This has been all over the news today, so you may already know about it. The Arizona Republic of Phoenix, Arizona, the state capital, has this headline: Creationist Sylvia Allen to lead Arizona Senate education panel. The newspaper has a comments feature, and it already has 43 comments. Here are some excerpts from the news story, with bold font added by us:
One of the best-known lightning rods in the Arizona Legislature will now help shape the future of education. Senate President Andy Biggs named Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee. Allen replaces Kelli Ward, who resigned the Senate earlier this month to focus on her congressional run.
Why is Sylvia Allen a “lightning rod”? We’re told:
Allen is best known for her controversial public comments over the years. During a legislative hearing in 2009, she said the Earth is 6,000 years old, a belief held by “Young Earth” biblical creationists. In 2013, a Facebook post about chem-trail conspiracies gained widespread media attention, as did a March comment suggesting mandatory church attendance.
M’god — the woman is crazed! Wikipedia has an article on her: Sylvia Allen. It briefly mentions her mandatory church proposal, but it doesn’t tell us much else. However, the newspaper gives us a link to her chem-trial post at Facebook, which says:
Ok, I do not want to get into a debate about weather. However, I know what I see weekly up here on the flat where I live outside of Snowflake. The planes usely [sic], three or four, fly a grid across the sky and leave long white trails streaming behind them. I have watched the chem-trails move out until the entire sky is covered with flimsy, thin cloud cover. It is not the regular exhaust coming from the plane it is something they are spraying. It is there in plain sight. What is it they are leaving behind that covers the sky? Things are happening all around us that we see everyday and just don’t get what it is. I think we throw the “conspiracy theory” at people when we don’t understand or have the information they have so we try and explain it that way. Plus we just don’t want to believe that our government would do anything terrible to us. Well, just a few examples, the IRS attack on the Tea Party, Benghazi, wire taping, Fast and Furious just to name a few and we think that they would not manipulate our weather?
Let’s read some more from the Arizona Republic:
Allen, who graduated from Snowflake High School and did not attend college, is co-founder of George Washington Academy, an EdKey, Inc. charter school in Snowflake.
That must be a wonderful school! But what about the position to which she’s just been appointed? What does the Senate Education Committee do? We’re told:
As chairwoman, she will control which legislative education proposals succeed and which ones die.
Oh, is that all? We assume there will be a Discoveroid “academic freedom” bill in Arizona’s future. It will also have the backing of Senate president Andy Biggs, the genius who appointed Allen to the education committee.
The story goes on a bit, but the rest doesn’t interest us. Next year should be interesting in Arizona. We look forward to it.
Copyright © 2015. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.
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The Sensuous Curmudgeon 
This reminds me of a favorite line in the old MASH comedy series – she “has the IQ of a houseplant.”
That ought to bring cheers to the Dishonesty Institute folks.
Chemtrails.
That may be the prize winner of all conspiracy theories.
Sounds like a real contender to be Trumps VP. (If Carson isn’t available.)
The once proud Republican party is descending into an orwellian nightmare. Barry must be spinning in his grave.
She’s head of the “Education Committee”? Good (I’d insert something here, but my name’s not Trump and the Curmudgeon’s profanity filters would definitely catch it!) luck Arizona. Your students are now on their way to knowing even less about the world around them than most kids in the USA.
And if you think the governor of Arizona would surely veto any creationist legislation that Miss Snowflake might get through the legislature, you might want to consider this little gem from Arizona’s official state government website (bold added):
Latest news from the Office of Governor Doug Ducey
STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR DOUG DUCEY WISHING ARIZONANS A MERRY CHRISTMAS
PHOENIX – “With Christmas upon us and a new year just days away, I want to take a moment to thank the people who’ve blessed my life and made 2015 one of the best years yet.
My family and friends, whose love and laughter make every day a celebration.
My fellow Arizonans, whose spirit and strength of character make our state great.
The women and men serving in our armed forces, whose patriotism and courage make our nation exceptional.
