HEADLINE: Oklahoma Republicans Ready To Blame The Recession On ‘Debauchery’

Dave Weigel at the Washington Independent catches a bizarre resolution introduced by Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern (R) in Oklahoma, whose state legislature he describes as a “petri dish for wingnuttery.”

The proposed “Oklahoma Citizen’s Proclamation for Morality” would blame the economic crisis on moral collapse.

Here’s the whole crazy story.

UPDATE _____________________________

Ed Brayton, over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, notes that two of the quotes crazy lady Sally Kern uses are fakes.

Oklahoma’s favorite wingnut legislator, Sally Kern, is now trying to pass a “proclamation for morality” in that state. Predictably, it includes several of those now-infamous fake quotes that David Barton has thrust upon the world.

Those quotes are supposedly from James Madison:

“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government…but upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God”

and Patrick Henry:

“This great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians”

If you go here, you will see for yourself where — and how — this quote was attributed to Patrick Henry, when it actually was written about 200 years after the Revolution.

A big reason why this quote seems to have taken off is because conservative Christian writer David Barton used a portion of it in his 1988 work, The Myth of Separation. After he was called out for this and other misquotes, he was forced to admit that they were bunk and vow to stop using them (even if, in most cases, he danced around taking full responsibility for his poor research). Unfortunately Mr. Barber doesn’t seem to have taken such a vow.