Blog For Arizona

Memorial Day Message

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Memorial Day message that President Obama delivered over the weekend in his weekly address. Video below the fold.

Tea-Publicans discover their inner Keynesian

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Steve Benen has an informative post on economics, Keynesians to the left of me, Keynesians to the right of me:

The gist of Keynesian economics is fairly straightforward: during an economic downturn, caused by insufficient demand, it's up to the public sector to inject capital into the system while consumers and businesses pull back. It's what FDR used to rescue the country from the Great Depression and it's what President Obama used to rescue us from the Great Recession.

Republicans, at least the contemporary version of them, loathe Keynesian economics. As the GOP sees it, supply and demand aren't as important as shrinking government during a downturn. When consumers and businesses pull back, Republicans argue, the economy will improve if government does the same -- taking capital out of the struggling system -- and focuses more on debt reduction and less on growth.

It's why, in 2009, at the height of the global crisis, congressional Republicans not only vehemently fought against a Keynesian stimulus, they also strongly recommended a five-year federal spending freeze (a proposal even David Brooks characterized as "insane").

In 2012, however, Republicans have suddenly discovered the inner Keynesians within:

Sen. Harry Reid's refusal to "back off" looming cuts to the Pentagon won't just harm the nation's security, Republicans say. It could plunge the fragile U.S. economy back into a recession next year. [...]

"Puzzling" was how Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) described Reid's remarks. With CBO's warning, Congress should be looking at every possible option to renew the Bush tax cuts and avoid the automatic, across-the-board cuts to defense and domestic spending.

"The whole point here is to try to get some economic growth, job creation, to get out of this recession," Kyl told POLITICO. "Why would we risk going backward with policy that even CBO says would be the wrong prescription right now?"

Sometimes, I can't help but feel like I'm stuck in a Lewis Carroll novel.

'The vision thing' returns

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It was reported that President George H.W. Bush's response to the suggestion that he turn his attention away from short-term campaign objectives and focus on the larger picture was "oh, the vision thing." The phrase "the vision thing" has come to personify any politician's failure to incorporate a greater vision in a campaign, and has often been applied by the media to politicians or public figures.

Enter POLITICO today, Mitt Romney not Into ‘vision thing’:

Mitt Romney has made it clear what he’s against.

What he’d be for as president is another question.

The presumptive GOP nominee has some Republicans worried he lacks the “vision thing” that has hurt previous presidential candidates and haunted George H.W. Bush in his quest to succeed Ronald Reagan.

Some GOP officials fear that their nominee for president has so far failed to articulate a clear and compelling plan for the country if he defeats President Barack Obama in November. Instead of framing his ideas in a positive and specific way — like some of his GOP primary challengers — they say Romney must stop solely running a defensive campaign that leaves voters without a clear idea of where he stands.

Ah, but there is also another favorite media meme at play here. Whenever a Democrat disagrees with the party leadership the media villagers instinctively trot out "Democrats are in disarray." Well, the shoe's on the other foot in this POLITICO story. "Republicans are in disarray," in particular, the far-right radical extremists who are still not sold on Willard "Mittens" Romney.

“I don’t know what he’ll do on anything,” Club for Growth President Chris "Count" Chocola told POLITICO. “And that’s, that’s the concern that people have always had is, you don’t truly understand what Mitt Romney is going to do.”

* * *

“At the end of the day, you can’t just be all, you know, anti-Obama,” said former Ohio Secretary of State [and senior fellow at the Family Research Council] Ken Blackwell, whose state is key to Romney’s chances. “It has to be, I think, two parts that and one part here’s the antidote, here’s the vision, here’s the path that I would like to lead America down.”

And GOP strategist Mark McKinnon — who advised former two-term Republican president George W. Bush — said it’s time for Romney to outline his agenda.

“It’s important to establish the problem when you are a challenger because you are asking voters to fire the incumbent. So, Romney has to file his grievances,” McKinnon said. “But at some point he has to show that he has a vision of a better way. He can’t just say ‘The future is bleak, follow me.’ Because no one will.”

Wisconsin Update: The Total Recall/Walkergate Debate (with video)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Associated Press reports on Friday night's Total Recall/Walkergate debate in Wisconsin. Tom Barrett, Scott Walker clash in first Wisconsin governor debate:

Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, down in the polls to Gov. Scott Walker, aggressively went after Walker in a debate Friday and accused him of purposefully dividing the state and triggering the June 5 recall election.

Barrett kept Walker on the defensive throughout much of the hour-long debate in Milwaukee, which was broadcast live statewide just 11 days before the election. Walker is only the nation’s third governor to ever stand for recall. The previous two, most recently California Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, were defeated.

* * *

[Walker] was targeted for recall after successfully passing a law last year that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers.

Barrett said that proposal, which sparked massive protests for weeks and made Wisconsin the center of a national debate over collective bargaining powers, tore the state apart.

* * *

“You decided to use a budget crisis to try and divide and conquer this state,” Barrett said, speaking directly to Walker as the two stood near each other behind podiums in a television studio. “That’s what happened. That’s what led to all of this. And you succeeded. You succeeded in dividing this state.”

* * *

Barrett said Walker was determined to wage an “ideological civil war” and punish his enemies, most notably unions that have traditionally backed Democratic candidates.

“I will end this civil war,” Barrett said. “That is something the people of this state want.”

Romney Leading in AZ: Just Don't Run With an Arizonan on the Ticket

by Michael Bryan

The latest polling from Public Policy Polling (PDF link) indicates that Romney is leading in Arizona by 7 points (50%-43%), which is within the margin of error (+/-4.4%), but likely represents a small true advantage.

I don't find that terribly surprising, given the GOP registration advantage and the strong Mormon population and activation in Arizona. Arizona will be closer than 2008, and Obama may actually win Arizona this year, but it will be a damn close thing.

What I did find VERY surprising, were the polling results when a potential Vice Presidential candidate was added to the mix. The scamps at PPP added some of the top political figures from Arizona as potential running mates for Romney: Governor Brewer, Senator John McCain, and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Adding Janet to the ticket actually HARMS Romney! He loses 2% when she's the VP - in Arizona! No favorite daughter effect for our Governor!

Senator McCain doesn't fair any better. Given the cratering of his popularity in his own party, that he doesn't make it MUCH worse for Romney is actually what is surprising. I guess you can just chalk it up to the fact that many GOP voters are already holding their noses to vote for Romney, so they can't really smell the VP.

Then there is America's "Toughest Sheriff" Arpaio. At a poorly preserved 70-something, Joe is even less likely a VP than the mouldering McCain, but PPP tried him out, none-the-less. The results were almost to hand the race to Obama.

Now, all of these results are also within the margin of error, so they are all statistically the same, but what is clear, is that adding any of these top GOP local leaders to the Romney ticket does not improve Romney's performance - just the opposite, in fact.

Arizona really LOVES it favorite sons and daughters... NOT!

 

Much more on the Arizona Imagine School firings

by David Safier

Based on the comments and emails I've received from students and [former] teachers from Imagine Prep at Superstition in Apache Junction, there's lots more to the story about two-thirds of the school's teachers being fired. The Republic covered the story and I posted about it Friday.

I received an email with a few pictures from the student protest. A commenter on the earlier post, apparently a student, posted a long comment which I'm reproducing here in full.

According to the person who sent the photos, this shows students who walked out of the school when they learned about teachers being fired. The police are there, according to the source, because the administration called them, and the police threatened the students with arrest.

This photo shows school uniforms the students ripped up and hung on the fence outside of the school to protest the firings.

Below is a comment on my last post from a student. I've included the entire comment, though you'll have to continue below the fold to read the whole thing. There are a few misspellings and minor errors which I haven't corrected -- certainly no more than in the average comment. I thank the student for taking the time and effort to explain what happened. It's a clear, well written, valuable timeline of the events. Others should feel free to comment on it, add to it, or correct anything they believe is an incorrect statement. You may either comment on this post or send me an email: safier@schooltales.net. I keep all correspondence confidential.

Okay, so just to clear things up, this is why/what happened at Imagine Prep Friday morning. Its kind of long, but please read!

The events that occurred were because of an on going struggle between student/teacher and administration/regional receiving and distributing respect. (Regional, for those that do not know, is like the head of the district)

Over this past year, many issues have been handled in shocking ways. It seemed that the only form of punishment was suspension and being aloud to speak on your behalf was out of the question. The lack of respect given to the students was extremely low, and each day the bar was dropping. Many students turned to their teachers to seek comfort or to just simply vent. But once we found out that over half of our teachers were not asked to come back next year, because of their "lack" of commitment for the students, we as a student body knew we must do something.

 

Arizona Daily Star endorses Ron Barber for Congress

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Daily Star has gone out of its way to provide its readers with some of the worst political reporting I have seen in my lifetime. Just check out today's Political Notebook, the political gossip column that I have been praying for a merciful death to since the talentless hack Daniel Scarpinato was writing the column. Stenographic reporting and no fact checking is not reporting.

Despite its failings, the Star occasionally gets something right. Today's editorial endorsement of Ron Barber for Congress is one of those occasions. This is a Sunday print-edition only editorial column (it will be posted online Monday). UPDATE Barber for CD8: centrist, mature leadership on complex issues. Snippets:

Barber for CD8: centrist, mature leadership on complex issues

OUR VIEW: Depth of knowledge, willingness to seek bipartisan answers are vital to district

 * * *

On June 12 the voters will decide who is best to complete the congresswoman's term. Also at stake is whether centrist advocacy for Southern Arizona will continue through January 2013.

Ron Barber was at Gifford's side as her district director. He should continue to serve CD8 as its congressman.

On January 8, 2011, Barber was shot twice and nearly died during the assassination attempt on Giffords. While his life irrevocably changed that day, Barber has met the challenge with grace, clarity of purpose and maturity. And the district staff continues to provide constituent assistance without interruption.

Barber has spent his life in public service. When the lasting effects of his injuries were still unknown, he focused personal and public attention on coping with our community's great loss and how to move forward together.

With his family he created a foundation that funds anti-bullying programs in schools, raises money to help fellow Jan. 8 victims, and advocates for better mental health services.

Barber said Giffords asked him to run in this special election, but he is no placeholder. He is the strongest, most knowledgeable candidate about the needs of the district. He possesses hands-on experience, intellectual complexity and wisdom that his competitors -- Republican jesse kelly and Green Party candidate Charlie Manolakis -- have failed to demonstrate.

His maturity speaks volumes about his potential as our next congressman.

* * *

Congress is not an all-or-nothing place and effectiveness requires balance. A mature candidate understands that value.

* * *

Barber does not have a flashy personality and, to be blunt, isn't a dynamic politician. He's learned a great deal campaigning.  And his performance at the debate indicates his inclusive leadership style is now powered by even more determination.

