FBI probe of Ben Arredondo included ALEC, NCSL, other Arizona politicians
June 16, 2012
Posted by AzblueMeanie:
It's not just Attorney General Tom "Banned for life by the SEC" under investigation by the FBI. The FBI probe of Rep. Ben Arredondo is still ongoing and offers some interesting leads.
Talking Points Memo reports ALEC, Senior Arizona State Legislators Linked To FBI Probe:
[R]ecords uncovered this week by TPM show at least one of the FBI probes has been linked to some of the most powerful politicians in the state government as well as a shadowy conservative group known as ALEC, which has drawn national scrutiny for its outsized influence in state capitols across the country.
The investigation centers on an Arizona super lobbyist who was hired in 2009 by undercover federal agents. The agents posed as high rollers from what they said was a New York City company called Longford Solutions LLC. They came to town looking to make hefty deals to buy land from local governments and allegedly offered gifts like sports tickets to help grease the wheels.
The probe has already led to the indictment of state Rep. Ben Arredondo (D) on charges of bribery and attempted extortion. He has pleaded not guilty. Federal authorities say the inquiry is still ongoing.
Another lawmaker, Rep. Richard Miranda (D), resigned from office earlier this year and pleaded guilty to swindling thousands of dollars from a charity he ran. The federal investigation that brought him down so far appears to be separate from the Arredondo probe, though Miranda’s lawyer has raised questions about whether the two are connected.
Now, records on file with the state show Arredondo wasn’t the only lawmaker that lobbyist Mike Williams met with while representing the FBI’s front company, Longford Solutions.
ALEC’s PR Fail
June 16, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: With all of the corporate money avaialable to these SOBs, you would think they would be better at this. Kenneth Quinnell at crooksandliars.com reports ALEC Launches Website Defending Their Extremism: The American Legislative Exchange Council launched a new website to defend themselves against progressives who are spreading the truth about the organization's … Read more
Utah’s conservative GOP Attorney General supports Obama’s immigration policy
June 16, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
It is Arizona that is extremist and an outlier on immigration reform. States like Utah have been leading the way with sane and humane immigration reform proposals, like the "Utah Compact." Official text of Utah Compact declaration on immigration reform. It is time for Arizonans to stop listening to politicians who dehumanize, demonize and scapegoat undocumented immigrants with their hateful demagoguery.
Sen. John McCain said in 2008, before he became an embittered sore loser, "So let’s from time to time remember that these are God’s children. They must come to our country legally, but they have enriched our culture and our nation as every generation of immigrants before them." And as President Obama said yesterday, "We're a better nation than one that expels innocent young kids."
Greg Sargent interviewed Mark Shurtleff, Utah’s conservative Republican Attorney General for this post. Utah’s GOP attorney general: Obama immigration move totally within his power:
A number of Republican officials and conservatives have responded to Obama’s immigration announcement by attacking it on process grounds, arguing that the decision to circumvent Congress was an abuse of power, an affront to democracy, and even unconstitutional — and could encourage further lawbreaking.
But in an interview with me just now, Mark Shurtleff, Utah’s conservative Republican attorney general, dismissed those objections, arguing the move was perfectly within Obama’s powers, good law enforcement policy, and even a “conservative” solution.
“This is clearly within the president’s power,” Shurtleff said. “I was pleased when the president announced it.”
Nuns on The Bus Tour – Support The Sisters
June 16, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I was raised Catholic, attended Catholic school, and I have several aunts and cousins who are or were (deceased) nuns. So I can say, tongue-in-cheek, don't mess with the penguins!
The heart and soul of the Catholic faith are its sisters. They are the teachers, the nurses, the caregivers, the missionaries who carry out the "social justice" commandment of Jesus. Matthew 25:
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
It is the male hierarchy of the Church that has lost its way with scandal after scandal of priests sexually abusing children, and the Vatican covering up their crimes for decades. It is the male hierarchy of the Church that has a myopic fixation on dictating to women their reproductive health from contraception to abortion — Jesus never had anything to say about that. The male hierarchy of the Church barely even mentions its "social justice" mission of the Church any longer. How dare the male hierarchy of the Church attempt to silence the sisters of the Church and force them to submit to their domination. Nuns 'stunned' as Vatican tells them to focus on 'human sexuality':
A prominent US Catholic nuns’ group said … it was “stunned” that the Vatican reprimanded it for spending too much time on poverty and social justice concerns and not enough on abortion and gay marriage.
