Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
This is a belated update to an earlier post Maricopa County Detention Officer swipes a document from an attorney's file in court.
Maricopa County detention officer Adam Stoddard refused to comply with a lawful order from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe to publicly apologize to [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I have argued that Ben Bernanke's nomination for a full six year term as Federal Reserve Board chairman currently before the Senate should be withdrawn. I would have much more confidence in Paul Volcker, who previously served in that position. Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Huffington Post reports McCain Robocalls Prompt Ethics Complaint:
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) broke Senate rules when he recorded a robocall touting his amendment to the health care bill, according to a complaint filed with the Senate Ethics Committee by watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
What a shock (not). Senator Obstruction, Jon Kyl, is behind the Senate opposition to the bankruptcy mortgage "cramdown" provision approved by the House earlier this year but tabled in the Senate, which is being revived in the House House Democrats eye 'cramdown' measure for regulatory reform bill - [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The New York Times reports today Audit Finds TARP Program Effective:
The independent [Congressional Oversight Panel] that oversees the government’s financial bailout program concluded in a year-end review that, despite flaws and lingering problems, the program “can be credited with stopping an economic panic.”
* * *
In the latest [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I have made the case that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should resign or be replaced with all deliberate speed in early January. I nominate Elizabeth Warren, Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the TARP fund. She "gets it."
Elizabeth Warrem wrote this piece for Huffington Post Elizabeth [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Representatives Maurice Hinchey of New York, John Conyers of Michigan, Peter DeFazio of Oregon, Jay Inslee of Washington, and John Tierney of Massachusetts, want to restore the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which prohibited commercial banks from underwriting stocks and bonds. The act was repealed in 1999 at the [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The senator from Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company, Ben Nelson (D-NE), after consulting over the weekend with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops USCCB - (Office of Media Relations) U.S. Bishops Urge Senators to Support Nelson-Hatch-Casey Amendment on Health Care Reform, introduced his anti-abortion amendment on Monday which [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Party of No continues to engage in rank obstructionism on health care reform. Two more attempts at GOP gimmicks backfired and blew up in their face.
Senate Republicans on Saturday continued their misleading fear mongering of seniors begun by Sen. John McCain reported here Sen. John [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
As I've said before, nobody does bumper sticker slogan gimmicks better than the Republican Party. They have excelled at this "simple solutions to complex problems" that you can reduce to a bumper sticker for years.
Last week the GOP's "Gimmicks-R-Us" shop came up with "voluntary taxes" for Arizona [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
This is what happens when you lie to seniors about Medicare, Johnny. They get riled up and call their Senators. Senate votes to keep Medicare cuts in plan:
Senators voted 58-42 to reject an amendment by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that would have stripped [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Seniors advocacy groups have caught on to Senator John McCain's poison pill motion to kill the health care reform bill in the Senate.
The Hill reports AARP, seniors groups oppose McCain amendment:
The nonpartisan AARP and two left-leaning seniors' groups on Wednesday separately urged Senate lawmakers to reject an amendment [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
To begin with, I was impressed by the sober tone and frank assessment of the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan by President Obama. There was none of the jingoistic American cowboy crap for which the Bush-Cheney regime is infamous. He spoke to his audience of cadets and to [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
President Barack Obama has been consistent with his campaign promises and his plan for Afghanistan touched upon in this op/ed from July 2008 Barack Obama - Op-Ed - My Plan for Iraq - NYTimes.com:
Ending the war [in Iraq] is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Congressional Republicans love to cite reports from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) - except, of course, when the CBO report undermines the line of bullshit Republicans ae selling the American public, aided and abetted by a lazy stenographer news media who never fact check what Republicans are [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Senate began debate of the health care reform bill on Moday and John McCain wasted no time in making a complete fool of himself. As Keith Olbermann noted in his intro to McCain's "remarkable performance" that "you'll have to see to believe" 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Nobody does bumper sticker slogan gimmicks better than the Republican Party. They have excelled at this "simple solutions to complex problems" that you can reduce to a bumper sticker for years.
