Breaking: Obama Will Appoint a Federal Special Master For Arizona
April 1, 2012
By Michael Bryan
Today President Obama announced that pursuant to a secret executive order, six Republican-dominated states that have veto-proof majorities and the Governorship, including Arizona, Florida, Vermont, Texas, Alabama, and South Carolina, will be immediately placed in federal receivership. It is expected that a further twenty states with GOP controlled state governments will be placed in receivership by the end of next week.
The effect of Obama's secret executive order, which was apparently issued shortly after Obama taking office in 2009, will be to dissolve all state governmental authority within the targeted states. The Governors and state legislatures will be banned from meeting or conducting governmental business, and briefly held in federal detention pending final debriefing and liquidation. The President will then unilaterally appoint a Special Master to administer each state covered by the order.
The Special Master for Arizona will be Janet Napolitano, who will also retain her position as Homeland Security director. Said Napolitano at the press conference announcing the receivership, "I look forward to cleaning house in Arizona and putting right all the harm done in the three years since I left office in Arizona. Republicans had better go get their guns, because we are coming for them. We'll pry them from your cold dead fingers, if necessary."
Already, the DHS has begun distribution of the new rules under which Arizonans will live during the receivership. The pamphlet is entitled "Sharia Law and You". Napolitano announced that Muslim legal scholars from Iran would be flown in to act as ad visors to the new Special Master's administration.
On a personal note, I have to admit, it seems the Republicans were right. It seems that Obama was angling at dictatorship, domination, and the destruction of the American way of life, all along. What I ignorantly called their paranoid rantings were actually well-informed and accurate desciptions of the designs the President had on taking all power for himself and his cronies. I deeply apologize to my Republican brethren for my ignorance and lack of foresight.
Learn more about these surprising developments after the flip…
The difficult (and necessary) process of urban infill
April 1, 2012
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by David Safier You can read a healthy battle of opinions in the Star on the proposed urban infill in the area around the new streetcar line. One one side is Janice Cervelli, dean of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Arizona who is deeply involved in the development plans … Read more
Fast and Furious never connected the dots
April 1, 2012
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by David Safier The tragedy of Operation Fast and Furious is the death of Brian Terry. The travesty is the witch hunt by Reps. Issa and Grassley who want to use Fast and Furious against the Obama administration while they distract from the genuine problem of gun running due to our lax gun sales laws. … Read more
Opening Day: For Love of The Game
April 1, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The 2012 Major League Baseball season will open with the christening of one ballpark, a 20th-anniversary celebration of the ballpark that changed everything, and the hope of a World Series that will end in October. MLB unveils schedule for 2012 season:
The Cardinals and Miami Marlins will begin the season with the opening of Florida's new ballpark on Wednesday, April 4, followed by six openers the next day.
The Marlins will host the inaugural game by replacing the legacy of the Orange Bowl in Little Havana, west of downtown Miami, with a venue that will seat 37,000 fans. New Marlins Ballpark will feature a retractable roof and offer spectacular views of downtown Miami, hence the 2012 team name change.
There will be six Thursday openers for the second time in as many seasons. Those games include Phillies at Pirates, Blue Jays at Indians, Red Sox at Tigers, Braves at Mets, Nationals at Cubs, and Dodgers at Padres. Vin Scully will be back in the broadcast booth that day, returning for an amazing 63rd season with the Dodgers.
Ten games, including nine more openers, are scheduled for Friday, April 6. The Orioles will be host that day to the Twins, and it will mark the 20th anniversary of Oriole Park at Camden Yards — the HOK-designed ballpark that began the now-common trend of retro-modern parks.
The first full slate of 15 games is scheduled for Saturday.
Tucson Welcomes Veterans Home With a Parade
March 31, 2012
By Michael Bryan
Today Tucson did something very commendable. And it was not the city government that did it – it was the people of Tucson. They came together to throw a welcome home parade for the men and women who served their nation in war over the last dozen years in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also in prior conflicts.
Rachel Maddow gave the all-volunteer effort a shout-out as one of the best new things in the world – I heartily agree.
See footage of the parade taken by yours truly after the flip…
A Biblical Response to Homophobic Christians in Arizona
March 31, 2012
By Michael Bryan
I have heard anti-gay sentiments too often from GOP candidates for office in Arizona. Frank Antenori has been one of the most vocal and blunt here in southern Arizona, but he is certainly not alone. I find it all distasteful, offensive, and scripturally indefensable.
Frank's recent comments about the Left loving to tear families apart in connection with his support for traditional marriage against same-sex marriages, and his blunt statements against repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of the armed forces, lead me to conclude that, at the very least, Frank has a problem with gays getting equal treatment under our laws.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu's candidacy for Congress was certainly, and rightly, sunk by the scandals in which he has immured himself. But one wonders, would he have been able to weather those storms with GOP primary voters were his lover a young Latina woman? I believe that Babeu's downfall was not his indiscretion, poor judgment, and potential abuses of power – after all, these seem to be par for the course among GOP politicians in Arizona – but his sexual orientation.
Too many GOP politicians find they can get support and donations by appealing to Christians' discomfort with gays. What is the basis of that ingrained bigotry against gays by Christians?
