Congress to pass supplemental stimulus “bailout” to state governments
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: When our Accidental Governor succeeded to office in February 2009, she briefly postured and pontificated against the stimulus bill under consideration in Congress. She and others like Sen. Russell Pearce toyed with the idea of Arizona rejecting any stimulus aid from the federal government. Advertisement Once Congress passed the stimulus bill, however, … Read more
Everybody’s Gotta Have Priorities, And The AZGOP Has Got ‘Em
Posted by Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings as sort of an update to a previous post… …Unfortunately for the people of Arizona, the GOP's priorities are (more than) slightly skewed in favor of Big Business and in opposition to the interests of the people of AZ… There are many reasons that the Republican leadership … Read more
Al Melvin, Covance and Animal Cruelty
by David Safier Al Melvin's love of animals is part of his persona as state senator. He uses it as a way to establish his basic humanity. He wants to be involved with any animal-friendly legislation that comes up. He portrays himself as the senate's go-to guy when it comes to All Creatures Great and … Read more
Judge strikes down Prop. 8, allows gay marriage in California
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: In a long-awaited ruling, U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that California's ban on same-sex marriage (Prop. 8) violates the 14th Amendment constitutional rights of equal protection and due process. Republicans no doubt will now want to repeal these clauses of the 14th Amendment as well as the citizenship clause. Proposition 8: … Read more
Some of Paton’s Scarping is more fun that others
by David Safier I've dubbed Jonathan Paton's more amusing or swinging-wild newsletters and press releases "Scarps," after his press guy, Daniel Scarpinato, who used to write for the Star. The definition of Scarps: Attack dog, logic-challenged rants written for Paton by Daniel Scarpinato. The latest Scarp is a hoot. Apparently, Jesse Kelly has a poll … Read more
For profit education: a bad idea?
by David Safier You may have seen the recent articles about investigations into financial and educational abuses at for profit colleges. My question is, should we have the same concern about K-12 for-profit education? Arizona is one of the few states where for-profit charter schools are legal. But even in states which only allow nonprofit … Read more
Link to my endorsement of Penny Kotterman
by David Safier I posted Personal endorsement: Penny Kotterman for Education Superintendent last Friday afternoon. That's considered to be the worst time in the weekday news cycle, when everyone is thinking about the weekend and no one is paying attention. On top of that, the post was soon buried by other posts. For that reason, … Read more
