Even though the state legislature isn't in session, State Rep. David Schapira (D-Tempe) is still working diligently for his constituents and all Arizonans.
On Wednesday, he met with an international group of educators at the House to discuss topics in early childhood education, including trends in U.S. policies and research as well as common challenges.
Next Monday, he will be chairing the first meeting of the Bipartisan Task Force on the Private School Tuition Tax Credits. (10 a.m., HHR3, House of Representatives building at the State Capitol)
The Task Force was established to look into questions and possible legal violations related to the STO program, many of which were brought to the fore by investigating reporting from the East Valley Tribune and the Arizona Republic.
Monday's meeting will feature experts on STOs while future meetings will offer the public the opportunity to provide their input.
David Safier at Blog for Arizona has an update on the latest developments relating to charter schools and STOs here.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The U.S. House admonishes Rep. Joe Wilson (R-Sons of Confederate Veterans)
By a vote of 240 - 179, with 5 present and 10 members not voting, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to "disapprove" of Rep. Joe Wilson's behavior during President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress last week. Reuters coverage here.
In case you have a really short memory, Wilson is the South Carolina Republican who shouted "you lie!" at the President during the speech.
The vote was almost totally along party lines, with only 12 Democrats crossing over to vote against the resolution disapproving of Wilson's breach of House decorum and only 7 Republicans voting to support the resolution.
In a curious twist, 2 of the 19 crossovers came from AZ - Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ8) voted against, and Jeff Flake (R-AZ6) voted for it.
From Giffords' statement on the vote -
Even though Bush wasn't speaking when the criticisms were issued.
Even though there is a big difference between saying "No!" (in response to President Bush's call to "reform" (aka "privatize") Social Security and screaming "You lie!"
Even though none of the Democratic "transgressions" that he cited ever inspired a similar rebuke, despite the fact that they occurred during a period when Shadegg's Republicans controlled the House. If any Democrats had even *looked* over the line between decorous and indecorous behavior, the punishments would have been swift and much harsher than mere "disapproval."
For what it's worth, if I was a member of the House, like Congresswoman Giffords, I'd have voted against the resolution.
Not because I'm a nice guy or a budding statesman (I'm not) and not because I support Wilson's behavior (he's a bigoted thug who should do the world a favor and slither back under whatever rock he was hatched under).
Nope, I'd have voted against the measure so that I could be as uncivil toward Wilson and his ilk as they are toward President Obama and the Democrats.
Toldja I'm not a nice guy. :)
Of course, that thinking probably isn't unique to me, and probably contributed to the passage of the resolution. Most Democratic members of the House are far more mature than I am, and realize what kind of damage that attitude would do to the remaining civility in the House.
However, if such a situation were to come to pass (you know, me in the House voting against a similar resolution), I can promise one thing.
Whenever I called someone a liar (or corrupt, or bigoted, or whatever), I'd have evidence with me and wouldn't, you know, lie when calling someone else a liar. Like Joe Wilson did. See section 246 of H.R. 3200.
Relevant phrase - "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."
Tedski's take at R-Cubed here;
Later...
In case you have a really short memory, Wilson is the South Carolina Republican who shouted "you lie!" at the President during the speech.
The vote was almost totally along party lines, with only 12 Democrats crossing over to vote against the resolution disapproving of Wilson's breach of House decorum and only 7 Republicans voting to support the resolution.
In a curious twist, 2 of the 19 crossovers came from AZ - Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ8) voted against, and Jeff Flake (R-AZ6) voted for it.
