Read Blog for Arizona | Politics from a Liberal Viewpoint for more about COVID-19 & Healthcare

Who must “live within means” in Arizona depends greatly upon their importance to Governor Ducey

March 5, 2015March 5, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

The budget deal struck by Governor Doug Ducey and GOP legislators (with no input from Democrats, apparently) cuts millions from colleges and health care providers, while giving what could pass for an “increase” to K-12 education if you squint hard (and pretend the state will never have to restore the $317 million in funding as they were ordered by the court). Senate Minority Leader Katie Hobbs (D-Central Phoenix), in no exaggeration, called it a “bad, bad budget” and possibly “the worst budget ever” on Twitter Wednesday.

Quoth Governor Ducey:

“Before you can have prosperity, everyone needs to live within their means,” Ducey told The Arizona Republic. “This idea of spending money that you don’t have is just irresponsible. So when you’re talking about opportunity for all, you want to provide that across the board for our citizens. This budget reflects our values as Arizonans — it protects the Department of Child Safety, it protects the most vulnerable. And we’re asking some folks to tighten their belt.”

(Update) King v. Burwell is a fraud upon the Court

March 2, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

I have posted several times about the Libertarian lawyers who write for the Volokh Conspiracy at the Washington Post will make a Textualism argument in King v. Burwell, arguing that the text of “ObamaCare” limits federal subsidies only to people who buy insurance from state-run exchanges, not from the federal exchange.

The “free market, anti-government regulation” Competitive Enterprise Institute is bankrolling this case. It is also supported by the Libertarian Cato Institute. Hillary Clinton was right: there really is “a vast right-wing conspiracy.”

What these Libertarian lawyers are engaged in, in my opinion, is perpetrating a fraud upon the court, for which the U.S. Supreme Court should impose sanctions and refer these lawyers for bar disciplinary proceedings. I have rarely seen anything as blatant as this. This case should not be in front of the Supreme Court.

The New York Times in a Sunday editorial opinion agrees. The Phony Legal Attack on Health Care:

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in one of the most anticipated cases of the term: King v. Burwell, a marvel of reverse-engineered legal absurdity that, if successful, will tear a huge hole in the Affordable Care Act and eliminate health insurance for millions of lower-income Americans — exactly the opposite of what the law was passed to do.

The central claim of the lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of four Virginians by a small group of conservative activists who have long sought to destroy Obamacare, is that the law does not allow tax-credit subsidies to be made available to anyone living in the 34 states whose health care exchanges are operated by the federal government, which stepped in when those states declined to set up their own.

This is, to put it mildly, baloney.

National Adjunct Walkout Day: UA Adjuncts Represent

February 27, 2015 by Pamela Powers

February 25 was National Adjunct Walkout Day across the country and right here in Tucson, Arizona on the University of Arizona campus.

What is an adjunct, and why should I care?

If you’re a college student or if you’re paying for your children’s college education, you should care.

Adjunct faculty are non-voting, non-tenure-track instructors, lecturers, and other lower-level teaching staff. As state legislatures have cut higher education budgets nationwide, universities and community colleges have shifted to employing more adjunct faculty to teach because ~~they’re cheap contract labor~~ it’s more cost effective. To put it simply: As budgets have been slashed and as tuition has gone up, universities and community colleges have replaced full-time tenure-track professors with ~~part-time piece-workers~~ adjunct or contingent non-tenure-track faculty.

Over the past 30 years, there has been a dramatic shift from 75% of teaching faculty being tenure-track professors to 75% being non-tenure-track. A full professor can make between $72,000 – $160,000 per year (more on the medical campus), while adjuncts make $22,000 – $27,000 per year, according to NPR. Part-time adjuncts make far less than that because they often teach only one or two classes for as little as $2000-3000/class… and live on the edge of poverty.

GOP’s ‘Plan B’ to Affordable Care Act a major step backwards

February 23, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

Sen. Orin Hatch (R-UT) say he has a “Plan B” in case the U.S. Supreme Court rules against the Affordable Care Act in King v. Burwell (wink, wink). The Hill reports, Senator to unveil plan B for ObamaCare:

The Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee on Monday said he will release a backup plan for ObamaCare in case the Supreme Court rules against the law this summer.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said he has been crafting a “solution for those Americans who may be affected” by the looming King v. Burwell case, which threatens to end healthcare subsidies for people living in 37 states.

* * *

Hatch’s announcement of an ObamaCare “backup plan” comes about two weeks after he and two other top Republicans unveiled what they called an ObamaCare replacement plan, though few conservatives rallied around it.

That’s because Tea-Publicans do not want an alternative to the Affordable Care Act. They want to return to the broken healthcare system which was far worse than any problems people have experienced with the implementation of “ObamaCare.” For Tens of Millions, Obamacare Is Working.

(Update) King v. Burwell is a fraud upon the Court

February 20, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie

The “free market, anti-government regulation” Competitive Enterprise Institute is bankrolling this case. Hillary Clinton was right: there really is “a vast right-wing conspiracy.”

Should the Court actually side with the plaintiff’s in this case, in furtherance of their fraud, we will have a serious constitutional crisis on our hands.

The media has finally begun paying attention to the fraud being perpetrated on the court with some belated good reporting in the past several weeks — just not here in Arizona.

Today Richard Wolf of USA Today, a Gannett Publication, the parent corporation of the Arizona Republic, reports Supreme Court case against Obamacare faces obstacles:

A legal challenge that threatens to unravel President Obama’s health care law has been stricken by a series of ill-timed setbacks before next month’s Supreme Court showdown.