COVID-19 & Healthcare

Women as forced breeding stock for the state

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Wivesmadmax.wikia.com

ICYMI, due to the massive phony freakout from the Right over bogus Planned Parenthood videos (and the inexplicable treating of it as credible by many mainstream news people) this is happening in Alabama:

An unnamed woman, who is referred to in court documents only as Jane Doe, is asking for permission to travel to Huntsville to end her pregnancy. She says she was unable to get an abortion before she was taken into custody and is now feeling desperate. “I am very distraught, and do not want to be forced to carry this pregnancy to term,” she wrote.

Jane Doe — who has to get permission from the court to be transported to the nearest clinic because prison officials consider abortion to be a non-emergency procedure — is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, which argues that it would be “cruel and unusual punishment” for the state of Alabama to deny her constitutional right to abortion.

Now, as Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly prepares to argue against this request, he is asking the court to strip Doe of her parental rights so that she will no longer have the right to end her pregnancy. In a hearing to determine the outcome of the case, which is expected to be decided by Friday, the state court appointed an attorney — known as a “guardian ad litem” — to serve on behalf of Doe’s fetus.

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50th Anniversary of Medicare/Medicaid, Republicans are still trying to kill it

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There is something surreal about Biggs, et al v. Brewer, et al. (CV2013-011699 Maricopa County Superior Court), the Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion case brought by almost every Tea-Publican legislator in the Arizona legislature, being heard today in court on the 50th Anniversary of the The Social Security Amendments of 1965 creating the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion case set for hearing on July 30, 2015.

These Tea-Publican legislators are seeking to take away Medicaid (AHCCCS) health insurance coverage for an estimated 300,000 recipients (est. 463,000 Arizonans are eligible). Arizona Medicaid: eligibility, enrollment and benefits. I hope that one of the attorneys will point out the significance of today’s date to the Court.

On July 30, 1965, President Johnson signed the Social Security Amendments which established Medicare and Medicaid, promising that they would “improve a wide range of health and medical services for Americans of all ages.”

Former President Harry S. Truman was at his side in Independence, Missouri. Johnson credited Truman with “planting the seeds of compassion and duty which have today flowered into care for the sick and serenity for the fearful.”

LBJ_Medicare_Bill_Signing34896web
Medicare bill signing,Date: 7/30/65, Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri.

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

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

I Love Planned Parenthood

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.

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Anti-choicers have much in common with Birthers. Why is Brahm Resnik legitimizing them?

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

brahm resnik
Seriously, Brahm?

A few years ago I was on the Phoenix Channel 12 Sunday Square Off panel (I can’t for the life of me find the video) and one of the topics was Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio conducting a “cold case investigation” of President Obama’s birth certificate and eligibility for the Presidency. Donald Trump had swanned in to weigh in on it, as I recall, since I remember saying something about his hairline and that he should go away.

I distinctly remember Channel 12 news anchor and reporter Brahm Resnik covering the “investigation” because, well, it was newsworthy to the extent that the county sheriff was conducting it but also treating the substance of it with the derision it deserved. In 2014, Resnik reiterated that, when he interrogated then-Arizona State Senator and candidate for Secretary of State Michele Reagan (R) about her support for the 2011 “Birther Bill”.

“Did you believe President Obama needed to show his birth certificate to the secretary of state?” asked host Brahm Resnik.

“I believe that what is in state law is sufficient,” Reagan repeated.

Resnik said the bill caused “embarrassment” for the state. “Do you recognize that?” he asked.

“I recognize that what is in state law right now is –”

“Do you regret that vote?” Resnik interjected.

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Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion case set for hearing on July 30, 2015

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I lost track of Biggs, et al v. Brewer, et al. (CV2013-011699 Maricopa County Superior Court), the Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion case brought by almost every Tea-Publican legislator, because there was recently a reassignment of cases among the judges of the Maricopa County Superior Court of which I was not aware. This case has been reassigned to Judge Douglas Gerlach, as of July 22, 2015.

Image: Supreme Court Upholds Obama's Affordable Care ActThe hearing that had been scheduled for Friday, July 17, in Maricopa County Superior Court has been rescheduled to Thursday, July 30, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. in the East Court Building, Suite 513.

The parties have filed motions for summary judgment to the Court, because there are no genuine issues of material facts in dispute, and the Court can decide the case as a matter of law.

The issue is the proper application of Prop. 108 (1992), the “two-thirds for taxes” initiative in the Arizona Constitution. It only takes a simple majority of the legislature to cut taxes and to grant special interest tax exemptions and tax credits. But it takes a two-thirds super-majority of each chamber of the legislature to repeal or to decrease any such tax cuts or special interest tax exemptions and tax credits. And it takes a two-thirds super-majority of each chamber of the legislature to increase taxes or to impose a new tax.

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