Since Friday some strange things have happened here in Wisconsin Fitzwalkerstan.
First on Friday evening at quarter to five, the LRB (Legislative Reference Bureau) published the "law" on their website even though there is a restraining order against the Secretary of State from publishing the "law." Now, in my forty-three years on this earth I have learned a thing or two...and one of those is that if you want to try and get away with something that you probably shouldn't get away with...you do it on a Friday about fifteen minutes before closing time.
Jump with me below the fold...
Now, the LRB, per their website,
provides nonpartisan, professional, and confidential bill drafting, research and library services to the legislature and the public.
Nowhere in there does it say they have the power of the Secretary of State to publish laws...not that it matters, they only published the law on their website and not in the "official" newspaper where all legal notices must be published. That newspaper is the Wisconsin State Journal.
The vast majority of legal experts in Wisconsin Fitzwalkerstan will tell you that this is not a published law, in fact they will tell you that it is not enforceable in any way, shape or form. But, that won't stop the Department of Administration (DOA) from implementing the law...nope, court orders mean nothing to the Walker administration. They claim that because the judge did not name the LRB or the DOA in the lawsuit, that they could ignore the court order. The Walker administration is so Stupid confident that they are right that they have withdrawn from the appeals process against the lawsuit. I swear, you cannot make this stuff up.
In the words of the late Billy Mays...
But wait....There's More!!
The DOA has now suspended the first amendment rights of all Wisconsinites Fitzwalkerstanians. How you ask?
Well, it is really quite simple, if you are not on the ground floor of the Capitol Rotunda you cannot speak or hold a sign anywhere else in the Capitol. As a matter of fact, on Saturday two pre-teen boys were fined $205.50 for holding a banner over the rail on the first floor of the rotunda. It was not taped up, it was not causing any damage to the building...they were just holding it. Don't believe me, here is the video...
As a veteran who swore an oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic...I am appalled by what is going on in Wisconsin Fitzwalkerstan.
Mr. Huebsch the head of the DOA would do well by studying the history of the State Capitol. On the floor where the young men received a fine for exercising their first amendment rights are four diamonds; one at four equidistant points around the rail around the rotunda. Those diamonds mark the four spots on that floor where the acoustics are perfect and one can orate and be heard throughout the Capitol building. That was the intent of architects of the Wisconsin Fitzwalkerstan State Capitol. To make it the peoples house, where the people truly had a voice.
At some point over the last couple of months the State of Wisconsin has ceased to exist. At some point, we have withdrawn from the union and have become the Republic of Fitzwalkerstan, a place where the rule of law only applies if you are in power and only what you want to apply to. A place where the U.S. Constitution no longer applies.
I weep for my state...and I do not understand how anyone on the right can approve of what this Republican Koch brothers administration has done to this state, the rule of law and our Constitutional rights.
Sorry that there were no photos this week...I have three papers due by Friday for school...speaking of education...Final day to vote for me to receive a Netroots Nation scholarship.