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Upset about fetal tissue donation? Stop funding for birth control, obviously!

August 4, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

The GOP majority in the Senate held a vote to defund Planned Parenthood on Monday morning, with conservatives taking to the floor, one after another, to engage in lugubrious, sanctimonious theatrics about the “selling” of fetal tissue.

During the debate in the Senate, Republican lawmakers sought to highlight those shocking videos showing Planned Parenthood arranging for the sale of aborted babies.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said, “The American taxpayer should not be asked to fund an organization like Planned Parenthood that has shown a sheer disdain for human dignity and complete disregard for women and their babies.”

“The barbaric practice of conducting abortions in a way that promotes harvesting fetal organs, or profiting from such practices, has no place in modern society,” said Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana. “Planned Parenthood’s disgusting practices should not receive a dime of taxpayer money.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Democrats should not protect Planned Parenthood’s federal funds “just to protect some political group. “Women deserve better, and our country deserves better.”

AZ GOP wants Dems to return Planned Parenthood contributions because of course they do.

July 29, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Per Miriam Wasser in Tuesday’s New Times:

The Republican Party of Maricopa County is calling on four Democratic Arizona politicians to “return every penny” of the cumulative $45,000 in campaign contributions they received from Planned Parenthood in the last few years, and to “publicly rebuke fellow Democrats” for asking the Department of Justice to investigate the Center for Medical Progress — the fake company created by the anti-abortion activists behind two recent undercover videos purportedly detailing how Planned Parenthood “sells” fetal tissue.

“The voters of Arizona demand a higher ethical standard from their elected officials,” states a press release from the county GOP. “Democrats have once again shown that they care more about maintaining the steady flow of political donations from Planned Parenthood than they do about truth and justice.”

According to the press release, Planned Parenthood donated $22,500 to Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick, $14,999 to Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema, $5,000 to Congressman Ruben Gallego, and $3,000 to Congressman Raul Grijalva during the last few election cycles.

Governor Ducey hops aboard the idiot train on Planned Parenthood

July 21, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

Photo: ABC15.com

This took longer than I expected, honestly:

Governor Doug Ducey’s Statement on Planned Parenthood

JULY 20, 2015

PHOENIX – In light of recent allegations of unlawful practices and procedures being performed by Planned Parenthood, Governor Doug Ducey today directed the Arizona Department of Health Services to conduct a thorough review of current law and immediately promulgate emergency rules designed to prohibit the illegal sale of any tissue from an unborn child.

“The footage released by The Center for Medical Progress regarding the alleged sale and trafficking of aborted fetal tissue and body parts by Planned Parenthood is horrifying and has no place in a civilized society. I am calling on the Department of Health Services to conduct a thorough review of the law and immediately promulgate emergency rules designed to prohibit the illegal sale of any tissue from an unborn child. This is consistent with federal law and will deter action that we all agree is abhorrent. Further, I have instructed ADHS to provide any and all assistance required to Attorney General Brnovich in any efforts conducted by his office.”

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Call Your Arizona Congressional Rep on #TPP National Day of Action (video)

June 1, 2015June 1, 2015 by Pamela Powers

Activists worldwide have been organizing, educating, protesting, writing, and sharing stories and videos to tell the citizens of the world just how bad the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal is for people. After all, anything written in secret by 600 multinational corporations can’t be good for us.

This Wednesday– June 3, 2015– is another national day of action against the TPP. Organizers are calling on us– all of us– to call our representatives in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday and tell them to vote NO on the fast track authorization for the TPP.

The top three people to call in Arizona are Representatives:

Martha McSally: Ron Barber stood with workers and opposed the TPP. What about you, Martha? Will she stand for corporate people or humans? (BTW, On June 3, the TPP Flushers will be protesting in front of Martha’s office at 4400 E. Broadway Blvd at 9:30 a.m. Bring signs.)

Kyrsten Sinama: She has been a Wall Street darling since she went to Congress, but a recent anti-TPP protest at her office may have sparked a no vote on the TPP. Let’s encourage her to stand with us this time– instead of Wall Street.

Ann Kirkpatrick: Ann is a blue dog Democrat, but in the last Congress she had a better voting record than Sinema or Barber, when it came to issues that would help everyday Arizonans. Ann recently announced that she will challenge Senator John McCain for for the Senate in 2016. Show us how different you are from McCain and vote NO on the TPP, Ann! (Don’t make Barber’s mistake of not sufficiently separating your views from your opponent’s.)

How many more Americans must die for Sen. John McCain’s War in Iraq?

May 26, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

The editors of The Arizona Republic editorialized on Memorial Day, Shelve the politics on Memorial Day. Apparently Arizona’s angry old man, Sen. John “Surge” McCain, didn’t read the editorial page.

Sen. “Surge” McCain used a solemn Memorial Day event to once again become unhinged and to attack President Obama for “losing” his war in Iraq. (Yes, his war. More on this below.)

In a sometimes testy exchange with reporters following Memorial Day ceremonies at the National Cemetery, McCain calls for return to Iraq:

Sen. John McCain said it’s President Obama’s fault that ISIS has taken control of Iraqi cities where American troops being mourned on Memorial Day had previously died defending.

McCain insisted that the war for Iraq was won after the 2007 troop surge. [That would be John McCain’s “surge” strategy — “I’m a friggin’ military genius I tell ya!”]

And yet the president, in one of the worst decisions of history, pulled all of the troops out,” McCain said.

* * *

McCain brushed aside questions of whether it is possible to win a war in Iraq with a government there that has sometimes proven dysfunctional. [See Defense Secretary Carter: Iraqis lack ‘will to fight’ to defeat Islamic State.]