Health Insurance Monopolies and The Anti-Trust Exemption
October 17, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: During debate of the Senate Finance Committee "Baucus Caucus" bill, several Republican Senators said rather matter-of-fact-ly that there are 1,300 health insurance companies, "we have a competitive market." This was of course completely false. That number is derived at by counting subsidiaries and even vendors. It was disappointing that Democrats on the
Rape-Nuts
October 17, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: You may have seen a recent segment of The Daily Show captioned "Rape-Nuts," pertaining to Sen. Al Franken's amendment to a defense appropriation bill banning the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts which bar employees from suing their employer for civil damages, even in cases of criminal misconduct of rape
Al Melvin, friend of education (at least that’s what he said during the campaign)
October 17, 2009
by David Safier Reports of huge budget cuts in state funding are all over the news — prisons, schools, health care, you name it. According to the AZ Guardian [Note: their website is down, so I can't provide a link], Rs say that's nothing but a scare tactic. Or, as Senate Assistant Majority Leader Steve
Big education cuts coming
October 16, 2009
by David Safier From an article in the Arizona Guardian: State education officials say the worst is yet to come as stimulus funds are depleted and the state struggles to fill a $1.5 billion gap in the 2010 budget. Last month, Gov. Jan Brewer asked agency directors for proposed 15 percent cuts to their budgets.
Unashamed self promotion
October 16, 2009
by David Safier Occasionally I've linked to one of the weekly columns I write for The Explorer, but I've never copied any of them here. I'm breaking with tradition and putting this week's column below. It came out of some posts and comments on BfA about a quotation used by right wingers (I won't even
You might want to rethink that cow analogy
October 16, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was a guest on Faux News and responded to the observation that "The feeling in some circles is that this health care train has left the station with the president at the wheel, and Republicans better jump on board," with this bizarre analogy: "Well I'm the
Rep. Jeff Flake to Seniors: Screw you Grandma and Grandpa!
October 16, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The White House has announced a plan to give seniors and disabled veterans $250 each as part of a mini-economic stimulus plan to compensate them for the fact that there will be no cost of living adjustment (COLA) this year to Social Security benefits because there has been no inflation this past
Grijalva and Arne Duncan at Ochoa Elementary Monday
October 16, 2009
by David Safier On Monday, Oct. 19, 8-10am, Ed Sec Duncan and Rep Grijalva will be holding a "Listening and Learning" meeting at Ochoa Elementary. From Grijalva's Press Release: “I am pleased to welcome Secretary Duncan to Tucson to discuss the many important education issues facing the Southern Arizona community,” said Rep. Grijalva. “This is
