Mayor Michael Bloomberg addresses First Amendment religious freedom
August 5, 2010
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: There has been a great deal of "Islamophobia" and religious intolerance emanating from the political right over a proposed mosque and community center located several blocks from the World Trade Center in New York City. The right would have the government (local, state federal) impose a law forbidding the establishment of a
Senate Republicans filibuster $600 million for border security
August 5, 2010
Posted b y AzBlueMeanie: In a related matter to the previous post, Republicans are engaged in a filibuster of $600 million in additional funds for border security because they want the money to come out of "unused" stimulus funds, funds that are in reality already committed to stimulus projects in the pipeline. The GOP's blind ideological
Congress to pass supplemental stimulus “bailout” to state governments
August 5, 2010
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. Once Congress passed the stimulus bill, however, Jan
Everybody’s Gotta Have Priorities, And The AZGOP Has Got ‘Em
August 4, 2010
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
Al Melvin, Covance and Animal Cruelty
August 4, 2010
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
Judge strikes down Prop. 8, allows gay marriage in California
August 4, 2010
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:
Some of Paton’s Scarping is more fun that others
August 4, 2010
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
For profit education: a bad idea?
August 4, 2010
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
