Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady fleshed out his platform in today’s Chicago Sun-Times (in an article titled, “Ban gay marriages, GOP gov hopeful says“).

Brady is proposing a 10-year limit on Illinois House and Senate members, who face no constraints now, and a two-thirds vote requirement in the General Assembly for passage of sales or income tax increases.

In short, make Illinois ungovernable like California is. They’re even trying to add a governor-recall amendment to the state constitution.

Russell Shorto has a story in the New York Times magazine, “How Christian Were the Founders?,” exploring the attempts of conservative members of the Texas State Board of Education to insert Christian undertones into the textbook curriculum. (Since Texas spends so much on textbooks, their changes are often applied in the rest of the country as well.)

It’s a thorough exploration, full of quotes guaranteed to make any secularist suffer. For instance:

For [lead conservative board member Don] McLeroy, separation of church and state is a myth perpetrated by secular liberals. “There are two basic facts about man,” he said. “He was created in the image of God, and he is fallen. You can’t appreciate the founding of our country without realizing that the founders understood that. For our kids to not know our history, that could kill a society. That’s why to me this is a huge thing.”

Don McLeroy is a fundamentalist dentist–someone with no backing in history or science–and he’s been put in a position to alter textbooks to fit his ideology. It’s incredibly frustrating to recognize the influence held by McLeroy and his peers, but it’s hard to know how to counter it.

As the Progressive reports, prompted by a suit from the ACLU, the Transportation Security Administration detained a college senior for carrying Arabic-English flashcards. Once detained, they peppered him with questions like:

TSA supervisor: “You know who did 9/11?”

George: “Osama bin Laden.”

TSA supervisor: “Do you know what language he spoke?”

George: “Arabic.”

TSA supervisor: “Do you see why these cards are suspicious?”

The kicker?

When George told them he didn’t know why he was being held, one of the agents called him a “fucking idiot.”

It seems he had traveled some throughout the Middle East, which may have triggered him for a watch list. But it’s ridiculous that a set of flash cards is enough to be detained at the airport for several hours – another sign that most of the TSA’s efforts represent security theater instead of actual security.

(Thanks to Boing Boing for pointing this out.)

Democratic political site Daily Kos recently commissioned a poll of Republican beliefs. The results are disheartening for anyone who believes in, I don’t know, plurality or a civil society.

Here are a couple “highlights.” You can view the full results here.

Should Barack Obama be impeached, or not?

Yes 39
No 32
Not Sure 29

Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States, or not?

Yes 42
No 36
Not Sure 22

Do you believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President than Barack Obama?

Yes 53
No 14
Not Sure 33

Do you believe Barack Obama is a racist who hates White people?

Yes 31
No 36
Not Sure 33