Blog For Arizona

Breaking: Congressman Ed Pastor to retire from Congress

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Arizona's senior member of Congress, Ed Pastor, announced today that he is retiring from Congress. Thank you for your years of service, Ed.

After 23 years in Congress serving the people of Arizona, I have decided that I will not seek re-election this year. It has been a great honor and experience, but it is time for me to close this chapter of my life and start a new one.

I want to thank everyone who has assisted me and supported me throughout my career. Thank you very much for all of your support.

-Ed Pastor

CBO scores GOP health care alternative to 'Obamacare'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tea-Publicans are not serious about public policy. Everything they propose turns out to be a disaster.

A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report (.pdf) scoring the GOP health care alternative to 'Obamacare' finds that it would reduce the number of people receiving employer-based coverage, increase dependence on government-sponsored health care, and raise the national deficit.

Think Progress reports, GOP’s Own Health Care Bill Will Lead 1 Million To Lose Employer-Sponsored Insurance:

The proposal, which Republicans voted for in the House Ways and Means Committee earlier this month, would alter the definition of full time employment under the Affordable Care Act from 30 hours a week to 40 hours a week and exempt more businesses from penalties for not offering employer-based insurance or lower the overall penalty burden. Under existing law, employers with more than 50 workers pay a penalty if their full-time employees (defined as working an average of 30 hours a week) receive subsidized coverage in the law’s health care exchanges.

"Unbought & Unbossed" documentary about former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm on February 25

Posted by Carolyn Classen

As part of Black History Month, the Black Women's Task Force is sponsored a documentary about the late Congresswoman Chisholm.

Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to Congress in 1968, representing New York state's 12th CD. She served for 7 terms from 1969 to 1983.  In 1972 she ran for U.S. President, and received 152 votes at the Democratic National Convention in Miami, Florida. Asian American Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink from Hawaii also ran in that 1972 race for President.

Documentary will be shown on Feb. 25, 6 p.m. at the YWCA on Bonita Ave, west of the I-10.

 

Sen. John McCain and his fawning media base

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Grampy McCrankypants, Sen. John McCain, has a sad that the U.S. has not gone to war lately with  (insert country name here)  , because the man has never met a war he did not like. McCain knows nothing about foreign affairs, yet the media villagers hang on his every word as though his thoughts are worth listening to. Paul Waldman at The American Prospect dispels the media myth of John McCain in John McCain Says Ignorant, Belligerent Things; Press Swoons:

I'll admit that I know next to nothing about Ukrainian politics. And when it comes to the current crisis there, I don't have any brilliant ideas about how the United States could solve this problem, but that's partly because the United States probably can't solve this problem. My limited knowledge and lack of transformative ideas puts me on equal footing with John McCain. Yet for some reason, McCain is once again all over the news, now that the situation in Kiev[.]

What does McCain actually think we should do about Ukraine? We'll get to that in a moment. But if you had to sum up John McCain's foreign policy beliefs in a single word, that word would probably be "Grrrr!" Whatever the situation is, McCain's view is always that we should be tougher than whatever the White House is doing. This applies to both Republican and Democratic presidents. If we're already bombing somebody, McCain's answer to any challenge is that we should bomb harder. If we haven't yet commenced action but are seriously thinking about it, he thinks we should start bombing. If we're engaging in diplomacy, McCain thinks we should ditch all that talk, which is for pussies anyhow, and get "tough" with whoever it is that needs getting tough with.

That is, I promise you, the extent of the sophistication of McCain's foreign policy thinking. Despite the fact that he is regularly lauded by the reporters who have worshipped him for so long as an "expert" in foreign policy with deep "knowledge" and "experience," I have never heard him say a single thing that demonstrated any kind of understanding of any foreign country or foreign crisis beyond what you could have gleaned from watching a three-minute report on the Today show.

Amicus brief urges U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

During yesterday's House debate of the Religious Bigotry bill, Tea-Publicans made several references to the Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (13-354) case, which the U.S. Supreme Court will hear with the Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius (13-356) case in oral arguments scheduled for March 25, 2014.

Issue: Whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000bb et seq., which provides that the government “shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” unless that burden is the least restrictive means to further a compelling governmental interest, allows a for-profit corporation to deny its employees the health coverage of contraceptives to which the employees are otherwise entitled by federal law, based on the religious objections of the corporation’s owners.

Tea-Publicans wielded "RFRA" like a sword in their arguments in favor of their Religious Bigotry bill.

Well, this amicus brief filed in these cases should cause their self-righteous hypocrite butts to pucker. Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog.com writes, Bold challenge to a law on religion:

Arguing that Congress has gone too far to push aside the Supreme Court’s constitutional role in religion cases, a loose coalition of child welfare organizations, survivors of clergy child sexual abuse, and non-believers has urged the Justices to strike down the Religious Freedom Restoration Act when it rules on a new dispute over the federal health care law.

The amicus brief, written by a prominent academic authority on religion and the law, Cardozo Law School’s Marci A. Hamilton, seeks to add a bold new dimension to the Court’s review of the Affordable Care Act’s “contraception mandate.”

Raising the minimum wage 'has little or no discernible effect on the employment prospects of low-wage workers'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Here we go again . . .

The headline in the New York Times this morning: Minimum Wage Increase Would Have Mixed Effects, C.B.O. Report Says.

The headline in the Washington Post this morning: Minimum-wage hike could kill 500,000 jobs, CBO reports.

Note that the corporate media did not lead with the good news contained in the CBO report about an increase in the minimum wage. What Really Happens When You Raise The Minimum Wage:

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a new report on Tuesday on the impacts of raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and $9 an hour. It found that a $10.10 minimum wage, implemented by 2016, would mean higher earnings for 16.5 million workers, resulting in $31 billion more in higher earnings. It would also lift nearly 1 million people out of poverty.

* * *

“Once the increases and decreases in income for all workers are taken into account, overall real income would rise by $2 billion,” it says. The vast majority of people impacted, over 95 percent, will be impacted positively.

Tea-Publicans were ecstatic that the CBO report also said "the $10.10 option would reduce total employment by about 500,000 workers, or 0.3 percent.” Always with the negative waves, Moriarty.

Tea-Publicans want Americans to continue to earn sub-poverty level wages at the hands of exploitative  employers, because "Freedom!" (Some Tea-Publicans around the country have even proposed eliminating the minimum wage altogether). I would remind you that failed GOP economic policies have eliminated millions of jobs since 2000.

Putting party politics before country in the era of GOP post-policy nihilism

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It is well documented that the current 113th Congress is by far and away the "less-than-do-nothing Congress," surpassing its previous low-water mark in the 112th Congress for lack of legislative achievements in addressing the pressing needs of the American people. The TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, has cemented his status in American history as the "Worst. Speaker. Ever."

The lack of response to the pressing needs of the American people by this Tea-Publican controlled Congress is not a bug but a feature. As Greg Sargent said last year, "a number of us on the left have been arguing that the GOP seems to be in the grip of a kind of “post-policy nihilism,” in which Republicans are no longer being guided by any real policy “asks,” and instead are chronically positioning themselves only in opposition to the president."

“[W]hat you’re seeing clearly demonstrated here is a kind of policy nihilism on the part of the GOP that helps explain why addressing the country’s problems has become all but impossible.”

Dave Weigel at Slate said "Call it Nihilist Populism: connecting with voters on the belief that government can't really do anything well, and that their mistrust is well-earned, and then prioritizing bills that make this statement over bills that can pass."

