Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The GOP crazy base bills are moving through the legislature at a break-neck pace this year. Last year "black helicopters day" at the Arizona Lege didn't come until April. Black helicopters day at the Arizona Lege.
On Wednesday the annual "constitutional sheriffs" bill, a favorite of anti-government right-wing conspiracy theorists who believe the black helicopters of the federal "guvmint" are coming for their guns and "freedom!", is sponsored by far-right extremist groups like former Graham County Sheriff Richard Mack's conspiratorial Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and the Oath Keepers, made up of former and current law enforcement officers and military personnel who believe it is their duty to defy what they deem to be unconstitutional orders. Here is a profile of Mack from the Southern Poverty Law Center. 'Army' of Sheriffs to Resist Federal Authority.
In 2012, wingnut Rep. David Gowan (R-Sierra Vista), who has now been promoted to House Majority Leader, sponsored HB 2434 which would have required employees of federal agencies to first notify the sheriff of the county "before taking any official law enforcement action in a county in this state." HB 2434 was actually approved by the Arizona legislature. It took a veto by Governor Jan Brewer to restore sanity. Governor Brewer vetoes 'States' Rights' Tea-Publican bill.
The sponsor of this year's version of the bill, SB 1290 (.pdf). is the "Birther Queen," Rep. Judy Burges (R-Sun City West), who is also the Grand Inquisitor of climate science denialism. This woman is never without her tinfoil hat.
Continue reading "Black helicopters day at the Arizona Lege came early this year" »
Stop picking on Sean Noble!
Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com
Sean Noble is a type of right wing operative I find particularly annoying. These guys are total miscreants but have the cornpone choirboy routine down pat. They often like to preen about how they don’t use profanity, which makes them more moral than us dirty liberals. Arizona is thick with these homespun “consultants”, hoovering money out of gullible rich wingnuts with political aspirations, but Noble has really scored. He was recently the subject of a hard-hitting investigative report from ProPublica, in which he was revealed as the ringleader funneling “dark money” from the Koch brothers to various conservative causes around the country. One of them was Mitt Romney’s campaign – they might as well have taken a match to that money – but others were more successful, such as the defeat of the Scott Walker recall in Wisconsin. Dark Koch money has flowed like a river into Arizona. It funded the legal attack on independent redistricting and the defeat of Prop 204 (making the one cent sales tax permanent for education) in 2012, among plenty of other things.
Continue reading "Stop picking on Sean Noble! " »
Feb 25, 2014 6:06:21 PM | Campaigns, Commentary, Conspiracy Theory, Donna Gratehouse, Elections, GOP War On..., IOKIYAR, Legislation, Redistricting, Scandals