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.

Chris Matthews Trashes Rick Perry, and I’m on Perry’s Side

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Posted by Bob Lord No, I'm not kidding. Matthews has a few of his regular guests on, and they're going after Karl Rove. Then, he transitions to a rif on Rick Perry. He plays Perry on Laura Ingraham's show, where he said that when politicians moderate their views in order to win votes, it weakens … Read more

Syrian Humanitarian Crisis Worsens

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Posted by Bob Lord The Times is reporting that the flow of Syrian refugees has reached 5,000 per day. This is a horrific humanitarian crisis. The challenges in preventing death from starvation or exposure are enormous. If you want to help, the Syrian American Alliance is doing great work. Here's the link. This is a … Read more

Syria: Beneath The Headlines

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Posted by Bob Lord

I've always had trouble understanding the world's failure to react more quickly to genocide. Syria today is a case in point.

Very recently, I was told something that I'd not seen in the media. Apparently, the Free Syrian Army is asking for very modest help from the White House. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are prepared to provide invaluable anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry to the Free Syrian Army, but, because it is American weaponry, White House consent is required. Obama is unwilling. Reportedly, McCain doesn't want to enter the debate, becuase he is reluctant to criticize Obama on an issue of foreign policy. Huh? All McCain does is bash Obama's foreign policy.

So, how does this make sense? I really don't know, but I can think of three possibilities:

Could the Influence of Religion in America Finally Be Receding?

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Posted by Bob Lord and Donna Gratehouse

We decided to team up on this post because it’s a topic near and dear to both our hearts. Americans have lagged behind the rest of the Western World in freeing ourselves from religion. A former Prime Minister once remarked, in reference to George W. Bush, “if a politician in Canada said he thought the jury was still out on evolution, he’d be run out of town on a rail.” But Americans have engaged in or at least tolerated this craziness for decades. As views all over the world became more enlightened, America slid backwards, into the land of intelligent design, climate change denial, and raging homophobia.

The 98 Year Old Activist

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Posted by Bob Lord I read this post by Thomas Hedges at Truthdig because I've had a concern that Labor is getting complacent at the top. The post is a quick read, and more or less does bear out my concern. But what I learned was quite inspiring, at least for me. Hedges writes about … Read more