Arizona Sen. Sylvia Allen won the Viral Emmy of Stupid a few years ago when she famously said, during a committee hearing on uranium mining, "the earth's been here 6,000 years" and has managed to survive human plundering this long, so don't worry about a little digging near the Grand Canyon. At the end of the video below, Sen. Allen also says that once the uranium is gone, the mining company will patch everything up and "You'll never even know the mine was there when they're done."
This Mensa candidate not only sits on the senate committee that oversees mining and other natural resource policies, she's also on the education committee. Heaven help us.
Actually, she would like heaven to help us, since apparently America is experiencing a "moral erosion" that can only be cured by more God. A devout Mormon, Sen. Allen travels dangerously close to the Cleon Skousen camp of dominionist LDS nutballs who believe the "divinely inspired" US Constitution is under attack by communists, gays, feminists and minorities, and only good white Christians can save us. Former Sen. Russell Pearce is also a Skousen acolyte; it's not hard to see where he got the idea for SB 1070, his "papers please" bill. Democracy is in danger, whites only need apply!
The darling of Arizona's theocratic tea party pinheads, Sen. Allen attended a hearing yesterday considering a bill that allows people to enter public facilities packing heat. She said she's in favor of the measure because carrying a weapon might bring about a "moral rebirth." Yes, I see the connection. It's all so clear now. Truth is, it doesn't matter to her whether the topic is guns or uranium, it all comes back to God and His 6,000-year-old creation that doesn't need the EPA's help. So, during the debate on guns in public places, Sen. Allen let loose with another doozie:
"Probably we should be debating a bill requiring every American to attend a church of their choice on Sunday to see if we can get back to having a moral rebirth," adding "that would never be allowed." ...She later told reporters that this "erosion" began when "religion was kicked out of our public places, out of our schools." Wow, we must be one powerful species if we can expel the Almighty with a few court decisions!"I believe what's happening to our country is that there's a moral erosion of the soul of America," she said.
Sen. Allen also said she wishes society today was more like the '50s, when "people prayed, people went to church." She might've added: when blacks couldn't vote and knew where to sit on the bus, when women were expected to cook dinner and vacuum (and little more, except make babies), when the elderly had no healthcare options, when Miranda rights did not exist and lynchings were common, and when gays had to stay in the closet or risk a ruined life. Yeah, those wonderful Ozzie and Harriet years.
Allen's wackiness aside, her "moral erosion" BS is so hypocritical it's sickening. After all, she represents the party in Arizona that:
• cut public education, both K-12 and higher ed, to the marrow—more than any other state
• decimated state health services, tossing thousands off Medicaid and closing most rural women's healthcare clinics
• wants to eliminate Obamacare for 200,000 Arizonans, and reject millions in federal aid that doctors and hospitals say is vital to combating diseases
•"adjusted" tax rates to serve the wealthy and corporations
• championed SB 1070 and other discriminatory measures
• would turn over our majestic public lands to corporate devourers
• cut assistance to children and the poor
And on and on, just like Jesus Would Do.
Sen. Allen can bellyache all she wants about America's "moral erosion," but the fact is, nearly every friggin' bill she sponsors or supports hurts somebody: children who want an education, women who want healthcare, Latino families who want to stay together, gays and lesbians who want equal treatment, the poor and elderly who want to vote, families who just need fucking food.
Here's an idea: Rather than make it mandatory for everyone to attend Sen. Allen's church, how 'bout we make it mandatory that she live in the real world for a change, so she can experience the disastrous effects of her"morality."