Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have said it before and I'll say it again. The current Arizona Legislature is the worst failed legislature in the history of Arizona. It's not even close. Republican legislators have failed their constitutional duty and violated their oaths of office. This is legislative malpractice and malfeasance in office writ large. The GOP insane clown posse who run the insane asylum are incompetent and ideologically incapable of governing in the public interest. These Republicans are radical extremists who want to "drown the government in the bathtub."

You would not hire someone to run your business if they promised to destroy your business. So why would you vote for someone ideologically opposed to government and who promises to destroy government to run the government? For future reference, any candidate running for elective political office with an "R" behind their name should trigger a rote response in your mind to "Reject" that candidate. Your future and the future of Arizona depends on it.

The GOP insane clown posse budget taking shape is based upon delusional assumptions. AZ budget plan with major cuts advances:

The package of measures, pushed through by Republican leaders over Democratic objections, is designed to help bring expenses into line with revenues. Aside from cuts, it also takes nearly $500 million from special funds and defers payment of some bills to balance the books.

But to make up the $2.7 billion deficit for next fiscal year, the budget presumes voters will approve a temporary 1-cent-per-dollar hike in the state sales tax in a special election May 18. If that fails, the plan calls for another $867.5 million in spending cuts, more than half of that in state aid to public schools.

Even with that, the plan still may not be in balance. The new budget year begins July 1.

The budget is built on the assumption voters will agree in November to repeal a 2006 mandate [Prop. 203] to fund programs for early childhood development.

There is no guarantee that the one cent sales tax increase will pass in May when every Republican in the Arizona Legislature will be out campaigning against it, funded by their corporate network of right-wing anti-tax think tanks and political action committees. Special elections are low turnout elections, only the activists turn out. The Republican right-wing anti-tax zealot base may be enough to defeat Proposition 100.

And Republicans "assume" that voters will repeal Prop. 203 (2006) to establish an early childhood development program funded through an increase on state tobacco taxes? The proposition passed by a margin of 793,312 to 698,286. "Lawmakers want to use the $150 million a year raised from the 80-cents-a-pack tax on cigarettes, enacted in that initiative, to fund other programs. And they want to drain the estimated $325 million in the account."

Right, voters are going to throw young children under the bus so that the irresponsible and reckless GOP insane clown posse can give further corporate bailout tax cuts to corporations and the super-wealthy. Think again.

The budget package also counts on taking another $123.5 million out of a fund to preserve open space in urban areas. That, too, will be on the November ballot since the fund was approved by voters in 1998 [Prop. 303].

And the spending plan also is built on decision by GOP lawmakers to remove more than 310,000 people from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid program, to save $385 million. Voters mandated expanded coverage in 2000 [Prop. 204], with nearly 1.3 million Arizonans - close to 20 percent of the state population - now getting free care.

Prop. 303 (1998) passed by a margin of 501,358 to 446,598. Prop. 204 (2000) passed by a larger margin of 903,134 to 532,317.

Do you see the pattern emerging here? The irresponsible and reckless GOP insane clown posse want voters to repeal the citizen initiatives enacted by voters - your constitutional right - to adopt policy decisions and to protect those policies from the very GOP legislators who refused to act in the public interest at the time those measures were enacted. And these fools really believe that voters are just going to say "you know, you are right and I was wrong"? Not a chance in hell. These citizen initiatives are NOT going to be repealed by the voters. Republican legislators have a real problem with democracy and respecting the will of the voters, and the voters are going to teach them a lesson.

The other piece of the budget awaiting final Senate action would repeal a tax break for retailers that lets them keep a small percentage of what they collect to cover their costs. Because that would raise state revenues, it requires a two-thirds vote, something that was lacking Thursday.

And therein lies the heart of our budget problem: Prop. 108 (1992) that enacted a two-thirds super-majority vote in both chambers to either increase taxes or to reduce tax credits or exemptions. The one measure that should be referred back to the voters to restore majority rule to tax matters is not even under discussion. There has not been a tax increase in Arizona since Prop. 108 was enacted in 1992. A tyranny of the minority of GOP anti-tax zealots have controlled Arizona tax policy ever since.

GOP lawmakers and Gov. Jan Brewer did agree to postpone one part of the plan that would have closed the Department of Juvenile Corrections and forced each county to house and pay for rehabilitation programs for delinquents. The issue will be studied for the next year.

"In the interim, though, Pima County will need to give the state $6 million to defray costs, with another $38 million from Maricopa County." Which means these counties just had another hole blown in their budgets and will have to increase local property taxes to cover their deficit. The Arizona Legislature is shifting tax burdens and passing the buck to county governments.

I cannot emphasize this enough: No Republican should be elected to the Arizona Legislature after the spectacular train wreck failure of this legislature. They must be held accountable by the voters. Republicans must pay for their legislative malpractice and malfeasance in office. After 44 years of a GOP-dominated Arizona Legislature and 20 years of reckless and irresponsible faith based GOP supply-side tax policies, enough is enough! Republicans have destroyed this state, they have forfeited any right to govern. Throw the bums out!

A funny thing happened on the way to people giving tuition tax credit money last year.

They didn't. Or at least, they didn't give as much.

The amounts of donations received and scholarships awarded in Arizona's private school tax credit program fell for the first time ever in 2009, state records show.

Scholarships funded by the individual tax credits fell by 4 percent. Donations declined 8.5 percent to nonprofit school tuition organizations, which distribute the scholarships.

Our private schools are being propped up by the $51 million a year diverted from state revenues into private school coffers. Remember, when people give money to a School Tuition Organization (STO), it doesn't cost them a penny. All of it -- 100% -- is taken off their state tax bills.

Take $51 million away from private schools, and you'll see more than a few of them fail due to under enrollment. That, I believe, is what conservatives call "the invisible hand of the marketplace." If an enterprise can't attract customers, it fails. But conservatives turn into born again, private school socialists when it comes to the state subsidizing the private school sector.

Let's not forget, poor Rep. Steve Yarbrough will see his personal piggybank dwindle without all that money coming into his STO, with its 10% administrative fees. Yarbrough manages to stuff money into his director pocket, his landlord pocket, his lawyer pocket, his database-firm pocket. Lord, how many pockets does this man have?

No wonder the Rs want to raise the amount people can give in tuition tax credits from $500 to $1500 per person. And by the way, they want to keep it so there are no income limits on who can get the money. (There must be civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination against the rich. They're a minority, you know.) And they want to allow people to continue "recommending" who will get their scholarship money.

