Month: February 2013

The Farley Report 2-26-13

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Time once again for The Farley Report from Sen. Steve Farley (D-LD 9):

This week's Farley Report reprises our theme of good news/bad news in the Legislature. Although the news is mixed, I'm certainly seeing an improvement over some legislative sessions in the recent past. 

I'll start with the bad. We gave a preliminary OK to yet another bill that will get us featured on Comedy Central, as we continue our efforts to return our society to the bad ol' days of the 19th century. 

Up here we hear plenty of rhetoric on nullification of federal laws that may have originally been expounded by legendary Southern secessionist and and defender of slavery John C. Calhoun, and now we are being treated to talk reminiscent of William Jennings Bryan's 1898 "Cross of Gold" speech. 

SB1439, authored by Chester Crandell (R-Heber), would allow anyone to use any form of gold or silver as legal tender in Arizona. Yes, if you've been hankering to buy your groceries using Grandma's silver fork, you could soon be in luck. 

Parents, Board at Florida Imagine charter win first day in court

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by David Safier

I know this story about a Florida charter owned by Imagine Schools seems distant from Arizona, but really, it's right next door. Imagine, the country's largest charter chain, runs about 18 schools here in Arizona and is one of the poster children for the charter school movement at its worst. What happens in a Florida Imagine school does not stay in Florida. It has ripple effects across the country.

I've posted recently about the story at Florida's Imagine North Port, where the school's local Board decided to sever ties with Imagine Schools and go it alone. The main reason: $890,000 in management fees that go to Imagine's Virginia headquarters instead of furthering the students' educations. In response, Imagine took the bold and desperate step of putting the principal on administrative leave and suing the Board for $15,000.

Yesterday the case went to court, and the locals won the first round. Principal Justin Matthews, who has solid support from parents, was reinstated. Since FCAT testing is going on in the schools right now (the Florida equivalent of our AIMS testing), it's important that the school atmosphere not be disrupted by the controversy. According to a North Port parent I'm in contact with, the principal and the rest of the staff are doing a wonderful job of keeping the school operating smoothly.

This story is being covered in the area — ABC News, the AP and various local news outlets were at the courthouse — and it's likely going to spread to Imagine's campuses around the country, helping to breed a climate of fear and ill will between the upper level management and the people working in the schools.

The question is, why didn't Imagine just let the school leave and avoid the controversy along with the bad publicity? After all, other Imagine schools have left in the past without such a strong response from corporate headquarters.

U.S. Supreme Court cements the Surveillance States of America

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The Fourth Amendment has been on life support since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The Bush-Cheney regime instituted a massive electronic surveillance program in secret that was warrantless, bypassing the FISA Court, that monitored Americans’ electronic communications. It was unconstitutional and illegal. When this electronic surveillance program was exposed by the media, Congress retroactively "legalized" it in 2008. The FISA Amendments Act. (Ex Post Facto laws are prohibited by Article I, Section 10, Clause 1, of the U.S. Constitution). The FISA Amendments Act was renewed in 2012 with the support of the Obama administration.

Ross Douthat’s Insightful Yet Incomplete Thoughts

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Posted by Bob Lord

Ross Douthat is one of the conservative journalists I try to follow. I find him insightful, even if I often don't agree with him. 

In Saturday's Times, Douthat explored territory where no politician, D or R (or even L or G) dares to go: The possiblity that our economy may have matured past the point of providing jobs for all. In A World Without Work, Douthat acknowledges the reality of fewer jobs to go around:

Yet the decline of work isn’t actually some wild Marxist scenario. It’s a basic reality of 21st-century American life, one that predates the financial crash and promises to continue apace even as normal economic growth returns. This decline isn’t unemployment in the usual sense, where people look for work and can’t find it. It’s a kind of post-employment, in which people drop out of the work force and find ways to live, more or less permanently, without a steady job. So instead of spreading from the top down, leisure time — wanted or unwanted — is expanding from the bottom up. Long hours are increasingly the province of the rich.

Douthat correctly notes that the loss of jobs is not jeopardizing wealth creation, but actually is the result of it:

John Nichols: What Challenges Face Labor & Progressives in the Future? (video)

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John-nichols

by Pamela Powers Hannley

John Nichols, political writer for The Nation and regular contributor to MSNBC, returns to Tucson on Saturday, March 9, 2013, to discuss the progressive movement, our mutual goals with labor, and the challenges ahead. 

With intransigence in the Congress and sequestration cuts swirling around our heads, Nichols will provide us with lively commentary and new insights into American politics. 

Nichols spoke to a packed house last year in Tucson. If you attended that event, you know he is both entertaining and thoughtful in his analyses of the news and the political climate.

This free event is sponsored by the Tucson Chapter of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), in collaboration with the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF). It will be 6-8 p.m. at the IBEW Hall, 570 South Tucson Blvd. 

For a taste of what you will hear, check out this video from last year's event– after the jump.