ALEC's stealth constitutional convention

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Craig McDermott has posted about this previously, The AZLege's Black Helicopter Caucus wants a Constitutional Convention. Just the wrong kind., as have I. The Teabaggers want a Constitutional Convention.

Today the East Valley Tribune published its wingnut editorial contributor Tom Patterson extolling the virtues of a "compact" among states calling for a Constitutional Convention for the purpose of a balanced budget amendment. Patterson: Compact for America could be answer to our nation’s despair. Oy.

First of all, this latest right-wing gimmick is a product of the "Kochtopus" organization ALEC. the Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch reports, Wisconsin Moving to Advance ALEC Constitutional Convention Scheme:

ALEC's Stealth Convention

"AJR 81 comes right out of the 'Convention of States' workshop and materials presented at ALEC where state legislators were promised bundled campaign contributions and grassroots support if they joined this effort to amend the federal constitution," said Rep. Chris Taylor, a Madison Democrat who attended ALEC's Annual Meeting in Chicago last summer, in a statement. "I am alarmed that this effort is now making its way through the Wisconsin legislature and is tentatively scheduled to be considered by the full Assembly next Tuesday."

AZ Reps. Grijalva and Barber Back Extension of ERA Ratification Deadline

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has received bipartisan support in the Arizona Legislature, but Arizona's Congressional delegation appears to be lagging behind. Of Arizona's 11 Senators and Representatives, only two--  Southern Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva (D- CD3) and Ron Barber (D- CD2)-- have signed on to co-sponsor legislation to remove the ERA's ratification deadline.

There are two Congressional bills to remove the ratification deadline. In the House, HJ Res 43 has 104 cosponsors (including Grijalva and Barber), and in the Senate, SJ Res 15 has 34 cosponsors.

The ERA was introduced during every Congressional session between 1923 (when it was originally proposed) and 1972. It finally passed Congress nearly 70 years after it was originally introduced. In the 1970s, there was a ground war at the state level to get 38 state legislatures to ratify the ERA in order for it to become a Constitutional Amendment. The ERA fell 3 states short of ratification; Arizona is one of a handful of states that never ratified the ERA. (Contact and Twitter info for Arizona's Congressional delegation after the jump.)

HCR2016 ERA Ratification Bill Languishes on Speaker Tobin's Desk

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Tucson Rep. Victoria Steele has introduced two bipartisan bills to advance the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the Arizona Legislature. One has made it to committee, while the other is waiting on Speaker of the House Andy Tobin's desk.

HCR2016 is a bill to ratify the ERA. Although ERA ratification has 22 sponsors, including four Republicans, it hasn't made it "out of the gate" yet. According to an aid in Steele's office, HCR2016 hasn't had a "first read" yet. Bills are read first by Speaker Tobin, who determines committee assignments. If a bill is never assigned to a committee, it is dead in the water. (HB2016 text here.)

HCM2006 is a memorandum to the federal government asking that the ratification deadline be extended. HCM2006 has 19 sponsors, including two Republicans. The bill has been assigned to the Federalism and Fiscal Responsibility Committee (FFR) but hasn't made it on the committee's agenda... yet. (More about the committee here. HCM2006 text here.)

Bills can be killed in multiple ways: they can be voted down in committee, voted down by the Legislature, or just plain ignored by the Speaker or the committee chair. Although it's early in the session, it appears as if the ERA bills are being ignored-- even though the ERA has bipartisan support in the Legislature and broad, popular support among the majority of Americans. (Sponsor list after the jump.)

GOP Crazyland: Tea-Publicans stalked by 'unrepresentative one'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

For movie buffs, this sounds like the plot to When a Stranger Calls (1979 film).

The Calls Are Coming from Inside the House! Literally.

A group of House Republicans has received a mysterious threat in recent weeks: an anonymous email that promises political retribution for those who for vote yes to a debt-limit increase — sent to their closely guarded personal email addresses. Someone’s Been Sending GOP Lawmakers A Bizarre Threat Over The Debt Ceiling:

Because of the near-secret nature of lawmakers’ internal email addresses, the emails have raised more than a few eyebrows — and the possibility that one of their own was behind, or at least assisting in the attacks.

* * *

“It’s got to be another member. Probably one of the crazy ones,” said a Republican who had seen the email, which was sent from an anonymous email address, [email protected].

Wait, "one of the crazy ones"? That doesn't narrow things down at all!

Ted 'Calgary' Cruz filibuster fizzles - Senate approves clean debt ceiling increase

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Remember last fall when Sen. Joe McCarthy Ted "Calgary" Cruz (R-TX) had the Tea-Publicans in Congress all riled up with his demagoguery for a government shutdown over the federal debt ceiling?

That was then, this is now. After being led into a blind alley once by this reckless demagogue, nobody was going to march to his tune again.

After the House passed a "clean" debt ceiling increase on Tuesday, Teddy Calgary promised he would filibuster it in the Senate. "I will demand a 60 vote threshhold!"

Today, the Senate GOP leadership demonstrated they no longer fear this has-been teabagger idol. McConnell, Cornyn Vote To Advance Clean Debt Limit Hike:

The Senate on Wednesday voted 67-31 to break a filibuster and advance a "clean" debt limit hike, which the House passed a day earlier.

Shockingly, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) [provided the final] votes for cloture. Both are up for re-election and were widely expected to vote against the procedural motion. [Soon after, a half dozen other Republicans joined the two leaders.]

Boehner raises the white flag - President Obama and Democrats get 'clean' debt ceiling increase

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last week, Rep. Patrick J. Tiberi (R-Ohio) was quoted as saying, “Right now, Jesus himself couldn’t be the speaker and get 218 Republicans behind something, so I think Speaker Boehner is trying his best to come up with a plan that can get close to that.”

As I predicted last week, the TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, raised the white flag on the latest GOP debt ceiling hostage taking. The Tea-Publican economic terrorists could not agree on what they wanted to take hostage this time, so the TanMan this monring said "Fuck it! We're going with a clean debt ceiling bill." (Yes he does speak this way off the record). GOP leaders will bring up ‘clean’ debt-ceiling bill.

For debt-limit deniers, the answer is always ‘No.’ Sen. Joe McCarthy Ted "Calgary" Cruz (R-TX), who apparently believes he is Speaker of the House, wanted another debt ceiling showdown. Cruz: ‘Clean’ debt ceiling hike ‘irresponsible’. Boehner blew off the blowhard demagogue this time.

Today the House approved a debt limit increase with most Republicans voting for default:

The House of Representatives has raised the debt limit on a vote of 221-201, avoiding the economic catastrophe that would have resulted if the United States had been forced to default on its debt. All but two Democrats voted for the measure. They were joined by 199 Republicans who favored default. [Only 28 Republicans voted yes.]

UPDATE: Reps. John Barrow (D-Ga.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah), who is retiring, voted no. Initially Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), who is also retiring, also voted no, but switched his vote.

E.J. Dionne on the failure of conservative economics

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Conservative economics is taking the ass-whooping it so richly deserves today. First Paul Krugman, now E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post weighs in. An economic school has led to gridlock in Washington:

One of my favorite moments during the 2012 Republican presidential contest came when Ron Paul, fresh from his strong showing in Iowa, triumphantly told his supporters: “We’re all Austrians now!”

* * *

Of course those in the know, particularly Ron Paul’s enthusiasts, understood the libertarian presidential candidate’s reference: that Americans were rejecting the economic ideas of John Maynard Keynes that encouraged government intervention and provided intellectual ballast for the New Deal. Instead, they were coming around to the principles of the anti-government economics of Austrians Friedrich A. Hayek and Ludwig von Mises.

