Arizona
updated
6:30 p.m.
Contains only posts that are ID'd as non-local content. An explanation.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: If you want to understand why a public option (government as insurer of last resort) for health insurance is both necessary and inevitable over the long-term, John Perr at crooksandliars.com explains it for you in this post.......
Blog For Arizona - 4:02 p.m.
by David Safier Here's a press release from Rep. Giffords. If you support her position in whole or in part, call her office and tell them. They get lots of calls from the other side. Local: (520) 881-3588. D.C.: (202)......
Blog For Arizona - 3:49 p.m.
About a month ago stories started appearing about the emergence of another “movement” analogous to but very different from the tea party contingent that has spread across the country. Today CNN's lead story discusses the Coffee Party movement that continues to, well, percolate. Today is “National Coffee Party Day,” and the National Coffee Summit is scheduled for March 27. Unlike the dis...
Sustainability, Equity, Development - 12:20 p.m.
by David Safier It seems Russell Pearce is feeling a little heavy hearted about the cuts in the budget. “It's not easy and it's not fun for anybody, but you have no choice, you've got to do it,” said Sen.......
Blog For Arizona - 9:25 a.m.
Young Americans and Health Insurance Reform Young Adults Gain From Reform: Coverage To Age 26 In Senate Bill. The Senate leadership bill will: “Provide dependent coverage for children up to age 26 for all individual and group policies. (Effective six months following enactment).” [Kaiser Comparison, accessed 12/1/09] Extending Dependent Coverage To Age 26 Is Included [...]...
Young Democrats of Arizona Blog - 12:28 a.m.
Howell Raines: Why don't honest journalists take on Roger Ailes and Fox News? - washingtonpost.com Exposing the uber-lie that Americans don't want healthcare reform ...
Blog For Arizona - 12:27 a.m.
by David Safier Still no snail mail response from the Goldwater Institute. Which leads me to wonder what surprises Starlee Rhoades' letter will hold for me -- if I get one. And I should get one. Because Starlee Rhoades began......
Blog For Arizona - Fri 3:42 p.m.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Remember how the conservative media and Republican politicians all took umbrage and accused Sen. Barack Obama of an insulting smear against Gov. Sarah Palin when he said during a speech in Virginia in September 2008 that "you......
Blog For Arizona - Fri 12:48 p.m.
by David Safier They've cut 5% from state workers' pay. And Republicans don't want to hear any whining about it either. You're damn lucky to have a job, you sniveling, union loving state workers! Cut legislators' pay 5%? "No! I'm......
Blog For Arizona - Fri 8:08 a.m.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The government's top securities regulator called on Congress Thursday to impose new oversight on financial derivatives, warning that allowing risky instruments such as credit default swaps to continue unfettered could bring further economic damage. SEC head urges......
Blog For Arizona - Fri 8:08 a.m.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Every time you think you have finally killed them, they rise again like a vampire in a B-movie horror flick. Payday lenders now seek legislative help, would add $1.5M-per-year incentive: Rejected by voters and stymied in the......
Blog For Arizona - Fri 8:08 a.m.
Official dogma: Iraq War a success - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com Not! Could Porn Be Good For Society? Porn may reduce sexual assault... Pueblo Politics: Earmarks in the spotlight in CD8 ...
Blog For Arizona - Fri 12:04 a.m.
by David Safier For most of my life, my mail took 2 or 3 days to make it into someone else's mailbox. And if that other person was moved to reply, it usually took a few days for pen to......
Blog For Arizona - Thu 8:06 p.m. - 2 clicks 
by David Safier What's the Al Melvin Principle, you ask? It's the idea that nothing is better than a moment when everyone is "on their knees," because that's when you can really move that old rightwing agenda forward. Melvin's exact......
Blog For Arizona - Thu 7:19 p.m. - 2 clicks
by David Safier I feel a little guilty for not doing a day-by-day narrative about the proposed budget cuts, especially cuts to education. My only excuse is, I feel like I'm watching a multi-car highway accident unfolding in extreme slow......
Blog For Arizona - Thu 4:17 p.m.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Regular readers will recall that I occasionally refer to the AP as "all propaganda" (rather than the Associated Press). This is not without justification. Let's take today's "analysis" piece by the AP in national newspapers originally captioned......
Blog For Arizona - Thu 11:44 a.m.
Howard Stern shows us how here, in his tirade about Gabourey Sidibe having the nerve to exist: “There’s the most enormous, fat black chick I’ve ever seen. She is enormous. Everyone’s pretending she’s a part of show business and she’s never going to be in another movie,” Stern ranted. “She should have gotten the [...]...
Democratic Diva - Thu 1:09 a.m. - 5 clicks
I got a press release from Jesse Kelly (who, along with the other Three Mesquiteers, is still running for congress). In it, Kelly calls Jonathan Paton’s call for Gabrielle Giffords to end earmarks a “stunt.” Yep, Paton’s press releases have been a bit hyperbolic (I’m waiting for Paton to take credit for forcing Eric Massa from [...]...
