Steve Yarbrough: Typical rules-shouldn’t-apply-to-me Republican
The GOP War on Women: a manufactured ‘controversy’ over contraception
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I have been observing this entirely manufactured "controversy" over the Affordable Care Act proposed rule providing for insurance coverage for contraception (there was not even a final rule yet, it was in the public comment stage) with bewildered amazement.
Some extremist Tea-Publicans asserted that President Obama is engaging in "a war on religion" (which dovetails nicely into their other conspiracy theory memes that President Obama is a "secret Muslim" who "wants to impose Sharia law in America") and is violating "religious liberty" under the First Amendment with this proposed rule, and the media villagers and Beltway bloviators — almost all of whom know very little about religion and even less about law — provided an echo chamber for this libel and slander.
Somewhere GOP strategist Frank Luntz has a satisfied smile on his face knowing just how easy it is to manipulate a gullible and compliant corporate media to manufacture a "controversy."
It's time to filter out the emotional baggage that injecting religion into any issue always brings with it and to focus just on the pure legal question for clarity.
The relevant portion of the First Amendment provides "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . ." Is President Obama seeking to establish a state-sponsored religion. No. Is President Obama prohibiting anyone from engaging in the free exercise of their religion? No.
Ah, but the Tea-Publicans and the Catholic Bishops asserted that requiring religious organizations whose tenents are opposed to contraception to provide insurance coverage for contraception violates their "religious liberty."
First of all, the liberties afforded under the Bill of Rights, including "religious liberty," are individual rights. Those rights and liberties belong to and are exercised by individuals.
American law has, however, carved out exceptions for religious organizations. There is an express exception for religious organizations under the Affordable Care Act proposed rule providing for insurance coverage for contraception. So what's the problem?
Tea-Publicans, with emotionally-charged cover provided by the Catholic Bishops, are engaged in overreach seeking to extend the exception for religious organizations to activities that are substantially unrelated to its religious purposes, such as schools, colleges and universities; hospitals; television and radio stations; publishing houses, etc. In fact, Tea-Publicans are now proposing a bill in Congress that would allow all employers to opt-out of providing for insurance coverage for contraception. This exposes the lie that this has anything at all to do with the "religious liberty" of religious organizations.
Happy 100th Birthday Arizona!
Why Is Paula Aboud Launching Her Campaign By Touting A Republican Tax Giveaway?
Obama for America announces the ‘Truth Team’
Sen. Paula Aboud announces congressional bid for CD 2
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Sen. Paula Aboud (D-LD 28) announced today that she is running for Congress in the new CD 2. "Aboud first announced her plans via a recorded phone message to voters Sunday night in which she invited them to participate in a telephone town hall she has set for Monday night at 7 p.m."
Well, I know that I never received any phone message and I am on everyone's list. If you want to know where this town hall is you are on your own.
The Arizona Daily Star reports Aboud announces run for Congress:
Aboud will not be running in the special election in the existing Congressional District 8, but rather in the regular election in what will be CD2. The new district includes eastern Pima County and all of Cochise County.
She has endorsed Ron Barber, Giffords’ former district director, in the special election, which will be held on June 12.
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Aboud said she considered running the special election but waited for Giffords to choose her replacement. When Barber announced last week he was running in the special election with Giffords’ backing, Aboud threw her support behind Barber and set her sights on the Democratic primary in August.
She is the second Democrat to announce for the CD2 general election. State Rep. Matt Heinz, a Tucson doctor, is the other candidate. Barber has not ruled out running again.
If Barber does seek re-election in the fall, “We’ll just wait and see how it all shakes out,” Aboud said.
Will Arizona’s political reporters ask about Mitt’s off-shore tax shelters?
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Last week the New York Times was hot on the trail of Willard "Mittens" Romney's off-shore tax shelters. Will Arizona's political reporters follow-up? Romney’s Returns Revive Scrutiny of Offshore Tax Shelters – NYTimes.com:
Mitt Romney's tax returns have drawn political scrutiny on multiple fronts, like his relatively low tax rates and the money parked in a Swiss bank account. But on Capitol Hill, his returns have caught the eyes of members of both parties for what appears to be his use of a type of complex shelter that has been debated for years in battles over evasion and fairness in the tax code.
The technique in question allows nonprofit institutions and large retirement funds to exploit the advantages of shell companies set up in tax havens like the Cayman Islands by investing money with private equity firms like Bain Capital, which Mr. Romney ran. Ordinarily, such private equity investments are frequently subject to something called the unrelated business income tax. But by going offshore, pension funds, universities, foundations and even large individual retirement accounts can structure those investments to avoid that heavy tax.
The technique has drawn bipartisan scrutiny from the Senate Finance Committee, complicating the confirmation of one of President Obama’s nominees, drawing negative attention to a Republican Treasury official and eliciting scathing criticism of a well-known charity, the Boys & Girls Club of America. The committee’s chairman, Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, and its former ranking Republican, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, have moved to make it illegal.
Tax experts and former Finance Committee staff members say that Mr. Romney’s I.R.A. appears to have used the technique, and that he may have benefited personally.
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In short, Mr. Romney . . . [would] have a difficult time making it through the Senate’s tax-sensitive confirmation process if he were merely a cabinet nominee.
