Month: December 2014

Dicey Doug Ducey is turning Arizona into ‘Kochtopia’

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Dicey Doug Ducey, the man hired by Koch Industries to manage their Southwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Arizona (h/t Charles Piece), now known as “Kochtopia,” shamelessly appointed Kirk Adams, a confessed “Kochtopus” operative as his chief of staff this week.

What’s next, a staff position for Sean Noble, the “Kochtopus” money laundering bag man as well? Or does that not pay him well enough?

The Arizona Republic glosses over the details in Ducey taps former House speaker to lead staff:

During his time in the Legislature, Kirk Adams was a prime sponsor of legislation that included a wide-ranging package of business tax cuts corporate welfare tax giveaways. Those reductions are still phasing in.

kool_aid_man_runningThat would be the same corporate welfare tax giveaways that have produced the current $52o million budget deficit this year, and an estimated $1 billion deficit next year. Brewer fails to meet balanced-budget promise: “Arizona faces a $520 million budget shortfall for this fiscal year and a $1 billion shortfall next fiscal year on a $9 billion budget.”

Long-time readers will remember that I dubbed Kirk Adams during his tenure as Speaker of the House “Captain Kool-Aid” because he was a true believer in faith based supply-side “trickle down” GOP economics, just like Dicey Doug Ducey. The GOP’s double dose of poison to kill Arizona.

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Did the Septuagenarian Ninja Turtle, Senator Mitch McConnell, disclose collusion between Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court?

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mitch_mcconnell_frown-cropped-proto-custom_2The Septuagenarian Ninja Turtle, Senator Mitch McConnell, in a moment of rare candor, may have disclosed political collusion between the Felonious Five conservative activist justices of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Tea-Publican leaders of Congress.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post writes, Mitch McConnell: We can’t repeal Obamacare, but Supreme Court may ‘take it down’ instead:

[The] link between the lawsuit and the goal of taking down the law has been drawn tightly by none other than the incoming GOP Senate Majority Leader.

In a very candid moment, Mitch McConnell flatly describes this legal challenge as a substitute means through which an end — repeal — will be accomplished that Republicans failed to accomplish through the political and legislative process.

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Strike Fast Food

Fast Food Workers #FightFor15 & Strike Today Nationwide

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Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has organized another fast food strike today, December 4 in Tucson and around the country. This is the third nationwide fast food strike in a year, with one in December 2013 and one in September 2014. Protesters, strikers, and supporters will meet around 12:30 at Casa Maria,  401 E 26th … Read more

Republican senator signals the return of SB1062 under, you guessed it, the banner of Hobby Lobby

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hl 1062

On Monday the AZ Republic featured a pair of op-eds from a Republican State Senator and the outgoing Democratic House Minority Leader about the prospect of a reformulated SB1062 in the upcoming Arizona legislative session.

Here’s Senator Nancy Barto (R) explaining why opponents of discrimination are misguided meaniebutts:

To start — the vast majority of the attacks against this simple bill were at best misunderstandings of the legislation, or at worst outright lies with the endgame of conditioning the public into automatically equating faith with bigotry — in the name of equality and fairness.

On the contrary, SB 1062 brought Arizona in line with federal law and would not have created any “new right” to discriminate (i.e. refusing people taxi, hotel or restaurant service).

The Supreme Court made this clear in June when they said the Green family, who own Hobby Lobby, couldn’t be forced to pay for abortion-causing drugs in their insurance plans as “Obamacare” mandated — meaning they didn’t have to surrender their First Amendment rights simply because they started a business.

This is exactly what SB 1062 would have clarified in Arizona.

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Full Moon Tales at Yume Japanese Gardens

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Full Moon Tale Flyer

The full moon will set the scene on the evening of Saturday, December 6 for an original theatrical performance of the beloved Japanese folktale Kaguya Hime — The Bamboo Princess. Children and adults alike will be enchanted as performers in masks engage in storytelling, dance, and shadow play to the sound of traditional bamboo flute music and taiko drums.

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