Cut off the scholarships for the rich, cut off the recommendations, and that $51 million will fall by half before you know it.

They've cut 5% from state workers' pay. And Republicans don't want to hear any whining about it either. You're damn lucky to have a job, you sniveling, union loving state workers!

Cut legislators' pay 5%? "No! I'm too . . . too me to have my pay cut! The horror! The horror!"

That's right. Republican senators voted down a pay cut equal to what they're demanding from other state workers (Yes, R guys and gals, you're state workers too, part of the evil bureaucracy you fight against so righteously). Of course, there are good reasons not to cut legislators' pay. There are always good reasons when it comes to your own salary.

Voting against the legislator pay cut were On-their-knees Al Melvin and Angry Frank Antenori.

I wonder, next pay day, will Democrats pull out their checkbooks and write checks to the state equal to 5% of their salaries -- and ask Republicans to do the same? That simple gesture would be worth its weight in gold.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Every time you think you have finally killed them, they rise again like a vampire in a B-movie horror flick. Payday lenders now seek legislative help, would add $1.5M-per-year incentive:

Rejected by voters and stymied in the House, lobbyists for payday lenders are now trying to get a Senate panel to approve legislation to keep the industry alive beyond June 30.

But now there's a sweetener: They're offering to set aside an estimated $1.5 million of their proceeds each year for community-based organizations that help the needy.

That still may not be enough to corral the votes they need to keep the doors open. Most Democrats and several Republicans already have announced their opposition to extending the life of a special law that allows lenders to charge what would be the equivalent of 400 percent interest on an annual basis.

* * *

With the law allowing payday lending set to expire June 30, that leaves legislation as the industry's only remaining option.

House Majority Whip Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, sponsored the necessary legislation to keep the industry operating.

But Tobin pulled the plug when it became clear that not a single Democrat on the House Banking and Insurance Committee would support it. Tobin said he did not want the issue of high-interest, short-term loans to be a Republican-only plan.

Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, has agreed to strip it onto an unrelated measure that already has been approved by the House when the Senate Appropriations Committee meets Tuesday.

If it gets through that committee and the full Senate, it then goes back to the full House, bypassing the need for any committee action there.

"I'm a free marketeer," Pearce said. He said he has no qualms about having the measure clear the committee he chairs on a party-line vote.

"If you want to go out and get a bad loan, you have a right to go out and get a bad loan," he said. "People have a right to make choices, even bad choices."

First, call your state legislators to register your opposition to the predatory payday loan industry.

Second, Sen. Russell Pearce is a malignant cancer on the state of Arizona. Everything this man touches is tainted by evil motive and intent. Citizens of Maricopa County, whether you live in Pearce's Mesa district or not, have a moral obligation and duty to defeat this malignant cancer and to remove him from the Arizona Legislature. Volunteer to walk and knock on doors to speak to his constituents, make phone calls, put up yard signs, march in opposition, and give money until it hurts. Make it your mission this year to defeat this malignant cancer.

To work for Pearce's Democratic opponent:

CONTACT INFORMATION
Robert H. McDonald Jr.
McDonald for Senate
519 N. Lesueur St.
Mesa, Arizona 85203
Cell: 480-406-0559
Mcdonaldforld18senate@gmail.com

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The government's top securities regulator called on Congress Thursday to impose new oversight on financial derivatives, warning that allowing risky instruments such as credit default swaps to continue unfettered could bring further economic damage. SEC head urges Congress to act on risky derivatives:

The chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Schapiro, said banks that deal in the swaps must be subject to rigorous requirements for holding capital. They must also conduct their business in accordance with rules, and their price information must be transparent, she said.

* * *

Another U.S. regulator, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, said Wall Street banks are seeking exemptions to the proposed regulations for derivatives that could shield more than half the trades that should be subject to disclosure.

Gensler criticized Wall Street's stance on proposed oversight for the shadowy $600 trillion market for derivatives - blamed for hastening the 2008 financial crisis.

Credit default swaps account for an estimated $60 trillion of the worldwide derivatives market.

Also on Thursday, Lehman Brothers Hid Borrowing, Examiner Says - NYTimes.com:

It is the Wall Street equivalent of a coroner’s report — a 2,200-page document that lays out, in new and startling detail, how Lehman Brothers used accounting sleight of hand to conceal the bad investments that led to its undoing.

The report, compiled by an examiner for the bank, now bankrupt, hit Wall Street with a thud late Thursday. The 158-year-old company, it concluded, died from multiple causes. Among them were bad mortgage holdings and, less directly, demands by rivals like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, that the foundering bank post collateral against loans it desperately needed.

But the examiner, Anton R. Valukas, also for the first time, laid out what the report characterized as “materially misleading” accounting gimmicks that Lehman used to mask the perilous state of its finances. The bank’s bankruptcy, the largest in American history, shook the financial world.

* * *

According to the report, Lehman used what amounted to financial engineering to temporarily shuffle $50 billion of troubled assets off its books in the months before its collapse in September 2008 to conceal its dependence on leverage, or borrowed money. Senior Lehman executives, as well as the bank’s accountants at Ernst & Young, were aware of the moves, according to Mr. Valukas, the chairman of the law firm Jenner & Block and a former federal prosecutor, who filed the report in connection with Lehman’s bankruptcy case.

Former Goldman Sachs deal-maker and Treasury Department official Gary Gensler is now advocating banking regulations as well. Gary Gensler’s Conversion to Financial Reformer - NYTimes.com:

[Gary Gensler] is emerging as one of the nation’s archreformers, pushing to impose some of the most stringent new financial regulations in history. And as the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the leading contender to oversee the complex derivatives contracts that played a central role in the financial crisis and, in turn, the Great Recession, he is in a position to influence the outcome.

It may seem an unlikely conversion, but it is one that has won the approval of Brooksley E. Born, of all people, a former outspoken head of the commission. She sounded alarms more than a decade ago about the dangers hiding in the poorly understood derivatives market and was silenced by the same Washington power brokers that counted Mr. Gensler as a member.

* * *

The proposals championed by Mr. Gensler, if adopted by Congress, would substantially alter what is now a largely unregulated market in over-the-counter derivatives, financial instruments used by companies and investors to protect themselves and bet on moves in variables, like interest rates or currencies, and to speculate.

