Posted by AzBlueMeanie: On Monday the Legislature convened for the third week of the Special Session, but could not muster a quorum. Only 26 members of the House and 12 members of the Senate showed up. No quorum? No big deal, lawmakers say They held some discussions on the budget impasse, and agreed to reconvene … Read more

by David SafierI wrote a post about tax hikes, estate taxes and Tea Partiers. In it, I approximated the amount an estate has to be worth before it's taxed at $1 million. A reader corrected me. A single person's estate has to reach $3.5 million before it's taxed. For a couple, it's $7 million. The … Read more

by David SafierWhat the hell. Why not give Obama credit for the lowered crime rate? No one has a better reason. Violent crime has plummeted in the Washington area and in major cities across the country, a trend criminologists describe as baffling and unexpected. The article doesn't give Obama credit, and no sensible social scientist … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: President Obama addressed health care reform on Monday at Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C. Obama directly challenged the partisan comment from Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) last week. Text of prepared Remarks by the President on Health Care at Children's Hospital (excerpt): Now, there are some in this town who are content to … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Senators just had to hold a premature hearing with the CBO chief Doug Elmendorf last Friday before the senate committees working on health care reform even have a bill to vote on. The resultant headlines were what one has come to expect from the corporate media villagers and Beltway bloviators. The headlines … Read more

by David SafierThere's something that's always confused me, and it hit me as I looked across Swan last Friday at the Tea Party demonstrators. I saw signs reading "Taxed Enough Already." Then I looked at the people in the crowd and asked myself, "How many of them make over $300,000 a year or have estates … Read more