Blog For Arizona

Abortion politics in the U.S. Supreme Court

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed as “improvidently granted” the case of Cline  v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice (docket 12-1094), an appeal from the state of Oklahoma to  revive a law that restricts doctors’ use of drugs rather than surgery to perform an abortion with the medication RU-486 and others, struck down by the federal courts.

Around the same time, Planned Parenthood of Texas applied for an order setting aside the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals order permitting the Texas law requiring abortion practitioners to have admitting privilieges at a nearby hospital before they may perform abortions at a clinic or in a doctor’s office. Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas Surgical Health Services v. Abbott (13A452).

In a 5-4 decision along ideological lines, the Court declined on Tuesday to set aside the Fifth Circuit Court order. Lyle Denniston at Scotusblog.com reports, Texas abortion law left in effect:

Splitting five to four, the Supreme Court late Tuesday afternoon refused to block a Texas abortion law that critics say is forcing the closing of one-third of all clinics in the state.  The Court had been studying the issue for the past week.  The majority said that the challengers had not met the requirement for setting aside a federal appeals court’s order permitting the law to take effect on October 31.

The majority specifically included Justices Antonin Scalia, who wrote separately in a concurring opinion joined by Justices Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Clarence Thomas.  But Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy presumably voted with those three, because it would have taken five votes to act definitively on the plea by doctors and clinics when there were four Justices who wanted to block the law.

The specific order denying the application (13A452) was unsigned.  Both Justice Scalia’s opinion and that of the dissenters referred to the result as the action of “the Court.”

Questions for Martha McSally: Jim Nintzel doesn't get an answer either

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In this new series, "Questions for Martha McSally," we pose questions to the McSally campaign about her positions on current hot topics -- I am not going to give her a free pass until after the GOP primary like our local media did in 2012.

Jim Nintzel of the Tucson Weekly and host of the Arizona Illustrated political roundtable tried to get Martha McSally to take a position on the current hot topic of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) and - suprise! - McSally is still hiding in the bunker with no ready answer to substantive questions. This is one incredibly ill-informed and ill-prepared candidate for someone who has been running for office since 2010. From

Republican Martha McSally, who hopes to unseat Barber next year, declined to take a position on ENDA.

"I haven't read the law, so I'd have to read it before I make a comment," she told the Weekly last week.

When she ran in 2010, McSally was opposed to "adding 'sexual orientation,' 'gender identity,' or 'gender expression' to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestory in anti-discrimination law," according to a survey she filled out for the Center for Arizona Policy, a religious-right organization.

McSally said last week she filled the survey out early in her political career, so she would have to go back and review how the question was phrased before she could say whether she still stood by it. The questionnaire, she said, only let her say whether she supported or opposed various positions, and she felt she should have instead been given an opportunity to write longer answers.

[Note: This is B.S. Candidates frequently attach detailed responses to questionnaires when they have a nuanced or detailed position on an issue. I have to read these questionnaires all the time. A candidate does not need to ask permission to attach their response. Where is that proactive, take charge leadership skills McSally wants us to believe? She was intimidated by a "check the box" questionnaire from CAP?]

GOP filibuster of ENDA defeated in the U.S. Senate

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The vote on the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) was 61-30 to end the GOP filibuster, with several supporters not even present to vote. Arizona's Sen. Jeff Flake voted in favor of filibustering this bill to death -- shame on him. Sen. John McCain did not vote -- probably too busy trying to find a television station that would interview him to make him feel important. He has his priorities. [Update: The Republic reports "McCain tweeted before the vote that he was taping an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."]

A final vote in the Senate could come as early as the end of this week. The question is what happens in the Tea-Publican controlled House, where the TanMan, Weeper of the House Jon Boehner, indicated on Monday that he will not bring ENDA up for a vote. The real queston is, "who is actually opposed to this bill?"

Robert Jones at the Washington Post reports, Most Republicans, evangelicals support ENDA:

With seven Republican senators and all 55 Democratic senators publicly on board, it now seems likely that the Senate will debate and vote this week on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would ban employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. If the bill moves forward, it would represent the newest effort since the 1970s to address the issue and the first time since 1996 that the Senate has given the legislation an up-or-down vote.

Although you would not guess it by the tepid support among most Republican senators, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of Americans support workplace protections for gay and lesbian Americans. Among younger Americans, a group Republicans candidates have struggled to attract, support rises to 81 percent. And most striking is this: majorities of both Republicans (60 percent) and Democrats (80 percent) as well as majorities of every major religious group, including six-in-ten (59 percent) white evangelical Protestants, favor workplace protections for gay and lesbian people.

One's personal religious beliefs is not a license to discriminate

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On a host of social issues, from contraceptive coverage in the Affordable Care Act to access to safe and legal abortions, from the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) to marriage equality for gays, there is one recurring theme: religious organizations who are opposed to these measures want to be exempt from complying with the law because it conflicts with their religious beliefs. More importanty, they are arguing for an individual exemption, i.e., that one's personal religious beliefs should exempt them from complying with the laws.

Religion has long been used as justification for the most inhumane treatment of one human by another. Just look to our own American experience.

European settlers viewed the Native American cultures as inferior to their own. Some considered the native peoples subhuman. This mindset fueled the justification that Native Americans could be enslaved, forced to live in confined communities, or converted to Christianity under the concept of the white man's burden (the supposed or presumed responsibility of white people to govern and impart their culture to nonwhite people). In many other cases, entire native civilizations were simply wiped out by acts of genocide.

Europeans settlers held similar views of Africans, whom they viewed as inferior because of the color of their skin. A prevailing religious theory at the time taught that white represented light and godliness, while black represented evil and the malevolent forces of the underworld, allowing them to justify  slavery of Africans. A New World: Colonial Societies. As with Native Americans, Europeans viewed Africans as subhuman, and thus, well-suited for mindless, grueling labor. The few critics of slavery focused on the inhumane treatment of Africans and not the practice of slavery itself. This led to the establishment of black slavery as lifelong and hereditary.

The GOP war on women: gradually eroding the constitutional right to abortion

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The injunction issued by a Texas federal court earlier this week was overturned by a panel of the conservative activist Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday. Texas court reinstates abortion limits:

Texas abortion providers’ Monday victory was short-lived. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed a federal district court ruling that found part of the state’s new abortion regulations unconstitutional, meaning the provisions of House Bill 2 could take effect immediately if state officials choose to enforce them.

* * *

A three-judge panel in the 5th Circuit appellate court lifted a permanent injunction placed on the abortion regulations by a lower court, arguing in a written opinion that the state was likely to succeed in its legal arguments.

The judges, Priscilla R. Owen, Jennifer Walker Elrod and Catharina Haynes, wrote that “there is a substantial likelihood that the state will prevail in its argument that Planned Parenthood failed to establish an undue burden on women seeking abortions or that the hospital-admitting-privileges requirement creates a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion.” Furthermore, they wrote,”we also conclude that the state has made a strong showing of likelihood of success on the merits, at least in part, as to its appeal of the injunction pertaining to medication abortions.”

