AZ State Senator equates affordable health care to slavery...

...and spent the rest of the day saying "No, I didn't!"...

Yup, she went there, "she" being State Senator Kelli Ward (R-LD5), an ostensible challenger to US Senator John McCain (R-never met a war he didn't monger).

Right now, she's exploring a run at McCain; many more days like this one, and she may not get beyond the "exploring" stage...


...After today's momentous Supreme Court decision upholding a vital part of the Affordable Care Act (aka - "Obamacare"), Sen. Ward tweeted the following -

As much as she insists to the contrary, she *did* go there.  Wholeheartedly, in fact.

Short Attention Span Musing: Fun With Social Media

I've been trying to write something about last week's mass murder in Charleston, but my thoughts are so jumbled, nothing I've written is all that coherent (outrage tends to do that to me), so, for now anyway, I'm going to go with a weekly dose of snark, in the form of "Fun with social media".

...First up:  The "Really should get a clue...or at least just go away" division.  This appeared on my Facebook feed on Friday -

...Now for the "Yes, there is a divide in the country, and sometimes it is obvious enough to show up in my Twitter feed" department -

I've got no problem with Twitter generating revenue with "promoted" posts and the like, but they should really pay attention to context...

...From the "Should not be an elected official" department, this nugget from professional turd blossom Franklin Graham, shared on Facebook by Arizona's own Rep. David Livingston  -

Dear Rep. Livingston: The guy with the gun was the one in the church murdering people because of the color of their skin, not Hollywood.

Luckily, self-awareness isn't required for members of the AZ lege

...Well, *lucky* for them, anyway...

Saw this on my Twitter feed today:

At first, I was a little confused as to why this was on my feed, as I don't follow RedState (I know, you're shocked ;) ).

Then I noticed that it was, in fact, a retweet from someone that I *do* follow on Twitter.

Rep. David Livingston (R-Peoria). 

As a member of the state lege, he is part of the government that he and RedState believes is so disrespectful; as the newly-elected House Majority Whip, he is one of the most powerful people in the most powerful branch of Arizona government.

I'm guessing that he wasn't being ironic when he retweeted RedState's tweet, so either he is so self-UNaware that it borders on irony, or he believes that the people who buy into this stuff are idiots.

Obviously, I can't speak for him (not a mind-reader here), but I'm not going to sell him short - he can do both.

Candidates and social media: A couple of examples of what *not* to do

You'd think that after a number of AZ legislators made a pilgrimage to Bundy-land in Nevada and embarrassed themselves, and the state, by bragging about it on Twitter, AZ pols would be careful about what they put out on social media.

You'd think that, but you'd be wrong.



...On Thursday, Arizona Republicans held an event in Mesa headlined by Doug Ducey, the AZGOP's 2014 gubernatorial nominee, and Mitt Romney, the national GOP's failed 2012 presidential nominee.

 And the Rs were excited, almost giddy.

Which showed in their tweets from the event.

One from Congressman Matt Salmon -

Apparently, the Congressman believes that Ducey's and Romney's records on finance and employment issues...stuff that created jobs for bankruptcy attorneys and unemployment case workers...are things to boast about.

Which, of course, is his opinion, one that he is entitled to have and express.

Me?  I think he just provided wiseass bloggers an opportunity to remind people of Ducey's and Romney's contemptible and predatory behavior toward people who work for a living.


...However, while the above tweet is not unusual for a Republican (lauding bad behavior by another R), Michele Reagan, the Republican nominee for AZ Secretary of State, tweeted something that definitely falls into the "gaffe" category.  She tweeted this pic from one of her fundraisers -

Reagan, center, with Samy Bouzaglo (L) and Amy Bouzaglo (R)

In case you don't remember them, Samy and Amy are the proprietors of the now-infamous Amy's Baking Company.

More interestingly, neither one can actually vote for Reagan - Samy is a non-citizen and cannot vote, and Amy is a convicted felon who hasn't had her civil rights restored (so far as I can find).

To be fair to Reagan, she apparently realized that this tweet wasn't the brightest idea, and removed it -

Fortunately, a friend screen captured it first. :)

The Arizona Democratic Party sent out a press release about this, and true to form, the Bouzaglos did not react well -

Unlike Reagan, however, at least they haven't pulled down their tweets.