* * *
It also reprimanded American nuns for expressing positions on political issues that differed, at times, from views held by American bishops. Public disagreement with the bishops — “who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals” – is unacceptable, the report said.
When the Vatican cleans up its act and sends paedophile priests to prison for their crimes instead of covering up their horrific crimes and protecting them from prosecution, then they can have a say. Until then, no one is listening to what the bishops have to say, they have lost all credibility and any moral authority to speak for the Church (regardless of what Church doctrine written by males for males may say).
Obama’s DREAM of discretion
June 16, 2012
By Michael Bryan From the over-heated rhetoric coming from the Right, you might think that Obama had executed a coup using illegal aliens as storm troopers in announcing new prosecutorial priorities in removal procedures (PDF link) in lieu of Congressional action on the DREAM Act. Here's what some GOP pols here in Arizona are saying about … Read more
Paul Krugman on the destruction of wealth under Bushonomics
June 16, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: I posted about this last week, the Washington Post reported that Americans saw wealth plummet 40% from 2007 to 2010, Federal Reserve says. Paul Krugman has finally weighed in on this report. Wealth Destruction: I haven’t weighed in on the Survey of Consumer Finances, which shows a sharp decline in net worth … Read more
AIRC Update: Federal panel of judges to hear Tea-Publican legislature’s constitutional challenge to the AIRC
June 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports that a Federal Panel of judges to hear Arizona redistricting case:
A three-judge panel will be appointed to hear the Arizona Legislature’s lawsuit challenging the state’s new congressional districts.
U.S. District Judge Paul Rosenblatt granted a motion requesting the appointment. The motion was filed by lawyers for Republican legislative leaders who acted on behalf of the Legislature.
Rosenblatt will serve on the panel and the chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will appoint the other two members.
The lawsuit contends Arizona’s use of an appointed commission to draw congressional districts violates a constitutional provision that says state legislatures are to decide election procedures.
The redistricting commission disputes that, saying that Arizona’s system is legal because it was created by voters who themselves have the power to make laws.
The citizens of Arizona are a "super legislature" and legislative acts enacted by the citizens of Arizona take precedence over the acts of their elected representatives in the state legislature. Not the other way around.
Governor Brewer throws a temper tantrum, gets it wrong on Obama immigration policy
June 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The woman who got elected governor by wrapping her arms around SB 1070 and fostering hatred for brown people, Jan Brewer, clearly gets her news from The Drudge Report and FAUX News fraudcasting where they just make shit up.
This sad, pathetic woman seems to be under the delusion that President Obama granted "amnesty" to the brown people she hates. He did not.
The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Brewer decries Obama “backdoor amnesty” policy:
Gov. Jan Brewer decried President Barack Obama’s new DREAM Act-style immigration policy as “backdoor amnesty” intended to undermine SB1070 and bolster his political support for his re-election bid.
Speaking to reporters during a rare press conference in the Executive Tower, Brewer, one of Obama’s most nationally prominent critics on immigration and border security policy, said the president’s announcement set a dangerous distraction from the need to secure the border.
“Most importantly, this unilateral act was a preemptive strike against the United States Supreme Court and its decision on Senate Bill 1070, which may come as early as this Monday,” she said. “It doesn’t take a cynic to recognize this action for what it is: blatant political pandering by a president desperate to shore up his political base.”
* * *
“The crux of Senate Bill 1070, of course, is documentation. And what he has done by his announcement today is that he’s going to give documentation to nearly one million people who have arrived into our country illegally and not by the rule of law,” she said.
Obama’s announcement comes just three days after Brewer issued an executive order reiterating her 2010 call for law enforcement to be properly trained in the enforcement of SB1070. Once the Supreme Court rules on the law, Brewer said the state will “have to really drill down and look at exactly what they are about to embark upon.”
“We’ve got a lot of work on our plate,” she said.
