Arizona
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5:32 p.m.
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Its been sometime since I have had a chance to publish a blog.. I have been busy with relocation of my work from Tucson to Phoenix.. Luckily, I still had time to spend on occasion at the local Veterans favorite watering hole.. American Legion Post-41. Being a longtime member myself, I had a chance to query the fellow Vets about the climate in Az.. Robert Hernandez, a former Post Commande...
Truth Arizona Blogs - 1:11 p.m. - 8 clicks 
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Announcement from the Pima County Democratic Party: Day of Action - May 19th - Walking for Arizona's Democratic Future! Saturday, May 19th, 2012 It is time to finish collecting those last signatures for our Democratic Candidates! Join......
Blog For Arizona - 9:05 a.m. - 9 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The first of two debates is tonight -- a prerecorded televised debate on Arizona Public Media's Arizona Illustrated, PBS-HD Channel 6, simulcast on the radio NPR 89.1 FM. at 6:00 p.m. If you have any questions for......
Blog For Arizona - 9:05 a.m. - 8 clicks
Yep, Governor Jan Brewer is a lying liar. From her office’s press release on signing HB2625, aka the “Tell Your Boss Why You’re Taking The Slut Pills” bill into law Friday: “Let’s not forget why we’re having this discussion: It’s ObamaCare that created this issue by forcing church-affiliated employers and non-profits to offer services in [...]...
Democratic Diva - Mon 7:31 p.m. - 17 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Jeff Flake's past lobbying becomes issue in Arizona Senate race | Arizona Capitol Times [A]s a result of the six-term congressman’s work as a lobbyist two decades ago for a......
Blog For Arizona - Mon 12:49 p.m. - 15 clicks
Your imperiled western public lands, BLM in yellow (click to enlarge map) LIVESTOCK’S HEAVY HOOVES IMPAIR ONE-THIRD OF BLM RANGELANDS : 33M Acres of BLM Grazing Allotments Fail Basic Rangeland Health Standards TUCSON -- A new federal assessment of rangelands in the West finds a disturbingly large portion fails to meet range health standards principally due to commercial livestock opera...
Daniel's News & Views - Mon 8:45 a.m. - 18 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Last week Alexis Tameron from the Dr. Richard Carmona for U.S. Senate campaign sent out a memo to the media on the state of the race and predicted a long hot summer for Rep. Flake in his......
Blog For Arizona - Mon 7:28 a.m. - 17 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The anti-science agenda of the GOP now extends to political science as well. Ezra Klein writes at his WonkBlog, Jeff Flake’s plan to politicize the National Science Foundation: On Thursday, on a mostly party-line vote, the House......
Blog For Arizona - Sun 12:23 p.m. - 24 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The Arizona Daily Star's replacement political reporter for veteran political report Rhonda Bodfield, who had the good sense to jump a sinking ship, is Brady McCombs. McCombs' political reporting during the GOP Special Election primary was pure......
Blog For Arizona - Sun 10:04 a.m. - 18 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Event announcement from the Pima County Democratic Party: Hello / Goodbye Party SPECIAL EVENT! Pima Dems Invites you to say… Hello / Goodbye Thursday, May 17, 2012 5:00pm Lobby at Hotel Congress 311 East Congress (Public Parking......
Blog For Arizona - Sun 6:44 a.m. - 11 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: In another remarkable moment this week, Governor Jan Brewer signed HB 2625 into law on Friday. Brewer signs Arizona bill on contraception coverage: Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law Friday a measure allowing some religious employers to......
Blog For Arizona - Sat 3:12 p.m. - 17 clicks
BlogForArizona Exclusive: By Dr. Richard Carmona The Arizona legislature pushed bad health policy throughout its session, and Governor Brewer just compounded those mistakes by signing a bill blocking access to contraception. This new law doesn't make any sense -- and......
Blog For Arizona - Sat 2:49 p.m. - 14 clicks
by David Safier This isn't local news, unless you acknowledge that the justly maligned, for profit Imagine Charter Schools corporation runs 14 schools in Arizona. Six Imagine Schools in St. Louis were closed by the state because of their students'......
