Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Announcement from the Arizona Democratic Party: When Women Vote, We All Win Rally Monday, January 14, 2013 Arizona State Capitol Lawn 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER Please join women's groups from around the state at the "When Women Vote, We All Win" Rally on the first day of … Read more
Former President Jimmy Carter has given a "full throated endorsement" of states' efforts to legalize marijuana.
Alluding to a 1979 speech in which he called for decriminalization of marijuana, Carter said the US has gone backwards in its policies. (He called for decriminalization in 1979? How did I miss that? Oh, yeah, 1979, I … er… must not have been paying attention … for some reason.)
In an interview with CNN (video here), Carter also said that the nation's marijuana-related incarceration laws discriminate against blacks, Latinos and the mentally ill and are unnecessarily imprisoning far too many US citizens. For every person imprisoned in 1979 for marijuana, there are 8 in jail today, according to Carter.
More details, check out the CNN video, this story in the Huffington Post, or this story from ABC News. After the jump, watch the documentary Breaking the Taboo, in which Carter says the War on Drugs has failed, and the US should rethink its drug policies. (Well, duh. I'm glad a well-respected elder statesman like Carter spoke up. President Obama, the ball is in your court.)
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Ed Kilgore captures the Randian philosophy of conservatives towards the working class perfectly in Ancient Battle:
[T]he [right to work] legislation represents an ancient, almost primal cause among
conservatives who view unions as both an economic and political threat
to a free market society in which workers are independent contractors
whose low pay and meager benefits are an accurate benefit of their
limited value to the enterprises that make all good things possible.
In other words, your labor is just a unit cost of production that needs to be reduced as low as possible to maximize profits to the ownership class and investor class. When you are no longer of productive value (due to age, illness or disability) you are to be discarded — a cost to be externalized to society as a whole. It is a race to the bottom to reduce the unit cost of labor.
The ownership class and investor class, however, the so-called "job creators," are to be worshipped as masters of the universe for amassing great profits and personal wealth. They are the only humans who truly matter in their world. Hence the Randian "makers vs. takers" propaganda from the right-wing noise machine.
As I was reading Arizona Daily Star education reporter Alexis Huicochea's Tweets from the latest public school closure hearing on last Saturday, I wondered to myself: How many of these parents– who are now gnashing their teeth about their kid's school– voted Republican or didn't vot at all?
Remember 2010, when the Repulbicans swept all of Arizona's statewide offices and won a super majority in the Arizona Legislature? Things were bad before that, but our state really slid into dark times with Governor Jan "George Wallace in a Skirt" Brewer and her henchmen– Attorney General Tom "Kill MAS" Horne, Public Instruction Head John "Charter Schools" Huppenthal, Secretary of State Ken "Birther" Bennet, and former State Senate President Russell "Get the Messicans" Pearce– in charge. They are the reason that Tucson Unified Schools District (TUSD) has a $17 million short fall. They are the reason TUSD is closing schools, increasing class sizes, and laying off teachers. And, actually, you are the reason, too.
Parents, grandparents, and activists– if you voted for Republican legislators, the governor, and her gang of thieves and/or voted against continuation of the sales tax for education and jobs (prop 204) OR didn't vote at all– shut up about school closures. You got want you wanted– smaller government, impoverished public education, and millions of dollars of corporate welfare. Hurray for the 1%! Screw you, children of Arizona.
Your theme song plays after the jump.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The U.S. Supreme Court did not include Janice K. Brewer, Governor of Arizona, et al., Petitioners v. Joseph R. Diaz, et al. (12-23), the the Arizona state workers' benefits case, in its orders list this morning. SCOTUSblog.com live blog suggests that the Arizona same-sex marriage/domestic partner case will apparently be held for … Read more