Monday, January 5, 2009

And They're Off - In More Ways Than One

It is only the fifth day of the new year, and the first day back for the state legislature, but already several of our elected officials are off and running for the most asinine moment of the year award.

First out of the box is Glenn Grothman (R-Clueless) who issued a press release basically saying that even though he thinks taxes are too high and the state's economic situation is grim, he does not want the state to get any help from the feds. That is like getting injured in a serious accident and yelling at the person who called 911 to get you help.

Grothman apparently wants Wisconsin to suffer and fail. Maybe he has an issue due to his party losing control in the state and on the national level, and now he wants to punish the people for voting his party out of their cushy positions.

The most striking is that the right wing echo chamber, who often called people who wanted to get our troops out of Iraq as unAmerican and wanting the country to fail, are not sniping at Grothman for being anti-Wisconsin and wanting the state to fail.

Not wanting to give Grothman too big of an advantage in the race for most asinine, State Senator Alberta Darling (R-Any Golf Course) shows us how clueless she really is.

This morning's MJS had a story about how the state senate is supposed to be gearing up to fix foster care. In said article, Darling is patting herself on the back for a bill she hasn't introduced yet:
"For several years we've been demanding the accountability, and still it isn't there," she said. "We have to learn from these tragedies and prevent more of them from happening, and it should be done on a timely basis."
Um, do I really need to point out - again - that Darling created this monstrosity and has been part of the oversight committee since it was created? If she wanted the accountability for years, what kept her from doing it until now? Christopher Thomas was no way near being the first victim of the BMCW.

Her statement is on the level of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich griping about corruption in government.

And if that wasn't enough, her bill is basically a feel-good-but-does-nothing type of bill:
Provisions to protect the identities of the children, their families and the person who reported the abuse or death would remain intact. A provision prohibiting the release of information that would jeopardize the fairness of a criminal or civil investigation also is part of Darling's bill.
I can see it now. The next time a foster child dies, all the BMCW has to do is saying there is an investigation and wait until the public lets their attention deficit take them off on some distraction. They've been doing that for ten years, and Darling's proposal changes nothing. Nor does her proposal to one damn thing to actually fix the system. But that is par for the course for her.

Unfortunately, Grothman and Darling aren't the only ones with an early start for being foolish. Cory Liebmann covers some more contestants in this race that no one should want to win, but many enter anyway.

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