The proposals include forcing the big banks that sell derivatives to conduct their trades in the open on public exchanges and clear them through central clearinghouses, so that any investor can see the prices that dealers charge their customers. Today, those transactions are bilateral and private.

The banks and their customers might have to post collateral or guarantees to prevent the kinds of panics seen during the financial crisis, in which some investors worried that trading partners might have trouble keeping their side of the contract.

In this way, the clearinghouses would work as circuit breakers in the great web of derivatives trading encircling the globe. Shifting the products, and the risk of default, off the books of the banks and onto these middlemen would ensure that no single bank was too interconnected to fail, the rationale goes.

The banks, for their part, sense a threat to the billions of dollars in profits they earn each year from trading in these complex derivatives.

Which brings us to Congress where the Consumer Financial Services Protection Agency has emerged as a flash-point of contention in the U.S. Senate. Republicans and a handful of corporatist Democrats are trying to derail any meaningful banking regulations and allow business as usual to continue. This slow-walking obstruction of banking regulation bills led Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) to say "enough is enough" on Thursday and to announce that Democrats will go it alone on a bill he will introduce on Monday. Dodd to Press Ahead on Financial Regulation Bill - NYTimes.com:

Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said he would put forward his own bill on Monday, despite the lack of a single Republican endorsement. Democrats concluded that bipartisan talks were not making enough progress and that going their own way was the only realistic hope of getting the legislation adopted in an election year, he said.

Mr. Dodd said the bill would rewrite the rules of Wall Street, end the “too big to fail” phenomenon and protect consumers from risky or abusive financial products. The Congressional calendar meant that further delay could imperil the legislation’s chances, he said.

* * *

“Republicans in the Senate are going to have to ask themselves why they would stand in the way of financial reform,” Mr. Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said at a news conference.

Mr. Gibbs, who said that “lobbyists are being hired hand over fist to kill financial reform,” said of lawmakers: “I don’t believe many are going to want to go home and face voters next November not having done something.”

* * *

Mr. Dodd said he intended for the committee to take up formal consideration of the bill during the week of March 22, with the goal of a committee vote before Congress recesses on March 26. “As time moves on, you just limit the possibility of getting something done, particularly a bill of this magnitude and this complexity,” he said.

* * *

[Senator Bob Corker (R-TN)] said that both sides had agreed to house a new consumer financial protection agency within the Federal Reserve, with a director appointed by the president and broad ability to write rules governing mortgages, credit cards and the so-called shadow banking system of payday lenders, debt collectors, and loan originators and servicers.

Whether that agency would have independent enforcement powers has been a major point of contention. Mr. Corker said Mr. Dodd had agreed that the agency would not be able to conduct its own compliance examinations, as consumer advocates have urged. Instead, other regulators, who are already charged with ensuring the soundness of banks, would take on the responsibility for protecting consumers, too.

Wrong. The Consumer Financial Services Protection Agency must be an independent regulatory agency with the power of criminal investigation and enforcement. The Federal Reserve proved that it was a captive agency and failed entirely to protect American consumers from the voracious greed of Wall Street bankers as they engaged in reckless and irresponsible speculative investment schemes (noted above) that nearly destroyed the financial system and the world's economy. President Obama wants an independent agency and Sen. Dodd wanted an independent agency until he negotiated it away with Republicans intent on substantially weakening new banking regulations. Now that Sen. Dodd and Democrats are going it alone they should fight for the independence of the Consumer Financial Services Protection Agency and give it robust powers of investigation and enforcement.

[Another issue of contention] is the extent to which banks would be exempt from new requirements for greater transparency in the trading of derivatives. While standardized derivatives would have to be traded through clearinghouses, some banks have pushed to have transactions of some of their most complex derivatives — including the credit-default swaps that helped bring on the financial crisis — shielded from public view.

Gary G. Gensler, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said on Thursday that the loophole some banks were seeking would exempt as much as 60 percent of derivatives. The banks have found allies in companies like Boeingand Caterpillar that use derivatives to hedge against risk, but such derivatives trades make up only 9 percent of the market, Mr. Gensler said.

Other areas of disagreement, Mr. Corker said, included whether shareholders should be allowed an advisory vote, by proxy, on executive compensation, and how much credit risk mortgage originators should be required to keep when they packaged and sold loans.

For most of my life, my mail took 2 or 3 days to make it into someone else's mailbox. And if that other person was moved to reply, it usually took a few days for pen to meet paper, and another few days for a reply to find its way into my hands.

And then there was email. And I got used to almost instant communication gratification.

Unfortunately, I'm carrying on a mail-carrier conversation with Starlee Rhoades of the Goldwater Institute, and I sent her a letter Saturday. I have no idea if she tossed the letter, or she's still formulating a reply, or her return missive is winging its way to my expectant mailbox and will arrive any day now.

It's so hard to wait.

All I'm hoping for is a simple answer to a simple question: What does "many" mean in her sentence:

"We believe the term bureaucrat accurately describes many of the employees in question and is a fair use of the term."

Does "many" mean, as it usually does, less than 50%? Usually people use "most" when they describe more than 50% of something. Are bus drivers, maintenance workers and food service workers among the "many" who can be accurately described as bureaucrats?

I sure hope Rhoades answers my question. And she should, because she really seemed pleased to hear that I challenged Matthew Ladner's assertion that there is "an almost 1-to-1 teacher to bureaucrat ratio." Here are the first words of her letter:

"We appreciate your enthusiasm for spirited public discussion . . ."

If that wasn't encouragement enough, here's how she ended the letter:

"We appreciate your active interest in our research and look forward to continued dialogue."

A few definitions: Continued: "Without stop or interruption." Dialogue: "An exchange of ideas or opinions."

So I'm optimistic that Ms. Rhoades will continue to engage in this spirited public dialogue.

"Please Mr. Postman. C'mon, deliver the letter, the sooner the better." (Originally by the Marvelettes, 1961, if you're interested)

What's the Al Melvin Principle, you ask? It's the idea that nothing is better than a moment when everyone is "on their knees," because that's when you can really move that old rightwing agenda forward.

Melvin's exact words:

"When everyone is on their knees, so to speak, from the adverse economic situation, you can get more accomplished in a fundamental way than you can if you're flush with revenue and cash."

A source at the Capitol today saw the Al Melvin Principle in action. It seems Cap'n Al told a reporter from the Arizona Capitol Times that he can't wait to vote YES on this budget.