The latest gimmick from the GOP's "Gimmicks-R-Us" shop comes from Arizona Rep. Judy Burges, R-Skull Valley. Burges' [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Associated Press writer Gene Johnson has this update at East Valley Tribune:
SEATTLE (AP) -- The man suspected of gunning down four police officers in a suburban coffee shop was shot and killed by a lone patrolman investigating a stolen car early Tuesday. Four people were arrested for [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Remember how Roger Ailes and Lee Atwater used this fearmongering ad to destroy the Michael Dukakis presidential campaign in 1988? (This was one version of the ad)
George H. W. Bush's campaign manager, Lee Atwater, predicted that "by the time this election is over, Willie Horton will be a'" [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Sarah Palin had some nice things to say about America's "Fearmonger-In-Chief", Glenn Beck of Faux News. In an interview with right-wing Newsmax.com, Palin was asked, "Is a "dream ticket" of Palin-Beck ticket completely out of the question? " Palin-Beck Ticket? Sarah Doesn't Rule it Out:
Palin [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
After eight years of war, Afghanistan remains a failed state.
Bush puppet Hamid Karzai is barely the mayor of Kabul; he has no control over the Afghan countryside. Voice of America Newsreported that the Taliban have a "permanent presence" in 80 percent of Afghanistan. "Permanent presence" in a [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Allen Barra at The Daily Beast has posted a book review of two new biographies about the life of Ayn Rand: Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne C. Heller, and Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Ti's the season for Billo the Clown and Faux News to light up its annual "War on Christmas" nonsense. And this year Arizona's Accidental Governor kicks off the festivities. Arizona Capitol Times » Brewer brings Christmas, Hanukkah back to Capitol displays
“I believe in calling something what [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
My apologies to Lesley Gore for the caption.
The Republican National Committee will hold its winter meeting in January in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Honolulu? Isn't Hawaii dismissed by conservatives as being "some sort of foreign, exotic place" not quite part of the United States, despite being' [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the traditional playing of Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant (The Massacree Revisited). Enjoy.
' [...]Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I briefly touched upon the comments of Rep. Ray Barnes during the recent special session in an earlier post, i.e., he said that the state could file for bankruptcy (as I explained, no, it cannot).
I had not seen Rep. Barnes' extended comments at the time. It turns out' [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Arizona has gone from Governor Janet Napolitano and the Republican legislature enacting a ten percent income tax cut in 2006-07 to give back a tax surplus because "it's your money," to a state in economic free fall and financial collapse in 2008-09.
As anyone who attended school in' [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
While I was trying to enjoy a rare night of television on Monday night, I was constantly barraged by television ads from major retailers for their "Black Friday" sales: Open at 5 a.m.! Open at 4 a.m.! Open Thanksgiving Day!
After the tragic trampling death of Jdimytai Damour, a [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
If you needed any further evidence that the Accidental Governor is a lame duck governor who is neither respected nor feared by her own Republican dominated legislature, Monday should have erased any doubt.
Governor Jan Brewer on July 1, 2009 in her veto message of the state budget:
I received [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Legislative Advocacy Sessions - Tucson
Dates: Tue., December 1st and Mon., December 7th
Time: 6:30 - 8:00 PM for both sessions
December 1st Location: Cross Middle School, 1000 W. Chapala Dr. (in Tucson)
December 7th Location: Eckstrom Columbus Library, 4350 E. 22nd St.
Description: The Democratic Caucus of the House of Representatives is [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I am going to repost this essay by Sam Pizzigatti posted at Campaign for America's Future in its entirety. Sam makes essentially the same economic arguments I have made in several posts over the last couple of years with new recently released research. What Ever Happened to' [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
A brutal report issued last Monday by a government watchdog holds Timothy Geithner -- then the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and now the nation's Treasury Secretary -- responsible for over payments that put billions of extra tax dollars in the coffers of major' [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Are Obama's economic policies actually working?