Blog For Arizona - Sat 9:08 a.m. - 12 clicks
In the "not surprised by the move, just that it took so long" department : - Embattled Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination in the CD4 primary. Maybe it was being outed as gay ( the kiss of death to a political career in Republican circles ), maybe it was threatening to use his position to have his ex deported ( an allegation that Bab...
Random Musings - Fri 11:03 p.m. - 21 clicks
In a baseball game when a pitcher knows that the batter is going to lean out over the plate and try to lay down a bunt, and the pitcher delivers his first pitch high and tight to back the batter off of the plate. It doesn't exactly endear the pitcher to the batter, but so long as there is no attempt or intent to cause physical harm, it's considered to be just "hardball." There might a fe...
Random Musings - Fri 9:24 p.m. - 19 clicks
The Morrison Institute released a poll yesterday that asked AZ voters about different issues that have discussed by the legislature this term. What is most interesting to me and should be most interesting to you, Governor, is this: [E]ight in 10 Arizona voters (84 percent) oppose allowing religious organizations that provide health insurance for their employees to ask female employe...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Fri 6:29 p.m. - 19 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: David Crowe, the Republican-cum-Democrat who first ran for the U.S. Senate and then decided to challenge Congressman Raúl Grijalva in the new CD 3 Democratic primary, has decided to drop out of the race and endorse conservadem......
Blog For Arizona - Fri 1:33 p.m. - 16 clicks
Our Lady of Sorrows is a Phoenix school that has gotten into the news recently for refusing to play baseball against a team with a female player. The story has gone viral and Twitter is clucking over us zany Arizonans yet again. A few tweets that caught my attention were about the schismatic Catholic organization [...]...
Democratic Diva - Fri 11:49 a.m. - 29 clicks
You play an entire season, bust your butt on the field of play, give up fun activities to get in more practice—then at the biggest point in your career, you give up a chance at the championship just because of a player on the opposing team? Essentially, that's what happened in Arizona: Phoenix Catholic school forfeits baseball championship game because opponent has female player A Pho...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Fri 11:03 a.m. - 19 clicks
The spring season requires the art and/or experience of knowing when to sow the seeds or transplant the starter plants. I lack both when it comes to fruit and vegetables in southern Arizona so I let the growers at the Farmer’s Market indicate the timing. The fruit trees were set out for sale in mid-April so I interpreted that to be my cue. ...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Fri 11:03 a.m. - 16 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: As I posted yesterday in Extreme Makeover: Jesse Kelly 2.0, "Blog for Arizona is going to go back through our posts from 2010 and repost some of them to demonstrate the "extreme makeover" the RNCC is doing......
Blog For Arizona - Fri 10:26 a.m. - 14 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Last month we learned that Tom 'banned for life by the SEC' Horne under investigation by the FBI: The chief law enforcement officer of the state of Arizona, our Attorney General Tom "banned for life by the......
Blog For Arizona - Fri 9:24 a.m. - 16 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Maricopa County Sheriff "Crazy Uncle Joe" Arpaio has been under several federal investigations and an ongoing grand jury investigation for years, and he has cost Maricopa County millions of dollars in legal fees and settlements over the......