The appellate court’s decision overrules U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel’s ruling on Monday that a provision in HB 2 that requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital imposed an undue burden on women seeking the procedure. Additionally, Yeakel ruled that it would be unconstitutional for the state to require physicians to follow federal standards for drug-induced abortions if a physician determined it would be safer for the woman to use a common evidence-based protocol.

D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rules against contraceptive coverage in 'ObamaCare' in a deeply disturbing decision

Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

"Corporations are people, my friend." - Willard "Mittens" Romney

Apparently the legal fiction of a corporate entity also enjoys rights far superior to the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to citizens by the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. This is a brave new world of corporatocracy, my friends.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld a legal challenge to the provision of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) that mandates employer coverage of birth control, arguing that it “trammels” the expression of religious freedom.

Wait, the legal fiction of a corporate entity has a "religion" (other than profits and shareholder dividends)? And it is free to impose its religious beliefs on its employees under some perverse notion of "religious liberty"?

This is the exact opposite meaning of religious liberty: it is a "get out of jail free card" for an employer to discriminate against its employees of other religious beliefs, or no religious beliefs, who do not share the corporate entity's "religious beliefs" -- under the sanction of federal law, which would violate the "free exercise" clause of First Amendment religious liberty.

Steve Benen reports, Court rules against ACA contraception policy:

Birth-control opponents wonan especially significant round this morning.

The D.C. Circuit Court has upheld a legal challenge to the provision of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that mandates employer coverage of birth control, arguing that it “trammels” the expression of religious freedom. While the legal process over the issue isn’t final, the decision hands a huge political victory to conservative activists that have long made this argument.

The ruling is online here (pdf).

When politics weds religious dogma and produces an article of faith

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Thomas Franks in his seminal work, What's the Matter with Kansas?, explored reasons why people vote against their own economic self-interest and choose to live in an economic system of inequality and poverty. It's not just Kansas.

Jim Tankersley at the Washington Post  today introduces us to Tom Hackett and his life in the meat business in Rome, Georgia. This Southern conservative blames everything on him -- that man in the White House -- rather than the decades of conservative economics that he voted for religiously, which is the source of the economic troubles in which we find ourselves today -- something Tankersley does not mention nor challenge Mr. Hackett with in his one-sided narrative piece.

When politics weds religious dogma and produces an article of faith, the adherents of this "faith" are conceptually unable to question what they believe -- even when confronted with the cold, hard facts of reality -- because it means questioning their "faith." Until we can end this "cult" of wedding politics with religion, this disabling cognitive dissonance which is causing substantial economic harm to this country and destroying people's lives will continue. Tea party lawmakers’ districts suffer economically:

If you want to understand the congressional Republicans who have forced confrontations with Obama on the “fiscal cliff,” the government shutdown and the debt ceiling — and whether those lawmakers might feel encouraged to force more confrontations in the future — you need to understand the economic struggles of the Republicans’ home districts.

People in those districts are poorer and more likely to be unemployed than in the nation at large. They have focused their anger about their economic circumstances on Obama, and they want someone, anyone, to make him improve things for them. This is why Hackett praises his congressman, Tom Graves, for voting against the plan to end the budget impasse with Obama that produced the shutdown. “I think he’s great,” he said of Graves. “Somebody’s got to stand up to him.”

Jan Brewer has a kindred spirit in John Kasich

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this week, former FAUX News host anf Governor of Ohio, John Kasich, used a quirk in Ohio law to enact Medicaid expansion in his state, and to divide his party. Ohio will expand Medicaid after months-long battle between governor and legislature:

Ohio agreed Monday to offer Medicaid to about 300,000 more low-income people, a major victory for Gov. John Kasich over fellow Republicans who control the state legislature and oppose the expansion. After nine months of battling with the state GOP’s conservative wing, Kasich resorted to an uncommon maneuver in which he turned to a relatively obscure state board with power over certain budget decisions. The board voted to accept $2.55 billion in federal money to cover the cost of expanding Medicaid in Ohio through July 2015.

The 5 to 2 vote by the Controlling Board, composed mainly of a small group of lawmakers, is only a temporary answer to a question that has been roiling politics in Ohio — and other states — for more than a year. It does not spell out whether Ohio will provide money to keep Medicaid more generous in future years, when the state would need to chip in a small portion of the expense. And even before the board acted, some conservative Republican lawmakers were threatening to go to court, alleging the governor illegally bypassed the legislature.

Comprehensive immigration reform the next battle in Congress

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"President Obama, fresh off a trouncing of congressional Republicans over the government shutdown, plans to renew his push for immigration legislation in the House while also pressing ahead with climate change policies and efforts to fix problems plaguing his signature health-care program." Obama plans to renew immigration, climate change efforts.

Earlier this month, House Democrats introduced their own immigration reform bill sans the "border surge" of the Senate's "Gang of Eight" bill, with a positive reception from some Republican House members. House immigration bill — minus the surge - Politico:

The legislation released Wednesday is meant to build pressure on House Republican leaders who have so far shown little public urgency on the issue of immigration reform. And already, some GOP lawmakers — particularly those who hail from competitive districts or areas with large concentrations of Latino residents — are expressing some openness to the Democrats’ proposal.

Their plan is to take the comprehensive immigration reform legislation that passed the Senate with wide bipartisan margins in June, but without the so-called border surge amendment added in the final days of the floor debate. In its place, Democrats have inserted a bipartisan border-security bill whose chief sponsor is House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas).

[That bill, crafted by Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas), passed with unanimous bipartisan support in the House Homeland Security Committee in May. It gives the Department of Homeland Security two years to come up with a plan to apprehend at last 90 percent of individuals who cross the border illegally.]

“The biggest issue I had with the Senate bill was the border-security piece. I support the McCaul bill,” said California Rep. Jeff Denham, one of a handful of House Republicans who have voiced support for immigration reform. “It sounds very positive, but I will always wait to see what those details are.”

Values Voters Summit Selects Ted Cruz as Their 'Annointed One'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The results of a straw poll conducted at the Values Voter Summit showed that conservatives are united in their support for Senator Ted Cruz in 2016. Ted Cruz Wins Values Voter Straw Poll, Along with Santorum Surprise:

Senator Ted Cruz [claimed] a commanding 42% of votes for a prosective Presidential run. Former senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who spoke on the first day of the summit and suggested that the thought of running again crosses his mind from time to time—“even today”—received 13 percent of the vote, an almost statistical tie with Dr. Ben Carson.

On the vote for a prospective vice-presidential candidate, Dr. Carson won handily with 21% of the vote. Ted Cruz placed in second, with 17%, while Congresswoman Michele Bachmann earned third place with 9% of the vote. Another item in the poll was major issues: voters decided that religious liberty was the number one issue facing conservative voters, with pro-life matters coming in second.

Now you may be wondering, "How did Ted 'Calgary' Cruz beat out Christian Reconstructionists and Dominionists like FAUX News host Mike 'Huckajesus,' Rick 'man on dog' Santorum, and the Minnesota Loon, Michele Bachmann?"