The foundation Barber has built over his decades in Southern Arizona, combined with his experience, empathy, depth of character and integrity are excellent qualifications.

Democrat Ron Barber is best for Southern Arizona. He is our choice to represent Congressional District 8.

Political Calendar: Week of May 27, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Political Calendar is posted on Sundays. Please send us notice of your political events prior to the Sunday before your event (7 days would be most helpful). See the calendar icon in the right-hand column of the blog page for easy access to the calendar.

SPECIAL ELECTION DEADLINES

• Early ballots were mailed May 17 , 2012.
• Early voting period from May 17 to June 8, 2012.
• Candidate nomination petitions for the CD 2 congressional election are due Wednesday, May 30, 2012 by 5:00 p.m. (prior to the Special Election)
• Normal statutory rules for legal challenges to candidate nomination petitions apply to general election.
• 'Special' Election Day is Tuesday, June 12, 2012.

Those of you interested in election as precinct committee persons also need to submit your candidate petitions by May 30.

We Are Listening in 2012! Campaigns are encouraged to submit notices of campaign events to BlogForArizona at BlogForArizona@gmail.com.

Campaigns are also encouraged to purchase Advertising on BlogForArizona. BlogForArizona does ads through BlogAds.com. This page will walk you through creating ads on our blog.

Political Calendar For The Week of May 27, 2012

Monday, May 28: Memorial Day (observed).

Monday, May 28, Noon: Democrats of Greater Tucson luncheon, Dragon's View Restaurant (400 N. Bonita, South of St. Mary's Road between the Freeway and Grande Avenue, turn South at Furr's Cafeteria), buffet lunch costs $8.50. No DGT this week in observance of Memorial Day. Visit DGT's web site at www.tucsondemocrats.org. Next Week: Elaine Richardson, candidate for Pima County Treasurer, and Brandon Patrick, candidate for the House in the New LD 10.

Cartoon of The Week

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

PAC+ ad - What Romney Thinks Of Us

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A pro-Latino super PAC, called PAC+, has a new television ad in Arizona, criticizing Mitt Romney on immigration policy.

UPDATE: Daily Kos reports PAC Plus coalition organizes voters, targets Mitt Romney in Spanish and English:

Starting in Arizona, where TV ads will run in Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma in Spanish and English linking Mitt Romney to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, a new PAC Plus (PAC+) coalition of people of color and progressive whites is gearing up to target six key states: Arizona, California, Georgia, Ohio, New Mexico and Texas.

Video below the fold.

William Gheen of ALIPAC responds to Forrest Carr at KGUN

by David Safier

Jesse Kelly may not be talking about his application for endorsement by ALIPAC in 2010 and the group's re-endorsement this time around (you can watch 37 seconds of Jesse stonewalling the question in the next post), but ALIPAC sure is eager to talk. William Gheen, the group's President and Spokesman, has responded to KGUN a few times. The most recent (I think) is An Open Letter To the Liars Like Forrest Carr at KGUN 9.

To recap: During an interview with Kelly, KGUN reporter Marcelino Benito asked him a question sent in by a viewer. Benito was cut short before she finished the question: "Recently you accepted the endorsement of the Americans for Legal Immigration group. Senator John McCain and the Anti-Defamation League have denounced --"

Gheen's open letter is long and repetitive. You can read his whole rambling defense of ALIPAC if you have the patience. I'm pulling out a few choice passages so you get a sense of what Gheen is willing to say while he's defending the group [Note: I put some of the text in boldface for emphasis]:

It was awful when the ADL [Anti-Defamation League] lied about the character of our organization claiming that a few anonymous postings on open source racist websites constituted "ties" to our organization. It sucked when that amnesty supporting traitor against the American people, Senator John McCain, dispatched his campaign worker to carry their attack forward.

[snip]

By attacking multiracial groups that are fighting hard to save American jobs [Gheen states repeatedly that ALIPAC is multiracial], property, taxpayer resources, and very lives from being lost to millions of illegal immigrant invaders, you are a supporter of that invasion Mr. Carr which means there is blood on your hands due to your lies and efforts.

[snip]

What do you have to say to the families of all of the Arizonans that will be killed by illegal aliens this year because liberals like you attack the blacks, whites, and Hispanics working together to prevent those deaths through Americans for Legal Immigration PAC as being backed by phantom neo nazis? What do have to say to them Mr. Carr because very soon they will learn of your role supporting policies contributing to those deaths? It's just a question Mr. Carr, one of our viewers would like to know.

[snip]

If KGUN 9 wants to ask candidates about tenuous or nonexistent "ties" to neo nazis that were tied to the murder of six million Jews during the holocaust, then what about your more direct and clearly documented role in the American Holocaust where thousands of Americans are being slaughtered by illegal aliens each year due to the illegal immigration invasion you support with lies and ability to broadcast via KGUN 9?

I really should leave the post with the quotes above, but I simply can't leave out this italicized note at the end of the letter:

Last edited by HAPPY2BME; 05-26-2012 at 03:57 PM.

Because you can't see it too often

by David Safier

Here, for the second time on BfA, is the best 37 seconds in local news: Jesse Kelly on KGUN stonewalling the question about his application for an endorsement from ALIPAC in 2010 and the group's re-endorsement of his current run.

My favorite part is the smug look on Jesse's face. "I'm not ducking the question. Oh no, I'm cleverly showing up the lamestream media." No Jesse, you're ducking the question, which every reporter should continue to ask whenever she/he gets within shouting distance.

 

Our Faulty Fascination with Partial Solutions

By Karl Reiner

The bill introduced in the Arizona legislature to establish a 62 mile deep warning zone along the Arizona- Mexico border was eventually withdrawn by its sponsor.  The objective of the bill was to alert residents and visitors to the dangers posed by illegal immigrants and drug traffickers in the zone, an area so large that it included Tucson.  There were a number of problems with how the warning information could be distributed. The groups that viewed the measure as another unnecessary blow to an already testy Arizona-Mexico relationship also worked hard to get the bill pulled.

The arguments surrounding SB1070, the bill that made Arizona famous, have now been heard by the United States Supreme Court.  A ruling is expected later this summer that could help clarify federal and local enforcement responsibilities.  It could also make the situation murkier, complicating things even more for local police.    

Down the Mexican coast on the Sea of Cortez, the port of Guaymas is undergoing a major expansion.  Although located in Mexico, it should be considered by Arizona’s leaders as the state’s seaport.  The good railroad connections and access to Interstate 10 give it excellent transportation links. The expansion of the U.S. Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, which will be completed by 2014, will also help speed up the flow of trade goods.

Unfortunately, the benefits of international trade are not appreciated by many in Arizona. Some in the state legislature are adamantly against linking the markets of Canada and Mexico by road through Arizona.  They casually ignore the fact that increased trade flows would help boost the number of jobs in the state.

As an adjoining country, the U.S. has a long-term strategic interest in Mexico. Neither culture nor geography can explain the gap in living standards between Mexican and American cities along the border.  It is an indication of something being out of kilter, a sign that the Mexican government has often gotten it wrong, tolerating corruption, discouraging investment, innovation, education and stifling economic development.

Mexico’s school system which serves 35 million students, trails in academic performance. It is a sad example of how not to prepare young people for the 21st century. Mexico’s students ranked last in math, reading and science tests conducted in 34 countries by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.  

Security, illegal immigration, drug trafficking and weapons smuggling are important border policy considerations.  At the same time, the U.S. should also be encouraging the fixing of institutional weaknesses that impede economic progress.  Along with the other factors, the U.S. must push a policy that sows the seeds of economic growth in Mexico.  

Although transfers are 12% lower than before the pre-crash peak, Mexico received over $22 billion in remittances from the U.S. in 2011. It is the country’s third-largest source of foreign income. Our national and state leaders need to remember that remittances are a valuable development tool. Their significance to developing countries is enormous.  Remittances often have a greater impact than government aid because they don’t get entangled with corrupt local officials.  

The public considers illegal migration to be a major problem in Arizona.  Of the 10 states with the largest number of illegal immigrants, Arizona ranks 9th. California ranks first, followed by Texas, Florida and Illinois.  The number of illegal migrants living in Arizona has dropped by 200,000, from a high of 560,000 to 360,000.  The plunge in construction and tourism jobs triggered by the recession was a factor in causing many to leave.

Improved security has made the border harder to cross and the state has become a less attractive destination for those seeking economic betterment. As the recovery creeps forward, we need to get beyond the policing/enforcement mindset that rules our political thinking.  We need to make economic development in Mexico an equally important component of our national policy.  An improving economy in Mexico will reduce illegal immigration and benefit Arizona’s businesses and workers. Being a border state could turn out to be a real asset instead of a problematical liability.

Stand up against Citizens United - corporations are not people!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Two local events are coming up in opposition to Citizens United v. FEC.

First, the "Move to Amend Barnstorming Tour" is coming to Tucson on Tuesday, June 12, at 7:00 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 4831 E. 22nd Street (at Swan Road). JUNE 1-17: Move to Amend Barnstorming Tour in Texas and Arizona.

TUCSON, AZ: Move to Amend Barnstorming tour with David Cobb | Move to Amend:

David Cobb, a fiery speaker, and former Green Party presidential candidate, is touring the country giving his talk "Creating Democracy & Challenging Corporate Rule." He tells the story of the American creation myth and the Constitution as it pertains to Corporate Personhood and illegitimate but legal corporate constitutional rights, followed by about an hour of facilitated discussion / Q and A.

Cobb is an organizer and national spokesman for MoveToAmend.org, a coalition of over 198,000 people and organizations whose goal is to amend the United States Constitution to end corporate rule and legalize democracy.

This event is free and open to the general public, donations requested, no one turned away for lack of funds.

• RSVP on Facebook

• Sign up to carpool

Contact:  Margo Newhouse at margonewhouse25@hotmail.com or (520) 784-1198

Second, I received an e-mail telling me that the Tucson City Council will be taking up a resolution to overturn Citizens United also on Tuesday, June 12, at 5:30 p.m., at the Tucson City Hall, 255 W. Alameda Street  (The meeting room is located on the west side of City Hall). The June 12 Agenda is not yet posted online so I cannot yet confirm.

The City of Flagstaff passed the resolution earlier this month. Flagstaff Is the First Arizona City to Pass the “Get Money Out of Politics” Resolution:

On Tuesday, May 1, 2012, the City Council of Flagstaff, Arizona passed a resolution condemning the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United vs the Federal Election Commission and called for a 28^th amendment to the U.S. Constitution to overturn the decision and allow states to regulate campaign contributions. The  resolution states in clear terms that contrary to the Supreme Court’s ruling, corporations are not “persons” protected by the constitution and do not have “political speech rights” under the first amendment.  Flagstaff is the first city in Arizona to weigh in on this issue.

