An Aug. 2 CNSNews.com article by Penny Starr is quite upset that the U.S. Department of Education is using a SpongeBob SquarePants book to promote “the idea that global warming is man made.” Starr is further baffled by a certain lack of adherence to reality in SpongeBob stories:
The author does not explain how a pool is built underwater, how vehicles submerged in the ocean can produce exhaust, or how tires burn and send smoke into the air from the bottom of the sea.
Yes, Starr really wrote that. She’s also ignoring that, as Media Matters points out, there’s nothing controversial about teaching children about the reality of global warming.
This gives us all the excuse we need to go down memory lane for a look at the last time the ConWeb went on a SpongeBob freak-out. In 2005, WorldNetDaily declared that a tolerance-promoting video for children featuring famous cartoon characters like SpongeBob SquarePants was designed to be used by “homosexual activists” to “surreptitiously indoctrinate young children into their lifestyle.”