Turns out it's just six passages in scripture – out of some 31,000 passages. How strong is the Biblical basis for anti-gay prejudice? Not very.
Take a listen to Matthew Vines, an impressively articulate and thoughtful Christian gay man, who would like to challenge your settled notions of what the scriptures actually say about homosexuality.
Matthew's scholarship is impressive. It boils down to this:
"The Bible never directly addresses, and it certainly does not condemn, loving, committed same-sex relationships. There is no biblical teaching about sexual orientation, nor is there any call to lifelong celibacy for gay people. But the Bible does explicitly reject forced loneliness as God’s will for human beings, not just in the Old Testament, when God says that “[i]t is not good for the man to be alone,” but in the New Testament as well."
There is no sound foundation for condemnation of the sexual orientation and loving relationships of homosexuals in the Bible. Homophobia's popularity among Christians is merely the last terrible bigotry that remains acceptable in our culture, because many claim the Bible condones it. It does not.
The bitter truth is that bigots will find a reason to indulge their hatred, not because God commands it, but because deep in their hearts, they enjoy it. Their hatred is a reflection of the fallen nature of man. They know hatred and bigotry are not reflections of the godly nature granted humans by their Creator, but rather than be ashamed and purge their hatred through compassion and understanding and the inspiring life of Jesus, they seek to justify their hatred by claiming God shares it.
God hates none of his creation; certainly not the many men and women he created in his image whose hearts and souls, and libidos, respond only to persons of the same sex.
The capacity to love one another, to cleave together, to create loving families, is the godly nature of mankind. To condemn this capacity in some, because God gave them a loving nature different than the majority is not Christian: it is monstrous.
Matthew points out that Jesus taught that we shall know a true teacher by his fruits. The shame, self-destruction, suffering of young gay men and women are the bitter fruits of a misguided teaching. Spit it out.
Watch Matthew present his argument after the flip. If you can still bring yourself to claim God's consent to your hatred of gays, you haven't a heart to appeal to…
Today’s César Chávez March
March 31, 2012
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by David Safier
A reasonable crowd showed up at the César Chávez March. One the one hand, the crowd could have been larger, but on the other hand, the number of youth there was encouraging and impressive.
The march began at a church near Pueblo High instead of the school itself, which had been the staging grounds in years past, because TUSD said, basically, you can't talk about the Mexican American Studies controversy or badmouth TUSD on the school grounds. Tedski put it best when he noted that people say bad things about the city government all the time at protests held at city parks. That's called free speech. Pueblo High School's walls would not have come tumbling down like Jericho's if a few Hispanic Joshuas blew there horns on the football field. The District would have withstood the blast. But when the first domino fell with the disbanding of Mexican American Studies, the next dominoes — the banning of books, the silencing of teachers' voices in their classrooms and today's prohibition of negative talk about the District — were sure to fall as well. One bad decision begets other bad decisions.
Even more embarassing for the District than a little badmouthing, people might have applauded Sean Arce, and since TUSD is planning to end his contract at the end of the school year, that could have been embarrassing. (More on Arce's removal in another post.)
Here's a pic of the march. You can see a few other pics below the fold.
Super Saturday of Events Today
March 31, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
For those of you who are not participating in Arizona's Democratic Presidential Caucuses today to elect delegates who will attend the DNC National Convention in Charlotte, NC later this year, there are two other events today from which you can pick and choose to participate.
Saturday, March 31, 9:00 a.m.: Join the César E. Chavez Holiday Coalition for the 12th Annual César E. Chávez March and Rally. We will honor the legacy of a great Arizonan and national labor leader, respect for non-violence, and support for Raza Studies. March will leave from St. John's Catholic Church (602 W. Ajo Way) around 9:00 a.m. and end at Rudy Garcia Park (5001 S. Nogales Hwy.) There will be music, speakers, tables, and food at the park. Let's celebrate Cesar Chavez and his legacy together, it is critical now more than ever! Tables are free and vendors are welcome. To request table space or get information to be a food vendor, please contact Laura Dent at ljdent@gmail.com.
Saturday, March 31, 10:30 a.m.: The City of Tucson Veterans' Affairs Committee is hosting a 'Welcome Home' parade for any and all veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Downtown Tucson. All parade viewers are encouraged to bring their very own 'red, white and blue' to wave to welcome home these brave military heroes. Though the parade will focus on current returning veterans, those from Iraq and Afghanistan, all veterans are encouraged to participate! The parade route will start north on Stone Avenue and continue on Pennington Street, then move west on Franklin street turning south on Main Avenue, east on Alameda Street, and south on Church to end up back on Pennington. The end of the parade will be at Stone and Pennington. The parade organizing committee welcomes parade entries, sponsorships, volunteers, and donations. Forms are available on the event’s Facebook page at http://tinyurl.com/TWHVP. For more information, please contact Alan Toppel at (520) 495-7064 or email tucsonswelcomehome@gmail.com.
The Rachel Maddow Show gave Tucson a big shout out last night for our Welcome Home Parade, so get your butts up off the couch, wear your red, white and blue and grab a flag, and head Downtown to welcome our troops home. Let's do our town proud to honor our service men and women who have proudly served their country.
Video below the fold.
