Good thing I have lots of space on my hard drive
February 1, 2012
by David Safier Otherwise, I'd be running out of room to save all the articles about the MAS controversy I come across. It's being covered nationally and internationally, blogs and traditional news media. This story isn't going away. Did the folks at TUSD do any serious strategizing about this? Did they wonder what might happen
Romney, “Self Deportation” and Mexican American Studies
February 1, 2012
by David Safier OK, this one is just for fun. I was watching Rachel Maddow a few minutes ago. She was talking about the satirist who created the term “self deportation” in California a few years back to take the state’s proposed draconian deportation laws to their logical extreme, the kind of thing satirists love
Lies, damn lies, and the Goldwater Institute
February 1, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The lobbyists from the Golwater Institute will testify on Thursday about how public sector employees are paid more than their private sector counterparts. This is something that FAUX News Fraudcasting has been laying the groundwork for since early 2011. This claim has been refuted by several studies over the past year.
Just last week, the Arizona Republic reported Study compares pay, benefits of workers in Phoenix sectors:
A study Phoenix commissioned to settle disputes over public-employee compensation shows city workers earn slightly more in total pay and benefits than a combined average of competitive peers in both the public and private sectors.
But when benefits are stripped from the equation, Phoenix workers make far less in base pay compared with private sector entities and about the same as local public-sector peers.
The findings are contained in a study from the Segal Group that the Phoenix City Council will review today. Phoenix paid $430,000 for the 300-plus page report, and there is already disagreement about what the report says.
* * *
The study, released recently, based its findings on data averaging information from both the private and public sector. Cities used in the study for comparison included San Diego, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Houston.
Locally, most major cities in Maricopa County were included along with data on state employees. Private-sector information came from published databases and a survey of seven local companies or utilities.
The study shows Phoenix is roughly competitive with the public sector and 19 percentage points below market compared with the private sector when it comes to base salary. The report based its findings on the city's current labor contracts, which included a 1 percent wage cut that has been in place for two consecutive fiscal years.
[Compared with the private sector alone, total compensation for Phoenix employees is barely at market.]
Epic ALEC Stooge Fail
February 1, 2012
by David Safier Every teacher has stories of students handing in too-good-to-be-true research papers where, in the midst of brainless copying, they neglected to take out phrases like "(See page 473)." It looks like Florida Rep. Rachel Burgin was one of those students. Burgin, who the Daily Kos post describes as "a 29 year old
A view of the MAS controversy from across the pond
February 1, 2012
by David Safier There's a wonderful column by Gary Younge in the UK Guardian about the MAS controversy. It's worth reading the whole thing, but I'm going to jump around the column as I include a few excerpts in this post. First, the head/subhead: Whitewashing Black History MonthArizona's suppression of Mexican American studies fits a
‘Mittens’ Romney: ‘I’m not concerned about the very poor’
February 1, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
"Mr .006 percent," vulture capitalist Willard "Mittens" Romney, told CNN today that "I'm not concerned about the very poor." Well, no shit, Sherlock. I doubt you even know a poor person "in the real streets of America." Mitt Romney: 'I'm Not Concerned About The Very Poor':
Gov. Mitt Romney said on Wednesday that he's "not concerned about the very poor," citing the social safety net in place for that segment of the populace and adding that he's focused on the middle class.
"I'm in this race because I care about Americans. I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it," the Republican front-runner said Wednesday on CNN, following his victory in the Florida primary. "I'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling."
Let's unpack this out-of-touch statement. The social safety net is being shredded by state governments run by Tea-Publicans who see the social safety net, as "Mittens" himself calls it, "an entitlement society."
Medicaid, for example faces cuts as states attempt to balance budgets at a time when more people are using the program. GOP lawmakers have also eyed cuts in food stamps as food prices rise, even though more Americans are using the the program as a consequence of the economic recession.
Romney's policies call for cutting federal spending and reconfiguring the social safety net. He calls for an immediate five-percent cut to non-discretionary spending, which would hit the safety net hard. He proposes turning Medicaid into a block grant program and undertaking a "fundamental restructuring of government programs and services." He also calls for capping spending at 20 percent of GDP — a significant cut — and adds that he "will pursue further cuts" as spending comes "under control."
"Mittens" Romney has endorsed Rep. Paul Ryan's "Roadmap to America's Ruin" GOP budget plan that would end Medicare as we know it and turn it into a voucher system that will leave seniors vulnerable to rising medical costs. Romney Plan Endorses Radical Ryan Budget | The Nation.
Newt Gingrich’s ‘People’s Campaign’ – the coming ‘GOPocalypse’
February 1, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Let's be honest. Disgraced former House Speaker and preeminent housing historian Newt Gingrich is a megalomaniac. Newt frames every issue in apocalyptic terms: this is the end of civilization as we know it unless we follow him, the great thinker of big ideas.
Newt is an historian only because it allows him to cast himself among the pantheon of great historical figures. Newt sounds like the ominous voice-over trailer to every action movie ever made: "Only one man can save the world…" Newt. That is seriously delusional.
Newt Gingrich lost badly in the GOP primary in Florida on Tuesday night. But you would never know it from his speech to supporters last night. There was no gracious concession to the winner, Willard "Mittens" Romney. Oh no, not after "Mr. .006 percent" used his substantial financial advantage to savage Newt Gingrich in a blizzard of negative advertisements, using "the politics of personal destruction" that Newt Gingrich himself perfected at GOPAC.
Newt Gingrich used his speech last night to declare "uncivil" war against Mittens. As the ominous voice-over trailer to the action movie always intones, "This time it's personal."
Democrat wins special election for Congress in Oregon CD 1
February 1, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: You might not have heard that a Democrat won a special election for Congress last night with the media villagers falling all over themselves to talk about the GOP primary in Florida. Suzanne Bonamici continued the Democratic Party's nearly four-decade-long hold on the seat covering the northwestern corner of the state, replacing David Wu
