Video courtesy Phoenix's channel 15.
The campaign website of Chris Deschene, Democratic candidate for Arizona Secretary of State, is here.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Pic of the cycle...
Just in time for both Halloween and next Tuesday's election.
Emailed from a friend in Tempe...
Emailed from a friend in Tempe...
Sunday good thoughts from Rose Mofford
Simple and direct...
Pic of the artwork courtesy an email from the Goddard campaign, original artwork courtesy former Governor Rose Mofford...
Pic of the artwork courtesy an email from the Goddard campaign, original artwork courtesy former Governor Rose Mofford...
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Entering the home stretch in Arizona...
and something tells me that Jan, her clan, and the rest of the Rs are happy that the election cycle comes to an end on November 2, not December 2.
From the East Valley Tribune -
It's getting closer, but to put Terry, and Chris, Felecia, Andrei, Penny, and Manny. over the top, sign up here to volunteer with the Arizona Democratic Party or your local county or coordinated campaign office.
Being exhausted from a day of canvassing or phone banking will suck, but a single night's sleep will recharge your batteries.
Years of Republicans holding statewide office will suck worse, and it will take years, even generations, to fix the damage.
Nine days of campaigning left. Nine days for the future of Arizona.
Note on 10/24: something goofy happened with the formatting of this post. It's been corrected.
From the East Valley Tribune -
Goddard catching up with Brewer in final weeks of gubernatorial campaign
Gov. Jan Brewer's large lead over Democrat Terry Goddard is eroding in the final weeks of a campaign that once looked like a runaway victory for the Republican incumbent
{snip}
While Brewer led Goddard by 20 points in July, she's supported by 38 percent of likely voters compared with Goddard's 35 percent, according to a Behavior Research poll conducted the first 10 days of October. The gap between the candidates narrowed as support for Goddard rose during the survey.
Libertarian Barry Hess and the Green Party's Larry Gist had 6 percent between the two of them.
It's getting closer, but to put Terry, and Chris, Felecia, Andrei, Penny, and Manny. over the top, sign up here to volunteer with the Arizona Democratic Party or your local county or coordinated campaign office.
Being exhausted from a day of canvassing or phone banking will suck, but a single night's sleep will recharge your batteries.
Years of Republicans holding statewide office will suck worse, and it will take years, even generations, to fix the damage.
Nine days of campaigning left. Nine days for the future of Arizona.
Note on 10/24: something goofy happened with the formatting of this post. It's been corrected.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Congratulations to the Texas Rangers!
They have defeated the loathsome New York Yankees (gee, can ya might think I'm a Red Sox fan or something :) ) and are advancing to their first World Series appearance ever.
As much as I don't like mixing baseball and politics, their victory brings to mind a question (pointed out by a FB friend) -
George W. Bush ran the Texas Rangers for 5 years, from 1989 until 1994, and it's taken the Rangers 16 years to right their ship. And after that 16 years, people all over Texas and the country are rejoicing.
Yet Bush ran the entire country for *8* years (60% longer) and messed up everything, and people are livid that Barack Obama hasn't fixed everything in less than 2 years (87% less time).
What's up with that?
As much as I don't like mixing baseball and politics, their victory brings to mind a question (pointed out by a FB friend) -
George W. Bush ran the Texas Rangers for 5 years, from 1989 until 1994, and it's taken the Rangers 16 years to right their ship. And after that 16 years, people all over Texas and the country are rejoicing.
Yet Bush ran the entire country for *8* years (60% longer) and messed up everything, and people are livid that Barack Obama hasn't fixed everything in less than 2 years (87% less time).
What's up with that?
What is it with Arizona and its treasurers?
It seems that a certain segment of Arizona's politicians don't seem to understand that there is a difference between "representing" Arizonans, and "preying" on Arizonans...
Exhibit A: Former State Treasurer David Petersen. A former state legislator who resigned in disgrace from the state treasurer's job after an investigation into his improper use of public monies to fund his private business activities (ironically, the business was as a "character education" provider).
Exhibit B: Current and soon-to-be former State Treasurer Dean Martin. A former state legislator who should (but won't) resign in disgrace from the state treasurer's job after proudly proclaiming on a national radio program his status as a vulture investor who is profiting from the scandal-plagued foreclosure crisis that is wracking families across Arizona and the country.