Krugman on the GOP's ideological indifference to evidence

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Paul Krugman of the New York Times gets right to the heart of the matter today, Writing Off the Unemployed:

[I]t’s difficult to find a better example of the hardhearted, softheaded nature of today’s G.O.P. than what happened last week, as Senate Republicans once again used the filibuster to block aid to the long-term unemployed.

What do we know about long-term unemployment in America?

First, it’s still at near-record levels. Historically, the long-term unemployed — those out of work for 27 weeks or more — have usually been between 10 and 20 percent of total unemployment. Today the number is 35.8 percent. Yet extended unemployment benefits, which went into effect in 2008, have now been allowed to lapse. As a result, few of the long-term unemployed are receiving any kind of support.

The Teabaggers want a Constitutional Convention

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Your presence is requested. For those of you who have signed up for a legislative account to submit testimony online, now's your chance.

There's more GOP batshit crazy on Tuesday when the Teabaggers meet in the ironically named House Federalism, and Fiscal Responsibility Committee, Agenda (.pdf), in Room HHR 1 at 2:00 p.m.

Yowsa! The Teabaggers want a Constitutional Convention so they can discard the U.S. Constitution and start all over, because that is what happened the last time we did this in 1787 to rewrite the Articles of Confederation. I always find it amusing that the very people who like to call themselves "constitutional conservatives" are so hellbent on wanting to rewrite the U.S. Constitution (many of them much prefer the Articles of Confederation -- states rights!)

HCR 2017 (.pdf) is an "application for an Article V Convention to propose amendments to the United States (U.S.) Constitution." And what is it that the Teabaggers want?

• Impose fiscal restraints on the federal government;
• Limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and
• Limit the terms of office for officials of the federal government.

HCR 2017 (.pdf) calls for a balanced budget amendment, one of the most ignorant proposals of all time. It would mean (a) eliminating almost all government programs, even curtailing national defense and (b) everyone paying higher taxes. God forbid we have a national emergency like a major natural disaster or a war.

The place where illusions shattered and dreams died

By Karl Reiner

In Northern Virginia outside of Washington, DC, the stream valley of Little Rocky Run near U.S. Route 29 and the historic village of Centreville located on the plateau to the stream's west played a crucial role in the early days of the Civil War. It is the place where the dreams and illusions of a divided nation, presidents and soldiers began to disintegrate. Today, less than 40 miles down the road, the fragmented U.S. Congress fritters away time sidestepping issues as it unthinkingly ignores the lessons so painfully learned in the past.

The United States had cracked apart due to a complex series of issues involving the growing industrial power of the North, the shifting of the balance of political power in Congress from South to North and the increasingly toxic issues of abolition and slavery. After Abraham Lincoln, an attorney expert in the emerging field of railroad law, won the presidential election of 1860, the planter class of the South decided to quit the Union. The result was a war that nearly everyone in the North and South expected to be inexpensive, glorious, short and decisive.

January job numbers reflect GOP austerity measures

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Steve Benen has his monthly break down of the job numbers for January. Jobs report underwhelms again:

The good news is, U.S. job growth picked up in January following December’s awful totals. The bad news is, that’s not saying much.

The new report from Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the U.S. economy added 113,000 jobs in January, well below economists’ expectations. The unemployment rate dropped to 6.6% – its lowest point since October 2008 – but that’s cold comfort given the overall data, and is likely affected by congressional Republicans’ decision to cut off jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.

As is often the case, there was also a sizable gap between the public and private sectors – in January, businesses added 142,000 jobs, while spending cuts forced 29,000 government job losses.

This report, like the one before it, offer yet another reminder to policymakers that the economic recovery is far from robust. For GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill to forfeit 200,000 jobs this year by failing to extend jobless aid – or worse, threaten deliberate harm through another debt-ceiling crisis – only makes it harder for the economy to get to where it needs to be.

A party built upon a foundation of lies

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Remember the $700 billion lie that will not die (up fro $500 billion in 2010) about "cuts" to Medicare, even after every media fact check organization in America rated the GOP claim a "pants on fire" lie repeatedly since 2010? NRCC's 'pants on fire' - the $700 billion lie that will not die returns. Expect to see this lie return in 2014.

This week it was the epic media fail on the CBO report that GOPropagandists tweeted and retweeted: Obamacare to mean 2 million fewer workers. Corporate 'lamestream' media fail on CBO reports. Even the GOP-friendly AP (All Propaganda) has fact-checked this lie, Anti-Obamacare chorus on job losses is off key, as has the GOP-friendly FactCheck.org. The ACA: Losing Jobs vs. Choosing Not to Work - FactCheck.org.

One would think the GOP would simply admit to making an error, as Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) did on Wednesday, Paul Ryan has momentary lapse into truthfulness, and say "my bad, it won't happen again."

Oh, you would be so wrong.

Senate GOP to punish the unemployed, will filibuster unemployment insurance extension

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a test vote on Thursday to extend long-term unemployment insurance benefits after having rejected Republican requests that they be allowed to propose a number of "poison pill" amendments to the Democratic bill. Reid sets up test vote on jobless aid:

Democrats controlling the Senate have set up a test vote on Thursday for the party’s new plan to extend unemployment benefits for people who have been out of work for more than six months.

The latest plan would extend long-term jobless benefits for three months at a cost of almost $7 billion, paid for by a tweak to pension law that Republicans call a gimmick.

Democrats don’t expect the measure to get enough GOP support to overcome a filibuster threshold of 60 votes. Democrats control the Senate with 55 votes and so far expect just three Republicans to join with them. They are Susan Collins of Maine, Dean Heller of Nevada and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

I would encourage you to call our senators, but we all know how these two losers will vote. By the way, in a real democracy without the tyranny of the minority engaging in obstruction and filibuster, this bill would have already passed the Senate.

Let's be Clear: House Tea-Publicans killed immigration reform

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The AP headline in the The Arizona Republic and Arizona Daily Star this morning makes it clear: House conservatives rule out immigration this year:

Conservative Republicans on Wednesday ruled out any immigration legislation in the House this year, insisting that the GOP should wait until next year when the party might also control the Senate.

House GOP leaders unveiled their broad immigration principles last week that gave hope to advocates and the Obama administration that the first changes in the nation’s laws in three decades might happen in the coming months.

Immigration legislation is one of the top priorities for Obama’s second term.

But several of the conservatives were adamant that the House should do nothing on the issue this year, a midterm election year when the GOP is angling to gain six seats in the Senate and seize majority control. Democrats currently have a 55-45 advantage but are defending more seats, including ones in Republican-leaning states.

“I think it’s a mistake for us to have an internal battle in the Republican Party this year about immigration reform,” Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, told reporters at a gathering of conservatives. “I think when we take back the Senate in 2014 one of the first things we should do next year after we do certain economic issues, I think we should address the immigration issue.”

Labrador’s comments were noteworthy as he was one of eight House members working on bipartisan immigration legislation last year. He later abandoned the negotiations.

Corporate 'lamestream' media fail on CBO reports

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tea-Publicans in Congress were tripping all over themselves to get to a microphone on Tuesday to trumpet a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that the conservative media entertainment complex, and its enablers in the corporate "lamestream" media either did not read or purposefully misrepresented with headlines like this in the Washington Post: CBO: Health law to mean 2 million fewer workers.

After initially blowing the story, the Washington Post at least did an admirable job of walking it back. It's media critic Eric Wemple wrote, The media’s massive revisions on CBO-Obamacare story:

The [Washington Post’s "Fact Checker"] Glenn Kessler today published a fact-checking post breaking some news: No, he wrote, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) never, ever reported that Obamacare would somehow or other kill more than 2 million U.S. jobs.