Tuesday, June 12 is also Election  Day in the CD 8 Special Election, where we have seen the corrupting influence of corporate PACs, including from the infamous Citizens United responsible for this travesty.

First, demonize teachers, then what? Expect to raise teacher quality?

by David Safier

Generally during economic downturns, more men turn to teaching as a profession. You might not make lots of money, but it beats unemployment or asking, "Do you want fries with that burger?" Not this time, though. As bad as the employment situation is for college educated men, they're not turning to teaching.

Teachers have become the scapegoats for everything that's wrong with our kids and our competitiveness in the world economy. It has gone from a noble profession with job security and low wages to a maligned profession with low wages and, courtesy of the assaults on teacher tenure, very little job security.

Did I mention, instead of teaching to the students, you're expected to teach to the test?

I don't want to get sexist here and just talk about men not entering the teaching profession. I have no stats, but I'm willing to bet most of the best and brightest women coming out of college aren't thinking about teaching as a career choice either, even given the weak job market.

The irony is, while we talk about how important "great teachers" are, how we want to weed out the bad teachers, we're discouraging the most promising candidates from even considering teaching as a profession.

FAUX News makes you stupid

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I blame all of 24/7 cable TV for this, really. I had to wait for a repairman to show up the other day and had the opportunity (misfortune) to channel surf through some daytime TV programming, something I never do. Oh my God! I could literally feel brain cells being destroyed. Turn it off, turn it off!

Let's say you decided to make a little fort out of your couch cushions, crawl inside, and just stay there. No television, no newspapers, no contact with the outside world whatsoever.

You'd still know more about the world than if you watched FAUX News Fraudcasting.

So writes Hunter at Daily Kos. Another study says watching Fox News makes you dumber:

I've lost count of how many of these studies have been done at this point, but I guess it's time to add another one to the pile. Watching Fox News makes you less informed about events than not watching any news at all.

According to a new study by Farleigh Dickinson University, Fox viewers are the least knowledgeable audience of any outlet, and they know even less about politics and current events than people who watch no news at all.

Respondents to the survey were able to answer correctly an average of 1.8 of 4 questions about international news and 1.6 out of 5 questions about domestic affairs. “Based on these results, people who don’t watch any news at all are expected to answer correctly on average 1.22 of the questions about domestic politics, just by guessing or relying on existing basic knowledge,” said Dan Cassino, the poll’s analyst.

“The study concludes that media sources have a significant impact on the number of questions that people were able to answer correctly,” wrote Cassino and his colleagues. “The largest effect is that of Fox News: all else being equal, someone who watched only Fox News would be expected to answer just 1.04 domestic questions correctly—a figure which is significantly worse than if they had reported watching no media at all. On the other hand, if they listened only to NPR, they would be expected to answer 1.51 questions correctly.”

Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes have created a fact-free alternate reality conservative media news bubble in which the willfully ignorant and dangerously misinformed live. It is how the conservative media noise machine and the irresponsible "mainstream" media that follows the lead of "manufactured outrage of the day" in the conservative media are destroying our democracy, which relies on the "informed" consent of the governed. I hope there is a special place in hell for the media.

Drinking Liberally LD9 House Democrats Debate, Wednesday, May 30th at 6pm

By Michael Bryan

This Wednesday night, 5/30, Drinking Liberally will host a debate between the three Democratic candidates for the Arizona House of Representatives for LD9: Dustin Cox, Mohur Sidhwa, and Victoria Steele.

Drinking Liberally starts at 6pm (at The Shanty on 4th Avenue); the debate will start promptly at 6:30. The debate will be moderated by me.

You can submit suggested questions in comments.

The debate will be audio recorded and made available here on the blog.

So come on down, meet your LD9 candidates, hear them think on their feet, and ask any question you want answered... oh, and have a drink :)

This debate is the first in a planned series of State Legislative debates. 

One of Arizona's Imagine Schools fires two-thirds of its teachers

by David Safier

Imagine Schools' problems have finally surfaced and gotten press in Arizona. According to the Republic, 10 or 11 of the 14 teachers at Imagine Prep at Superstition in Apache Junction have been let go. The reason given is that the school is going in a different direction.

Reporters Patrick Ryan and Chelsey Davis didn't get much in the way of details about that new direction or why those 10 or 11 teachers were let go. That's typical of the Imagine Schools corporate culture, playing its cards close to the vest until things go horribly wrong -- like they did in St. Louis, where the six Imagine Schools had their charters revoked by the state this year because, among other things, their students' achievement scores were awful. The schools were also woefully underfunded by the for profit Imagine corporation which sucks up almost all the state money that goes to the schools and gives back whatever amount it sees fit -- often too little to run a school effectively.

Some details: An English teacher told students during senior graduation that a number of teachers weren't returning, which the students apparently didn't know. That teacher was fired the next morning. The reason given by the spokeswoman was that the teacher "chose a very inappropriate time to make some comments." That firing upset a number of students who "walked to the regional office of the school to ask questions about the firing."

One of the teachers let go, Suna Moon, had been voted teacher of the year.

If some of the fired teachers are reading this, realize you are victims of a corporate culture where teachers and administrators are regularly fired for speaking out, even when they ask for more books and other teaching supplies. Stories similar to yours have been repeated, and documented, across the country. The New York Times wrote an excellent article in April, 2010. You can also read an infamous memo sent by CEO Dennis Bakke to school principals in 2008 which lends insight to the absolute authority he thinks the people in command should exert over local schools.

Unless you fear reprisal of some kind, you would be doing a service by speaking out in greater detail about what happened. Parents can do the same. I'm sure the reporters at the Republic would be happy to hear from you, or you can email me at safier@schooltales.net. I keep all correspondence confidential.

Fact checking the mendacity of 'Mittens'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Time once again for Steve Benen's weekly fact checking of the pathological liar, Willard "Mittens" Romney. Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XIX:

Campaigning in Iowa yesterday, President Obama reflected on some of Mitt Romney's recent speeches, including last week's remarks in Iowa. "I know Governor Romney came to Des Moines last week; warned about a 'prairie fire of debt,'" Obama said. "But he left out some facts. His speech was more like a cow pie of distortion. I don't know whose record he twisted the most -- mine or his."

It was a rhetorical point, of course, but when it comes to Romney's falsehoods, I'm not sure whose record he twists more, either. Maybe you can help me decide by taking a look at the 19th installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt's mendacity.

1. In an interview with Mark Halperin, Romney argued about President Obama, "Did he hold unemployment below 8%? It's been, what, 39 months now. That hasn't happened. He promised it would happen by virtue of his stimulus."

As Romney surely knows by now, that's simply not true.

2. In the same interview, Romney asked, "Are people happy with ... the level of foreclosures?"

Romney was trying to attack the administration, but he's on record supporting more foreclosures, making this, at a minimum, wildly misleading.

3. Romney added, in reference to the president, " Look at him right now. He just doesn't have a clue what to do to get this economy going. I do."

Actually, Obama's jobs agenda, unveiled in September, included specific policy proposals that Romney had previously endorsed. If the president "doesn't have a clue," then Romney doesn't have a clue.

4. Romney went on to say, "I actually lay out a plan to get us to a balanced budget within eight years."

That's plainly false. Romney says his plan "can't be scored," but independent budget analysts have found his agenda would make the deficit bigger, not smaller, and add trillions to the national debt.

5. Romney also argued, in the context of talking about budget savings, "I'm going to take action immediately by eliminating programs like Obamacare, which become more and more expensive down the road -- by eliminating them, we get to a balanced budget."

He's lying. In fact, this is the polar opposite of the truth -- Obamacare's savings become greater in future years, and killing the law makes it harder to balance the budget.

Continue reading Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XIX.

Previous editions of Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity: Vol. I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII,XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII

Willard 'Mittens' Romney embraces Birtherism

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this week, Willard "Mittens" Romney was asked to admonish the actions of his Arizona campaign co-chairman, Secretary of State Ken Bennett, for embarrassing the state of Arizona by delving into the fringe Birther movement.

To my knowledge, Mittens has not publicly admonished the actions of Ken Bennett. I have not seen any public statement. The failure to object is to condone and to ratify the actions of Ken Bennett.

It gets worse. Also this week, the Romney campaign is promoting a fundraising event with the race-baiting Birther King himself, Donald Trump. Mitt Romney to supporters: Dine with Donald Trump - The Washington Post:

The Romney camp is offering supporters a chance to “Dine with The Donald,” according to a new fundraising missive.

“Donate today and you are eligible for a chance to win: Airport transportation in the Trump vehicle;” a “stay at the Trump International Hotel & Tower New York;” a chance to “tour the Celebrity Apprentice Boardroom;” and an opportunity to “dine with Donald Trump and Mitt Romney,” reads the message on the Romney campaign Web site.

An image on the site tells visitors to “donate $3 and you are entered for a chance to win” — although, as the fine print notes, as with any such campaign offer, no purchase is necessary to enter or win a prize.

In addition, Trump is hosting a Romney fundraiser next Tuesday night at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who dropped out of the race last month, is also expected to attend, according to spokesman R.C. Hammond.

Republicans want airplanes with rubber band wings, and no air traffic controllers

by David Safier

Keep it simple. Get rid of regulations. That pretty much sums up what Jesse Kelly said in the debate and what he's been saying throughout the campaign. Most Republican politicians seem to agree.

Ask Kelly about Rosemont mine and he says we should dig the copper out of the ground. That's how you create jobs and make profits. Energy? Same thing. Dig up the coal and pump out the oil. Immigration? Build a double fence -- problem solved. Health care? Let people shop for it online like GEICO. More jobs? Dig up that coal and pump out that oil, and there'll be plenty of high paying jobs for everyone.

It's so simple, even a child can understand.

Government policy that's complicated is bad according to Republicans. If you can't understand it, there's something wrong with it. The tax code is too complicated, so let's make it simple. A flat tax. Everyone can understand that. Should we have a graduated flat tax where the rate goes up as your income increases? BAD! TOO COMPLICATED! THE SAME RATE FOR EVERYBODY!

And speaking of simple, let's get rid of all those complicated regulations. People and businesses should be free to make their own choices without the government telling them what to do. That's what this great country is all about.

I think we should keep plane flight nice and simple, without all those complicated jet engines. Who can understand those things? The maintenance manual alone is 5,000 pages long! Complicated is bad. Simple is good. Let's have people on the runway wind up the propellers to tighten the rubber bands inside the wings, then off we go. That I can understand.