Intelligence Squared posed this question to six policy experts at a debate in New York on November 16. The statement, "Obama's economic policies are working effectively," was defended by Lawrence Mishel from the Economic Policy Institute; investor and former 'Car Czar' [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
In an unprecedented defeat for the Federal Reserve, an amendment to audit the multi-trillion dollar institution was approved by the House Finance Committee with an overwhelming and bipartisan 43-26 vote on Thursday afternoon despite harried last-minute lobbying from top Fed officials and the surprise opposition of Chairman Barney [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The New York Times reported on Saturday that dispassionate economic analysts have reached a consensus that the stimulus package, messy as it is, is working. New Consensus Views Stimulus as Worthy Step:
The legislation, a variety of economists say, is helping an economy in free fall a year [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Arizona's Neoconservative Senator John McCain is at it again. This is the man who was a patron of Ahmed Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress which fabricated intelligence of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. This is the man who advocated for war with Iraq and confidently predicted [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
First, some background. The Washington Post reported that one of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughters, Mary, was “leaving the political consulting firm Navigators Global to start her own consulting company.” Though one of Mary’s friends told the Post that Mary’s dad and her sister, Liz, would [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Republicans have controlled the Arizona House since 1967 -- 42 years. And with a few short-lived exceptions, Republicans have controlled the Arizona Senate during the same period of time. Arizona's governors, Republicans and Democrats alike, have been hostage to Republican legislators.
With this kind of iron-fisted control over' [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Nothing is ever the fault of Republicans (just ask our governor and legislators). And nobody shirks personal responsibility better than Sarah Palin. "True Americans" (white American Christian conservatives) are the true victims. And Sarah Palin in 2012 would allow conservatives to snatch "victimry" from the jaws of their defeat.
[...]Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I know I have explained this before, but apparently some people up at the state capitol need a refresher course. The way a special session is supposed to work is that the Governor and House and Senate leadership get together and craft a bill that they can all [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
When one of the Neocon Washington Post's deans of conservative apologists, George Will, sings someone's praises you know something dark and evil is afoot. It merits a closer examination of the object of his praise. (Will's columns should come with a disclosure statement).
Both of Arizona's two major newspapers [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
John Perr is one of the better economics bloggers. He posted this piece at crooksandliars.com Born Again Deficit Virgins:
Everything you need to know about the descent of the conservative movement into a hypocritical caricature is illustrated by two of its proudest constituencies: Republican deficit hawks and [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Earlier this year, the Accidental Governor and several Republican state legislators toyed with the idea of rejecting federal stimulus aid to the state. It was purely ideological grandstanding. Wiser heads prevailed and Arizona accepted the federal stimulus aid. The current budget deficit would have been far worse without the federal [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanIe:
I have always heard that Costco is a Labor/Democrat friendly business, despite the fact that it sells every screed from right-wing pulp fiction publishing houses at bulk discount prices.
Now it is selling Caribou Barbie -- no, not the doll -- the real-life Sarah Palin, [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Rep. John Shadegg wins the bronze in World's Worst Persons for November 17, 2009.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
UPDATE: Rep. John Shadegg was forced to apologize on Tuesday for suggesting the family of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg could' [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Tea Party has moved into its next phase, opposition to immigration reform legislation soon to be introduced in the Congress. This past weekend, the nativist right-wingers at ALIPAC and the National Policy Institute organized a series of "Tea Parties Against Amnesty.
Things didn't go quite as the teabaggers'" [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Anti-Defamation League has released the following ADL Special Reports: Rage Grows in America: Anti-Government Conspiracies
Introduction: A Year of Growing Animosity
Since the election of Barack Obama as president, a current of anti-government hostility has swept across the United States, creating a climate of fervor and activism [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
This is why I was careful to say "many conservatives" rather than generalize and paint with a broad brush all conservatives in my earlier post on this topic. There are still many conservatives who share with their more liberal counterparts an abiding faith in the Constitution and the [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Politico reported on Monday McCain camp: Palin account 'all fiction' Well, Duh! What did you expect?
Top aides to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign hit back at Sarah Palin Friday and Saturday, calling the former vice presidential nominee’s soon-to-be-released book “revisionist and self serving” “fiction.” [...]
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Special Session will begin Tuesday afternoon. My sources say that the Republicans are still short a vote and will have to play "Let's Make a Deal." Howard Fischer, however, says the GOP has the votes and maybe some Democrats to spare. Budget, Rio Nuevo on' [...]