Okay, to say that Kessler broke this news is a rhetorical exaggeration to highlight the point that many-o-many media outlets misconstrued the CBO findings. For a while this morning, the Internet was hopping with job-killing hype, when in fact the truth was vastly different. Obamacare’s impact, the CBO concluded, would lessen the supply of labor by encouraging certain folks not to work: “The estimated reduction stems almost entirely from a net decline in the amount of labor that workers choose to supply, rather than from a net drop in businesses’ demand for labor, so it will appear almost entirely as a reduction in labor force participation and in hours worked. . . .”

For someone approaching retirement, notes Kessler, Obamacare could well mean that they needn’t hold onto a bad job just to keep health insurance. That’s a far different dynamic from job-killing.

Boehner raises the white flag on the latest GOP debt ceiling hostage taking

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Have Tea-Publicans finally learned their lesson about taking America hostage and threatening to default on the national debt and destroying the economy every few months? Or is it just because this is an election year and "once burned, twice shy?" (A new CNN poll finds that 54 percent would blame Republicans if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, versus 29 percent who would blame Obama. Independents would blame the GOP by 49-30.)

Following a meeting with his GOP caucus today, the TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, raised the white flag on the latest GOP debt ceiling hostage taking. Steve Benen writes, A half-hearted hostage strategy unravels:

Just last year, the Speaker was eager to push the so-called "Boehner Rule" on spending cuts, all while proclaiming that there was simply no way his caucus would approve a clean increase the way he and other GOP colleagues used to.

All of that posturing has been replaced with a more circumspect approach.

Just days away from the administration's deadline to extend the nation's borrowing authority, Speaker John A. Boehner told House Republicans he sees no reason to pick a fight they cannot win on the issue.

"There's no sense picking a fight we can't win," the Ohio Republican told members in a private conference meeting, according to sources in the room.

He added, "No one wants to default on our debt." Since the Speaker is very likely sincere about this point, the crisis is already effectively over -- Boehner won't want to crash the economy on purpose, especially in an election year, so Democrats, who already remember Republicans caving twice on the debt ceiling last year, will have no incentive to pay a ransom now.

Brent Bozell plots a 'decapitation' strategy against GOP congressional leadership

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The GOP has long practiced the political tactic of "decapitation" -- a strategy of taking out the other party's top leadership. Former Democratic House Speaker Tom Foley (D-WA) lost his seat in the Gingrich Revolution in the 1994 election. Former Democratic Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle lost his seat in 2004.

Now Brent Bozell, a conservative media entertainment complex troll (Media Research Center) and the president and treasurer of a Virginia non-profit corporation called America, Inc., operating as ForAmerica, is plotting a "decapitation" strategy against the GOP leadership in Congress. Brent Bozell Will Try To Remove Every GOP Leader From Office:

ForAmerica announced Tuesday that it's pouring six-figures into its "Dump The Leadership" campaign.

It probably won't come as a surprise that the man behind the group is none other than L. Brent Bozell III, the right-wing flamethrower who's proven himself plenty willing to take on the GOP establishment.

After Paul Ryan hashed out a bipartisan budget deal late last year, Bozell predicted that the conservative base would "stampede away from a party that has lost its principles and bearings.”

"Time and again, year after year, the Republican leadership in the House and Senate has come to grassroots conservatives, and Tea Party supporters pleading for our money, our volunteers, our time, our energy and our votes," Bozell told CNN in a statement.

The Arizona Republic should check with Gov. Brewer on immigration reform: 'throw them out!'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Republic, formerly known as The Arizona Republican, the media arm of the Republican Party establishment in Arizona (namely Senator John McCain, see the pushback to the Arizona Republican Party's crazy base censure of McCain on Sunday, Arizona GOP censure riles McCain backers), published a schizophrenic editorial opinion on Sunday extolling the Tea-Publican House "principles" on immigration reform released last week. A step to the middle:

There was a national sigh of relief when the House Republicans released their principles for immigration reform last week. Their plan creates space for genuine debate that could lead to finally reforming fatally flawed immigration policies. The biggest divide is over what to do about 11 million undocumented people. The House principles are a welcome step toward the middle.

In calling for [permanent] legal residency and citizenship [only] for young people who were brought into the country illegally as children, House Republicans have recognized what the nation has long understood: You don’t punish children for the actions of their parents.

In calling for legalization for the larger undocumented population, House Republicans have moved away from the more extremist factions of their caucus who denounce anything short of deportation as “amnesty.”

They now have to find accommodation with Democrats who denounce anything short of a path to citizenship as a sellout.

The key word here is “incremental.”

The House GOP's sham immigration 'prrinciples'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last November I posted Remember in November: Weeper of the House John Boehner kills immigration reform:

Despite the GOP 2012 post-election "autopsy" declaring the policy goal that the GOP has to enact immigration reform, today the Weeper of the House effectively declared that "immigration reform ain't happenin' on my watch, no way, no how -- ever." There's a solution to this problem: elect a Democratic Congress in 2014.

This week the Tea-Publicans in the House announced a set of "principles" for immigration reform in the House. The "principles" are available online here (pdf) -- a one-pager.

It's important to note that these "principles" are not a plan for legislative action. There is no bill, nor any promise of a bill. The "principles" were negotiated entirely within the GOP Caucus between the establishment GOP wing that wants immigration reform, and the nativists and racists of the anti-immigrant wing.

GOP 'ObamaCare' alternative is a sick joke

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

First, a reminder that the Affordable Care Act aka "ObamaCare" was designed by Gov. Mitt Romney's health care advisors and is modeled after "RomneyCare" in Massachusetts. It is "ObamneyCare." 

RomneyCare originated with the Heritage Foundation as the Republican alternative to the Clinton health care reform proposals of the 1990s. The health care reform favored by the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party in recent years is "Medicare For All," a single-payer system that is far less complex and is more cost effective.

The "RomneyCare" Republican health care plan was supported by Republicans until the black guy in the White House, that secret socialist Muslim born in Kenya, Barack Obama, announced that he would support their plan. Suddenly the hybrid "ObamneyCare" was something created in the bowels of hell by Satan. Republican members of Congress who had sponsored the legislation and promoted it in the past were suddenly opposed to it. Such is the insanity induced by the Obama Derangement Syndrome era.

President Obama, having cleverly adopted the Republican plan as his own, left the Republicans without an alternative. And for four years the Republicans have been promising an alternative health care plan to what they refer to as "ObamaCare" in the hope that people will forget that it is their plan.

After four years, the Republicans are saying they finally have an alternative to their Heritage Foundation/RomneyCare/ObamneyCare health care plan. The outlines of the plan are a rehash of old proposals floated and rejected for years, and restores to insurers the financial advantage they enjoyed over consumers before "ObamaCare." It would cover far fewer people, limit coverage and allow for exclusions, and result in a tax increase for employer-sponsored health insurance plans.

The GOPropaganda talking point on executive orders

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In the conservative media entertainment complex, facts simply do not matter. They create a GOPropaganda talking point, often by pulling it out of their rearend, and they stick to it even when all the fact-checkers say they are wrong. See above: facts simply do not matter.

This is how the "big lie" technique of propaganda works. Repeat a lie often enough, and enough of the low information rubes who have heard it repeated often enough on hate radio and FAUX News will start to believe it as fact. "Yeah, I heard that somewhere."  It is the business model of the conservative media entertainment complex.