Say a couple Amens, somebody!

by David Safier

I'm a non-observant Jew so this isn't exactly in my wheelhouse, but I'm doubly cheered by two articles in today's Star: 2 churches here act to dispel idea that Christianity means 'conservative', which is on the front page of the print edition, and Pope's blunt remarks challenge US bishops, on the front page of the Nation section. The first article has a sidebar with two events reframing the tenets of Christianity in a way that doesn't echo right wing talking points. The second is a discussion of Pope Francis' much-discussed interview where he said, basically, opposition to abortion and gay rights aren't the two main pillars of Catholicism and should be secondary to the church's more primary, more loving articles of faith.

It's a wonderful antidote to Howie Fischer's penchant for consulting Cathi Herrod of the far-right Center for Arizona Policy as a religious expert every time he talks about anything vaguely related to abortion, birth control or gay rights. She's a well funded political operative, Howie, not an expert or an authority on theology.

A "WELL, THIS IS ODD" NOTE: I looked for the front page article online and couldn't find it without doing a search. Not only is it not on the home page or in the State and Region section (I even tried the Education section to see if it was there -- Nope), but it isn't even on the "All Headlines" page. That's very odd, since the story is written by Star reporter Patty Machelor, and local stories tend to be easy to find online. The "All Headlines" page looks like it hasn't been updated, so maybe they'll correct the omission later today. (The story about the Pope is from the AP, and those tend not to be featured, so I wasn't surprised to find I had to search for it.)

Idolatrous gun worship now the official state religion of Arizona

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This is going to lead to wailing and the gnashing of teeth by the idolatrous gun worshipers and fetishists. The day before their idolatrous religion became the legislature-sanctioned official state religion of Arizona, the Phoenix police department destroyed almost 2,000 holy relics unwanted firearms. Oh the horrors! Phoenix destroys 2,000 guns before ban:

The goal of the popular gun buybacks held last spring in Phoenix was clear: purchase and destroy as many unwanted weapons as possible before a new state law requiring police to sell firearms instead of melting them down took effect.

The program collected nearly 2,000 weapons, and Phoenix police worked nearly 175 hours of overtime — at a cost of about $10,000 — to ensure the guns were destroyed before the law kicked in last Friday.

* * *

“I’m very happy we were able to get these destroyed before the law took effect,” said Hildy Saizow, president of Arizonans for Gun Safety.. “That’s what we promised the public, and no matter what the Legislature did, we needed to meet that objective.”

Who died and made her Pope?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I was deeply disappointed with the media coverage of the Marriage Matters Arizona press conferences. There were several religious leaders of several religious faiths who spoke eloquently about the fundamental right of the freedom to marry at these press conferences. But somehow, their presence and their eloquent words did not make it into any press reports.

No, the media villagers all turned to Cathi Herrod from the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), which professes to support Christian values -- if by "Christian" you mean supporting ignorance, fear and hatred for others. I am confident Jesus does not approve.

Who died and made her Pope? (BTW, Pope Francis is more enlightened; he has said he doesn't have any problem with the inclination to homosexuality itself: "Who am I to judge them if they're seeking the Lord in good faith?")

UPDATE: Pope decries focus on ‘small-minded’ rules: Pope Francis also says it’s “not necessary” to always condemn abortion, homosexuality and contraception.

Note to the media villagers: Cathi Herrod does not speak for the faith community. She is a lobbyist for a right-wing political organization that opposes women having the right to make their own health care decisions over their own bodies, opposes birth control, opposes sex education beyond abstinence only programs, opposes equal rights under the law for gays and lesbians, etc. Her far-right positions are not the majority view of most Americans, and not even the majority view of most people of faith.

Nor is Cathi Herrod's regressive political agenda shared by most religious faiths. So stop turning to her as if she is the official spokesperson for all religious faiths in the faith community, because she most definitely is not! Try picking up the phone and calling some actual religious leaders for a change.

Arizona's lawless legislature smacked down by the Arizona Supreme Court

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last November, Arizona voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposition 115, a citizens initiative by the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) that would have given the governor more say in appointing judges to the state’s appeals courts and the superior courts in its three largest counties. The CAP assault on the independence of the judiciary.

Not to be deterred, our "Sun King" Tea-Publican legislature enacted HB 2600 earlier this year to get what they and the CAP demanded, despite the will of the voters. "Screw the voters! I am the law!"

The Arizona Constitution cannot be amended by a simple legislative act, it must be amended by approval of the voters. So four members of the commission that nominates judicial candidates for the state’s appellate courts filed a special action in the Arizona Supreme Court, asking the high court to throw out the law on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. Effort targets judicial picks.

Today, the Arizona Supreme Court struck down HB 2600 as unconstitutional. The larger issue which remains is our lawless legislature's creeping encroachment on the independent judiciary on behalf of the CAP.

The full opinion is Here, Dobson et al. v. State of Arizona ex rel Appeals Court Appointments, CV-13-0225-SA.

Highlights from the opinion below the fold:

The SNAP Challenge and food insecurity in America

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tucson Community Food Bank's SNAP Challenge is underway this week:

Starting Tuesday, a challenge to all people in Southern Arizona, spend only $4 a day on food.  That is idea behind the SNAP challenge. 

Participants are ‘challenged' to only spend $4 per person, per day for four days and still keep the meals healthy and their family members full. 

The SNAP challenge is sponsored by the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, who stated that while this challenge experience cannot give participants a true sense of living in deep or prolonged poverty, it can provide insight into some challenges many families face.

Challenge organizers also want participants to consider proposed cuts to the SNAP program. 

The SNAP challenge runs from September 3 to September 6.

A New York Times report today by Sheryl Stolberg examines GOP plans to cut $40 billion from the SNAP program. On the Edge of Poverty, at the Center of a Debate on Food Stamps:

When Congress officially returns to Washington next week, the diets of families like the Rigsbys and the Adamses will be caught up in a debate over deficit reduction. Republicans, alarmed by a rise in food stamp enrollment, are pushing to revamp and scale down the program. Democrats are resisting the cuts.

No matter what Congress decides, benefits will be reduced in November, when a provision in the 2009 stimulus bill expires.

Aqua Buddha: 'Food stamps are slavery' - let the children starve

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The village idiot Aqua Buddha, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), thinks Food Stamps Are Just Like Slavery:

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) equated government programs that prevent people from dying of starvation with slavery in a new profile of his medical practice published today, revealing himself to hold a view of the role of government so limited as to nearly define the state out of existence.

* * *

“As humans, yeah, we do have an obligation to give people water, to give people food, to give people health care,” Paul allowed, “but it’s not a right because once you conscript people and say, ‘Oh, it’s a right,’ then really you’re in charge, it’s servitude, you’re in charge of me and I’m supposed to do whatever you tell me to do.”

Paul openly acknowledges in the article that the “rights are slavery” argument “often gets me in trouble.” He’s used to getting heat on this one and just doesn’t care. It’s what he believes.

Someone needs a "come to Jesus" moment. Matthew 25:31-46. For Tea-Publicans, Ayn Rand laissez-faire "free market" moral nihilism has been elevated to a socio-economic-religious dogma.

Questions for Martha McSally: What is your position on women's access to health care, contraception, and safe and legal abortions?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In this new series, "Questions for Martha McSally," we pose questions to the McSally campaign about her positions on current hot topics -- I am not going to give her a free pass until after the GOP primary like our local media did in 2012.

