Criticism of HB477 spreads far beyond Utah over the weekend
Added Bonus: Check out the legislative majority's "pained weekend attempts" to justify, ratiionalize and defend their HB477 tyrannical action
New Update(s): We'll definitely be standing by in rapt fascination, to see what happens next, and will most certainly "be happy to post our continuing anti-tyranny updates to this WCF article until the cows come home"
By: Curmudgeon
The SL Trib has an interesting article up this morning on the reaction around the nation to the Utah Republican Party's rejection of transparency and open government:
Here are just a few of the highlights:
“Let’s be real,” [Chip]Stewart, a media law professor at Texas Christian University, said in a Tweet on Saturday, “what’s happening in Utah is more of a threat to democracy than anything in Wisconsin or under Obama; we must be transparent!”
“Point after point, Utah’s record laws are going to be more backward than a Third World country’s,” David Cuillier, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Arizona, said Sunday. “That’s not hyperbole.”
“It’s gotta be a lobbyist’s fantasy,” said Charles N. Davis, a University of Missouri professor specializing in open-government laws. “ ‘Give me your cell phone number, Mr. Legislator, and we can have a private text conversation 24/7, even if you’re on the floor.’ ”
“To be clear,” the [Student Press] Law Center added, “this bill is about protecting the ability to govern corruptly and about nothing else.”
That's just a sampling. The full article is well worth a read.
Added Bonus Editor's Addendum: And whatever you do, gentle readers, don't miss the legislative majority's pained weekend attempts to justify, rationalize and defend their tyrannical HB477 action via what are rapidly (and sadly) becoming Utah's top two "official government pro-tyranny spin sites":
Considering the quality and tone of reader comments under each article, we're wondering whether our arrogant Utah GOP legislators may have finally succeeded in "jumping the shark" with the heretofore asleep Utah electorate.
So what say our gentle readers about all this?
Update 3/7/11 1:58 p.m.: Does a sign of the bright heat and light of lumpencitizen-compelled anger at Utah gummint suddenly arise on horizon? Looks like there's some serious neoCON backpedaling going on here. Will the Corporatist GOP Morons in the state legislature come back to reality, in re HB277? Somethin's definitely shakin' at the moment in Utah Gummint. Read this hot-off-the-press SLTrib story to learn all about it:
Remember: "Cockroaches don't like the light of day, and will scurry away when you pick up whatever it was they were hiding under." - anon
Don't think for a moment that the frenzied torrent of mail messages and angry Facebook comments isn't helping to make the tyrants in the Utah legislature take at least a little pause in their anti-democratatic obsessions.
We'll definitely be standing by in rapt fascination, to see what happens next.
Update 3/7/11 3:00 p.m.: In an earlier comment, Gentle Reader Blackrulon wondered whether the Standard would continue to beat the drum on the HB 477 issue. Happily, SE Editorial Page Editor Doug Gibson has already answered that question with this brand-new and fierce Political Surf Blog article, published just a few minutes ago:
Additionally, we learn from Curmudgeon that the St-Ex also published this exceptionally powerful Charles N. Davis guest op-ed piece within the last hour or so:
Great to se the SE continuing to mercilessly hammer the Utah legislative tyrants on this. We'll also add that we'll be happy to post continuing anti-tyranny updates to this ever-expanding WCF article until the cows come home.
Update 3/7/11 3:45 p.m.: Hmmm... According to Paul Rolly via Curmudgeon, it appears that the Utah Fascist pro-HB 477 Coalition may be suddenly falling apart:
Keep checking back. At the current pace, who knows? We'll probably have another dozen or so great anti-tyranny articles linked within the next coupla minutes.
Update 3/7/11 6:27 p.m.: This just in from the SLTrib website:
What a Steaming Crock! Ignore the inaccurate headline. According to the actual Trib story, the legislature isn't really "recalling HB 477," but rather the ever-slimy "Senate President Michael Waddoups" [says] "the move is [merely] to allow lawmakers delay the effective date of HB477 for a few months," so that the ever-honorable state legislature can fix the current half-baked legislation (and so the present public furor will die down, of course).
As old Ralph Waldo Emerson suggested, "The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons."
Monday, March 07, 2011
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