The latest hyperventilating hysteria manufactured by the GOPropagandists of the conservative media entertainment complex is that President Obama is a "dictator" and a "tyrant" because he occasionally issues an executive order to accomplish some policy goal. In the conservative alternate reality, only policies approved by Tea-Publicans in Congress, and endorsed by their conservative media entertainment complex talking heads should ever become law, because only they are entitled to govern. Some of the more extreme Tea-Publicans have even suggested that President Obama should be impeached for issuing executive orders.

In that case, all prior U.S. presidents, excluding William Henry Harrison who fell ill and died only a month into office, should have been impeached as well. The fact is, President Obama has issued fewer executive orders than any of his predecessors.

Tea-Publican House to discrimination: 'I can't quit you!'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You will recall back in November the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly by 64 to 32 to approve the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

No good deed goes unpunished in the Tea-Publican controlled House, run by the "Worst. Speaker. Ever." Think Progress reports, Speaker Boehner: ‘No Way’ Employment Non-Discrimination Act Will Pass This Year:

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) apparently told the 113-member LGBT Equality Caucus that there is “no way” the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would pass this year. According to Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), who spoke with the Washington Blade, Boehner “said it wasn’t going to happen in this session.” The meeting took place sometime last week.

* * *

Boehner has previously claimed that the LGBT employment protections are “unnecessary.” In the meantime, it remains legal in 29 states to fire people for their sexual orientation and and in 33 states to fire people for their gender identity.

Abuse of Language: SOTU Edition

 

By Tom Prezelski

Re-posted from Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

In the wake of Tuesday’s State of the Union Address, two reactions stand out, not so much for the degree which they contributed to or failed to contribute to public debate, but for their complete and hollow meaninglessness.

The first has to be Representative Michael Grimm’s (R-New York) by-now-notorious tirade against a reporter. By now this has been analyzed to death, either as an example of racial double standards in the light of the criticism endured by Seattle defensive back Richard Sherman over his rant, or as a manifestation of an unfortunate macho swagger particular to East Coast Republicans, one in which one plays tough by abusing the weak and powerless, whether they be ethnic minorities, the poor, underpaid women, or nebbish journalists who are smaller than oneself. But more than this, what he said was silly.

Specifically, he threatened to “break” the reporter “like a little boy.” Whatever the hell does this even mean? The simile implies that breaking little boys is somehow familiar to him, so maybe he has done this before, or he knows people who do it. More likely, he’s just a preening jackass who said whatever he thought would make him sound like a big man by employing the rhetoric of his (allegedly) mobbed up Staten Island constituents.

The other comes from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), who we keep hearing is a thoughtful guy, even though so much of what he says is predictable. Graham declared that “the world is literally about to blow up.” As comedian David Cross once put it so eloquently, “when you misuse the word ‘literally’ you are using it in the exact opposite way it was intended.”

GOP's war on the poor: cut food stamps, keep farm subsidies

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The compromise "farm bill," which provides the appropriations for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) aka food stamps, survived a vote in the Tea-Publican House today. Last year a similar bill was defeated by Tea-Publicans in the House who felt the bill was not draconian and punitive enough towards the takers poor.

The New York Times reports, House Approves Farm Bill, Ending 2-Year Impasse:

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill authorizing nearly $1 trillion in spending on farm subsidies and nutrition programs, setting the stage for final passage of a new five-year farm bill that has been stalled for over two years.

Negotiators from the House and Senate spent several weeks working out their differences on issues in the legislation, including cuts to food stamps, income caps on farm subsidies and a price support program for dairy farmers. The bill is expected to save about $16.6 billion over the next 10 years.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 251 to 166. The Senate is expected to take up the bill later this week.

Compared with earlier, more contentious votes on the farm bill, Wednesday’s vote was largely bipartisan. Many Democrats who had opposed it because of cuts to the food stamp program supported it on Wednesday. A number of Republicans, including many who wanted deeper cuts to the food stamps, also voted for the bill’s passage.

GOP's War on Women: Tea-Publican House passes the 'Rape Audit Bill'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Just hours before a joint session of Congress for President Obama's State of the Union Address last night, the Tea-Publican House voted on one of its top legislative priorities for this year: HR 7, which they misleadingly label the “No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act” (the Hyde Amendment has banned federal funds for abortions since 1976), and that opponents call the "Rape Audit Bill," for justifiable reason.

As I explained in a post earlier this year, House Republicans Are Pushing A Bill That Would Force The IRS To Audit Rape Victims:

In addition to preventing low-income women from using their Medicaid coverage to access abortion, the “No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act,” or HR 7, could also have dramatic implications for the tax code and the private insurance market. One of its most controversial provisions could actually require the Internal Revenue Service to conduct audits of rape victims.

Why? Because HR 7 eliminates medical-expense deductions for abortion care, essentially raising taxes on the women who opt to have an abortion. Like many abortion restrictions, this provision includes an exemption for victims of rape and incest, as well as women who encounter life-threatening complications from their pregnancies. But in order to enforce those exceptions, the IRS would have to verify that the women who are claiming a medical-expense deduction for an abortion fall into one of those three categories, to ensure they’re not committing tax fraud.

Essentially, that would empower the government agency to have the final say over what “counts” as a sexual assault or a life-threatening situation. And that, in turn, would force victims to prove their case.

“Imagine having to recount a sexual assault — a horrifyingly painful, personal experience — to a tax collector,” NARAL Pro-Choice America says in an action alert to its members to encourage them to mobilize against HR 7. “An anti-choice bill in Congress would do just that. It could force sexual assault survivors who access abortion care to prove the assault occurred.”

The House vote was 227 to 188, mainly along party lines. Final Vote. Six Democrats voted yes, only one Republican voted no, and another voted present. There were 15 members of Congress not voting.

New Tea-Publican challenger To Martha McSally in CD 2

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

After one Teabagger stumbles out of the gate, out of the race, another Tea-Publican "dark horse" has entered the starting gate.

The Tucson Weekly reports that, New GOP Dark Horse at the Starting Gate in CD2:

A new Republican candidate wants to see if he can outmaneuver GOP favorite Martha McSally for the chance to take on U.S. Rep. Ron Barber in Congressional District 2 this year. Meet Chuck Wooten:

Chief Master Sergeant, U.S. Air Force (Retired) Chuck Wooten is announcing his candidacy for the Arizona Congressional District 2 (CD2) on the Republican ticket.

Chuck Wooten is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Congressman Ron Barber.

Wooten has achieved certain notoriety with his Open Letter to Congressman Paul Ryan regarding the reduction of military retirement payments in the Ryan-Murray Budget that was passed into law in late December 2013. [More about that Open Letter below.]

Wooten is running on a platform that includes steadfast, conservative positions on issues regarding border security, jobs for southeastern Arizonans, healthcare reform and reducing the federal deficit. Wooten offers a clear, common-sense alternative in his approach as compared to the other Republican candidates.

“I deliberately chose a campaign slogan that echoes loud and clear the message that southern Arizona conservatives have identified as the top qualities they demand in their representatives, “Trust. Leadership. Guts.” These qualities are my hallmark and my commitment to deliver to them when I earn their votes,” said Wooten.

Wooten will be making a formal announcement for his candidacy for Arizona Congressional District 2 on Monday, February 3, 2014, at 12:00 Noon on the steps of El Presidio Park, 160 W. Alameda Street in down town Tucson.

