Bob Lord

Bob has mostly wound down his 39-year career as a tax and business lawyer (with a 1-year interruption to run for Congress in 2008 (CD3), when he tried to unseat John Shadegg. Bob now serves as the senior advisor on tax policy for the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy Americans who believe the light taxation of America's rich is destabilizing our democracy, and as an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Bob has been writing for Blog For Arizona since late 2011, concentrating mostly on federal issues, with an occasional foray into Arizona state politics.

Prediction: Zimmerman Walks

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Posted by Bob Lord

I caught a little bit of the Randi Rhodes show while driving last week. She was all over the upcoming George Zimmerman trial, and dead sure that George Zimmerman was gulity. She was armed with all sorts of logical arguments. Rhodes can be as off the charts wrong as Limbaugh or Hannity, but in this case her basic logic wasn't bad. 

And if an omniscient being told me I had to bet one way or the other, I'd bet Zimmerman is guilty, that he killed Trayvon Martin in cold blood, not in self defense. 

But that's not what the upcoming criminal trial is all about. In the trial, the issue will be whether the State proves its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

And when the cops screw up, reasonable doubt is almost baked in the cake.

Arizona Freshmen Vote Against It Before They Vote For It

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Posted by Bob Lord I'm reminded of that old Britney Spears song "Oops, I did it again" or perhaps Ronald Reagan's "there they go again." Last week, prior to passing a Republican-backed Homeland Security funding bill, the House voted on an amendment proposed by immigrant hater Steve King of Iowa to remove protections for children … Read more

Dear Thucky and Dang, It’s Really Not The Welfare

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Posted by Bob Lord

Our two (??) most active conservative commenters both are the type who use screen names havng nothing to do with their real names. They go by NidanGoju and Thuccydides. Each of those is a mouthful, so I'll just call them Thucky and Dang. 

It's possible Thucky and Dang actually are one person with a split persoality. I don't think I've ever seen both comment to the same post. And Thucky became a frequent commenter about the same time Dang slowed down. But they're a bit different in their approach, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Dang is a more of a counter-puncher, always having some ludicrous argument to challenge what seems should be a given. Thucky is more the smug type, supremely confident in the knowledge he's obtained from memorizing conservative talking points. He reminds me of the old Will Rogers line about Herbert Hoover: "It's not what he doesn't know that troubles me, it's what he knows for sure that just ain't so."

And what Thucky knows seems to know for sure these days is that the primary cause of today's inequality is that "welfare is too comfortable." Sorry, Thucky, it just ain't so, for a gazillion reasons, most of which are intuitively obvious.

Bill Maher’s Good Night

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Posted by Bob Lord A few weeks back I wrote on what I thought was an abysmal Real Time performance by Bill Maher. He had stereotyped Muslims in an indefensible way and had gone after Chris Christie in a way that was both over the line and unfunny.  Friday night, however, he did a lot … Read more