The families of our military members, whose sacrifice and selflessness are inspiring and extraordinary in their own right.
And the Savior, whose birth, life, death and resurrection give us reason to rejoice.
May He protect our heroes in uniform, watch over their loved ones and keep all of us safe and healthy in the New Year.
Merry Christmas, Arizona.”
(http://azgovernor.gov/governor/news/2015/12/statement-governor-doug-ducey-wishing-arizonans-merry-christmas-0)
And Arizonans wonder why the mere mention of their state’s name causes people throughout much of the civilized world to double up in laughter.
It’s rotten for the kids, of course, because they’re likely to find themselves educationally handicapped throughout their adult lives. But why should Senate President Andy Biggs or Senator Sylvia Allen care? Clearly they have just enough intelligence to recognize themselves in the mirror, and then only sometimes.
As michaelfugate says, this is where “the once proud Republican party” has got to, thanks to decades of pandering — ever since Reagan, if not before — to the looney fringe for the sake of cheap votes. They’ve created Augean stables that now need cleansing.
Sylvia Allen, the new Arizona Education Czar, warns the Republic of the latest peril:
I dunno either, but it’s something that’s polluting our precious bodily fluids!
There can be no doubt it’s all a diabolical plot by the International Darwinist Cabal to further their agenda for Total Global Domination. And I am certain that the pilots of these planes include Amelia Earhart, Elvis, Jimmy Hoffa, Lord Lucan, and Shergar…
realthog notes the GOP’s
Despite admiring a number of accomplishments during his terms of office, I have never been a worshipper at the shrine of St. Ronald Magnus and also date the entry of the Whacko Xtian Fundies into the American politcal mainstream from his Presidency.
But, as you suggest, the roots are probably earlier. FWIW, I suspect among the origins are Nixon’s pitch to the Silent Majority (although, as the linked Wikipedia article sets out, the phrase actually originates with JFK in 1955!), the same constituency that the egregious Chuck Colson, after his religious conversion while incarcerated for Watergate crimes, helped reshape as the Born Again crowd. But all that is just my impression from having lived through those times; some real historical research would be fascinating to undertake!
Megalonyx says: “I suspect among the origins are Nixon’s pitch to the Silent Majority”
Yes, but there’s a more specific moment when the pollution of the GOP became official. It was Nixon’s Southern strategy, which involved inviting the drooling admirers of William Jennings Bryan — who had always been Democrats — to join the Republican party. Wikipedia says:
Nixon’s outreach to Southern Democrats was, in a way, similar to his sending Kissinger to China, to take advantage of tensions between the Chinese and the Soviets. Nixon had his faults, but he was a genius at spotting and exploiting his adversary’s weaknesses.
DavidK: “That ought to bring cheers to the Dishonesty Institute folks”
Only if she’s relatively quiet about her young-earthism. Which I suspect will be the case, because this is yet another example where one has to dig back years to find a relevant quote. So it may be, as I have seen in many other cases, that she later rejected young-earthism, if not the “independent origin of ‘kinds'” nonsense. If so, that would not make her any less anti-science, and in fact more anti-science if she deliberately avoids making testable “what happened when” statements. Which is the best strategy if one’s goal is to pander to the big tent. Most if not all of these radical politicians must have gotten private lessons from the DI on the value of “don’t ask, don’t tell what happened when, just promote unreasonable doubt of evolution, and let the audience fill in the blanks with whatever they feel comfortable.”
But even with that coaching, one can only evade questions so much before alienating part of the big tent. Which is why critics should calmly ask her detailed questions about her alternate “theory.” Maybe a few will, but they will unfortunately be drowned out by 1000s of giddy “she’s a YEC!!!” comments.
IMHO, a person who is a YEC and a believer in chemtrail conspiracy is apt to have a number of unconventional ideas, and is not swift enough to realize how they are received by others.
You mean they actually cast a reflection? Some of these people seem like outright cartoons.