Blog For Arizona

John McCain makes a complete ass of himself over 'Benghazi!'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Once again, "If it's Sunday, it's John McCain" on the Sunday morning bobble-head shows. The Beltway media are his political base, and nothing is more irresponsible.

In his 30 years in Washington, never has one man been so wrong about so many subjects as John McCain. In fact, John McCain is the perfect cipher. If you want to know what you should do, just ask John McCain what he thinks and then do exactly the opposite. You can't go wrong.

So this past Sunday, the leader of the new Three Stooges (McCain stars with his puppet boy Little Lindsey Graham and, replacing Joe Lieberman, Kelly Ayotte as "Shemp") who has been pushing the "Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!!" faux scandal for months, went on ABC's "This Week" for an interview with Martha Raddatz, and accused the White House of a "cover-up." "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." John McCain Goes Wacko Bird and Accuses Hillary Clinton of Benghazi Cover Up:

Transcript from ABC News:

RADDATZ: Would you call this a cover-up?

MCCAIN: I’d call it a cover-up. I — I would call it a cover-up in the extent that there was willful removal of information, which was obvious. It was obvious. Mr. Hicks said in his testimony, his jaw dropped when he saw Susan Rice do that — I was on — I was on another Sunday morning show after Susan Rice, my jaw dropped. I said, look people don’t bring rocket-propelled grenades and mortars to spontaneous demonstrations.

Benghazi! 'A tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

There has been a remarkable amount of bad journalism this week from the corporate "lamestream" media, taking its cue from the hysterical conspiracy mongering conservative media entertainment complex cult on "Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!!". This is the right-wing noise machine's business model, as Jonathan Bernstein pointed out in The real lesson of Benghazi:

Part of what’s happening is, as Jamelle Bouie pointed out today, the strong demand within the conservative marketplace for scandal. But there’s more than that; it’s not just a demand for scandal, but how easily the customers accept anything presented to them. The result — and Alex Pareene is very good on this today — is that they don’t bother putting together a “coherent or convincing narrative.”

Pareene usefully contrasts Benghazi and other Obama scandals to the Bill Clinton scandals of the 1990s .  . . With Obama, there’s no need for these scandals to make sense; the conservative press will run with them either way. And there might even be an advantage to incoherence. After all, if the accusations are gibberish, the neutral reporters will tend to ignore them — and then conservatives can go on conservative talk radio and Fox News and charge the rest of the press of ignoring these extremely important charges.

Andrew Sabl asks the right questions that the lazy good for nothing Beltway media villagers are not asking. On Benghazi—An honest plea for specific charges:

Look, I’m not a Benghazi expert. I’m willing to entertain the possibility that there’s something here that the media aren’t telling me. But before I evaluate the case, I need to see some concrete charges. My challenge to conservatives is to tell me, very simply, the following:

(1) What, in your view, was the crime? Who did what and which law did it break? No crime, no cover-up (in the usual sense).

But the idea seems to be that what was “covered up” was not crime but incompetence. (That stretches the former meaning of “cover-up,” but never mind.) So:

Charles Pierce on the 'puke funnel' of scandal mongering from the right-wing to the mainstream media

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In a so-called "exclusive" report today, "ABC is left with a major exclusive dissecting the distinction between input and editing" of the talking points to Susan Rice. Yet another "nothingburger," as Media Matters explains. ABC's "Exclusive" Benghazi Report Shows Nothing New.

No one makes his point with the flair of Charles Pierce at Esquire. Benghazm:

Now it seems that ABC is determined to revive its role from the days of Whitewater in connection to Benghazi, Benghazi!, BENGHAZI! We discussed the other day how one ABC producer became a main conduit for the puke funnel that led from Arkansas con-men to the Whitewater special prosecutor to ABC to the American public. The Whitewater Of The New Century. Now, it seems, we must all be shocked — SHOCKED! — that The Talking Points may have gone through several iterations before they went out on The Sunday Showz — where everybody is under oath and subject to the pains and penalties of perjury, especially Dick Cheney when he talked about Mohammad Atta's frolicking around Prague.

The star of FAUX News Fraudcasting's 'Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!!' not the stellar employee he imagines himself to be in his own mind

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It appears that the star of FAUX News Fraudcasting's much anticipated over-hyped and over-sold extravanganza of "Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!!", Gregory Hicks, is not the stellar employee he imagines himself to be in his own mind. As Dana Milbank reported yesterday:

[T]his whistleblower spent a good bit of time tooting his own horn. “I earned a reputation for being an innovative policymaker who got the job done. I was promoted quickly and received numerous awards,” Hicks informed the lawmakers. “I have two master’s degrees. . . . I speak fluent Arabic. . . . I fast became known as the ambassador’s bulldog because of my decisive management styles. . . . Incoming charge Larry Pope told me personally that my performance was near-heroic.”