Preface: The GOP war on women continues unabated. Halfway Through 2013, States Have Already Enacted More Than 100 Provisions Related To Reproduction, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute. On Thursday, the North Carolina House Passed New Restrictions on Abortion. The Texas Senate takes up abortion this afternoon.

In 2012, the Arizona legislature enacted a 20-week ban on abortions, and attempted to defund Planned Parenthood clinics. Both measures have been enjoined by the federal court as violative of federal law, and the constitutional right to a abortion recognized in Roe. v. Wade.

The Arizona legislature also enacted a law granting an exemption to religious organizations to provide contraception coverage in health care insurance, and a Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law creating arbitrary standards that apply only to abortion clinics and providers aimed at closing down abortion clinics. A bill for unannounced surprise inspections of abortion clinics died late in the legislative session this year, because it would have been in violation of a court decision.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) last month introduced a similar 20-week ban on abortions in Congress to extend the ban to all states, which the GOP controlled House recently approved.

Martha McSally frequently refers to herself as a "woman warrior" (because she was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force). But will she be a "warrior for women"?

What is Martha McSally's position on women's access to health care, contraception, and safe and legal abortions?

Speaking truth to power at the Texas Lege

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Yet another hero emerges from the resistance to the Christian Taliban's war on women in the Republic of Texas Gilead. We need more people like Sarah Slamen who are fearless and willing to speak truth to power. Ann Richards and Molly Ivins would be proud of this fearless Texan woman. Texas woman pulled off Senate floor after fiery testimony against abortion bill:

Sarah Slamen left her home in central Texas at 5:30 a.m. Monday to testify at the Austin Senate against the state’s controversial abortion bill. She didn’t get to speak until 11:00 pm that night, after listening to hours of what she described as a “parade of anti-choice zealots and misogynists.” By the time she was called, Slamen had scrapped her prepared speech about Gov. Rick Perry’s sister’s ties to surgical centers and doctor-owned hospitals that would benefit from the bill’s passage, and went for the senators themselves.

“Thank you for being you, Texas legislature,” Slamen said. “You have radicalized hundreds of thousands of us, and no matter what you do for the next 22 days, women and their allies are coming for you. Let’s start down the line. Senator Campbell, you’re an ophthalmologist. So I won’t be making you the expert on reproductive health. We can give you all the children with chlamydia and herpes in their eyes, since we don’t have Sex Ed in this state.”

Video below the fold.

Governor Goodhair 'mansplains' to Wendy Davis

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Governor Goodhair, Rick Perry of the theocratic Republic of Texas Gilead (literary reference to The Handmaid's Tale), was none too happy about state Sen. Wendy Davis leading a people's filibuster to defeat his anti-abortion measure. Doesn't this little lady know that women are supposed to be subservient to their men folk and to be seen and not heard? How dare she violate the law of God (according to these religious extremists).

Read this disturbing report by Forrest Wilder in the August 2011 issue of Texas Observer, Rick Perry's Army of God. The movement is called the New Apostolic Reformation. Believers fashion themselves modern-day prophets and apostles:

[T]wo Texas pastors, Tom Schlueter of Arlington and Bob Long of San Marcos, who called on Perry in the governor’s office inside the state Capitol. Schlueter and Long both oversee small congregations, but they are more than just pastors. They consider themselves modern-day apostles and prophets, blessed with the same gifts as Old Testament prophets or New Testament apostles.

The pastors told Perry of God’s grand plan for Texas. A chain of powerful prophecies had proclaimed that Texas was “The Prophet State,” anointed by God to lead the United States into revival and Godly government. And the governor would have a special role.

* * *

If they simply professed unusual beliefs, movement leaders wouldn’t be remarkable. But what makes the New Apostolic Reformation movement so potent is its growing fascination with infiltrating politics and government. The new prophets and apostles believe Christians—certain Christians—are destined to not just take “dominion” over government, but stealthily climb to the commanding heights of what they term the “Seven Mountains” of society, including the media and the arts and entertainment world. They believe they’re intended to lord over it all. As a first step, they’re leading an “army of God” to commandeer civilian government.

In Rick Perry, they may have found their vessel. And the interest appears to be mutual.

The GOP war on women to appease the crazy base

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Remember when the TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, proclaimed that Tea-Publicans were all about creating jobs? Yeah, still waiting.

When they are not wasting time on meaningless symbolic votes to repeal "ObamaCare" for the 39th time to give every member of their caucus a chance to vote against it, they are wasting their time on other meaningless symbolic votes to appease the crazy base, like this.

On Tuesday, House Republicans wasted the day approving the most restrictive anti-abortion bill considered in Congress in the last decade, the unconstitutional 20-week abortion ban bill sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. U.S. House passes bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy:

The House approved legislation Tuesday that would ban abortions starting at 20 weeks of pregnancy, the most sweeping abortion restriction to pass any chamber of Congress in a decade. The vote was 228 to 196.

For those of you scoring this bill, six Republicans voted against it, and six Democrats voted for it -- Henry Cuellar (D-TX 28), Daniel Lipinski (D-IL 3), Jim Matheson (D-UT 4), Mike McIntyre (D-NC 7), Collin Peterson (D-MN 7), and Nick Rahall (D-WV 3) -- canceling each other out.

Under the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, abortions can be performed until the point when an individual doctor determines a fetus’s viability, which is generally defined as up to 24 weeks of gestation. After that point, the government can prohibit the procedure as long as it provides sufficient safeguards for the mother’s health and well-being.

* * *

Tuesday’s vote marks the first time Congress has voted to redefine the point where a fetus becomes viable [in a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the real reason for doing this.]

'Nuns on The Bus' for immigration reform coming to Arizona

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The “Nuns on the Bus” are revving up their engines for another national campaign, only this time the Catholic sisters are taking their mobile platform for social justice along the country’s Southern border to push Congress to pass immigration reform. Nuns on the Bus - Religion News Service:

“The ‘Nuns on the Bus’ is going on the road again!”

“This time we’re going out for common-sense immigration reform,” Sister Simone Campbell said to rousing applause.

Details of the latest tour are still to be announced, but the bus trip is expected to start at the end of the month, beginning in New York and winding up in California by way of Florida and the U.S. border with Mexico.

Nuns on the Bus - Washington, DC - Organization | Facebook

Campbell believes the right moment and the right issue are coinciding again, and like many longtime immigration reform advocates she is willing to back the current bill despite reservations.

“We want to amend it, yes, but we want to pass it. We don’t want to nitpick it to death. That’s what we did in 2007,” she said, referring to the previous attempt to overhaul immigration, which ended in failure.

Quoting Pope Francis

by David Safier

I'm not one to quote popes, but these words from Pope Francis deserve to be spotlighted as a positive indication of the man he may be and the tone he might set.

“If investments in the banks fail, ‘Oh, it’s a tragedy,’ ” he said, speaking extemporaneously for more than 40 minutes at a Pentecost vigil last weekend, after a private audience with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the architect of Europe’s austerity policies. “But if people die of hunger or don’t have food or health, nothing happens. This is our crisis today.”

