COVID-19 & Healthcare

Budget’s almost done, what mischief can we expect? Plenty!

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Cross posted from the Arizona Eagletarian

By no means will it be a slam dunk getting Gov. Brewer to sign the FY2015 budget that is all but finalized by the legislature, extra $900,000 gift to the private prison industrial complex notwithstanding.

Scuttlebutt at the capitol has it that Senate President Biggs and Brewer may have a deal anyway, with Biggs possibly undoing some of the changes made by the House last week. What the bills will actually say by the time they are delivered to Brewer is still anyone’s guess, however.

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The ‘mythical moderate Republicans’ get bupkis in the House budget

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The Arizona political media really love their “mythical moderate Republican” meme. The publication by capitol lobbyists for capitol lobbyists, the Arizona Capitol Times, even ran a staged media event photo of the six “mythical moderate Republicans” that reminded me of those DUI defense lawyer ads you see on late night TV. (I will not dignify it by reproducing it here).

The GOP-friendly Arizona political media assured us that this group was making a stand primarily over education and child welfare. “We’re doing it for the children!” Riiiight.

You may have heard that the House finally passed a budget Thursday night. So what did these rebels without a clue finally get in return for their votes? They got bupkis.

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Protest Planned to Greet Boehner at $500/plate Fundraiser for McSally & Tobin

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Boehner
As announced earlier this week, the worst-ever Speaker of the US House of Representatives, John Boehner, is coming to Marana on Saturday to be the headliner at a $500/plate fundraising dinner for CD2 candidate Martha “I got no opinions” McSally and gubernatorial candidate Andy “I heart the Christian Right” Tobin.

These three Regressive knuckle-draggers are perfect for each other: anti-abortion, anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-education, anti-immigration-reform, anti-healthcare-reform, pro-military-industrial-complex, pro-NRA, pro-Christian-Taliban, pro-Wall-Street. It’s a menage-a-tois made in heaven… er… backroom deals with the Koch Brothers.

By refusing repeatedly to offer opinions on just about any issue except the fate of her old aircraft,  the A10, McSally has been playing it even safer with her campaign in 2014 than she did in 2012. But actions speak louder than words. Her alignment with Teapublican Tobin (who has been in the thick of Arizona’s anti-gay and anti-woman legislation and personally tried to stop the Equal Rights Amendment this year) speaks volumes. Campaigning with one of the Arizona Legislature’s Christian Taliban adds to McSally’s street cred as a Teapublican “Regressive”. 

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In which I express my fervent wish that Laurie Roberts will shut up forever about child abuse.

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

There’s a terrible, awful story in the news right now about a Phoenix couple who starved their baby nearly to death. So it’s no surprise that Phoenix’s own Nancy Grace, AKA Laurie Roberts, was quickly on the scene to flare her nostrils about it on her column. I mean, I totally could see it coming but, dear sweet Christ on chimichanga platter is this thing dreadful.

What profound insight does Laurie have to add to this horrible situation? Why, slut-shaming, of course.

The case of Veronica Marie Diaz showcases much about what is wrong with our society, about why CPS is so overrun and just how daunting the task will be as the state rebuilds our child-welfare system. Here’s a 27-year-old woman with multiple children and no father apparently in sight. But, of course, there is a boyfriend.

There’s always a boyfriend.

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The good news and bad news about ‘ObamaCare’

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First the good news. The Obama administration announced today that it has surpassed the target of 6 million private insurance enrollments on the Exchanges in advance of the March 31 deadline on Monday. Millions more Americans have gained access to health care through expanded Medicaid. BREAKING: Obamacare Enrollment Tops 6 Million:

Image: Supreme Court Upholds Obama's Affordable Care ActOn Thursday, President Obama announced on a call with volunteers that the number of Americans who have enrolled in health insurance plans under Obamacare has hit six million.

With several days left to go before open enrollment ends on March 31, the administration has met its target. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that Obamacare enrollment would hit six million by the end of its enrollment period. Although the CBO initially projected a seven million enrollment figure, that number was revised down after technological issues plagued the insurance marketplaces’ websites this past fall.

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