It turns out that State Department staff who actually worked with this guy have a far different opinion of his value as an employee. Think Progress has this EXCLUSIVE: Embassy Staff Undercut ‘Whistleblower’ Testimony On Benghazi:

Staff who served in Libya with Gregory Hicks, the GOP’s primary “whistleblower” in this week’s hearing on the Benghazi terror attacks, undercut his story that State Department officials demoted him as retribution for speaking out, instead telling ThinkProgress about a man who one described as “the worst manager I’ve ever seen in the Foreign Service.”

Throughout his testimony on Wednesday, Hicks seemed certain that any critique of his leadership style while serving as deputy chief of mission in Libya was based solely around anger related to his stance on Benghazi. He also blamed his subsequent assignment after being pulled from Libya in mid-Oct. 2012 on his speaking out against the Obama administration’s response to the attacks.

[The State Department disputes diplomat's charges of retaliation]

FAUX fail on 'Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!!' extravaganza

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The only thing that could have made FAUX News Fraudcasting's much anticipated over-hyped and over-sold extravanganza of "Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!!" even better would have been having Geraldo Rivera host it from the congressional hearing room in a reprisal of his infamous The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults special. "I wasted two hours of my life that i will never get back watching this piece of crap, and all you got is dirt and a few empty bottles?"

As Sally Brown said to Linus van Pelt after waiting all night in the most sincere pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin to appear, but who never came, "You owe me restitution!"

So it was on Wednesday when Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) Rep. Darrell "Grand Theft Auto" Issa (R-LaLa Land) held his third committee hearing witch hunt into the Whitewater "Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!!" controversy hoping to prove that Hillary Clinton murdered Vincent Foster Ambassador Chris Stevens.

What else would you expect from someone who has been arrested for auto theft, weapons charges and suspected arson. See Meet Darrell 'Grand Theft Auto'. He is a street punk. Issa has simply dusted off Rep. Dan Burton's "Big Book of Scandal Mongering" from the Clinton administration in the 1990s that helped to build the fledgling FAUX News Fraudcasting. Roger Ailes still hates Hillary Clinton with a white-hot passion for pointing out his "vast right-wing conspiracy."

The over-hyped and over-sold extravanganza of "Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!!" produced Yet Another Benghazi Nothingburger, in the words of Kevin Drum.

Washington Post media villager Dana Milbank delivers an appropriately skeptical narrative of Wednesday's hearing witch hunt. Whistleblower’s yarn fails to tie Benghazi lapses to politics:

They summoned a whistleblower to Capitol Hill, but instead they got a virtuoso storyteller.

Tea-Publican controled Arizona legislature adopts wingnut end-timers apocalyptic fantasy

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

So how's that "De-Kook the Capitol" thing working out for ya, Laurie Roberts? The Glenn Beck conspiracy theorists, who apparently got burned in his Goldline fraud -- "The company’s business model was built on systemically swindling and scaring its mostly elderly clientele into purchasing overpriced gold coins, prosecutors in California alleged, leading the company to settle for $4.5 million in refunds to its customers," Beck-backed gold fraud? - Salon.com -- have found a way to unload their gold coins while living out their paranoid end-times apocalyptic fantasies. And just in time, too, because The Price of Gold Is Crashing. Here's Why - Bloomberg Businessweek.

The Tea-Publican controled Senate gave final approval Tuesday to Senate Bill 1439 which would make Arizona only the second state in the nation to recognize gold and silver as legal tender. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, Arizona bill making gold legal tender sent to Gov. Brewer:

If signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer, the measure would take effect in 2014.

The state Department of Revenue opposed the measure. It passed in the House only after an amendment was added to exempt the department from having to accept gold or silver as tax payments.

Ron Paul returns to the dark side of conspiracy kooks

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"Tony: It's no use, the man is a complete idiot.

Village Idiot: If only. Now my father, he was a complete idiot. I'm still a half-wit."

- TV Mini-Series "The 10th Kingdom" (2000)

This is the only memorable line I ever remember from this TV show, but I am reminded of it every time I hear that village idiot Aqua Buddha, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) open his mouth and speak.