And the government shouldn't be telling pilots how to land their planes. What happened to pilots' freedoms? Do you have any idea how much fuel is wasted just because some bureaucrat tells pilots to fly around in circles instead of letting pilots do what they do best? Get the government air traffic controllers off the pilots' backs! Let the free market decide when and where a plane lands.

The world would be so much simpler if we just let Republicans take care of things.

Wisconsin Update: The Total Recall/Walkergate Debate Friday Night

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Madison Capitol Times editorializes today on Friday night's Total Recall/Walkergate Debate. Walker versus Barrett (and John Doe):

Scott Walker and Tom Barrett have had debates before, but . . . It’s different now, as they prepare to debate Friday evening.

Walker is the most controversial governor in the nation, a right-wing firebrand whose attack on collective bargaining rights has provoked mass demonstrations, lawsuits and a recall election that has transformed the politics of Wisconsin. And Barrett is the challenger who carries the hopes of those who would defend labor rights, public education and public services in a historically progressive state.

But the issue that will likely be the most contentious of the first debate of the Wisconsin recall campaign between Walker and Barrett is a John Doe inquiry into felony wrongdoing by Scott Walker’s aides and political donors. The probe, which is led by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, has already produced felony convictions, and now top aides to Walker when he served as Milwaukee County executive face trials that will raise the question asked recently by a Milwaukee anchorman: “What did the governor know and when?”

Tonight’s debate between Walker and Barrett — which will be aired live statewide at 8 p.m. on Wisconsin Public Television — will be wide-ranging. But Barrett, in television ads and public appearances, has posed two questions that are now unavoidable:

“Governor Walker, will you release all emails, sent and received, between you and the people in your office, who have been charged and pled guilty to criminal wrongdoing? Will you tell us, who is funding your legal defense, which has already paid more than $100,000 to criminal lawyers?”

But we wouldn’t stop there.

To the Star: The time is ripe for a Fact Check -- or 2 -- or 3

by David Safier

Over a third of the mail-in ballots have been sent in. The Star is giving lots of coverage to the Barber/Kelly race, since it's the only race in town. But there's nary a Star fact check in sight.

It's time. It's past time. Take a look at the fact checking work Jim Nintzel is doing, which I find to be outstanding, if you want to see how it's done. If you're skeptical of his fact checking (and you should always be skeptical), check his statements yourself. Since Social Security and Medicare are national issues, you'll find lots of good, thorough analyses of the claims Democrats and Republicans are making across the country, which are similar to what we're hearing in CD-8. Likewise with energy availability and policy. There's lots of objective information out there.

This late in the campaign, I can only find two reasons why the Star hasn't checked Kelly's and Barber's statements for accuracy.

One is, Brady McCombs, who is doing the political reporting, simply doesn't have enough confidence to go beyond stenography and say flat out, "This is true (or mainly true); This is false (or mainly false)," and give explanations.

The other possible reason is, some higher ups at the Star don't want to run fact checks on this race. They would prefer to leave their readers in the dark about the accuracy of the candidates' claims.

Either way, it's a goddamn shame.

Mitt Romney and the Goldwater Institute agree: Raise class sizes

by David Safier

Class size doesn't matter. How do I know? Mitt Romney and Matthew Ladner, formerly of the Goldwater Institute, tell me so.

Romney is a newcomer at this game, so let's go back to Matthew Ladner, circa 2009. Writing for G.I., he said we should pay great teachers -- "rock stars," he likes to call them -- six figure salaries. But he doesn't want to spend more money on education. In fact, he wants to spend less. The solution is to load enough students into the rock stars' classrooms that there's a net cut in spending.

Here's how he puts it.

Research shows . . . that students would be much better off if schools did let their most ineffective teachers go, and redistributed the students to more effective instructors. Teacher quality has been found to be 10- to 20-times more important than class size in achieving student learning gains. Schools could thereby cut their spending and improve student learning simultaneously.

I was an English teacher, but the math here is simple enough, even I can do it. An average Arizona teacher makes about $45,000. A teacher making a six figure salary would cost more than double that. If today's elementary teacher is seeing 35 kids in a class, the remaining rock stars would have 70 kids or more. But that shouldn't phase them, according to Ladner. They can continue to provide the same great education they were giving those 35 kids -- which is already 10 more than any elementary school teacher should be responsible for, especially if the kids come to school with educational deficiencies.

But you know, he has a point. I mean, look, rock stars perform to thousands of people at a time. What's 70 or 80 kids? Piece of cake!

OBAMA AND CLASS SIZE NOTE: Obama made an unfortunate choice when he picked Arne Duncan as his Ed Supe. The man is barely on the neo-liberal side of conservative "education reform." Duncan has made similar "class size doesn't matter" statements. His might not be as blatant as Romney's, but Duncan makes it harder for the Obama campaign to draw a distinction.

Dr. Richard Carmona is 'Zeus... a political Greek god'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Who said this? Jason Rose, Arizona GOP political strategist. No, really.

Pema Levy reports at Talking Points Memo A ‘Political Greek God’: Even Republicans Think Carmona Has a Chance In Arizona:

“Political Greek god,” “amazing” and “tremendous” are all words used to describe Arizona Democratic Senate candidate Richard Carmona — by Republicans.

Many Arizona Republicans think the Democrat who was personally tapped by President Obama to run could be the first Democrat Arizonans send to the Senate in 22 years.

His compelling biography is a big reason why.

* * *

But given the bare-knuckled brawl for control of the United States Senate, which has turned nasty in several other states, it’s rare to find a close race in which members of the opposing party are willing to speak so glowingly about the competition.

“Zeus,” Arizona GOP strategist Jason Rose said, “sent the Democratic Party here a political Greek god.”

“It’s a great story. It’s a beautiful story,” said Grant Woods, a former Republican attorney general of Arizona. “It makes people want to root for him, just like Barack Obama had a great story.”

Carmona is often compared to Janet Napolitano, the most successful Arizona Democrat in recent history, who won three statewide races before being joining the Obama administration to run the Department of Homeland Security.

“She was able to upend Matt Salmon,” said Rose, who advised Mitt Romney in Arizona in 2008 and supports him this time around, referring to Napolitano’s 2002 gubernatorial win in a very Republican year. “Can Carmona repeat what Napolitano was able to achieve? It’s certainly possible.”

“He has the potential to be an even better candidate than Napolitano,” said Woods. “Again that’s potential right now. … Janet, in all three of her statewide races, she executed flawlessly. I mean, there were no missteps. She did an excellent job. But on paper, I think Carmona starts in a much better position as a candidate than she did.”

* * *

“I think [Carmona has] the best resume that has run for political office in Arizona since John McCain in 1982,” said Rose. “You can make the argument that it’s the best bio to ever run for office in Arizona.”

Rose said Carmona is not just good on paper, either. He saw him in person and was “thoroughly impressed.”

Media fail at the Arizona Daily Star continues

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Jesse Kelly is avoiding the media like the plague, just as he did in 2010. Everything comes through his campaign spokespersons, one of whom is the Arizona Daily Star's former talentless hack political reporter, Daniel Scarpinato, who somehow fell upwards to land a job with the RNCC after blowing a tailor-made election for Jonathan "Payday" Paton in 2010 by losing to the political neophyte Jesse Kelly in the GOP primary (I mean really, how else does one explain this other than utter incompetence?)

Scarpinato's value to the Kelly campaign is his open door access at the Arizona Daily Star to an equally highly disappointing political reporter, Brady McCombs, who rotely reports whatever Scarpinato provides him in stenogrpaphic fashion. If McCombs had a lick of common sense he would avoid the obvious and transparent link between Star alumnus, which destroys the credibilty of the Arizona Daily Star as an objective news source. That goes double for the editors of the Star.

A line in today's reporting: "Scarpinato and the GOP have been trying to link Barber to Obama and what they call his 'job-destroying policies' throughout the campaign." McCombs does not correct this GOP falsehood.

The overall economy has now added over 2 million jobs over the last year, and nearly 3.5 million jobs over the last three years. For America's private sector, it's 2.3 million over the last year, and 4 million over the last three years.

Incidentally, the 8.1% unemployment rate is the lowest since before President Obama took office...

Here's another chart, this one showing monthly job losses/gains in just the private sector since the start of the Great Recession. That's 26 consecutive months of private sector job growth.

The Bush Years Were a Lost Decade of job growth. It was faith based supply-side "trickle down" GOP economics that gave us the Bush Great Recession. Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover to leave office with fewer jobs than when he entered office. "Mittens" Romney promises Bushonomics "on steroids."

Jesse Kelly Psychotically Dodging Questions On ALIPAC Endorsement

By Michael Bryan

This story has already been picked up nationally by the Maddow Blog, and I expect it will air on the Rachel Maddow Show. Locally, Jim Nintzel posted on it at The Range Blog. Rachel recently did a segment on idiot Congresscritter Mike Coffman who was caught by a reporter mindlessly mouthing his apology mantra - for saying that Obama is not an American in his heart - over and over verbatim, like an idiot parrot.

Apparently, when there is something a GOPer REALLY doesn't want to talk about, their press flacks are telling them to go into idiot parrot mode.

Meet Jesse Kelly when confronted by a KGUN 9 reporter with a question over his endorsement by ALIPAC:

It would be simply unjust if someone didn't make an ad out of this insipidity. I find it especially illuminating that the conserva-biddys behind Kelly think his routine is the height of wit.

Rep. Trent Franks, 'Mayor' of Washington, D.C.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Rep. Trent Franks is Arizona's most embarrassing congessman by far, he just doesn't get the kind of media attention the others do.

Last week Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) held Congressional hearings on a bill that would prevent doctors in D.C. from performing abortions after 20 weeks (the bill the Arizona legislature recently enacted into law served as a model and cover for Frank's hearing). Franks prevented Delegate Eleanor Norton (D) — D.C.’s only congressional representative — from testifying against the measure, thus disenfranchising the citizens of Washington D.C. of representation.

Since Arizona's Trent Franks wants to micromanage the affairs of Washington, D.C., its citizens had a request for "hizzonor" the self-appointed "Mayor" of Washington, D.C. Protesters Mock Arizona Congressman’s DC Abortion Ban, Ask ‘Mayor Franks’ To Fix Pot Holes:

[P]rotesters descended on the Arizona Congressman’s office — who represents a district 2,300 miles and two time zones away from the nation’s capital — to ask “Mayor Franks” to fix pressing local concerns like pot holes, broken street lights and traffic lights:

One by one, about 50 protesters knocked on the door of Franks’ office, and then spoke a few words about a problem in the city that they think “Mayor Franks” should address if he’s going to be writing laws that affect D.C. residents.