In a recent speech to diplomats accredited to the Holy See, Francis also spoke of the need for more ethics in finance.

“The financial crisis which we are experiencing makes us forget that its ultimate origin is to be found in a profound human crisis,” he said, adding: “We have created new idols. The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.”

Ethics in finance. The cult of money akin to worship of the golden calf. And "the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.” To indicate these weren't throwaway lines, Francis told Father Lombardi before the speech to diplomats, "Pay attention, this is important. I want people to understand it’s important."

The thought that a Pope might emphasize the "the cult of money" rather than focusing his papal authority on abortion and birth control to the exclusion of the problems of poverty is encouraging. Let's hope he keeps it up and others who are supposed to be moral leaders follow suit.

Religious bigotry rears its ugly head at the Arizona Capitol

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"[N]o religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." - Article VI, Paragraph 3, U.S. Constitution.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." - First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

"The liberty of conscience secured by the provisions of this constitution shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state. No public money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious worship, exercise, or instruction, or to the support of any religious establishment. No religious qualification shall be required for any public office or employment, nor shall any person be incompetent as a witness or juror in consequence of his opinion on matters of religion, nor be questioned touching his religious belief in any court of justice to affect the weight of his testimony." - Article 2, Section 12, Arizona Constitution.

Rep. Steve "Secession" Smith (R-Maricopa) from District 11 has been working overtime this session for the title of "Most Offensive Legislator."  Dude, if I award you the title now, will you please just go away?

The latest incident involves what should have been a non-event in the 21st Century under American constitutional law. "Rep. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe, acknowledged his secular views as he gave the daily House invocation on Tuesday, urging legislators to look at each other, rather than bow their heads, and 'celebrate our shared humanness.'" Arizona lawmaker: I’m an atheist:

Rep. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe, who said it was freeing to be open about his secular views, also introduced about a dozen fellow members of the Secular Coalition for Arizona who watched from the House gallery.

[Note: "Atheism" and "Secular humanism" are not interchangeable synonymous terms. Look it up Arizona Republic. Nowhere in his invocation did Rep. Mendez state "I'm an atheist" as you attribute to him in the headline (see below).]

Iran's authoritarian streak has deep roots

By Karl Reiner

Authoritarian rulers are not uncommon to Iran.  As Iran's June presidential election nears, the Guardian Council has yet to announce the list of approved candidates.  Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wants to see a suitable conservative elected as president.  In a country facing a faltering economy, sanctions and entanglement in Syria, the Supreme Leader may face some difficulty in getting his way.

In the 1960s, the Shah of Iran wanted to turn Iran into a new Persian Empire.  He aspired to make it a major force in the Persian Gulf area.  As the British withdrew their military presence east of Suez, the Shah was ready to step in and put his plan into action.

Oil revenues allowed the Shah to make large arms purchases.  Using the Cold War to his advantage, he knew if he couldn't buy military equipment from the U.S., the Soviet Union would sell him all the arms he wanted.  Within a few short years, Iran's military was turned into one of the most technologically advanced forces in the world.

A National Day of Reason

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Today is the first Thursday in May and you know what that means: by Congressional decree, today is the official "National Day of Prayer."

Charlotte, NC Mayor Anthony Foxx, whom President Obama recently nominated to be his new Secretary of Transportation, President Obama Nominates Anthony Foxx as Secretary of Transportation, as Mayor of Charlotte, has issued a proclamation saying that Thursday is a “Day of Reason,” lending his name for the second consecutive year to a movement that emphasizes the separation of church and state. Foxx proclaims 'Day of Reason,' 'Day of Prayer':

The American Humanist Association, a co-sponsor of the day, said on its website, that, “with the religious right’s influence in Congress, and with the threat to our Judiciary looming large, there has never been as important a moment in which to affirm our commitment to the Constitutional separation of religion and government, and to celebrate Reason as the guiding principle of our secular democracy.”

Foxx, a Democrat, also issued a proclamation saying that Thursday is also a “National Day of Prayer.” That is a congressional-sponsored day that encourages people of all religions and faiths to pray for the country.

Foxx attends the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte.

Rep.Trent Franks still fancies himself 'Mayor' of Washington, D.C.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

When Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) is not channeling Joe McCarthy with his Islamophobia conspiracy theories about how the Council on American Islamic Relations tried to plant "spies" in the national security apparatus, House Republicans accuse Muslim group of trying to plant spies, or claiming that African-Americans were better off under slavery than they are today (why? Because "abortion!"), or declaring that President Obama is one of the most dangerous enemies facing America today and "an enemy of humanity", or threatening to impeach President Obama over his refusal to defend the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, this Christian Right anti-gay, anti-abortion zealot fancies himself the "Mayor" of Washington, D.C., proposing to outlaw the constitutional right to a safe abortion in the District.

As the Washington Post editoiralized last year, The House tramples again on the District's rights:

THE ISSUES ADMITTEDLY are not normally the domain of a member of Congress. But D.C. residents who wanted to discuss problems of city potholes, rat infestations and broken streetlights with Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) were trying to make an important point. If Mr. Franks is so interested in running the affairs of District residents, as evidenced by his effort to restrict their abortion rights, then let him deal with all the other issues of local government.

No surprise that Mr. Franks locked his doors to last week’s protest by D.C. Vote and turned off his phones. Nor is it any surprise that his noxious bill to restrict the constitutional rights of women in the nation’s capital is likely to advance. It’s pretty clear that the rights or wishes of D.C. residents matter little on Capitol Hill, particularly to members of the House Republican majority.

GOP rebranding fail

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

After the 2012 election "autopsy," the GOP decided that it would rebrand itself with fancy "new and improved!" packaging and soft-sell messaging, all the while retaining its poisonous product inside the box that it is selling to an unsuspecting public. So how's that working out?

Just last week RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, the guy who told Republicans that they need to stop being stupid and to "tone down the language" about things like "legitimate rape," returned to the GOP war on women with another attack on Planned Parenthood and Democrats. Priebus suggests Obama, Democrats 'endorse infanticide'. This is "toning down the language"?

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus suggested that Democrats "endorse infanticide" by supporting women's health provider Planned Parenthood.

In an op-ed posted on the conservative site RedState, Priebus highlights movements made by state legislatures in North Dakota and Florida over the past week to restrict abortion rights. And he targets President Obama, congressional Democratic leaders and party officials over their support for Planned Parenthood.

Tempe to debate joining Bisbee with civil unions ordinance

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

OK, I thought the City of Tucson and/or Flagstaff would be the first to take up my challenge to lock arms with the city of Bisbee in enacting a civil unions ordinace to stick a finger in the eye of Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy and the self righteous Tom "banned for life by the SEC" Horne, but it appears that the city of Tempe will take up the challenge first. I tip my hat to you for stepping up to the plate to defend civil rights. Tempe to begin discussion on civil-union laws:

Tempe, a historically progressive city, is poised to become embroiled in the debate over equal rights for same-sex couples.

Today, the Tempe City Council will discuss civil-union laws in its private executive session. The discussion comes two days after residents of Bisbee watched their council approve a historic vote to legalize civil-union certificates, which provide same-sex partners with some of the same rights as married couples.

