Santa Rita Mountains in the winter (anonymous photographer), photo courtesy of Lens on the Lands Posted by Carolyn Classen Lens on the Land presents Rosemont: What’s at Stake is “a collection of stunning photographs celebrating the cultural and ecological richness of the Santa Rita Mountains and surrounding watersheds that would be impacted by … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Cap'n Al Melvin at the Arizona GOP Awards Dinner the night before the Arizona GOP Winter State Committee Meeting last month, said that he would "proudly wave the flag of the Tea Party." (video below the fold).
This video is pure Cap'n Al, unplugged.
As I have said before, the Neo-Confederate dead-enders and John Birchers need to get their own damn political party and stop hijacking the hollowed-out carcass of the Republican Party for the legitimacy of the party label.
This is not your father's GOP. The "Party of Lincoln" long ago ceased to exist. This is a hostile takeover by a band of far-right radicals and extremists.
Posted by Bob Lord
Even those on the political left (not the ideological left) consider Chris Hedges to be on the fringe.
That's scary. It's scary because when those making sense are marginalized, the end is near. Here are the closing paragraphs in Hedges' column tody, Our Sinister Dual State:
Societies that once had democratic traditions, or periods when openness was possible, are often seduced into totalitarian systems because those who rule continue to pay outward fealty to the ideals, practices and forms of the old systems. This was true when the Emperor Augustus dismantled the Roman Republic. It was true when Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized control of the autonomous soviets and ruthlessly centralized power. It was true following the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazi fascism. Thomas Paine described despotic government as a fungus growing out of a corrupt civil society. And this is what has happened to us.
No one who lives under constant surveillance, who is subject to detention anywhere at any time, whose conversations, messages, meetings, proclivities and habits are recorded, stored and analyzed, can be described as free. The relationship between the U.S. government and the U.S. citizen is now one of master and slave. Yet the prerogative state assures us that our rights are sacred, that it abides by the will of the people and the consent of the governed.
The last paragraph follows after the jump.
Rep. Victoria Steele’s (D-9) bill to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (HCR2016) was assigned to the House Judiciary Committee late last week. (You’ll remember that mid-week, I reported it was languishing on the desk of House Speaker Andy Tobin.)
This week is the last week for bills to be heard by committees of the Arizona Legislature. Currently, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to meet onThursday, Feb. 20, 2014. ERA ratification is not on the agenda, but– hey– it’s only Monday. Agendas and committee meeting dates routinely shift around in the Arizona Legislature. Arizona women deserve economic equality. It's time to make some phone calls to Phoenix!
Bills can be killed in multiple ways: they can be voted down in committee, voted down by the Legislature, or just plain ignored by the Speaker or the committee chair. If the HCR2016 isn’t heard this week, it will die in committee. Arizona women deserve economic equality. Tucson's favorite "moderate" LD9 Rep. Ethan Orr is on the Judiciary Committee; he could be an important swing vote on the ERA. [Contact information for committee members after the jump.]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The New York Times today has an update on the surprising move by the Tea-Publican controlled Senate in the Kansas legislature blocking the same model legislation for religious bigotry that is in the Arizona legislature. In Kansas, Right Joins Left to Halt Bill on Gays:
A bill that would have allowed individuals to refuse to provide business services to same-sex couples in Kansas because of religious beliefs met a surprising and quick end last week when conservative senators sided with liberal advocates in saying that the measure promoted discrimination.
The bill had passed the House, 72 to 49, last Wednesday and it appeared that it might also easily sail through the Senate. Both chambers are controlled by conservative Republicans who in recent years have passed some of the most conservative legislation in the country, whether on gun control, abortion rights or taxes.
Susan Wagle, a conservative Republican who is president of the Kansas Senate, raised opposition to the House measure, saying she had “grown concerned about the practical impact of the bill” and “my members don’t condone discrimination.”
Ms. Wagle was backed by Senator Jeff King, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who said he would not hold hearings on the House bill. Instead, Mr. King said, his committee would hold hearings on the broader topic of religious freedom in Kansas and explore whether the Legislature needed to take any further steps to shore up those protections.