ALEC Rock – School House Rock was never like this

July 29, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I used to love the "school house rock" videos that were part of ABC's after school specials back in the day when the networks were required to provide educational programming for children as part of their broadcast license agreement.

A classic was "I'm just a bill on Capitol Hill," which gives a very simplistic explanation of how a bill becomes law. It has now been updated to the reality of our times. The ALEC Exposed Project turns "I'm just a bill on Capitol Hill" into ALEC Rock with "a bunch of corporations that bribe politicians and together they secretly dictate policy."

Mark Fiore produces the ALEC Rock video below the fold.

Charles Koch funded study finds climate change is real and caused by humans

July 29, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Don't you just hate when this happens? You spend $150,000 for your hand-picked skeptics to produce another climate change denial report, and they come back with a report that not only says climate change is real, but is is due to carbon pollution that is almost entirely caused by humans.

Are we ready to get serious now? Joe Romm reports at Think Progress, Bombshell: Koch-Funded Study Finds ‘Global Warming Is Real’, ‘On The High End’ And ‘Essentially All’ Due To Carbon Pollution:

The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study (BEST) is poised to release its findings next week on the cause of recent global warming.

A New York Times op-ed by Richard Muller, BEST’s Founder and Scientific Director, has been published, “The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic.”

Here is the money graf:

CALL me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.

“The decadal land-surface average temperature using a 10-year moving average of surface temperatures over land. Anomalies are relative to the Jan 1950 – December 1979 mean. The grey band indicates 95% statistical and spatial uncertainty interval.” A Koch-funded reanalysis of 1.6 billion temperature reports finds that “essentially all of this increase results from the human emission of greenhouse gases.”

Yes, yes, I know, the finding itself is “dog bites man.” What makes this “man bites dog” is that Muller has been a skeptic of climate science, and the single biggest funder of this study is the “Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation ($150,000).” The Kochs are the leading funder of climate disinformation in the world!

It gets better:

Our results show that the average temperature of the earth’s land has risen by two and a half degrees Fahrenheit over the past 250 years, including an increase of one and a half degrees over the most recent 50 years. Moreover, it appears likely that essentially all of this increase results from the human emission of greenhouse gases.

These findings are stronger than those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations group that defines the scientific and diplomatic consensus on global warming.

In short, a Koch-funded study has found that the IPCC “consensus” underestimated both the rate of surface warming and how much could be attributed to human emissions!

Guns in a Society in Decline

July 29, 2012

Posted by Bob Lord With the intense focus on the Aurora tragedy, little attention is being paid to George Zimmerman these days. And so whatever debate we have on gun control will be through the lens of Aurora, and Tucson, and Virginia Tech. There's nothing inappropriate about that, but it's too bad Zimmerman will not … Read more

AZ Secretary of State website down

July 29, 2012

by David Safier Go to the Arizona Secretary of State's website and here's what you'll see: Lisa Hoffman posted about the loss of service on Facebook, and BfA cross-poster Craig McDermott said he was on the site 16 hours ago (I'm guessing Saturday afternoon), and when he came back a few hours later, it was … Read more

DFA Bi-Lingual Campaign Academy – Tucson (Updated)

July 29, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Bi-Lingual Campaign Academy PCC Desert Vista CampusTucson, AZ Saturday, August 11, 2012 REGISTER TODAYRegistrese (En Español) We are excited to share with you that Democracy for America has chosen Southern Arizona to host its' FIRST Bi-Lingual Campaign Academy! This program is designed to help train both our English and Spanish speaking candidates, volunteers, … Read more

Saturday Editorial July 28th, 2012

July 28, 2012

In the flurry of news and opinion gusting out of our computer screens and smart phones, it is easy to become 'news blind' – so focused on the flakes and flurries that we forget where we are headed. We stumble confusedly ahead with no map to our destination. It's easy to get lost in the storm.

I personally read almost every news source in Arizona – and keep up with national reaction to our politics, as well – in bringing to readers of BlogForArizona the Arizona Donkey Feed, which appears on our right-hand sidebar every day (you may also have the Feed emailed to you daily). So I, too, often find myself in that blizzard without a map.

I decided I might like to sit down once a week and take some time to look around, and identify what I think are the most significant landmarks around where we stand now. It might not be a map that will tell us where we are headed, but maybe I can get some idea of where we are. Over time, perhaps it will become a map of sorts. You can even look back to all the editorials I have done so far, which isn't that many, yet…

I would also like to let you all know that Betts Putnam-Hidalgo, candidate for Tucson Unified School Board, will be guest-host at Drinking Liberally in Tucson. Come down to the Shanty of 4th Avenue this Wednesday at 6pm and enjoy a beer with Betts.

This week, I don't have a big post for you all. I just finished my 2012 Ballot Prop Voter Guide, and that's about all I want to say today. I will just leave you all with the Best New Thing in Arizona Politics this week: Russell Pearce in the Bunker! See it after the click…

Ballot Propositions and Referenda for 2012 Voter Guide

July 28, 2012

By Michael Bryan

Here at BlogForArizona we generally don't do endorsements. We believe in presenting readers with good information and letting them make up their own minds. In addition, doing so can be problematic because of the diversity of views of our bloggers. Finally, there is something ineffably subjective and human about choosing another person to represent you that mere analysis of positions or policies or biographies cannot really capture.

But when it comes to ballot questions, we're on firmer ground. The language of the ballot question is what it is. Sometimes a good deal of legal or institutional knowledge is required to understand the likely effect of the new law, which not every voter has. So, to help voters fully participate in this aspect of Arizona's Progressive heritage, BlogForArizona presents a recommended list of positions on the ballot questions this year.

There is a diversity of opinion on a few of the citizen inititiative Props here on the blog. Some members feel that the permanent sales tax must be passed, and our BlueMeanie feels the top two primary would be a disaster. Both Democrats and Republicans feel that Open Primaries will be problematic, which is a point in favor of the reform, in my view. In fairness, I should note that my recomendations for these two citizen initiatives go against the majority opinion in the Democratic establishment. So be it. There will be links to alternative views on these Props as they become available.

Update 10/21/12: I've been convinced by colleagues, friends, and analysts that the unintended consequences of Prop 121 would outweight any benefits. I have changed by recommendation to NO.

Though not a perfect guide, if the State Legislature has referred the question to the ballot, you should vote NO, unless very strong evidence convinces you otherwise. If it is a citizen petition, give it due consideration before voting NO. You can see the approved ballot language for all the measures here.

Read on for full explanations of recommended votes…