Exhibit C: Former Maricopa County Treasurer David Schweikert. A former state legislator who has been outed as a predatory vulture foreclosure investor, like Martin above. He's been at it longer than Martin, and so is more accomplished at it - there have been illegal evictions (one served on a 12-year-old child, according to a court filing) and citations and fines for letting the properties he has acquired fall into disrepair, scarring the surrounding neighborhoods.
So let's see - they've got legislative experience in common, they've all been publicly-elected treasurers, and they aren't overly encumbered by ethics in their financial dealings.
What else could PeteRsen, MaRtin, and SchweikeRt have in common? I wondeRRRRR...
Anyway, while he has never been a legislator, Doug Ducey, R candidate for Arizona State Treasurer, is arguably already more accomplished at predatory and corrupt financial dealings than any of the others.
May he never get the chance to add "publicly-elected treasurer" to the list of things that he has in common with Schweikert, Martin, and Petersen, and may Schweikert not get the chance to take his brand of vulturism to D.C.
We need more public servants in public office, not more predators using public office for their private gain.
Vote for Andrei Cherny and Harry Mitchell.
Exhibit A: Former State Treasurer David Petersen. A former state legislator who resigned in disgrace from the state treasurer's job after an investigation into his improper use of public monies to fund his private business activities (ironically, the business was as a "character education" provider).
Exhibit B: Current and soon-to-be former State Treasurer Dean Martin. A former state legislator who should (but won't) resign in disgrace from the state treasurer's job after proudly proclaiming on a national radio program his status as a vulture investor who is profiting from the scandal-plagued foreclosure crisis that is wracking families across Arizona and the country.
Exhibit C: Former Maricopa County Treasurer David Schweikert. A former state legislator who has been outed as a predatory vulture foreclosure investor, like Martin above. He's been at it longer than Martin, and so is more accomplished at it - there have been illegal evictions (one served on a 12-year-old child, according to a court filing) and citations and fines for letting the properties he has acquired fall into disrepair, scarring the surrounding neighborhoods.
So let's see - they've got legislative experience in common, they've all been publicly-elected treasurers, and they aren't overly encumbered by ethics in their financial dealings.
What else could PeteRsen, MaRtin, and SchweikeRt have in common? I wondeRRRRR...
Anyway, while he has never been a legislator, Doug Ducey, R candidate for Arizona State Treasurer, is arguably already more accomplished at predatory and corrupt financial dealings than any of the others.
May he never get the chance to add "publicly-elected treasurer" to the list of things that he has in common with Schweikert, Martin, and Petersen, and may Schweikert not get the chance to take his brand of vulturism to D.C.
We need more public servants in public office, not more predators using public office for their private gain.
Vote for Andrei Cherny and Harry Mitchell.
Funny, but painfully true, video parody of David Schweikert and the Tea Party platform
A new video is up on YouTube. It's definitely worth a chuckle, especially if you're watching the CD5 race.
Or have to deal with another tea party candidate ("Obama, Obama, Obama! Pelosi, Pelosi, Pelosi!" - priceless! :) )
Or have to deal with another tea party candidate ("Obama, Obama, Obama! Pelosi, Pelosi, Pelosi!" - priceless! :) )
It's getting Ugly out there...
As we approach Election Day, any Republican facade of civility is sloughing off in the heat of the races.
Witness recent developments:
- A conservative astroturf group, "Latinos for Reform" released a Spanish-language TV spot that attempted to suppress Latino voter turnout...
- GOP/tea party operatives are running voter suppression efforts in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, and elsewhere that are specifically targeted at Democratic-leaning minority communities...
- Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) has announced his latest effort to inflict his vision of ethnic purity on America - he's targeting the 14th Amendment and its provision that grants citizenship to children born in the USA.
It won't succeed, and I suspect Pearce knows that, but it keeps the conversation on a topic that the Rs think they can win on - demonization of the "other" - and may provide the fading Jan Brewer an SB1070-like bump at the polls.
- A Pearce clone in Florida, State Rep. William Snyder, has proposed a version of the infamous SB1070, one that carves out an exemption for white people in the form of a presumption that anyone from Canada or a "visa waiver" country is in the U.S. legally.
The vast majority of the countries that are part of the visa waiver program are European; none are Latin American.
- Then just yesterday, Congressman Raul Grijalva's Tucson office was shut down and evacuated after someone sent it a swastika-covered package containing a toxic substance.
