Arizona Republicans’ War on Women and Workers
March 6, 2012
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by David Safier Arizona Republicans are hitting women's rights and workers' wages hard. First is the bill proposing to let secular companies refuse to provide contraception as part of their health insurance packages. The Star has an editorial blasting the bill. The headline gets it right: Contraception bill is about control, not freedom The bill … Read more
Advertisers are ‘Rush-ing’ for the exits from Limbaugh
March 6, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
ThinkProgress is doing its usual fine job of monitoring Rush Limbaugh's radio sponsors, and finds that advertisers are "Rush-ing" for the exits from Limbaugh. According to a ThinkProgress count, at least 33 companies have dropped Rush.
ThinkProgress is collecting reactions from social media sites like Twitter and Facebook on Storify.
“Stand up, Read out” MAS protests at universities around the country
March 6, 2012
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by David Safier
Little ol' TUSD is developing a national reputation. Unfortunately, it's not the kind of reputation you brag about.
Last week Stony Brook University in New York was one of 12 universities (according to the Stony Brook Press website) to hold read-in protests of the dismantling of our MAS program. A friend from Portland, OR, sent me an email announcing a March 2 protest at Lewis & Clark College. It included a history of events leading to the dismantling of the MAS program and a showing of the documentary, Precious Knowledge.
It ain't over yet, not by a long shot. If you want to help keep the local effort alive, you can attend a happy hour fundraiser Tuesday, March 13, 5:30 pm. Flier below the fold.
Tea-Publicans carry water for the Goldwater Institute against the ACC
March 6, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Apparently abusing the constitutional authority of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission was not enough for our authoritarian Tea-Publicans. Now they are abusing the constitutional authority of the Arizona Corporation Commission on behalf of the Goldwater Institute because it lost a frivolous lawsuit. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Arizona GOP lawmakers want to … Read more
Arizona’s Judicial Merit Selection System Threatened
March 6, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Arizona instituted the merit selection system of judges in the mid-70s. Sandra Day O'Connor, then an Arizona judge, was a principal architect of the judicial merit selection system that has been a model for 29 other states that select judges by merit selection appointment. Since she retired from the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has … Read more
State of Maricopa declares Baja Arizona a ‘danger zone’
March 6, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Last Friday, the Tea-Publican Arizona House approved legislation to have the head of the state Department of Homeland Security monitor intelligence from various sources to determine if they indicate "any type of warning about dangerous conditions in regard to illegal immigration activities" North of border in Baja Arizona. AZ House OKs warnings for travel north of Mexican line:
It allows the director to put out that information "in a manner that will immediately warn the public of the danger." That can include not only telling the local media but everything from Facebook and Twitter to direct emails to those who have asked to be notified.
Despite the agency's statewide authority, HB 2586 says the potential danger zone where warnings will be sounded will be limited to just 62 miles from the border.
Although no specific lines have been identified, 62 miles would appear to take in some portions of the city of Tucson.
Yet another measure targeted at Baja Arizona, and Pima County and the City of Tucson specifically, by the State of Maricopa and its insurgent Tea-Publicans here in Baja Arizona. The real danger to Arizona comes from our Tea-Publican legislature. Despite numerous recent reports about the substantial decline in illegal border crossings and substantial decline in border related crime, these paranoids are still fear mongering against anyone breathing while brown.
The GOP war on the unemployed continues
March 6, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Saying it should be no different than applying for a job, state lawmakers are moving to allow the Department of Economic Security to require drug tests of those seeking unemployment insurance. AZ lawmakers want drug testing for unemployment benefits – East Valley Tribune:
But the legality of the move remains in question.
SB 1495, which gained preliminary Senate approval this past week, is being pushed by Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa.
“With near-record rates of unemployment that we’ve seen over the last year or so, if you are fortunate enough for your state to pay you while you’re looking for a job, as far as I’m concerned, the very least you should be is in a suitable state of mind to search for a job,” he said. “If you are on drugs, you cannot pass a drug test, odds are you can’t pass an interview — if you’re going on them as you’re supposed to be.”
Smith’s original legislation called not only for all applicants to pass a drug test as a first step in eligibility but also mandatory testing for those already receiving benefits. But he agreed to scale that second half back, instead authorizing random tests for current recipients.
Anyone who fails would be denied benefits for 30 days but could reapply at that time.
The legislation also authorizes random drug tests for those who already have been approved. A positive test means the loss of that month’s benefits and a requirement for monthly tests for the next six months; a second failure kills benefits, with no new application allowed for another six months.
Several other states have imposed similar requirements.
But Ellen Katz, an attorney with the William E. Morris Institute for Justice, said these probably pass legal muster because they are predicated on some reasonable suspicion; Smith’s proposal does not.
When the people we elect despise the voters who elected them – Part 3
March 6, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Sadly, this has become a regular feature. When the people we elect despise the voters who elected them:
Our Tea-Publican legislators appear not to believe that they were elected, but were divinely selected for office, which imbues them with power and priviliges far beyond the "citizen legislator" they are supposed to be.
Under the Arizona Constitution the citizens are a "super legislature," whose acts through citizens initiatives and referendums take supremacy over simple legislative acts. And our Tea-Publican legislators hate this because they believe that they have a divine right to lord over us, even though we elected them — they despise the voters who elected them.
The Tea-Publican tyranny has been busy voting for several more bills they hope to send to the ballot in November in an attempt to reverse the will of the people.
On Monday, it was the citizens initiative that voters approved 2-1 in 2006 to enact a state minimum wage. GOP asks voters to reconsider minimum-wage rules:
House Republicans voted Monday to ask voters to repeal the state's minimum wage.
House Majority Leader Steve Court acknowledged the original measure was approved by voters six years ago on a nearly 2-1 margin. The law requires the Industrial Commission to use inflation to make annual adjustments in the minimum that companies doing business here must pay their workers.
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Court recognized the intent of voters in 2006 was to ensure workers at the bottom of the pay scale do not fall farther behind due to inflation.
"I think in normal times that might not be so bad," the Mesa Republican said. "But in a down economy like we have, we've continued to ratchet up our minimum wage while the federal government has kept theirs flat."
The result, he said, is Arizona employers have to pay their minimum wage workers 5 percent more than companies in surrounding states.
