Well, heck, liberty-lovers, guess it's time to pour one out for Freedom in America, as the last best hope for state sovereignty went down to a big defeat in the Nevada legislature, despite the efforts of our new favorite one-L wingnut, Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, who tried so hard to help Great American welfare rancher Cliven Bundy achieve his dream of a Nevada where the federal government can't own land. And to top it off, Fiore, who sponsored the bill to kick the federal government out of Nevada, had herself a first-rate meltdown on the floor of the Assembly when fellow Republican Chris Edwards had the temerity to suggest, during debate of the bill, that even if it passed, it would be the subject of expensive lawsuits that taxpayers would have to pay to defend, and then Fiore would be a laughingstock. We mean more of a laughingstock.
"You're going to have somebody not saying nice things about you in his little blog,*" he said, "and those things will follow you, as you can expect."
That was just a little too much for Our Michele, who asked the Speaker to please put an end to the circus that had suddenly broken out right in the middle of her carnival: "Mr. Speaker, can you stop this circus with the Assemblyman from District 19?" Then she spoke directly to Edwards: "Can you sit your ass down and be quiet?" So ladylike.
We were hoping for some good old-fashioned fisticuffs, like when pro-slavery Rep. Preston Brooks beat Sen. Charles Sumner with a cane for speaking a bit too unkindly about slavery. Instead, Speaker Hambrick declared the gentlewoman from District 4 "out of order," which is putting it mildly, and called a one-minute recess. After that, a not especially chastened Fiore offered the Assembly one of the least sincere-sounding apologies we've seen, although she at least refrained from adding "I'm really sorry... not."
Turns out her bill, which was aimed at restoring the Rule Of Law by throwing the Federal Government off the 85 percent of Nevada's territory that teabaggers say it illegally occupies, was determined to be a wee bit (as in completely) unconstitutional by the Assembly's Legislative Counsel Bureau. And despite a last-ditch effort by Fiore and the Bundyverse to rally support for the bill Tuesday, it failed badly, with 34 votes against it and a mere 8 in support.
And so it appears that federal tyranny will continue in Nevada, though for all we know, the failure of Fiore's fantasy law may call the militiamen back to Bundyville, especially if they tire of camping out in the rain at that non-standoff in Oregon.
As for Fiore, we're convinced: This woman needs to run for Harry Reid's Senate seat.
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*We'll assume Edwards meant veteran Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston, who has very unkindly documented Fiore's history of stupid for years.
[ KSL / Ralston Report / Reno Gazette Journal / Tip of the Wonkette Leather Kitten Headgear to anonymous tipster "Anonymous" for calling our attention the Nevada Assembly's video ]
They do that already... at least if we concentrate them in one area, we can save money by shipping insulin in bulk.
I'm beginning to think that schools should re-institute classes on proper ladylike deportment.