As for the "complete idiot," it appears now that Ron Paul has retired from Congress (thank God!) and has passed the baton to Aqua Buddha for the quadrennial waste of time running for president to fleece his cult followers out of their money, ol' Ron is reverting back to his fringe conspiracy kooks roots. Jamie Kirchick reports at the Daily Beast, The Ron Paul Institute: Be Afraid, Very Afraid:

In December 2011, when Ron Paul was leading the Republican presidential-primary pack in the Iowa caucuses, the former Texas congressman’s notorious newsletters resurfaced in the national debate.

The newsletters’ content—a toxic stew of racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, sympathy for right-wing militia movements, and support for a litany of conspiracy theories—had been revealed by this writer in 2008. But Paul’s latter-day resurgence, particularly with young voters and the Tea Party, provoked a renewed round of interest in his shady associations and fringe beliefs. The title of a front-page article in The New York Times, “Paul Disowns Extremists’ Views but Doesn’t Disavow the Support,” neatly encapsulated Paul’s strategy of appealing to the far right while stopping just short of explicitly endorsing their views.

Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham: Screw the Constitution

Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

Remember just a few weeks ago when the right-wing was all in a tizzy about the village idiot Aqua Buddha, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), and his filibuster of the nomination of John Brennan for CIA Director over the use of drones in the U.S.? There was a lot of highfalutin talk from these right-wingers about the constitutional rights of American citizens on American soil -- when they thought they were talking about far-right fringe groups like white supremacists, Christian nationalists, the militia movement, and gun worshipers and fetishists.

Then came the Boston Marathon bombing.

The 19-year old Boston Bomber suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is a naturalized American citizen. He possesses the same constitutional rights as any natural born American citizen. A naturalized American citizen does not lose his constitutional rights any more than a natural born American citizen who is a terrorist, Timothy McVeigh for example, loses his constitutional rights.

But the "war on terror" twins, Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, are once again seeking to redefine the constitutional rights of American citizens under the rubric of their Neocon "war on terror." They would declare criminal actions an "act of war" for convenience sake and to declare American citizens on American soil an "enemy combatant" in order to deprive American citizens of their constitutional rights.

Americans have more to fear from the "war on terror" twins, Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, than any wingnut conspiracy theory about President Obama using drones to kill American citizens on American soil. This pair of assholes actually wrote their bastardization of the Constitution into law, and the U.S. Supreme Court took a pass on its constitutionality. This threat is genuine.

What's a conspiracy theorist to do? The price of gold collapses

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tea-Publicans in the Arizona legislature enacted legislation that would declare privately minted gold and silver coins legal tender in Arizona. A version of the bill has passed both the Senate (Senate Engrossed version) and the House (House Engrossed version) and is awaiting concurrence in the Senate, before going to the Governor.

Tea-Publican legislators claimed that the global economy is on the precipice of financial ruin and the U.S. dollar could soon be worth less than the paper used to make it.

I hate to break it to you boys and girls, but have you been paying attention to the commodities market? The Price of Gold Is Crashing. Here's Why - Bloomberg Businessweek:

A chart of the crashing price of gold looks like a wedding ring rolling off a table. Late this morning, gold was trading at $1,378 an ounce, which is down 8 percent from the Friday close and 12 percent from April 11.

Why is gold plunging? The most important factor is that global inflation is falling, reducing gold’s value as a hedge against rising prices. Gold bugs who were betting on an outburst of inflation are scrambling to reverse their bets and exit their gold positions at any price.

Arizona Legislature: "Silly season" becomes "ignorant and ugly season"

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

 

Normally, this would be time for the "coming week" post, but there truly isn't much on the schedule right now.  It's subject to change (and probably will change) at a moment's notice, but right now the highlight of the week looks to be the lege's annual House v. Senate softball game on Tuesday.  It is scheduled to take place at the field at SRP's PERA Club in Tempe (1 E. Continental Drive) at 5 p.m.

  However, because of the light schedule (so far), it might be wise to use this opportunity to highlight why this may be the most dangerous time in this, or any other, session of the legislature.
 

  This past Thursday, State Sen. Judy "Birther" Burges held a hearing to denounce the UN's Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in particular, and sustainability and "green" initiatives in general, as efforts to take away American sovereignty and Americans' freedom.

  Perhaps (not-so) surprisingly, things got a little colorful.