Blog For Arizona - Fri 8:24 a.m. - 13 clicks
Here it is as filed in AZ fed. court... Scott Huminski 2624 S. Bahama Drive Gilbert, AZ 85295 (480) 243-8184 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA United States of America, ) Plaintiff, ) CIVIL ACTION &...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Fri 6:45 a.m. - 17 clicks
And so are we, Sheriff, but probably not for the same reason. That quote of course is from Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, at a press conference today in Phoenix ( video link ) where he blustered defiantly (does he know any other way?) in response to the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit that showed up in his morning mail. The federal government filed a lawsuit against the Maricopa Cou...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Fri 2:34 a.m. - 14 clicks
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and her allies in the state legislature are seeking to use millions of dollars intended for struggling homeowners to pay for prison construction and tax cuts instead, echoing a policy put in place earlier this year in Wisconsin by Governor Scott Walker. Remember the $26 billion foreclosure settlement , the one agreed upon by the five biggest banks and 49 state At...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Thu 7:47 a.m. - 25 clicks
The Arizona Republic is reporting tonight that the US Department of Justice will sue Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio Thursday over his office's years of racial profiling and stonewalling in the face of two federal investigations -- this DOJ probe and a grand jury looking into more abuse of powers shit. A source close to the federal investigation said the Justice Department expected to fi...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Wed 9:42 p.m. - 14 clicks
It looks like Arizona is once again mortgaging it's future so that it can fill in sort term budget deficits rather than addressing the structural problems which cause it to continually have budget deficits. In 2009 Jan Brewer signed a budget which among other things stipulates that the state attempt to raise as much as $735 million by selling and then leasing back facilities the...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 9 - 10 clicks
What follows is a letter I received from Scott Nicholson, a community organizer who has been working on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. It is posted here in full with his permission. ...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 9 - 16 clicks
As the state of Arizona slips ever toward the dark dystopia of Airstrip 1 and Orwellian Newspeak, I had time to contemplate (while its still legal, of course- no thoughtcrimes yet!) recent developments brought about by the Republican dominated government. In our great Meth Lab of Democracy (TM) ( aside : The GOP has some great copyrighters, no?), our legislators have not just managed to write...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 8 - 7 clicks
Nearly every Sunday morning at 8 a.m., Channel 12 in Phoenix airs Sunday Square Off, a weekly political discussion show. When discussing issues and matters where there is a partisan divide, host Brahm Resnick will bring in a lineup of guests that crosses that partisan divide; when discussing issues and matters that are less partisan and more observational, a panel of journalists ...
Random Musings - May 6 - 3 clicks
The Date Is Set The Second Annual Baja Arizona Kossacks Picnic will take place on Saturday, May 19 , starting around 6. The venue will be Rancho Tres Palmas, located near 22nd and Columbus in Tucson. (I'll send directions by individual Kosmail if needed.) We'll have Sonoran Dogs on hand, but we definitely want to preserve the pot-luck character of the thing, so ...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 6 - 2 clicks
In or about 1929, a state senator from the great state of Tennessee introduced a bill devoted to protecting the citizenry from the fearful menace known as the bogeyman . The bill contained no precise details of how to spot a bogeyman, or what to do if you encountered one, but was peppered with suppositions as to what actions by the populace might attract bogeymen, what legislative philos...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 6 - 2 clicks
Okay my fellow kossacks. Time to rally the troops again and show who we are. In Arizona on April 3, 2012, Daniel Adkin's Jr. was shoot and killed at a Taco Bell drive thru. Daniel was a mentally challenged person who was 29 years old, yet had the mental state of mind of a 13 year old. Please sign this Change.Org Petition by Daniel's family and help seek justice in th...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 6 - 2 clicks
White supremacist J.T. Ready, 39, the thug who killed four people and then himself in Gilbert, Arizona, on Wednesday, disliked little Lilly Mederos because the 15-month-old toddler was half-Hispanic. According to a family friend, Ready referred to Lilly as "50 percent ugly." The sick shit killed Lilly Wednesday. It's hard to fathom the horror in that suburban home, after hearing the first shot...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 6 - 2 clicks
ACTION 1 Get a hanger or a picture of a hanger. Put it in a envelope or box and mail it ASAP to: The Honorable Janice K. Brewer Arizona Governor Executive Tower 1700 West Washington Street Phoenix, AZ 85007 Faxing a picture of a hanger works too: (602) 542-1381 Thanks, @LindaCollins11 for suggesting this!!! You are a true warrior fighting against the War on Women. ...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 5 - 2 clicks
Arizona’s Records Show more than One Lobbyist Reporting fees Involving the AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL (ALEC), a Homeland Security Fact Sheet mentioning ALEC, document showing ALEC and Grover Norquist’s ATR National Involvement in Electronic Commerce on the internet, etc., etc., etc. Arizona’s Records Show where two lobbyists made lobbyist Reports documenting their fees concerning th...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 5 - 2 clicks
Russell Pearce, the former BFF and Mormon mentor of neo-Nazi JT Ready, is correct when he points out that he had nothing to do with Ready’s horrific killing spree in Gilbert yesterday. But it was inevitable that multiple reporters were going to ask him for a statement on it because, duh, they had a long [...]...