“My issue today is Metro — full funding for Metro,” said Jon Ozment, a 56-year-old D.C. resident. “As a constituent here, I use Metro all the time, my children use it, and it’s really disgraceful the condition they’ve allowed Metro to get to.”

“I have to say I’m very disappointed today,” he added. “I really wanted to meet my representative, Mr. Franks. He’s supposed to be representing us and I did take some time to come in here today, so I hope he takes these concerns into account.”

Wednesday’s protest was organized by Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington DC and DC Vote.

Dr Richard Carmona Blasts the Arizona Birthers

By Michael Bryan

Dr. Richard Carmona published an op/ed on the Capital Times today (outside their paywall) that criticizes the rash of birther news coming from Arizona's conservative politicians.

He writes, in part:

"Many observers have blamed this rash of birther “investigations” in Arizona on career politicians pandering to the extremes. They posit that it must be helping these guys get elected, because why else would they do it?

But here’s the thing: all this birther stuff is doing is turning people off to the political process. It’s not helping anybody."

Carmona always seems to keep his eye firmly on the wider context. Instead of just slamming those affected by Obama Derangement Syndrome, he points out why it's not just illegitimate and stupid, but why it hurts the body politic. It's that sort of diagnostic system thinking that is typical of medical training, and an asset we need much more of in public life.

 

Barber vs Kelly vs Manolakis: The most boring debate ever

by Pamela Powers Hannley

The Congressional District 8 (CD8) special election debate on Wednesday night was the most boring debate I have ever heard.

High school graduate Jesse Kelly repeated the Teapublican talking points faithfully-- guns, God, guv'ment-- but he forgot the gay part of their message. Former Gabrielle Giffords aid Ron Barber revealed himself as a true Blue Dog (AKA Republican-lite). And the Green Party's Charlie Manolakis did what any self-respecting third party candidate would do; he raised issues that the two major party candidates would rather not mention-- like universal health care, the Occupy Movement, and the 99%. 

The only thing that made the debate less somnamulant was the live chat line provided by the Arizona Daily Star. I had great fun jousting with FOX News zombies like local radio attack dog Jon Justice (who kept declaring verbal victories for Kelly when none existed). Of course, the FOXies were all for a double border fence (championed by Kelly) and further militarization of the border (promoted by both Kelly and Barber) but totally against "Obamacare" (which Kelly wants to end and Barber weakly sorta defends). One brilliant commenter even declared, "Not everyone needs health insurance." (He's either on Medicare or just foolish. Chat line chatter here.)

By far the longest discussions focused on the economy, the border, healthcare, and Rosemont Mine (Kelly for, the other two against). Unless I missed them between chat posts, ending the wars, public education, true immigration reform, job creation (beyond cutting taxes for the rich, as Kelly proposes), the plight of the 99% and the disappearing middle class, the Republican War on Women, and broader environmental issues were not addressed.

On the economy, Kelly blabbered about the folly of raising taxes (AKA letting the Bush tax cuts sunset) during a down economy and pushed for further tax cuts for the rich and smaller government. His transparent defense of the corporatist class was appalling. Barber said he would not vote to increase taxes on the middle class but believes that the rich should "pay their fair share"-- President Obama's original position during the big tax cut fight of December 2010. Every time the economy or job creation came up, Kelly touted tax cuts for the job creators-- ignoring the fact that trickle down economics has failed on all accounts, except for making the rich richer.

On immigration, all three candidates focused on border security and the drug-related violence in Mexico and ignored the messier issues-- like the role US policy (NAFTA and the War on Drugs) has in creation of the violence; the plight and exploitation of undocumented workers; deportation and family stress; border crosser deaths in the desert; and the DREAM Act.

Predictably, Kelly was the most militant on border issues-- calling for a double fence along the whole Arizona border and more law enforcement. (Kelly wants less government except when it comes to the military.) Focusing on militarization with electronic gadgets as well as more boots on the ground, Barber's position wasn't much different. Manolakis introduced a few chuckles into the debate when suggested that border patrol agents should ride camels because they're suited for the desert and cost less to maintain. (Charlie, although you're idea makes some sense, it doesn't go with the John Wayne cowboy image Arizonans have of themselves.)

None of the candidates addressed the roles that the North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) and the War on Drugs have played in creation of border violence, near lawlessness in Mexico, and dire poverty south of the border. President Nixon's War on Drugs has worked as well as Prohibition did; it has increased drug use and helped organized crime become more organized. (Check out the PBS documentary on Prohibition. The similarities to today's situation with marijuana prohibition are too glaring to ignore.)

On healthcare, Kelly decried rising healthcare costs and repeatedly called for repeal of Obamacare but offered no solutions for the future-- although he was asked to do so multiple times. Presumably, he goes along with the right-wing's call for the return of free-market health insurance, which is what got us into this costly mess. Ironically, Obamacare (which is based upon Romneycare, a Republican initiative) supports private insurance-- except for a few important changes like prohibiting the denial insurance coverage because of pre-existing conditions, expanding coverage to millions of Americans, and providing a minimum benefits package. Barber gets points for bringing up negotiating drug price discounts with Big Pharma. (President Bush II and his all-Republican Congress created Medicare Part D-- the Medicare prescription drug benefit-- as a giveaway to the pharmaceutical giants. The US is the only country in the world that pays top dollar for drugs and does not negotiate volume discounts.) Otherwise, Barber showed faint support for the worthwhile parts of Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare). Manolakis gets bigger points for championing universal healthcare. Medicare for All is really the best solution to rising costs, broader coverage, and curtailment of unnecessary procedures.

Overall, the debate was too civil-- with the majority party candidates repeating talking points. Except for the camels, negotiation of drug prices, and the brief mention of universal healthcare, no new ideas were discussed. 

The CD8 vote is happening now. If you live in Giffords' old district, as I do, check your mailbox for your ballot. If you want to go old school, you can go to the polls on June 12. The winner of this election will serve out Giffords' term.

Thanks to redistricting, the old CD8 will morf into the new CD2 for the general election in November. Barber has announced that he will run for that office also. Marth McSally, one of Kelly's challengers in the recent Republican primary, also has said she will run again. I'm hoping that other Democrats-- particularly State Senator Paula Aboud-- will enter the CD2 primary race to spice it up. Mr. Civility's mild-mannered, middle-of-the-road approach is more suited to campaign administration and not the blood sport of American politics. 

 

What the Heck is "Completely Out of Bounds" About ALIPAC's Endorsement of Jesse Kelly?

By Michael Bryan

Why is Jesse Kelly so freaked about being endorsed by Americans for Legal Immigration (ALIPAC)?

Maybe because the Anti-Defamation League reports ALIPAC is backed by white supremacists, neo-Nazis and anti-Semites? Maybe because Senator John McCain demanded J.D. Hayworth renounce his own endorsement by ALIPAC during his Sentorial primary challenge to McCain, because of those associations the ADL reported?

KGUN 9 Reporter Jennifer Waddell asked Jesse Kelly a viewer's question about his endorsement by ALIPAC in 2010 - and just weeks ago in 2012, and walked into a buzzsaw.

Jennifer Waddell writes:

"If you're a journalist in Tucson and you dare to ask that question, be prepared to have angry fingers jabbed in your face and interviews canceled.

Around midday Wednesday, KGUN9 News posted a story on line previewing an upcoming  sit-down interview with Kelly.   The preview noted that when KGUN9 News anchor Jennifer Waddell asked Kelly a tough question that a KGUN9 viewer had submitted, Kelly's spokesman became outraged and interrupted the studio session.

Within 30 minutes of that preview story going live on KGUN9.com early Wednesday afternoon, the aide in question called the KGUN9 newsroom to continue the attack.  John Ellinwood accused 9 On Your Side of "gotcha" journalism, then canceled a pre-debate interview that had been previously scheduled for 3:00 PM Wednesday afternoon."

In the interview footage on the KGUN 9 site, Kelly's press flack freaks out and tries to stop the interview. Kelly goes on to tell Waddell that the endorsement was in 2010 and thus not relevant, and "completely out of bounds".

Well, Jesse. It wasn't just 2010. ALIPAC has endorsed you again for the 2012 race on 5/18/12. I haven't seen any disavowal from you. How is a current endorsement "completely out of bounds" for the press to ask you about?

McCain's campaign said the following about the ALIPAC endorsement of Hayworth:

"Let's be clear: Congressman Hayworth's continued flirtation with extreme groups that condone racism only opens the door for liberals to falsely paint all opponents of illegal immigration as bigots. Congressman Hayworth should immediately disavow this group’s support and commit to never again associating himself with groups that accept this kind of hateful and counterproductive rhetoric."

Now, however, McCain seems to have nothing to say about ALIPAC's endorsement of Jesse Kelly, both in 2010 and 2012. 

So, how about it Jesse? Why are you accepting the endorsement of an racist organization that even Senator McCain disapproves of?

Are you willing to denounce that endorsement, or do you approve of ALIPAC's racism and extremist ties? Or is the fact that you accept the support of racists and hate-mongers "completely out of bounds"?

The GOP Women's Policy Committee

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

So the Tea-Publican response to the GOPs "war on women" is to form a Women's Policy Committee and put a female face on their misogynist anti-woman policies. "How can there be a war on women if women are sponsoring these misogynist GOP policies?" (The Arizona legislature has used this tactic for years).

Tea-Publicans insult your intelligence. They think you are stupid and you will fall for this kind of crap. As Steve Benen writes, The 'Women's Policy Committee' gets to work:

The "war on women" didn't catch on as a national phenomenon because GOP officials are invariably men; it caught on after Republicans in Virginia decided to mandate medically-unnecessary, trans-vaginal ultrasounds for women who want to undergo a legal medical procedure.

In recent months, Republicans at the state and federal level and have been fighting to restrict contraception; cut off Planned Parenthood; approving sweeping new restrictions on abortion; playing games with the Violence Against Women Act; denying the existence of gender-based pay discrimination and rolling back pay-equity laws.

When it came time for House Republicans to pay for lower student loan interest rates, GOP officials decided to get the funding by cutting access to breast cancer and cervical cancer screenings.

And in nearly all relevant instances, every member of this new Women's Policy Committee voted with their far-right male counterparts.

If these lawmakers think a committee and a video will help improve the political circumstances, they don't yet understand that this is about public policy, not perceptions about gender diversity. If they want to close the gender gap, they need to change the substance, not the style.

The Women's Policy Commttee video has the feel of an SNL ad skit, and reminded me of this earlier ad from the creative minds at Funny or Die. (Video below the fold - not work safe).

