Today was a learning experience...

I was going to title this post "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly," but it turns out that someone stole that one right out from under me. :))

Went to the lege today, and sat in on a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee. [Note: I stayed for more than 4 1/2 hours and the meeting wasn't even close to over.]

First, the good stuff (a.k.a. - The Good) -

...Rep. David Schapira's HB2206, Teacher Student Loan Program, passed the committee by a 14 -1 - 2 vote after a minor amendment to the bill. The bill is now called the "Teacher Student Loan Program" and is extended to cover students who are willing to be math, science, and special ed teachers.

The bill may not pass the whole House, or make it through the Senate, but getting past Russell Pearce is always a good thing.

...Before the meeting, I sat in the gallery of the House; unfortunately, there wasn't any debate going on at that time. However, while there, I met Andrea Dalessandro, a Santa Rita Democrat who is heavily involved with emergeArizona. We spoke for a while, and found out that we know a lot of the same people.

It was also nice to see a friendly face. :)

And it looks like LD30 won't be as easy for the Reps come the next election.

Now, the not-so-good stuff (a.k.a. - The Bad) -

...These guys will never win awards for punctuality; the House was supposed to gavel back into session at 1:00 p.m., but I was there until 1:25, and it hadn't done so at that point. Also, the Appropriations Committee meeting was scheduled to start at 1:30, but that didn't happen until 2.

...During the consideration of HB2203, Rep. Trish Groe (R-LD3) proved that she's as clueless about real life as they come.

The bill concerns the creation of a mandatory summer school reading program for 3rd-graders who aren't reading at grade level. They would have to complete the program before being promoted to the 4th grade.

The bill passed the committee after a number of the Republicans commented that they would like to see the parents pay for the program, though some others noted that it's unclear whether or not they *could* charge for a mandatory program.

During this period, Rep. Groe commented that she would like parents to pay so that they don't view the time their child would have to spend in summer school as "time to do housework."

That's just wrong on so many levels, I don't know where to begin.

...In something that isn't breaking news to anybody, Russell Pearce (R-LD18) hates immigrants.

Make that HATES immigrants.

In addition to the anti-immigrant and anti-immigration bills on the agenda, he found a way during consideration of HB2202 to start spouting off on illegal immigrants and Prop 300.

The bill in question concerns adult education fees.

Now for the ugly -

...Not all of AZ's loons are in the Republican caucus of the lege.

During the discussion of HB2770, a bill to appropriate $6 million to fund non-embryonic stem cell research, Dr. Joseph Rogers of the Sun Health Research Institute, spoke about how non-embryonic stem cell research was better than embryonic stem cell research.

OK, it was more of a rant; so much so, that even Russell Pearce, no slouch in the ranting department himself, had to rein in the doctor.

Did I mention that the doctor's bio at SHRI says that he has a bachelor's degree in literature and that he worked as a journalist before receiving a PhD in neurobiology from the University of California at San Diego?

That's an interesting and unusual progression.

Unfortunately, his name makes for a lousy search term.

His science degree seems legit, but most of the references that I can find for him cite him in his association with SHRI. More research needed here.

...The ugliest phenomenon that I observed was the financial hypocrisy of the Republicans.

- - - With any bill that helped public education, the Republicans spoke about financial responsibility, tight budgets, "structural deficits", etc., before voting against it;

Bills that appropriated money to give to charter schools were lauded. (HB2658)

- - - With bills that would have aided poor and working families, they want to impose fees and restrictions; (HB2202)

Bills that accelerate or make permanent tax cuts for big business and others, while undercutting school district revenues for education, were passed without a peep from the Reps. (HB2401, HB2400)

- - - With a bill that appropriated $200,000 to provide education regarding the benefits of pre-natal doses of folic acid in preventing birth defects, they argued that the money should come directly out of the Department of Health Services budget [note: the bill passed because the pro-lifers on the committee thought that it might reduce abortions, not because they thought that preventing birth defects is a generally good thing]; (HB2156)

However, the bills that appropriated $63 million for different anti-immigrant measures passed without a peep about fiscal responsibility or of dinging the budget of any particular agency. [HB2473 - $25 mill, related: HCR2021, a ballot measure doing the same thing as HB2473, no appropriation; HB2751 - $25 million; HB2766, $10 million; HB2779, $3 million, related: HCR2051, ballot proposition, no appropriation.]

There may have been others, but as noted above, I gave up after more than 4 1/2 hours; next time, I'll pay attention to the length of the agenda before heading downtown.


And my biggest disappointment with the day? The fact that the Democrats on the committee mostly just voted; there was very little actual discussion of the various bills by the committee.

Yes, they had 35 bills to get through, and yes, with the makeup of the committee, the outcome of most of the votes was pre-ordained, but that's no excuse for silence.

Today's railroad session was conducted with very little vocal opposition, and it was embarrassing to me as a Democrat.


Anyway, I'll try to find another day to attend a hearing, perhaps over in the Senate. Maybe I'll get to write about the antics of Jack Harper or Ron Gould. :))

Good night!