Rum, Romanism and Rebellion - Wed 2:25 p.m. - 3 clicks
I’ve recieved a few e-mails and warnings about the perils of not passing the sales tax hike. The lege has two budgets, one if the sales tax referendum passes, the other if it doesn’t. The “B” budget, which would presumably be in place should the referendum fail, makes additional cuts of, among other things, $428 [...]...
Rum, Romanism and Rebellion - Wed 2:09 p.m.
(My 1984 Toyota Corolla) Six months out of college I bought a shiny new Toyota Corolla and over 14 years put over 200,000 miles on a car that wouldn't die. Odds continue to escalate that we're looking at another case where what was considered utterly unsinkable has hit the perfect berg and is taking on water like Niagara Falls. Like all bergs, most of the ice is under the water. 7/17/03 — DP...
Sustainability, Equity, Development - Tue 8:43 p.m. - 5 clicks
I’m on a quest to find good books on energy and the environment to read and recommend. My web surfing this morning led me to LifeTwo, a site devoted to midlife. The 2007 article I linked to cited Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future by economist Bill McKibben. [...]...
Democratic Diva - Tue 8:43 p.m. - 2 clicks
A legislative update from Rep. Steve Farley: Howdy, Friends O'Farley... Allow me to apologize on behalf of Republican leadership. While last week was officially declared as "Budget Week", they never actually came up with any budget proposals. So this week is, once again, "Budget Week"! We actually do have a budget proposal on the table today. The Republicans would again have a lot of ...
AZNetroots - Tue 7:09 p.m. - 3 clicks
I don't normally comment on pop culture happenings, mostly because ultimately they are utterly meaningless to anyone other than those people who are directly involved. Occasionally though, something so jaw-droppingly inane crops up that even I take notice. One such item has hit the wires today and it thoroughly merits some ridicule. From Yahoo! - Lindsay Lohan is no milkaholic. And that's l...
Random Musings - Tue 4:25 p.m.
Torture memos resemble Clarence Thomas' way of thinking - latimes.com Let's do Thomas no serious harm... Top home-school texts dismiss Darwin, evolution - Yahoo! News Wow. Back the the 14th Century for homeschoolers GOOD.is | The Almighty Dollar (Raw Image) What religious denominations have got the Benjis? ...
Blog For Arizona - Mon 4:03 p.m. - 2 clicks
Debt Is A Political Issue Krugman outlines explains that the size of the national debt is not the only thing that influences investors’ demands in terms of intereest rates, but also the perceived fiscal responsibility of the political elite, which is why we need more Democrats in office. The zero-sum game of tax cuts to stimulate state [...]...
Young Democrats of Arizona Blog - Mon 3:41 p.m. - 3 clicks
A mild-mannered reader of this here blog pointed out to me that Rob O’Dell said that Karin Uhlich won her council race by 195 votes. The figure, according to the City Clerk and quoted by other reporters at the Star, is 175. The inflation of Uhlich’s victory by twenty votes from what otherwise would be a razor [...]...
Rum, Romanism and Rebellion - Mon 3:40 p.m.
...Right now, we are waiting for the beginning (actually the restarting) of last Friday's meeting of Senate Approps. Due to the fact that a number of members couldn't be in town last Friday, they didn't achieve the quorum necessary to conduct business and will do so after a meeting of Senate Rules. ...The schedule isn't posted as yet, but sometime tomorrow (Tuesday, March 9), the 7th Special Se...
Random Musings - Mon 3:40 p.m. - 2 clicks
1:17 p.m. - They've been going through "points of personal privilege" (introductions of guests, personal comments, or in Ron Gould's case, reading an editorial that he agrees with) for approximately 10 minutes. Highlight so far - It's Senator Meg Burton Cahill's (D-LD17) birthday! Whoooo hoooo! ...
Random Musings - Mon 3:40 p.m. - 2 clicks
4:01 - Passing SB1419, correcting a dental hygienist bill from last session. I am out of here. 3:38 - Voting on measure. Aboud expressing doubts about measure's vagueness, votes no; Aguirre votes yes, hoping language is clarified; S Allen thinks this is a great bill, votes yes; Braswell also thinks this is "excellent" and votes yes; Gould votes yes but thinks that Senate won't obey the measure a...
Random Musings - Mon 3:40 p.m.
As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies, except where noted, and subject to change without notice... ...In Congress, most of the MSM attention will be on health care reform but there are other matters on the agenda this week. - In the House of Representatives, their agenda includes many of the usual memorial, congratulatory, building naming and s...
Random Musings - Mon 3:40 p.m.