From Giffords' statement on the vote -
It is unfortunate that Congressman Wilson has not apologized to our colleagues for his rude outburst. He should. Heckling the President of the United States while he is addressing a joint session of Congress is totally unacceptable for a member of this body. The American people know this and Congressman Wilson knows this – that is why he apologized to President Obama. We should not waste any more time on this matter. We need to stay focused on health insurance reform and improving our economy.From Flake's statement on the vote -
Congressman Wilson is a good man, and I have confidence that his apology to President Obama was sincere,” said Flake. “However, his actions violated the rules of decorum of the House of Representatives.John Shadegg (R-Big Insurance) also has a statement out there, but it's a little less statesman-like than the other two ("stateswoman-like" in Giffords' case) - he blames the Democrats for the outburst, conflating Wilson's direct and personal insult of the President in the House chamber (interrupting and heckling President Obama) with Democratic criticisms of then-President Bush.
While the tenor of political debate seems to get more disrespectful every year, the floor of the House of Representatives has always provided a welcome respite. Even the fiercest political opponents refer to each other as ‘gentleman’ and afford one another civility and respect. We need to uphold that tradition.
Despite my suspicion that this resolution was driven as much by partisan politics as upholding precedent, I believe that it’s important to maintain the rules of decorum in the House and I supported its passage.
Even though Bush wasn't speaking when the criticisms were issued.
Even though there is a big difference between saying "No!" (in response to President Bush's call to "reform" (aka "privatize") Social Security and screaming "You lie!"
Even though none of the Democratic "transgressions" that he cited ever inspired a similar rebuke, despite the fact that they occurred during a period when Shadegg's Republicans controlled the House. If any Democrats had even *looked* over the line between decorous and indecorous behavior, the punishments would have been swift and much harsher than mere "disapproval."
For what it's worth, if I was a member of the House, like Congresswoman Giffords, I'd have voted against the resolution.
Not because I'm a nice guy or a budding statesman (I'm not) and not because I support Wilson's behavior (he's a bigoted thug who should do the world a favor and slither back under whatever rock he was hatched under).
Nope, I'd have voted against the measure so that I could be as uncivil toward Wilson and his ilk as they are toward President Obama and the Democrats.
Toldja I'm not a nice guy. :)
Of course, that thinking probably isn't unique to me, and probably contributed to the passage of the resolution. Most Democratic members of the House are far more mature than I am, and realize what kind of damage that attitude would do to the remaining civility in the House.
However, if such a situation were to come to pass (you know, me in the House voting against a similar resolution), I can promise one thing.
Whenever I called someone a liar (or corrupt, or bigoted, or whatever), I'd have evidence with me and wouldn't, you know, lie when calling someone else a liar. Like Joe Wilson did. See section 246 of H.R. 3200.
Relevant phrase - "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."
Tedski's take at R-Cubed here;
Later...
DiCiccio: Operating straight outta Campaign Damage Control 101
One of the first things any candidates learn is that when you don't get an important endorsement, the next best thing is to pretend you didn't even want that endorsement.
Even better, insinuate (or, as in this case, state almost outrightly) that you are morally superior to the people who endorsed your opponent.
To whit, from today's Arizona Republic -
Today's denouncement of the Arizona Police Association's endorsement of Dana Kennedy for the District 6 seat on the Phoenix City Council does indicate one thing - DiCiccio understands that no matter how well he did in the primary (48% of the vote), he doesn't get to bring those votes with him into November.
Right now, he and Dana Kennedy are the only two candidates left for voters to compare and select from. He won't be able to hide behind a gaggle of other candidates and rely on name recognition (he's a former and current appointed member of the Phoenix City Council) to carry the day.
He'll have to beat Dana Kennedy on his own merits, and he's worried.
As he should be.
Even better, insinuate (or, as in this case, state almost outrightly) that you are morally superior to the people who endorsed your opponent.
To whit, from today's Arizona Republic -
Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio said a coalition of Arizona police unions tried to cut a deal with him over the weekend: withdraw his support for Police Chief Jack Harris in exchange for an endorsement from the Arizona Police Association.The simple fact is that DiCiccio has been clashing with the Phoenix police for months, even years - DiCiccio has jumped on the Joe Arpaio/Andy Thomas nativist gravy train while the Phoenix PD, including their unions, have taken a more professional approach. They understand that there are laws in this country (and in Phoenix) that are just as important (or, dare I say it, *more* important) as the immigration-related ones.
