The GOP Gimmicks-R-Us Shop: The ‘Symbolic Congress’

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The "just say no" to everything Republican minority becomes the majority "symbolic Congress" today — symbolic in the sense that Tea-Publicans plan to hold a series of symbolic votes this year to not only reverse the Obama administration's legislative successes of the past two years but to repeal the entire 20th Century. … Read more

Redistricting and other updates: 1st court proceeding set for January 18

by Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings As most observers of the AZ political scene are already aware, the lawsuits over redistricting have already started, even before the actual redistricting process has begun. The first lawsuit was filed by Kirk Adams and Russell Pearce, Speaker of the Arizona House and President-elect of the Arizona Senate, respectively, … Read more

Update: Senate filibuster reform gaining momentum

Posted by AzblueMeanie: Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) today writes about his proposal for reforming the Senate rules, in particular the filibuster rule. Tom Udall – A Senate new year's resolution: Fixing a broken set of rules: On [January 5, 2011] my colleagues and I will introduce common-sense proposals to fix the source of our dysfunction … Read more

Six degrees of Sarah Palin and the weird world of dentistry

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Talking Points Memo has a story about Arizona's newest congressman, Paul Gosar. The Palin-Loving World Of Alaska Dentistry And The 112th Congress: Rep.-elect Paul Gosar (R-AZ), who just hired two friends of Sarah Palin's to his staff, is a dentist. His two new Alaskan hires are Rob Robinson, a retired dentist who … Read more