Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Founding Fathers of Arizona were progressive populists. They included in the Arizona Constitution three progressive era rights of citizens: initiative, referendum, and recall. These rights were to protect the citizens against the abuses by state legislators controled by powerful lobbyist interests.

There are a number of bills in the legislature this session which seek to restrict and limit these rights of citizens in favor of legislators controled by powerful lobbyist interests. In this, our Centennial year as a state, our Tea-Publican legislature rejects and seeks to reverse Arizona's progressive populist heritage.

One such bill is a legislative proposed referendum to severely limit the ability of Arizona citizens to enact new revenue sources for such things as education and health care that our ideological Tea-Publican legislature routinely underfunds in their desire to shred the "socialist" safety net of the "entitlement society."

Arizonans have routinely approved new taxes and spending for education and health care by citizen initiatives every time such initiatives have appeared on the ballot. It is how the citizens of Arizona correct the ideological extremism of our Tea-Publican legislature.

So now our Tea-Publican legislature wants to impose a two-thirds super-majority requirement on citizen initiatives which seek to enact new revenue sources for such things as education and health care. Because a simple majority vote, the foundation of our democratic Republic, apparently no longer is good enough when it comes to taxes.

"The first principle of republicanism is that the lex majoris partis is the fundamental law of every society of individuals of equal rights; to consider the will of the society enounced by the majority of a single vote as sacred as if unanimous is the first of all lessons in importance, yet the last which is thoroughly learnt. This law once disregarded, no other remains but that of force, which ends necessarily in military despotism." –Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, 1817.

Rep. David Stevens, R-Sierra Vista, is sponsoring legislation that would require any sort of tax hike to receive the approval of two-thirds of voters in order to be enacted. Referendum would raise the bar on raising taxes – Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required):

He says the change proposed by HCR2043 is necessary to keep a small minority of voters influenced by special interest groups from rubber-stamping a tax hike on everyone.

Really? What Rep. Stevens actually proposes is a minority veto power, a "tyranny of the minority."

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"Is that a handgun tucked in your Speedo? Or are you just really happy to see me big boy!"

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday passed a bill that would loosen restrictions on carrying guns in public buildings, including city halls, libraries and municipal swimming pools.

Jaws was just a movie you idiot. That's not a shark, it's just a fat kid with a snorkel. Geezus! What kind of "afraid of his own shadow" freak needs to pack heat in his Speedo at the swimming pool? Get some psychiatric help already for your irrational fears and phobias, will ya?

Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, who sponsored one of the other bills, admitted the gun bills still need some work. "There are government facilities that need to be secured, but does the swimming pool need to be secured?" Gould asked. "I would argue probably not."

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

If you listen to Willard "Mittens" Romney and the rest of the GOP presidential field, their talking points are that the economic recovery would be doing better if not for President Obama's interventionist economic policies (which began under George W. Bush in late 2008 by the way).

It is important to keep in mind that these Tea-Publicans are all true believers in the "invisible hand" of the freee market place. What they are really saying is that the economy should have been left alone to sink into a Great Depression and the "creative destruction" of a depression would have cleaned out the inefficiencies in our economy. The human cost and destruction of lives be damned.

This is not new. It is as old as Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon's "liquidationist thesis": Andrew Mellon advised President Hoover to “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate.”

Here's the full quote from President Herbert Hoover on the advice given to him by Mellon:

…the “leave it alone liquidationists” headed by [my] Secretary of the Treasury Mellon, who felt that government must keep its hands off and let the slump liquidate itself. Mr. Mellon had only one formula: “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate.” He insisted that, when the people get an inflation brainstorm, the only way to get it out of their blood is to let it collapse. He held that even a panic was not altogether a bad thing. He said: “It will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people”… (Source: U.C. Berkeley Economist Brad De Long).

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In some ways Andrew Mellon's failed approach resembles the IMF austerity programmes after the 1997 Asian economic crisis that economist Joseph Stiglitz criticized so vehemently in his book Globalization and its Discontents (2002).

It is also the IMF and European Union austerity programmes being put in place today in response to the Euro Crisis that will lead to recession this year – some warn depression — in Europe.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

My team was not playing in the Superbowl once again this year, so I was not emotionally invested in either team. Despite a close game I thought the game was a little boring, at least until late in the fourth quarter.

Congratulations to Eli Manning and the New York Giants. Giants fans will be insufferable at least until next September.

Madonna is always worth the price of admission, she knows how to put on a show and she delivered with her Cecil B. DeMille cast of thousands Hollywood extravaganza halftime show.

But what about the battle of the Superbowl ads? No contest. Best Superbowl ad goes to Clint Eastwood and Chrysler for its "imported from Detroit" ad, "It's Halftime in America" (below the fold. The NFL is pulling down YouTube posts of this ad for copyright, so catch it while you can). I stood up and cheered. Well done, sir.

And for true sports fans, "pitchers and catchers report" (the four sweetest words in the English language) on February 17 for the Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners, and February 19 for all other teams. Full squads report on February 24.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Our Tea-Publican legislature has been using "theme" weeks for legislative initiatives. Last week it was "Destroy Public Employee Unions Week." And as Craig McDermott pointed out in his "This Week" post, this week is "Guns on Campus – and Everywhere Else Week":

Monday at 2 p.m. or upon adjournment of the floor session, Judiciary will meet in SHR1. The nastiest agenda of the week. Up for consideration: SB1304, removing the ability of counties and municipalities to pass laws restricting or barring the discharge of firearms within a quarter mile of an occupied structure (you know, like a house); SB1448, making is OK to pack heat in a public building if access to that building is not restricted by a cop or security guard; SB1474, the annual "guns in schools" bill; SB1479, a bill with too many provisions to summarize quickly here, but it's another in the pro-gun/anti-society group of gun bills this year[.]

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Wednesday at 9 a.m., Military Affairs and Public Safety will meet in HHR3. Up for consideration: HB2728, allowing the use of silencers while hunting. I'd make another "jackrabbits" wisecrack, but combined with the "limitless" magazines bill above, the cynic in me thinks that the intended prey for these hunters is a little browner and a lot taller than the average jackrabbit. And that isn't something to joke about.

Tucson has had enough of crazy people with easy access to guns. 4 Dead In Univ. Of Arizona Shooting (October 2002), and of course the mass shooting on January 8, 2011. Is making these kinds of incidents more likely to occur a rational, responsible policy? I think not.

The president of the University of Arizona is voicing opposition to a bill allowing guns on state university campuses. Eugene Sander says bringing guns on campus creates enormous problems for law enforcement. UA president opposes campus guns bill – Arizona Capitol Times

Sander added the Tucson school would be required to spend thousands of dollars to install gun lockers in buildings, an expenditure that Sander says is misguided.

Hmmm, sounds an awful lot like those "unecessary government regulations" that drive up the cost of doing business that Tea-Publicans are always whining about, doesn't it? And this would cost taxpayers money just to humor the "happiness is a warm gun" crowd. Why not charge gunowners a user fee and let them pay for it? Typical Tea-Publicans: always making demands without having to pay for it (unfunded mandates). Deadbeats!

Comedian Daniel Tosh of Tosh.0 on Comedy Central offered a unique perspective on this issue recently in this video "Web Redemption – I Just Shot Myself – Uncensored" (NWS) below the fold: "Anything Arizona is in favor of is probably bad for America."