Nancy Pelosi's visit to ASU

In the overflowing Arizona Ballroom in ASU's Memorial Union, protected from the drizzle and wind outside, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, along with U.S. Reps Barbara Lee (D-CA9), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ7), Ed Pastor (D-AZ4), and Harry Mitchell (D-you know where :) ) spoke to over 700 people of all ages about efforts in Congress to make a college education more affordable for America's working and middle classes.

After being introduced by Elizabeth Simonhoff, Vice-President of the ASU Undergraduate Student Government, Speaker Pelosi started off by letting the assemblage know that it was a great personal and political pleasure for her first non-district trip as speaker to be to Arizona. The personal part is that her daughter and her family live here; in fact, her son-in-law teaches in Tempe and her grandchild attends school in Scottsdale. [Note: she'll be visiting that school tomorrow.]

She also gave a plug for the AZ Congressfolk present, as well as Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ8), for their work to make higher education more affordable.

Pelosi spoke for a while on the importance of education, and educational opportunity, to achieving the American dream, and to the greatness of America throughout our history.

She moved on too talking about the Democrats' 1st 100 Hours agenda, and how the passage of that agenda signalled a change in Washington. She also noted the bipartisan support in the House for reducing education's financial burden on America's families.

Pelosi promised that what has been done so far (lower student loan interest rates from 6.8% to 3.4%) is "only a start" and that there's more to come.

When Harry Mitchell rose to cheers and a chant of "Harry! Harry! Harry!", he talked about how the average ASU grad started with a debt of $15,000 and that number is rising, and that expanding access to education is a prime goal of this Congress.

Ed Pastor drew the biggest laugh of the day when he mentioned "compassionate conservatives," noting that most of their compassion is for the very rich. He noted that under this administration, Pell Grant funding has been reduced, student loan interest rates were increased, and the wealthiest got a tax cut.

He compared Congress' passage of the continuing resolution to fund the government (after the "do-nothing" 109th Congress failed to do so), a CR that contained an increase in Pell Grant funding with the President's latest budget proposal, which includes an increase in Pell Grants, but takes the money from other financial aid programs.

Pastor drew a loud round of cheers when he told the audience that Congress would tackle immigration in March, and that their immigration reform act would include the DREAM Act (link to 2004 bill; I'll post a link to the new one when I can find it.)

Raul Grijalva got a chuckle at the beginning of his speech when he admitted that "maybe everything has been said already, but *I* haven't said it. He spoke about some of the goals of this Congress, which include increasing funding for loans, lower interest rates, a goal of a $5100 Pell Grant and a loan forgiveness program for people who go to work in areas of need.

He said that it was time to "stop the raid on higher education" and talked about how 400,000 students per year delay or forgo their education due to the cost, and the need to change that.

Barbara Lee bonded with the crowd by letting us know, that like Speaker Pelosi, she has family living in Arizona, including her mom, dad, and an aunt.

She advised us that her career in Congress can be credited to student financial aid - the education that placed her on the path to public service and elected office that she received at Mills College and UC-Berkeley was only available to her because of financial aid.

She also called for America in general, and Congress in particular, to "reorder our priorities so that education stays at the top of the national agenda."

After the guests of honor finished their speeches, they took some questions from the audience before adjourning, letting the crowd out into the pounding sprinkles.

Notes from the day:

...A broad cross-section of Democratic Party notables was present today - before the session, Attorney General Terry Goddard, Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, and former Senator Dennis DeConcini were introduced. Others in the crowd, and I'm pretty sure I didn't everybody who attended, included new Kyrene Constable Jon Levenson, MCDP Chair Mark Manoil, State Representative Ed Ableser, and State Representative David Schapira. Governor Napolitano had a scheduling conflict with the afternoon event, but was supposed to meet with the Speaker in the evening, and Congresswoman Giffords is in Iraq.

The notices about the event advised attendees to arrive an hour early to ensure a seat; I arrived over 90 minutes before the start of the forum, and there were already hundreds in a line that snaked around that level of the Memorial Union.

Highlight of the day, pre-event: walking by the ASU Republicans' table outside the MU, with four Republicans seated at it, talking to each other. They *had* to talk to each other - no one else was at the table. :))

Highlight of the day, post-event: meeting the Speaker and talking to her for a moment. I made a crack about how I would have introduced her as "The First Italian-American Speaker." She laughed, saying that she was also "The First Californian...," and "The First Marylander..." among other firsts.

It was seriously cool. :))

Geo at Geo's Precinct 134 has his coverage here.

Overall, it was a great day, but the right-wing media is already starting its spin:

The Phoenix Business Journal's story about the event focused on the appointment of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) (of the $90K cash in the freezer fame) to the House Homeland Security Committee, not on the event itself.

Later!

Reminder - Nancy Pelosi speaking at ASU today

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi will be speaking on Democratic efforts to make college more affordable.

She will be at the Memorial Union at ASU at 2 p.m., though organizers recommend arriving an hour early. Space is limited. So's parking, though that might be a little better than normal - today's a holiday, which means no classes.

