Pamela Powers

Long-time blogger and political activist, Pamela Powers holds a masters’ degree in public health from the University of Arizona and a bachelors’ degree in journalism from the Ohio State University. She has worked for many years in communications and public relations. Powers stepped down from her position as the managing editor of the American Journal of Medicine to serve Legislative District 9 in the Arizona House. Powers won her seat in November 2016 and won her re-election bid in 2018. She continues to work part-time social media editor for the journal. In addition to Blog for Arizona, she writes her own blog, The The Tucson Progressive and has contributed political stories to the Huffington Post. Powers Hannley is co-director of Arizonans for a New Economy, Arizona’s public banking initiative. Political website: PowersForThePeople.net Facebook Page: Pamela Powers Hannley for House Tucson Progressive on Facebook: Tucson Progressive Twitter handle: @p2hannley Instagram: p2hannley

Who Knew? Countries that Make Stuff Are Better Off than Countries that Play the Market

July 18, 2014 by Pamela Powers

Those Germans. First they win the World Cup, and now they’re ranked #1 in trade. Germany has a trade surplus of $257 billion (a sign of a truly robust economy.) In contrast, the US is DEAD LAST on the list of 193 countries in the CIA World Factbook, with a trade deficit of $361 billion.

Who knew that a highly unionized country with a solid manufacturing base, a strong middle class, and a woman head of state could do so well? Aren’t we constantly being told that our overpaid, privileged union workers must accept pay and benefit cuts in order to compete with other countries for world markets? Obviously, what the corporate people and their Republican minions in the Congress have been telling us is hogwash.

In a syndicated editorial published in today’s Arizona Daily Star, Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect, compares the policies and financial health of countries in the top and bottom tiers. Meyerson writes…

The composition of the top and bottom 20 nations on the list provides an even more illuminating picture. Three kinds of nations dominate the top 20: oil exporters (Saudi Arabia ranks third), East Asian manufacturers-for-export (China ranks second) and Northern European industrial and social democracies (not just Germany but also Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway — the last, swimming in North Sea oil, an energy exporter as well).

The most striking aspect of the bottom 20, by contrast, is the prevalence of English-speaking nations. Not only does the United States finish 193rd, but Britain comes in at 192, Canada at 189, Australia at 186 and New Zealand at 173.

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Refugee Supporters & Anti-Immigrant Protesters Face Off in Oracle (Images)

July 17, 2014July 16, 2014 by Pamela Powers

Supporters lined the main drag in Oracle, with bilingual or Spanish signs welcoming the the refugee children.

Demonstrators with dueling banners and ideologies lined the roads of rural Oracle, Arizona on Tuesday awaiting the arrival of 40-60 child refugees. An estimated 150 protesters, dozens of law enforcement officers (including the K-9 unit), and every TV, print, and online journalist imaginable came out to “greet” the bus of unaccompanied Central American children.

Oracle residents and other refugee supporters from Somos America, Progressive Democrats of America, South Side Presbyterian Church, and the Alliance for Global Justice gathered at 6:30 a.m.

The original anti-immigrant protest was organized by Oracle’s self-proclaimed “Paul Revere” Robert Skiba, who was tipped off regarding the busload of refugee children by Pinal County’s Tea Party Sheriff Paul Babeu. Babeu’s grandstanding on Facebook about the federal government’s failed immigration policies, and Skiba’s boasting about a bus blockade to multiple media outlets sparked a counter protest initiated by Oracle residents who were concerned about the welfare of the children. E-mail blasts, Facebook, Twitter, blog posts like this one, and a re-Tweet by Rachel Maddow’s blog brought out the crowds, including sympathizers on both sides who drove in from Tucson and Phoenix.

Much of the media coverage has focused on tiny events that occurred during the four hours that we all waited for the bus to arrive. (More details and photos after the jump.)

Arizona Rednecks Plan Murrieta-Style Ugly American Protest in Oracle, AZ

July 14, 2014July 14, 2014 by Pamela Powers

5 UPDATEs at the end.

Two Oracle facilities may be sheltering unaccompanied migrant children soon– one in midtown Tucson at Oracle and Drachman and one tucked into the Catalina Mountains in Oracle, Arizona.

While liberals in Tucson are welcoming the children and touting the 250 jobs the migrant shelter and processing center will bring to a struggling part of the city, rednecks north of town are planning a Murrieta-style ugly American protest to greet 40 children who could be housed at the Sycamore Canyon Academy on the back side of Mountain Lemmon. (KVOA story here.)

You’ll remember that several days ago Murrieta, California made headlines when the mayor called for citizens to show their outrage against migrants coming to their town, and the citizens did just that– protesting and blocking the road, with the assistance of local police.

Now the ugly Americans want to stage a repeat in sleepy Oracle, Arizona.

UN, Progressives Urge Refugee Status for Migrant Children, while GOP Wants Speedy Deportation

July 11, 2014July 11, 2014 by Pamela Powers

UN Report on refugee children fleeing Central America

The least productive Congress ever was perfectly content to allow immigration reform to languish until next year, while they focused on getting their sorry asses re-elected. But then reality hit.

Mass migration of unaccompanied children from Central America brought the issue front and center. A little-known. bipartisan bill passed in the waning hours of the Bush Administration to protect children from sex trafficking is standing in the way of speedy deportation of 1000s of children, according to the New York Times.

While they languish in detention centers in Texas, Arizona, and California, more women and children cross the border — fleeing violence in their homeland and looking for family in the US.

Many powerful forces are at work to determine their fate…

Stop the Beauty Madness: Ad Campaign Challenges ‘Beauty’ Myths & Stereotypes

July 10, 2014 by Pamela Powers

#StopTheBeautyMadness advertisements challenge beauty myths.

I am a real woman, with a real woman’s body– not the body of an 11-year-old boy.

I am a Renaissance nude trapped in a Twiggy world.

I am Everywoman.

For the youngsters out there, Twiggy was the popular 1960s model who launched the anorexic waif look, which has been the scourge of curvy women for decades.

Slowly… very slowly… our society is becoming aware of the dangers of idealizing unrealistic female body traits (like the thigh gap, pictured here) and pushing media-defined “beauty” ideals on young girls. The social media focus on “Photoshop Fails” has helped some realize that the perfect body pictured in the Victoria’s Secret catalog was created by a dweeb with good computer skills– not by Mother Nature.

In a series of shocking but thought-provoking images, Stop the Beauty Madness is a new ad campaign that attacks the “impossible standards” of the ideal woman’s body, as well as attacking stereotypes of what or who women should be. (See some images after the jump). From #StopThe BeautyMadness…

Today, there is more than a choir singing out the truths of true beauty. There is a great groundswell and the numbers are rising daily. We are a new tribe, and we know it is time to take back the streets-OUR streets. We know that begins with lifting our self-esteem, our self-imposed standards of worth, and honoring our deepest truths about what it means to be “enough.”