Democratic Diva - May 3
What a day. First we heard the sad news from the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert that a murder-suicide had occurred. In 1980, Gilbert had about 5,000 people, a sleepy place of ranchers and farmers, but today it's a quarter-million more, all plopped down 25 miles southeast of downtown Phoenix. Like most of the burbs here, from the air it looks like endless miles of dead worms -- meandering cul de sacs ...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 3
...Four people, including a 2 year-old toddler, were killed by infamous Arizona neo-Nazi/white supremacist JT Ready. From the Arizona Republic , written by Jim Walsh and Lindsey Collom - A border militia leader on Wednesday shot and killed four people at a Gilbert home, including a toddler, before committing suicide, sources said. Sources identified the shooter as Jason "J.T." Ready, ...
Random Musings - May 2
This is a breaking story, so I apologize for the short diary, but from the Arizona Republic : A border militia leader on Wednesday shot and killed four people at a Gilbert home, including a toddler, before committing suicide, sources said. Sources identified the shooter as Jason "J.T." Ready, a reputed neo-Nazi who made headlines when he launched a militia movement to patrol the Arizona des...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 2
Joe Arpaio (Gage Skidmore/ Flickr ) Via HuffPo , it seems America's Dumbest Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, is not quite done humiliating himself, Arizona, and the dignity of fine upstanding conspiracy-mongers everywhere. At least, not just yet : CBS 5 News pressed [head investibator Mike Zullo] for answers upon learning that he and the sheriff are planning another news conference in late May or...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 2
Former Arizona Democratic party chair Andrei Cherny has a wide lead in fundraising for the primary for Arizona's new, Tempe-based 9th Congressional district, according to the FEC. He's raised $431,078 in his sole quarter so far. It's hardly surprising for a former party chair to be a good fundraiser, but Cherny is no ordinary chair--he's a Harvard-educated former Clinton/Gore speechw...
DailyKos (Arizona) - May 1
Per last Friday’s “5 Minutes for Families”: Despite being Arizona’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood claims this bill will deny women access to other medical procedures including cancer screenings and women’s health services. Once again, this is not true. The bill does not reduce the funding by one penny – it simply prioritizes the funding [...]...
Democratic Diva - May 1
Arizona Game and Fish Dept. and its Sonoran counterpart CEDES violate trust of Mexican conservation organizations, and possibly wildlife law. Put at risk threatened Black-tailed prairie dog population. HERMOSILLO, SONORA, MEXICO -- The International and Borderlands Program of the Arizona Game and Fish Department, (IBP-AZGFD) along with the Sonoran counterpart of AZGFD the Comisión de Eco...
Daniel's News & Views - May 1
Turns out that pushing legislation that racks up a body count isn't considered good PR by many of ALEC's corporate supporters... Late last week, Russell Smoldon, lobbyist for SRP and one of ALEC's lead fixers in AZ and Debbie Lesko, AZ state representative AZ chair for ALEC, organized an emergency meeting of roughly 140 Arizona lobbyists to try to coordinate a response to the nationwid...
Random Musings - Apr 30
For the first time in 15 years, brothers Lester and Russell Pearce are out of elected office at the same time. Both are attempting to win office in November (Russell, state senate; Lester, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors), but until then, the amount of bs and hatred spewed into the atmosphere by AZ's elected officials by a huge middling OK, a tiny amount. Russell was removed fr...
