Featured Stories
A No New Taxes pledge for all of us
February 2, 2009
by David Safier You can take your own No New Taxes Pledge, courtesy of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. It's "an Arizona taxpayer petition to balance the state budget by cutting spending and opposing tax increases." Because supporters Kyl, Flake, Shadegg and Steve Forbes can't be wrong.
Vic Williams: If you want quality education, cut the budget
February 2, 2009
by David Safier It's one thing for a Republican to say we had no choice but to make deep cuts in Arizona's education budget. It's a lie, but at least the message is that cutting money for education is not a good thing. It's another thing entirely for Vic Willams, newly elected Republican rep from
Where is Brewer on the stimulus?
February 2, 2009
By David Safier I see a whole lot of Republican Governors are breaking with their Reps in D.C. and saying they want that stimulus money. Vermont's Gov, Jim Douglas, seems to think that ideology talks, but pragmatism walks. "As the executive of a state experiencing budget challenges, Gov. Douglas has a different perspective on the situation
Excitement in the Superbowl I didn’t expect
February 1, 2009
by David Safier By chance, did any of you who watched the Superbowl have something unexpected come onto your television screen around the time Arizona scored its last touchdown? I'm not going to be more specific than this. If I were, I'm afraid some of you would accuse me of making stuff up, or hallucinating.
Our forward-looking Republicans
January 31, 2009
by David Safier Among the budget casualties is the 21st Century Fund that provides grants to get bioscience and technology ventures up and running. It's Napolitano's baby. Need I say more about the reason it was cut? In the passage below, don't miss the reason the neanderthals give for wiping out the fund. These folks
Look, we’re not torturing anyone
January 31, 2009
by David Safier I was struck by a quote from Jon Kavanagh, one of the original architects of the state budget, in today's Citizen: "There are painful cuts but none are lethal, so it appears." My favorite part of the quote is "so it appears." Reminds me of one of the many definitions from the
The GOP’s only answer to every question: “tax cuts!”
January 31, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: A big h/t to Chris Brown over at politicalbase.com for his excellent post The Republican Party Wants More "Tax Cuts"; So What Else Is New? Chris makes the point that the GOP's only answer to every question is "tax cuts!" (for the wealthy and corporations). Chris takes a look at how well this
House and Senate pass budget bill
January 31, 2009
by David Safier The Arizona Guardian reports that the House and Senate passed the Republican budget bill and sent it to Brewer early Saturday morning. Republicans wrangled over some items on the budget but, so far as I can tell, left the education cuts intact. Sen. Jack Harper pushed to have 25% of the K-12 cuts




