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.

Tom Harkin Retires

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Posted by Bob Lord Huff Po is reporting that Tom Harkin has announced he will not seek re-election in 2014. His decision certainly is understandable, as he'd be over 80 at the conclusion of another term if he served one. He felt is was someone else's turn. It's too bad Senator McCrankypants here doesn't share Harkin's perspective. … Read more

Update on Yesterday’s Ugly Conservative Moment

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Posted by Bob Lord

Well apparently the state legislator who thought it a fine idea to criminalize the abortion of a rape created pregnancy has had second thoughts. This from Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon:

In the bill’s newly gussied up language, it specifies that “a person who commits sexual penetration or incest and who procures an abortion of a fetus resulting from the crime with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime is guilty of tampering with evidence, prohibiting prosecution of the mother of the fetus … In no circumstance shall the mother of the fetus be charged.” So if you’re a rapist and you try to get your victim to have an abortion, you’re in trouble. Because that happens every day. Brown’s apparent interest in protecting women should be taken within the context of her other pursuits, however, like serving on the board of Carlsbad’s Right to Life chapter, and posting images from the Life Issues Institute on her Facebook page. The Institute describes its mission as “assuring … equal protection under the law for all living humans from the beginning of their biological life at fertilization.”

Today’s Ugly Conservative Moment

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Posted by Bob Lord Well, OK, no day goes by with only one ugly conservative moment. But this one deserves special mention. I commented earlier to Dave's post on Brewer's education plan to give the most funding to the schools that needed it the least, saying it would be hard to devise a sicker, crueler … Read more

The Elusive Nature of Right Wing Humor

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Posted by Bob Lord

A friend of mine forwarded me a viral email he'd received from a right-wing friend of his. I was curious, so I googled a passage and learned that this supposedly funny email actually started out on 15 or so google pages worth of right-wing sites about six months or so ago, then made its way to emails from there. And what is so hilarious? This:

Today's lesson in irony

The Food Stamp Program,
administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is proud to be distributing
this year the greatest amount of free Meals and Food Stamps ever, to 46 million
people.

Meanwhile, the National Park
Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us
"Please Do Not Feed the Animals." Their stated reason for the policy
is because "The animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn
to take care of themselves."

Thus ends today's
lesson.

So what exactly do these neanderthals find so funny?

Government Spending Problem? Not So Much

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Posted by Bob Lord UPDATE — I REALIZED AFTER POSTING THIS THAT THE AZBLUEMEANIE POSTED ON IT EARLIER TODAY. HIS COVERAGE IS MUCH MORE IN DEPTH. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED, SCROLL DOWN THE PAGE A FEW POSTS. SORRY FOR THE REPITITION Kevin Drum at Mother Jones has a great post up comparing government spending during the … Read more