The AZ GOP Rigs Medical Malpractice Law Against Profoundly Sick and Disabled Kids Under the Guise of Anti-Abortion Ideology
March 8, 2012
By Michael Bryan Jesus gives his verdict on the AZ GOP Caucus The Arizona Senate passed SB 1359 on a party-line vote. The bill makes doctors immune from civil liability for negligent actions or omissions that lead to what is sometimes called "wrongful birth" or "wrongful life" med-mal suits. Sometimes parents have to make the … Read more
Chris Mooney at Drinking Liberally This Sunday
March 8, 2012
By Michael Bryan
This Sunday, Drinking Liberally will feature Chris Mooney, who is in town for the Tucson Festival of Books. Chris is the author of several books about the intersection of science and public policy, including 'The Republican War on Science' and his latest "The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science–and Reality" (a nice excerpt of the book here), blogger, and a host of Point of Inquiry. UPDATE: David Brin, one of my favorite authors, has a great description of Mooney's work on his blog.
So come on down to The Shanty this Sunday starting a 6pm and have a beer with one of the foremost experts on the anti-science movement in America.
Get a taste of Chris' latest work after the click…
International Women’s Day
March 8, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Today is INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. International Women's Day honors the work of the Suffragettes, celebrates women's success, and reminds of inequities still to be redressed. The first International Women's Day event was run in 1911. Last year was the … Read more
Women in Blue 2012 Breakfast and Lobbying Day
March 8, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Announcement from the Arizona Democratic Party: Women in Blue 2012 Breakfast and Lobbying Day Featuring Special GuestNicole Stanton and State Legislators:Rep. Lela Alston – Rep. Sally Ann Gonzales – Rep. Katie Hobbs Rep. Debbie McCune Davis – Rep. Lynne Pancrazi – Rep. Anna Tovar Sen. Paula Aboud – Sen. Olivia Cajero Bedford … Read more
Tea-Publican Tyranny: Micromanaging Cities and Counties
March 8, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Tea-Publicans from the state of Maricopa despise the City of Tucson and Pima County simply because we are a Democratic colony that they have not yet been able to subjugate under their harsh colonial rule.
The worst offenders, however, are the Tea-Publicans who come from Baja Arizona, the insurgents among us who do the bidding of their Tea-Publican masters from the state of Maricopa in an attempt to subjugate the City of Tucson and Pima County by micromanaging our affairs from Phoenix.
On Tuesday, the Pima County Board of Supervisors adopted two resolutions in opposition to the micromanagment from the state of Maricopa. County opposes 2 bills in Legislature:
The supervisors voted 4-0 to oppose HB 2416, which would force the city to extend water service to the proposed Painted Hills development in the Tucson Mountains.
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The board also voted 4-0 to oppose HB 2757, which would allow electronic billboards on state highways. Such signs are banned in Tucson and unincorporated Pima County.
Retaliation by our colonial overlords did not take long. On Wednesdaty, the House revived a bill requiring Tucson to give water to planned development:
A bill requiring Tucson to deliver water to the proposed Painted Hills development in the Tucson Mountains got a last-minute reprieve in the state House Wednesday.
Narrowly defeated last week on the House floor, the bill passed by a 32-26 vote on reconsideration Wednesday. Passage came after the bill's sponsor reached an agreement with other legislators in late morning to send the proposal to a joint Senate-House committee for further discussion. If it passes the Senate, it will come back to the House for final action.
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Bill sponsor Rep. David Stevens, R-Sierra Vista, said "This bill is trying to handle Painted Hills."
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Chris Avery, Tucson Water's chief counsel, was not pleased by the House's turnaround.
"There is a current bill out there that's a really poorly drafted piece of legislation and that is apparently what got through the House," Avery said. "Arizona can't afford bad water policy. It can't even really afford mediocre water policy, and this is horrible water policy."
As written, the bill prohibits a city or town lying inside a county of 500,000 to 1.3 million people from denying water to landowners outside the city boundaries who aren't in other water utilities' boundaries, if they meet certain conditions. Among the conditions is that they lie near pipelines or other water infrastructure owned by the city in question, or are "accessible" to that pipeline system or are substantially adjacent to the city or town.
The bill's population range limits its impact to Pima County. Its conditions clearly apply to the 284-acre, 260-home Painted Hills project, where Speedway and Anklam Road merge, that has been trying unsuccessfully for many years to get city water service.
[I]f the bill is limited only to Painted Hills, it will be illegal special legislation.
Amicus Brief calls anti-MAS law unconstitutional
March 8, 2012
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by David Safier A suit An amicus brief filed by the Vince Rabago Law Office states the law designed to make MAS courses illegal is unconstitutional because it is "impermissibly vague" and therefore "violates both Fourteenth and First Amendment constitutional protections for public school students and teachers." [Note: I revealed my vast legal ignorance by … Read more
Can — or should — an STO make charitable contributions?
March 8, 2012
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by David Safier According to the 2010 tax return for Steve Yarbrough's Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization (ACSTO), it gave away $44,492 in contributions. First question: does that make sense? A nonprofit whose funding comes entirely from money that otherwise would have gone into the state coffers giving money away to charities of its choice? … Read more
Man, Did I Get That One Wrong
March 7, 2012
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Posted by Bob Lord So, in the aftermath of the Iowa caucuses, where Mitt had carpet bombed Newt into oblivion and Newt had given his beyond bitter caucus night speech, I thought I had Newt figured out. It seemed to me that he entered the race not so much to win, but to rejuvenate his … Read more
