? If so, I didn't get the memo.

Sunday, on CNN's State of the Union, Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) discussed his disappointment with what he characterized as President Obama's lack of bipartisanship.

From the Dallas Morning News and Representative Aaron Pena's (D-Edinburg) Twitter feed comes the latest news on the voter identification bill up for consideration in the Texas State House of Representatives.

Yesterday, Senator John Corona (R-Dallas), chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, filed Senate Bill 885 that would allow urban areas to vote to levy local taxes to fund road and rail projects. Among the local taxes that could be raised under Senator Corona's plan are the following:

Even though the Legislature is now in session and Rick Perry can't raise any money until the session ends, his re-election bid is back in the news thanks to a letter from Governor Sarah Palin to "Texas Republican women" that was publicized earlier this week. Governor Palin endorsed Governor Perry as "the true conservative" in the Texas Gubernatorial race in 2010. Among her accolades for the Governor was this wonderful nugget:

UPDATE: Former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele defeated South Carolina GOP Chairmain Katon Dawson on the final ballot and is the new RNC Chair. Chairman Steele becomes the first African-American to lead the RNC.