AZ BlueMeanie Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Why do all the media villagers keep repeating Jan Brewer's version of the facts that Obama was "testy" when sh is the only person present who continues to make this claim, and two others have flatly denied it? Out of the three officials who met President Obama on an airport tarmac near … Read more
By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings …and the fun part is: he wants the voters to pay $8 million for the privilege of subverting their own will… Rep. Andy Tobin (R-Paulden), the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, has introduced HB2710, HCR2051, HCR2052, HCR2053, and HR2005. If passed, they would mandate a … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: There will be two congressional races overlapping one another for the Giffords seat — a special election and the general election. Here are the dates you need to know: SPECIAL ELECTION Candidate nomination petitions are due Monday, February 27, 2012 by 5:00 p.m. Legal challenges to candidate nomination petitions must be filed by … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Just when you thought these Tea-Publican authoritarians had finally learned their lesson, the Tea-Publican tyranny is back, and they want to impose their authoritarian will on us again — the will of the voters be damned.
House Speaker Andy Tobin introduced several measures on Thursday that would set a special election so voters could decide whether to use legislative and congressional maps drawn by the Legislature instead of those approved last month by the constitutional Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Tobin wants special election on new district maps:
Tobin, R-Paulden, introduced a handful of measures on Thursday that would put new maps drawn by the Legislature on the ballot for a May 15 special election. Another proposal would put a measure on the general election ballot in November to expand the membership of the IRC, among other changes.
HCR2052 and HCR2053 would call the special election so voters could decide on congressional and legislative maps approved by lawmakers. The proposals come as the IRC is preparing to send its own maps, approved in December, to the U.S. Department of Justice for approval.
Tobin said he and House staffer John Mills, who worked for the GOP-backed FAIR Trust and was a regular fixture at IRC meetings, already completed the congressional and legislative maps he wants to refer to the ballot. He said they began working on the maps about three weeks ago, using public input gleaned from seven days of hearings by a Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting in October.
They did not speak with other lawmakers about the proposal, Tobin said.
Tobin has a laugh out loud lack of self-awareness and sense of irony with this statement:
“I think it’s clear that there should be an alternative to the IRC maps. And I think the voters should see a clear and distinct alternative,” Tobin said. “The politics that drew the IRC maps through the back door with the lights turned down is not going to stand. I think the voters know when they see deception.”
You mean like you and John Mills drawing up maps together? And the highly secretive GOP redistricting organization FAIR Trust operating in the shadows actively seeking to undermine the AIRC for over a year? This guy is a major tool!
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Birthers-Birchers-Secessionists of our Tea-Publican legislature are at it again. A Senate panel has approved a proposal to create an armed militia that could be deployed to the Mexican border under the direction of the Governor. The bill, SB 1083, is backed by "states’ rights" advocates and anti-immigration zealots. What could possibly go wrong? (Jan Brewer and her teabaggers are recklessly irresponsible enough to create an international incident or start a war).
The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Senate panel OKs bill to create state militia for border security, disasters:
[The bill] would set aside $500,000 in one-time funding and $1.4 million annually for the new state militia.
As envisioned, the Arizona State Guard would have its own command structure apart from the Arizona National Guard.
It would be under the direct control of the governor, who could deploy it to respond to disasters and interdict those who engage in “cross-border criminal activity.”
The militia would also have arrest, detention and property seizure powers.
Ah, so what they are really saying is that Jan Brewer will have her own private armed militia that she can use to abuse the rights of citizens and non-citizens alike with the power of arrest, detention and property seizure.
Maj. Gen. Hugo Salazar, the head of the Arizona National Guard, candidly expressed his reservations during a hearing by the Senate Border Security, Federalism and States’ Sovereignty Committee.
Salazar said he believes he would ultimately be responsible for the new force because current state law gives him responsibility over military organizations in the state. He also said he has concerns about allowing militia volunteers carry weapons, noting that National Guard members go through extensive training before they are armed.
“I’m not saying that weapons cannot be carried, but there’s a lot of things that have to occur before I would be comfortable putting a weapon in a volunteer’s hand,” he said.
Salazar’s remarks prompted Sen. Sylvia Allen, the bill’s sponsor and the committee’s chairwoman, to ask: “How do we fight a war without weapons?”
Salazar said his soldiers that are deployed to the border there are “not fighting the war.”
Rather, he said their mission is to support federal law enforcement. Salazar also said the border issue is a law enforcement and policy problem — not a military one.
“The problem or concern I have is that you cannot solve what I believe is a law enforcement and policy problem with a military solution,” he said.
Maj. Gen. Hugo Salazar is a wise man.