A YouTube video of a woman being arrested and hauled away during the public comment period of a City Council meeting in the town of Quartzite, Arizona, a tiny sand-drenched hamlet about two hours west of Phoenix near the Colorado River, has had more than 40,000 hits since it appeared slightly more than a day ago. Watch the short clip yourself, and you'll immediately understand why it's part of President Obama's plan to take away your rights:
Now, I don't pretend to know the political background that's at work in this video. Often small-town politics are uglier than in the big city because family pissing matches go way back, sometimes generations; and because you just can't escape one another in a tiny burg. No doubt there's some of that in play between the main actors here. The only thing I know about Quartzsite is that its 3,600-person population swells to about 100,000 during the town's big winter gem and mineral show; you can play golf on sand that's been tamped down with oil; and it's a good halfway place to pee when you're driving from Phoenix to the coast.
The woman in the video, Jennifer Jones, evidently is a frequent critic of the town's leadership; she manages a small newspaper and website where she rails against Quartzsite's elected officials and police. The Mayor, Ed Foster, can be heard during Jones's attempted speech saying "the lady has the floor" and should be allowed to speak, while others on the Council are hurriedly trying to pass a motion to shut her up. The Police Chief, Jeff Gilbert, and his Deputy are clearly taking their orders from those on the Council who want Jones silenced and removed, not the Mayor.
Since the YouTube went ballistic, websites around the globe have picked it up, and members of the City Council have received threats for their "Nazi," "Gestapo" and "Stalin-like" tactics. In light of that situation, they met Sunday without the Mayor, apparently in violation of the open meeting law, and during that session they ousted Foster from power and declared a state of emergency.
Mayor Ed Foster told The Associated Press on Monday that the town council held a last-minute meeting that was closed to the public Sunday night, declaring a state of emergency in the 3,600-person town just east of the California city of Blythe.
The council's declaration put police Chief Jeff Gilbert in charge, making Foster the "deputy chief executive of nothing right now," he said. It also allows the five-member council to meet without public notice and suspend all public comment at the meetings until they declare the state of emergency over. Arizona Republic
One thing is clear: the Mayor and Police Chief, who supposedly works for the Mayor, probably don't get together very often with the wives to play pinochle:
Foster also said he has been targeted repeatedly by police Chief Gilbert, arrested or investigated for "bogus" reasons that weren't prosecuted and didn't prove any wrongdoing. Arizona Republic
The folks at WorldNetDaily have chimed in with their own enlightened take on the events in Quartzsite. Under a caption that screams "State of Emergency in Nazi-cop Town," you'll find more than a few comments like this:
This is exactly what Obama wants. He wants towns to start shutting down the first, second and possible the fourth amendments so that the liar and thief will have the ground work already in place to call Marshall law before the 2012 election, thus cancelling the election.
...
Welcome to the police statefolks and you do know too that Obama's home militia is ready to fight us should we finally try to fight this tyrannical government which has become all pervasive.
...
That police chief sounds like a NAZI for sure! He's been listening to Obama too much.
You get the picture. And there are dozens if not hundreds of comments at WND and other survivalist and Second Amendment sites about how this is part of Obama's New World Order, which begins with silencing citizens, taking away their guns, shredding the Constitution, and imposing martial law.
I'm incensed watching the video too, but I see nothing in the meeting's disturbing proceedings, nor anything in the scant information I've read about the goings-on in Quartzsite, to suggest, as the righties do, that the abridgment of this woman's First Amendment rights represents another cog in Obama's wheel to put us all in FEMA trailers (yes, you'll find that in the comments). It's not even possible to say what political party the Council members and Mayor belong to, since they run as NP (No Party).
What seems to be the root of the Jones-City Council dispute is her contention that the Council is corrupt. Specifically, she says, the City has been funneling money to unnamed people, and Mayor Foster agrees:
He said since being in office, he has discovered that every pay period, eight to 10 paychecks go to unnamed people and that he has been denied access to financial records to find out where the money goes at every turn. He said that's been happening since 1991 and amounts to $250,000 every year. "That's literally millions of dollars," he said. Arizona Republic
It sounds like the Bell, California crap all over again. If that's the case, the graft should be exposed and the guilty parties removed and arrested, but how this ties into the Obama-Stalin-Hitler meme is anyone's guess -- not that the Obama-haters need a logical connection. Heck, when Mayor Foster uncovered the pay-offs he tried to get help from Republican Governor Jan Brewer and Republican AG Tom Horne, both of whom "ignored" him. So obviously this dust-up is the fault of a Democratic President!
Here's hoping someone gets to the bottom of this. Of course, it doesn't matter if the "Nazi" Police Chief and his supporters on the City Council turn out to be hardcore Republican goobers who love Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- the whole thing will still be Obama's fault over there in looney land.
Until then, grab some popcorn; at least it might make a good Coen Brothers film.