Bipartisan group of Arizona legislators support passage of the Equal Rights Amendment

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last July, I did a post about the 90th Anniversary of the Equal Rights Amendment:

You would never know it today by the religious zealots who have hijacked the GOP, but not that long ago the Republican Party had a very active Republican Women for Choice organization, and women for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which included First Lady Betty Ford. The ERA came up short of passage in 1982, under the deadline established by Congress.

First Ladies Rosalynn Carter and Betty Ford at a rally for ERA, 11/19/1977.

People have forgotten what was at stake in the fight over the ERA. Justice Antonin Scalia has a long history of expressing skepticism toward the Constitution’s shield against laws that discriminate against women. He he has repeatedly claimed that the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of “equal protection of the laws” does not prevent gender discrimination:

“Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t. Nobody ever thought that that’s what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that. If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws.”

Justice Scalia is correct. The 14th Amendment was intended to eliminate the vestiges of slavery and racial discrimination in America (freed slaves and Chinese immigrants in California were the focus of the congressional debate). Equal rights for women was not debated by Congress.

Questions for Martha McSally: empty platitudes, bumper sticker slogans and GOP talking points

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Martha McSally is finally taking questions, not from a skeptical media, but from the friendly safe confines of the Republican 1200 Club dinner in Sierra Vista last Friday. Bill Hess of the Sierra Vista Herald reports, "Each [candidate] responded to questions which they had been given in advance by the club leadership, as well as one from the audience. The candidates were given three minutes to respond to each query." GOP candidates for Congress speak to 1200 Club (subscription required).

As you would expect, the questions were softballs and the candidates avoided any thoughtful substantive responses:

The first question was a natural, with the women asked why they were seeking the seat.

In an alternating response format, McSally went first and said, Congress is broken.

“I want to fix it. I want to fight for you,” she said.

There’s too much government overreach by the Democratic leadership which Barber follows, McSally said.

“It’s time for a change.”

[Shelley] Kais said, “Our party is struggling.”

The need to get the Republican message out has been hampered and needs to stop, she added.

“What we do in America is impacting the world,” Kais said.

Wow, there's some deep thinkers for you. These candidates get a softball question and all they've got are empty platitudes, bumper sticker slogans and GOP talking points. That may work in front of the 1200 Club, but general election voters are going to demand more substantive responses to difficult policy questions.

We need LAW ABIDING GOVERNMENT

In preparation for the State of the Union Address, they have been soliticing input from the public, via http://my.barackobama.com/State-of-the-Union-Survey   You are encouraged to go there and contribute.  FYI, here's what I submitted:

We need LAW ABIDING GOVERNMENT.

The stuff that is going on with Menendez and Christie and McDonnell is only 0.01% of the tip of the iceberg.  As far as I can tell, a great deal of what K Street does is a flagrant violation of the bribery statute 18 USC § 201 and the Hobbs act 18 U.S.C. § 1951.

Abramoff pled guilty to bribery, but then asked:  “Why me? What have I done that’s any different than anybody else?”  Indeed.  Good question.

On top of that, prominent persons go on TV and brag about committing torture and war crimes, yet for political reasons they are not prosecuted.

Wealth inequality means that the über-wealthy can purchase favorable treatment from the government, leading to yet more inequality.

Bottom line:  We demand that the laws be faithfully executed.  You could start by enforcing the bribery statute 18 USC § 201.  I'm not saying it's easy, but it needs to be done.  Now.

For details and references, see
  http://www.av8n.com/politics/big-issue.htm

Government Watchdog: NSA spy program is illegal and should be shut down

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The big story today is that the independent federal privacy watchdog, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, has concluded that the National Security Agency’s program to collect bulk phone call records has provided only “minimal” benefits in counterterrorism efforts, is illegal and should be shut down. No shit!

I said that back in 2005 when the New York Times first revealed the secret spy program of the Bush-Cheney regime. Congress, rather than impeach the Bush-Cheney regime for the most extensive violations of the U.S. Constitution ever, passed laws ex post facto to make the existing illegal spy program "legal" and to give it the imprimatur of congressional approval. The telecommunications companies that cooperated with the illegal spy program were given immunity from civil liability. "Nothing to see here, move along."

The New York Times reports today, Watchdog Report Says N.S.A. Program Is Illegal and Should End:

The findings are laid out in a 238-page report, scheduled for release Thursday and obtained by The New York Times, that represent the first major public statement by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which Congress made an independent agency in 2007 and only recently became fully operational.

The report is likely to inject a significant new voice into the debate over surveillance, underscoring that the issue was not settled by a high-profile speech President Obama gave last week. Mr. Obama consulted with the board, along with a separate review group that last month delivered its own report about surveillance policies. But while he said in his speech that he was tightening access to the data and declared his intention to find a way to end government collection of the bulk records, he said the program’s capabilities should be preserved.

The Obama administration has portrayed the bulk collection program as useful and lawful while at the same time acknowledging concerns about privacy and potential abuse. But in its report, the board lays out what may be the most detailed critique of the government’s once-secret legal theory behind the program: that a law known as Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows the F.B.I. to obtain business records deemed “relevant” to an investigation, can be legitimately interpreted as authorizing the N.S.A. to collect all calling records in the country.

The program “lacks a viable legal foundation under Section 215, implicates constitutional concerns under the First and Fourth Amendments, raises serious threats to privacy and civil liberties as a policy matter, and has shown only limited value,” the report said. “As a result, the board recommends that the government end the program.”

Israel exposes anti-abortion zealot hypocrisy

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

So how do Christian Zionists square their support for Israel with their no exceptions anti-abortion stance?

After all, these same zealots seek to defund Planned Parenthood on the theory that any financial support to Planned Parenthood "indirectly" funds abortions. This is the same convoluted argument they make against the contraception coverage mandate in "ObamaCare" for which they seek a "conscience clause" exception for religious objectors -- including corporations and businesses.

Israel has adopted one of the most liberal abortion laws in the world, and will now provide government funding for non-medical abortions for Israeli women aged 20 to 33. So where is the hue and cry to defund Israel for its liberal abortion policies? Buzzfeed reports, Anti-Abortion Republicans Are Largely Quiet As Israel Adopts Liberal Abortion Law:

Washington’s most anti-abortion lawmakers are largely silent on the new policy. These same members of Congress are also some of Israel’s loudest defenders, highlighting a peculiar aspect of the relationship between many of Israel’s ardent U.S. supporters and Israel’s domestic political landscape.

Last month, a health ministry panel in Israel recommended the state pay for the abortions of women aged 20 to 33, including non-medical abortions. The measure was adopted this week, and will cost the state annually about $4.6 million. Unlike in the United States, abortion is relatively non-controversial in the country.

* * *

“I don’t really feel qualified to talk about what Israel should be doing on abortion,” said Sen. John McCain.

Presidential Commission on Election Administration releases its report

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Presidential Commission on Election Administration has released its report, The American Voting Experience: Report and Recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration (.pdf).

Greg Sargent writes at the Washington Post, A step towards better elections:

[The Commission's] prescriptions are very likely to please voting reformers, though they probably will cite areas where the panel could have gone farther. The key recommendations are improved voter registration through online registration and interstate exchange of voter lists, to ensure accuracy and speed the process; expansion of early voting; and improved voting technology.

One of the most important things about the report is that it unabashedly identifies our voting difficulties as a national problem that requires a national solution. “We view the recommendations as broad-based solutions to common problems evident on a national scale,” the report says. “The recommendations in this report are targeted at common problems shared by all or most jurisdictions. For the most part, they are of a size that should fit all.”

The report does discuss some regional variations, but this is a clear declaration of the scope of the problem, and the required scope of the solution. Indeed, the report recommends the creation of a national standard: “no citizen should have to wait more than 30 minutes to vote.”

