Image by Tancread via Flickr
Second edition of our weekly installment taking a quick look at the most idiotic actions of American politicians for the week. This week’s winner should be fairly obvious, but let’s start with our runners-up:
Dishonorable Mention — Glenn Beck speaks out against Van Jones for Jones’ opposition to police brutality.
Apparently, Mr. Beck can’t differentiate the difference between blaming all of the potential issues of the New York Police department (or any police department in general) with the use of a single incident as an example of how police in general shouldn’t operate. Once again, Beck is treading in the deep end of the crazy pool.
5th Place — John Boehner mistakenly claims jobs added this quarter were from recently passed tax cuts not from the Stimulus.
Despite no corroborating evidence (through correlation or causation) that tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations have ever led to a single person being hired. Even if tax cuts did somehow, against all rational explanation, lead to an increase in jobs the fact that they were extended in December 2010. Boehner doesn’t seem to comprehend that the economy of a country is a slow moving behemoth. A law passed a half before the data in question began being collected would have little to no effect on the economy that quickly.
4th Place — Michelle Bachmann says shut down the government if the budget bill doesn’t de-fund Planned Parenthood after saying she doesn’t want a shut down.
As per usual, Conservatives say one thing, then do another, then walk back their comments or say something else entirely and try to pretend they didn’t say the first thing. It’s as though they don’t understand or don’t care that we live in an information age now. Nearly every word they say and do in public is recorded. There is barely anything that they do outside of closed doors that is not on the record. Just another of the increasingly commonplace instances of Republicans practicing and reveling in blatant hypocrisy.
3rd Place — Wisconsin police physically remove protesters from the capital building. This is not something that should be excused. This is not something that belongs in America. This is not something that should be accepted as the right action. This is not something that was right. “I was just following orders” is not a justification for this action. This is something that should be remembered by rational Americans when you go to vote in 2012.
Police violate protesters Constitutional rights, drag them from Wisconsin capital ( Image credit Huffington Post )
2nd Place — Americans across the Internet that celebrated instead of condemned the actions of Wisconsin police removing lawful, peaceful protesters from the capital building. Congratulating an anti-democratic, Unconstitutional impingement of an American citizen’s right to peacefully assemble is an absolute and unimaginable shame. Ignorant people that have been cowed into this type of behavior are one of the greatest of the growing threats to our democracy and our freedom. I refuse to link to the sites doing this because I will not give them the benefit of site hits which bring them advertising revenue.
1st Place — Wisconsin Republicans who violated a standing state statute known as the “Open Meetings” law and passed the anti-union bill with no regard for democracy without the state’s Senate Democrats present. In doing so they have laid bare the true goal of their intentions. By stripping this provision out of the so-called “budget repair bill” and passing it by itself, they have revealed that they have no interest in actually addressing financial issues. The leading State Senate Republican on camera this was about 2012, not the budget.
– “Left of Center”
Truth Not Fear 
It’s not an open meeting if you have a mob banging drums, chanting aimlessly, and physically blocking citizens access into their state house. So the protestors from Chicago, and out of state unions tried to shut down the state government. Nice try. The safety and security of a government process cannot concede control of government to a mob. This shows how Democrats operate. Mobs, hiding from government, and plenty of television face time instead of working.
Your comment shows you have not (or are not interested in) researching the text of the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law. Let’s take a look at the aspects of the law:
Specifically here’s the section that the vote on this matter violated:
Section 19.84
(3) Public notice of every meeting of a governmental body shall be given at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of such meeting unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical, in which case shorter notice may be given, but in no case may the notice be provided less than 2 hours in advance of the meeting.
[ From Wisconsin’s Freedom of Information Council – http://www.wisfoic.org/an-openmeetingslaw.html ]
There are exemptions to this rule outlined in Section 19.85, but those exemptions are for calling of a private session which does not require a 24hour notice. There is no specific exemption in Section 19.85 to a public meeting requiring 24 hour notice.
The only limitation on the 24 hour notice requirement is that a minimum 2 hour notice be given if 24 hours is not feasible. From the timeline I have found in my research shows that the time between the notice and the vote fell short of the absolute minimum requirement of 2 hours.
There also may be violations regarding how access to the capital building has been limited during business hours but that is a more complicated subject that is open for debate and interpretation of the law.
As for your statement of “how Democrats operate”, that is a sweeping generalization with no evidence of fact provided to back it up. If you have evidence that proves your assertion, present it. Otherwise you are just being partisan for the sake of distraction.
Hi, I’m back from my crowd of hoboes. It was great to see the Democrat Senators on stage and bargging of great victories to come, someday. Are you from Wisconsin? I live here, so nobody disappears in Wisconsin, except the Democrat State Senators.
Firstly. You replied, so I rescind my previous comment temporarily. I am capable of admitting when I am incorrect. However, my reply to your original comment clearly invalidated your point. Instead of actually trying to prove me wrong with facts you’re back with nothing more than empty words and partisan insults.
Have anything of substance to add? Do you admit and accept that you were incorrect in your original statement or do you only have meaningless insults?
What insult? I didn’t compare the protestors to nazi goon squads, or bang drums incessantly. Isn’t there a public nuisance law that would apply to such moronic means of expression? Anyway, carry on. The “Whole world is watching” how the Democrats rant and rave.
Really? Seriously? What insult? Let’s recap here shall we? In your first comment you insulted the legal, Constitutionally supported protesters by insinuating that they were made up of out of state groups and not comprised primarily of pissed off Wisconsinites. You also insulted them by claiming they were something short of peaceful. Your first statement is on shaky factual ground and your second is blatantly false. The video is out there of the vote. The only time the crowd inside made noise is after the Republicans violated honest Democratic process by stripping the legislation of any budget related items so they could pass the union-busting aspect alone. This laid bare the true intent of the law. There was no truth to their continued claims that this was a means to balance or repair the budget. This is an out and out attack on the rights and power of the average citizen. That you can’t see that is unfortunate.
In your second comment you insulted the Democrats who left the state by inferring that they were cowards and defectors instead of recognizing that by leaving they were taking a principled stand for the rights of and protesting that Republicans were going down a path that does not follow the will of the majority of the people of Wisconsin!. Again, that you try to skate out of being called out for your callous and baseless insults, inferred or not, and that you can’t see what is really happening here is a sad examination of your perception on the politcal realities in your own country.