Tinfoil hat freak shows

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this week the Birther Queen, Sen. Judy Burges (R-Skull Valley), held an "informational hearing," i.e., a wingnut conspiracy theory freak fest on Glenn Beck's "Agenda 21" conspiracy theory, or as sane people refer to it, The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. The Birther Queen sponsored SB1403 which would have forbid any law in this state that would follow any of the wording of this UN declaration. This is the World Nut Daily "one world order" crowd.

According to the Arizona Republic, "the bill passed the House last week but is dead because action on the measure happened too late for it to get Senate consideration."

Not to worry, these tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists should charter a plane and head to Washington, D.C. for the next big wingnut conspiracy theory freak fest, a mock congressional hearing for UFO Truthers. I kid you not. Mock congressional hearing on alien life brings former members back to planet Washington:

This is what a congressional hearing looks like in a some kind of bizarre-o parallel universe: All your favorite past members are there, including former senator Mike Gravel (D-Alaska), and former representatives Darlene Hooley, (D-Ore)., Merrill Cook (R-Utah), Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif).

And the topic? Extraterrestrials. As in little green men. And whether there’s a conspiracy within the U.S. government to cover up their existence.

[You can bet Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, the publisher of Legendary Times who appears in the History Channel's Ancient Aliens and UFO Hunters, will be there.]

The Septegenarian Ninja Turtle's conspiracy theory does not hold water

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Septegenarian Ninja Turtle, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), wants to run against the mean "librul" media rather than on his dismal record, a tried and true tactic of conservative demagogues running in red states.

Our boy Mitch is claiming that his campaign office was illegally bugged by lefty "librul" media out to get him -- the McConnell campaign has not offered any evidence the recording was the result of an illegal bug -- and has asked the FBI and U.S. Attorney in Kentucky to investigate. McConnell's campaign offices were swept by a private security detail, which did not find a bug. Mitch McConnell seeks FBI investigation.

Something about this seems all too familiar. Is this possibly a Karl Rove operation? Karl Rove - Wikipedia:

In 1986, just before a crucial debate in campaign, Rove claimed that his office had been bugged by Democrats. The police and FBI investigated and discovered that the bug's battery was so small that it needed to be changed every few hours, and the investigation was dropped. Critics, including other Republican operatives, suspected Rove had bugged his own office to garner sympathy votes in the close governor's race.

Black helicopters day at the Arizona Lege

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Tea-Publican Birthers-Birchers-Secessionists in the Arizona lege held "black helicopters" day on Thursday to advance a couple of their wild conspiracy theory bills. Arizona is sovereign land, House tells US and UN:

If the federal government wants to lock up U.S. citizens without trial it should not count on Arizona to cooperate, the state House announced Thursday.

Lawmakers also voted to have the United Nations butt out of trying to affect Arizona laws and policies. And the House agreed to have the state take the first steps to recognize privately minted gold and silver coins as legal tender in anticipation of the collapse of the dollar.

Underlying all these actions is the argument that Arizona is a sovereign state, and the votes stake out a position to defend that sovereignty.

The first part of HB 2573 deals with two sections of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, which give [the] President Obama the authority "to use all necessary and appropriate force" to detain certain people without trial. That includes not only those who planned or aided in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but anyone who "substantially supported al-Qaida, the Taliban or associated forces."

[Actually a reauthorization of existing law, but Howie Fischer wants to feed the Obama Derangement Syndrome of the Tea-Publican Birthers-Birchers-Secessionists.]

It includes U.S. citizens and provides for military trials.

Redistricting trial in U.S. District Court this week

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The lawyers/lobbyists of the GOP's secretive redistricting organization FAIR Trust take their wild conspiracy theories about the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) to court today in U.S. District Court. These hucksters are challenging the state legislative districts which they believe should have been gerrymandered to create a permanent Republican majority in perpetuity because, after all, it is the divine right of Republicans to lord over us all.

Based upon the biased reporting of Howard Fischer today in the Arizona Daily Star, Arizona redistricting challenge heads to US court today, it appears that lawyer/lobbyist David Cantelme from FAIR Trust is pinning his hopes on  the claim that population deviation between the districts is a violation of law. He apparently believes that state legislative district populations must be strictly equal.

Challengers are pinning their hopes on the fact that 30 districts crafted by the Independent Redistricting Commission are not all equal in population.

Attorney David Cantelme contends the differences were done "deliberately, intentionally and in violation of the one-person/one-vote principle."

