Horizon (PBS) on Prop. 115: Undermining the Judicial Merit Selection System
September 29, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Horizon (PBS) covers Prop. 115, misleadingly entitled "The Judicial Department." This measure is in reality an attempt by the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) and far-right Tea Party conservatives to undermine the Judicial Merit Selection Sytem.
Proponents and opponents of Prop 115 debate the merits of this constitutional amendment that was referred to the ballot by the Arizona State Legislature. The measure would revise procedures for appointing judges and make various other changes to the judicial system.
Video replay below the fold.
Horizon (PBS) on Prop. 204: Quality Education and Jobs Act
September 29, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Horizon (PBS) covers Prop. 204, the Quality Education and Jobs Act (sales tax initiative).
A measure to permanently extend a one-cent state sales tax is on the November ballot. The Quality Education and Jobs initiative would use that money to pay for education and road, rail, transit and other transportation projects. Ann-Eve Pedersen, Chairman of the Quality Education and Jobs initiative, speaks for the initiative. State Treasurer Doug Ducey speaks in opposition to the measure.
Video replay below the fold.
Horizon (PBS) on Prop. 121: Open Elections/Open Government Act
September 29, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
PBS is covering the propositions on the November ballot. Prop. 121, the Open Elections/Open Government Act aka the Top Two Primary or "jungle primary," is covered on Horizon.
Paul Johnson of the Open Government Act initiative speaks in favor of the top-two primary, while Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery speaks against it.
Video replay below the fold.
Arizona Illustrated LD 9 House Candidate Debate
September 29, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Moderator Jim Nintzel of the Tucson Weekly hosts the Arizona Illustrated (PBS) House candidate debate between Democrats Victoria Steele and Mohur Sarah Sidhwa, and Republican Ethan Orr.
Video replay below the fold.
The Glow: Lighted art walk in Oracle tonight (video)
September 29, 2012
Bill Moyers takes on ALEC
September 29, 2012
by
by David Safier
The first half hour of this week's Moyers & Company is titled, "United States of ALEC." Moyers gives this topic his usual careful, thoughtful coverage. For those who have been following ALEC for awhile, there's nothing new here, but it's a helpful primer on the way ALEC wines and dines conservative legislators and gets similar-to-identical, corporate-friendly legislation passed in states across the country.
Our own Rep. Steve Farley (currently running for Senate in LD-9) makes the statement that begins the episode, then he's featured in the 3 minute Arizona segment that starts about 27 minutes in.
You can watch the episode below the fold. If you go to the Moyers & Company website, you can read and print out the full transcript.
Arpaio’s deputy shoots and kills unarmed 19-year-old (video)
September 29, 2012
by Pamela Powers Hannley
Unarmed teenager Trevon Martin is shot and killed in Florida, and the story goes around the world.
On September 14, 2012, unarmed, 19-year-old Joel Smith is shot and killed in Guadalupe, Arizona by a Maricopa County sheriff's deputy, and the news doesn't even reach Tucson. WTF?
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Department is beyond corrupt. It will be a national disgrace that Sheriff Joe Arpaio is re-elected. How long will Maricopa County voters support a racist octogenarian who sweeps through neighborhoods and arrests brown people; who forces prisoners to live in the blasting heat in the Tent City Jail; who wastes taxpayer money pretending to be the border patrol while ignoring criminal cases; who allows his guards to torture and even kill prisoners? The sheriff's department should uphold the law, not break it with impunity.
Wake up and do the right thing, Maricopa County.
Watch a video about the Joel Smith shooting by Dennis Gilman after the jump.
Abortion: What happens when a ‘pro-choice’ blogger debates a ‘pro-life’ protester? (video)
September 29, 2012
by Pamela Powers Hannley
With the Republican Congress and the state legislatures (including Arizona's) passing anti-woman laws that ranged from the absurd to the vindictive, I can't understand why any woman in the US would vote Republican in this election.
The impressive War on Women backlash may be one reason why most campaigning Republicans–except Todd "legitimate rape" Akin–are trying to forget anti-woman maddess that swept through their party in the spring. (After all, they don't want to lose all of the women's vote.)
None the less, the War on Women and the assault on women's reproductive rights continue– at least in the religious right wing of the Republican Party.
The Democratic Party's platform includes strong pro-choice language. Consequently, at the recent Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, a small band of anti-abortion protesters demonstrated in front of the convention center daily. Mostly, the demonstrators were old white men (surprise, surprise), but on one particular day a handful of young women joined them (to lend some credibility?).
You might say that "the devil made me do it," but with video rolling, I engaged one of the protesters in a heated, street-level debate about abortion, choice, access to contraception, sex education, "legitimate rape", fetus personhood, the morning after pill, and forcing underage girls to have a rapist's baby.
Surprisingly, we found some consensus. We both believe…
– Abortion is a very difficult choice.
– Abortion should be a last resort, not a routine birth control method.
– Rape is rape, and there's no such thing as protection from pregnancy when a woman is raped.
– Abstinence only education is "unrealistic." Contraception and sex education should be provided to young girls in order to prevent unwanted pregnancy. She didn't want the contraception to be free, but she was somewhat more enlightened and reasonable than most Congressmen.
– Vaginal ultrasound should be an option, if the woman wants one. (On the tape, she seems incredulous when I tell her about some of the legislation that has passed.)
Of course, the big differences between us were that:
– I believe every woman should have the right to choose, and she wants the government to dictate what citizens do;
– She believes that a fetus is a person from the moment of contraception, and I don't. She also believes that "right to life" doesn't apply to "criminals". (So, the death penalty is OK, but not abortion.)
What I came away with is that much of the anti-woman legislation passed by Arizona and other states is too extreme even for a deeply religious woman who is vehemently opposed to abortion.
Watch the video after the jump.
