Today in Crazytown: We don’t need no education

Who needs facts? Who needs access to information? Who needs a way to check the accumulated knowledge of humanity that stretches back to the library at Alexandria?

Louisiana eliminates state funding for libraries.

“In tight budget times, we prioritized funding for health care and education,” said commissioner of administration Paul Rainwater.

And where is some of this “education” money going?

Louisiana school teaches Loch Ness Monster is real dinosaur to prove creationism.

The Scottish legend of the Loch Ness Monster is suggested as truth in a biology book that a private Christian school in Louisiana is using in its curriculum.

But that’s only part of the outrage from critics: Students who are eligible for taxpayer-funded vouchers will be allowed to attend Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake for the 2012-13 school year, according to reports.

“The startling claim about Nessie’s authenticity is made to bolster creationism within the textbook, the Scotsman newspaper reported Monday. The Loch Ness Monster is described as a type of dinosaur, and if dinosaurs and man co-exist, then presumably there would be holes in the scientific argument for evolution.”

This is your democracy. Cherish it.

UPDATE: In the comments, Monita points out that a Louisiana legislator who voted to give taxpayer money to religious schools is now “Horrified to Discover that Christianity is Not the Only Religion.”

“Valarie Hodges admitted that when she supported Governor Bobby Jindal’s school voucher program, she only did so because she assumed the religious school vouchers could only be used for Christian schools.”

She can’t support any sort of anything that could lead to families using taxpayer money to educate their kids in Islamic schools…. “I do not support using public funds for teaching Islam anywhere here in Louisiana.”

“No one told Valarie Hodges anything about religions being equal under the law!”

Maybe she consulted Nessie before voting on the measure.