Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Once upon a time when I was young, I obtained a list of the most banned books in the U.S. and then set about to read every one, checking them off the list as I completed each book. Take that!
From Bookman's Book Store in Arizona, a celebration of Banned Books Week (Sep 30-Oct 6).
Video below the fold.
by Pamela Powers Hannley
Dave Safier posted a short story this morning– Presented Without Comment— about the Three Sonorans' putdown of Safier's endorsement of Kristel Foster for the Tucson Unified School Board (TUSD). (Whatever, I said I didn't agree with Dave either. People are allowed to have their own opinions.)
What Safier failed to mention was that the Three Sonorans also used the occasion to crack on Blog for Arizona and progressives, in general, and me, in particular. So, what else is new? Morales likes to pick on women who are vocal and active in politics. Just ask Loretta Hunnicutt, Kyrsten Sinema, Dolores Huerta, Janet Marcotte, DeeDee Blase, Adelita Grijalva, Gabby Giffords, Regina Romero, and Kristel Foster–to name a handful of his past targets.
Sexism aside, I take issue with Morales' assertion that progressives take action and protest on the street corners when unions need our help but not when Latinos need our help. This false dichotomy implies that only white people belong to unions and that's why only white people care about them. Wrong.
After the jump, watch the anti-SB1070 protest video, the protest video against anti-union legislation proposed by the Arizona Legislature, and testimony regarding anti-union activities at the IBEW Hall. You'll see progressives standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Latinos in all three videos. (BTW, in the photo above, that's me in the turquoise dress, between the two cops, covering the UnDocuBus protest in Charlotte.)
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Say what now? Judge Robert Simpson of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled Tuesday that for the presidential election of Nov. 6, voters in Pennsylvania could be asked to produce the newly required photo IDs, but if they did not have them could still go ahead and vote. Pennsylvania Judge Puts Voter ID … Read more
by Pamela Powers Hannley
Unarmed teenager Trevon Martin is shot and killed in Florida, and the story goes around the world.
On September 14, 2012, unarmed, 19-year-old Joel Smith is shot and killed in Guadalupe, Arizona by a Maricopa County sheriff's deputy, and the news doesn't even reach Tucson. WTF?
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Department is beyond corrupt. It will be a national disgrace that Sheriff Joe Arpaio is re-elected. How long will Maricopa County voters support a racist octogenarian who sweeps through neighborhoods and arrests brown people; who forces prisoners to live in the blasting heat in the Tent City Jail; who wastes taxpayer money pretending to be the border patrol while ignoring criminal cases; who allows his guards to torture and even kill prisoners? The sheriff's department should uphold the law, not break it with impunity.
Wake up and do the right thing, Maricopa County.
Watch a video about the Joel Smith shooting by Dennis Gilman after the jump.
by Pamela Powers Hannley
With the Republican Congress and the state legislatures (including Arizona's) passing anti-woman laws that ranged from the absurd to the vindictive, I can't understand why any woman in the US would vote Republican in this election.
The impressive War on Women backlash may be one reason why most campaigning Republicans–except Todd "legitimate rape" Akin–are trying to forget anti-woman maddess that swept through their party in the spring. (After all, they don't want to lose all of the women's vote.)
None the less, the War on Women and the assault on women's reproductive rights continue– at least in the religious right wing of the Republican Party.
The Democratic Party's platform includes strong pro-choice language. Consequently, at the recent Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, a small band of anti-abortion protesters demonstrated in front of the convention center daily. Mostly, the demonstrators were old white men (surprise, surprise), but on one particular day a handful of young women joined them (to lend some credibility?).
You might say that "the devil made me do it," but with video rolling, I engaged one of the protesters in a heated, street-level debate about abortion, choice, access to contraception, sex education, "legitimate rape", fetus personhood, the morning after pill, and forcing underage girls to have a rapist's baby.
Surprisingly, we found some consensus. We both believe…
– Abortion is a very difficult choice.
– Abortion should be a last resort, not a routine birth control method.
– Rape is rape, and there's no such thing as protection from pregnancy when a woman is raped.
– Abstinence only education is "unrealistic." Contraception and sex education should be provided to young girls in order to prevent unwanted pregnancy. She didn't want the contraception to be free, but she was somewhat more enlightened and reasonable than most Congressmen.
– Vaginal ultrasound should be an option, if the woman wants one. (On the tape, she seems incredulous when I tell her about some of the legislation that has passed.)
Of course, the big differences between us were that:
– I believe every woman should have the right to choose, and she wants the government to dictate what citizens do;
– She believes that a fetus is a person from the moment of contraception, and I don't. She also believes that "right to life" doesn't apply to "criminals". (So, the death penalty is OK, but not abortion.)
What I came away with is that much of the anti-woman legislation passed by Arizona and other states is too extreme even for a deeply religious woman who is vehemently opposed to abortion.
Watch the video after the jump.