Congressmen Harry Mitchell, Raul Grijalva, and Ed Pastor will also be there.

LD17 Legislators in the news...

Another week, another summary of MSM coverage of the LD17 delegation to the lege...

Rep. David Schapira:

The AZ Daily Wildcat (U of A's paper) had an article concerning the passage by a joint legislative committee of a university budget proposal, but turned down some specific funding initiative, including some proposed by Schapira.

From the article by Djamila Grossman:

PHOENIX - Members of a joint subcommittee adopted a university budget proposal for 2008 but voted down several attempts to further increase the funds yesterday.

One motion that failed would have allocated more than $60 million for retention, math and science initiatives, retention programs and several university medical programs.

A scaled-back motion on math and science initiatives by the same representative, Tempe Democrat David Schapira, also failed.

{snip}

Schapira said he had hoped the motions would pass the committee, especially the $3 million for math and science incentives.

The money could be used to fund one of his bills that would pay students' tuition and fees if they accept jobs in districts with a teacher shortage, he said.

"It has a lot of bang for the buck," Schapira said. "For $3 million, we can educate another 500 to 600 teachers a year."

Rep. Ed Ableser:

Ableser had an active week, in terms of MSM coverage, though he wasn't quoted a lot.

Most of the coverage concerned a bill to regulate the height of mudflaps on vehicles, and an amendment that Ableser proposed to outlaw "obscene or hateful" images on them.

The amendment failed to pass, but has generated a lot of buzz in the "oddball" news sections of many papers/media outlets.

...One of those was FoxNews. In a move typical of FoxNews, Ableser's amendment was mentioned in a column with talking urinals.

...From WMTW in Maine (but it's from the AP wire):

Tempe Democrat Ed Ableser sponsored the amendment. He said he'd seen a splash guard that used a derogatory term for black children and said he wanted to make sure that people with hateful motives didn't inflict them on others.

...In the AZ Rep's weekly Political Insider column on Sunday, Ableser was given a small mention in the section concerning Arizona Capital Television, a CSPAN-like broadcast of the activities of the AZ legislature. It's under the control of Jim Weiers, so some Democrats expressed concerns about possible partisanship in the programming and coverage.

Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, wondered if the proceedings would be edited.

...Ableser was also mentioned in a Tucson Citizen article on the committee passage of a bill that would grant tuition waivers to family members of fallen members of the armed services.

From the article -

The rewritten bill would also require that the tuition waiver only be applied after "federal financial aid or benefits" had been exhausted.

Committee member Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, said he was worried the new wording would deny the tuition waiver to recipients of federal education aid, such as a Pell Grant.

Murphy said he would work on that section of the bill before it's heard on the House floor to ensure that only the benefits based on a parent's status as a veteran would affect the tuition offer.

"The intent was specifically to say that the waiver was to bridge the gap between veterans benefits and not to supplant any other financial aid," he told the committee.

After Murphy's explanation, Ableser said he was confident that the bill's language would be revised so it would not cause more harm to fallen military members' families.

...In an op-ed piece, also in the Tucson Citizen, Rep. Ableser is cited (in a complimentary way) for proposing a bill to rein in payday lenders.

"Primary sponsors of the most far-reaching House bill include Democrat Edward Ableser of Tempe and Republican Pete Hershberger of Tucson.

That bill, which includes a repeal of the 2000 legislation, describes existing payday storefronts as "public nuisances." "

The piece was written by Kelly Griffith, deputy director of the Southwest Center for Economic Integrity, and Don Carson, vice president of the nondenominational Little Chapel of All Nations.

...A third piece in the Citizen (three mentions in the Citizen, but none in his hometown paper, the East Valley Tribune? What's up with that? :) ) talks about his criticism of Russell Pearce's mandatory flag law that requires a American flag in every public classroom.

At the expense of the school system.

Concerning HB2468, a bill to ease some of the financial burden of the flag law has on schools -

"I feel this is a perfect example of this body jumping to extremes too quickly and playing politics with symbols of our government that shouldn't be played and used for political measures," said Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe.

{snip}

Ableser said he agrees that schools should display the flag properly and that students should recognize its importance. But he said lawmakers should think about the impact when passing such legislation.

"I believe that this bill is just one of the many we'll probably see as the unintended consequences of this body mandating other smaller districts on what they should or shouldn't do in terms of infrastructure or classroom accessories," Ableser said.

...The Business Journal of Phoenix had an article about state legislators who oppose the war in Iraq and their efforts to voice their opposition.

"A group of Arizona legislators will send the letter to Bush opposing the troop surge, worrying it will not help curb sectarian violence and will result in more causalities.

State Rep. Ed Ableser of Tempe and Kyrsten Sinema of Phoenix are among the Iraq war opponents at the state Legislature. The state move follows passage of a U.S. House measure that voices opposition to the troop escalation."

Sen. Meg Burton-Cahill:

...Sen. Burton-Cahill was mentioned in an article about Sen. Thayer Verschoor's bill to stifle free speech in classrooms. The bill would bar "any instructor in a public school or college from advocating or opposing a political candidate or one side of a social, political or cultural issue that is part of a partisan debate."