The regular session Senate floor session took over an hour - and it was fairly non-controversial (any bills that were borderline between passing and failing, like the texting while driving ban, were pulled from the agenda for Third Read (final passage). They are organizing the session right now (rules and such). The lege's staff is currently in the process of posting documents for the session. ...
Random Musings - Mon 3:40 p.m.
Hello all, I have to gush about these pics I took. I wanted to share because I was so excited that I got good shots. I was driving yesterday and did not want to miss the awesome clouds so I put my camera on point and shoot mode and started taking pics out of the windshield and windows!! I finally pulled over and got some amazing shots as well. I hope you like the small break from politi...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Mon 3:40 p.m.
The "virtual fence" of cameras and sensors that is being arrayed along the U.S.-Mexico border to help the Border Patrol apprehend immigrants and smugglers has come in for a great deal of criticism in recent weeks. The Department of Homeland Security has already paid Boeing tens of millions of dollars, but so far they have yet to receive a working system. Mark Borkowski, executive dire...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Mon 3:40 p.m. - 4 clicks
On Saturday, March 6, the ASU Undergraduate Student Government presented a debate between Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont and chairman of the Democrat Party, and Karl Rove, formerly an aide to Dick Cheney and a confidant of George W. Bush. The debate was part on an ongoing tour with Dean and Rove visiting college campuses to discuss political issues. It was political theater at its...
Random Musings - Sun 2:44 p.m. - 6 clicks
Pretty big week this week. I focus a great deal on global warming this issue, but also on right wing support for domestic terrorism and some local stuff going on. The surge in support to defeat Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas, School Board elections in Texas, the downfall of Governor David Paterson in NY State and the EPA declaring the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn are among the topics I cover. More belo...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Mar 6 - 25 clicks
Behind the scenes, conservative group shaping state policy CAP, the shadow legislature... ...
Blog For Arizona - Mar 6 - 2 clicks
In today’s NY Times column Paul Krugman takes a quick look back at the Jim Bunning (R-Kentucky) delay of the extension of unemployment benefits; and to our own Jon Kyl’s well-reported case of foot-in-mouth disease. His conclusion is that the gap between the intellectual and moral universes of the two parties, however it has come about, is so great that it puts paid to the possibility of ...
The Data Port - Mar 5 - 2 clicks
Cross-posted to Project Vote’s blog, Voting Matters Engaging young citizens in the democratic process is an issue that lawmakers and voting rights advocates have long attempted to address. But with most youth voter engagement efforts primarily targeting college-attending youth (who make up less than half of the population of 18-24 year olds and are more likely to register and vote)...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Mar 4
Bookmark this site! It’s Skeptical Science: Getting skeptical about global warming skepticism. The good folks there are compiling global warming denialist arguments and providing quick rebuttals to 91 of them. Sample: Skeptic Argument vs What the Science Says 1 “It’s the sun” In the last 35 years of global warming, the sun has shown a slight cooling trend. [...]...
Democratic Diva - Mar 2 - 3 clicks
The latest from the Lege from Rep. Farley: Howdy, Friends O'Farley... Let's start with a few stats. The House has finished hearing House bills and the Senate has finished hearing Senate bills. So this is a good time to look at what bills went where, and whether certain bills from members of a certain political party were treated fairly. In the House, Democrats introduced 233 bills, wh...
AZNetroots - Mar 2 - 4 clicks
Gotta love our Senator’s understanding of what it is to be unemployed and poor. During a Senate debate Kyl explained why unemployment insurance and other benefits ought not be extended: They discourage people from looking for work "because people are being paid even though they're not working." The same is true of extending COBRA. Nothing puts the hustle in a job hunter like being den...
The Data Port - Mar 2 - 3 clicks
Heard/seen while spending the morning at the Capitol... - All of the Democrats and most of the Republicans in the lege are in the dark about what is going on with the budget this week - all of the talks are going on behind closed doors, and unless you are part of a certain special clique, you aren't invited. - The Governor held a press conference in the quad in front of the Old Capitol building ...
Random Musings - Mar 1 - 3 clicks
Constitutional Amendment to reverse Citizens United v. FEC introduced Senators Dodd and Udall have introduced a constitutional amendment that would allow congress to regulate corporate spending in elections again after the recent SCOTUS ruling. Could Crist bolt? A look at how are conservative primary races are effecting American politics. Which Party Uses Reconciliation More Often? Looks like Harr...
Young Democrats of Arizona Blog - Mar 1
Amazingly enough, this isn't about the state's budget mess, where their blind obeisance to Grover Norquist (and not-so-coincidentally, corporations and AZ's wealthiest residents) and their blindness to fiscal reality has led them to gut the state's future... Nope, not now anyway. However, that will be covered in a future post. From a Washington Examiner article about Joe Arpaio ( emphasis mine...
Random Musings - Feb 28 - 2 clicks
