Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
“No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.” – Mark Twain
The GOP Insane Clown Posse is arriving in their clown car today at the "meth lab of democracy," the Arizona Legislature, for the first day of the legislative session. Hide the women and children! They are routinely abused, when they are not being ignored by these clowns.
Case in point is the CPS scandal, which has existed for years, and the legislature has been fully aware of the problem. The legislature will do what it did a decade or so ago during the last CPS scandal: some politician will use the Kangaroo Court hearings to advance his or her political career by grandstanding on the issue, as former Sen. Jonathan Paton did, but don't expect the Arizona legislature to accept any fault for its own lack of concern, oversight and inadequate funding of CPS over the years. They are looking for a scapegoat, not actual solutions to resolve the problems.
The Arizona Supreme Court last year ordered the legislature to restore the voter-approved mandate for education funding at inflation-adjusted spending levels before the budget cuts of recent years, but our lawless legislature is still fighting this in court, and will likely defy the court in appropriating education funding this year.
Worse, Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) is once again attacking the voter-approved mandate First Things First. He wants voters to approve taking 25 percent (approximately $33 million) of the funding from First Things First and shifting it to Child Protective Services for the aforementioned crisis, rather than raising taxes or fees elsewhere to pay for it. This is the "robbing Peter to pay Paul" tax policies that result from the GOP First Commandment, "Thou shalt not raise taxes."
Rep. Kavanagh, who last year gave us the paranoid "show me your papers to pee" bill (which may return), this year is concerned with "aggressive panhandling." I am guessing this does not include the hundreds of emails I receive from candidates begging me for money, which I find far more prevalent and intrusive. The panhandler only works a street corner — political beggers invite themselves into the privacy of my home.
Rep. Kavanagh also has a bill to designate a person a “vexatious litigant’’ and make it difficult for them to file lawsuits if they initiated at least five unmerited litigations, other than in small claims court, over a period of seven years. I'm curious — does this apply to the Arizona Legislature and the Goldwater Institute, which routinely file "vexatious" litigation only to have the court declare that the legislature's actions were unconstitutional and unlawful? Because they clearly qualify as a "vexatious litigant" given the number of lawsuits they have lost over the years (again today). These ideological extremists have been racking up millions of dollars in attorneys fees and court costs at taxpayer expense in pursuit of their ideological agenda. Shouldn't this be stopped?
Rep. Paul Boyer (R-Phoenix) is pushing a FAUX News conspiracy theory bill to require Affordable Care Act "navigators" to register with the state, to have a high school diploma or GED, and submit fingerprints and pass a background check. This is purely harassment of federal employees out of ideological spite for "ObamaCare" that several Red States have already enacted. If this dilhole is truly "concerned about identity theft, and the potential for fraud,” maybe he should start with the routine disclosures for years now by banks and retailers — most recently Target — being hacked and subjecting their customers to identity theft. Oh that's right, private enterprise can do no wrong. It's only the big bad "guvmint" and Obama derangement syndrome.
Rep. Adam Kwasman (R-Oro Valley), who thinks so highly of himself that he is running for Congress, is working on a bill that would allow those individuals who do not have health insurance coverage under "ObamaCare" and who owe a penalty to deduct that penalty on their state income tax. In short, Kwasman is encouraging Arizonans to break federal law and to have Arizona subsidize their lawbreaking. I use the term "our lawless legislature" liberally — this takes it to the next level. Kwasman is just another Neo-Confederate insurrectionist anti-government extremist.
Which brings me to Sen. Kelli Ward (R-Lake Havasu City), who is back with her Neo-Confederate insurrectionist anti-government bill to prevent federal gun laws from being enforced in Arizona. Sen. Ward is carrying model legislation promoted by the the Tenth Amendment Center and gun-rights advocates, the same model legislation promoted in states like Missouri. Lawmakers plot new strategy for defying gun laws:
Missouri’s latest proposal, introduced last week, would attempt to nullify certain federal gun-control regulations from being enforced in the state and subject law enforcement officers to criminal and civil penalties for carrying out such policies.
(This is the bill Sen. Ward introduced last year. She now says she is removing subjecting law enforcement officers to criminal and civil penalties. Apparently the wingnuts in Missuori did not get her memo.)
Missouri's conservative lawmakers are trying a new tack this year: banding together with other like-minded states to defy certain federal laws at the same time.
Why does this sound so familiar? Oh yeah, the "interposition, nullification and secession" movement of the Confederate States of America that led to the American Civil War. These Neo-Confederate insurrectionist dead-enders have never given up their dream of overthrowing the federal government, and the Constitution they all pretend to support. Courts have consistently ruled that states cannot nullify federal laws, but that hasn’t stopped these crazies from trying.
'Tenther' Sen. Kelli Ward also wants to 'nullify' the NSA: Ward said the 4th Amendment Protection Act, model legislation pushed by the Tenth Amendment Center, isn’t meant to punish local governments and state agencies, but is more of a disincentive to the NSA if it wants to conduct surveillance in Arizona. Why don't you just file a bill for secession, doctor?
Sen. Judy Burges (R-Sun City West), aka the Birther Queen, is now chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, and we all know what that means: she must stop the "one world order" of the U.N. "Agenda 21" in Arizona! Arizona Bill Would Ban UN Agenda 21 Within State. The barriers are probably going up on highways along the Mexican border as I write this.
This very brief preview only scratches the surface of the caziness the GOP Insane Clown Posse will be inflicting upon the citizens of Arizona in the months ahead. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report should be setting up shop in Phoenix this week.
We can only pray for "sine die."
It is much worse than Mark Twain stated. So many buffoons, so little time to make trouble. CPS, education, jobs, street and highway maintenance, all low priorities. The real priorities? As usual, call ALEC and their lapdog, Goldwater, and the Taliban Herrod for the real ones. More giveaways to corporate interests, more interference in personal reproductive choice, more giveaways to private and for profit schools. See, this is so simple, really.