Frank Antenori: Gone but not going away quietly

Frank Antenori, former legislator and late of an unsuccessful attempt to block the state from restoring Medicaid (AHCCCS) eligibility to the levels approved by voters years ago, has been known as a loud-mouthed bully.

Whether it has been threatening the Pima County Board of Supervisors into appointing him to the state senate, pledging to completely shun another legislator, a fellow Republican no less, for the "crime" of defeating a close friend of his, comparing the election of Barack Obama as President to the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, or one of his many other examples of "shooting from the lip", his rhetorical style has always been more "loud and angry" than "civil and fact-based".

Even though he failed in his 2012 for reelection to the State Senate, losing to a Democrat who conducts himself much more civilly and professionally, Antenori still spouts off regularly.

Early Christmas Eve morning (shortly after midnight), he tweeted about the Affordable Care Act, aka - "Obamacare".

I noticed the tweet a few minutes after he posted it, and thought it was an implied threat against the President.  I asked Antenori to clarify his tweet.

When I looked at the tweet after a full night's sleep, I realized that it either wasn't a threat or it was a *very* subtle one.

And while many words can be used to describe Antenori, "subtle" is not on the list.

Witness Antenori's replies to my request for clarification (posted around 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve):

To be fair to Antenori, he's consistent.  I don't think his anger would be reduced if someone other than Barack Obama was president.

I'm sure that he would be just as pissed off if Hillary Clinton has won in 2008 instead of Obama.


Hope Santa brought Antenori some civility for Christmas...

Remember "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink And Drive"? The 21st Century Version Should Be "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink And Facebook",

...In a way, I kind of hope he was drinking; it would be truly scary if the comment in question was produced while stone-cold sober...

Former state representative John Fillmore (he ran for state senate in 2012, but lost to Rich Crandall in one of the nastier primary battles of that cycle) is running for a return to the legislature.

I think his rhetorical skills have degenerated to the point where debate season could be rather painful for him (to be fair, I didn't pay much attention to him before this; he may have always been a loon).

Exhibit One:

On Thursday, Brahm Resnik of Channel 12 tweeted a picture of Rep. Chad Campbell, the Democratic leader in the AZ House, talking with the editorial board of the Arizona Republic about the ongoing CPS scandal.  That picture made it to Facebook, where a brief discussion erupted, with most commenters joining Campbell in wondering why the current head of CPS isn't the *former* head of CPS by now.

The notable exception was Fillmore, in a comment submitted at 5:42 a.m. Thursday.

 Ummm...say what?!?

Putting Fillmore's comment into larger type -

This man with skin in the game was the only person in the crap my government calls "entitlements" (WELFARE) that asked "how come we do not have an EXIT plan sponsored b y the State for welfare" Chad instead you slobs dumped 300,000 more people on welfare. Bad for them, bad for Arizona, Bad for America,,,, Great for Democrats and liberal Republicans. Mr Carter is just needs time and focus not cuss and dump.

A larger typeface doesn't help - it's still a bizarre but muddled rant. 

IMO, if he wasn't drunk when he posted this, he might not be emotionally or mentally stable enough to be a state legislator.  

Which is saying something, considering the low standard set by the lege in those areas.


Note: I perused a goodly portion of Fillmore's FB timeline.  He's rather far out there politically, but this is bizarre even by his standards.

Blocked.

...Almost certainly not intended to be a compliment, but certainly taken as one...

Sometimes while doing this, I wonder if anyone reads this blog, if anyone even notices it.

Sometimes, I find evidence proving that yes, someone notices it.

Oh yeah - Jack Harper is back. 

And he's supporting "Atomic" Al Melvin in the race for the 2014 Republican nomination for governor.

Melvin and Harper working together?

It looks like 2014 is going to be scads of fun to write about. :)

Time for a BOLO in Tucson?

From the Twitter feed of former state senator Frank Antenori, posted a few minutes ago -

Al Melvin reveals the secret cause of drought conditions in the Southwest: Trees.

The man who would be King Ev The Second uses his Twitter feed to "enlighten" his followers on political and societal "reality" as he sees it.