The goal of the commission, he charges, was to cluster as many Republicans as possible together in districts, leaving the other, underpopulated districts with more Democrats than otherwise would occur, giving Democrats an unfair and illegal advantage in electing their own candidates to the Legislature.

Monday was tinfoil hat day at the Lege

Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

Monday was tinfoil hat day at the Arizona Legislature, led by the Birther Queen, Sen. Judy Burges (R-Crazyland).

You will recall that in addition to being a principal sponsor of the Birther bill, Birther Queen Judy was also a principal sponsor of another bill last year for a far-right conspiracy theory, "Agenda 21." SB1507 would prevent the state, county, and city governments of Arizona from adopting any tenets of the UN Declaration and the Statement of Principles for Sustainable Development (the "Rio Declaration"). It would also have blocked any other international "schemes" that violate the U.S. or state constitutions as well.

Birther Queen Judy's bill passed the state senate on a party-line vote, but died in the House where the bill was held until sine die.

Well, she's baaack! Birther Queen Judy is pushing her "Agenda 21" far-right conspiracy theory in a new bill this year, SB 1403, which would prevent the state, county, and city governments of Arizona from adopting any tenets of the UN Declaration and the Statement of Principles for Sustainable Development (the "Rio Declaration").

John McCain's partisan rage

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Senator McNasty, John McCain, is only relevant to his political base -- the Beltway media. No one else gives a damn what Arizona's angry old man has to say.

This is why i despise the Beltway media: "If it's Sunday, it's John McCain." This Sunday was Meet The Press Gregory, where McCain has his own green room. The Neocon war monger Senator McNasty was engaging in "Benghazi Fever" to give political cover to his puppet boy, Little Lindsey Graham, from a Tea Party challenge for reelection. Politico’s David Rogers reports today why John McCain has so decisively turned against Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense, and confirms that it’s all about Lindsey!

Steve Benen adds, McCain lost in a fog of partisan rage:

Looking back at the tragic and deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last fall, we know quite a bit about what happened. We also know, thanks to an independent investigation, that "Republican charges of a cover-up" were "pure fiction."

But as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) argued yesterday, he can't be bothered with facts -- he has a partisan vendetta to pursue.

White House to the conservative media entertainment complex: 'Here's your photo, now STFU!'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

For those of you who do not have the intestinal fortitude to suffer the mindless stupidity of the conservative media entertainment complex that is FAUX News Fraudcasting, their faux scandal of the week was that President Obama said he and his guests at Camp David go skeet shooting "all the time." The hue and cry from the mindless morons of FAUX News Fraudcasting was "Oh yeah, prove it!" Suddenly they had a new long-form birth certificate scandal to promote to the scared old white people who watch FAUX News Fraudcasting all day: "SkeeterGate."

The feckless corporate "lamestream media" demonstrated what a bunch of worthless losers they are by following the lead of the conservative media entertainment complex: "If they are talking about, so do we!" Even the Washington Post's subjective "fact" checker, Glenn Kessler, had to get in on the act with this fact check column that was republished in our sad small town newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star. White House mum on Obama's skeet-shooting claim.

The White House did not want to let this "SkeeterGate" nonsense to get out of control like the long-form birth certificate nonsense did, and decided to "shoot it down" on Saturday by releasing an official White House photo from last August of President Obama shooting skeet at Camp David. In short, the White House told the conservative media entertainment complex, "here's your photo, now STFU!" White House posts photo of Obama skeet shooting.

(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Aqua Buddha makes a complete ass-hat of himself

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"Tony: It's no use, the man is a complete idiot.

Village Idiot: If only. Now my father, he was a complete idiot. I'm still a half-wit."

- TV Mini-Series "The 10th Kingdom" (2000)

This is the only memorable line I ever remember from this TV show, but I am reminded of it every time I hear that village idiot Aqua Buddha, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) open his mouth and speak. The stupid, it burns.

Aqua Buddha was making a complete ass-hat of himself today during the "show trial" Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya that FAUX News Fraudcasting has hyped into right-wing hysteria. Secretary Clinton maintains diplomatic composure in face of posturing by McCain, Johnson and Paul:

And then there was Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican who pretends he is a libertarian when it suits his purposes and something else when it doesn't. No doubt thinking of his stature among tea partiers if he actually seeks the presidency three years from now, he sent out a video of his questioning of Clinton during which he said:

"I'm glad that you're accepting responsibility. I think ultimately with your leaving that you accept the culpability for the worst tragedy since 9/11. And I really mean that. Had I been president and found you did not read the cables from Benghazi and from Ambassador Stevens, I would have relieved you of your post. I think it's inexcusable."