Tempe Councilman Kolby Granville called the Bisbee vote momentous. On Wednesday, Granville, a Democrat, told The Arizona Republic that he asked for the council executive session on civil unions. He wants Tempe to be the first Valley city to approve civil-union certificates for its residents.

If approved, the legal rights would apply to an estimated 165,000 Tempe residents compared with 5,600 or so in Bisbee.

“Tempe tends to be a leader in issues of civil rights,” Granville said. “And, to me, equality based on sexual orientation is one of those very same civil rights.”

Laugh riot: Mr. Sex on The Side is going to defend the 'sanctity of marriage'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This is a laugh riot. Arizona Attorney General Tom "banned for life by the SEC," who got caught having an extramarital affair during an FBI investigation into his political corruption, FBI report: Tom Horne was having affair when he hit parked car, climbed up on his high horse named "self-righteous" and announced that Mr. Sex on The Side will file a lawsuit to defend the "sanctity of marriage" by suing the city of Bisbee over its civil unions ordinance. Now that's chutzpah. AG Horne to challenge Bisbee's civil union vote:

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne will file a lawsuit challenging Bisbee's new civil union ordinance, his office confirmed Wednesday. There was no timeline yet available for when the lawsuit may come.

Horne's decision comes hours after the small southeastern Arizona city of Bisbee ignored vociferous opposition and threats of lawsuits and legalized civil unions for same-sex couples Tuesday night. It was an historic council vote that turned into a political circus, as nearly 100 people packed the chambers in both opposition and support.

The City Council pushed aside legal warnings from the state’s attorney general and a conservative advocacy group and voted 5-2 to become first city in the state to offer civil-union certificates for all couples that would extend to same-sex partners some of the same rights as married couples within the Bisbee boundaries.

The ordinance, which goes into effect in 30 days, would cover joint property ownership, property inheritance, guardianship and adoption rights.

North Carolina bill for a state religion

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

While the state of Arizona is one step away from sending a bill to Governor Jan Brewer making idolatrous gun worship the official state religion, the Christian Taliban in the state of North Carolina is pushing a bill to establish an official state religion in that state.

The Christian Reconstructionists and Dominionists reject the First Amendment prohibition against the establishment of a state religion and even judicial review to decide whether the state law is constitutional (because in a theocracy, no one can question "God's law"). The Christian Taliban has essentially checked out of reality. It's long past time for the media to stop being deferential to these radical extremists just because they couch their radical extremism in religious beliefs.

Steve Benen writes, Next stage in the culture war: official state religions:

[W]e've already seen Republican policymakers ban abortion rights, reject marriage equality, go after contraception access, target Planned Parenthood, and go after sex-ed.

What else is there? Wait, I know, how about an effort to empower state lawmakers to declare an official religion, shamelessly thumbing its nose at the Constitution?

A bill filed by Republican lawmakers would allow North Carolina to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies statewide. [...]

(Update) Arizona moves one step closer to making idolatrous gun worship the official state religion

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

One would think the sheer stupidity of giving guns legal rights superior to an individual's private property rights to do with his or her own property as they deem fit would derail this crazy bill.

House Bill 2455, sponsored by teabagger Rep. Brenda Barton, R-Payson, clarifies that a state, county or local government must sell guns it receives in any manner unless they are deemed to be evidence in a crime. This includes weapons that individuals voluntarily hand over, even if their desire is for the weapon to be destroyed. The bill also eliminates the current law requirement that a court must authorize the sale and leaves the responsibility with the government agency holding the weapon.

HB 2455 has already passed the House, and was approved by the Senate Rules Committee on Monday. It only needs final approval from the Senate before being sent to the governor.

Your gun now has rights superior to your private property rights. And our "Big Brother" Arizona legislature is taking away your local government control again. Tea-Publicans don't believe what they preach.

CAP Christian Taliban to oppose Gov. Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Mullah Cathi Herrod and the Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) are injecting their hysterical anti-abortion crusade against Planned Parenthood into the debate over Governor Jan Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan. . . because more ignorance and hysteria over "ObamaCare" is what is needed in this debate. This is a grand distraction straw-man for Tea-Publican extremists to oppose the Governor's plan.

The Arizona Republic reports Abortion enters Arizona debate on Medicaid expansion:

One of the Legislature’s most powerful lobbying groups says Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid-expansion plan would subsidize abortions and is pushing for an amendment that complicates negotiations and threatens the proposal.

The Center for Arizona Policy is using an opinion from the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal-defense organization, to argue that the draft Medicaid legislation should be amended to disqualify the non-profit women’s health provider Planned Parenthood from receiving public money.

It’s the first in what is expected to be a long line of suggested changes to Brewer’s proposal to broaden eligibility for the state-federal health-insurance program for the poor and disabled, each with the potential to gain or lose votes for the governor’s top legislative priority with thousands of lives and billions of dollars at stake.

Democrats warn that piling on unrelated amendments could cost Brewer their support, and the governor still must find ways to win over Republicans.

The amendment suggested in a letter this week to Brewer from Cathi Herrod, the center’s president, is similar to a law signed by the governor last year to defund Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

Planned Parenthood and the ACLU filed suit, and a federal judge put House Bill 2800 on hold in February. [Because Planned Parenthood is likely to succeed on the merits of its case in overturning the law.]

Corrupt Kavanagh's Committee passes the 'show me your papers before you pee' bill

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) got the corrupt Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) to sponsor its bill based upon ignorance, fear and loathing for a distinct class of individuals whom they want state law to sanction discrimination against on the basis of gender.

On Wednesday, the corrupt Kavanagh's Tea-Publican-controlled Appropriations Committee voted to void parts of local anti-discrimination ordinances designed to give protections to transgender individuals on a 7-4 party-line vote. Phoenix transgender restroom bill clears House committee:

Senate Bill 1045 [a strike everything amendment] would prohibit local governments from passing ordinances that could subject businesses to lawsuits or criminal penalties if they forbid a transgender person from using a restroom.

Bill sponsor Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said the measure is a response to Phoenix’s new city ordinance, which bans discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents. The law applies to public accommodations such as stores, restaurants and hotels.

Historic civil rights arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court this week

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This week historic civil rights arguments will he heard in the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the rights of gays and lesbians to marriage equality. On Tuesday, the Court will hear Hollingsworth v. Perry, the challenge to California’s Proposition 8, and on Wednesday the Court will hear United States v. Windsor, the challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Spectators started camping out in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday for the handful of public seats available to these historic arguments. You can be certain that both pro and anti gay marriage demonstrators will be out in force in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday and Wednesday to create a circus atmosphere for the Beltway media villagers.

Anti-abortion Christian Taliban waging a crusade in Republican-controled state legislatures

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Ealier this month, the state of Arkansas passed the most restrictive abortion law in the nation -- a 12-week ban that prohibits most abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected using an abdominal ultrasound.

Arkansas' action touched off a race to the bottom among Republican-controled state legislatures where the Christian Taliban is firmly in control.

The state of North Dakota passed two anti-abortion bills last week, one banning most abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, something that can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy (before many women are even aware that they are pregnant). Another measure would prohibit women from having the procedure because a fetus has a genetic abnormalities, such as Down syndrome. Lawmakers urge governor to veto North Dakota abortion bills:

If the governor signs the measures, North Dakota would be the only state with those laws.

North Dakota is one of several states with Republican-controlled Legislatures and GOP governors looking at abortion restrictions, ranging from denying funding under the federal health care law to requiring women to get an ultrasound and teenagers to get parental permission before having abortions. Just days before North Dakota lawmakers approved the ban, Arkansas instituted a 12-week ban that prohibits most abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected using an abdominal ultrasound.

A fetal heartbeat can generally be detected earlier in a pregnancy using a vaginal ultrasound, but Arkansas lawmakers balked at requiring women seeking abortions to have the more invasive imaging technique. North Dakota’s measure doesn’t specify how a fetal heartbeat would be detected.

Corrupt Kavanagh's disdain for democracy, abuse of power

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) is a corrupt politician who uses his position to advance his own personal, often bizarre agenda, rather than to represent the best interests of his constitutuents and Arizonans.

There was this tidbit in the Arizona Republic this morning, Brewer wants Legislature to take up her priorities:

TPT is the state transaction privilege tax. A bill to streamline the tax, which effectively is the sales tax, is set for a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee this afternoon.

The bill had stalled in the House, where Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, had worried that the bill’s overhaul of the construction sales tax could hurt local governments and where Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, had not scheduled it for a hearing. Kavanagh’s wife, Linda, is Fountain Hills’ mayor.

The House Approriations Committee is not his personal fiefdom to keep his wifey happy. This tax reform bill is important to the state of Arizona and for future economic development. This is an abuse of power.

The media's Pope-a-Palooza is finally over (Thank God)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The media's Pope-a-Palooza coverage of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the convening of the conclave in Vatican City this week has been a thing to behold for its stupefying inanity. I swear, these media villagers just saw this as a ready excuse to pack a bag and fly to Italy for a Roman holiday. Nice work if you can get it.

After today, let's hope that this Pope-a-Palooza coverage is finally over (Thank God). The media villagers can return to covering celebrity murders and Princess Kate's baby-bump, and all that rot.

"Habemus Papam!" ("We have a Pope!")

The Politics of Easter

Republicans seem to think Jesus was strongly in favor of the death penalty.  This strikes me as a bit odd somehow.

Welcome to Day 1 of the Tea Party Sequester

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Welcome to Day 1 of the Tea Party Sequester. The Tea Party economic terrorists took credit for the sequester earlier in the week. Tea party claims credit as deep cuts loom:

Since the day they were swept to power more than two years ago, the tea party’s legions in Washington have made dramatic federal spending cuts the centerpiece of an economic message that has dominated the national debate.

Now they’re about to get what they wanted.

Deep reductions in domestic and defense spending begin Friday, a process known as sequestration, which will make progress toward the tea party’s goal of shrinking government. What unfolds over the following months will be a high-stakes test of whether significant cuts in spending will help or hurt the economy — and the Republican Party’s brand.

The cuts, worth $1.2 trillion over 10 years, are to become reality after several years during which the tea party — a group of Republicans elected in 2010 with the goal of radically shrinking government — has struggled to have a lasting impact on Washington.

* * *

[M]any Republicans say the sequester is the moment when the tea party can claim it has made its mark. Although both Democratic and Republican leaders are pointing fingers, the tea party and its allies are happily accepting credit for the cuts.

A win-win for everyone: Elect Antonin Scalia the next Pope

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is a Catholic, and I am reminded -- daily by the media -- that there just happens to be a job opening at the Vatican. Perfect timing!

Since Scalia clearly sees himself as an infallible demigod, being Pope must be his dream job. Pack your bags, Pisan, and catch the next plane to Rome.

BTW, the Pope does not have to be a cardinal or bishop. If an unordained person is elected, the dean of the college of cardinals has the responsibility of ordaining the new pope.

This is a win-win for everyone. In fact, someone has already set up a Facebook page. Antonin Scalia for Pope | Facebook.

The photo is from President Obama's second Inauguration. The hat Scalia is wearing is a custom-made replica of the hat depicted in Holbein’s famous portrait of St. Thomas More. It was a gift to him from the St. Thomas More Society of Richmond, Virginia.

Wouldn't you like to trade in that hat for the Pope's mitre, Nito? You can even bring back the Papal Tiara. Très chic!

Arizona moves one step closer to making idolatrous gun worship the official state religion

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I can't believe that this bill ever got assigned for a hearing, let alone wasting time debating it and voting on it.

Arizona moved one step closer yesterday to making idolatrous gun worship the official state religion. Guns will now be sacred objects and holy relics that are protected from destruction, even by their owners who want to dispose of them.

Your gun now has rights superior to your private property rights. And "Big Brother" in Phoenix is taking away your local government control again. Tea-Publicans don't believe what they preach. Arizona House committee supports law to prevent gun destruction:

A House committee on Wednesday supported legislation reinforcing Arizona lawmakers’ decision not to allow cities or counties to destroy guns their police forces seize or buy back from the public.

No sympathy for the devil

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Joseph Ratzinger aka "Joey Rats," better known today as Pope Benedict XVI, announced that he is resigning from the Papacy on Monday. I didn't even know that was a possibility, I had to look it up. The last pope to resign was Gregory XII in 1415 as part of a political settlement to end the Western Schism when there were three claimants to the throne: the Roman Pope Gregory XII, Avignon Antipope Benedict XIII, and Pisan Antipope John XXIII.

Canon law does not specify any particular individual or body or people to whom the pope must manifest his resignation (Judy Blume's book title immediately popped to mind: "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret" -- I quit), but Pope Celestine V in 1294 issued a solemn decree declaring it permissible for a pope to resign, and then he immediately resigned -- "I'm outta here!"  Since Celestine's decree was never revoked, he set a precedent for a valid papal resignation. Who knew? They didn't teach us Vatican palace intrigue in my Catholic catechism classes.

"Joey Rats" was the Vatican enforcer for Pope John Paul II -- who is no saint -- before ascending to the throne himself. He was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as  the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition (yes, that Inquisition). It was his job to cover-up the numerous pedophile priest sex crimes and to reassign these priests to enable them to avoid criminal prosecution. "Joey Rats" had compassion for the sinner priests, but apparently not so much for their innocent victims. (I went to Catholic school with some of these victims).

Could the Influence of Religion in America Finally Be Receding?

Posted by Bob Lord and Donna Gratehouse

We decided to team up on this post because it’s a topic near and dear to both our hearts. Americans have lagged behind the rest of the Western World in freeing ourselves from religion. A former Prime Minister once remarked, in reference to George W. Bush, “if a politician in Canada said he thought the jury was still out on evolution, he’d be run out of town on a rail.” But Americans have engaged in or at least tolerated this craziness for decades. As views all over the world became more enlightened, America slid backwards, into the land of intelligent design, climate change denial, and raging homophobia.

Values Voters Should Read the Instructions

Paul Ryan and his posse think they’re all gonna go to heaven some day. Evidently they have not read the instructions.