In general, his posts are worthy only of ignoring (they run the rhetorical gamut from "Obama's a [something that Melvin disapproves of, usually a socialist]" to "Democrats are responsible for [everything that Melvin finds wrong in the modern US]"), but once in a while, he posts something that serves to remind people that he may be crazier than the average AZ Republican (and that's saying something).

To my embarrassment, I missed this one when he posted it -

Mock away, folks...

Electeds (and wannabes) behaving badly

Just a few quick hits on some names in the news, and in the interest of being fair, some of the people listed will be Democrats (yes, there are Democrats who do things that deserve criticism and even ouster from office)...

...Democrat Bob Filner, currently the mayor of San Diego, CA needs to resign.  Now.

I'm all for forgiving someone for a minor transgression, a character flaw, or something similar that doesn't impact an elected's ability to do his (or her) job.

However, Filner's bad behavior isn't just part of his personal life.  It is part and parcel of the way that he does his job.

And descriptions of the bad behavior legitimately include the word "victims".

It's past time for him to step down.


...Republican Tom Horne, Attorney General of Arizona, needs to join Filner in the unemployment line.

Not for cheating on his wife; that's part of his personal life.

What isn't part of his personal life is his penchant for giving his girlfriends highly-paid jobs funded by the taxpayers.

[Mild Crudeness Alert!]

His desire to get laid doesn't give him the right to screw over the people of Arizona.

[End Mild Crudeness]


...Democrat Anthony Weiner, candidate for mayor in New York City, still is in the habit of Tweeting pics of himself and his reproductive organ to women he has never met (already went for "crude" in this post; time for "clinical" :) ).  Even after leaving Congress in disgrace for doing the same thing.

He shouldn't drop out of the race; the voters of NYC should, electorally speaking, hand him his ass on a platter (which they seem to be set to do).

Simply having to leave office amid scandal didn't help him learn the "don't act like a moron!" lesson, perhaps an outright rejection by the voters will bring it home to Weiner.


...Republican Crystal Nuttle, candidate for the LD29 AZ State Senate seat, was arrested on custodial interference charges for helping another woman remove a child from CPS custody.  Instead of exhibiting penitence for her (alleged) crime, she's exhibiting ego and doubling down on it.  She is insisting that her actions were "justified".

I'm guessing that she isn't going to drop out of the race (based on her "it was justified" position), but it should make next year's race interesting to cover.


...Republican Bob Thorpe, LD6 State Representative, posted some bigoted tweets earlier this week, and when called on it, did not respond by apologizing or even simply "clarifying" his tweets.  Nope, he just deleted them and blocked some reporters from viewing his Twitter feed.

I expect that I will soon join the reporters on Thorpe's social media version of an enemies list for this, but here are the tweets in question (posted Monday) -

I do think his tweets are bigoted, but you decide for yourself.

He was called out for the tweets today by a couple of D members of the AZ House, Reps. Martin Quezada and Mark Cardenas.  The conversations are short, perhaps due to the deletion of the original tweets.  However, they make more sense when you look at the above picture first.

To be fair to Thorpe, he doesn't confine his bigotry to ethnic and racial minorities; he advocates shooting environmentalists, too.

And given his history, don't expect Thorpe to change his attitudes or even to withdraw from public life.

Well, we've been warned: Republican legislators plan more attacks on public employee unions next session

AG Tom Horne and AZ state government: Do as we say, not as we do

But at least they're consistent about it - no matter what their angle of attack, they are always looking to protect well-connected and deep-pocketed corporate interests to the detriment of public interests.

Last week, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne (R-Disbarment waiting to happen) joined a group of red state AGs in a lawsuit against the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Among other things, they are demanding that the EPA release some emails and other documents to them.

From the Chicago Sun-Times, written by Tim Talley (emphasis added) -

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and the attorneys general of 11 other states sued the Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday demanding that the agency turn over documents the states allege will show a pattern of cooperation and collaboration with environmental organizations.

{snip}

The states’ lawsuit seeks to enforce federal Freedom of Information Act guidelines involving the states’ request for letters, emails and any other correspondence between the EPA and environmental organizations before they sue the agency. The attorney generals want to analyze the documents to determine the nature of EPA’s legal strategy concerning environmental groups.

In one instance, the lawsuit says the states made a FOIA request to EPA in February seeking records about the agency’s negotiations with environmental groups that led to binding consent decrees concerning state implementation plans for the EPA’s regional haze guidelines under the Clean Air Act.