Can't wait. No reluctance about making huge cuts to Arizona's education spending -- already last in the nation in per student funding -- or cuts in vital services. No faux sympathy for those whose lives will be damaged or destroyed as the Republicans hack away at the budget with a bloody meat cleaver.

Melvin is a man of principle. He can't wait to vote YES on this budget.

This isn't the first time he's talked about how eager he is to cut, cut, cut. More than a year ago, Melvin talked about how, in flush times, you can't get the conservative's work done. What you need is for things to get really tough:

“Under these circumstances, you can effect fundamental change. I’m looking forward to it."

Melvin doesn't think much of Democratic legislators who argue for something other than cuts and more cuts. In the Appropriations Committee meeting Tuesday night, he accused Democrats of "posturing."

We know what that means, of course. "Posturing" means Democrats were standing up and fighting, when Melvin believes they should be down on their knees like the rest of the peasants.

I feel a little guilty for not doing a day-by-day narrative about the proposed budget cuts, especially cuts to education.

My only excuse is, I feel like I'm watching a multi-car highway accident unfolding in extreme slow motion. I know the crash is coming. The only questions left are, what will be the extent of damage to the vehicles and how many people will suffer injuries, have their lives ruined and -- this is the part that makes it hard for me to write about this -- how many will die because Republicans in power are failures as legislators and as people.

And I also know, this is only the initial pileup. The next set of cars -- next year's budget -- will plow into the mass of twisted steel blocking the roadway and make things much, much worse. Somebody should really get those cars out of the road and take the injured to the hospital, but, hey, we can't afford it, so what can we do? At least that's what the right wingers behind these budget bills tell us. Really, they say, it's not their fault.

Here's a summary from the Weekly of the out-of-control budget cuts careening toward us at full speed.

• All-day kindergarten is gone.

• KidsCare, the program that provides health insurance to children in households below 200 percent of the federal poverty line, is gone. That means we'll lose a lot of federal dollars that come into the state, because the feds provide a 3-to-1 match for the program.

• Healthy Arizona, the program that provides health insurance to people below the federal poverty level, is gone, with eligibility rolled back to one-third of the federal poverty level. If you're a single mom with two kids making more than roughly $6,100 a year, you will no longer qualify.

Even the Arizona Chamber of Commerce is against that one. Executive director Glenn Hamer—a former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party—says the move is just plain foolish.

"If you're taking 300,000 people off of health insurance, it doesn't mean they won't receive care," Hamer says. "Federal law requires that care be provided in the emergency room for people who go there for health-care needs. It's going to be covered one way or another. That's a highly inefficient, extremely expensive way to provide care."

Hamer says that ends up increasing costs for hospitals, which leads to a "hidden health-care tax."

And so on. I read about this stuff every day, but I swear, I can barely stand to write about it.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Regular readers will recall that I occasionally refer to the AP as "all propaganda" (rather than the Associated Press). This is not without justification.

Let's take today's "analysis" piece by the AP in national newspapers originally captioned by The Associated Press: Analysis: Note to Washington: Voters say talk jobs.

In The Arizona Republic this piece was captioned Job-focused voters weary of D.C. games.

In the Arizona Daily Star, its frustrated creative writer copy editor captioned it Americans want jobs, prosperity, but in DC you'd never know it. Why don't you just quit and write the next great American novel?

Headlines aside, what caught my attention about this supposed "analysis" piece is who wrote it: Liz Sidoti the AP's national political writer who has covered national politics since 2003, and Christine Simmons who has covered Washington for the AP since 2007. AP writers Ann Sanner and Natasha Metzler also contributed to the report.

Liz Sidoti is familiar to those of who follow the media closely. She is a biased hack. We like to mock her as Liz "Sprinkles" Sidoti. Many of you may recall why. Salon.com Politics | McCain gets donuts; Obama gets likened to a terrorist:

We've known for a while that so many political reporters fawn over John McCain that the media is often considered "McCain's base," but Dana Milbank's latest piece suggests news outlets are anxious to solidify the relationship.

Appearing before the nation's newspaper editors yesterday, AP chairman Dean Singleton pressed Barack Obama on whether he would send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, where "Obama bin Laden is still at large." McCain's treatment was slightly different.

McCain's moderators, theAP's Ron Fournier and Liz Sidoti, greeted McCain with a box of Dunkin' Donuts. "We spend quite a bit of time with you on the back of the Straight Talk Express asking you questions, and what we've decided to do today was invite everyone else along on the ride," Sidoti explained. "We even brought you your favorite treat."

McCain opened the offering. "Oh, yes, with sprinkles!" he said.

Sidoti passed him a cup. "A little coffee with a little cream and a little sugar," she said.

This is neither a joke nor an exaggeration. Here is the video:

So, in March, McCain gives political reporters free barbecue, and in April, the nation's leading newspaper editors give McCain free doughnuts (with sprinkles!) and coffee.

There's something about this that undermines the notion of objective and detached journalism.

Which brings us to the substance of today's supposed "analysis" piece by Liz "Sprinkles" Sidoti. The Associated Press: Analysis: Note to Washington: Voters say talk jobs:

They just don't get it in Washington.

There's a gaping disconnect between what Americans care about and what President Barack Obama and Congress, Democrats and Republicans are actually doing. A new GfK-Associated Press poll tells the story: contempt for lawmakers, a bare majority approving what Obama's doing.

You mean this, Sprinkles? Democrats bring the economy back from the brink of a Great Depression. Who "doesn't get it" is your unrequited love, John McCain and the Republicans: McCain was for the TARP before he was against it, he opposed the stimulus bill that his campaign adviser economist Mark Zandi says averted the next Great Depression, and McCain and most of the Republicans have voted against every jobs bill, including one just yesterday. So if the focus of voter anger is job creation, Sprinkles, that anger is directed at those in Washington who are the Party of No.

Now look at Washington.

The White House and Congress are consumed with the partisan gridlock on overhauling health care. That issue is overshadowing everything else — even legislation in the House and Senate to provide unemployment relief.

The Senate did vote Wednesday to extend many elements of last year's economic stimulus, including help for the jobless. But that isn't final: The vote merely sends the measure into talks with the House, which is wary about some Senate provisions.

This is internal inconsistency within adjoining paragraphs undermining the very premise of Sprinkles' analysis: Obama and the Congress are not doing anything to create jobs - but wait - they are! The Senate voted on a jobs bill even as I was writing this crap.

The gulf between what voters are focused on and what Washington is talking most about seems as wide as the anger is deep in America, and that helps explain why people are so turned off, so furious at politicians of any stripe.

