Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Saying it should be no different than applying for a job, state lawmakers are moving to allow the Department of Economic Security to require drug tests of those seeking unemployment insurance. AZ lawmakers want drug testing for unemployment benefits – East Valley Tribune:

But the legality of the move remains in question.

SB 1495, which gained preliminary Senate approval this past week, is being pushed by Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa.

“With near-record rates of unemployment that we’ve seen over the last year or so, if you are fortunate enough for your state to pay you while you’re looking for a job, as far as I’m concerned, the very least you should be is in a suitable state of mind to search for a job,” he said. “If you are on drugs, you cannot pass a drug test, odds are you can’t pass an interview — if you’re going on them as you’re supposed to be.”

Smith’s original legislation called not only for all applicants to pass a drug test as a first step in eligibility but also mandatory testing for those already receiving benefits. But he agreed to scale that second half back, instead authorizing random tests for current recipients.

Anyone who fails would be denied benefits for 30 days but could reapply at that time.

The legislation also authorizes random drug tests for those who already have been approved. A positive test means the loss of that month’s benefits and a requirement for monthly tests for the next six months; a second failure kills benefits, with no new application allowed for another six months.

Several other states have imposed similar requirements.

But Ellen Katz, an attorney with the William E. Morris Institute for Justice, said these probably pass legal muster because they are predicated on some reasonable suspicion; Smith’s proposal does not.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Sadly, this has become a regular feature. When the people we elect despise the voters who elected them:

Our Tea-Publican legislators appear not to believe that they were elected, but were divinely selected for office, which imbues them with power and priviliges far beyond the "citizen legislator" they are supposed to be.

Under the Arizona Constitution the citizens are a "super legislature," whose acts through citizens initiatives and referendums take supremacy over simple legislative acts. And our Tea-Publican legislators hate this because they believe that they have a divine right to lord over us, even though we elected them — they despise the voters who elected them.

The Tea-Publican tyranny has been busy voting for several more bills they hope to send to the ballot in November in an attempt to reverse the will of the people.

On Monday, it was the citizens initiative that voters approved 2-1 in 2006 to enact a state minimum wage. GOP asks voters to reconsider minimum-wage rules:

House Republicans voted Monday to ask voters to repeal the state's minimum wage.

House Majority Leader Steve Court acknowledged the original measure was approved by voters six years ago on a nearly 2-1 margin. The law requires the Industrial Commission to use inflation to make annual adjustments in the minimum that companies doing business here must pay their workers.

* * *

Court recognized the intent of voters in 2006 was to ensure workers at the bottom of the pay scale do not fall farther behind due to inflation.

"I think in normal times that might not be so bad," the Mesa Republican said. "But in a down economy like we have, we've continued to ratchet up our minimum wage while the federal government has kept theirs flat."

The result, he said, is Arizona employers have to pay their minimum wage workers 5 percent more than companies in surrounding states.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Political Animal blog posts Limbaugh’s Advertisers: The Dead Enders:

ThinkProgress has been able to confirm only two advertisers that are still sticking with Rush Limbaugh. One is Lear Capital, one of those peddlers of gold coins common on talk radio. The other is an identity theft protection company called Lifelock. Turns out Lifelock has a rap sheet with the FTC, having paid $12 million in 2010 to settle false claims charges.

Meanwhile, via Hunter at the Daily Kos, a new Harris poll reveals Limbaugh to be the least liked “news personality” — even among Republicans! — on a list of 26.

Interestingly, one person is in the least liked top three for all three political parties. For Republicans, the three least liked current affairs personalities are Nancy Grace (25%), Rush Limbaugh (24%) and Chris Matthews (18%). For Democrats, the three news personalities that are the least favorite are Rush Limbaugh (66%), Bill O’Reilly (45%), and Sean Hannity (23%) while for Independents it is Rush Limbaugh (49%), Bill O’Reilly (31%) and Nancy Grace (25%).

Sandra Fluke was a guest on ABC's The View on Monday morning. She stated that Rush Limbaugh has not called her personally to apologize. "And let me be clear that I think his statements that he has made about me on the air have been personal enough so that I would rather not have a personal phone call from him."

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The titular leader of the modern-day Tea-Publican Party is the drug-adled hate monger Rush Limbaugh, a racist and misogynist demagogue who pollutes the airwaves of the nation with his vitriolic bile.

Limbaugh spent much of last week attacking a Georgetown University law student for having the temerity to exercise her First Amendment rights of free speech and to petition her government as a citizen of the United States regarding contraception coverage in health insurance policies. Several long-time advertisers on the Limbaugh show pulled their advertising in response to his outrageous misogynistic comments.

In reaction to the loss of his advertisers, not out of any genuine remorse or contrition for his outrageous comments, Rush Limbaugh issued a "statement" on Sunday that was a non-apology apology in an attempt to staunch the bleeding of his advertisers.

The Georgetown University law student, Sandra Fluke, testified about the 14% of pill users — 1.5 million women — who rely on them exclusively for noncontraceptive purposes. The study documenting this finding, “Beyond Birth Control: The Overlooked Benefits of Oral Contraceptive Pills,” by Rachel K. Jones of the Guttmacher Institute, also found that more than half (58%) of all pill users rely on the method, at least in part, for purposes other than pregnancy prevention — meaning that only 42% use the pill exclusively for contraceptive reasons. – Quick View (Google .pdf) of Sandra Fluke testimony.

The pill is basic health care for many women. It is not about sexual promiscuity. Nor did Sandra Fluke testify at all about her personal sexual life.

You would never know this from listening to the ignorant misogynist Rush Limbaugh, who engaged in the most vile personal attacks on this woman in a practice of right-wing media known as slut shaming. Here are just some of the misogynistic comments that Limbaugh made last week: