Blog For Arizona

Dr. Word discovers the term "Palindrone"

by David Safier
As I was mulling over Palin's wacky press conference announcing her resignation, I came up with what I thought was an original term to describe her speech patterns: Palindrone.

Silly me. Google the term. It's all over the internet, with a variety of meanings. As two words, "Palin drone," it refers to a robotic supporter of the former vice presidential candidate. But I prefer the single word, linguistic reference, Palindrone.

You probably know a palindrome is a phrase that reads the same left to right as right to left. One of the most famous: Able was I, ere I saw Elba. Less famous: Go Hang a Salami, I'm a Lasagna Hog.

A Palindrone, by my definition, is that endless stream of words that pour from Palin's mouth when she speaks without a prepared text. I can't tear myself away when she talks. It's fascinating and irritating at the same time, like prodding a canker sore with your tongue, over and over. I watched parts of yesterday's press conference again and again and again, marveling at the way she strings words together.

The closest I can come to describing Palin's speaking style is this. It's a combination of: (1) a not-too-bright student in one of my classes giving an oral presentation and thinking she will sound smarter if she adds words and phrases she's heard other people say, even though she's not quite sure what they mean or how they fit; and (2) one of those annoying people who can babble endlessly about nothing, seemingly without needing to take a breath, by segueing from topic to topic in an almost stream-of-consciousness flow without concern for logic or continuity.

Here's a short but perfect example:

 "We know we can effect positive change outside government at this point in time on another scale and actually make a difference for our priorities."

If you take out the phrases I put in bold face, the sentence is almost coherent. With those phrases, it's pure Palindrone. String a series of sentences like that together and voila! You've got yesterday's press conference.

Palin has elevated this type of speech to a new level of weirdness, but it's as old as politics. e. e. cummings captured it perfectly in his poem, "next to of course god," written in 1926.

"next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn's early my
country 'tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-
iful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?"

He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water

Happy Fourth

by David Safier
Enjoy. If you want to take 4 minutes and 22 seconds out of your day, listen to Obama's thoughts on the Fourth, our past and our future. I'll take his words over a limp teabag any day.

Independence Day

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Happy birthday America! You're 233 years young.

Celebrate the 4th of July.

Huppenthal: more cuts needed

by David Safier
From the Arizona Guardian:

“We made huge adjustments to the ’09 budget, and that shocked the system, so much so that some of our members couldn’t handle the shock,” [Huppenthal] said. “During the course of the past six months, we’ve done an enormous amount of reductions, but it’s not near enough.”

He is hopeful that more lawmakers will be in the proper mindset to make further cuts during the special session.

You. Can't. Make. This. Stuff. Up.

BREAKING: The Alaska Disasta stepping down as Governor

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Alaska Disasta, Sarah Palin, announced today that she is stepping down as Governor of Alaska. If you did not catch her press conference, catch the replay. It was a rambling and incoherent series of non sequitur anecdotes. As Steven Colbert might describe it, it was "the craziest f#?king thing I've ever heard."

"Alaskans aren't quitters"... but I'm abandoning my job as governor. Huh?

Here is just a short clip from the press conference. When I find a video of the full statement I will update this post later.

Palin's announcement follows closely on the heels of the publication of a scathing report on the 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee, "It Came From Wasilla," in Vanity Fair magazine by Todd S. Purdum. McCain campaign staff members anonymously trashed Palin and questioned John McCain's serious lack of judgment. A must read article.

CNN reports Palin stepping down this month:

Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she will step down as Alaska's chief executive by the end of the month. She will not seek election to a second gubernatorial term in 2010.

* * *

Palin, a Republican, was elected governor in 2006. She was tapped as Arizona Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate last year.

Palin said she was transferring authority to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who will be sworn in at the Governor's Picnic on July 26.

A Republican source close to her political team told CNN's John King that it was a "calculation" she made that "it was time to move on." The governor's "book deal and other issues" were "causing a lot of friction" in her home state, the source said, adding that he believes she is "mapping out a path to 2012."

Following Palin's announcement, the Democratic Nationanl Committee blasted what it called her "bizarre behavior."

"Either Sarah Palin is leaving the people of Alaska high and dry to pursue her long shot national political ambitions or she simply can't handle the job now that her popularity has dimmed and oil revenues are down," DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said.

"Either way, her decision to abandon her post and the people of Alaska who elected her continues a pattern of bizarre behavior that more than anything else may explain the decision she made today."

Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC just reported that her sources close to the governor report that Sarah Palin is getting out of politics altogether. She has had it with the "blood sport" of politics as Palin described it in her statement. We'll see Mrs. Greenspan.

Political commentators almost universally are harshing on Sarah Palin saying that "she's finished with politics" after this strategic blunder -- and that's just from the Republican strategists.

Good riddance... well, on second thought, she will probably wind up on Faux News or talk radio. This celebrity hound ain't going away.

UPDATE: Press conference video from MSNBC below the fold (for technical reasons).

More on the G.I. Civics test

by David Safier
My post on the Goldwater Institute's Civics test which showed high school students ignorant about basic U.S. civics questions has created quite a hubbub in the comments section, including a few comments from the study's author and friend of the blog Matthew Ladner. Rather than adding to the string of comments, I'll put my thoughts here.

When I questioned the accuracy of the survey results, Ladner protested in his commments that a phone survey is a valid instrument and it was conducted by a reputable survey firm. He also said I was wrong to say the survey was a hit piece on public schools, since it included results from private and charter schools as well.

As commenter Flounder Todd mentioned and I'll repeat, the email Ladner wrote that goes out to the G.I. mailing list only listed the public school score on the Civics test: 3.5 percent. You can find the entire study on the G.I. website, but let's face it, most people will stop at the email. Leaving any mention of the charter and private school results out of the email indicates to me that public schools were Ladner's prime target.

Ladner doesn't address my comment about it being intellectually dishonest -- not incorrect, but dishonest -- to use a precise percentage like 3.5 percent to represent the results of a very imprecise, non-random phone survey, even though it was one of my primary criticisms. An intellectually honest representation of the findings would have said that a non-scientific phone survey showed that under 5 percent of public high school students passed. That's almost equally scathing, but the number-to-one-percentage-point implies a level of scientific accuracy that gives more weight to the finding than it deserves. Any good statistician will tell you not to imply a degree of certainty for your data that doesn't exist.

As for a phone survey being a good way to get accurate information . . . I'll accept that, with qualifications, for adults. But for teenagers? Uh uh. If you're asking about music preferences, maybe. If it's a quiz about video games, maybe. If it's about civics and the answers are multiple choice, maybe. But just asking a question like, "What is the supreme law of the land?" and expecting teens sitting at home to ponder the question and give the best answer they can come up with . . . uh uh, it ain't gonna happen with most of them. If you think they'll give the questions their full attention, you haven't hung around with a random assembly of teenagers lately. If they don't have the answer right on the tips of their tongues, they're likely to say either the first thing that comes to mind or "Don't know."

(I would like to see the script the survey firm used to introduce the questions. If it didn't represent the nature of the questions accurately, lots of the teens surveyed would have said, "What the . . ." after the first few questions and gotten through the rest of the survey as fast as they could.)

One more point, something I haven't mentioned before. Before potential new citizens go in to take the test, they're given a full list of 100 questions to study, right? And told they'll have to answer 10 of them? If I'm right, and I'm pretty sure I am, that means they don't come in cold. This is much easier than studying for a driving test. It's pure rote memorization, and the test takers are more than willing to put in the time, because the reward at the end of the test is U.S. citizenship. No wonder 92.4 percent pass! How many of them -- or how many adult citizens -- would do well on the test if they took it cold, like the students did? To make the comparison Ladner does, between people eager to become citizens who studied the hundred questions and teenagers getting the questions cold over the phone, is another example of intellectual dishonesty. It's a false comparison designed to make the students' lack of civics knowledge look as bad as possible. That kind of thing is fine for Jay Leno. He's an entertainer. G.I. is supposed to be a serious, reputable institution.

Again, I'm not defending the students' lack of knowledge. Their ignorance is not surprising, but it's not good either. I'm saying Ladner's piece is an example of "shock and awe" reporting, where making your point is more important than representing the findings accurately. True, that kind of thing happens on the left and the right, but for the Goldwater folks, it's their basic M.O.

Coming to a theater near you

by David Safier
And while we're on the subject of Mark Sanford (see post below), here's a preview of the upcoming theatrical release, Hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Rude and Ruder

by David Safier
It's been quoted and blogged on many times before this. Now it's my turn. It's Al Melvin's memorable statement about Brewer, referring to her impending veto.

“If she vetoes it, it’s only because she’s in a huff because she didn’t get her sales tax increase."

In a huff. That's so tactfully sexist of you, Al.

I'm not sure if the Captain is a Marx Bros. fan, but if not, he should know that he's stealing from the ultimate rudester. From "Duck Soup":

[Note: if the video doesn't have a scroll bar below it, just click on the image.]

Melvin has nothing on his fellow Rs when it comes to rude. Read AZBlueMeanie's post below this one for examples.

I know this is a bit like an atheist quoting scripture to a religious Christian, but all these "Reagan Republicans" seem to have forgotten Reagan's Eleventh Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."

Ah, well, if upstanding Christian Mark Sanford can break his marriage vows with cavalier abandon, I suppose breaking Reagan's commandment isn't a mortal sin. It's all Obama's fault anyway, of course. By leading the country down the path to ruin, he's made Republicans everywhere throw up their hands and say, "What the Hell." At least that's what Rush tells me.

Right back at ya, buddy!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In a classic case of the kettle calling the pot black, Senate President Bob "Bluto" Burns started yet another GOP food fight at his press conference yesterday when he said that the Accidental Governor is incompetent and unqualified for the job. Burns lashes out, calls Brewer incompetent, Burns: Brewer bungling her job:

"It appears the governor is having problems managing the level of responsibility to which she has been elevated"...

The governor "has abused the public in what can only be described as a strong-arm tactic to take control of the legislative process"...

Brewer's veto of parts of the $8.4 billion spending plan "appears to be a vindictive retaliation against the Legislature for not rubber-stamping 'her plan.'"

The Accidental Governor's response to Burns was "right back at ya, buddy!" Well, with her inside voice. With her outside voice she called Burns' comments "terribly unproductive."

House Speaker Kirk Adams wanted in on this kettle calling the pot black action as well. GOP blasts Gov. Brewer for budget vetoes:

"I am alarmed this governor would harm education and the state's most vulnerable in pursuit of a tax increase," said Rep. Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, in a statement. "It's irresponsible and unbelievable that she would veto the budget she agreed to."

Alternatively, Adams reportedly called the Governor's veto "irresponsible and reckless," and her decision to totally eliminate the more than $3.2 billion in state aid to education "puts schoolchildren, hardworking teachers and employees in our public schools in jeopardy." Burns lashes out, calls Brewer incompetent

Burns was right, but for the wrong reason. By tradition and political expediency a Governor does not call for a Special Session until a deal has been struck with leadership which can be submitted to a vote of the Legislature and be dealt with quickly. The Accidental Governor called for a Special Session with no deal on the table, and given the tone of the comments from her own Legislative leaders, one does not appear likely before Monday.

Brewer's call for a Special Session appears to be an open-ended proposition designed to keep the Legislature in session as long as the July 15 deadline when a $300 million payment to schools is due, and administrators will be unable to fund teacher salaries or operating expenses without a budget.

This gives the Legislature 10 days to stew in its own juices before state government really does begin shutting down, absent any continuing resolutions or some other gimmicks to keep the state and its subdivisions running.

Prospects do not appear promising. Rep. Andy Tobin (R-Paulden) sponsored Brewer's sales-tax referral, which never came up for a vote. But in the wake of the vetoes, he has withdrawn his support.

"You're looking at someone whose word has very little value to the members down here," Tobin said of Brewer. GOP blasts Gov. Brewer for budget vetoes

Arizona is led by a Governor who has rendered herself irrelevant and ineffectual even within her own party as a result of her abject failure of leadership. The inmates are in charge of the asylum over at the Legislature. Together they can't produce a 2010 budget. And the same incompetent fools will be back in January to begin work on the 2011 budget. This summer is a preview of next summer as well.

On this July 4th weekend Arizonans should declare their independence and freedom from the Republican Party that has dominated this state for four decades. It's time to tell the Republicans "you're fired!"

Trouble putting up comments?

by David Safier
Please help me out on this. People have been complaining about the blog loading slowly and having trouble getting to the comments section to post a reply. Are you having any problems? If not, let me know. If you're having problems, tell me if you use a Mac or PC and which browser you use -- Safari, Explorer, Firefox, etc.

I'm a Mac guy, and Safari has all kinds of problems with the site. Firefox is much better, but it's been loading slow lately as well. The folks at "typepad" have made updates recently, and if they've made things worse, I want to let them know.

Thanks for the help.

NOTE: If you're having trouble posting a comment, email me a safier@schooltales.net .

SECOND NOTE: Mike Bryan has turned off the clicktoblue ads that people say might be causing the slowdown. We'll see if that takes care of the problem.

In Memoriam: James F. McNulty, Jr.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Almost lost in the crush of news coming out of our state capitol this week was the sad news of the passing of former Congressman Jim McNulty. I did not know Jim well, but I did volunteer on his campaigns back in the early 1980s, and I saw him frequently at Democratic Party events over the years since. He was always pleasant to me with a ready smile and a quick Irish wit. He was a good and decent man dedicated to public service.

The Arizona Daily Star published the news of his death, from which I have edited and rearranged some of the paragraphs Jim McNulty, congressman who made his home in political arena, dies at 83:

Jim McNulty was born in 1925 into an Irish-Catholic family in the Boston suburbs.

He was drafted into the Army in 1944 and served as a drill sergeant during World War II, training infantry soldiers at Fort McClellan, Ala.

McNulty came to Tucson and enrolled at the University of Arizona in 1946.

By 1952, he had a law degree, a wife, a son, a job in a Bisbee law firm and a hankering for politics. Two daughters would follow.

He became chairman of the Cochise County Democratic Party and assisted with the campaign to make sure John F. Kennedy was nominated as the Democratic candidate for president.

McNulty was elected to the state Senate in 1968, serving until 1973.

He represented the rural counties of Graham, Greenlee and Cochise — where he lived and practiced law — in the state Senate and in 1982 he was elected from Arizona's 5th Congressional District to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served one term.

He was defeated in 1984 by Jim Kolbe.

"It was," McNulty wrote in his autobiography, "Running Uphill," "the most exciting job I ever had. I loved it."

After he lost his re-election bid for the House of Representatives in 1984, members of the Democratic Party wanted him to run for Congress again in 1986.

But he chose to continue practicing law and living as a private citizen. He retired in 1992.

McNulty held appointments on state boards, including the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees the state universities, and the Arizona State Hospital.

He also served on the state Board of Education.

Jim McNulty had lived in an assisted-living community since last year after residing in Downtown Tucson for about 25 years, his son Michael McNulty said.

In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife of 59 years, Jacqueline Boevers McNulty, his sister, Ann Whitehead, and daughters Cynthia McNulty and Amy McNulty.

You can learn more about the life of Jim McNulty and sign the online guest book at his obituary Tucson.com | Obituaries and Guest Books, from which I will briefly add:

Jim McNulty's civic activities were too numerous too mention. Among his favorites were Little League coach, the Tucson Literary Society, and the Board of the DeGrazia Foundation. His efforts on behalf of the Catholic Church, the Democratic Party, and the University of Arizona were unrelenting for half a century. His life was devoted to ensuring inclusiveness and opportunity, and protecting the least fortunate among us. He was devoted to his grandchildren, and he tried to inspire them and all of us to step up and make a difference in the lives of others, and to fearlessly tackle the great issues of the day.

A public Visitation, to which all are invited, will be held at CARRILLO'S TUCSON MORTUARY from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 2, 2009. A private burial will follow on Friday, July 3, 2009. A Memorial Mass will be held on July 18, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. at the San Augustine Cathedral, Bishop Kicanas presiding. His family recommends that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the University of Arizona Foundation's endowment. And they would encourage those who held his values dear to renew their own efforts to realize the promise that is America.

A lawyer friend of mine who knew Jim well offered to submit a more personal commentary on the passing of his friend, Jim McNulty. The following commentary is by Barry Kirschner, Esq.

Jim McNulty died June 30, 2009. Jim’s long career in the public spotlight included being Congressman from Tucson and southeastern Arizona after the creation of CD 5 in the 1980 census. Jim ran against Jim Kolbe, then a member of the Arizona Senate who had a large role in shaping the district he would compete in. McNulty surprised many persons with his victory over Kolbe.

Jim came to Arizona as a young man after high school success at Boston Latin, considered the finest public school in Boston. He ran for student body president at the University of Arizona and lost to Morris Udall. As Jim later wrote in his book, that was the last time he got on a team opposed to a Udall.

The first memory I have of Jim McNulty was May 1972 as Senator from Cochise County standing on the floor of the Arizona Senate to decry the impending passage of Arizona’s farm labor, or anti-farm labor, act. He spoke with conviction and a sense of fairness. He cared about working persons, including those who worked on the farms, were Hispanic, and were left out of helpful legislation like the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Years later Jim campaigned for the Democratic nomination to oppose Senator Barry Goldwater in 1980, losing the nomination to Bill Schulz. Southern Arizona Democrats worked hard in McNulty’s successful 1982 campaign for United States Congress against Jim Kolbe, and his loss in the Kolbe re-match of 1984. McNulty maximized his incumbency by working hard for his district in Congress. Kolbe, stunned by losing a race in a district he designed for victory, worked the district constantly while McNulty was in Washington. Changing demographics were kind to Kolbe. The growth areas in Sierra Vista and east Tucson tended Republican. The Phelps Dodge strike of 1983 tore apart small communities with reliable Democratic voting patterns in Cochise and Greenlee counties.

McNulty was a good man with an outstanding sense of humor. He was a faithful grandpa who would watch his granddaughter perform in the Tucson Girls Chorus. He was the adventurous elder statesmen who joined the Peace Corps after his 60th birthday. His family stayed active with him in Democratic causes. Son Michael has been instrumental in Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords campaign success in his father’s old district.

McNulty told me the story of riding in the Congressional elevator with some flag waving ultra-nationalist Congressman from the deep south. Jim was wearing a tie showing the flag of the Republic of Ireland, and a U.S. flag pin on his lapel. The Congressman asked Jim what the ”other” flag was. Jim told him that was the stars and stripes, the flag of the United States of America.

McNulty returned to practice law in Tucson in the late 1980s. His was a friendly face, a quick wit, and an endearing manner. He knew how to speak to children. He knew politics, history, Latin, and Broadway show tunes. He seemed to know everything Irish. He had an impish smile.

In 2004 shortly after Jim published his book Running Uphill, my father in law Bill Nixon was depressed and sick after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Bill knew Jim slightly, and knew many of the people referenced in Running Uphill. Jim wrote a brief but elegant inscription, to an honest newsman. Bill loved the book, and reading it helped get him out of his funk. I told this to Jim and he agreed to join Bill for lunch sometime.

Jim was a good man who touched many lives. If you haven’t done it already, buy Running Uphill. If you drink, have an Irish whiskey in his honor.

For those of you who plan to attend Drinking Liberally, raise a toast in honor of a good man, Jim McNulty.

Apocalypse averted . . . so now what?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse -- House Speaker Kirk Adams, Senate President Bob Burns, House Appropriations Committee chairman John Kavanagh, and Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Russell Pearce -- tried their best to destroy the state of Arizona. But they were thwarted (temporarily) by the veto stamp of the Accidental Governor -- who would herself be the Fifth Horseman (woman?) of the Apocalypse if only she met the height and weight requirements.

Some of this blog's readers who see the world in stark contrasts of only black and white have argued that "So what if the government of Arizona shuts down? Would anyone even notice?" In other words, if the epic failure of leadership of our Accidental Governor and the GOP insane clown posse leadership does not immediately result in an end of the world Apocalypse, "what's the problem?" When one can only view the world in terms of such extreme dichotomy, it is easy to make excuses for the lack of competency to govern and the lack of basic human decency, dare I say, empathy and compassion for one's fellow man.

Sen. Russell Pearce was recently quoted as saying that "women and children are not going to be dying in the streets" if Arizona's government has to shut down. You disturbingly make my point, Senator.

Arizona has averted a state government shut down (so far) only because of the creative use of the line-item veto by our Accidental Governor. But it will not last for long. How Government Avoided Shutdown This Morning:

After a frantic last night of the session, the state's 41,000 employees returned to work Wednesday. But with no budget signed, and no constitutional authority for them to work, many wondered how government was functioning.

* * *

State Treasurer Dean Martin said employees are working on "good faith" that Brewer would sign something today.

"There's a clause in the statutes that basically says you can operate in good faith," Martin said. "The governor has said she's going to sign all of this before the end of the business day; everyone is working on the good faith that she's going to sign it by the end of the day.

"If she doesn't, " he added, "Now you have a really interesting question."

(Continued) Brewer spares agencies with veto pen:

Gov. Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1188, the 2009-10 General Appropriations Act, allowing state government to operate this fiscal year. But she also used her veto pen to cross out large sections of the act, setting up a showdown at the Monday executive session.

Among the agencies spared significant cuts for the moment are the Department of Economic Security, the Department of Health Services and the Department of Environmental Quality.

"These agencies have already suffered significant across the board reductions over the last two years and are simply not in a position to sustain additional reductions without compromising their missions," Brewer wrote in a letter to Secretary of State explaining her vetoes. "While I recognize some reductions are in order, the magnitude of what has been sent to me, absent some counterbalancing measures, is an unacceptable hit to critical agencies."

Apocalypse averted ... so now what?

I am going to start calling the Accidental Governor by a new nickname, "Big Casino," because she is willing to gamble big by throwing a few children under the school bus now in the hope of obtaining more education funding for them out of the Legislature later. It's a new twist on the old "we had to destroy the village to save it" strategy.

Big Casino vetoed the entire K-12 school funding budget. She did it she said, because she wants lawmakers to lessen the cut — about $220 million in their approved package. Her line-item veto power did not allow her to change the figure. Redo budget, Brewer tells lawmakers

To gain leverage over the Legislature, Big Casino is willing to put at risk their sacred cow, charter school funding. With veto, Brewer seeks more K-12 cash:

Brewer's action gives lawmakers about two weeks to scramble together a new K-12 funding plan. On Wednesday, the state Treasurer's Office disbursed a $602 million payment to the public schools. That's money due to them from last year's state budget.

But a $300 million payment to the schools due July 15 can't be spent unless there is a budget. That could be especially harmful to 100,000 charter-school students, since charter schools don't have the authority to issue warrants, a form of IOU, to cover their spending, said Tom Horne, the state school superintendent.

"I want to reassure the public that the schools will keep operating," Horne said. "The more serious deadline is July 15. The charter schools are getting no money now."

Big Casino is demanding a temporary increase in the state sales tax to alleviate cuts to K-12 education, health and human services and public safety in the face of an at least $3 billion budget deficit. And she is willing to put charter school funding at risk on July 15 to get what she wants.

Big Casino is blatently disregarding the Republican Party's First Commandment: "No New Taxes," and she is willing to gore their sacred cow, charter schools, in order to get a sales tax increase for the "godless, Communist liberal" public schools in Arizona. That's some set of cajones.

Unfortunately, the compromise budget deal that Big Casino negotiated with the GOP insane clown posse leadership last month is just as bad as their original June 4 budget. It has already been rejected.

Big Casino's best and perhaps only option is to work with the Democrats using their budget plan as a starting point, make some concessions, and concentrate her efforts on strong-arming four GOP Senators and six GOP Representatives to pass the new budget (there are a number of legislators who are leaving office after this session, so Big Casino ought to be able to get the votes she needs). This plan is far more practical than trying to convince 16 GOP Senators and 31 GOP Representatives who have already told her "no" - 38 of whom have sworn their allegiance to their dark lord and master Grover Norquist not to vote for any tax increase.

The Democrats -- whom you have ignored up to now, Governor -- have offered to work with you to find a way out of this morass. I suggest that you accept their offer and negotiate with them in good faith.

NB: Russian painter Victor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov portrayed one of the Bible’s end-of-the-world events in his painting The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1887). According to the Bible’s Book of Revelation, the horsemen represent war, famine, pestilence, and death. The painting hangs in the Museum of Religion and Atheism in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Fool's Gold: the Goldwater Institute Civics Test

by David Safier
I posted yesterday about Matthew Ladner's poll showing that high school students don't know basic civics. I'm sure he's right, and I think schools should do better, but I gently accused him of playing "Ain't it awful?" with the data -- taking a pot shot at public schools by hyping a genuine finding.

Today, no more Mister Nice Guy. The survey is crap, and Ladner's reporting of it is crappier. It's typical of the worst kind of G.I. "research," where you take your information, look for the results you want and publish those as if they are gold plated findings.

Let's look at a few quotes from Tuesday's G.I. daily email, authored by Ladner.

The report "reveals only 3.5 percent of Arizona high school students have learned the basic history, government and geography necessary to pass the U.S. Citizenship test."

Note the precise figure: 3.5 percent.

"We hired a firm to interview 1,140 Arizona high school students and ask 10 questions drawn at random from the exam given to applicants for United States citizenship."

So, over a thousand high school students were surveyed, and only 3.5 percent of them could pass a U.S. Citizenship test.

This morning, the Star wrote about the survey in its editorial. It was a telephone survey. That means the students who took the test had to be home and willing to take the survey. They sat at home, out of school, probably no more than half interested in what they were being asked, and answered questions they had no stake in answering thoughtfully or correctly.

How seriously did they take their answers? When asked who was the first president, some answered, George Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Someone who has never met a teenager might think answers like that show the depth of their ignorance. Anyone who had spent five minutes with a teenager in the last year would know those are flippant, "I don't give a damn about your survey" answers. Matthew, no one -- no one -- believes Barack Obama is the first president of the U.S. Those students are putting you on.

What was the most popular answer to all the questions, according to the Star? "I don't know." That answer is a typical dodge. Any teacher knows the teenager is really saying, "I'm bored with this, and I don't want to think about it, and I'm not sure I know the right answer so I won't even try because I might embarrass myself. So get out of my face. Are we through yet?"

How different would the results have been if the students were chosen randomly, sat down in a room with pencil and paper and given some kind of incentive for answering correctly? I'm betting the scores would have been significantly higher,and nearly everyone would have put down "Washington" as the first president.

In the email, Ladner didn't mention it was a non-random phone survey. But he was perfectly happy to use a percentage-with-a-decimal-point number for the passage rate: 3.5%. That's simply intellectually dishonest. Not incorrect. Intellectually dishonest.

This is the kind of thing that infurates me about G.I. They have oodles of money, they do lots of research and studies, but when they come up with a result they like, no matter how questionable, they put it out there like it's nobel prize material. They never seem to ask themselves the kinds of questions any honest researcher or scholar asks: "Can I really use a precise figure like 3.5 percent on a non random survey conducted over the phone with disinterested teenagers? No, I'd better reveal my methodology and make my figures more approximate."

I began my Fool's Gold series when Ladner took his favorite $9,500 per student figure for Arizona, using expenses no one else includes, and compared it against other state's education spending figures, then concluded we were in the middle of the pack in per student educational funding. The assertion was so ridiculous, he eventually had to take it back. But he and G.I. continue to use the "shock and awe" method of releasing research findings. Take the most shocking numbers you can cook up, put them out there and stick with them.

You're basically a serious guy, Matthew, and as smart as you need to be. If you want to be thought of as something other than a propagandist, take what you write more seriously.

Tell Giffords you're for a public option

by David Safier
I just received Giffords' latest email. It has a one question health care survey: "For American's who are unhappy with their private insurance options, do you support the idea of a public option?"

[Dr. Word says, "That's 'Americans,' without the apostrophe!" Please ignore him, and he'll go away.]

I sent it in with a "Yes." If you don't get her email and want to let her know your opinion, the form is also online.

NOTE: If you want to call her local office and give her a more personalized and lengthy message, the number is (520) 881-3588.

Arizona Democratic Party Statement on Failed GOP Budget

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Democratic Party has issued a statement responding to the epic failure of leadership from Governor Jan Brewer and the Republican-dominated Legislature in failing to produce a reasonable state budget before July 1 for the first time in Arizona history. Here are the highlights:

Brewer's Failed Leadership Delivers a Budget Mess
Only Stop-Gap Measures Get Through; Serious Budget Problems Still Not Solved

After nearly a full six months in office, and even though the Legislature is controlled by members of her own party, Governor Jan Brewer couldn't pull it off.  As a result of her astounding lack of leadership, Arizona now has an even bigger mess on its hands - an incomplete budget, with absolutely no vision or timeline for a resolution.

 

This marks the opening of a disappointing chapter in Arizona's history.  Education funding remains in serious jeopardy; there is no long-term plan for public safety; we don't even know how much longer state parks will be able to operate. 

The Governor 's decision to veto multiple budget bills - apparently so she and the Legislature can enjoy a long holiday weekend while the state's business goes unfinished - is a gross abdication of her responsibility.  In a statement today, Brewer attempted to lay blame on the Legislature, but it is merely an attempt to pass the responsibility which lies squarely on her shoulders as the executive.

The seeds of the Governor's failure were planted early, and continued inaction made them grow to insurmountable heights as budget negotiations approached their final hours.

Brewer has known since last December that she would ascend to the Office of Governor.  In the time that has passed since then, she has repeatedly demonstrated her inadequate leadership, which has led her to irrelevance, and has led our state into a quagmire never seen in our 97-year history.

* * *

Even with a partial budget, it is unknown whether all critical services will be met without a complete budget. Governor Brewer is steering the state dangerously close to a government shutdown, all in the name of raising taxes on the middle-class.

"Governor Brewer's failed leadership has led us into a tenuous situation that could jeopardize our safety, and impact the lives of Arizonans who simply want a functioning government," said Arizona Democratic Party spokesman Jeff Stapleton. "Brewer is haplessly trying to say the state will be in good hands over the next few days. Average Arizonans are not fooled, they understand the terms, 'balanced budget' and 'on-time', neither of which the Governor could deliver. Democrats should be brought to the table immediately for serious budget discussions to end this embarrassment. Democratic Lawmakers have stood ready with solutions all session, they can deliver if given the opportunity," said Stapleton.

The Accidental Governor vetos the GOP Legislative budget

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Well that didn't take long. The Accidental Governor, Jan Brewer, has issued a strongly worded press release announcing her veto of the GOP legislative budget and calling for a Special Session (beginning Monday):

Arizona Legislature Fails to Provide Timely, Responsible Budget

I am deeply disappointed to report to the people of Arizona that the Legislature has been unable to send me a responsible budget plan. While Senate President Bob Burns and House Speaker Kirk Adams have worked with tremendous effort and diligence to reach a reasonable compromise with my proposal, regrettably, those efforts have fallen short.

As a result, I received early this morning a fatally flawed legislative budget. The legislative budget ignores my consistently expressed goals and instead incorporates devastating cuts to education, public safety, and our state's most vital health services for the frail. In particular, this package of bills is shortsighted, in that it sets up an enormous revenue shortfall that will severely harm our State's future.

Therefore, I have carefully and selectively chosen to line-item veto portions of the legislation which allows me to add back funds for vital services and public safety so those critical programs are unaffected. Additionally, due to my actions today, state government services will continue to function. Imrpovements in education funding, however, will require significantly more legislative work.

As Governor, I intend to see this through until we achieve together what I have long advocated - a prudent budget that neither over-spends nor under-funds. To ensure that happens, I am calling a Special Session of the Legislature and I ask that legislators re-dedicate themselves in a bi-partisan fashion to crafting a budget that reflects favorably o the futue of Arizona.

Kendra Leiby of the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence wrote in an e-mail that:

Governor Brewer line-item vetoed SB1188, the general appropriations feed bill, calling it "fatally flawed." Among those line-item vetoes were lump sum reductions to DES, DHS, DEQ, and Universities. She also vetoed the appropriation to K-12 funding because she perceives it as significantly underfunded, and the portions allocating federal stimulus dollars, as appropriating those funds is not within the authority of the Legislature

She also vetoed 8 trailer bills that were intended to be "fixes" to SB1188-- bills related to criminal justice funding, higher education and K-12 funding, state assets, general government funding, state revenue, health and welfare funding, and environmental funding. Because she chose to line-item SB1188 and veto the trailer bills, government will continue to operate, but legislators must return to reconcile the FY10 budget in a Special Session called for Monday 1:00 p.m.

The East Valley Tribune's Le Templar blog adds a little more detail Brewer vetoes most of budget, calls lawmakers back (emphasis mine):

UPDATE: In reading through the governor’s official veto messages, it appears what Brewer really did was line-item veto much of the $630 million in budget cuts approved by Republicans in the Legislature. That’s puts the budget further out of balance, at least until she reaches some kind of deal with the Legislature.

This move is intended to pressure on conservatives who refused to vote for the proposed statewide sales tax election. The budget deficit will keep growing every day until those cuts are restored or new sources of revenue are found.

Looks like we are back to square one with no state budget. If the Grover Norquist "no new taxes" pledge Republicans continue to swear allegiance to their dark lord and master this may take some time, and a partial government shutdown remains possible as both sides jockey for political advantage. This GOP civil war may inflict collateral damage on all Arizonans.

When Republicans run for political office they like to say that government doesn't work, and "if you elect me to office I'll prove it." They most certainly have, in spades. You would never hire someone to work for your business if they told you that they will make your business fail, would you? That would be crazy. And yet, people continue to vote for and elect these incompetent, irresponsible ideologues to office.

Enough is enough. It is time for Arizonans to finally come to their senses and tell Republicans "You're fired!"

The state legislature telling Tucson . . .

by David Safier
The state legislature telling Tucson how to run its government is like Mark Sanford teaching "abstinence only."

High school civics

by David Safier
Friend of the blog and Goldwater Institute guy Matthew Ladner put out a scathing indictment of the way we teach, or don't teach, civics in schools, which Rhonda Bodfield at the Star picked up this morning. The basic story is, high schools students can't pass a U.S. citizenship test.

I won't fall into the trap of trying to defend schools by saying it's fine students don't know very much. I want schools to be much, much better and students to know and understand much, much more. But Ladner is playing the game, "Ain't it awful?" Students don't know as much as they should know about this country. Therefore, he implies, schools suck. Ain't it awful?

Ladner suggests we teach civics in high schools. Good idea, I guess. In my 30 years teaching high school, I saw civics come and go, then come back as Government class, then go away again. When we have it, someone decides we don't need it as much as we need something else. When we don't have it, someone decides we need it again. Same with Personal Finance. Same with Sophomore Goals or Planning for the Future. When we don't have the classes, we create them. When we have them, we don't think they're worth very much.

I agree, Civics is more fundamental than Personal Finance -- though right now, I think it would be better for people to understand how credit cards and payday loans work than know the branches of government. But civics has been pushed aside to make room for other classes. A pity, but it happens. What should we push aside so we can teach Civics?

Students at charter schools and private schools, by the way, did better on the citizenship test, but still didn't do very well. (I have no idea how the schools or the students were selected, so I don't know how valid the public/charter/private comparisons are). So public schools aren't alone.

The bottom line is, kids today just don't know as much as we want them to know. They never have, and they never will.

Did you know, for example, that the National Association of Manufacturers said 40% of high school grads can't do simple arithmetic or use English accurately? Oh, I forgot to mention. The Association said that in 1927.

A 1921 report said army recruits know how to read and write but can't understand simple reading material.

We haven't been teaching "Western culture which produced the modern democratic state" for the past 50 years. So said Walter Lippmann, in 1940. His complaint takes us all the way back to 1890.

A year later, the president of University of Chicago didn't think our youth had the necessary background to participate in a democracy.

"Dope peddlers infest our high schools." That's from a government antidrug agency in the 1930s.

[These bits of information are from a 2001 NY Times column which, amazingly, is still out there on the web.]

And so on. The younger generation is always a failure. Always has been. Always will be. And when they grow up, they'll call the next generation a failure. "When I was a boy, we didn't have all them fancy things like you spoiled kids today. Brain implants? Not us! We had to make do with Ipods and video game machines. But you know what? It made us tough. And we liked it that way!"

Even the best schools are selective about what they teach. Sometimes concepts are sacrificed for facts, sometimes facts for concepts. At bad schools, both are often sacrificed. No matter how you slice it, young folks never know as much as we want them to know, even the best and the brightest.

I'm trying to take myself back to the high school student I was as a junior in 1963 and imagine myself taking the 10 question test Ladner used. By most every standard, I was one of the best and the brightest at an excellent school. Yet I can see myself missing 4 of the 10 questions, which means I would have gotten a "barely passing" 6.

Ladner took advantage of the upcoming 4th of July to take a few digs at our public schools. That's his right, and he makes a point that is kinda worth making. But in the grand scheme of all things educational, it's not a hugely important point.

Sine Die (Special Session to Follow Governor's Vetos)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Rep. Steve Farley (D-Tucson) reports:

[The House has] adjourned the session sine die. This session is history -- the kind of history that you are condemned to repeat if you don't remember.

Over in the Senate, they managed to defeat the Clean Elections bill which may well lead to the end of Clean Elections in Arizona, once the final ruling is delivered by a federal judge who is likely to get rid of matching funds for participating candidates. That may be awfully technical, but the bottom line is that Clean Elections will no longer be a viable option for most candidates.

While this was going on, the Senate and House finally transmitted all the budget bills to the Governor around 6am, and she immediately set about vetoing budget bills, with some combination of line-item and full vetos. However, the Senate did not want the vetoed bills delivered, or else a new bill would have had to be delivered to her immediately.

To guard against this possibility, they locked the Senate doors briefly while debate continued on the Clean Elections bill. Once that bill was defeated, Sine Die was declared, and the session ended.

Many things are still not clear. What exactly has/will Governor Brewer veto? Will we have to come back in special session, perhaps as early as this morning? Will there be continuing resolutions? What's happening in the outside world as state employees arrive for work and government is shut down? Is government shut down?  Right now, no one knows at any level of government.

We'll find out soon. If we are in session by next Tuesday, I will do another Farley report to let you know.

Epic Fail: First Arizona Governor and Legislature to Fail to Produce a Budget Before July 1; Partial Government Shutdown Remains a Possibility

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Legislative leaders had to turn off the clocks in the legislative chambers last night to maintain the fiction that they had completed a budget before midnight on June 30. Just how stupid are these guys? They do not have a budget until the governor agrees to sign it, and the budget bills were not transmitted by both chambers to the governor until early this morning. The buzzer sounds, game over -- you guys blew the deadline. It's July 1 and Arizona still has no budget.

The legislature blew up the compromise budget deal agreed to by the GOP insane clown posse leadership and the Accidental Governor last week. The Republicans managed to pass nine spending bills that modified the June 4 GOP budget to give the governor some of what she wanted on mostly party-line votes. But the lynchpin of the compromise budget deal -- the 1% sales tax increase to be referred to the voters in a special election -- failed. The eleventh-hour and ill-conceived "flat tax" income tax proposal also failed. Brewer, lawmakers bust budget deadline

This was an epic failure of GOP leadership. "The fact that their leaders accepted the package held no water for many lawmakers." Time to get yourself some new leaders.

"I didn't agree to a deal,'' said Rep. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson.

As of late Tuesday, a consensus was building among GOP lawmakers to send the governor the spending bills ‑ but not the referral of the tax hike to the ballot. The House took the first steps, giving those bills preliminary approval.

Brewer refused to say what she would do if only the spending bills reached her desk, saying only she remained confident there would be a meeting of the minds.

She also would not answer questions about whether she believes the legislative leaders who negotiated the deal with her acted in bad faith by failing to produce the necessary votes.

The ball is now in your court, Governor. Legislature approves budget plan; Brewer's stance unclear:

The Legislature's passage of a budget presents several likely outcomes:

• Brewer could veto the budget bills and leave the government without spending authority as the new fiscal year begins today. That could cause at least a partial shutdown and force lawmakers to come back to the Capitol to negotiate once more, perhaps as early as today.

• Brewer could sign the budget but issue line-item vetoes on specific provisions to which she objects.

• The governor could allow the budget to become law without her signature. That would keep government operating, but with a budget Brewer has said would decimate education and human services.

• Brewer could veto the budget but then work with lawmakers to push through an emergency-funding resolution, allowing limited government services to continue temporarily while debate goes on.

The Arizona Guardian (subscription required) reported this morning that Gov. Jan Brewer was expected to swiftly scrap the legislation by vetoing all but one of the bills, sources familiar with the governor's thinking told the Guardian. Brewer is expected leave enough of the plan intact to keep essential services running.

The governor is likely to order the Legislature into a special session to take another stab at the budget.

BREAKING: It appears the Accidental Governor is going to stick to her guns and fight for her 1% sales tax increase to be referred to the voters in a special election. Both the Arizona Guardian and the Political Insider blog are reporting that the Accidental Governor may have used her veto stamp:

One of the strangest legislative sessions in recent memory was capped Wednesday morning as Senate security, at the order of Republican staff, locked down the Senate building - apparently in an attempt to prevent the Governor's Office from delivering a series of budget vetoes.

"We prefer not to get veto letters this morning," Senate Republican counsel Greg Jernigan told reporters when asked about the locked doors.

He offered no further explanation, though it would seem that lawmakers were hoping to adjourn the session and leave the Capitol before Gov. Jan Brewer was able to veto their state-budget plan and call them into special session.

The plan to bar gubernatorial staff looked to be foiled, however, as Brewer's deputy chief of staff, Richard Bark, was spotted strolling the Senate hallways even as the building's front doors were locked.

Soon after reporters began asking questions about the locked doors, security had them unlocked once more.

Looks like we may be teeing it up and going into overtime, boys and girls. This Republican governor and Republican-dominated legislature will now forever hold the title of being the first in Arizona history to fail to produce a budget before July 1. And they still have the chance to lay claim to the title of being the first in Arizona history to be responsible for a partial government shutdown.