Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Last week, President Obama told reporters the public is already “sold” on the need for a balanced approach to debt reduction, a combination of spending cuts and additional revenue by closing "tax expenditure" loopholes (i.e., corporate welfare subsidies). Advertisement Speaker John Boehner and Republicans insisted that Americans agree with their spending-cuts-only approach. … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: I posted about this back in May. Ronald Reagan to Tea-Publicans: Do your duty and raise the federal debt ceiling. Today the House Democratic Caucus unveiled a new video about the need for Congress to do the right thing and raise the federal debt ceiling starring Saint Ronnie Reagan, entitled "That's an Adult Moment." … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: E.J. Montini of the Arizona Republic gets it exactly right today regarding Governor Jan Brewer's fundraising letter on behalf of our de facto governor, "King" Russell Pearce. The two are joined at the hip by their mutual demagoguery over SB 1070. Brewer rushes to puppeteer's aid: She won the election by signing Pearce's … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The summary report in the Arizona Republic today is factually incorrect. Russell Pearce files challenge to Arizona recall. Howard Fischer gets it right. Suit asks judge to throw out all signatures on Pearce recall petitions – East Valley Tribune: Supporters of Senate President Russell Pearce asked a state judge on Monday to … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: “Bury your mistakes,” Rupert Murdoch is fond of saying. That unfortunate choice of phrase may come back to haunt him in coming days now that Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbiz reporter who was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Constitutional Conservatives like to say they look to the original intent of a constitutional provision (yes, I know they are full of it). Prop. 106 creating the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2000. The persons behind this proposition are all still with us and thus the "original intent" … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Ratings agency Moody's on Monday suggested the United States should eliminate its statutory limit on government debt to reduce uncertainty among bond holders. Moody's suggests U.S. eliminate debt ceiling: The United States is one of the few countries where Congress sets a ceiling on government debt, which creates "periodic uncertainty" over the … Read more