a double whammy for ignorance

Governor Steve Beshear (D, shamefully) of Kentucky has just released his new budget.

You'll recall that Kentucky is already attracting worldwide ridicule for giving a hefty tax break to the Creationist organization Answers in Genesis to build their Ark Encounter Theme Park in the state, complete with lifesize Noah's Ark and, deo volente, real dinosaurs.

But guess how Governor Beshear is hoping to pay for this.

Why, by cutting the education budget, of course! I suppose the rationale is that, if you want people to stomach having a Creationist theme park in their midst, you need to make sure they're as stupid as possible.

According to the report in Think Progress, AiG is getting a tax break of $43 million; a further $11 million is to be spent modifying the roads near the park to cope with the anticipated extra traffic. Meanwhile, an effective $50 million is being cut from the funding of K-12 schools.

That still leaves a $4 million gap, of course, but I'm sure Governor Beshear can find a few orphanages or hospitals to close.

Incidentally, the justification for the mighty tax break is the increased tourism and jobs this absurdity is expected to bring to the state. And the figures upon which these predictions have been based? You guessed it. They've been supplied by those helpful folk at Answers in Genesis.