Featured Stories
NW office has SRO crowd to walk and phone for Carmona, Kirkpatrick and Young Wright
September 15, 2012
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by David Safier When I arrived at the northwest office (Oracle and Magee) a half hour late for breakfast, I expected 25 people would be there, hoped for 40 and feared 15. I was amazed to find at least 70 people. "Free breakfast," someone said to me, but I don't think that was the reason. … Read more
Arizona Democratic Party 2012 Hall of Fame Dinner
September 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Announcement from the Arizona Democratic Party: 2012 Hall of Fame Dinner Hall of Fame Dinner October 10th, 2012with Keynote Speaker Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson Location To Be DeterminedPhoenix, AZ 6:00p.m. VIP & General Receptions, Registration7:00p.m. Dinner DINNER SPONSORSHIP LEVEL$25,000 Dinner Sponsor(10 VIP and Dinner Tickets, Priority Seating, Listing in Program, Signage) … Read more
Judge rules Scott Walker’s anti-union collective bargaining law is unconstitutional
September 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's law repealing most collective bargaining for local and school employees was struck down by a Dane County judge on Friday. Judge throws out Walker's union bargaining law:
The law remains largely in force for state workers, but for city, county and school workers the decision by Dane County Judge Juan Colas returns the law to its status before Walker signed the legislation in March 2011.
Colas ruled that the law violated workers' constitutional rights to free speech, free association and equal representation under the law by capping union workers' raises but not those of their nonunion counterparts. The judge also ruled that the law violated the "home rule" clause of the state constitution by setting the contribution for City of Milwaukee employees to the city pension system rather than leaving it to the city and workers.
The decision could still be overturned on appeal – the Supreme Court has already restored the law once in June 2011 after it was blocked by a different Dane County judge in a different case earlier that year.
"The decision essentially creates the (2011) status quo for municipal employees and school district employees because it declared the essential provisions of Act 10 to be unconstitutional," said Lester Pines, an attorney for the Madison teachers union and one of its members.
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A spokeswoman for Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said he would likely appeal the decision.
"We believe the law is constitutional. We are reviewing the decision, but we're planning to appeal," Dana Brueck said.
The Illogic of Union Bashing
September 14, 2012
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Posted by Bob Lord
By all appearances, the Chicago teachers' strike is over. An agreemnent has not been ratified, but the reports are that a framework has been agreed upon and that the heavy lifting is done.
What's too bad is that we won't hear any push back against the union bashing that took place this week. As some, including Rahm Emanuel, would have it, the teachers were irresponsible to strike. All those underprivileged kids would go without math education for, oh my God, one week. The damage to their potential would be irretrievable.
Crazy Talk
September 14, 2012
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Posted by Bob Lord I found this post regarding military spending at Truthdig.com yesterday http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/monopolizing_war_what_america_knows_how_to_do_best_20120913/ It points out how stunning (and depressing) our discourse in this area is. Romney is out there beating the drum for increased military spending, and that's the focal point of the debate. If sanity were to prevail, the debate would … Read more
The troubling Tyler Mott
September 14, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
You may recall that a few weeks ago, Teabagger Tyler Mott was caught using eliminationist rhetoric against the president:
After the president’s decision last year to review, and in most cases stop, deportations of illegal immigrants without prior criminal histories, Mott took to his Facebook page to call for Obama’s head, as well as the head of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
His full post read: “Who the hell does Obama think that he is? His job is to enforce the law. He doesn’t get to arbitrarily decide not to deport people who have been ordered deported. If Obama wants the job of making the law, he needs to back to running for Congress. Or if he wants the job of interpreting the Constitution, then he needs to get appointed to the Supreme Court. Obama and Napolitano should both be hung for treason!”
Mott wanted to lynch an African-American president. He later explained that he was "just joking." Word of advice: African-Americans do not find lynching funny in any context, Mr. Mott.
Tedski at R-Cubed has a few more classic comments from Tyler Mott, the Chair of the Pima County Young Republicans, who has a penchant for shooting off his mouth on social media sites. People Not Politics:
I laughed a bit when I saw that State Senate Candidate Tyler Mott had the slogan “People Not Politics” emblazoned on his signs, as if to imply that he’ll set politics aside to get to that near-mythic “common good that we all agree on.” Yes, because he’s non-partisan or post-partisan or something…and civil…yes…civil discourse. Very important.
If you don’t know, they are a group of RINOs – Republicans-In-Name-Only’s – who want to destroy America. Some of the members of that group are worse than others. Almost all of their members are worse than Democrats. They are not the only RINOs in Congress, but they are the ones who are most open and happiest about being RINOs. McCain, of course, is a member. And so is that f*ing bastard Jim Kolbe. My only hope is that Kolbe goes to jail sometime soon and becomes someone’s you-know-what. I know that he always hit on the 18 year-old incoming freshmen guys in the UA College Republicans, but I’d be surprised if a sick freak like him actually has any lines that he wouldn’t cross.
That’s from Mott’s MySpace blog. Yep, it’s still up. You can find all sorts of fun stuff, like the tyranny of traffic cops and his dislike of Bond films that he regards as “homoerotic.”
In fact, Mott's MySpace blog was a veritable goldmine of crazy quotes. It looks like he has taken down the blog, but not before it was captured. Doh! Here is one of my personal favorites:
May 24, 2006
We really have no hope anymore and need to overthrow the government now in favor of an oligarchy of elites. Americans are far, far too stupid to be allowed to vote ever again on anything after Ryan Seacrest mentioned a sad truth about the dumbass "American Idol" Finale. More than 63 million votes were cast, more than any president in the history of our country has received, Seacrest said. Americans are dumb, dumb pieces of ….!
Well there you have it, Tyler Mott thinks you are all too stupid to be allowed to vote and he loves him some of that Tea-Publican authoritarian oligarchy — "Charles Koch for you on line one, Mr. Mott."
Help get out the word for Prop. 204
September 14, 2012
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by David Safier The Quality Education and Jobs group sponsoring Prop. 204, the one cent sales tax for education, is asking people to help this Sunday. Please join us in rolling out the Prop 204 TV and Radio Campaign Ads! What: Press conference to roll-out the Prop. 204 TV and radio campaign ads and our … Read more
Shorting K12 Inc. stock
September 14, 2012
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by David Safier "Seeking Alpha," a company that gives investment advice, is suggesting people "short" K12 Inc. stock, which means it's betting the stock will go down. No corporation wants to hear that kind of talk. Ex-Intel CEO Craig Barrett, who is one of eight members of K12's Board of Directors, should be feeling a … Read more