When the District 6 councilman rejected the offer, he said, the association on Monday instead endorsed his challenger in the Nov. 3 run-off election, Dana Marie Kennedy.
Today's denouncement of the Arizona Police Association's endorsement of Dana Kennedy for the District 6 seat on the Phoenix City Council does indicate one thing - DiCiccio understands that no matter how well he did in the primary (48% of the vote), he doesn't get to bring those votes with him into November.
Right now, he and Dana Kennedy are the only two candidates left for voters to compare and select from. He won't be able to hide behind a gaggle of other candidates and rely on name recognition (he's a former and current appointed member of the Phoenix City Council) to carry the day.
He'll have to beat Dana Kennedy on his own merits, and he's worried.
As he should be.
Monday, September 14, 2009
"Waaaahhhhhh"*
*I was going to title this post "Republican newbies in the Arizona Senate cry about receiving criticism" but decided that was too long.
I think that the new title adequately sums it up, though. :)
As previously observed by Tedski at Rum, Romanism, Rebellion and Donna at Democratic Diva, three Republican state senators - Sylvia Allen (LD5), Steve Pierce (LD1) and Al Melvin (LD26) - had an op/ed piece published in the AZ Republic.
In it, they blamed the state's budget woes on the Democrats and, I think, a reporter (Mary Jo Pitzl) who wrote a couple of pieces that they don't approve of.
OK, they just thought her articles were unfair. Still, their piece was nothing more than an exercise in "it's not our fault, really!!"
They conveniently ignored the fact that for most of the session, they ignored the Democrats in the lege.
In keeping with their "ignoring facts" motif, they also spent a couple of paragraphs sucking up to Senate President Bob Burns, praising his "leadership" during the failed session.
Don't they realize how many trees had to die to publicize their genuflections before their caucus' leader? Doesn't matter - even if they knew, they wouldn't actually care.
Tedski's commentary on this op/ed was spot on, and Donna's take was briefer, but made up for its brevity with needle-sharpness.
As such, I won't waste your time with more commentary that will mostly just repeat what others have said. I do have a couple of observations to make though.
1. The Republicans' veteran legislators and staff need to do a better job of educating their rookies.
From the piece (emphasis mine) -
2. Another interesting aspect to this:
As a result of last year's elections, all three credited authors replaced members who would have helped break the logjam in this year's legislative session.
Pierce defeated Tom O'Halleran and Melvin defeated Pete Hershberger in their respective Republican primaries. Both O'Halleran and Hershberger took their professional responsibilities seriously and worked for their constituents, not the would-be Grover Norquists of the AZ legislature. As such, they were denounced as RINOs and targeted in the primary.
Allen replaced the late Sen. Jake Flake, who nobody called a RINO (at least not to his face). However conservative he may have been, though, he found ways to get things done in the lege. He didn't use his ideological leanings as a cop-out for incompetence.
Maybe today's op/ed signals a recognition on their part, publicly admitted or not, that their presence in the Senate contributed greatly to the dysfunction on West Washington.
Or not.
Since they started realizing just how poor the public perception is of their ability to govern (even among their own party), the Republicans in the legislature and the Governor's office have been blaming the Democrats for the failure to pass a balanced budget.
They must have a pretty low opinion of the electorate since they seem to believe that no one will notice that the Republicans control both chambers of the lege and the 9th floor.
Or that the budget was done in by Republican-only infighting.
Or that most of that infighting was over what was the best tool to cut out the heart of Arizona's future - an axe or a meat cleaver.
I think that the new title adequately sums it up, though. :)
As previously observed by Tedski at Rum, Romanism, Rebellion and Donna at Democratic Diva, three Republican state senators - Sylvia Allen (LD5), Steve Pierce (LD1) and Al Melvin (LD26) - had an op/ed piece published in the AZ Republic.
