Tax Fairy Pledge Causes ‘Super Committee’ Failure
November 21, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
60 Minutes did a segment on the Tax Fairy, Grover Norquist, on Sunday on the eve of the so-called "super committee" aka "super Congress" failure to come to any agreement, see Lawmakers Concede Budget Talks Are Close to Failure – NYTimes.com and Debt supercommittee members brace for failure – The Washington Post, because the Tea-Publicans honor their un-American pledge to this corrupt K Street lobbyist more than their oath of office.
This point was never made by media villager Steve Kroft in his report. The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP – CBS News:
The Joint Congressional Committee on Deficit Reduction has just three days to reach a deal eliminating at least $1.2 trillion from the nation's debt using some combination of cutting spending and raising taxes.
The person at the heart of those negotiations – and some would say the person responsible for the deadlock – is neither a member of Congress nor the holder of any public office. He is a lobbyist and a conservative activist named Grover Norquist who, over the years, has gotten virtually every Republican congressman and senator to sign an oath called "The Pledge." It's a promise that they will never, under any circumstances, vote to raise taxes on anyone. And so far Grover Norquist has held them to it, controlling 279 votes, including the speaker of the House, the Senate minority leader and all six Republican members of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction.
* * *
Since creating Americans for Tax Reform at Ronald Reagan's behest back in 1985, Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party.
Norquist: The Republicans won't raise your taxes. We haven't had a Republican vote for an income tax increase since 1990.
* * *
Norquist: I think to win a Republican primary– It is difficult to imagine somebody winning a primary without taking the pledge.
The signatories not only include more than 270 members of Congress, but all of the Republican presidential candidates, with the lone exception of John Huntsman.
Video link http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7389006n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel
Back on November 10, Lawrence O'Donnell in this "Rewrite" segment from The Last Word explained how the Tax Fairy Pledge is un-American and violates the oath of office taken by members of Congress — "the founding fathers intended for members of Congress to take only an oath of office, not an oath to a lobbyist."
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Transcript below the fold.
The next move for Randy Parraz and Citizens for a Better Arizona
November 20, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: After spearheading the first successful recall of a state legislator in the history of Arizona and the first legislative leader in the history of the United States, what will Randy Parraz and Citizens for a Better Arizona do for an encore? The Arizona Republic's Political Insider gossip column reports today: The next targets
(Update) Pimps for Private Prisons and Profit
November 20, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The Quaker prison-watchdog group American Friends Service Committee, whose lawsuit seeking to block any private prison contract until the Department of Corrections actually complies with state law and produces a cost-benefit analysis (expected in January) was dismissed in Maricopa County Superior Court last month, on Friday filed an appeal and a fresh
Needed: Retraining for police in dealing with protests
November 20, 2011
by David Safier I've posted some horrific photos and videos from Occupy protests involving police using pepper spray on participants. But I don't want to get all 60s about it and turn the police officers, as a group, into the enemy. That seems counterproductive to me. And I don't think it makes sense, especially when
The Arizona Daily Star gets it right on the AIRC
November 20, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Occasionally the Arizona Daily Star shows signs of its former greatness in an editorial opinion. Such was the case on Saturday in this editorial opinion. Brewer's meddling in commission a detriment to state: The Arizona Supreme Court reinstated Colleen Mathis as chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission, overturning Gov. Jan Brewer's presumptuous
The Arizona Republic is part of the problem, not the solution
November 20, 2011
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The corporate media is failing us.The Arizona Republic is part of the problem, not the solution. The Republic has an editorial opinion today on Arizona redistricting which bears the imprimatur of Laurie Roberts because it repeats the GOP talking points and is still whining about "the ugly lobster shape that hooks up
The video from UC Davis
November 19, 2011
by David Safier According to TPM, The U.C. David chancellor has announced that a investigative task force will be formed in the wake of a disturbing pepper-spray incident at Occupy Davis, a protest on the university campus. In a video, police are seen pepper-spraying students even after they had been subdued. Watch the video:
Another Occupy photo
November 19, 2011
by David Safier Here's a photo from the UC Davis campus. The "crime" which provoked the spraying was blocking a walkway in the university's quad. I learned from the same story that protesters who link arms and "actively resist," whatever that means, are engaged in an act of violence. Here's a quote from the original