“Some had eschewed national solutions, or any kinds of efforts to fix these problems, by suggesting they’re so particular and local that they can’t be solved with national policy,” Wendy Weiser, the director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, tells me. “This sets a national standard for judging our election performance against. Here is a bipartisan group with strong credibility from both parties, strongly putting their thumb on the scale for national solutions.”

Our Freshmen Blue Dogs

Posted by Bob Lord

I'm a little late to the party with this one, but it looks like none of my BfAZ posted on it either. Apparently, two our freshmen reps, Ron Barber and Kyrsten Sinema, in their infinite wisdom, have joined the Blue Dog caucus in the house. It's just a tiny little itty bitty caucus at this point, down to 19 members even after the addition of Ron and Kyrsten. 

Here's the report from last week's WaPo:

Now, the Blue Dog Coalition is a shell of its former self, shrunken to just 15 members because of political defeat, retirements after redrawn districts left them in enemy territory and just plain exhaustion from the constant battle to stay in office. Several are not running for reelection in November, and a few others are top targets of Republicans.

In danger of losing even more clout, the leading Blue Dogs are regrouping and rebuilding. They are adding four members to their ranks this week — Reps. Ron Barber (Ariz.), Cheri Bustos (Ill.), Nick J. Rahall II (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) — and angling to play a key role in bipartisan talks over the next few years in the belief that the polar tension in the Capitol will thaw.

My first thought on seeing this about our two illustrious freshmen was Dana Carvey's old line on SNL: "Well, isn't that special."

Jim Brown to run for Congress - THE Jim Brown?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Our sad small-town newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star, published this cryptic report today that Jim Brown is running for Congress in CD 1. Brown enters race for Congress in District 1.

My first thought was, "THE Jim Brown?" The legendary No. 32 of the Cleveland Browns and probably the greatest running back ever? Sadly, no. That would have been so much fun.

It took some searching to find out any information on this Republican that the Star failed to report.

I found his Twitter feed at Jim Brown 2 Congress (jb2dc) on Twitter. Bummer. Just another Texas transplant teabagger wannabe Congressman hatin' on the federal "guvmint." Here is his header post:

Jim Brown2Congress

@jb2dc

Arizona's 1st District-My utter contempt 4 what politicians have done 2 this country is my fuel 4 the run. CHRISTIAN/CONSERVATIVE/CONSTITUTION

Arizona/Texas

I doubt that House Speaker Andy Tobin, state Rep. Adam Kwasman and wealthy rancher Gary Kiehne are losing any sleep over this guy.

Elk River Disaster: Lax Oversight Puts Citizens in Peril (video)

by Pamela Powers Hannley

The lives of 300,000 central West Virginia residents were thrown into chaos a week ago when 1000s of gallons of solvent leaked from a storage tank and drained into the scenic Elk River, contaminating the water supply.

Initially, citizens were told to not only stop drinking the water but also to not even shower with it, due to the extreme levels of contamination. As residents left the capitol city of Charleston to find clean water to drink, cook, and bathe, the story of lax environmental oversight of the WV plant unfolded. According to the LA Times, the leaking storage tank owned by Freedom Industries, Inc. had not been inspected since 1999. The latest news is that Freedom Industries filed for bankruptcy on Friday, January 17. (What are the implications for Southern Arizona? Think Rosemont Mine and read on.)

GOP rejects its own 'No Budget, No Pay' Act

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

What a difference a year makes. A year ago, the Tea-Publican Congress was posturing against Senate Democrats with a "no budget, no pay" gimmick from the GOP's Gimmicks-R-Us shoppe. House GOP Debt Ceiling Plan: 'No Budget, No Pay' - CNBC.com.

You will recall that Senate Democats actually did pass a budget early last year which was ignored by the Tea-Publican House so that they could set up their government shutdown in October, also from the GOP's Gimmicks-R-Us shoppe. But I digress.

Today's headline: Republicans Quietly Talk About Skipping Next Budget:

House Republicans are quietly discussing the option of not writing a budget in 2014, a maneuver that would free up time on the legislative calendar and protect GOP lawmakers from a potentially damaging vote in an election year.

The idea of Republicans skipping this year's budgetary process seems odd when considering the House GOP made history last year by attaching a policy rider called "No Budget, No Pay" to a debt-limit extension. That measure tied lawmakers' salaries to budgets being written in both chambers and paved the way for a budget agreement between House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray.

But unbeknownst to some lawmakers at the time—and still some today—is that "No Budget, No Pay" was a one-year provision. It is now expired. [How convenient!] This, combined with the fact that Ryan-Murray set spending figures for the next fiscal year anyhow, has some House Republicans wondering if a budgeting process this year is really necessary.

The GOP has a jobs bill: keep the womenfolk barefoot and pregnant!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Back in early December, POLITICO Tiger Beat on The Potomac reported that "The National Republican Congressional Committee wants to make sure there are no Todd Akin-style gaffes next year, so it’s meeting with top aides of sitting Republicans to teach them what to say — or not to say — on the trail, especially when their boss is running against a woman." GOP men tutored in running against women.

The idea was so comical that Gary Trudeau featured it in his Doonesbury comic strip in December.

Apparenlty the NRCC forgot to school their male members of Congress that they should also not say stupid things in open committee hearings with C-Span cameras rolling.

You can't make this shit up. Congressman’s New Jobs Plan: Deny Women Access To Abortion So They Can Make More Babies:

During a debate over an anti-abortion bill currently advancing in Congress, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) suggested that Republicans support restricting access to abortion because it will ultimately benefit the economy if women have more children. Goodlatte noted that carrying pregnancies to term “very much promotes job creation.”

Bipartisan 'fix' to the Voting Rights Act filed in Congress

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Ari Berman at The Nation reports, Members of Congress Introduce a New Fix for the Voting Rights Act:

Today Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and John Conyers (D-MI) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) will introduce legislation to strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision last June invalidating a critical section of the VRA. The legislation, known as “The Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014,” represents the first attempt by a bipartisan group in Congress to reinstate the vital protections of the VRA that the Supreme Court took away.

* * *

The Sensenbrenner-Conyers-Leahy bill strengthens the VRA in five distinct ways:

1: The legislation draws a new coverage formula for Section 4, thereby resurrecting Section 5. States with five violations of federal law to their voting changes over the past fifteen years will have to submit future election changes for federal approval. This new formula would currently apply to Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Local jurisdictions would be covered if they commit three or more violations or have one violation and “persistent, extremely low minority turnout” over the past fifteen years.

The formula is based on a rolling calendar, updated with a current fifteen-year time period to exempt states who are no longer discriminating or add new ones who are, creating a deterrent against future voting rights violations. It’s based on empirical conditions and current data, not geography or a fixed time period—which voting rights advocates hope will satisfy Chief Justice John Roberts should the new legislation be enacted and reach the Supreme Court.

The new Section 4 proposal is far from perfect. It does not apply to states with an extensive record of voting discrimination, like Alabama (where civil rights protests in Selma gave birth to the VRA), Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, which were previously subject to Section 5. Nor does it apply to states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that have enacted new voting restrictions in the past few years.

The GOP wrecking crew is sabotaging the economy out of partisanship

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You likely have heard by now that the Senate GOP filibustered extended unemployment insurance benefits for the long-term unemployment on a straight party-line vote, 55-45. You should note than in an actual democracy, this bill passed with 55 votes. Negotiations to extend jobless benefits deadlock in Senate. Brad Plumer explains 7 reasons why Congress’s failure to extend unemployment insurance matters.