Secretary Clinton had some help with that one. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut fumed: "If some people on this committee want to call this tragedy the worst since 9/11, it misunderstands the nature of 4,000 plus Americans lost in the War in Iraq under false pretenses."

Not to mention the tens of thousands of Iraqis who were killed as a consequence of that concocted war. Who lost their jobs at the State Department or anywhere else over that?

New study: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A new study from the Combating Terrorism Center at the West Point Military Academy highlights the threat of violent far-right movements in the United States, leading to the conclusion that, while diverse in in their causes, they are similar in their use of violence to achieve their aims. New Study Highlights Threat From Far Right-Wing Groups In U.S.:

Titled “Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right” (.pdf), this new report instead looks as the risk that domestic groups pose to the U.S. Breaking down these groups into three categories — the Racist/White Supremacy Movement, the Anti-Federalist Movement, and the Christian Fundamentalist Movement — allows the study to examine the background ideologies and methods of each subset thoroughly, opposed to lumping them all together as most studies have.

Conservative media entertainment complex fail

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The conservative media entertainment complex was abuzz yesterday with a rumor that Weeper of the House John Boehner was facing a revolt among his Tea-Publican Caucus and that he would resign at a meeting of the GOP Caucus on Wednesday evening (see Breitbart. com, Outgoing GOP Rep: We Have Enough Votes to Unseat Boehner.)

I suppose the right-wing noise machine can be right occasionally, in the same way that a broken clock is right twice a day. These guys live in a paranoid delusional world of conspiracy theories.

So, Is John Boehner Going To Resign From House Speakership?

John Boehner was rumored -- incorrectly -- to be planning to resign Wednesday night as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives following a series of embarrassments arising in large part from the intransigence of many in his party's far-right factions, whom he has had great trouble controlling.

Wingnut freakout over 'Death Star' troll petition

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A columnist for the wingnut conspiracy theory central website World Net Daily took a trolling petition on the White House website as a sign that President Obama is perhaps considering building a Death Star.

Jillian Rayfield at Salon writes, World Net Daily wonders: “Will Obama build a Death Star?”

In a post called “WILL OBAMA BUILD A DEATH STAR NEXT? White House urged to construct ‘Star Wars’ space battle station,” Joe Kovacs wonders if the White House will respond to a petition on its “We The People” website calling for construction on a Death Star to begin by 2016.

“It sounds like a case of ‘May the farce be with you,’” Kovacs writes, “but at this moment, in a galaxy not far away, there is a real-life petition on a White House website pushing for the funding and construction of a Death Star like the one featured in the ‘Star Wars’ film saga.”

The petition asks the Obama Administration to secure resources and funding for the construction: “By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense.”

The American Taliban fails to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Treaty

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This caught my attention: "UN treaty on disability rights dies on altar of home school movement."

Say what now?

Sahil Kapur at Talking Points Memo explains in Senate Republicans Block Ratification Of U.N. Treaty On Rights For The Disabled, Citing Impact On Home-Schoolers:

The Senate Tuesday fell short of the two-thirds vote required to ratify a United Nations treaty aimed at securing rights for disabled people around the world, when the vast majority of Republican senators voted against the treaty. The final vote was 61-38 vote. All the nay votes were Republican.

[Only eight Republicans voted yes: Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John McCain of Arizona.]

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities essentially makes the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act a non-binding international standard. It requires no change to U.S. law.

Originally signed by then-President George W. Bush in 2006 and re-signed by President Barack Obama in 2009 shortly after he took office, the treaty has been championed by former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS), the one-time GOP presidential nominee who suffered a disability while serving in the Army in World War II. Dole was on the Senate floor Tuesday ahead of the ratification vote, in a wheelchair, accompanied by his wife, former Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC).

The 'new' Three Stooges have new Benghazi talking points

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I was really looking forward to the tiresome act of the Neocon war monger Three Stooges -- John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Joe Lieberman -- finally coming to an end now that Lieberman is retiring and leaving the Senate. Frick! I forgot about Shemp! Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) has replaced Lieberman in the "new" Three Stooges.

The "new" Three Stooges have been advancing the FAUX News Fraudcasting conspiracy theory du jour on Benghazi, Libya ever since Willard "Mittens" Romney exited stage right.

