Featured Stories
Anti-Union collective bargaining bill stalls in the Senate
February 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: It appears that the assault on public sector unions by the Goldwater Institute has run into a snag in the Arizona Senate. Some Tea-Publicans are nervous about pissing off unions that have traditionally been supportive of the GOP over the years. Talking Points Memo reports Aggressive Anti-Union Bill on Life Support in … Read more
FCC Standards, Sen. Klein? Seriously?
February 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Is Sen. Lori Klein insane? No, seriously. This is both fair and not offensive to ask.
Klein wants to use FCC standards for teachers in classrooms because she believes that teachers are potty-mouthed and have a bad influence on impressionable young children.
FCC standards?
Does Klein not watch television? Has she not seen prime time sitcoms like How I Met Your Mother, Two Broke Girls and Two and a Half Men? Or the FOX Sunday night lineup of cartoon shows targeted to attract children like The Simpsons and Family Guy? And don't even get me started about the comedy shows on Comedy Central like South Park and Futurama. And the so-called reality TV shows, puh-lease.
Does Klein not listen to the music children are listening to on the radio, or worse, watch the music videos that accompany the music? One of the top listened to songs of this past year was Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You." Really, that's the title.
In what alternate universe does Sen. Lori Klein liven in?
Michael Hicks at Tuesday’s School Board meeting: “No, I have no more comments.”
February 15, 2012
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by David Safier While he was being interviewed on KNST radio, TUSD Board member Michael Hicks made a vile, unsubstatiated comparison between a group of TUSD students attending a UA Mexican-American Studies class and the sexual abuse which allegedly occurred at Penn State. When given an opportunity at Tuesday's school board meeting, Hicks refused to … Read more
Sign of the farther-right-than-seems-possible times
February 15, 2012
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by David Safier The Capitol Times (subscription only) has an article about the state budget fight. It's not between Rs and Ds, of course. The Ds don't have the numbers to be in the fight. It's between Brewer and the Republican legislature. Brewer's problem, according to Senate Pres. Steve Pierce — not to be confused … Read more
Kill this bill: Frank Antenori’s TABOR ballot measure
February 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Sen. "Don't make me angry" Frank Antenori wants to destroy Arizona's future before he leaves the Arizona legislature to lose in a GOP primary for Congress. Antenori is back with his version of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) bill that Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed last year because it was too reckless … Read more
Review of research concludes: MAS-like programs increase academic achievement
February 15, 2012
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by David Safier Christine Sleeter is "a professor emerita of teacher education at California State University, Monterey Bay, and the president of the National Association for Multicultural Education." I put that information first to acknowledge where her priorities are. Sleeter is a strong advocate for multicultural education. That said, she has written a paper, The … Read more
(Update) Second Senate panel votes to give the Governor a state militia for the border
February 15, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Sen. Sylvia "6,000 years" Allen, Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen (R) says Earth is 6,000 years old. – YouTube, testified before the Appropriations Commitee on Tuesday for her bill to create an "Arizona State Guard" of teabagger border patrol guards, SB1083. She agreed to rename it the "Arizona Special Missions Unit" — Arizona's own version of the "A Team."
"I love it when a plan comes together."
What makes this so ridiculous is what is motivating Sen. Allen. She believes that Hezbollah is recruiting and training Mexican drug cartels for acts of terrorism against the United States.
What I find curious in the reporting on this story is that our crack political reporters do not appear to have demanded that Sen. Allen provide her source(s) to substantiate her claims. I have noted where this wingnut conspiracy theory got its start. Senate panel votes to give the Governor a state militia for the border:
This bit of paranoia, as best as I can tell, appears to have started with the certifiably insane Alex Jones on his hate radio show and spread to other right-wing conspiracy sites such as the Free Republic, World Net Daily and, of course, FAUX News Fraudcasting. This is a great way for teabaggers to combine their anti-Muslim bigotry with anti-Mexican bigotry — "Mexicans are really Islamic terrorists! They're going to impose a Caliphate and Sharia law on us God-fearing Tea-Publican Christians."
The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) at least makes an attempt to debunk this nonsense. Middle East terror group cited as reason to put armed volunteer militia on Arizona-Mexico border - Arizona Capitol Times:
A senator who wants to create an armed volunteer force that can stop crimes along the Arizona-Mexico border repeated claims Tuesday that terrorist organizations based in the Middle East have formed alliances with drug cartels to the south.
“We are being invaded by criminals who have formed alliances with mid-eastern terrorists who use violence in the most evil of ways to intimidate, control and protect their drug-human smuggling multi-billion dollar business,” said Sen. Sylvia Allen, a Republican from Snowflake.
In an earlier committee hearing, Allen specifically mentioned Hezbollah. She also referred to reports that the group is training Mexican drug cartels.
If New Mexico can do it, why can’t Arizona?
February 14, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: I have previously posted about the Move to Amend effort to pass resolutions by local governments calling on Congress to amend the Constitution to overturn Citizens United v. FEC and its holding that "corporations are people" that can spend unlimited amounts of money on campaigns, and the Court's earlier rulings that "money … Read more