Random Musings - Apr 30
... and that light you see in the darkness isn't the opening in the tunnel, it's an oncoming locomotive. According to many sources, including the Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) and the House Democratic caucus , the Republicans in the lege and in the governor's office have completed their secret negotiations and will pass a budget on Tuesday. The individual bills ( the app...
Random Musings - Apr 30
Saludos to Baja Arizona, Alta Arizona and the entire Kossack Nation. The weather is warming up nicely and May is just around the corner. That means it's time for the Second Annual Baja Arizona Kossacks Picnic. At the last meeting of the Central Committee of the Arizona Kossack Party (Baja), AKP(b), the venue and menu were chosen. It was decided to hold the picnic at Ranch...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Apr 29
As a resident of Arizona, I wake up every morning and eventually ask myself, after watching the news or reading the newspaper, "What the hell is happening here?". Two weeks ago, a Hispanic friend of mine sent me an editorial that offers a reasonable, logical explanation for all the crazy shit that happens here almost daily. That is, the explanation is reasonable and logical, not the behavior...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Apr 27
Some of these charts don't show up well, so you might look here for the whole view . The Obama campaign is embarking on a crash voter registration effort to determine whether Obama can win Arizona, a state that McCain won by 9% in 2008. While many have dismissed Obama’s chances of winning a traditionally Republican state, the demographics point toward a genuinely competitive race. Whether Oba...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Apr 27
From the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission ( AIRC ) - State Legislative Map Approved by the Department of Justice Today history was made when the Department of Justice notified the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission that it had approved the Commission’s legislative district map. This is the first time that the Department of Justice has precleared and not objec...
Random Musings - Apr 26
Our newest swing state. As Jed pointed out earlier, there are two new polls showing a neck-and-neck general election contest in Arizona. The first, by the Merrill/Morrison Institute, shows Romney leading 42-40 amongst registered voters. The second by Behavior Research Centers/Rocky Mountain Poll, has Obama leading 42-40—erasing a six-point deficit in January. Looking at the crossta...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Apr 26
The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday for and against Arizona’s two-year old immigration law known as SB1070. SB1070 was the pioneer in anti-immigrant legislation that gave seed to 36 other states introducing similar legislation and 5 passing laws modeled on it. ...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Apr 26
Per yesterdays AZ Republic editorial: Which brings us to former Democratic Sen. Dennis DeConcini’s testimony. Who, exactly, authorized DeConcini to “apologize” before Congress for his state’s behavior? A member of the Senate for 18 years, the Tucson native had a great opportunity, a national stage, to instruct Schumer and Congress on the consequences of their [...]...
Democratic Diva - Apr 26
To what extent can a state enforce immigration policy, traditionally the province of the federal government? Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral argument (PDF) in Arizona v. United States , reviewing the decision of the Ninth Circuit finding four provisions of SB 1070 unconstitutional for being implicitly preempted by federal law in the field, blocking ...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Apr 26
(White House photo, Rebecca Cook/Reuters) Merrill/Morrison Institute. Arizona RVs. April 10-14, 16-20. ±4.4%. Romney: 42 Obama: 40 Behavior Research Centers/Rocky Mountain Poll. Arizona RVs. April 7-19. ±4.4%. (Jan results) Obama: 42 (37) Romney: 40 (43) Arizona has 11 electoral votes, so it's a big prize—and not the kind of state that Mitt Romney wants to be in play. I...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Apr 26
SB 1070 had its day in the SC today, and while Russell Pearce and Gov. Brewer smiled before cameras after the hearing, evidently feeling as much as the media has reported that the questions seemed to favor upholding the law, I hope if this is true they will rue the day they opened this can of worms. ...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Apr 25 - 6 clicks
Interesting news coming out of the Supreme Court. The timing of this case could play a role in the elections in the fall. Alabama and Utah have passes similar laws and I'm sure will be watching this case closely also. Supreme Court justices strongly suggested Wednesday that they are ready to allow Arizona to enforce part of a controversial state law requiring police officers to check the immi...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Apr 25
