Monthly Archives: November 2011

More Political Bullying In Arizona.

Posted on by

If you think Teapublicans have run amok in Washington or in states like Alabama, Ohio and Wisconsin, nothing compares to the political lunacy of Arizona.

This is the state that refused to acknowledge a Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. It’s home to the so-called “nation’s toughest sheriff” who houses prisoners in tents in the middle of the desert and feeds them baloney sandwiches for every meal all the while misspending millions of his county’s budget.

It’s a state where handguns are a more common wardrobe accessory than wristwatches. It’s home to chronic liars John “McNasty” McCain and Jon Kyl. And it’s the state that introduced the Latino-bashing SB1070 anti-immigration bill.

Despite the apparent runaway lunacy, voter registration in the state is surprisingly reasonable. It’s almost equally divided between Teapublicans, Democrats and Independents. Yet, through a combination of vilifying immigrants, scare tactics and outright bullying, Teapublicans control virtually every major state office and hold a super-majority in the legislature.

Now that they’ve attained a death grip on state politics, Teapublicans are not about to let go. Which brings us to their latest shenanigan.

In the midst of the voter redistricting process dictated by the latest census, the self-proclaimed “scorpion-eating” Governor Jan Brewer called for impeachment of the chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission for “gross misconduct.” Of course, the Teapublican-dominated Senate went along with her recommendation thus removing the “I” from the IRC.

It seems Brewer and the Teapublicans were not satisfied with the proposed redistricting maps that would allow them to retain a majority of Congressional representatives, and all but guarantee Teapublican dominance of 16 of 30 legislative districts!

In Arizona, that’s what constitutes “gross misconduct” if you’re not a Teapublican.

The Planned Destruction Of Our Two-Party System.

Posted on by

If you wanted to destroy the opposing political party – not just defeat it – what would you do?

You’d probably look to take away its source of funding while finding ways to dramatically increase yours, such as destroying labor unions while legalizing unlimited corporate contributions as “free speech.” You’d try to marginalize and delegitimize its leader by claiming he was not born in the US. You’d try to destroy its local organizers (ACORN). And knowing that most disputes will end up in court, you’d try to stack the courts with your own appointees while blocking the other party’s.

When the other party is in power, you’d try to block any attempts to improve the economy through filibusters. You’d try to destroy confidence in any media outlets that don’t support your point of view by eliminating the Fairness Doctrine and defunding public broadcasting. You’d try to eliminate as many regulations as possible, so when you regained power you could do whatever you want. And you’d try to destroy public confidence in a government run by the other party.

When your party is in power, you’d try to change the rules to favor your candidates. You’d try to redraw the congressional and legislative districts so you could get more candidates elected. And you’d try to suppress voting blocs that tend to vote for the other party’s candidates through voter suppression efforts such as those being pushed through Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Finally, to ensure your party’s future dominance, you’d try to control our schools so you could teach your own version of history and pseudoscience by rewriting textbooks such as those published in Texas.

If you think that I’m being paranoid, that these events are coincidental, or that both parties do the same things, you simply haven’t been paying attention.

The NRA Effect.

Posted on by

Beginning in 1980, the National Rifle Association first inserted itself into politics by endorsing Ronald Reagan. Since then, the NRA has increasingly exerted its power and influence over both national and state politics. Nearly every year, the NRA writes proposed legislation then shops it around to state legislatures in hopes of finding sponsors.

Often the legislators who put their names on the bills never even read them!

An example is the Concealed Carry Law. In 1986, there were only 8 states that had legislation dictating that anyone who meets minimum requirements shall be issued a permit to carry concealed weapons. But thanks to the NRA, there are now 37 states that have “shall issue” permit laws and 4 states with no restrictions at all. Next month (November 2011), Illinois will be the only state left that does not allow concealed carry in any circumstances.

These laws were not demanded by the states’ citizens. Nor were they addressing real problems. They were written by the NRA merely to push its own narrow political agenda.

Of course, other special interest groups followed the NRA’s lead. For example, the Arizona anti-immigrant law was initially written by Kris Kobach, a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. It was embraced by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) which is headquartered in Washington, DC. FAIR (or, more precisely, UNFAIR) then shopped the bill around to the states until Arizona State Senator-In-Recall, Russell Pearce agreed to sponsor it as the infamous SB1070. It has since been brought before state legislatures in Alabama, Georgia, and South Dakota.

Now Kenneth Blackwell, an Ohio citizen and Senior Fellow for Family Empowerment at the Family Research Council in Washington, DC, is pushing an anti-abortion bill for the state of Mississippi. The bill, if the voters of Mississippi pass it, will ban all abortions in the state by extending First Amendment rights to fetuses. And this isn’t the first hayride for the bill. It was previously promoted, and defeated, in Colorado.

Now, I believe US citizens should be able to create and pass legislation to solve problems in their own states as long as they meet the standards of our US Constitution. But it is one thing for a state legislature to identify issues, and quite another for special interest groups to write and promote legislative solutions in search of a problem.

It’s time for this nonsense to stop.