Deep in the heart of Texas, there's a total whackjob

From Philly's own Susie Madrak by way of Fred Clark comes the strange saga of Texan Cynthia Dunbar:

[...] In a book published last year, Dunbar argued the country's founding fathers created "an emphatically Christian government" and that government should be guided by a "biblical litmus test." She endorses a belief system that requires "any person desiring to govern have a sincere knowledge and appreciation for the Word of God in order to rightly govern."

Also in the book, she calls public education a "subtly deceptive tool of perversion."

The establishment of public schools is unconstitutional and even "tyrannical," she wrote, because it threatens the authority of families, granted by God through Scripture, to direct the instruction of their children.

So what's so newsworthy about that? Lots of people have extreme views, especially in Texas, right? Except that Dunbar, who hates public schools (and home-schools her own children), is leading candidate to become chairwoman of the Texas Board of Education. Unbelievable. If Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, who's tacking to the far right to win 2010 primary votes, wants to reform education, fine, but try to find someone who thinks that schools are constitutional, at least...no?

What else has Dunbar accomplished? Well, there is this:

AUSTIN — State Board of Education member Cynthia Dunbar isn't backing down from her claim that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is plotting with terrorists to attack the U.S.

I wonder what the reaction would have been to a school board member who claimed that George W. Bush was behind 9/11? It probably would not have been a promotion.