COVID-19 & Healthcare

Arizona’s abortion wars continue in court

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Last week, U.S. District Court Judge David Bury refused to enjoin Arizona’s new restrictions on medication induced abortions set to take effect on April 1, while he decides the legal issues before him.

6a00d8341bf80c53ef01910386dd8c970c-320wiJudge Bury wrote that Arizona’s rules will not unduly burden a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion, since the alternative of surgical abortions remains available. The fact that some women may have to travel hundreds of miles to clinics, twice, under the restrictions, and that the process will cost more, he wrote, “do not qualify as irreparable harm.” Uh-huh.

Planned Parenthood of Arizona appealed the denial of an injunction to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which immediately granted the request for a temporary injunction to block the new state regulations from going into effect. 9th Circuit Temporarily Grants Block of New AZ Abortion Rules. Arizona Attorney General Tom “banned for life by the SEC” Horne moved the appellate court to set aside its temporary injunction and allow the new state regulations to go into effect. Horne asks court to lift a stay on enforcing new abortion restrictions.

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We have a budget . . . the way forward

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By now you have heard that the Arizona legislature worked out a “compromise” budget on Monday night — a compromise between the right-wing and the far-right-wing of the GOP, to the exclusion of the Democratic minority (and the one-third of Arizona voters who are Democrats, and a good-size chunk of the one-third of Arizona voters who are No Party Preference). The budget compromise reportedly had the support of lame-duck Governor Jan Brewer who worked with House GOP leaders.

The budget passed in the Senate on a vote of 18-11-1. In the House, the budget passed on a vote of 36-19-5. Only one Democrat voted in favor, Senator Leah Landrum-Tylor (LD 27), in exchange for a line item appropriation of $125,000 for the Arizona Commission on African-American Affairs.

The budget has been sent to the Governor and awaits her signature.

The Arizona Republic editorializes today, Incomplete budget shorts Arizona’s vital needs:

[I]t still isn’t good enough.

It is the product of straining over relatively small funding disagreements rather than boldly discussing big holes in the vital state responsibilities of education and infrastructure. It is incomplete, offering only a promise to look at the needs of children later.

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A closer look at the ‘Kochtopus’ front group, The LIBRE Initiative

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You have probably seen on your tee-vee machine in recent days political attack ads from the “Kochtopus” front group, The Libre Initiative. Oh, I’m sorry, that would be a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization “issue” ads. Excuuuse me.

The Arizona Daily Star provided a sketchy report, CD1/CD2 Watch: New ad target Barber, Kirkpatrick over their support for Obamacare:

A new round of ads attacking Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick and Ron Barber over their support for the Affordable Healthcare Act are expected to air later this week.

Daniel Garza, the executive director for The LIBRE Initiative, said his group is expected to spend $700,000 on the series of issue ads focusing on the economic toll Obamacare will have on Hispanic community.

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The Arlington, VA-based nonprofit has previously spent $1.2 million on ads in the 12 months focusing on immigration issues in 10 states.

Garza said his group is focused on various economic issues facing the U.S. Hispanic community. The 501(c)(4) nonprofit was founded in 2011.

When asked on Wednesday, Garza declined to discuss how his group is funded.

The Libre Initiative Trust has received roughly $3.8 million in the last campaign cycle from TC4 and Freedom Partners,  both affiliated with the Koch brothers, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

[Most of the funds originated with two groups, the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce and TC4 Trust, both of which routed some of the money through Sean Noble’s Phoenix-based nonprofit group called the Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR) in 2012. The players in the Koch-backed political donor network.]

The Star does not report the odd connection between former George W. Bush staffers and “Kochtopus” front groups like The Libre Initiative.

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“Pro-life” site calls upon readers to harass and intimidate a Yuma bar and grill

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I often joke that I read LifeSiteNews.com so you don’t have to but I think a lot more people should read the site so they could see how anti-choicers talk among themselves. It only takes a few articles of their daily digest to make it abundantly clear that anti-choicers can scarcely conceal their bitter disappointment that they can’t stone women to death for fornication.

In today’s edition comes this:

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Obama takes a victory lap

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ObamaOn Tuesday, President Obama took a victory lap in the Rose Garden when the Affordable Care Act aka “ObamaCare” met and exceeded the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate of 7 million sign-ups through the federal Exchange, even after the disastrous web site roll-out in October-November. Remarks by the President on the Affordable Care Act. This part stands out:

Like every major piece of legislation — from Social Security to Medicare — the law is not perfect.  We’ve had to make adjustments along the way, and the implementation — especially with the website — has had its share of problems.  We know something about that.  And, yes, at times this reform has been contentious and confusing, and obviously it’s had its share of critics.  That’s part of what change looks like in a democracy.  Change is hard.  Fixing what’s broken is hard.  Overcoming skepticism and fear of something new is hard.  A lot of times folks would prefer the devil they know to the devil they don’t.

But this law is doing what it’s supposed to do.  It’s working.  It’s helping people from coast to coast, all of which makes the lengths to which critics have gone to scare people or undermine the law, or try to repeal the law without offering any plausible alternative so hard to understand.  I’ve got to admit, I don’t get it.  Why are folks working so hard for people not to have health insurance?  Why are they so mad about the idea of folks having health insurance?  Many of the tall tales that have been told about this law have been debunked.  There are still no death panels.  (Laughter.)  Armageddon has not arrived.  Instead, this law is helping millions of Americans, and in the coming years it will help millions more.

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