Tea-Publicans to renege on budget deal, take America hostage again

March 19, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Remember back to last August when a budget deal was agreed to after Tea-Publicans threatened to default on the federal debt ceiling? The parties agreed to a bipartisan "supercommittee" that had until November to come up with a budget deal, or there would be automatic "triggers," cuts to domestic and defense spending. … Read more

Our ‘cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs’ Governor has a conspiracy theory

March 19, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Nicole Wallace, who was tasked with the impossible job of turning Sarah Palin into someone who looked like she had a clue, wrote a novel inspired by what she calls a woman who is "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" making it to the White House. Subtle, Nicole.

It's no wonder Governor Jan Brewer and the halfling Governor of Alaska, the Quitta from Wasilla, are the "bestest" of friends. Our governor is equally "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs." Don't believe it? Check out this report from the Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) Brewer calls contraception debate a ‘Democrat ploy’ – Arizona Capitol Times:

Gov. Jan Brewer said she’s uncomfortable with a bill that would require some women to prove they’re using birth control for non-contraceptive reasons, but said the debate raging at both the state and national level is just election-year politics by Democrats who are hoping to drive women from the GOP.

“From what it appears, it might be an issue that has gained fire by our opposing party. I think that it’s a Democrat ploy to kind of put a wedge, if you will, between Republicans and women,” Brewer told reporters today.

‘If it’s Sunday, it’s John McCain’

March 19, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"If it's Sunday, it's John McCain." I am derisively mocking the introduction to Meet The Press Gregory. David Gregory is the worst of the worst among the D.C. media villagers. He is an embarrassment to watch.

UPDATE: Meet the Press Admits Its Irrelevance, Lack of Creativity with Go-To Guest John McCain | Crooks and Liars: "John McCain [has] surpassed Bob Dole with his 64th appearance on the show. Since the beginning of this year (a total of twelve weeks), McCain has been booked eight times, far and away more than any other person, including the actual GOP presidential candidates."

Another man who is embarrassing to watch is Gregory's perpetual guest, Sen. John McCain. Last week, McCain voted for the "Blunt Amendment," the “tell your boss why you’re on the pill bill” that would allow employers to demand proof that their employees are not using birth control for contraceptive purposes before their insurance will cover the pills. (h/t Daily Kos).

The "Blunt Amendment" failed, but the Tea-Publican Arizona legislature took up the "Baby Blunt Amendment" that doubled-down on the crazy, permitting employers to terminate contraception users on "religious or moral objections" to their private life Arizona Senate Committee Endorses 'Tell Your Boss Why You're On The Pill' Bill.  A panel of the Arizona legislature also voted to defund Planned Parenthood, which for many women is the only health care provider for breast cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, etc., available in their community. Republican-Controlled Arizona Legislature On Cusp Of Defunding Planned Parenthood. This got lots of bad national press last week.

In his interview on Meet The Press Gregory, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) slammed this assault on working women, and even urged his fellow Republicans to finally end their lengthy war on women’s reproductive health. Think Progress reports After Backing Anti-Birth Control Blunt Amendment, McCain Now Says GOP Needs To 'Get Off' War On Women:

GREGORY: Are you concerned at all to see the focus, with certain elements of the Republican Party, on social issues? In your own state of Arizona, there’s this contraception bill that even the governor has said would put women in the uncomfortable position where they had to say to their employers why they wanted contraception, and why it should be covered — is that a bad road?

McCAIN: I am confident that that legislation will not reach the governor’s desk and if it did it would be vetoed. . . . It certainly does not reflect, in my view, the majority view of the people of Arizona.

GREGORY: Do you think that there is something of a war on women among Republicans?

McCAIN: I think we have to fix that. I think that there is a perception out there because of how this whole contraception issue played out — ah, we need to get off of that issue, in my view. I think we ought to respect the right of women to make choices in their lives and make that clear, and get back onto what the American people really care about.

* * *

McCain’s concern for “the right of women to make choices” is touching, but it is also a very new development. Just this month, McCain backed the Blunt Amendment, a key prong in the GOP war on women that would have allowed employers to veto women’s access to contraception through their health plans.

We have the Goldwater Institute to thank

March 19, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Some Flagstaff teabagger got her panties in a twist in 2010 because she couldn't wear her teabagger T-shirt at the polls — because it violates Arizona's statute pertaining to electioneering materials within 75 feet of a polling location.

Naturally, the lawyers at the Goldwater Institute were hot on the case and somehow convinced a judge that this somehow violated this teabagger's rights, even though it has been the law for many years.

So now our Tea-Publican legislature is rewriting the statute to pander to teabaggers and the Goldwater Institute. You're shocked, I'm sure. Campaign-type apparel at polls may be OK soon:

The next time you go to the polls, it might be OK to wear that T-shirt with a Democratic donkey or those Republican elephant earrings.

Without dissent, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted this week to repeal a law that prohibits the display of "electioneering materials" inside or immediately adjacent to polling places.

HB 2722, which already has been approved by the House, now goes to the full Senate.

The legislation is the direct outgrowth of a spat in Flagstaff in which a Coconino County election worker told a 55-year-old woman she could not vote while wearing a T-shirt that said "Flagstaff Tea Party – Reclaiming Our Constitution Now." While that dispute eventually was resolved after a lawsuit was filed, it left questions about what is legally acceptable.

Clint Bolick, an attorney for the Goldwater Institute, a Phoenix-based conservative public policy research organization, said the language in the statute would bring into question a variety of apparel that might be considered by a poll worker to be designed to influence an election.

Arizona graded as below average in the area of legislative integrity? Color me as not shocked.

March 19, 2012

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings   From a story in the Arizona Daily Star, written by Wayne Parry of the AP – State governments lack transparency and accountability to citizens, and remain at high risk for corruption, according to a new study of all 50 statehouses.     Not a single state received … Read more

Hard Questions and Hard Truths

March 18, 2012

Posted by Bob Lord

So, I’m treating myself to a Sunday morning of reading the Times and my first read was about a blog kept by Sergeant Bales’ wife of all their trials and tribulations. I remarked to Tammy about how it seemed that Bales’ horrific acts may simply have been the product of war injuries, separation from his family, financial struggles, and the horrors of war. In other words, this may be the case of a completely decent human being reaching his breaking point and committing a horrific act.

Then, I saw these pieces: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/us/suspects-deployments-put-focus-on-war-strains.html?_r=1&hp 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/war-is-brain-damaging.html?ref=opinion

So, can we continue to deny that in order to accomplish its military objectives, the American empire, run by self-centered plutocrats entirely devoid of social conscience, is recklessly and callously destroying the bodies and brains of its poor and lower middle class “volunteers?”