Kansas: The Edukation Steat

Have you seen this newsletter, written by Connie Morris of the Kansas State Board of Education? If not, you need to go read it right now. I'm not even kidding you people.

Go. Read. It. Now.

Then weep for the poor children of that state, who will be learning that Ignorance is Strength, Peace is War, and Freedom is Slavery.

Thanks to the folks over at the Panda's Thumb for bringing this to my attention.

I'm just... absolutely overwhelmed by this.

UPDATE: For more on Connie Morris, see this article from Kansas City's "The Pitch." I don't want to ruin it for you, but they've got some fascinating characters on the Kansas State Board of Education:

In December 2002, Morris sent an e-mail to an anti-immigration group claiming that Garden City's then-mayor, Tim Cruz, was an illegal alien.

Morris apparently became upset with Cruz after she was forced to cancel a From the Darkness book-signing event in Garden City. (Cruz had received a call from a would-be picketer and approached the store manager about his concerns about the planned protest.)

"It was really like a hate group," Cruz says of the Emigration Party of Nevada, which included Morris' statements in a newsletter e-mailed to its members. "I was concerned, not only for myself but my family, because you never know how people who read that stuff take it, and a lot of things could happen. Of course, nothing did. But you never know in today's world."

The Emigration Party's e-mail made the rounds from the county commissioners to the newspapers to the TV stations.

"I find it appalling that a person can break the law and enter the country illegally and end up as mayor," Morris told the Associated Press.

When questioned by reporters, Morris said she'd had a phone conversation with Cruz in which he admitted to being a "past illegal immigrant."

Cruz, however, is a third-generation resident of Garden City. His parents were born in the United States; he was born at St. Catherine Hospital in 1959 and graduated from Garden City High School in 1977.

Cruz served eight years on the city council and has twice been elected mayor. He also serves on several boards, including the Garden City Chamber of Commerce, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Kansas State Historical Society.

"At first, I thought, what's this lady's problem?" Cruz tells the Pitch. "Because I hadn't done nothing to her."

Just... wow.