The CBO has suddenly made everyone Keynesians again

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reminded everyone yesterday that on December 31 all of the Bush-era tax rates will expire, as will the Obama-era payroll tax "holiday." At the same time, thanks to the failure of the congressional "supercommittee" last October, $1.2 trillion in automatic budget cuts will kick in, half to come from the military budget, and half to come from domestic programs. the colloquial term for this event has become known as "Taxmageddon." CBO report: Taxmageddon would throw U.S. back into recession.

Steve Benen writes, Maybe we really are all Keynesians now:

Yesterday, the CBO told policymakers that if the deadline comes, tax rates go up, and spending goes down, the deficit will shrink very quickly -- but the economy will probably contract and slip into a recession.

And wouldn't you know it, the CBO has suddenly made everyone Keynesians again.

A giant austerity bomb is timed to go off at the beginning of next year, and the threat of significantly higher taxes and lower spending has Republicans running around the Capitol sounding more like John Maynard Keynes than John Boehner.

Automatic, across-the-board reductions to domestic and defense spending, combined with the looming expiration of the Bush tax cuts, will dramatically consolidate the budget in the next calendar year, if Congress does nothing. And despite bemoaning deficits throughout the Obama years, the GOP's suddenly come around to the view that cutting government spending is a job killer.

Republicans have argued, practically every day since Jan. 20, 2009, that there's a "debt crisis" that threatens the very fabric of civilization. This "crisis" will not only crush our children's future, conservatives have argued, the budget shortfall, created largely by GOP policies, is killing jobs and holding back the economy today.

But they don't mean it. If Republicans were sincere about this, yesterday's CBO report would be seen as great news -- after all, the automatic cuts and higher tax rates would not only shrink the deficit immediately, it would prevent trillions of dollars in new debt over the next decade.

Mittens: The first rule of Bain Capital Fight Club is that only I get to talk about Bain Capital Fight Club

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Willard "Mittens" Romney has made his experience at Bain Capital the centerpiece of his campaign (because he really does not want to talk about his one term as Governor of Massachusetts).

At the same time, Mittens argues that any criticism of his time at Bain Capital is evidence of "character assassination," and an attack on capitalism itself.

Sooo, Mittens can talk about Bain Capital, but no one else is permitted to talk about Bain Capital. What, is Bain Capital like Fight Club?

This is just as crazy as Newt Gingrich, after criticizing Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan on Meet The Press Gregory, saying "Any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday Is a falsehood" -- umm, no it's not, you actually said it!

Romney surrogate Gov. John Sununu (R-N.H.) does not agree with the president of Bain Capital Fight Club. He told reporters in a presser on Tuesday, "I think the Bain record, as a whole, is fair game."

Mr. Sununu, Cory Booker is calling for you on line one -- he said something about "tag, you're it!"

Mittens' opponents in the GOP primary thought Bain Capital was fair game as well. "Who is this pretentious Gordon Gekko to tell us what is relevant and what we can talk about? F#%k him!"

Priorities USA Action has released this highlight video from the GOP primary on the subject of Bain Capital. (video below the fold).

The Tucson Weekly does fact checking right

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Maybe the staff at the Tucson Weekly should invite the staff of the Arizona Daily Star over for a course on how to do fact checking. Waddya think?

Jim Nintzel shows them how it is done. A Fact Check: The Citizens United Ad Now Showing in CD8:

The ad, which features an image of a sad elderly patient in a hospital bed, focuses on the same claims that we’ve already discussed in recent weeks about the “$500 billion in cuts” to Medicare under the Affordable Care Act.

Those claims have been repeatedly rated as “false” by PolitiFact and “misleading” by FactCheck.org, but they been recycled repeatedly by GOP political operatives since the 2010 midterm elections.

The Citizens United ad focuses attention on $130 billion in planned reductions in future expenses for the Medicare Advantage program, which uses private insurers to provide coverage to seniors, rather than the traditional Medicare program that the government runs.

“ObamaCare will gut the Medicare Advantage program,” the narrator says. “Jesse Kelly will save Medicare Advantage.”

A little bit of background on Medicare Advantage is helpful: About one-fourth of seniors across the country are now enrolled in Medicare Advantage, which was an experiment in seeing how the private sector could help hold Medicare costs down while providing better service for seniors.

While it has succeeded in providing, in some cases, better health-care benefits (such as gym memberships and vision and dental care plans), it has failed in keeping costs down. On average, Medicare Advantage costs about 14 percent more than traditional Medicare on a per-capita basis, according to Kaiser Health News.

The Affordable Care Act, as part of its effort to slow the growth of Medicare costs, introduces a variety of reforms for insurance companies that offer Medicare Advantage plans to bring costs in line with traditional Medicare.

Media fail at the Arizona Daily Star

Posted by AzblueMeanie:

Our sad small town newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star, fails us once again. The newspaper that cannot bring itself to publish a single fact check article on the "$500 billion cut to Medicare" lie that will not die -- and you really should ask the editors why they will not do what the Tucson Weekly does -- has yet another article by Brady McCombs in what appears to be an attempt at "gotcha" reporting, complete with a reference to a Breitbart.com video provided by the GOP.

McCombs' big reveal? Ron Barber supports reforming our broken healthcare system. Video proves Barber pushed for Obama health law, GOP says. Ooohhh, scary!

Here's a bit of history for you. President Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, was the first to propose universal healthcare as part of his "new nationalism" in the Square Deal. His distant cousin, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, provided a safety net for the nation’s elderly, sick and disabled as part of the Social Security Act of 1935 in the New Deal. President Harry Truman made universal health care coverage part of the Democratic Party’s Platform in the Fair Deal. This goal was partially realized by the creation of the Medicare and Medicaid systems in 1965 under President Lyndon Johnson in the Great Society. And here's a schocker for you: President Richard Nixon expanded Medicare and Medicaid and worked with Sen. Edward Kennedy to propose universal healthcare coverage under the Nixon-Kennedy Healthcare plan of 1974. President Bill Clinton proposed national healthcare reform. And even Republican George W. Bush supported Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage programs. See, U.S. Presidents And Health Care Reform: The History Of Public Health Politics In America.

In short, every Democrat who has run for office since FDR's New Deal has supported healthcare reform. It's been in the Democratic Party’s Platform since Harry Truman. This would only be a story if Ron Barber was opposed to healthcare reform.

Secretary of State Ken Bennett May Not Be A Birther, But He Is Still An Idiot

By Michael Bryan

I can't even begin to imagine what possible benefit Secretary Bennett thought he might derive from his birther stunt. I suppose he saw Sheriff Joe milking that particular bull and thought, "Heck, I can get some mileage off that, too..."

Well, Ken, I didn't serve with Sheriff Joe. I don't know Sheriff Joe. Sheriff Joe certainly is no friend of mine. But, Ken, even I know, you're no Sheriff Joe.

Nobody expects any better from Sheriff Joe, you see? He already has zero credibility. It's like the idiot child who whips down his pants and shows the neighborhood his ass. Nobody thinks much of it. "That's just Sheriff Joe," they say, and they shrug, shake their heads sadly, and go on with life.

But when somebody who should be respectable and decent whips down their pants and proudly displays their bum for the whole nation to admire, we notice, Ken. The nation notices. The Washington Post calls you a buffoon. People start demanding you investigate equally improbably things: like Mitt Romney is actually a unicorn. They lose respect for you and, worse, for your office. 

And rightly so. Supposedly a grown-up, intelligent, and responsible man does not show the world his bare ass unless there is something deeply wrong with him. Unless his judgment is serious flawed. Unless he really isn't grown-up, or intelligent, or responsible any more.

But you didn't just embarrass yourself, Ken. You embarrassed Arizona and your office. If you had any respect for the people of Arizona and the office you hold, you would resign.

Now, while everyone is momentarily fixated on your ass, Ken. Allow me to teach you, and them, some basics about the American constitution.

Only a 'natural born citizen' can become President of the United States. That is what all this birther nonsense is about. Some folks refuse to believe that Obama was born in Hawaii. 

Fine. So fucking what?

Assume, arguendo, that Obama was born in the British Colony of Kenya (it didn't become an independent nation until 1963, and Obama was born in 1961 - which would technically make him a British subject if born in a British colony) and smuggled into Hawaii, where the doctors, witnesses, Hawaiian officials, and newspapers were all suborned or bribed to cover up this nefarious fact.

So, what is a 'natural born citizen'? Someone who is a citizen from the moment of their birth. It is not, as some would assert, a solely a matter of where you are born.

8 USC §1401 defines who is a citizen at birth. A citizen by birth includes anyone born anywhere in the world to an American parent and a foreign national, provided that the citizen parent resided in the United States for at least five years.

"(g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years"

No one would reasonably dispute that Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, was an American citizen, nor that she resided for at least five years in the United States, two of them being after she was 14. Therefore, whereever Obama was born, he is a citizen by birth, and thus 'natural born citizen'.

Case fucking closed. Don't believe Obama was born in Hawaii? I don't fucking care. It doesn't matter. Obama is still a 'natural born citizen' even if he was hatched in Kenya - or on the fucking moon.

So, birthers, I cordially invite you to shut the fuck up and stop wasting everyone's goddamn time.

And Ken, I cordially invite you to resign. Idiot.

Another GOP myth debunked: Obama's excessive spending (not!)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I am convinced that the GOP gets away with this myth-making only because the vast majority of Americans are: (1) terrible at math, and (2) know little or nothing about economics. Low information voters are going to be the death of us all.

As Tea-Publicans tell this tall tale, President Obama is "spend, spend, spending" this country into economic ruin. One of the favorite bumper sticker slogans of these simpletons is "stop the spending."

Steve Benen posts today, The spending surge that never happened:

The notion that federal spending soared after President Obama took office is one of those "facts" that the political world just accepts implicitly. Republicans have repeated the claim so often (and so loudly) that it's no longer even questioned. Indeed, Mitt Romney promises to "stop the excessive overspending" on a nearly daily basis.

But MarketWatch's Rex Nutting took a closer look at the assumption that many assume is true, but isn't. (The MarketWatch piece included this great chart, too.)

Government spending under Obama, including his signature stimulus bill, is rising at a 1.4% annualized pace -- slower than at any time in nearly 60 years.

But it didn't happen. Although there was a big stimulus bill under Obama, federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since Dwight Eisenhower brought the Korean War to an end in the 1950s.... There has been no huge increase in spending under the current president, despite what you hear.

It matters, of course, that a political myth is accepted as fact, especially when it's likely to be one of the driving messages of the 2012 campaign.

But let's also keep in mind that this has dramatic policy implications: the fact that the economic recovery is so weak and fragile has nothing to do with the debt and everything to do with not enough capital in the system, leading to too little demand.

In other words, the fact that spending growth under Obama has been so slow is practically a form of austerity, and it's bad for the economy, not good.