Lies, hatred, threats of violence - the Rs are pulling out all the stops this year, and the only way to stop them is to urge your family, friends, and neighbors to stand strong for their community against the Republicans, their contempt for civility, and their fear-mongering.
Everybody who can vote, *should,* and they should be able to exercise their rights free from intimidation and fraudulent attempts to stifle their participation America's political process.
Note: The Arizona Humanities Council will present a screening of the documentary 9500 Liberty on Tuesday evening at the Arizona Historical Society Museum in Tempe. 9500 Liberty covers the effects (and failure) of an SB1070-like law in Prince William County, Virginia.
Details:
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
6:00-8:00 pm
Arizona Historical Society Museum
1300 N. College Avenue
Tempe, AZ 85281
Later...
Witness recent developments:
- A conservative astroturf group, "Latinos for Reform" released a Spanish-language TV spot that attempted to suppress Latino voter turnout...
- GOP/tea party operatives are running voter suppression efforts in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, and elsewhere that are specifically targeted at Democratic-leaning minority communities...
- Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) has announced his latest effort to inflict his vision of ethnic purity on America - he's targeting the 14th Amendment and its provision that grants citizenship to children born in the USA.
It won't succeed, and I suspect Pearce knows that, but it keeps the conversation on a topic that the Rs think they can win on - demonization of the "other" - and may provide the fading Jan Brewer an SB1070-like bump at the polls.
- A Pearce clone in Florida, State Rep. William Snyder, has proposed a version of the infamous SB1070, one that carves out an exemption for white people in the form of a presumption that anyone from Canada or a "visa waiver" country is in the U.S. legally.
The vast majority of the countries that are part of the visa waiver program are European; none are Latin American.
- Then just yesterday, Congressman Raul Grijalva's Tucson office was shut down and evacuated after someone sent it a swastika-covered package containing a toxic substance.
Lies, hatred, threats of violence - the Rs are pulling out all the stops this year, and the only way to stop them is to urge your family, friends, and neighbors to stand strong for their community against the Republicans, their contempt for civility, and their fear-mongering.
Everybody who can vote, *should,* and they should be able to exercise their rights free from intimidation and fraudulent attempts to stifle their participation America's political process.
Note: The Arizona Humanities Council will present a screening of the documentary 9500 Liberty on Tuesday evening at the Arizona Historical Society Museum in Tempe. 9500 Liberty covers the effects (and failure) of an SB1070-like law in Prince William County, Virginia.
Details:
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
6:00-8:00 pm
Arizona Historical Society Museum
1300 N. College Avenue
Tempe, AZ 85281
Later...
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Why don't we build anything anymore?
From AP via Yahoo! News -
Yet those things, like the interstate highway system, transcontinental rail system, the Hoover Dam, Tennessee Valley Authority, and more all created the infrastructure necessary to encourage and sustain the American economy in ways that short-sighted "free market" theorists (who are usually nothing more than corporate lobbyists with an academic degree) will never admit to.
Those lobbyists would rather not have roads to carry their products/services on than have to pay for those roads.
If the "free market" was left entirely to its own devices, there wouldn't be much electricity or water in Arizona, hence there wouldn't be much Arizona.
However, because of federal projects and spending on things like the Central Arizona Project, Arizona is home to millions of people, as opposed to the thousands (not hundreds of thousands, just thousands) that could or would live here without them.
The Party of No, whether the large-scale version in D.C., the smaller version at the AZ lege, or the street corner variety in places like Scottsdale ("no light rail for us!"), is all about protecting the short-term revenue streams of corporations and the already-wealthy.
Years ago (and now, for that matter), the Rs would rationalize their tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations by saying that "a rising tide lifts all boats." The implication was that by helping the wealthy, the wealthy would help everyone else.
It was and is the era of "trickle down" economics. Yes, I know that this is a very simple, even simplistic, explanation, but tinkle down economics isn't the focus of this post.
What the state and the country should understand is that is backward thinking. The country's real need is long-term thinking, and a realization that the rising tide that lifts working fishing trawlers first also eventually lifts luxury passenger liners as the working class starts spending money.
By sacrificing America's future economic viability in order to bolster corporations' immediate bottom lines, the Party of No is crippling America for decades, possibly ever.