In it, they blamed the state's budget woes on the Democrats and, I think, a reporter (Mary Jo Pitzl) who wrote a couple of pieces that they don't approve of.
OK, they just thought her articles were unfair. Still, their piece was nothing more than an exercise in "it's not our fault, really!!"
They conveniently ignored the fact that for most of the session, they ignored the Democrats in the lege.
In keeping with their "ignoring facts" motif, they also spent a couple of paragraphs sucking up to Senate President Bob Burns, praising his "leadership" during the failed session.
Don't they realize how many trees had to die to publicize their genuflections before their caucus' leader? Doesn't matter - even if they knew, they wouldn't actually care.
Tedski's commentary on this op/ed was spot on, and Donna's take was briefer, but made up for its brevity with needle-sharpness.
As such, I won't waste your time with more commentary that will mostly just repeat what others have said. I do have a couple of observations to make though.
1. The Republicans' veteran legislators and staff need to do a better job of educating their rookies.
From the piece (emphasis mine) -
Check your facts. This year was not the first year in history we missed the July 30 budget deadline.That quote goes a long way toward explaining the problems with this year's lege - the actual budget deadline is June 30, not July 30.
2. Another interesting aspect to this:
As a result of last year's elections, all three credited authors replaced members who would have helped break the logjam in this year's legislative session.
Pierce defeated Tom O'Halleran and Melvin defeated Pete Hershberger in their respective Republican primaries. Both O'Halleran and Hershberger took their professional responsibilities seriously and worked for their constituents, not the would-be Grover Norquists of the AZ legislature. As such, they were denounced as RINOs and targeted in the primary.
Allen replaced the late Sen. Jake Flake, who nobody called a RINO (at least not to his face). However conservative he may have been, though, he found ways to get things done in the lege. He didn't use his ideological leanings as a cop-out for incompetence.
Maybe today's op/ed signals a recognition on their part, publicly admitted or not, that their presence in the Senate contributed greatly to the dysfunction on West Washington.
Or not.
Since they started realizing just how poor the public perception is of their ability to govern (even among their own party), the Republicans in the legislature and the Governor's office have been blaming the Democrats for the failure to pass a balanced budget.
They must have a pretty low opinion of the electorate since they seem to believe that no one will notice that the Republicans control both chambers of the lege and the 9th floor.
Or that the budget was done in by Republican-only infighting.
Or that most of that infighting was over what was the best tool to cut out the heart of Arizona's future - an axe or a meat cleaver.
State Rep. David Lujan named Public Official of the Year
The Arizona Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers has named House Democratic Leader David Lujan as its "Public Official of the Year."
“Rep. Lujan has been a champion for causes that social workers care about,” said Carol Stambaugh, executive director of the Arizona chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. “This year especially, he has helped protect Arizona children and families from destructive budget cuts during tough economic times.”
Lujan has worked to protect children's rights by strengthening incest and polygamy laws. He has also worked to enact laws protecting victims of domestic violence and abuse.
Even more important than writing laws and legislation, Lujan has trained and educated hundreds of attorneys, law enforcement officials, and child protection workers/advocates on laws pertaining to child abuse, domestic violence, juvenile and dependency law.
In addition to his legislative work, Lujan is staff attorney for Defender of Children, an organization dedicated to assisting abused children.
Representative Lujan will accept the honor at NASWAZ's Summit 2009 conference on September 25 at the Franciscan Renewal Center.
“Rep. Lujan has been a champion for causes that social workers care about,” said Carol Stambaugh, executive director of the Arizona chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. “This year especially, he has helped protect Arizona children and families from destructive budget cuts during tough economic times.”
Lujan has worked to protect children's rights by strengthening incest and polygamy laws. He has also worked to enact laws protecting victims of domestic violence and abuse.
Even more important than writing laws and legislation, Lujan has trained and educated hundreds of attorneys, law enforcement officials, and child protection workers/advocates on laws pertaining to child abuse, domestic violence, juvenile and dependency law.