The biggest offenders, of course, were Saint Ronnie Reagan who quadrupled the national debt, and George W. Bush who doubled it again.

The dumbing down of political speech

by David Safier

The Sunlight Foundation analyzed the grade level of the speech by members of Congress based on an analysis of the Congressional Record. Overall results: there was a one grade level drop from 2005 (11.5) to today (10.6). Who speaks at the lowest grade level? The most conservative members of Congress.

Interestingly, Republicans had an higher grade level than Democrats on average from 1996 until 2006. Now Republicans are almost a half grade level lower than Democrats.

It would be wrong to call this a measure of the Congress members' intelligence or vocabulary. Their public words are calibrated for their audience. Political speech is being dumbed down because that's what the pollsters think the public wants. And apparently, conservatives want it dumber than anyone else.

Want to know the scores of the Arizona Congressional delegation on their political speech? The highest is . . . John McCain. Next comes Ed Pastor, then Trent Franks, then Raul Grijalva. Here's the whole list.

1. John McCain: 12.6
2. Ed Pastor: 12.57
3. Trent Franks: 12.0
4. Raul Grijalva: 11.9
5. Jon Kyl: 11.8
6. Ben Quayle: 10.7
7. Jeff Flake: 9.1
8. Paul Gosar: 9.0
9. David Schweikert: 8.6

(H/t to Craig of Random Musings, who also cross-blogs on BfA and credited me in the tip-off email as "the unofficial (but de facto) education wonk of the AZ blogosphere." Thanks, Craig, I try to do my part.)

Ken Bennett reveals more about his motives than he planned to

by David Safier

Let's forget birther controversy for a moment and look at SOS Ken Bennett's campaign statement against his current actions.

Howie Fischer details the Bennett vs. Bennett moment in an article today. During the 2010 campaign, Bennett said the Secretary of State should be above partisanship.

Bennett, when running for office in 2010, said it’s “not appropriate” for someone who wants to be the state’s chief election official to support any candidate or back any ballot measure.

Makes sense, right? He made a pledge of public neutrality because he's the guy who is “going to have to conduct the election.”

Now he's the state co-chair of the Romney campaign. Why is that OK?

“I was going to get beat up, whether I made endorsements or not.”

So Clean Ken, Baby-faced Bennett didn't really mean he'd stay out of party politics because it was the right thing to do, because it was "not appropriate" for the SOS to take a public role in a political campaign. It was because it sounded good at the time. But as soon as he's in office, his pledge of neutrality goes out the window, and he justifies his action by saying, If they're going to beat me up anyway, I might as well be the partisan SOB SOS I said I wouldn't be.

After all, if he wants to be governor, he has to make as many friends and allies as possible. Play the birther card. Support candidates. Whatever it takes. But keep that innocent, cherubic smile. It works wonders.

Jesse Kelly's energy/jobs 'pipe dreams' take another hit from reality

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Brad Plumer has a post today at Ezra Klein's WonkBlog that delivers another blow of reality to Jesse Kelly's energy "pipe dreams." Will cheap shale gas revive U.S. manufacturing? Not so fast:

It’s hard to think of an extravagant prediction that hasn’t been made about America’s recent natural-gas boom. Let’s see: Cheap natural gas will wipe out coal. It will make the U.S. energy independent. And, oh yes, it will create one million manufacturing jobs and revitalize the Midwest. [Cue Jesse Kelly]

That last claim comes via a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. But over at the Council on Foreign Relations, Michael Levi casts a more skeptical eye on arguments that the age of cheap natural gas from shale will really lead to a dramatic revival of U.S. manufacturing.

There are reasons to think the overall impact will be fairly muted. Energy costs are still a small factor for many manufacturers. Levi points to a 2009 paper (pdf) by Joseph Aldy and William Pizer finding that “only one tenth of U.S. manufacturing involved energy costs exceeding five percent of the total value of shipments.” Aldy and Pizer estimated that a carbon tax, which raises energy prices, would affect manufacturing employment slightly — less than 3 percent — in the most energy-intensive industries like aluminum, cement, glass, and steel. The flipside is that lower energy costs, thanks to cheap natural gas, would have a similarly marginal impact.

(Updated) Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments on the 2012 ballot

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I need to update and correct an earlier post Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments on the 2012 ballot, now that Secretary of State Ken Bennett has finally got around to posting the information on his web site in between making calls to Hawaii regarding President Obama's birth certificate. Ballot Measures.

Prop. 114 - The Crime Victim Protection From Liability For Damages Amendment, SCR 1020 (2011) (PDF)

The measure would amend Aticle II, section 31 and Article XVII, section 6 of the Arizona Constitution.

The measure would prohibit crime victims from being subject to a claim for damages for causing harm to a person if that person is killed or injured when engaging in, or fleeing after, a felony crime.

Prop. 115 - The Judicial Department Amendment, SCR 1001 (2011) (PDF)

The measure would amend Article VI, sections 4, 12, 20, 36, 37, 39, 41, and 42 of the Arizona Constituion.

The measure would modify the Appellate and Trial Court Commissions. If it passes, specifically the measure would increase the terms of judges from six to eight years and the retirement age from 75 to 70. In addition to these changes, the State Bar of Arizona will be allowed to appoint only one of five attorneys to a judicial nominating commission. Currently, the governor appoints five attorneys that are vetted by the bar association.

This arises out of GOP displeasure with the Appellate Court Commission selection of the five members of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission in 2011.

CD 8 Veterans Issues Forum in Sierra Vista

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Sierra Vista Herald provided thorough reporting on the veterans Issues forum this past Saturday in Sierra Vista. Unfortunately, the Herald put it behind a "premium member" wall. While I do have the full report, there is no way for me to summarize this lengthy report on the candidates' responses to some nine questions. Suprisingly, the candidates were in general agreement on veterans issues -- the candidates differed when they ventured into other related issues.

I will give you the free part of the article and you can decide for yourself whether you want to be a "premium member" of the Sierra Vista Herald. Or maybe you can convince Bill Hess to post the full article in the interest of better informing the public -- or maybe he could make it available to his sister publication, the Tucson Weekly, for republication. Barber, Kelly address veterans’ concerns | The Sierra Vista Herald:

SIERRA VISTA — While the Republican and Democratic candidates for the special Congressional District 8 election answered questions pertaining to veterans issues, they were able to incorporate their stump speeches into their responses on Saturday.

Surprisingly  Republican Jesse Kelly and Democrat Ron Barber agreed in many cases in the answers they provided on some of the questions.

It was how they worked in their campaign comments where the differences were noted.

You must be a premium member to read the rest of this story. To become a member, please click here.

Dr. Richard Carmona op/ed on student loan dispute in Congress

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Dr. Richard Carmona's op-ed in the Ahwatukee Foothills News last week. Carmona: Hiking student loans would limit opportunity:

Access to higher education is the great societal equalizer and what ultimately makes the American Dream possible. It’s what gives every parent hope. And for kids who grew up poor like me, it’s what allows us to achieve success.

My grandmother always told me to get an education because it would set me free.

She was right, even if I didn’t immediately follow her advice. Like my friends and siblings, I dropped out of high school and ran the streets before joining the U.S. Army.

I served in Vietnam, and returned home a combat-decorated veteran. Despite earning my GED in the Army in order to qualify for Special Forces, when I returned home I still couldn’t get into college.

It was an open enrollment program for veterans at Bronx Community College that opened the door for me. It was an opportunity that changed my life. In one generation, I went from being a homeless kid on the streets to becoming the 17th Surgeon General of the United States.

Recent coverage of Dr. Richard Carmona senate campaign

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Going through my inbox of things to catch up on. . . There is an exceptional profile piece of Dr. Richard Carmona, candidate for the U.S. Senate, by Terry Greene Sterling at The Daily Beast. Dr. Richard Carmona Faces a Tough Race as the Democratic Candidate for Senate in Arizona. (The caption is based upon the premise that this is a Republican-leaning state and Rep. Jeff Flake has a substantial campaign war chest). The caption detracts from what is an otherwise must-read piece.

Dr. Carmona was also a guest on former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm's show on Current TV, "The War Room." Yeah, I don't get that cable channel either. Posting the video here will probably get more views than Current TV. Carmona calls for statesmanship in politics: 'I've always been a straight shooter' - The War Room with Jennifer Granholm:

Dr. Richard Carmona, Democratic candidate for senator in Az., calls for change and action. Carmona says Washington is “a toxic, hyperpartisan environment.” The fix? “We need to return civility to governance,” Carmona says. “It’s reprehensible that health issues are being politicized,” Carmona tells Jennifer Granholm. Women’s health issues are health issues, not women’s issues, he says. Most of all, he says people must be able to have confidence in their government. “We can’t run a democracy when 90% of people don’t trust the government.”

Video below the fold. (Video may run slower than the audio in some browsers).

Pima Republican Chair defends Kelly's positions on issues Kelly pretends not to have a position on

by David Safier

On KUAT's Political Roundtable, Pima Democratic Chair Jeff Rogers sparred with Pima  Republican Chair Carolyn Cox, mainly over the Barber-Kelly race. Carolyn Cox possessed a laudable quality Kelly had in spades in 2010 and is running away from in 2012 -- the courage of her convictions. She defended eliminating the minimum wage, using arguments Kelly has employed. These days, you can't pry a word about the minimum wage from Kelly's lips. She also defended privatizing Social Security, which Kelly is on both sides of simultaneously (I don't want to privatize Social Security, but I want people to be allowed to use some of the money to set up private accounts).

Rogers praised Cox for being willing to take a stand on both issues, something Kelly has refused to do of late, at the same time Rogers strongly disagreed with her. Jesse "I'm not a politician" Kelly has taken a very political turn of late and decided to duck and dodge, hem and haw on stands he took in 2010 that he knows are toxic in 2012.

If you watch the roundtable, you'll see something you rarely encounter these days: a journalist/moderator who corrects one of the participants' misstatements. Jim Nintzel told Cox she had it wrong about Social Security benefits to federal employees and about statements on Kelly's website rather than letting it slide and seeing if Rogers wanted to get into a "She said/He said." Coming from Nintzel, his corrections had the benefit of sounding like fact -- which they were -- rather than partisan bickering. Republicans may complain Nintzel didn't correct Rogers. False equivalence, folks. Nintzel didn't correct Rogers because he didn't say anything that is patently false.

Jesse Kelly Shoots Mouth Off at Marana Chamber of Commerce

By Michael Bryan

Jesse Kelly is trying to run from his past radical statements regarding eliminating and privatizing Social Security and Medicare, eliminating the minimum wage, slashing taxes on the wealthiest, and eliminating vital oversight of the free market to ensure the public is protected. 

