September 2009
Starvin' the Beast →
What do you do when the state has a severe revenue shortfall?
Why you layoff even more of the people who collect revenue!
That’s what Republicans call starvin’ the beast.
What do you do…
Self parody alive and well in AZ Republican... →
by David Safier Remember how R Sen. Sylvia Allen declared the earth is 6000 years old on the Senate floor? (The priceless video is below.) It turns out she’s chairing an Ad Hoc Committee on…
AG Terry Goddard announces $900,000 settlement... →
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Here is a news item from the past week that, as far as I can find, was not reported in any of the major newspapers in Arizona - with the exception of the online Arizona…
Senator Obstruction engaged in filibusteritis, or... →
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Arizona’s own Senator Obstruction, Jon Kyl, is unfortunately a member of the Senate Finance Committee. The markup of the Senate Finance Committee’s health care reform…
Bush was indoctrinating our children!!!!!! →
by David Safier
I refuse to summarize the garbage coming out of the Republican/right wing outrage machine about a group of elementary school children singing the praises of Obama. If you haven’t…
Movie trailers: Fear, Apocalypse, Vampires →
by David Safier I saw the film, The Informant!, yesterday. Amusing, quirky film. But before the show, I was taken by the fact that almost all the films previewed dealt with looming disasters,…
Sound and fury →
by David Safier This is a bit late, but I just saw this on Kenny Jacobs’ new blog, a Pithy Diarist: a Youtube video from the crazy-base 9/12 event in D.C.. One guy walks through the crowd with…
Burns, Adams provided budget leadership. Really. →
From the political notebook:
* State Senate President Bob Burns and House Speaker Kirk Adams are being roundly criticized for the way they managed the state budget process. Admittedly, it was…
Celebrating a nice guy who finished first. →
Kent Dana broke into the television news business when it was acceptable – even preferred – for local TV anchormen to be old, ugly guys. At the time, he didn’t fit the profile.
In the…
How's Your Aspen? →
Here’s sad news. Northern Arizona’s aspen trees are dying in ever-increasing numbers, tearing holes in the blankets of color that spread across the high country each autumn. The tree deaths…
Links for 2009-09-25 [del.icio.us] →
Bob Cesca: The Impeachment of President Obama
Phoenix News - Arizona Republic Publisher Mike Ryan Quits the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce — Finally - page 1
Rogue Columnist: Phoenix 101
Glenn Beck, Phoenix DJ →
by David Safier Chris Coppola at the East Valley Trib dug up this gem, and BlueMeanie passed it on to me. Here’s Glenn Beck doing a TV ad in 1986 for his show at Phoenix Radio station Y95….
AZ BlueMeanie analyzes Jefferson's "Tree of... →
by David Safier In a long, historically based and rather brilliant comment on my I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to think anymore post, AZ BlueMeanie looks into the meanings and ramifications…
Time to Take Action on The Public Option →
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Blogger mcjoan at Daily Kos is a daily must read for the latest on the health care bills moving through Congress. I will reproduce her recent post followed by additional…
Imagine School in Indiana: High lease costs hurt... →
by David Safier This is one of a series of posts, Peeking into Charter Schools. If you have information you wish to contribute, you can post comments or email me: safier@schooltales.net. …
Sedona →
Sedona viewed from Jerome Two miles in. On the bridge Dogs swimming at the crossing below Cathedral Rock. It’s hard to take a really bad photograph here. …
Prisons as mental institutions →
No state-wide problem exists in isolation. The horrific death of Marcia Powell not only illustrates the problems within Arizona’s prison system, it’s an example of how the prison…
Best journalistic sentence of the day →
by David Safier
From the Star:
Alvarez said no one is allowed to write on school property unless they have permission from the dean of students.
How about reading on school propery? Is that all…
"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to think... →
by David Safier Out of the pens of cartoonists. Two of the most astute, our own local treasure, Fitz, and the inimitable Gary Trudeau.
Horne don't get no respect →
by David Safier
Ed Supe Tom Horne is taking a beating in the Tucson press. KOLD went after him pretty hard after his “I haven’t read the report, but I can play the race card anyway” news…
Links for 2009-09-24 [del.icio.us] →
Clay Shirky: Let a thousand flowers bloom to replace newspapers; don’t build a paywall around a public good » Nieman Journalism Lab
1 out of 4 Phoenix residents uninsured
Overconfidence is…
Responsible Republicans to take back the party... →
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
It is not quite as dramatic as Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Schlosserkirsche (castle church) in Wittenberg, but one courageous soul today…
In case you missed this →
by David Safier Will Ferrell and friends put together a Public Service Announcement, “Protect Insurance Companies.” Because they’re the real victims here. Worth a watch.
