Sen. Russell Pearce, making Arizona the Alabama of the West (my apologies to Alabama)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

At one time in our state's history, Arizona was considered a modern progressive state. Alabama was considered a backwater of poverty, ignorance and racial segregation. Since that time, Alabama has made great strides in economic development, education and ending the vestiges of institutional racial segregation. Arizona, on the other hand, under Republican rule for the past forty plus years has been hellbent in the opposite direction, trying its best to become the Alabama of the West circa 1964. (My apologies to Alabama).

Sen. Russell Pearce is the modern-day leader of this movement. He is a classic demagogue. He is always searching for some symbolic wedge issue he can use as red meat to get his right-wing base all riled up about so they don't focus on what a miserable legislator and human being he is.

A few years ago, ol' Russell wrapped himself in the flag, requiring that every classroom in Arizona display an American flag. In typical Republican fashion, his bill did not appropriate any funds to school districts to pay for this unfunded mandate.

Then ol' Russell discovered the magic of racial politics and scapegoating a defenseless minority. He wanted Arizonans to prove their citizenship and show a photo ID at the polls because "illegal Mex-cans" are votin' in our elections. The measure passed overwhelmingly despite the complete absence of any evidence that non-citizens of any nationality were voting in Arizona. (There was that nice white Republican couple from Kansas who were recently convicted of voter fraud in Green Valley).

Well, that emboldened 'ol Russell. I imagine his hero is former Alabama Governor George Wallace who, after losing a primary in 1958 to John Patterson for not being racist enough, was quoted as saying "I was outniggered by John Patterson. And I'll tell you here and now, I will never be outniggered again." 'Ol Russell has made a commitment that no one will ever "out-illegal Mex-can" him.

'Ol Russell came back with a vengeance of anti-illegal Mex-can measures. One imposed employer sanctions on any employer suspected of hiring someone with a Mex-can sounding name. He followed this up with bills to deputize landlords and teachers as federal immigration officials to inform on illegal Mex-cans, and to deny state services – including education and medical care to American-born children (U.S. citizens) of illegal Mex-can parents.

Well, 'ol Russell must finally be running out of anti-illegal Mex-can ideas, because now he is turning to another Alabama hero of his for the next symbolic wedge issue he can use as red meat to get his right-wing base all riled up about so they don't focus on what a miserable legislator and human being he is. (Keep in mind that Pearce chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee – he is the one who wants to cut government spending to reduce government to the size he can drown it in the bathtub, like his good 'ol boy buddy Grover Norquist wants him to do). This is the guy whose job it is to balance the state budget and he has failed miserably to do his job.

So 'ol Russell is stealing a page from former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore by proposing to place the Ten Commandments on the front entrance of the original 1898 state Capitol building by Jan. 1, 2011. Bill fires up church vs. state fight

You remember good 'ol boy Roy Moore, don't you? He was the darling of the right-wing back in 2003 until the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal from suspension by a federal court over his refusal to remove the Ten Commandments display from his courthouse. Supreme Court rejects Ten Commandments monument appeal The case was Moore v. Glassroth, no. 03-0468. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the display removed from the courthouse because the monument did not present the Ten Commandments in a context other than quotations of Biblical verse and therefore was deemed an unconstitutional state endorsement of religion. Good 'ol boy Roy Moore was later removed from the bench for his violations of the Canons of Judicial Ethics. http://www.splcenter.org/pdf/dynamic/legal/glassrothvmoore_cojjudgment.pdf

'Ol Russell has some good 'ol boy and girl friends on this bill. Rep. Judy Burges, R-Skull Valley, Steve Court, R-Mesa, and Carl Seel, R-Phoenix, have also signed onto the bill. Bill fires up church vs. state fight  'Ol Russell better watch out. He may get out-demagogued on this symbolic wedge issue by Rep. Carl Seel, who is quoted in the story as saying:

"Clearly the foundation of our nation is a Judeo-Christian ethic," he said. "Even our great Supreme Court references the Ten Commandments in the structure of the building."

"It is the foundation of our nation. I don't see how someone can argue against that," he said.

Well, allow me to disabuse you of your complete ignorance, Rep. Seel. I have to assume you have never been to the U.S.Supreme Court and taken the tour.

The frieze above is a sculpture entitled "Justice the Garden of Liberty" by Hermon A. McNeil, which appears on the Eastern Pediment of the Supreme Court Building (the back of the building). The sculpture was intended to be a symbolic representation of the three Eastern civilizations from which our laws were derived, personified by the figures of three great lawgivers: Moses, Confucius and Solon (surrounded by several allegorical figures representing a variety of legal themes). snopes.com: Religious Symbols in the U.S. National Capital The sculptor McNeil described the symbolism of his work thusly:

Law as an element of civilization was normally and naturally derived or inherited in this country from former civilizations. The "Eastern Pediment" of the Supreme Court Building suggests therefore the treatment of such fundamental laws and precepts as are derived from the East. Moses, Confucius and Solon are chosen as representing three great civilizations and form the central group of this pediment.

Moses is depicted as one of several historical exemplars of lawgivers, not as a religious figure. The two tablets Moses holds in his arms are blank, without inscription. Swing and a miss, Carl.

The wall above where the Supreme Court Justices sit is the east wall, on which is displayed a frieze designed by sculptor Adolph A. Weinman. The frieze features two male figures who represent the Majesty of Law and the Power of Government, flanked on the left side by a group of figures representing Wisdom, and flanked on the right side by a group of figures representing Justice:

In a letter http://msgboard.snopes.com/politics/graphics/weinman.jpg on file in the archives of the Supreme Court, the sculptor Adolph Weinman states that the tablet visible between the two male figures, engraved with the Roman numerals I through X represents not the Ten Commandments but the first ten Amendments to the Constitution known as the "Bill of Rights." Another swing and a miss, Carl.

The friezes which adorn the North and South walls of the courtroom of the Supreme Court Building http://www.supremecourtus.gov/about/north&southwalls.pdf, also designed by Adolph Weinman, depict a procession of 18 great lawgivers: Menes, Hammurabi, Moses, Solomon, Lycurgus, Solon, Draco, Confucius and Octavian (South wall):

Justinian, Mohammed (oh, yes he did!), Charlemagne, King John, Louis IX, Hugo Grotius, Sir William Blackstone, John Marshall and Napolean (North wall).

According to the Office of the Curator of the Supreme Court of the United States, these figures were selected as a representation of secular law:

Weinman's training emphasized a correlation between the sculptural subject and the function of the building and, because of this, [architect Cass] Gilbert relied on him to choose the subjects and figures that best reflected the function of the Supreme Court Building. Faithful to classical sources, Weinman designed for the Courtroom friezes a procession of "great lawgivers of history," from many civilizations to portray the development of secular law.

Moses is not given any special emphasis in the depiction: his figure is not larger than the others, nor does it appear in a dominant position. The writing on the tablet carried by Moses in this frieze includes portions of Commandments 6 through 10 (in Hebrew), specifically chosen because they are not inherently religious. (Commandments 6 through 10 proscribe murder, adultery, theft, perjury and covetousness). snopes.com: Religious Symbols in the U.S. National Capital

Ohhh, strike three Carl! Sit your sorry ass back down on the bench and call ASU to sign up for some history of law and humanities courses, you need some book learnin'. I could hear you asking yourself "who the hell are all these people?" to the list of lawgivers above. It's about time you learned.

And it's about time that Arizonans stop electing these ignorant crackers to the Alabama, er, Arizona Legislature.