Tea-Publican House committee votes to give the governor an ‘Arizona Special Missions Unit’ border militia
March 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
This ludicrous idea from Sen. Sylvia "6,000 years" Allen (R-Snowflake) has already cleared our Tea-Publican Senate. Tea-Publican Senate votes to give the governor an 'Arizona Special Missions Unit' border militia.
The bill, SB 1083, is backed by "states’ rights" advocates and anti-immigration zealots. What could possibly go wrong? (Jan Brewer and her teabaggers are recklessly irresponsible enough to create an international incident or start a war).
The House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee approved SB 1083 on a party-line 6-3 vote after lengthy debate on Wednesday. Bill to establish armed, state militia passes hurdle:
[The Arizona Special Missions Unit] would [purportedly] help secure the border and help local law enforcement pursue, detain and arrest those involved in "cross-border criminal activity." The unit also could respond to natural disasters and search-and-recovery efforts.
It would be funded with $1.4 million a year in gang task-force funds.
When called into duty, unit members could detain and arrest suspects until a law-enforcement agency took over and would have immunity for acts that occur while on duty — similar to immunity granted to police and other law enforcers that prevents prosecution while doing their jobs.
The legislation also would allow the state militia to seize assets in instances where it cooperates with state or local law enforcement agencies.
The governor would oversee the unit, and local police or county sheriffs could request the activation of the unit to supplement their law-efforts.
Border experts have told The Arizona Republic it would be the first such volunteer border-enforcement force in the nation.
That's because nowhere else in America is a legislature stupid enough to take a bunch of volunteer redneck border vigilanties, arm them with guns and legal immunity, and set them loose on the public to violate the public's civil rights and seize its property, acting as the personal militia of a governor who clearly has issues with "brown people." This has "disaster" written all over it.
Free screening Saturday: “The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman”
March 15, 2012
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by David Safier Whether on not you saw "Waiting for Superman," the deeply cynical documentary bashing traditional district schools and singing the praises of charters, you may find this answer worthwhile: "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" March 17, 10am at the Loft. It's a free screening.
Librotraficante stops in El Paso
March 15, 2012
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by David Safier The Librotraficante caravan, scheduled to arrive in Tucson Friday, got a warm reception and good sized crowds in El Paso yesterday. El Paso played host Wednesday evening to a group of so-called "book traffickers" hoping to raise awareness about a controversial Arizona education law that led to the dismantling of a Mexican-American … Read more
Goldwater Institute has its way on anti-union bills
March 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Speaking of the evil bastards at the Goldwater Institute/ALEC who have sponsored four anti-union bills this session, they apparently have found a way to get two of their bills stalled in the House to move forward again in the Senate. "The original anti-union Senate bills – SB1484 and SB1486 – were both … Read more
Tea-Publican House approves Boss Tweed’s plot to destroy the civil service merit selection system
March 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Arizona is about to be transported back in time in Mr. Peabody's WABAC time machine to an era when women had no rights, minorities had no rights – and labor had no rights.
Gov. Jan Brewer aka Boss Tweed got approval from the Arizona Tea-Publican House on Wednesday for her plot to destroy the civil service merit selection system and to return to the halceon days of the spoils system of political patronage.
That's right, Boss Tweed wants to be able to fire you from your government job for no reason other than the slacker son or daughter of a major GOP contributor needs a job to get him or her off of mom and dad's couch. Arizona House OKs personnel reform:
State lawmakers advanced sweeping legislation Wednesday that would overhaul the state's personnel system to make it easier to terminate and discipline certain state employees.
The effort is a cornerstone of Gov. Jan Brewer's legislative priorities this session[.]
Brewer, a Republican, has said the changes are necessary to make it easier to get rid of poor-performing employees to make government more efficient and productive.
Reminder: ‘The Road We’ve Traveled’ premiere tonight
March 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Obama for America campaign has released the trailer to a new documentary-style extended campaign ad by Oscar-winning producer Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth") and narrated by Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, entitled "The Road We've Traveled," which will debut March 15.
The ad asks voters to look at the last four years in their entirety, and not just at any given day's headlines. Tom Hanks narrates, "How do we understand this president and his time in office? Do we look at the day's headlines? Or do we remember what we, as a country, have been through?"
The documentary includes appearances by Vice President Joe Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Elizabeth Warren and others.
The film will premiere in state offices across the country and will be exclusively streamed online. You can sign up to see the film here: http://www.barackobama.com/RoadTraveled
Locally in Tucson:
Where: 4639 E. 1st Street
Tucson, AZ 85711
When: Thursday, March 15th
6:30 pm
Trailer below the fold.
The weeklies slam the dailies for censorship of Doonesbury comic strip
March 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Daily Cartoonist is compiling a Lists of newspapers who pulled Doonesbury this week – The Daily Cartoonist, as well as papers that are running the series but have opted to move the strip off of the comics page, and papers that are opting for something different, like the Lexington Herald-Leader which will run the entire abortion series on Saturday in their editorial page, and the Winston-Salem Journal which will run the series on Saturday along with a column written by the managing editor.
Arizona's two largest circulation dailies, The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star, are among the papers that censored the Doonesbury comic strip — during the same week that the Arizona Tea-Publican Senate passed the "Baby Blunt Amendment" giving employers the right to deny contraception coverage to female employees and even to permit employers to terminate contraception users on "religious or moral objections" to their private life; and a panel of the Arizona legislature considered defunding Planned Parenthood, which for many women is the only health care provider for breast cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, etc., available in their community.
Do you think this censorship by the corporate media is related to these bills moving through the Arizona Tea-Publican legislature? "We report, you decide."
TUSD’s Catch-22: The MAS books aren’t banned, unless you plan to teach them
March 14, 2012
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by David Safier
Joseph Heller's Catch-22: You don't have to fly bombing missions if you're crazy, but if you say you don't want to fly bombing missions, you're clearly not crazy, so you have to fly them. (Lit lovers can read Heller's classic passage below the fold.)
TUSD's Catch-22: You can teach books used in the discontinued Mexican-American Studies courses — unless you teach them in a way that promotes resentment. So if you're an ex-MAS teacher, you can't teach them.
The Catch-22-ishness of the TUSD/MAS banned books situation was reinforced when I read Board President Mark Stegeman's recent constituent newsletter. He made reference to the Save Ethnic Studies fundraiser I attended last night with special guest Matt de la Peña, author of "Mexican White Boy." The invite referred to de la Peña as a "TUSD banned author." Stegeman disagreed.
Someone sent me a copy of an invitation to a fund-raising event tonight, to support Mexican-American Studies, which will be attended by the author of a “banned” book. As far as I know, however, TUSD has done nothing to remove or restrict access to any of this author’s books.
It's true, Mexican White Boy is not on a banned book list at TUSD. It's possible for teachers to use it in their classes. But ex-MAS teachers are under strict orders not to teach anything that might promote resentment, since that would violate the anti-MAS law which ended the program. What does that mean exactly? No one knows, not even the administrators who have to enforce the rule, because the law is so intentionally vague, violation is in the eye of the beholder. So the teachers have been warned, don't use books that could possibly lead you into your old, MAS ways.
That's why Curtis Acosta was told he can't teach Shakespeare's Tempest . . .
