Who's needling now, needlessly?

I hesitate to mention this because it's one of those non-issues the right likes to stir up to keep everyone's attention off what really matters -- like the positive impact Jim Doyle's budget vetoes this week will have on countless kids and adults in Wisconsin. But I feel compelled to comment because of all of the dust that has been kicked up already.

The facts, briefly: When Doyle was in Door County for an event recently, a woman whose daughter suffers from diabetes gave a Doyle aide a package of 1,400 used hypodermic needles (a one-year supply) and asked that the package be delivered to Speaker John Gard. There was a note or letter to Gard inside, asking him to stop his opposition to embryonic stem cell research, which many believe could lead to a cure for diabetes.

A Doyle staffer delivered it to Gard's office. Doyle's press office says they called Gard's office first to alert them to the delivery. When Capitol cleaning staff refused to remove the package from Gard's office, Gard's staff called the Capitol Police.

Big deal, right? Well, to hear the Gard office tell it, Doyle "put his staff in danger, our staff in danger, and the cleaning staff in danger."

“This is a woman whose daughter has juvenile diabetes, they wanted to let their representative know what they’re going through every single day, so when the speaker casts his votes on stem cell research he knows what its like for their family,” Doyle spokesman Dan Leistikow said. “And instead of listening to them he called the cops.”

“Sending anthrax to people is not free speech either. There are people who get big money to dispose of medical waste,” Gard's staffer said.

What sort of danger did these needles pose to anyone? Calling them "medical waste" is clever, but my guess is that the way those needles are usually disposed of is that the family throws them in the trash every day. No one is going to "catch" diabetes. People do spread HIV and hepatitis by sharing needles, but unless Gard or his staff was planning to re-use them, that would not seem to be an issue. And the 12-year-old girl in question has diabetes, not HIV or hepatitis. (The anthrax comparison should get the spinster a raise from Gard, but in real life it has nothing to do with the matter at hand.)

Then there is the Capitol police officer, who called the woman who sent the needles and warned her that if she did something like that again she might be arrested. He neglected to say on what grounds. What charge would that be, exactly?

Here's the police report. See what you think. It may not have been the wisest thing Doyle's office has ever done. But people will die of diseases because Gard and Co. continue to block stem cell research. Gard and his staff won't die from looking at a hypodermic needle, or even 1,400 of them.

UPDATE. This gets sillier and sillier as conservatives try to keep it alive. Jessica McBride/Bucher says the woman who gave Doyle the needles is facing a worthless check charge, as if that is somehow relevant? (I guess her credibility is shot. Her daughter probably doesn't have diabetes, and the needles are from her heroin addiction?) If you look at the details on CCAP, you'll see the charge was dismissed on Wednesday.)

And she agrees with the Capitol police officer who says he could have charged the woman for disorderly conduct? I'm not in the law enforcement business, and McBride/Bucher is married to a DA, but I guess I fail to see how a Capitol police officer could charge a woman in Door County with anything when she was never anywhere near the Capitol and did not personally deliver anything to anybody there.

UPDATE: I am not in the habit of responding to comments and don't want to begin answering individual ones now. But some of them clearly suggest people have not read or understood what happened. The woman in Door County didn't send a package to anyone. She hand-delivered it to a Doyle staffer and asked that it be delivered to Gard. It was clear where the package originated and that it was not intended as any kind of threat or terrorism. She may not have used good judgment, nor did the gov's office. But I don't think she needs to be detained at Gitmo until we win the war on terrorism, nor do I think she needs to be confined to a mental institution. She was trying to get Gard's attention, and she certainly did that. I don't think this stunt is likely to change his mind, however. Can we move on now and stop the killing in Iraq, for example?