From the article -

Also, in a class discussion about global warming, Sen. Meg Burton Cahill, D-Tempe, said the bill seemingly would require teachers to include information to support the argument that global warming does not exist.

"I think something like this would be challenged by any student who believes there's not enough time or consideration given to their perspective," she said.

Later!

Spring has sprung

Here in central AZ it's sometimes hard to tell, since we never have winter (a couple of days where the high temp only reaches the mid-50s is most definitely NOT winter), but the surest sign of spring unfolded acrossed the valley and all over Florida this week:

Pitchers and catchers reported.

Yes!

Right now, Matsuzaka is worth every penny the Red Sox paid;

Right now, Schilling is poised for a huge comeback year;

Right now, the bullpen-by-committee approach will work for the first time in MLB history;

Right now, JD Drew will stay healthy, or at least start playing through aches and pains;

Right now, the phrase "that's just Manny being Manny" means get ready for 40-120-.310;

and right now Ortiz is adding another yet another entry in his "Best Waiver Wire Pickup Ever" Hall of Fame resume.

Right now, the Yankees aren't in first.

:))

Important dates:

April 20 - 1st regular season game against the Yankees; Fenway Park, 7:05 p.m. Eastern.

September 16 - last regular season game against the Yankees; Fenway Park, time TBD.

Later!

The Shadegg Memo...

isn't exactly stunning news to anyone who watched more than 2 or 3 speakers during the House debate on H Con Res 63, the resolution expressing support for our troops in Iraq while expressing disapproval for the President's "surge."

The hubbub in the Democratic blogosphere and elsewhere (I've already received fundraising emails citing the letter!) ignores one little fact: the Democratic side was just as organized as the Republicans.

I'm going to discuss the Republican rhetoric; I'm sure that some con blogger has done the same sort of look at the Democratic points.

Speaking as someone who watched far more than a few speakers (C-SPAN junkie that I am :) ), it was obvious from the first few speakers what the baseline of Republican rhetoric was going to be - "don't question the President, it endangers Americans."

Everything else was intended to just embellish that basic premise, and embellish they did, from the very beginning of the debate, with no regard for the facts.

House minority leader John Boehner (R-OH), the initial Republican speaker, set the tone with this jaw-dropper from the first day of the debate:

"We didn't start this war. They did. Now we have got a duty to finish it, and, for the sake of our kids and theirs, to win it." (p. H1494 of the Congressional Record)

Of all the wars, declared and undeclared, that the United States has ever been part of, NONE has been more the responsibility of one single man than the war in Iraq.

George Bush wanted the war, and with the complicity of his lapdogs in the then-Republican-controlled Congress, he got it.

Iraq never attacked us or was a threat to do so; Iraq was never a part of Al-Qaeda; Iraq was not involved with the attacks on September 11, 2001.

Boehner went on, telegraphing the Republican line for the next few days. He brought up terrorists, September 11, 1979's Iranian Hostage Crisis, Democrats want to "give up and leave", "embolden our enemies," etc.

Subsequent Republican speakers added in lots of "Islam! Danger! Muslims! Bad!" and variations thereof. AZ's own Trent Franks was particularly bombastic in this area - p. H1657, H1658, and H1659) but he was far from the only one who did this.

Another favorite tactic of the Republicans was to compare Bush to great presidents like Lincoln (Civil War), FDR (WWII), and Washington (Revolutionary War). and to equate questioning his conduct of the Iraq war with questioning the others with the way they conducted the wars of their respective presidencies.

Of course, the Republicans left out the minor detail that those presidents didn't actually start those wars; they just finished them.

After a while, most of the fun in watching the proceedings was in seeing who would go off script.

Jeff Flake of AZ CD6 went a little off script in that he voiced his opposition to the resolution in a calm, reasoned manner. He was one of the few Republicans to do so. He was wrong, but he didn't embarrass himself, his constituents, or the country.

Less calm and reasonable, and a nominee for the award "Looniest Leap of Logic" goes to Lee Terry (R-NE2) for the following (emphasis added):

"But I read their authored resolution. And the words are that you support and protect members of the Armed Services who are serving, are serving or have served, which means that they will not support our troops, any uniformed member that is newly sent to Iraq..." (p. H1626)

Good freakin' God.

Anyway, my favorite moment of the debate, and perhaps one of the least scripted, occurred late Thursday evening (more Friday morning than Thursday evening) when Republicans Steve Buyer (IN4) and Louis Gohmert (TX1) got into a barking match with Democrats Kendrick Meek (FL17), Tim Ryan (OH17), Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (FL20) and Chris Murphy (CT5) over (among other things) the Republican implications that the House Democrats were "unpatriotic" for questioning the President. The chair at the time had to step in a couple of times to calm things down. (p. H1774 through H1778)

It was a good indication of what the debate would have been like if the House members were allowed to say what they really thought.

Note: while the the Republicans may no longer be the majority of members in Congress, what they lack in numbers they make up for in smarmy arrogance.

The written Record is kind of dry; if I can find a link to video of that part of the debate, I'll post it.