There are a lot of voters who take Christian values very very seriously. Values voters ought to stick with the Gospel of Matthew and reject the Gospel of Ayn Rand. Values voters ought to treat Ryan as a dangerous heretic.

I wish Democrats would make this more of a campaign issue. When the Mammonite politicians claim to represent “values” voters and “patriotic” voters, Democrats need to make the counter-argument, strongly and insistently. One can make similar arguments about other issues: Democratic values are a good match to traditional biblical values of peace, humility, tolerance, stewardship, truthfulness, et cetera. These are of course not the only arguments, but my point is that arguments of this kind should not be neglected. When the other guy’s strongest ploy is bogus, you ought not let it go unchallenged.

Sen. Judy Burges wants to be the Grand Inquisitor of the Tea-Publican Inquisition against climate science

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You remember Judy Burges (R-Skull Valley) or alternatively (R-Sun City West), don't you? Then Rep. Judy Burges was the "Birther Queen" who did not believe President Obama was born in the U.S. and that he was a "secret Muslim." The Birther Queen wanted President Obama to provide proof of his birth in the U.S., and inferred that there should be a religious test for office in violation of the U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Section 3. Legislator: No Obama on ballot if he can't prove US birth.

And who can forget her Tea Party World Nut Daily conspiracy theory against the United Nations Agenda 21 “sustainable development” plan: "an insidious attack on American sovereignty in an effort to build a one-world order." Arizona Bill Would Ban UN Agenda 21 Within State. "The blue helmets are coming!"

Now Sen. Judy Burges wants to be the Grand Inquisitor of the Tea-Publican Inquisition against climate science, and require teachers to teach children that climate scientists are blasphemers and heretics. "They are witches! Burn them at the stake!" AZ bill would let teachers dismiss global warming:

[A] state senator wants to free teachers to tell students why some believe there is no such thing as human-caused "global warming."

Galileo facing the Roman Inquistion by Cristiano Banti (1857)

Asymmetrical opposition: Anti-immigrant GOP to engage in gay bashing to kill reforms

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The nativist and racist base of the GOP that is anti-immigrant and opposed to any immigration reforms that would create a pathway to citizenship has settled upon asymmetrical opposition: it will engage in gay bashing to kill any immigration reform legislation. "We're not against immigrants based upon their nationality or race -- but no gays!"

This is a strategy to divide the religious community between those who support humane treatment for immigrants, and those who are fundamentally opposed to marriage equality based upon religious doctrine. These are often one and the same groups, e.g., the Catholic Church, so this asymmetrical strategy forces religious groups to choose between competing values.

Tea-Publicans are on the wrong side of public polling on both issues with majorities of Americans favoring both marriage equality and immigration reforms with a pathway to citizenship.

It remains to be seen whether the U.S. Supreme Court will derail this asymmetrical opposition with a landmark decision on marriage equality this year before the immigration reforms come up for a final vote in Congress.

The Washington Post reports, In immigration debate, same-sex marriage comes to the fore:

President Obama is aiming to grant same-sex couples. . . equal immigration rights as their heterosexual counterparts.

But the measure has inspired fierce pushback from congressional Republicans and some religious groups, who say it could sink hopes for a comprehensive agreement aimed at providing a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Is Arizona about to make idolatrous gun worship the state religion?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

We have been over this before:

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images. . . Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. . .

Those who have made religious idols of guns and treat them as if they are holy relics ought to reread the first two Commandments. And then there are those who have a psycho-sexual fetish for guns. That is disturbing on many levels.

Arizona Daily Star editor Sarah Garrecht Gassen responded to the gun idolatry and fetish crowd who insist that no gun may ever be destroyed in an op-ed, Gun owners have the right to destroy weapon if they choose.

Now the "happiness is a warm gun" worshipers/fetishists are at the state capitol seeking to prevent the right of individuals to destroy their own firearms if they choose. They seek to make the secular sacred by force of state law. In doing so they seek to use the power of "Big Brother" government to trample the rights of individuals to do with their private property as they see fit, which these groups comically pretend to defend. And they violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment by making the foundation of their idolatrous religion a sacred religious icon or holy relic that cannot be destroyed, by force of state law. Their idolatrous gun worship is elevated to a state religion.

Q: When is anti-science education legislation not anti-science? A: When the Republican anti-science authors of the bill say it isn't. Just trust them.

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

 

The latest evidence that the Republican crazy engine in the AZ lege is warmed up and hitting on all cylinders just two weeks into the new session:

SB1213, relating to "schools; science instruction; requirements".

When I saw that subject on the lege's website, my first thought was "oh shit - what are they up to now?".  I calmed down long enough to realize that I was getting ahead of myself and should look at the bill's content before thinking the badly about the measure.

So I read the bill, and came to the conclusion that my deepest fears about the bill were wrong.

The fears weren't unfounded, however.  Not hardly.

They were far milder than the reality of the proposal.

The text of the bill (emphasis mine):

Rep. Steve 'Secession' Smith wants to infringe on your First Amendment religious freedom

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Teabagger Little Stevie "Secession" Smith (R-Maricopa) is really making an ass-hat of himself this week with his: (1) House Bill 2291, a resolution of "interposition and nullification" to oppose any new federal firearms regulations. They're baaack! Arizona's Neo-Confederate dead-enders are back. This long-discredited theory is entirely unconstitutional. And (2) House Bill 2290, which proposes to  give disgraced former Senate President Russell Pearce a taxpayer-funded windfall as a parting gift for being recalled by the voters of his district, even though Ol' Russell was not out-of-pocket one thin dime of his own money in his unsuccessful recall bid. This guy, again. The Arizona Republic trashed this kiss goodbye to Ol' Russell in an editorial opinion today. Worst of really, really bad bills.

And now for the hat trick this week . . . (3) Little Stevie "Secession" Smith wants to infringe on your First Amendment religious freedom because some little junior teabagger "last year reported feeling mocked and embarrassed after she was the only one in her class to stand and say the pledge of allegiance" to the flag. 2 Ariz. bills push patriotic oaths in schools:

And all students in first through 12th grades would have to say the pledge of allegiance each day if House Bill 2284, sponsored by Rep. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, passes.

Under current law, schools must set aside time for the pledge each day, but students may choose whether to participate.

Recognizing the problem is the first step

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

David Lightman of McClatchy News wrote in the Arizona Daily Star on Tuesday, Weak compromise reflects a politically hobbled process:

While last-minute compromises are hardly new, such agreements historically came amid momentous debates on matters such as civil rights and war. The current drama involved what should be a routine task, funding and running the government.

The system of doing what for 200-odd years was normal governing is crumbling.

"When some officials turn political stances into articles of religious faith and refuse to compromise, the system becomes dysfunctional," presidential historian George Edwards said.

I have been warning about this for years. The modern-day GOP is not your father's GOP. The "party of Lincoln" has long since ceased to exist. It has become a politico-religious cult that is an anti-government insurrection. A large number of Tea-Publicans are Christian Reconstructionists and Dominionists who want a theocracy, not a democracy. That is fundamentally (no pun intended) anti-democratic and un-American.

In April 2012, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein wrote an op-ed, Let's just say it: The Republicans Are The Problem in the Washington Post.