Only 22 percent of Americans — less than at any previous point in Obama's presidency — approve of Congress, the new GfK-AP poll shows. Just over half like what Obama's doing. Frustration is directed at both Republicans and Democrats. Half of all people say they want to fire their congressman.

Unemployment and the economy are by far the issues Americans are most concerned about; health care trails behind those issues as well as terrorism and the federal budget deficit.

Sprinkles is implying that health care reform is a distraction issue from what voters really care about. (She quotes a Republican in support of this premise.) Curious then that the GfK-AP poll to which she refers also focused almost exclusively on health care reform questions before a few questions about jobs. http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com/pdf/AP-GfK%20Poll%20March%202010%20HC%20Topline%203.9.10.pdf

The GfK-AP topline poll cited by Sprinkles http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com/pdf/AP-GfK%20Poll%20March%202010%20Topline%20Release2%203.9.10.pdf revealed:

President Obama: 53% total approval - 46% total disapproval

Generic Congress: 22% total approval - 76% total disapproval

Democrats in Congress: 36% total approval - 61% total disapproval

Republicans in Congress: 30% total approval - 67% total disapproval

Question: "Do you want to see the Republicans or Democrats win control of Congress?"

Democrats 44%

Republicans 38%

Don't Care 15%

Question: "Would you like to see your own member of Congress get re-elected in November, or would you like to see someone else win the election?"

Own Member 40%

Someone Else 49%

Don't Care 7%

The smarter students in class have already discovered why the GfK-AP Poll is largely meaningless, and why Liz "Sprinkles" Sidoti's "analysis" is total crap.

Congressional Democrats are retaining their approval number within their historical norm of the 34-38% range. The 30% approval for Republicans is well below their historical norm. You see, that would destroy the AP's narrative that Democrats are in danger of losing both chambers of Congress to Republicans this fall, so Sprinkles cites the generic congressional approval number which lumps them all together. And "half of all people want to fire their congressman?" The poll does not ask nor identify whether the respondent is represented by a Democrat or a Republican. Without this breakdown, the generic number is meaningless.

Obama's 53% approval rating at this stage of his presidency is actually pretty good considering the economic catastrophe he inherited from George W. Bush. It is comparable to previous recent presidents.

Sprinkle's one paragraph of supposed "analysis":

Even voters who supported Obama and his Democrats have soured on Washington. That's a danger for the party in power as it looks to hang onto control of the House and Senate in November. Angry voters tend to reject the status quo; that's how Democrats rose to power in Congress in 2006 and Obama won the White House in 2008. Today, voters are still furious with Washington — if not more so. And now Democrats could be blamed.

Can you believe Sprinkles gets paid to write this crap? Equating a year of Democrats trying to rectify the economic catastrophe wrought by Republican economic polices over the past decade with the elections of 2006 and 2008, or any other year for that matter, is complete nonsense. Democrats have been trying to do everything possible to fix the economy and to put people back to work. Republicans have voted in lockstep unison against every Democratic proposal. Republicans have offered no plan, no vision to fix what their economic policies have wrought. Why? Because they still believe in those economic policies, like a religion, and they want those policies to continue. Hence the Party of No opposes any deviation from their faith based supply-side economic policies of the past 30 years.

Bush gave us a decade of zero net job growth, doubled the national debt and gave us a great recession teetering on the brink of the next Great Depression. The guys who drove the car off the cliff now want to get behind the wheel again.

This is what voters rejected in 2006 and 2008 and will punish the Republicans for again in 2010. Voters know who was responsible. And voters know who is trying to help them now.

Liz "Sprinkles" Sidoti may want her unrequited love, John McCain, to be president so she can bring him sprinkle doughnuts in the White House, but the country would be in a Great Depression had he been elected. So get over it, Sprinkles.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

H/t to friend of Blog for Arizona Carolyn Classen at the Tucson Citizen for her reporting LD 30 precinct committeemen/women select Vogt, Schneider, and Sposito - Carolyn's Community:

[Last] night 82 certified precinct committeemen/women of LD 30 selected Ted Vogt, Parralee Schneider, and Doug Sposito as nominees for the vacant House Rep. seat in that legislative district. Rep. Frank Antenori resigned last week Wednesday to assume the LD 30 State Senate seat, having been appointed by the Pima County Board of Supervisors at their March 2nd meeting.

* * *

Nominations from the floor were: Ted Vogt, Doug Sposito, Parralee Schneider, and Randy Graf, who all gave 5 minutes speeches about why they should be selected for appointment. Each person to be selected had to get 42 votes.

Vogt is the current LD 30 Chair and a 3rd year law student at the U of A, Sposito was the former LD 30 Chair and is a small business general contractor, Schneider is a realtor and former Republican Party officer for the County Party and LD 9 (now LD 30). She was also recently elected to be 3rd Vice Chair of the State GOP. Graf is a former 2 term House Rep. in LD 30 and was the Republican challenger for CD 8 in 2006, and is now a part-time consultant for the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine.

Both Vogt and Graf had been selected for nomination by the LD 30 precinct committeemen/women for the previously vacated State Senate seat in last week’s voting.

1st round winners: Vogt with 50 votes and Schneider with 46

2nd round winner: Sposito with 48 votes

All three of these nominees have filed to run as candidates for one of the 2 LD 30 house seats in the August 24 primary. Current LD 30 House Rep. David Gowan is also seeking re-election. [Vogt and Schneider filed a committee with the Secretary of State the same day.]

Attending [last] night’s meeting: LD 30 State Senator Frank Antenori, GOP National Committeeman Bruce Ash, State GOP Chair Randy Pullen, 2007 Ward 2 City Council candidate Lori Oien, and 2007 Ward 4 City Council candidate Dan Spahr.

The Board of Supervisors will be meeting on Tuesday, March 16 to vote on these 3 nominees and appoint one to this LD 30 state house seat. The meeting is at usual at 9 a.m. at 130 W. Congress, first floor board meeting room.

If you wish to express comments to the Pima County Board re: any of these nominees, contact information is below:

District 1, Ann Day, 740-2738, ann.day@pima.gov
District 2, Ramon Valadez (Chair), 740-8126, jennifer.eckstrom@pima.gov
District 3, Sharon Bronson, 740-8051, district3@pima.gov
District 4, Ray Carroll, 740-8094, district4@pima.gov
District 4, Richard Elias, 740-8126, district5@pima.gov

The lone Democrat in the House race is Andrea Dalessandro making her second bid for the House seat. Andrea for Arizona: Meet Andrea Dalessandro

Posted by Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

They probably will consider the title of the post to be a compliment, even though it really is intended to merely point out that it is considered to be the most influential lobbying group working a legislature that is renowned for its willingness to be swayed by well-funded lobbyists.