In addition to his legislative work, Lujan is staff attorney for Defender of Children, an organization dedicated to assisting abused children.
Representative Lujan will accept the honor at NASWAZ's Summit 2009 conference on September 25 at the Franciscan Renewal Center.
Harry Mitchell and continuing the discussion on health care reform
Throughout the month of August, I have had the opportunity to listen to the thoughts and concerns of thousands of constituents across Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District on the topic of health care reform and the proposals going through Congress.
Nearly 30,000 constituents participated in my telephone town halls, my office has received over 20,000 calls, letters and emails and I've met with hundreds of constituents, business leaders, health care providers and students through multiple meetings, forums and community visits. Additionally, more than 6,500 Arizona residents have filled out my online health insurance reform survey. A majority of those I've heard from have shared their personal stories, thoughts and concerns about reforming our health care system.
One thing that has come up in conversation after conversation, in every venue and across the political spectrum is agreement that our current health care system needs reform. There is a real desire from Republicans, Democrats, and Independents to fix what is broken and preserve what works.
I believe we can see meaningful reform if we build upon the fundamental principles
we can agree on. I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to contribute to this critical conversation: discussing concerns, sharing stories, and offering ideas. But while I have heard from many of you, I don’t want the conversation to stop here.
Health care is an intensely emotional and personal issue, and while the rhetoric has sometimes gotten heated, everyone ultimately wants the same outcome. We all want the best, most affordable health care for ourselves and our loved ones. As we continue this discussion, please stay in touch and continue sharing your ideas and input. Your voices, your concerns, and your feedback are helpful as Congress resumes its work on meaningful reform.
Finally, I want to encourage you to continue following the debate by visiting the Health Insurance Reform Resource Page on my website. This resource page will continue to be updated as proposals take form, provides useful resources and links to help separate fact from fiction, and makes available my responses to more than a dozen or so questions I’ve most often heard or have been asked about throughout the debate.
Thank you again for continuing to provide me with your input, for being involved and for your active participation on this important issue.
Sincerely,
Harry
Later...
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Quote of the week - IOKIYAR edition
Republican Senator Jon Kyl, AZ's own Big Insurance lobbyist, provides a gem this week.
From the Arizona Republic -
So, after a summer during which Republicans all over the country referred to President Obama as a "Nazi" and/or "socialist"; where health insurance industry lies are regarded as Gospel truth by Rep members of Congress; where teabaggers shouted down supporters of health care reform at public forums; where other teabaggers hung an effigy of a Congressman because of his support of health care reform; members of Congress continued to spread the lie that President Obama isn't a citizen; a dozen armed protesters, including one with an assault rifle, greeted President Obama when he visited Phoenix in August; an Obama speech to students that advised them to stay in school, listen to their teachers, and do their homework was criticized at "too political" by Republicans; where...you know.
That's all OK with Kyl. Apparently, he doesn't consider those actions and words to be "inappropriately pugnacious."
Telling Reps that they will be held accountable for their part in coarsening public discourse, now *that* is too "pugnacious."
From the Arizona Republic -
...Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said Obama deserves some of the blame for the polarization, saying the president went out of his way to be "unnecessarily politically pugnacious" during his speech to the joint session of Congress.
Obama took several shots at his health-reform critics, at one point vowing, "If you misrepresent what's in this plan, we will call you out."
So, after a summer during which Republicans all over the country referred to President Obama as a "Nazi" and/or "socialist"; where health insurance industry lies are regarded as Gospel truth by Rep members of Congress; where teabaggers shouted down supporters of health care reform at public forums; where other teabaggers hung an effigy of a Congressman because of his support of health care reform; members of Congress continued to spread the lie that President Obama isn't a citizen; a dozen armed protesters, including one with an assault rifle, greeted President Obama when he visited Phoenix in August; an Obama speech to students that advised them to stay in school, listen to their teachers, and do their homework was criticized at "too political" by Republicans; where...you know.
That's all OK with Kyl. Apparently, he doesn't consider those actions and words to be "inappropriately pugnacious."
Telling Reps that they will be held accountable for their part in coarsening public discourse, now *that* is too "pugnacious."
The coming week...
As usual, except where noted, all info gathered from the websites of the relevant political bodies/agencies, and subject to change without notice.
...The U.S. House will be back in session on Monday. The agenda includes:
- An as-yet-unnumbered resolution from Arizona's Raul Grijalva (D-CD7)"Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week should be established."
- H.R. 3146, 21st Century FHA Housing Act of 2009
- H.R. 3527, FHA Multifamily Loan Limit Adjustment Act of 2009. CRS summary here.
- H.R. 3179, SIG TARP Small Business Awareness Act of 2009. "SIG TARP" is an abbreviation for "Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program."
The above four bills will be heard under suspension of the rules of the House, whichs means that a 2/3 majority vote will be required for their passage. Inclusion on the agenda this way means that leadership expects them to pass with wide, if not unanimous, support. No guarantees on that, though.
Other measures up for consideration (subject to Rules Committee consideration this week) :
- H.R. 3246, Advanced Vehicle Technology Act of 2009. CRS summary here. From the summary: "Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of Energy for research, development, demonstration, and commercial application of vehicles and related technologies for FY2010-FY2014."
- H.R. 3221, Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009. CRS summary here. Not a major initiative, but if passed into law, it would serve to increase higher education opportunities for the less affluent in society.
In other words, the Republicans will hate it.
...Over in the U.S. Senate, floor time will be taken up with consideration of budget matters this week (USDOT/HUD appropriations in particular). They also have a full slate of committee hearings. One hearing that should involve discussion of the status quo in AZ is the Judiciary Committee's hearing on "Human Rights at Home: Mental Illness in U.S. Prisons and Jails."
The hearing *should* involve a discussion of Joe Arpaio's failure to provide proper health care (mental and physical) to prisoners in Maricopa County's jails, the Edgar Vega case (where a retarded 16-year old was sent to an adult prison to die for a crime he couldn't understand, much less commit) and the other failures of the jail and prison systems in Arizona.
It won't, though.
Also of possible AZ interest this week could be the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs' hearing on "...the federal tax treatment of health care benefits provided by tribal governments to their citizens."
...The Arizona Legislature is still way out of session and the state's budget is still way out of balance.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission has a special open meeting on Tuesday in Tucson. More info on the subject matter here. Its full hearing schedule is here.
...The Citizens Clean Election Commission has a meeting scheduled for Thursday, but the only agenda posted so far is for the CCEC's meeting of July 30.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has an informal meeting scheduled for Monday. The agenda includes yet another executive session. It also has a formal meeting scheduled for Wednesday, but the agenda hasn't been posted online as yet.
...The Tempe City Council is scheduled to meet on Thursday. The agenda hasn't been posted yet.
...The Scottsdale City Council has a special executive session meeting planned for Tuesday to consider candidates for the position of Interim City Treasurer. The Council also has a work/study meeting planned for Tuesday.
The City's Charter Review Task Force is scheduled to meet Monday. No ORANGE Coalition, Goldwater Institute, or other corporate shills are listed on the agenda, but this may be worth keeping an eye on.
Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, the Boards of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Central Arizona Project.
...The U.S. House will be back in session on Monday. The agenda includes:
- An as-yet-unnumbered resolution from Arizona's Raul Grijalva (D-CD7)"Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week should be established."
- H.R. 3146, 21st Century FHA Housing Act of 2009
- H.R. 3527, FHA Multifamily Loan Limit Adjustment Act of 2009. CRS summary here.
- H.R. 3179, SIG TARP Small Business Awareness Act of 2009. "SIG TARP" is an abbreviation for "Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program."
The above four bills will be heard under suspension of the rules of the House, whichs means that a 2/3 majority vote will be required for their passage. Inclusion on the agenda this way means that leadership expects them to pass with wide, if not unanimous, support. No guarantees on that, though.
Other measures up for consideration (subject to Rules Committee consideration this week) :
- H.R. 3246, Advanced Vehicle Technology Act of 2009. CRS summary here. From the summary: "Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of Energy for research, development, demonstration, and commercial application of vehicles and related technologies for FY2010-FY2014."
- H.R. 3221, Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009. CRS summary here. Not a major initiative, but if passed into law, it would serve to increase higher education opportunities for the less affluent in society.
In other words, the Republicans will hate it.
...Over in the U.S. Senate, floor time will be taken up with consideration of budget matters this week (USDOT/HUD appropriations in particular). They also have a full slate of committee hearings. One hearing that should involve discussion of the status quo in AZ is the Judiciary Committee's hearing on "Human Rights at Home: Mental Illness in U.S. Prisons and Jails."
The hearing *should* involve a discussion of Joe Arpaio's failure to provide proper health care (mental and physical) to prisoners in Maricopa County's jails, the Edgar Vega case (where a retarded 16-year old was sent to an adult prison to die for a crime he couldn't understand, much less commit) and the other failures of the jail and prison systems in Arizona.
It won't, though.
Also of possible AZ interest this week could be the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs' hearing on "...the federal tax treatment of health care benefits provided by tribal governments to their citizens."
...The Arizona Legislature is still way out of session and the state's budget is still way out of balance.
...The Arizona Corporation Commission has a special open meeting on Tuesday in Tucson. More info on the subject matter here. Its full hearing schedule is here.
...The Citizens Clean Election Commission has a meeting scheduled for Thursday, but the only agenda posted so far is for the CCEC's meeting of July 30.
...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has an informal meeting scheduled for Monday. The agenda includes yet another executive session. It also has a formal meeting scheduled for Wednesday, but the agenda hasn't been posted online as yet.
...The Tempe City Council is scheduled to meet on Thursday. The agenda hasn't been posted yet.
...The Scottsdale City Council has a special executive session meeting planned for Tuesday to consider candidates for the position of Interim City Treasurer. The Council also has a work/study meeting planned for Tuesday.
The City's Charter Review Task Force is scheduled to meet Monday. No ORANGE Coalition, Goldwater Institute, or other corporate shills are listed on the agenda, but this may be worth keeping an eye on.
Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, the Boards of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Central Arizona Project.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Short attention span musing...
Haven't done one of these in a long time, and since there are a couple of things in today's news worthy of comment, it's appropriate to do one now.
...Colleen Clark, president of the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District has revealed that in July, she was arrested for DUI in Scottsdale. (AZCentral.com coverage here; Phoenix New Times coverage here)
Fellow board member Debra Pearson (nee Brimhall) has called for Clark's resignation, citing the arrest as evidence of "immature behavior."
Ummm...given that when Pearson was in the state lege, she was best known for marching in a parade in a Xena costume, maybe she shouldn't be pointing fingers...anyway, I digress.
On this one, given the facts available thus far - no one was injured, apparently this was a "first-and-only" incident, and she didn't try to use her office and influence to get out of the arrest - she should be allowed to face the music but keep her office.
In the event that some readers think that this opinion is one partisan Democrat supporting another, think again.
Ms. Clark is a Republican and a teacher/coach at her church and works for an Illinois-based abstinence project.
In short, she's easily conservative enough to be a member of the "Bay at the Moon" Club on West Washington.
Even so, she gets to be human (unless one of the material facts cited above changes.)
The Governing Board would have been better served if instead of calling for Clark's resignation, Pearson had pushed for the resignation of member Jerry Walker after the incident earlier this year where he used his office and presence on a District-sponsored field trip to intimidate a student to tears over her advocacy for the DREAM Act.
*That* one merited removal from office.
...Does the Fifester realize that he was pardoned because the President owed a favor to someone who owed Fife a favor, not because he was wrongfully convicted?
Apparently not, because he says he is considering a run for Governor in 2010.
The money quote from the AZRepublic article linked above?