Well, he's still a radical, and it comes out when he's not appearing in carefully crafted campaign ad. In the video after the fold, we see Kelly addressing his base at the Marana Chamber of Commerce, where he is more comfortable showing his true colors, even though he knows that he is being filmed by Democrats (as he acknowledges at the end of the video). He just can't help himself. He's a true believer, a simple (some might say simplistic) man, and a straight talker. Those can be admirable qualities, but in a Member of Congress, convictions as radical and unrealistic as Mr. Kelly's are just downright dangerous to the public welfare.

On minimum wage:

When asked for his position, he scoffs, and uses an absurd scenario to denigrate the minimum wage. He hypothesizes that we could set it at $150 a hour, and that would just result in increased prices. Apparently, he is unable to discriminate between a small measure of fairness, and an absurdity.

Clearly, he thinks the minimum wage should not exist, and that free market forces alone should set all wages. He does not understand that the purpose of the minimum wage is not a naive attempt to vote ourselves wealth, it is to ensure that a person who works for a living does not have to live in abject poverty, and that even unskilled workers have enough money to afford the neccessities of life and a measure of dignity.

We accept as a society a slight increase in labor price imputs in order to achieve that meagre measure of economic equity. Americans overwhelmingly support the minimum wage, and even want to see it higher. But Kelly just can't understand that at all.

Energy resources:

"We are sitting on top of a mountain of money in this country."

Kelly continues to claim that the solution for our economic recovery is energy exploitation. He still ignores the fact that Arizona doesn't have any significant oil, natural gas, or coal resources and won't benefit from Kelly's dream of a Russian-style natural resource led boom. As in Russia, the primary beneficiaries of Kelly's dream are the oligarchs who have the wealth and political clout to exploit those resources, not the broad American public.

Kelly asserts he's a strong supporter of the Keystone XL Pipeline and he just can't imagine any reason to delay it. He says, "it's anti-the-American-people to stand against the pipeline..." He doesn't express any concern about the fact that we have no idea the environmental impact of a spill, nor any idea of how to clean up such a spill.

And, of course, his support for the pipline won't do a damned thing for Arizona: there are no direct economic benefits or jobs created in Arizona by this boondoggle. Kelly cites the price of gas as a reason to approve the pipeline, but TransCanada's own application, and indpendent analysis both indicate that the effect of the pipeline will be to strengthen price leverage for Canadian crude, increasing prices for refined products in the U.S. That result may seem counter-intuitive, but the pipeline moves gas production using tar sands oil to a deepwater port for world export, thus reducing local oversupply of gasoline products in the U.S and thus raising the local price. You know, supply and demand? That central idea of market economies seems beyond the intellectual scope of Mr. Kelly. Just who is Kelly really seeking to represent in supporting the pipeline: the people of Arizona, or the energy lobby and Canadian oil?

Oh, and the fact that his family business is a pipeline contractor wouldn't have anything to do with his position, would it? Surely, Mr. Kelly wouldn't be so crass as to support a dangerous environmental boondoggle that would raise gas prices just because it might profit his daddy's company in some way?

Job creation:

Kelly claims that Arizona is a number one location nationally for computer chip fabricators because of the dry air and geological stability. We do have those features. But Jesse then claims that the reason those jobs aren't in Tucson is "We told them they're not welcome. We told them we don't want them in Pima County, we don't want them in Cochise County. And that's just flat wrong." Yes, what you just said is just flat wrong, Jesse. Intel has long ties to Chandler, and Tucson was never seriously considered by Intel.

Kelly exclaims, "We should be booming down here. We should be Scottdale. We could be Scottsdale." I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in Scottdale, Jesse. If you like Scottsdale so much, move up there and run for office there. BTW, Jesse, Intel's plants are in Chandler, not Scottsdale. Disturbing that he doesn't even know that.

Environmental protection: 

"I will be attempting to defund the EPA and to strip them of their regulatory power."

Enough said. It's clear that Kelly has no concern whatever about protecting the health of citizens and the quality of our environment. Kelly is stuck in the mode of framing every protection of our environment as anti-business.

Kelly blames the EPA's regulation of coal plants' carbon emissions for there being no new coal energy plants being built in the U.S. He does not seem to grasp that plummeting natural gas prices due to domestic fracking has made them largely price non-competitive, in any case.

It goes without saying, perhaps, that Kelly is an anthropogenic climate change denier. So, to him, the idea of regulating carbon emssions to avoid catastrophic costs of climate change just doesn't make any sense.

It's very telling of Kelly's view of economic development that he would like us to be more like China, where the environment is not protected from pollution, and the people are suffering terribly as a result.

Kelly claimed:

"Everthing is made in China because we chased all that industry out.  Sadly, in many ways, right now... communist China is more elightened in business than the free United States of America."

We chased business out of America and into China? If you mean incentivized companies to move labor costs to low-wage Chinese factories with our tax code, your party did that thing and is blocking President Obama from undoing it, Mr. Kelly.

Multi-national companies have no loyalty; they go where they can maximize profit and externalize as many costs as possible. Part of that process of externalizing costs is not having to pay to prevent or remedy environmental pollution. Kelly's comments seem to indicate that he wants to kill the EPA to make it easier for companies to pollute America's environment like they do China's. That is insane and radical.

Tax Rates:

Mr. Kelly also claimed:

"We have the highest corporate tax rate in the world."

Problem is, that's just not true. The marginal combined effective corporate income tax rate (what a company actually pays doing business in a country, combining all taxes at the national and sub-national levels and taking into consideration deductions and credits) in America is about average for OECD countries, and significantly lower than many other advanced industrial nations.

Of course, such nuance is really beyond an ideologue like Kelly. He thinks the proper corporate income tax rate is zero, so, of course, he thinks it's too high, regardless of what it actually might be.

Of course, Mr. Kelly thinks that real people should pay taxes, even if corporations should not. He thinks that every person should pay the same rate, regardless of income. He says with almost unseemly enthusiasm:

"I love the flat tax... Every American should pay same small percentage of income to the federal government."

Really, even if they make very little? Yep. Even if they make billions? Yep. Kelly has completely abandoned the idea of progressivity in taxes: from those who benefit the most from our societies' services, more is required. He considers that "demonizing wealth".

Kelly's philosophy is "Keep what you earned, you earned it, and pass it on to the next generation." Never mind that nobody earns a fortune alone; the society around a capitalist allows and enables that accumulation of wealth through services to the individual and creation of the business environment.

Kelly's comment about passing it to the next generation would indicate that he doesn't favor an estate tax, either. No surprise that Kelly is in favor of such unearned wealth, that's how he makes his living after all.

Kelly reminds me of a teenage boy who is frantically trying to deny his dependence on his parents while worshipping at an altar dedicated to Ayn Rand, even as he lives in his parents' basement. Kelly works for his dad's constuction company, which gets up to 90% of it's business from government contracts. I'm sure that his position at the company was earned solely on merit, and has nothing to do with his position as scion of the family...

Let's get real: Kelly has never been exposed to the "free market" he worships so assiduously. His whole poltical persona is a smirking, swaggering, cock-sure denial of any collective responsibility or accountablity. He's all about getting the "nanny state" out of our lives, even as he nurses at that nanny's tit like an overgrown man-child. A recent article by Sara Robinson, "How the Ayn Rand-Loving Right Is Like a Bunch of Teen Boys Gone Crazy", perfectly embodies the childish political phenomenon that is the modern GOP right wing and, especially, the person of Jesse Kelly.

Watch the video after the click (Hat tip to AZ08RawFootage)...

Arizona Daily Star/Tucson Jewish Community Center CD 8 Debate on Wednesday

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Daily Star has provided more information about the CD 8 Debate it is cosponsoring on Wednesday, May 23 at 7:00 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center (JCC), 3800 E. River Road.

The JCC seats in excess of 500 people. Seating is first come, first served.

People who want to attend will not be allowed onto the JCC grounds until 6:00 p.m.

Tickets for admission to the ballroom will be distributed outside the JCC's main entrance starting at 6:00 p.m.

Political signs will not be allowed on the property. politically themed clothing and campaign buttons are allowed.

The candidates will have tables outside the JCC's main entrance where they can greet voters and distribute campaign materials. Campaign materials may not be distributed inside the building.

Audience members will be reminded to respect the right of all candidates to speak and be heard. Disruptive behavior will result in your ejection. (I understand that security has been arranged).

The debate will air live on radio station KVOI 1030 AM. A podcast will be available the next day.

You can submit questions for the debate. Questions should be directed to all candidates. Send your question to the Arizona Daily Star by e-mail no later than Monday, May 21 to politics@azstarnet.com. Questions should include your name and your telephone number and/or home address (for verification only). If your question is selected, you will be credited by name for your question used in the debate.

The banksters of Wall Street own Willard 'Mittens' Romney

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

One would expect an amoral vulture capitalist who is all about making money regardless of the cost in human lives and communities destroyed to be the choice of the amoral banksters of Wall Street. Willard "Mittens" Romney is one of them, and he promises to return these banksters to the unregulated casino capitalism that nearly destroyed our financial system and the world's economy just a few years ago. Good times.

Steve Benen writes, Getting by with a little help from their friends:

With fundraising totals reaching extraordinary heights, there's no doubt that both President Obama, Mitt Romney, and their assorted allies will have plenty of resources between now and Election Day.

But it's worth noting that while neither side will suffer from empty coffers, there's a clear qualitative difference in the kind of donors that separate one campaign from the other. The Boston Globe had an interesting report on this the other day.

When the head of JPMorgan Chase met with shareholders to answer for a trading loss of more than $2 billion Tuesday, it was against an evolving political backdrop: Donors from big banks are betting on Mitt Romney to defeat President Obama and repeal new restraints on risky, large-scale investments.

"There's no doubt that there's been a big diminution of support for the president,'' said William M. Daley, Obama's former chief of staff and a former top JPMorgan Chase executive. "People in the financial services sector are saying, 'The president has been too tough on us, both in policy and on rhetoric.' ''

The top five donor groups in Romney's campaign are individuals and political action committees associated with large financial institutions, led by Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, according to information compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group that tracks campaign donations.

Dr Carmona Supports the Civil Rights of LGBT Americans

By Michael Bryan

I consider the fight for equal rights for LGBT Americans one of the true litmus tests for true progressivity in American politics today. If you don't think that the equal treatment under law of LGBT Americans is vitally important, you don't really think much of the central value proposition of the American way of government: every person deserves the same rights and privileges of citizenship.

I spoke with Dr. Richard Carmona the other day about this, and he fully supports equal rights for LGBT Americans. Here's what he had to say:

CarmonaGayMarriage

This is a candidate who clearly understands that all Americans should be treated equally, and who has lived that conviction.