Anyway, the Shadegg letter is here, courtesy the AZDems.

The final tally on H Con Res 63:

Passed 264 to 182, with 17 Republicans crossing over to support it, and 2 Democrats voting against.

Good night!

Went to the LD8 Dems meeting tonight...

and was treated to an informative presentation from Todd Landfried, the interim Executive Director of the Maricopa County Democratic Party.

He spoke about the accomplishments of the MCDP during the last cycle, the current activities of the county party, and the goals for the coming election cycles (both 2007 and 2008.)

When discussing the accomplishments of the MCDP last year one of the first things he did was to describe working with (former MCDP Chair) Judy Kennedy as an "absolute joy." [Note: she's moved on to the state party executive committee - she's been elected as the Secretary of the Arizona Democratic Party. Lucky them. :) ]

Perhaps the biggest accomplishment was creating an infrastructure to find, train, and support candidates county-wide. In the past, the approach to these activities was somewhat haphazard; not any more. In addition, the MCDP did a fantastic job of raising money, such a good job, in fact, that the party was able to carry forward the most money to the new cycle that it ever has been able to.

The current activities include fundraising (already a success - this year's budget is much more than last year's) and a lot of work with PCs - recruiting, training, and involving them. Also, the county party has been working at getting its committees filled and up to speed.

Goals for the coming two years include using the 2007 election cycle as prep for the 2008 cycle, raising the visibility of legislative district organizations and PCs, and did I mention fundraising? :)

Overall, it was a very encouraging presentation about where the county party is and where it's going. In addition, we learned that the combination of Todd Landfried as executive director and Mark Manoil as chair of the county party is an effective, creative, and dynamic one. [Mark wasn't there, but everyone there knew him.]

Upcoming events of interest to LD8 Dems (all local Dems, actually):

February 19 – Nucleus Club February Luncheon featuring Senator Mike Gravel from Alaska and Dan Saban, potential candidate for Maricopa County Sheriff. Held at the Phoenix Country Club, cost is $40 for non-members. Call 602-234-6545 for details.

February 25 – Reception Honoring Judy Kennedy, from 5:00 until 7:00pm at the Union Hills Country Club, 9860 W. Lindgren Ave. (south of Union Hills Dr. on 99th and then east on Lindgren to club). $25 per ticket, all proceeds to West Democratic Hdqts.

March 8 – Women in Blue celebrate “One Arizona,” featuring Governor JanetNapolitano. Held at the Arizona State Capitol, Executive Tower Bldg., beginning at 7:45 a.m. Lunch at the Wyndham Hotel includes guest speaker, Terry McAuliffe, past Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Luncheon cost is $30 and must be pre-paid by Feb. 27th.

March 29 – “Will the United States Invade Iran,” a topic presented by Scott Ritter. Please join us at 6:30pm at the Scottsdale Civic Center on March 29th to hear Scott Ritter (former UN weapons Inspector) discuss the topic. A flyer will be coming your way next week-end so that you can register.

April 2 - Former Vice-President Al Gore will be speaking at ASU. Details forthcoming.

Good night!

Text of Harry Mitchell's speech on the Iraq resolution

From a press release (what? you thought I could take notes that well or transcribe a recording that quickly? Hah!! :) ):

MITCHELL DELIVERS FLOOR SPEECH ON IRAQ WAR

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell delivered the following remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives, voicing his opposition to the President's military escalation of the Iraq war:

"Mr. Speaker, I think it's safe to say that regardless of any difference of opinion over military strategy in Iraq , we all agree that the outcome in Iraq will affect our national security, and the security and stability of the Middle East for generations to come.

I was not a member of this distinguished body in October of 2002 when many of my colleagues were faced with the decision of whether to authorize the President to go to war in Iraq.

But four years later, I was elected by the people of my District who asked me and this Congress to set a new course in Iraq because it is clear to them that the
Administration's course is not working.

That's not to say there has not been some success. Our troops have performed bravely and succeeded in their mission to end Saddam Hussein's brutal regime. The Iraqi people exercised their newfound right to vote.

And those who murdered innocent Iraqis have been given fair trials, and justice has been served.

But since the initial military victory, political, diplomatic and economic failure has become widespread.

Today sectarian violence is at an all-time high and American troops are now caught in the middle of a civil war.

Now the Administration is engaging in a military escalation of the war. They tried
this strategy before, and it didn't work.

It didn't work because we need more than a military strategy. We need political and economic solutions too.

We need a strategy that employs all of the elements of national power to ultimately put the Iraqis in charge of their own security and stability.

So far, a military strategy has not solved the problems we have in Iraq .

So far, a military strategy has not brought Sunnis and Shi'ites together to maintain a unified government and a peaceful political environment.

We know that a military strategy alone cannot create commerce and jobs for the Iraqi people.

A military strategy alone cannot rebuild the basic infrastructure that has been destroyed over the past four years.

A military strategy must be combined with sufficient political, diplomatic and economic components. But that is not happening here.

I disagree with many of my colleagues in this chamber who support the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.

