Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, has continued a “tradition” for Arizona lawmakers of blithely staking out positions that cause most people to scratch their heads or laugh uncontrollably. In the following video from a committee hearing this year on a resolution that calls on Congress to stop designating wilderness areas in Arizona, Allen confidently notes that the Earth is 6,000 years old and has survived for most of that time without any environmental regulations.
The video was originally grabbed by the Arizona Guardian and posted on its site and on YouTube early last week. But the piece apparently went viral, with nearly 66,000 views this morning, after it caught the scathing attention of a blog at Discover magazine.
Allen’s foolish statement is obvious, unless you also reject all scientific evidence that the planet is several billion years old. Of course, that also would require you to reject the scientific principles that make nuclear power plants work safely.
But Allen is only the latest lawmaker with odd notions of our world. Former Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa, is still convinced the U.S. government was somehow involved in vast conspiracies behind 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing.
In 2000, Johnson actually got some other lawmakers to support the idea that Arizona might need to secede from the United States as an one-world government was imminent.
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