Month: September 2015

Congress acts to avert a government shutdown at midnight

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It’s the final countdown to midnight, and averting the GOP’s “Planned” government shutdown.

The Septuagenarian Ninja Turtle, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has delivered on his end of the bargain. Senate passes funding bill to avert government shutdown:

Republican leaders Senator Mitch McConnell and John Boehner speak after a bipartisan meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House in WashingtonThe Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favor of a funding bill that would avert a government shutdown and fund federal agencies through Dec. 11.

The measure, which also provides emergency funding to fight wildfires and extends the expiring authority of the Federal Aviation Administration, passed the Senate by a vote of 78-20.

Roll Call Vote 272, Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake voted in favor.

The TanMan’s House has taken a procedural vote to advance a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. House moves toward final funding vote:

The House easily advanced a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown at midnight, setting up a final vote later Wednesday.

The procedural rule governing debate on the bill passed 239-187 with only three Republicans voting against it. Roll Call Vote 525.

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Lawsuit filed to stop out of state ‘dark money’ corporation from funding Frank Antenori’s Revitalize Tucson attack ads

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FrankensteinWhen you want to run a negative attack campaign to terrorize the villagers, who are you gonna call?

Why Frank(enstein) Antenori of course, Arizona’s version of Donald Trump (spouting invectives towards anyone whom he sees as an enemy, not just a political opponent).

Antenori doesn’t live in Tucson, but he has for years inveighed against the liberal “dirty hippies” of Tucson.

Right back atcha, Frank.

Those attack ad billboards you have seen around Tucson were paid for by Revitalize Tucson, an independent expenditure committee chaired by Frank Antenori and Christine Bauserman (Statement of Organization .pdf).

Revitalize Tucson has been bankrolled by an out of state “dark money” corporation. Attorney Vince Rabago, a former Assistant Arizona Attorney General and candidate for attorney general, and former chair of the Pima County Democratic Party, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of long time social activist Barbara Tellman against this “dark money” front group, Foundation for Responsible Accountable Government Inc.

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Where Pride Began – “Stonewall” at the Loft

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STONEWALL STARTS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2 at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. Tucson Check website for show times: www.loftcinema.com Director Roland Emmerich’s passionate drama tells the incredible true story of the 1969 Stonewall riots that started America’s modern LGBT rights movement. Stonewall centers on the fictional Danny Winters (Jeremy Irvine, War Horse), who is forced to leave … Read more

Cool event in Phoenix about that Colorado birth control experiment

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com If you are a pro-choicer in the Phoenix area still spitting darts over that rage-inducing, cavalcade o’ misogyny Planned Parenthood hearing in Congress on Tuesday, here’s something positive you can enjoy: From the Facebook event page: Join us for hors d’ouevres, local Arizona wine, and a silent auction featuring a piece by … Read more

Immorality in Focus: When a Jewish State Meets a Refugee Crisis

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I’ve written previously about the immorality of Israel declaring itself a “Jewish State.” Before even reaching the morality issue there’s the threshold question of what exactly is a Jewish State. Presumably, it’s only majority Jewish, not exclusively Jewish. But does “Jewish” here refer to race? To religion? To culture? I’ve asked the question many times, received multiple answers, and never come away feeling the person responding had given it much thought. Often, the question is met with annoyance, similar to that felt by some lawyers when clients ask for an explanation of “boilerplate” provisions in contracts.

But I digress. In questioning the morality of the Jewish State, I’ve often borrowed the logic of Ali Abunimah, who explains that if the right to have a Jewish State is morally defensible, then there must be morally acceptable remedies if that right is threatened or violated, by inter-marriage, immigration and emigration patterns, differing fertility rates, or conversion. But what would those remedies be? Deportation of non-Jewish citizens? Forced sterilization? Genocide?

The current refugee crisis brings this into sharp focus.

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