We have heard from too many generals - including those who have spoken out against this escalation - about the dangers of even more violence and instability in the Middle East if we simply withdraw.

I do believe American troops have a role in Iraq - a supporting role. They should continue to train Iraqi soldiers, and their mission must ultimately be to put the Iraqis in charge of their own security and stability. But let me be clear: American troops have no place in the middle of a civil war.

This resolution reaffirms this body's support for the men and women of the United States military.

Many of our troops have given their lives or suffered serious injury so that one day the people of Iraq can enjoy the same freedoms we have here in the United States . Their service and their sacrifice make me even more proud to be an American.

I hope and pray that we can have all of our brave men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan return safely to their families.

But while they are in harm's way, we must honor their service by ensuring that the burden of success or failure is not left to them alone. We have a responsibility to utilize every political, diplomatic and economic tool at our disposal to ensure success in Iraq .

Thank you."

Mitchell to speak on the Iraq war today

Edit to update: I just received an email from Harry Mitchell's office advising that his speaking time has been delayed. Will update when the new time becomes known.

It's kind of disappointing - Ed Pastor (D-AZ4) has the gavel right now; I thought it was going to be cool for Harry to speak on the floor while a fellow Arizonan was the Chair.

Oh well. :)

End edit.

He is scheduled to speak sometime between 11 and Noon AZ time (1 p.m. and 2 p.m. EST.)

It will be broadcast on CSPAN.

Harry Mitchell to visit ASU on Monday with Speaker Pelosi

Edit to update on 2/15: According to the AzPIRG website, the time is 2:00 p.m., not 3. If you are going to attend, plan accordingly. I'm making some calls to verify this, but since AzPIRG is one of the sponsors of the Speaker's visit, for now I'm assuming that they have the correct time.

End edit.

...and fellow Arizona Reps. Ed Pastor (CD4) and Raul Grijalva (CD7).

From the AZ Daily Star (though the EV Trib, AZ Rep's Plugged In, and other outlets have it, too):

TEMPE - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is heading to Tempe.

She'll likely find a receptive audience at ASU Monday as she talks about efforts to lower student loan interest rates.

The event marks her first domestic engagement since she became the first woman to lead the House of Representatives.

A House measure under consideration would slash student interest rates in half.

Pelosi will appear at 3 p.m. Monday at the Memorial Union at ASU. She'll be accompanied by Democratic Congressmen Harry Mitchell, Raul Grijalva and Ed Pastor.

I'll post any info on this event or any other public appearances as it becomes available.

Later!!

The House begins a debate on Iraq

Well, now they've gone and done it - the House is debating H Con Res 63, a non-binding resolution expressing Congress' support for the troops and "disapproving" of the President's strategy of sending more troops into Iraq to do more of the same things that have worked so well up to this point. [that's dripping sarcasm, folks.]

The text of the resolution -

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Disapproving of the decision of the President announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq.

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That--

(1) Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq; and

(2) Congress disapproves of the decision of President George W. Bush announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq.

That's it.

Anyway, what is striking about the debate so far is that the Republicans generally aren't arguing in favor of the President's strategy, other than to say "give it a chance to work before criticizing it."

Nope, their basic plan of rhetorical attack is to lie, dissemble and use straw men.

John Boehner (R-OH), the minority leader, says that the resolution criticizes American troops.

Read the resolution; it doesn't. It praises the troops.

Hell, it barely criticizes Bush.

Referencing terrorism, but speaking in support of the War in Iraq, he said "we didn't start this war, they did."

Which brings the straw man tactic they are using - since there's no justification for the Iraq war, the supporters of the President, his war, and his plan to escalate the war, equate the war in Iraq with the fight against terrorism.

I suppose they might have a point here, since their war has been very effective a creating terrorists that they think we should fight against.

Kind of self-perpetuating, that.

Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) was perhaps the speaker who was most open about why he supports the war and opposes the resolution -

He argues that Muslims, specifically "jihadists", are working for the "downfall of white society."

He may be repulsive, but at least he's open about his racist reasons for supporting the war.

Note: I'm not sure that comment will make it into the official record unsanitized, but I'll post a link if it does.

14 Feb 2007

On edit: I caught the replay of this part of the debate on CSPAN last night, and either Hoekstra's comment was edited out or I simply missed it. I started to wonder if I had actually heard what I thought I'd heard.

However, when I checked the Congressional Record today, it was there.

The exact quote from page H1502 -

Al Banna is not the only studied ideologue. Another name, Sayyid Qutb, wrote, "Islam has a mandate to order the whole of human life, and that the Western idea of separation between religion and the rest of life is, quote, a hideous schizophrenia that would lead to the downfall of white civilization and therefore its replacement by Islam.''

It seems that he was quoting someone else's writings; I'm not sure how much deliberation the congressman and his staff put in to selecting that particular quote.

End edit.

The rest of the debate so far has been more subtle than that, with Democratic supporters of the resolution citing casualty statistics, the lack of defined goals, the incompetency of the civilian leadership of our troops, etc.

