When the Texas Freedom Network puts out an approving statement about an action taken by the State Board of Education, you know something strange is going on. Here was the TFN statement: “Today we saw Texas kids and sound science finally win a vote on the State Board of Education. Now our public schools can focus on teaching their students fact-based science that will prepare them for college and a 21st-century economy. And our schoolchildren won’t be held hostage to bad decisions made by a politicized board that adopted flawed science curriculum standards two years ago. Moreover, today we saw that the far right’s stranglehold over the state board is finally loosening after last year’s elections. That’s very good news for public education in Texas.” Now, I hate to be accused of being a cynic, but…do you suppose the far right members on the board had a sudden conversion experience that led them to abandon their strident positions of yesteryear? Or is it possible that, with the entire political world focused on Rick Perry, a call went out to SBOE chair Barbara Carghill suggesting that she round up the votes to adopt the education commissioner’s list of recommended science materials and adjourn the meeting ASAP before somebody says something about creationism?