From an article on AZCentral.com -

The Center for Arizona Policy has impacted the daily life of nearly every Arizonan in some way or another over the past 14 years.

The Scottsdale-based conservative non-profit group has had a hand in banning same-sex marriage and raising the minimum gambling age to 21, requiring elementary-school students to recite from the Declaration of Independence and prohibiting late-term abortions.

Yet most Arizonans likely have never heard of it.

The money quote (though the whole article is worth a read) -

Kelly Damron of Phoenix said she got a lesson on the inner workings of the Legislature when she went up against the center and its bills to add regulations to human-egg donation and the use of human embryos. Damron is co-chairwoman of the Arizona chapter of the infertility group Resolve.

"It just appears that citizens have no say and that the legislators are being swayed by lobbying groups," she said. "And if you're not savvy enough, there's nothing you can do to stop bad legislation. I didn't feel like I had a voice."

The article is actually pretty fair (not a hatchet job, not a puff piece), but you can be sure that one group won't like it - the legislature itself.

They don't mind selling out Arizonans to one group or another; they just don't want the voters to know about it, especially during an election year.

Later...

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

John Aravosis at Americablog.com gets it exactly right regarding the latest in Bloomberg News. 'If he was a Republican, we would hear a never-ending drumbeat of news stories about markets voting in favor of the president.'

From Bloomberg:

One year after U.S stocks hit their post-financial-crisis low on March 9, 2009, the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has risen more than 68 percent, and it’s up more than 41 percent since Obama took office. Credit spreads have narrowed. Commodity prices have surged. Housing prices have stabilized.

“We’ve had a phenomenal run in asset classes across the board,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist for Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. “If he was a Republican, we would hear a never-ending drumbeat of news stories about markets voting in favor of the president.”

[M]onthly job losses have abated, from 779,000 during the month Obama took office to 36,000 last month. Corporate profits have grown; among 491 companies in the S&P 500 that reported fourth-quarter earnings, profits rose 180 percent from a year ago, according to Bloomberg data. Durable goods orders in January were up 9.3 percent from a year earlier. Inflation is tame, and long-term interest rates remain low.

The U.S. may add as many as 300,000 jobs in March, the most in four years, David Greenlaw, chief fixed-income economist at Morgan Stanley in New York, said in a Bloomberg Radio interview.

[Mark] Zandi said the economic rebound is largely a result of the policies of the White House and Federal Reserve. He cited the bank bailout, the Fed’s low-interest-rate policy and support for credit markets, and the Obama administration’s stimulus plan, bank stress tests and backing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“When you take it all together, the response was massive and unprecedented and ultimately successful,” Zandi said.

This is rather compelling evidence that the administration brought us back from the brink. No, people won't entirely believe it until they see their own bottom line improving - but, if Democrats did a better job reminding people of how dire things were a year ago, how we were on the verge of another Great Depression, and how Republicans were claiming that there was no economic crisis at all, I think voters would be more appreciative of the gains we've made to date.

Today the Senate passed a $140 billion bill extending jobless claims by a vote of 62-36. It now goes to the House. The Senate will take up next a $15 billion job creation effort that will:

--Exempt employers from Social Security payroll taxes on new hires who were unemployed.

--Fund highway and transit programs through 2010.

--Extend a tax break for business that spend money on capital investments, such as equipment purchases.

--Expand the use of the Build America Bonds program, which helps states and municipalities fund capital construction projects.

The Senate already passed this measure, but then the House amended it last week, sending it back to the Senate. Should it pass again, this time unchanged, the bill would go to President Obama for his signature.

The House passed a comprehensive $154 billion job creation bill in December, but the Senate opted to address the unemployment issue with a series of smaller measures. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he will soon unveil additional efforts, including those aimed at small businesses.

It takes a massive effort to restore an economy destroyed by 30 years of faith based GOP supply-side economic policies, whether you appreciate that fact or not. There is still much to do (financial services regulations) and it will take time to restore employment. The economy did not fail overnight and it will not recover overnight. But it is coming back.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) is not waiting for senators to sign on to Sen. Michael Bennet's letter for a public option through the reconciliation process. Whip Congress for a Public Option (last count was 40 senators).

Today Alan Grayson introduced the Public Option Act (crooksandliars.com):

Alan Grayson came to the House Floor today to introduce the Public Option Act, which would allow all Americans to buy into Medicare at cost. The bill is 4 pages long, and calls for an unsubsidized option for any American to choose Medicare over private insurers.

The bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish enrollment periods, coverage guidelines, and premiums for the program. Because premiums would be equal to cost, the program would pay for itself.

“The government spent billions of dollars creating a Medicare network of providers that is only open to one-eighth of the population. That’s like saying, ‘Only people 65 and over can use federal highways.’ It is a waste of a very valuable resource and it is not fair. This idea is simple, it makes sense, and it deserves an up-or-down vote,” Congressman Grayson said.

I have doubts that this bill will get to a vote anytime soon, but it gives me hope that we'll move in the direction of a Medicare expansion, and it certainly offers a solid goal for progressives to embrace going forward. I have always believed this is the right public option, rather than creating a brand new bureaucracy. However, the Medicare infrastructure needs some work before the doors can be thrown open to everyone. Those remodels are already in the Senate bill, in the form of innovation, streamlining, electronic health records and outcomes-based medicine. The Medicare reforms are robust, meaningful, and will make Medicare the most viable public option of all.

More significantly, Grayson's introduction of this bill right now invites Dennis Kucinich to stand down on his opposition to the Senate bill. Grayson isn't introducing this bill as a symbolic gesture. There's no question that the public option, as debated over the past year, has traction and is popular, especially when framed as a Medicare buy-in. By making it a separate initiative, Grayson unbundles it from the Senate bill and gives both an opportunity to pass.

Whether it passes this year or not, it's a magnificent and savvy political move on Grayson's part. Let's hope Kucinich picks up the cue, moves the ball down the field instead of picking up the goalposts and heading home.