It has not gone well for McCain. Michael Tomasky on How John McCain Humiliated Himself on Susan Rice:

We don’t yet really know as a society what a person has to do to completely and utterly cancel out a record of war heroism, but we may be about to find out. If this CBS News report is even close to accurate, John McCain’s arguments of the last few weeks about Susan Rice are thrashingly demolished. He has, or should have, zero credibility now on this issue. It will be fascinating to see if he emerges from the holiday weekend subtly chastened, attempting to shift gears a bit, or whether he keeps the pedal to the paranoid metal.

When the media carries water for the Arizona GOP - Voting Rights Act edition

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have already been over how we have a GOPropaganda echo chamber in the Arizona media in the previous post. So let's get to the other election news this week, from the Arizona Republic(an), Ariz. seeks Supreme Court relief on Voting Rights Act:

Three days after the Nov. 6 election, when many Americans happily made voting a memory, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that some legal experts say could lead to the biggest shake-up in voting law in nearly a half-century.

The court will weigh a key portion of the Voting Rights Act, a law that has changed little over 40 years and for decades has placed Arizona and eight other states under federal scrutiny for suspected discrimination.

Supporters of the lawsuit, which involves an Alabama county, say their efforts could once again put every state and locality on equal legal footing and evaluate anew whether minorities are treated unfairly anywhere.

* * *

The case has special relevance to Arizona, which is one of nine states that must get federal approval for any changes that could affect voting rights of minorities, such as Hispanics and Native Americans.

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne has filed legal papers supporting the Alabama challenge of the requirement. Because of the provision, every conceivable change affecting voting in Arizona must run through Horne's office, which he said is a constant drain.

"I don't have any numbers at my fingertips, but I would describe the burden as huge," Horne said.

When the media carries water for the Arizona GOP - Redistricting Edition

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A large part of the reason Arizona is a "red state" is because the Arizona media carries water for the Arizona GOP, from the state's major newspapers down to your local yokel evening news programs. The "liberal media" is a myth, particularly here in Arizona. We have a GOPropaganda echo chamber. When GOPropaganda is all that people see and hear and it gets reinforced in the media echo chamber, they tend to believe it.

Case in point, the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC). There has been a coordinated effort among elected Republican leaders, their lobbyists/lawyers at the secretive GOP redistricting front group FAIR Trust, and the Arizona media to undermine the AIRC and to attack its credibility. AIRC chair Colleen Mathis has been unfairly demonized by Republican politicians and the GOPropaganda media, as have judges of the Arizona courts for upholding the law, in pursuit of a permanent Republican majority.

It began with conspiracy theories published by Christian Palmer who worked at the publication by and for capitol lobbyists, the Arizona Capitol Times and its sister publication The Yellow Sheet. (Palmer is now working for the billionaire bastard Koch brothers funded think tank, the Goldwater Institute).

Bizarre GOP attacks on Susan Rice begin to backfire

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Arizona's angry old man Sen. McNasty, Sen. John McCain, and his puppet boy sidekick Sen. Lindsey Graham, have been leading the bizzare GOP attacks on U.N. Secretary Susan Rice that began when Willard "Mittens" Romney attempted to politicize the attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, even before it was reported that U.N. Ambassador Christopher Stevens had been killed in the attack.

Wild ass conspiracy theories surrounding the attack in Benghazi have become a staple of FAUX News Fraudcasting and other purveyors of conspiracy theories in the right-wing noise machine since the attack.

As more information has become available, the wild ass conspiracy theories of FAUX News Fraudcasting and the right-wing noise machine have been refuted time and again. The whole right-wing conspiracy mongering over Benghazi has now been reduced to one of semantics: "spontaneous" and "al Qaida."

That's because they were local Jihadists, you idiots, NOT al Qaida, as the New York Times reported at the time of the attack, Election-Year Stakes Overshadow Nuances of Benghazi Investigation - NYTimes.com, and confirmed by the Washington Post's national security pundit David ignatius. CIA documents supported Susan Rice’s description of Benghazi attacks.

Jeff Flake's Campaign Misdirecting Democratic Voters to Incorrect Polling Place with Robocalls

By Michael Bryan

Honest, if incompetent, mistake? Or attempt to suppress the Democratic vote? We report, you decide.

Jeff Flake's campaign is robocalling to get out the vote. For some Democrats in the Valley, that call has contained blatantly incorrect information as to the location of that voter's polling place.

See the video below the fold...

Our New Anti-Carmona Ad

By Michael Bryan

Many of you will notice that we have a wonderful new ad that suggests Richard Carmona and Barack Obama have a secret deal with labor to make everyone pay union dues. Most of our readers will be happy to hear it, if only it were so.