NEWARK, N.J. – New Jersey's governor wants to kill a $9 billion-plus train tunnel to New York City because of runaway costs. Six thousand miles away, Hawaii's outgoing governor is having second thoughts about a proposed $5.5 billion rail line in Honolulu.Many public works projects are decried as "pork" or "the government interfering in the free market" by Republicans.
In many of the 48 states in between, infrastructure projects are languishing on the drawing board, awaiting the right mix of creative financing, political arm-twisting and timing to move forward. And a struggling economy and a surge of political candidates opposed to big spending could make it a long wait.
Yet those things, like the interstate highway system, transcontinental rail system, the Hoover Dam, Tennessee Valley Authority, and more all created the infrastructure necessary to encourage and sustain the American economy in ways that short-sighted "free market" theorists (who are usually nothing more than corporate lobbyists with an academic degree) will never admit to.
Those lobbyists would rather not have roads to carry their products/services on than have to pay for those roads.
If the "free market" was left entirely to its own devices, there wouldn't be much electricity or water in Arizona, hence there wouldn't be much Arizona.
However, because of federal projects and spending on things like the Central Arizona Project, Arizona is home to millions of people, as opposed to the thousands (not hundreds of thousands, just thousands) that could or would live here without them.
The Party of No, whether the large-scale version in D.C., the smaller version at the AZ lege, or the street corner variety in places like Scottsdale ("no light rail for us!"), is all about protecting the short-term revenue streams of corporations and the already-wealthy.
Years ago (and now, for that matter), the Rs would rationalize their tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations by saying that "a rising tide lifts all boats." The implication was that by helping the wealthy, the wealthy would help everyone else.
It was and is the era of "trickle down" economics. Yes, I know that this is a very simple, even simplistic, explanation, but tinkle down economics isn't the focus of this post.
What the state and the country should understand is that is backward thinking. The country's real need is long-term thinking, and a realization that the rising tide that lifts working fishing trawlers first also eventually lifts luxury passenger liners as the working class starts spending money.
By sacrificing America's future economic viability in order to bolster corporations' immediate bottom lines, the Party of No is crippling America for decades, possibly ever.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Ben Arredondo honored for his public service
From the East Valley Tribune -
Learn more about Ben, his career, and his campaign for the Arizona House of Representatives here.
The Tempe Sports Complex will be rededicated Monday in the name of former Councilman Ben Arredondo. A ceremony will include Arredondo, U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., and former Mayor Neil Giuliano.Congratulations to Ben!
Arredondo was on Tempe’s Council for 16 years and is a former high school teacher, coach and member of the Tempe Elementary School District governing board. He helped create the annual Tempe Tardeada event and worked on a Tempe History Museum exhibit that features memories of Hispanic community members.
Learn more about Ben, his career, and his campaign for the Arizona House of Representatives here.
Another Veterans' Group Grades Harry Mitchell - A+, of course
The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) Action Fund has given out its grades to Congress in its 2010 Congressional Report Card.
The grades for the AZ delegation can be found here.
Summary:
Harry Mitchell - A+ (whooo hoooo!)
Ann Kirkpatrick - A+
Ed Pastor - A
Gabrielle Giffords - B
Raul Grijalva - C
Jon Kyl - D
John McCain - D
Trent Franks - D
Jeff Flake - F
John Shaddegg - F
The interesting part? The lowest-graded Democrat in Arizona, Raul Grijalva, still out-paced the highest-graded Republicans from our state, Franks, McCain, and Kyl.
Apparently "anti-war" isn't synonymous with "anti-warrior" and "pro-war" isn't synonymous with "pro-warrior."
No matter how much the Rs protest to the contrary.
The grades for the AZ delegation can be found here.
Summary:
Harry Mitchell - A+ (whooo hoooo!)
Ann Kirkpatrick - A+
Ed Pastor - A
Gabrielle Giffords - B
Raul Grijalva - C
Jon Kyl - D
John McCain - D
Trent Franks - D
Jeff Flake - F
John Shaddegg - F
The interesting part? The lowest-graded Democrat in Arizona, Raul Grijalva, still out-paced the highest-graded Republicans from our state, Franks, McCain, and Kyl.
Apparently "anti-war" isn't synonymous with "anti-warrior" and "pro-war" isn't synonymous with "pro-warrior."
No matter how much the Rs protest to the contrary.
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