Yesterday, Chris Hayes filling in for Rachel Maddow talked to Howard Dean about the protests held outside of the Ritz-Carlton "where the insurance companies were having their conference and plotting to kill health reform." Howard Dean: Reconciliation Should Include Medicare Buy-In or Restore House Version:

Dean also weighed in on what he thinks should happen if the bill does pass -- the Senate should either include a Medicare buy-in or restore the House version which has a public option. He also thinks they should get rid of the individual mandate and that might make it a decent bill. I guess we'll find out if anyone's listening to Dean shortly if the bill does make it through the House.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

UPDATE: A new Associated Press-GfK Poll finds a widespread hunger for improvements to the health care system, which suggests President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies have a political opening to push their plan. Half of all Americans say health care should be changed a lot or "a great deal," and only 4 percent say it shouldn't be changed at all [the GOP position]. News from The Associated Press The devil is in the details.

The NY Times has posted a series of short videos of teachers in their classrooms with a running narration describing why what the teacher is doing is effective. These things are usually dreary and didactic, but this set of videos is a welcome change. They're short, interesting and helpful.

The videos are connected to an article in Sunday's magazine, Building a Better Teacher, which I found interesting but a little too much like what I've read over the years about techniques promising to revolutionize the way we prepare teachers for the classroom. Nonetheless, there are ideas and trends classroom teachers can benefit from.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Yet another GOP establishment-type has come to the rescue of embattled Sen. John McCain. Jeb Bush endorses McCain in Arizona « - Blogs from CNN.com:

Another high-profile Republican is backing Sen. John McCain's bid for a fifth term in the Senate.

McCain's campaign announced Wednesday that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has endorsed the Arizona Senator.

* * *

Bush is the latest in a series of GOP stars to endorse McCain.

Former Massachusetts Sen. Mitt Romney, Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell are all backing McCain.

So George W. Bush's "younger smarter brother" endorsed McCain. In an anti-incumbency, anti-establishment, anti-Washington insider year. I fail to see how this helps. It just reminds people of how McCain traded his last shred of dignity and self-respect to suck up to George W. Bush for his support. H/t Think Progress » Bush And McCain: Photo-Op Friends Forever

All bus drivers are bureaucrats, but not all bureaucrats are bus drivers.

All buses drive bureaucrats, but not all bureaucrats drive buses.

All cafeteria food is bureaucratic, but not all bureaucrats eat cafeteria food.

Teachers are not bureaucrats, but some teachers teach bureaucrats.

When the broom is an arrow, the custodian is a zen archer.

Can the bus drive itself while one hand claps?

All G.I. statements have an agenda, but not all agendas are G.I. statements.

It's useless. I must strive harder to understand the wisdom of the Goldwater Institute. And yet, by striving, I will always miss the target. I must become one with the baseball, or with the bureaucrat, or with the bus driver, or something.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Americans United for Change has targeted Sen. McNasty for his obstruction of the health care reform bill. AZ/DC Blog - McCain hit with robocalls on health-care reform:

Americans United for Change on Tuesday launched 250,000 robocalls in Arizona blasting Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for voting against the Senate health-care reform bill.

Here is the robocall script (watch a video version here):

I’m calling from Americans United for Change.

Arizona Senator John McCain is happy to let the government pay for his health care, but last December, John McCain voted against requiring that ordinary Americans be eligible to buy the same health insurance as members of Congress.

Senator McCain may have seven houses and fly around in private jets, but when it comes to his health care he should be no better than the rest of us.

Call Senator McCain at 202-225-3121. Tell him to support health-care reform now.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The East Valley Tribune has a new lease on life after the U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved the sale by Freedom Communications to a partnership of Boulder, Colorado-based Thirteenth Street Media and Reno, Nevada-based 10K Investments LLC. Arizona Capitol Times » Judge OKs sale of Freedom’s Phoenix-area papers:

The $2 million deal between Freedom and 1013 Communications Group is expected to close next month.

* * *

Randy Miller, president and owner of Thirteenth Street Media, will serve as publisher and run the daily operations.

Along with the Tribune and News-Sun print and web products, the sale includes weekly newspapers in Ahwatukee, Glendale, Peoria and Surprise; and Arizona Interactive Media Group, which publishes the Clipper direct-mail coupon magazine.

The sale was approved as part of Freedom’s overall plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy by the end of March.

* * *

Freedom filed for bankruptcy protection in September and announced two months later that it would close the Tribune after nine years of ownership. Weeks later, the company said it received a letter of intent from Miller to buy the newspaper. Miller later expanded his offer to include Freedom’s other Phoenix-area publications.

“It was always my intent to purchase the entire group, so I’m very pleased it finally worked out - after a lot of time and effort,” Miller said in a statement. “They are excellent, community-focused papers which are at the core of our business strategy. And Arizona Interactive Media Group gives us a solid base to grow as the media landscape continues to evolve.”

Freedom will retain ownership of the Tribune building and press in downtown Mesa. Miller will consolidate operations and relocate the Tribune offices, but he did not specify where.

Last year, the paper ceased daily publication and moved to a free-circulation, zoned model serving Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert and Queen Creek. The Tribune published four days a week and then reduced publication to three days.

Miller said he plans to return the East Valley Tribune name to the masthead and resume distribution in Tempe and additional neighborhoods in Chandler. The paper will remain free in distribution racks and be delivered to select neighborhoods.

Miller plans to offer jobs to the former Freedom employees this week; they will have until March 14 to accept. Freedom will pay severance to employees not retained by the new owner.

* * *

Thirteenth Street Media is also the publisher of two other free-distribution newspapers, the Explorer in suburban Tucson and the Telluride (Colo.) Daily Planet.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Time once again for the Farley Report from Rep. Steve Farley (D-LD28):

Allow me to apologize on behalf of Republican leadership. While last week was officially declared as "Budget Week", they never actually came up with any budget proposals.

So this week is, once again, "Budget Week"!

We actually do have a budget proposal on the table today. The Republicans would again have a lot of apologizing to do, if they were actually sorry for what they are about to do to the state of Arizona.

It's a bloodbath that will last for generations. [Photo from "The Shining" (1980).]

This budget was worked out behind closed doors with input from Republican members only, and even state agencies were not consulted, or allowed to testify -- for the first time in memory.

It doesn't even balance the budget -- it uses illegal raids and wishful thinking that will be reversed by court rulings. This phony budget will appear to balance the budget long enough to carry Republican legislators through their November elections until it falls apart completely, leaving our state in ruins.