I accepted the ad for one reason: it paid me personally, as the owner of the blog, $92.46, after commissions to display it for the next two weeks until the election. Usually, I use such revenues to pay for blog hosting, or to take my bloggers out for a breakfast on me, or other such blog-related expenses.

This time, I'm donating the money to the Carmona campaign. You should contribute, too. I'm asking 50 BlogForArizona readers to donate any amount to Push for Victory, an Act Blue campaign for the closest Congressional campaigns in Arizona. Please join me.

So, to the advertisers who wanted you to know about Dr. Carmona's nefarious secret deal, I'm sure that Dr, Carmona thanks you for the contribution :)

 

Election integrity event: 'Will your vote count?' (video)

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Information on tonight's election integrity event from the organizers...

Tonight, Wednesday, October 17, Bear Canyon Library, 6:30pm- 7:45pm. East Side Republicans will host a Point/ Counter Point on Election Integrity "Will YOUR Vote Count" speakers will be [Pima County election fraud lawyer] Bill Risner & Benny White.

Come ask questions, listen to the experts and know what to look for if you are a poll worker."

Election Fraud, Culture of Corruption in Pima County, why Early Ballots shouldn't be counted before Election Day and what all this means to us votes and more. 

 Address to Bear Canyon Library: 8959 E Tanque Verde, 85749 Tucson, AZ.

The event will filmed and available on Facebook at the AUDIT_AZ  page. 

For more background, check out the audio clip of Risner after the jump.

Tea Party, tinfoil, and sustainable development

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Remember earlier this year when Birther Queen Sen. Judy Burges (R - Sun City West) was pursuing yet another tinfoil hat conspiracy theory against the controversial United Nations Agenda 21 “sustainable development” plan? Arizona Bill Would Ban UN Agenda 21 Within State:

The two-page bill, known as SB1507, would prevent the state, county, and city governments of Arizona from adopting any tenets of the UN Declaration and the Statement of Principles for Sustainable Development. It would block any other international schemes that violate the U.S. or state constitutions as well.

Under the proposed law, all public entities in Arizona would also be barred from cooperating with, funding, or implementing any programs linked to a controversial global organization known as ICLEI (formerly named International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives). The UN-backed non-profit organization, based in Germany, seeks to force the "sustainability" plan on the world by stealth.

* * *

A Tea Party activist who testified at the hearing called Agenda 21 an insidious attack on American sovereignty in an effort to build a one-world order. He also said the Obama administration was using taxpayer-funded grants to prod state and local governments into implementing the "subversive" scheme.

The bill passed the state senate on a party-line vote, but died in the House where the bill was held until sine die.

It turns out that the Tea Party's newest darling, Senate nominee Ted Cruz from Texas, of whom the Washington Post's George F. Will recently wrote that Texas’s Ted Cruz gives tea party a Madisonian flair (the "patrician prevaricator" has abandoned his old money bluebloods for the Tea Party), is also a big fan of this tinfoil hat conspiracy theory against the United Nations Agenda 21.

Senator McCain Does the Right Thing

by Michael Bryan

Sometimes you get the chance to be immensely proud of an elected official with whom you deeply disagree on most subjects. Today is one of those days for me. Senator John McCain stood up on the floor of the Senate and denounced a scurilous and baseless attack on a decent and patriotic American by some of his fellow Republicans. He's had a Murrow moment, and today I could not be more proud to have John McCain as my Senator.

See his denouncement of Representative Bachman's and Franks' attack on Hillary Clinton's aide Huma Abedin (wife of Anthony Weiner) after the click...

Arizona Representative Trent Franks Accuses Obama Administration of Being Infiltrated by Muslim Brotherhood

By Michael Bryan

This is just embarrassing.

Trent Franks (abortion criminalizer and American Taliban member) has signed on to a letter with wackadoodle conspiracy theorist and former GOP Presidential Reality Show contestant Michelle Bachman claiming that the Obama Administration has been infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood.

The evidence? Well, several agencies have been engaging in way too productive and cordial relations with the Muslim Brotherhood of late, doncha know? Can't have anything to do with the Brotherhood playing a major role in the new government of Egypt... no, gotta be a conspiracy.

Here's the letter. Make of it's cracked ranting what you will and weep for the passing of seriousness and discernment in our elected public officials of the GOP brand.

Shame on you, Mr. Franks.