This is part of a broader partisan strategy by the GOP wrecking crew to sabotage the economy out of partisanship. They believe that if the economy is still struggling in November -- due largely to GOP austerity economic measures and their failure to pass a single jobs bill since taking over in 2011 -- low information voters will blame the president and his party rather than the Tea-Publican economic terrorists who have been sabotaging the economy at every turn.

That's right, the same assholes who blew up our financial system and economy in 2008 with their faith based supply-side "trickle down" economics and then engaged in unprecedented obstruction, and held the country hostage time and again to their extortionary economic terrorist demands ever since, expect to be rewarded by low information voters for their insurrection against the federal government and economic terrorism against the American people. A classic Stockholm syndrome.

Teabagger stumbles out of the gate, out of the race

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Commenters to this blog assured me that teabagger part-time radio host Ed Martin would defeat the empty (flight) suit Martha McSally in the GOP primary for CD 2.

It turns out that "Mr. Ed" stumbled out of the gate, and is out of the race before it really started. (Ed Martin is President/CEO of a Kentucky-based association that advocates for integrity in equine sport.) Republican Martin drops out of congressional race:

Republican Ed Martin, a former Tucson talk-radio host and horse-racing official, has dropped out of the race for the seat now held by Democratic congressman Ron Barber.

Martin, 59, said in a written statement that he withdrew because of “unforeseen personal family challenges“ that will require his attention. Martin announced his candidacy in September stating that he represented an alternative to Martha McSally, the 2012 Republican nominee, who is again seeking the congressional seat.

In addition to McSally, Shelly Kais, a former McSally campaign supporter and Tucson businesswoman is also seeking the party’s nomination.

Sen. John McCain makes a complete ass of himself (again)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"If it's Sunday, It's John McCain." The Sunday morning bobbleheads are his base. No one else gives a damn.

The man who could not remember if he owns 8, no wait is it 9, no 10 homes, was on TeaNN (formerly CNN) on Sunday to explain why someone who made his fortune the old-fashioned way -- he married it -- voted against extending long-term unemployment benefits to the unemployed and is opposed to raising the minimum wage: Obama derangement syndrome.

Arizona's angry old man does not feel empathy and compassion for the less fortunate. Screw "Christian values" -- Fuck em! It's all about the sanctity of Senate procedures that only the Beltway media clutches their pearls over.

Heather at Crooksandliars.com nails it. McCain: Jobless Benefits, Minimum Wage 'Clever Strategy' of 'Anything But Obamacare':

If Sen. John McCain really wants to help the Republicans with their "messaging" on unemployment benefits and minimum wage, he might want to start by staying off the air.

Here's Grandpa McGrumpy telling CNN's Candy Crowley that the real problem is not their cruel stance on unemployment benefits or raising the minimum wage, it's that they haven't done enough carping about that mean old Harry Reid stopping them from being able to grind the Senate to a halt with poison pills and adding an unlimited number of amendments to bills so they never see the light of day.

In the U.S. Supreme Court this week

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The U.S. Supreme Court at its Conference on Friday considered the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down the Arizona Tea-Publican legislature's 20-week abortion restrictions, Horne v. Isaacson (13-402).This case was not among the eight cases granted immediately after the Conference on Friday. Additional orders from the January 10 Conference are due on Monday morning at 9:30 a.m. EST.

Monday is also the first day of the January sitting.On Monday the Court will hear oral arguments in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, the challenge to the constitutionality of the president’s recess appointments to the NLRB. The patrician prevaricator for the plutocracy, George Will, clutches his pearls and whines mightily about the president's recess appointments, while ignoring the unprecedented partisan obstruction of the president's appointments by the Tea Party tyranny of the minority in A defining moment for the Court, while the New York Times editorializes today, correctly, Protect the President’s Appointments. That's a big "screw you George Will."

On both Tuesday and Wednesday one or more opinions in argued cases are expected to be announced. The campaign finance case of McCutcheon v. FEC heard in October? It's possible.

Single mothers ruining everything again!

Alia Rau of the Arizona Republic is someone I've thought of as a straightforward news reporter so I was surprised to see such a biased article under her byline. The piece is a woman-blaming mess from the title on down.

More moms in Arizona skip marriage

Debate over reversing the trend, providing a secure environment for children

What?! Okay, there's a good chance that Rau didn't pick that title but someone did. Someone who has been living in what culture their entire life? Because the rest of us live in the one where it's still customary for the man to propose marriage. It worth noting that in the two times that fathers are even mentioned in the article it's to describe a successful co-parenting situation and a longterm cohabitation where the couple, who were already parents of two children, recently married.

Beyond that, it's a story of wicked, wicked women who apparently steal sperm from unwitting men. And it's the unwillingness of these wicked, wicked single mothers to force the fathers of their children to marry them that is the cause of most modern social ills. Not widening inequality, not lack of opportunity and economic mobility. Certainly nothing to look at in the fathers. We are just to assume that the flaw lies entirely in the mothers. 

Conservatives love this story and have ready-made solutions for the "problem".

Former Mesa Republican state lawmaker Mark Anderson was the force behind several successful bills to promote marriage, including using federal funds to create a state marriage education program and establishing so-called covenant marriages.

He said he doesn’t believe anybody, regardless of political affiliation, thinks the rising cost of unmarried mothers is OK.

“But if you ask them what to do about it, that’s another issue,” Anderson said. “It’s not simple.”

I'm not sure why Mark Anderson thinks I must share his anxiety over unmarried mothers. There's also no basis to conclude that what he implemented changed anything. So-called covenant marriage was clearly designed for middle class to affluent people who already intended to marry and who shared a certain religious sensibility. It was not a prescription to encourage marriage in general. 

Cultural shift

Conservatives say the solution is a cultural shift to reinstate the value of marriage.

“Increasingly, and most especially with this youngest generation, they don’t see marriage as something that has to come before children,” Hymowitz said. “It’s been very, very hard to get any consensus that this is a societal and economic problem.”

But more than a decade ago, the federal government did acknowledge the problem. And the resulting efforts to solve it have been unsuccessful.

One of the goals of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, authorized in 1996, was to encourage two-parent families. States, which receive the TANF funds to distribute, responded in a variety of ways.

Arizona established the option of covenant marriage contracts, which require the couple to get premarital counseling and can only be dissolved in limited situations such as adultery, abuse or abandonment. The state passed laws to require more education on the impacts of divorce as part of the divorce process. It created a commission that appropriated more than $1 million in TANF funds for a program to support marriage and published a marriage handbook.

Oklahoma in 1999 started the nation’s largest and longest-running state program supporting marriage, investing $10 million into the effort. But like Arizona, Oklahoma’s marriage rate continues to decline and its rate of unmarried mothers continues to rise.

Hymowitz said local and national leaders may need to be more blunt about the benefits of marrying before having children.

Really? The millions they've already spent on, uh, bluntly promoting the benefits of marriage haven't panned out already? You don't say! 

UCLA researchers probed this mystery recently. They found that low income people valued marriage as much as their higher income counterparts. Perhaps lack of willingness to marry isn't the problem after all. Looks like marriage follows financial stability, not the other way around. 

And not for nothing but, hey, didn't the single mothers "choose life"? Do conservatives even have grounds to criticize them? Would they be happier if the women had chosen abortion? I think not. Conservatives are also not exactly at the forefront of promoting sex ed and widespread contraception access either. Why, then, would any reporter take conservatives at their word on the subject of single mothers? They clearly know nothing about them.