The first rule of holes revisited

I did this post three years ago, The First Rule of Holes: When you’re in one, stop digging!, but apparently we need to revisit this rule because of Tea-Publicans in the Arizona legislature:

Arizona has a structural revenue deficit due to annual tax cuts since 1992. As I explained the other day:

HoleThis is how the anti-government, anti-public education, anti-tax GOP game is played: in each legislature since Prop. 108 was enacted in 1992, the legislature has enacted tax rate cuts and/or special interest tax exemptions and tax credits. This has had the intended effect of reducing tax revenues, creating a structural revenue deficit which results in a budget deficit. Because raising tax revenues is always off the table in the ideological GOP, the legislature takes out its meat axe and cuts the budget to essential state services like public education, health care and infrastructure (primarily roads).

Budget crises are not a bug but a feature for the Arizona GOP. They are in no way serious about resolving Arizona’s structural revenue deficit.

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Just How Unequal Are America’s Major Corporations?

Distributed via OtherWords.org

Pay scales at major U.S. businesses are way out of whack — and that’s just at the ones we know about.

That America’s income distribution has grown dramatically more unequal in the past 40 years is beyond debate. The share of the top 1 percent has doubled since 1980, to over 20 percent of all income.

Could it get any worse? A look at America’s large, privately held corporations suggests it could.

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West Virginia wildcat teacher strike succeeds, inspires other states to follow, including Arizona

West Virginia public school teachers decided “enough is enough” and staged a statewide strike. “Over 15,000 teachers and school support employees in all 55 West Virginia counties have been out on strike for [nine] days, as they and supporters from around the state [flooded] the capitol in Charleston, W.V., demanding higher pay and affordable healthcare.” West Virginia Teachers Are Now Out on a Wildcat Strike. The Labor Movement Should Follow Their Lead.:

Bucking a deal struck between the West Virginia Education Association (WVEA) and the state government, school workers have defied both union leadership and state law, which affords them no right to strike and does not recognize their right to collectively bargain. These restrictions haven’t stopped West Virginia educators from leading what may be one of the most important labor actions in years.

With “right-to-work” laws spreading across the country, and a Janus Supreme Court decision that could decimate public-sector unions on the horizon, striking teachers are offering a blueprint for how to win when the odds are stacked against labor: Strike, win and then keep striking to win more—no matter what union leaders say.

The walkout in West Virginia has now become what’s known as a wildcat strike: A mass work action carried out by the rank-and-file and without the express consent of union leadership. [Last] Tuesday, after agreeing to a five percent raise for teachers and three percent raise for other public-sector workers, WVEA leaders declared victory. But the rank-and-file weren’t having it, breaking out into chants of “We are the union bosses!” and “Back to the table!”

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Time again for popular Tucson Festival of Books

Tucson Festival of Books: March 10 and 11, 2018  — 9:30 to 5:30  p.m. both days on UA Mall, west of Campbell Avenue. Now in its 10th year.

Complete schedule of authors’ presentations: http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/?id=466

Famous authors coming in 2018 are Amy Tan (author of Joy Luck Club), political analyst John Nichols of The Nation, and Pulitzer Prize winner  Luis Alberto Urrea.

Amy Tan , photo by Julian Johnson

And don’t miss free concert Saturday night at Jefferson Field:

“The Festival is thrilled to announce that the self-proclaimed “hard-listening” band The Rock Bottom Remainders will once again be playing and singing their hearts out at the Festival. This year, all attendees of the Festival are invited to hear the band’s performance for free!

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SWAG List of Arizona State Candidates in 2018

Time once again for the “silly wild ass guess” (SWAG) list of candidates who are running for the legislature and statewide offices in Arizona. This list is subject to revision as candidates enter races or decide to withdraw. The candidates listed below have filed with the Arizona Secretary of State. There may be some errors as to current status, so if you have information about the current status of a candidate, please post the information in the comments.

The candidate petitions filing deadline is May 30, 2018. You can sign a candidate’s petition and/or make a $5 contribution to a  Citizens Clean Elections (CCE) candidate on the Arizona Secretary of State’s E-Qual page.

The primary election is Tuesday, August 28, 2018.

Arizona Legislature

District 1

Jo Craycraft (D) Senate (CCE)
Karen Fann (R) Senate
Ed Gogek (D) House (CCE)
Jan Manolis (D) House
Noel Campbell (R) House
Jodi Rooney (R) House
David Stringer (R) House
Stephanie Snyder (GRN) House
Matthew Daniel (IND) House (CCE)

District 2

Andrea Dalessandro (D) Senate (CCE)
Bobby Wilson (R) Senate (CCE)
Rosanna Gabaldón (D) House (CCE)
Daniel Hernandez, Jr. (D) House
Anthony Sizer (R) House (CCE)

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