Republican opponents of the resolution emphasize the 'non-binding' status of the resolution and deride it as weak and ineffective, but then say it undermines the morale of our troops and emboldens our enemies or they talk about the fight against terrorism.

My take on the resolution: It *is* non-binding and certainly won't compel Bush to pull his head out of his @$$, but if it serves as a first step toward Congress reclaiming its oversight duties under the Constitution, the resolution will be the best bill passed by the 110th Congress.

Not "passed so far", but "passed" period. Nothing they'll do for the rest of their terms will be more important.

Note: I called Harry Mitchell's district office his D.C. office and was told that he is tentatively scheduled to speak on the resolution sometime tomorrow. If I find out a firm time, I'll post it.

On edit, also 14 Feb: According to the congressman's D.C. office, he will be speaking on the Iraq resolution tomorrow (Thursday) around 2 p.m. E.S.T. (noon AZ time). I'd recommend tuning in to CSPAN by 11 a.m. (AZ time) or so - the timing is approximate and depends on the brevity or loquaciousness of the other speakers.

End edit.

Three days of this....ARRRGGHHHHH!!

:)

Later!

LD17 Legislators in the news

Another weekend, another edition of LD17 legislators in the MSM...

Representative Ed Ableser:

Ed was mentioned in a few stories this week -

There was one in the AZ Capitol Times on February 9th titled "Bill would plug lobby 'pool' loophole" about his bill to restrict the influence of lobbyists at the lege. I don't subscribe to the Capitol Times, so I can't get past their firewall to read the article, but it can be found here after you log in to the site. The bill is HB 2644.

On edit: thanks to Zelph's comment, I was able to access the article.

Quotes from the article -

"There's always been a perception on the part of the public between lobbyists expenditures and what the members do," House Minority Leader Phil Lopes, D-27, said.

That notion was the impetus behind H2644, says Rep. Ed Ableser, D-17. The bill will severely restrict the ability of lobbyists to purchase gifts for lawmakers, and would also limit entertainment and travel costs for non-educational events.

"This is an attempt to take away the Jack Abramoff-type of lobbying that occurs on the national level and some of the things that we’ve seen on a local level," he said, referring to the infamous congressional lobbyist at the center of a high-profile scandal in 2005.

The article can be found here. I'm sure the Capitol Times will find a way to defeat this work-around, but that's OK with me - I don't really want to infringe on their copyrights, and they don't usually publish articles of interest to Democrats anyway.

Though that may change when the Democrats are in the majority in the Lege. :)

End edit.

On the same subject, John MacDonald, a professional lobbyist, featured Ableser in his column for the AZ Rep, published on Sunday, February 11.

From the column:

State Rep. Ed Ableser, a bright and earnest Tempe lawmaker, is the main sponsor of a bill that would enact new restrictions on gifts from lobbyists.

"I was pretty much shocked at the influence lobbyists have on some members of the Legislature," said Ableser to reporters on Monday.

"Bright and earnest"??

Ed is certainly both of those things, but I have a feeling that Mr. MacDonald means it in a "yeah, you're bright and earnest, but so is a Boy Scout, kid. Now go away and let the adults talk about adult things" sort of way.

Ableser was also in an article on February 8 in the ASU State Press covering a bill (SB 1160) to alleviate tuition hikes at state universities.

From the article (emphasis mine) -

These concerns will be addressed as the bill moves along, said Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe/Scottsdale.

"I signed on because I wanted to be able to influence it," Ableser said, who co-sponsored the bill. "Tuition increases are extremely hurtful for students in Arizona.

"If the bill were to make it to the House, there would be changes, including covering incoming freshmen, Ableser said.

"It's hard to see what it's going to look like," he said of the bill.

For Ableser, the bill is more about financial aid and forcing the state to better fund the universities, he said.

"The students shouldn't have to be burdened with the bulk of the bill," he said. He would add an amendment for a large amount of financial aid, Ableser said.

"If that's not there, I think we have no business asking students to pay," he said.

The concerns mentioned in the quoted section refer to the fact that the ASU student government is opposed to the bill in question because the bill wouldn't help out-of-state students or incoming freshmen.


Rep. David Schapira was mentioned in a couple of articles about his bill HB2206, the Teacher Shortage Student Loan Program. Both the AZ Daily Star and AZ Daily Wildcat (U of A's student paper) featured an article written by Djamila Grossman.

From the article -

"I was just tired of seeing classrooms without teachers," said Tempe Democratic Rep. David Schapira, sponsor of HB 2206 and a former high school teacher.

"I was tired of seeing huge class sizes and schools not able to find teachers."

Sen. Meg Burton-Cahill had a quiet week, in terms of MSM coverage anyway.

Later!

Harry Mitchell and "Congress on the Corner"

In one of my posts yesterday, I mentioned that our new Congressman will be meeting and greeting people at the Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe tomorrow, February 10 from 9 -10 in the morning. I found out about that appearance because I visited Changing Hands' website for a totally unrelated reason - I was checking their book signing schedule.

Turns out that is just the first appearance in what should be a continuing program. In a press release today, his office announced the debut of his "Congress on the Corner" program, a chance for people to meet with Harry, express their concerns, and ask any questions they might have.