Horne has even taken to bragging about it on the AZAG's official Twitter account -

 Sounds, well, not "good" (at least, not if you like breathing), but at least "straightforward".

Straightforward, that is, until you hear about the story broken by John Dougherty of InvestigativeMEDIA (emphasis added).

From the story - 

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is refusing to release more than a dozen emails with the governor’s office concerning the issuance of the air pollution permit for the proposed Rosemont copper mine.

Most of the withheld emails are between Kevin Kinsall, Gov. Jan Brewer’s policy advisor for natural resources, and Eric Massey, director of the ADEQ’s Air Quality Division. Kinsall and Massey exchanged a dozen emails between last Aug. 1- 8, 2012, during a crucial period when the state took control of Rosemont’s air pollution permit from Pima County.

The ADEQ announced last Aug. 3 that it was asserting authority over the review and issuance of Rosemont Copper Company’s application for the pollution permit for its massive open pit copper mine planned for the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson. ADEQ stated it was assuming oversight of the permit to “ensure regulatory certainty and enhanced environmental protection.”

So, let me get this straight -

Tom Horne is suing the federal EPA to force the release of emails and other records while (apparently) turning a blind eye to the state's version of the EPA and its non-release of emails and other documents?

How long will it take for this to become the symbol of the Arizona Attorney General's Office?

Pic courtesy http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Two-Face

The verdict in the killing of Trayvon Martin: Some people doubling down, AZ Edition

After Saturday night's acquittal of George Zimmerman on charges stemming from his killing of Trayvon Martin, reaction was swift across the country, including in Arizona.

State Sen. Steve Gallardo tweeted this in the aftermath of the announcement of the verdict -

And this -

Or former State Sen. David Schapira -

Sadly, other Arizona "leaders" aren't quite as thoughtful.

State Sen. Kelli Ward -

To Sen. Ward:  First, it was a "killing", not an "incident".  Second, truly, not every incident (read "conflict" in this context) between people of different races is a civil rights violation.  Two people arguing over a single parking spot at the local mall, perhaps accompanied by raised voices, mutual flipping of birds, and hurt feelings is probably not a civil rights violation.

The stalking and execution of an unarmed black teen by a white man, the tanking of the investigation and prosecution by white-dominated law enforcement agencies and an acquittal by a mostly (all?) white jury?  Probably a civil rights violation or two here (file this under "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...").

Or State Rep. Kelly Townsend, putting a partisan political spin on things -

To Rep. Townsend:  I don't know Mr. Zimmerman's ethnic background or political leanings, but even accepting your statement as fact, the response is the same - "So what?".

I don't know every Democrat or Hispanic in the state or country, but I can state unequivocally that none of the Democrats, Hispanics, or Hispanic Democrats that I know feel that partisan affiliation or ethnic background confers an immunity from responsibility for violent acts.

Unlike, say, someone we both know (but I'm guessing that you know him better than I do).

Note to readers: Townsend got into a bit of a Twitter discussion with Steve Muratore, publisher of the Arizona Eagletarian.  I don't think she helped her cause with her follow ups, not at all, but you be the judge -

Some of the pearls of wisdom were indirect, repostings of something others wrote and promulgated by AZ types.

For instance, Rep. David Livingston retweeted this one -

It seems that Rep. Livingston believes that it is unprofessional behavior for prosecutors to look into killings of unarmed teens.  As opposed to what the rest of society believes.  You know, that it is part of prosecutors' jobs.

It's not just the electeds, either.

For instance, Constantin Querard, noted political hatchet-man "consultant" here in AZ offered up this gem -

Actually, "not guilty" means "the prosecution didn't prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt".  Nothing less, nothing more.

Or Shane Wikfors, another noted political hatchet-man "consultant" here in AZ, serving up this retweet -

Don't know if he's trying to continue the stereotyping and smearing of Martin (falsely equating Martin's killing to being equivalent to "just another gang-related killing" and hence not something to worry about), criticizing liberals for not "fixing" every social problem, saying Martin's killing is OK because other black teens have died, or if he's maybe multitasking (don't want to insult Wikfors by implying that he can spew only one line of BS at a time).

Any way you cut it though, from Ward's ignorance through to Wikfors' stereotyping, it's despicable.