There are actually two budget proposals: One if the voters pass the sales tax May 18, and another if voters decline.

Budget 1: EVEN IF THE TAX PASSES, here's just some of the damage:

--> 417,982 Arizonans will lose their health care (including 47,000 children on KidsCare), as detailed in last week's Farley Report. This will destroy more than 42,000 jobs, lose us more than $2.8 billion in federal matching funds and stimulus money (some of which will need to be refunded), and put our hospitals, trauma centers, and emergency rooms in danger of closing.

--> Many services to the developmentally disabled will be cut or eliminated, including vision care, attendant care, transportation assistance, and dental services.

--> All-day Kindergarten will end, as will adult ed, gifted, family literacy, and GED programs. In all, $832 million will be cut from K-12 education in Fiscal 2011. We are funding our kids at 2004 levels, despite the huge increases in student population. Class sizes will soar past 50 kids. Imagine the dividends this de-funding of our education system will pay 10, 20, 30 years down the line.

--> Universities will have their per-pupil funding cut by 25%, ensuring more massive tuition increases.

--> The Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections will be eliminated, and its duties will be transferred to the counties without funding to pay for it. This is part of $124 million in cost shifts to cities and counties, who are also struggling. The Maricopa County Administrator testified in the Appropriations Committee this morning that counties will be forced to raise property taxes on us all or face possible bankruptcy if they are already up against their spending limits.

--> All funding for the high-wage job-creating Science Foundation Arizona will be cut.

--> Lottery funds (Heritage, LTAF) for State Parks, rural transit, and urban transit will be eliminated, causing transit programs and state parks to be shut down.

--> The Arts Endowment, Jobs Training Fund, Housing Fund, and Underground Storage Tank and Emissions Inspection Funds will be completely swept into the General Fund, so there will be no money for arts, housing, jobs training, or emissions & underground storage inspection.

--> The Departments of Environmental Quality and Water Resources will be cut off from the general fund, and will be funded entirely by the industries which it regulates. The funds in which those fees are stored will still be subject to sweeps by the Legislature. This was the way we ended up with no state parks -- make the agency self-funding, then swipe their funds. In the same way, we may also end up with no money to keep our air and water clean and plentiful.

--> Voters will be asked in November to eliminate First Things First and redirect those cigarette tax funds from early childhood education programs into the General Fund, and to eliminate Growing Smarter funds for conservation while also sweeping those funds. The budget is silent on what happens if voters refuse to go along with these schemes, leaving another gaping deficit.

--> By April 1, all state employees will be cut by 5% either through pay cuts, layoffs, or furloughs.

Budget 2: IF THE TAX FAILS, there will be more blood, IN ADDITION TO THE ABOVE CUTS. Here is a bit of how it gets even worse:

--> All departments will be cut by another 5%, except:

--> University funding will be cut by another 12%

--> AHCCCS will be cut by another 9%

--> Community colleges will be cut by another 11%

--> Corrections will be cut by another 7%

--> K-12 education will by cut by another 12%

--> The Department of Fire, Building and Life Safety will be eliminated completely

--> The Judiciary Department will be cut by 10%

--> The Department of Health Services will be cut by 8%

Through all this devastation that will set our state back for decades to come, only one new revenue source was proposed apart from the temporary one-cent sales tax: a repeal of the TPT Accounting Tax Credit, which currently pays retailers for filling out their tax forms. Eliminating that tax credit is a Democratic idea, so that is one small ray in the darkness, but it only collects $20 million a year.

We need a whole lot of other revenues to solve our short term crisis and our long-term fiscal instability, and the majority refuses to discuss anything else. How about that list of more than $10 billion in corporate loopholes in the sales tax code?

Even the business community is strongly opposed to most of these Republican proposals, especially the healthcare cuts. It is hard to find anyone who supports them (not a single person signed in during the Appropriations Committee in support of any of the budget bills), so it would appear that the only motivation driving this budget butchery is naked ideology.

To these guys, government is always bad, so we must eliminate government regulations, government healthcare, and government schools. The next step will be eliminating government first-responders, government roads, and government prisons. While allowing anyone anywhere anytime to carry any and all guns, concealed or otherwise.

I would suggest that our Republican legislative leadership do a little light reading this week and pick up a copy of Thomas Hobbes' 1651 classic of political philosophy, Leviathan.

In Hobbesian terms, those who created this budget and control our state's agenda appear to believe that mankind is better off in a "state of nature" in which there is no government and each individual has a natural right to do whatever it takes to preserve his own life.

The problem with this idealized Republican "state of nature" is aptly encapsulated by Hobbes, when he calls that form of life "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Which also aptly describes this budget, which is nasty, brutish and short of money.

Speaking of nasty and brutish, I have an update on HB2148, the bill I wrote about a few weeks ago that would give adoption preference to married couples, thus discriminating against single women and men and LGBT couples. Sponsor Warde Nichols has claimed that he is not doing this to attack LGBT people, but Arizona Republic columnist EJ Montini recently revealed an interesting email from 2148 support Senator Jack Harper (R-Surprise) to a constituent.

Here is an excerpt from the Montini column which speaks for itself.

"Recently, a single heterosexual woman (she pointed this out in her e-mail) sent a note to a group of legislators expressing her opposition to HB 2148.

"She believes it is a bad idea to make it more difficult for people like her to adopt, adding that while single individuals often step forward to serve as foster parents, this bill would tell them "they are not good enough to keep (the children) permanently."

"In response, she got an e-mail from Sen. Harper that read:

" 'I am sorry that the legislation is clumsy, but it accomplishes the goal that we are trying to achieve. It's hard to single out gay and lesbian couple [sic] with proper wording in statute.' "

44 years in power has a tendency to create arrogance. It's time to vote for a different legislative majority.

Here's one of those weird confluences. This morning I praised the Catholic bishops from Tucson, Phoenix and Gallup for writing a letter telling Russell Pearce to ditch his anti-immigrant bills. It reminded me of some of the wonderful priests I remember from the 60s who felt their faith demanded that they advocate for social justice.

Now Glenn Beck has told his loyal followers, beware of churches advocating social justice.

. . . look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words.

Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"

Those words, "social justice," are a gateway drug. Pretty soon you find yourself worrying about the lives of the poor and sick and thinking you should do something to help. That leads to ideas like universal health care, and higher taxes on the rich to help others who life has dealt some cruel blows.

Run away! Run away!

I guess you worship at the Church of Glenn, or you don't worship at all.