This Week's Poll from the Lester & Charlie Institute of Forward Thinking:
America has a tradition of some pretty wacky roadside attractions. Like the Sod Museum in Nebraska, the Twine Ball Museum in Minnesota and Washington D.C.'s very own House Science Committee.
Few of these oddities can hold a candle to Kentucky's famous Creation Museum. The Creation Museum, if you're some kind of Neanderthal unfamiliar with it, is the go-to place for any young-Earth scientist in the mood to, say, weep at tear-jerking videos of the Scopes Monkey Trial. Or ogle dioramas showing humans and dinosaurs peacefully co-existing. Or hobnob with like-minded museum employees, all of whom have signed a "statement of faith" agreeing that "no apparent, perceived or claimed evidence in any field, including history and chronology, can be valid if it contradicts the Scriptural record."
Founder Ken Ham's Creation Museum has been called "the Creationist Disneyland." The UK's Guardian called it "one of the weirdest museums in the world." (That's an impressive distinction, seeing as it's not only competing with said Twine Ball Museum but also with that museum in Japan that's dedicated solely to instant ramen noodles.)
Sounds to us like the Creation Museum is the perfect mecca for both Bible thumpers and potheads! That's why we were shocked to learn that this major, multimillion-dollar facility has suddenly found itself taking a crash course in survival of the fittest.
In other words, attendance at the Creation Museum was down 10 percent in 2012, continuing a four-year downward spiral and setting a new low. Making matters worse, dwindling revenue is jeopardizing completion of Ham's next big project, a theme park centered around a full-size replica of Noah's Ark!
Why is the museum's attendance tanking? Are the zealots getting all the creationism jabberwocky they need from Michele Bachmann, Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal for free?
We're betting that there are still plenty of certifiable lunatics willing to shell out $30 for a stroll through the Dinosaur Den, ride a camel through the Garden of Eden and sneak into the planetarium to make sure that Earth is still in the center.
So let's put our heads together and come up with a few ideas that might get them some welcome attention. If we're lucky, there'll be enough cash left over to finish building Ham's Ark Encounter! And we can all say we did our part building a better, weirder America.
Tell us: What do YOU think are some awesome ideas to sell more tickets to Kentucky's Creation Museum?