Tom Horne in Junior English →
At a news conference Tom Horne called to blast the new TUSD discipline plan, he said: “I haven’t read the plan itself, but I’ve read descriptions of the plan.” [referring to a column that…
Ladies and gentlemen, Senator Jon Kyl →
by David Safier Jon Kyl makes it absolutely clear, he doesn’t have a uterus and he’s not going to worry about health care for people who do.
Phoenix ain't Detroit →
The unemployment rate in the Phoenix metro area is catching up with national norms. Still, its resiliency remains remarkable, given the real estate depression we have experienced and the extent to…
The attorney fighting Joe's... →
Paul Charlton, the attorney representing Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley, knows a thing or two about inquisitions, which is how Stapley described his most recent arrest at the hands of…
Dead dogs, dead babies, dead inmates. →
Now that the Department of Corrections has released its investigation into the death of inmate Marcia Powell, the mentally-ill woman left for four hours in a cage-like outdoor…
Das Boot →
So here was the plan. Scottsdale School’s Fall Break is in mid October, so I reserved a campsite on the South Rim of Grand Canyon for me, my son, a buddy of mine and his son for October 13th. …
The Mother of All Public Records Requests... →
Surely you recall the Desert Divas. That’s the ultra expensive VIP prosecutions Back in February, it looked like the case was going to break wide open…Prosecutors were naming names …
The Great One is gone →
Another piece of the Phoenix Coyote’s empire has come crumbling down.
Wayne Gretzky, a minority owner of the team, resigned after serving as coach since 2005. Who replaces him as head coach is as…
What do Jan Brewer and Spinal Tap have in common? →
When I read that Gov. Jan Brewer said she was glad to “get out of that hell hole in Phoenix”, this legendary song came to mind.
And coincidentally, after reading yesterday’s poll numbers, it seems…
Prop. 200 creates bad public policy →
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Donald Ijams, a retired law enforcement planner who worked 28 years for the Tucson Police Department as a management analyst, penned this guest opinion today in the …
Blue Dog leader in sweetheart real estate deal... →
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross (D) - woo pig sooie! - is the leader of the Blue Dog Coalition of conservative (not “centrist”) Democrats. He has been caught feeding at the…
The Accidental Governor is unpopular even among... →
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Accidental Governor, Jan Brewer, has never lost a political race in more than a quarter century in politics. If she wants to keep her perfect record…
Gila Courier: "We need to discipline Asian... →
by David Safier OK, I’ll accept the possibility that this headline from the conservative Gila Courier website is meant as sarcasm:
TUSD teachers soft on Asian kids
But the headline comes…
Huppenthal flaunting resign to run laws again? →
by David Safier I’ve heard Goddard is a scofflaw because someone introduced him by saying he was running for governor, or he made an oblique remark in that general direction, or something like…
Study finds New York charter students outperform... →
by David Safier In recent posts, I’ve cited a Stanford study showing mixed results from students at charter and traditional public schools. In some states, one group does better, in other states,…
I know Tom Horne is not an idiot, but . . . →
by David Safier These days, being a Republican politician makes you act like an idiot. You have to pander to the basest of your base if you hope to have a future.
Today’s illustration: Tom…
Links for 2009-09-23 [del.icio.us] →
Immigration Detention in Arizona
Seattle News - Cover Story: Lethally Blonde - page 1
Hate unions? Love what they gave you? →
The online response to articles outlining a threatened strike by union workers at Fry’s and Safeway grocery stores is the same hate-filled screed that we’ve been hearing since the…
"California Nightmarin'" →
Everything about this is gross.
If the story that Mackenzie Phillips tells is true — that her father first abused her and then she became a willing participant in incest is…
What Part of "Governance" Don't You Understand? →
It’s rare that I read a newspaper story that is jaw-droppingly bad; maybe I’ve just become jaded, or maybe the papers are getting better—-probably the former. Occasionally, however a reporter…
Links for 2009-09-21 [del.icio.us] →
Sightseeing with Google Satellite Maps
Tuition tax credit expenditures far exceed... →
by David Safier The East Valley Trib has brought more information into the discussion in its article on the tuition tax credit task force hearings.
First, in the original selling of the tax…
Star editorial on tuition tax credits →
by David Safier The Star wrote a strong editorial on the tuition tax credit abuse story, summarizing the findings in earlier Republic and Trib articles and calling for more regulation. As a…
EMOs: "Would you like fries with that diploma?" →
by David Safier My picture of a charter school has always been a few crazily dedicated educators who want to start their own schools so they can work harder and be more successful than traditional…
Opposition to Prop. 200 continues to grow →
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Pima County Republican Party, the Tucson Association of Realtors, the Southern Arizona Home builders Association, and the Tucson Police Officers and Firefighters…
Links for 2009-09-22 [del.icio.us] →
Biden gives Ariz. Democrat a boost | Delawareonline.com | The News Journal
Big deficits in Baucus health care plan →
While being roundly criticized from all sides, the health care reform advanced by Sen. Max Baucus is widely thought to at least have the virtue of not adding to the deficit. That’s because the…