The schedule for tomorrow:

Changing Hands Bookstore
9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
6428 South McClintock Drive , Tempe

Scottsdale Farmers Market
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
10428 East Jomax Road , Scottsdale

If you have some free time tomorrow, I'd suggest attending one of the sessions, if only to say "Hi!".

Later!

"Important" people are *praying* that we have bandits marauding in southern AZ

because if the attacks are the work of a vigilante group, there's going to be a lot more than 1 anti-domestic terrorism bill for the Republicans to kill next during the next session of the legislature...I'd say there would be some serious soul-searching on their parts, but that would presume a fact not in evidence.

From the EV Trib today:

3 migrants killed by gunmen in southern Arizona

Gunmen stopped a pickup truck full of illegal immigrants, shot several and took the rest captive Thursday in an attack that left at least three men dead and two people wounded, authorities said.

{snip}

The men shot three people, one fatally, along a known smuggling corridor near Tucson, then forced the six or seven other immigrants in the group to leave with them, Pima County sheriff's officials said.

The bodies of two of the immigrants were found about 10 miles north in the cab of the pickup truck that had been carrying the group. The other immigrants had not been found by midafternoon Thursday.

The article goes on to talk about how local authorities are attributing this attack and other recent attacks on immigrants, including another fatal attack, on "bandits."

The fact is that they're hoping like hell that the attacks *are* the work of "bandits."

Acknowledging the possibility that they might be the handiwork of the Minutemen or another self-appointed vigilante group is definitely *not* part of the party line; the Hayworths, Pearces, Grafs, and Pullens of AZ will never admit that this is where their hate-filled rhetoric is leading.

Oh, and the seven members of the House Committee on Homeland Security and Property Rights who voted to kill Kyrsten Sinema's HB2286 would look just as bad as the people pulling the triggers in the southern part of the state.

Note: For the record, the seven state representatives who voted to kill the bill are the 6 Republicans on the committee, Ray Barnes, Nancy Barto, Tom Boone, Doug Clark, Warde Nichols, and Jerry Weiers, as well as Democrat Cloves Campbell.

Anyway, I have no doubt that if the "bandits" theory had any credibility, the Republican outcry over an armed gang of (presumably) Mexican criminals roaming the southern deserts of Arizona and immediate demands for a mobilization of the National Guard to a war footing would be deafening.

At the very least, there would be a law enforcement task force created that would rival the one created during the hunt for the Preserves arsonist a few years ago, here in the Phoenix area.

Not that any of them would care about the murder victims - they're only Mexicans, after all [dripping sarcasm]; they would just be aghast at the "bandits" with guns.


However - no outcry, no task force, not even denouncements of the attacks from public officials or the AZ cons' blogosphere.

Just SILENCE.


Bottom line: they're not sure it's the work of "bandits".


Note: Man Eegee had a good post about this earlier today. Give it a read.

Harry Mitchell/CD5 news...

Congressman Mitchell's latest bill co-sponsorship:

...H R 620: Climate Stewardship Act of 2007, addressing the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

...From a press release (it's short, so I'm pasting the whole thing):

Mitchell to address airport delays, mishandled baggage

Will Raise Issue as Transportation Secretary Mary Peters Testifies before House Transportation Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell said he looked forward to finding out more information about a troubling decrease in airline on-time performance as well a reported increase in mishandled luggage at today's House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing where Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, an Arizona native, is scheduled to testify.

According to today's Washington Post, "Airlines' on-time performance dropped for the fifth year in a row in 2006, with one in four flights arriving late or not at all, according to data released yesterday by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics."[Source: Washington Post, Feb. 8, 2007]

"The airlines also mishandled a massive amount of luggage - 4 million bags, or 6.7 for every 1000 passengers, the industry's worst rate since 1990." [Source: Washington Post, Feb. 8, 2007]

"I look forward to hearing from Secretary Peters about how Congress can help herbring airline passengers better on-time performance and better baggage handling," said Mitchell, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Aviation. "If there is one person who knows Arizona 's transportation needs it is Secretary Peters, and I look forward to working with her on this and many other issues."

...This Saturday, February 10, Congressman Mitchell will "meet and greet" constituents at the Changing Hands Bookstore at 9:00 a.m. The store is located at the southeast corner of McClintock and Guadaloupe in Tempe. Contact the store at 480-730-0205 for more details.

Note: even without the Congressman's presence, Changing Hands is a great bookstore. Whether or not you can attend Saturday morning, the store is worthy of a visit.

Note2: I'm sure that Stacy at AZCW will post the results of today's roll call votes this evening.

....In other CD5 news, JD Hayworth spoke in Scottsdale yesterday, and afterwards, spoke to AZ Rep-ster David Madrid (he's handling Plugged In now that Dan Nowicki has been assigned to be the Rep's chief McCain cheerleader). Madrid's coverage is here.

Apparently, he wasn't a blowhard, and he did state that he "isn't done with public service" but was coy about which office (s) he might run for in future.

Later!