No Fife, your record is NOT clean. Of course, in today's AZGOP, that doesn't mean anything.
...Hmmmm...wonder if Laura Knaperek is looking for someone, *anyone*, to take on and defeat Harry Mitchell, who has defeated her so many times? And if "anyone" means "anyone not named David Schweikert"??
Note: Schweikert had the audacity to beat Knaperek in last year's GOP primary in CD5.
Let's see -
One "Ray Torres" has a letter to the editor in Friday's AZ Republic criticizing Harry Mitchell and expressing support for Jim Ward, a candidate in next year's GOP primary in CD5.
One "Ramon Torres," nicknamed "Ray" is the chair of the ORANGE Coalition in Scottsdale (allegedly in Scottsdale, anyway*).
A director of that organization is one...Laura Knaperek, former LD17 state representative and failed Congressional candidate.
*Hmmmm...the ORANGE Coalition isn't registered as a political committee (even though it was lobbying the City of Scottsdale via its Charter Review Task Force); it's registered as a non-profit Arizona corporation. Both directors listed on the organizational paperwork, including Mr. Ray Torres, list a New Jersey address (or as they like to refer to it - "really eastern Scottsdale").
BTW - the New Jersey address listed is the same as that of the headquarters of American Water, the parent company of Arizona American Water.
Not exactly a shocking coincidence, that.
It will be fun to watch Mr. Ward's campaign finance reports for money from New Jersey and American Water.
Later...
...Colleen Clark, president of the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District has revealed that in July, she was arrested for DUI in Scottsdale. (AZCentral.com coverage here; Phoenix New Times coverage here)
Fellow board member Debra Pearson (nee Brimhall) has called for Clark's resignation, citing the arrest as evidence of "immature behavior."
Ummm...given that when Pearson was in the state lege, she was best known for marching in a parade in a Xena costume, maybe she shouldn't be pointing fingers...anyway, I digress.
On this one, given the facts available thus far - no one was injured, apparently this was a "first-and-only" incident, and she didn't try to use her office and influence to get out of the arrest - she should be allowed to face the music but keep her office.
In the event that some readers think that this opinion is one partisan Democrat supporting another, think again.
Ms. Clark is a Republican and a teacher/coach at her church and works for an Illinois-based abstinence project.
In short, she's easily conservative enough to be a member of the "Bay at the Moon" Club on West Washington.
Even so, she gets to be human (unless one of the material facts cited above changes.)
The Governing Board would have been better served if instead of calling for Clark's resignation, Pearson had pushed for the resignation of member Jerry Walker after the incident earlier this year where he used his office and presence on a District-sponsored field trip to intimidate a student to tears over her advocacy for the DREAM Act.
*That* one merited removal from office.
...Does the Fifester realize that he was pardoned because the President owed a favor to someone who owed Fife a favor, not because he was wrongfully convicted?
Apparently not, because he says he is considering a run for Governor in 2010.
The money quote from the AZRepublic article linked above?
"My record is clean," Symington said. "I won at the end of the day."
No Fife, your record is NOT clean. Of course, in today's AZGOP, that doesn't mean anything.
...Hmmmm...wonder if Laura Knaperek is looking for someone, *anyone*, to take on and defeat Harry Mitchell, who has defeated her so many times? And if "anyone" means "anyone not named David Schweikert"??
Note: Schweikert had the audacity to beat Knaperek in last year's GOP primary in CD5.
Let's see -
One "Ray Torres" has a letter to the editor in Friday's AZ Republic criticizing Harry Mitchell and expressing support for Jim Ward, a candidate in next year's GOP primary in CD5.
One "Ramon Torres," nicknamed "Ray" is the chair of the ORANGE Coalition in Scottsdale (allegedly in Scottsdale, anyway*).
A director of that organization is one...Laura Knaperek, former LD17 state representative and failed Congressional candidate.
*Hmmmm...the ORANGE Coalition isn't registered as a political committee (even though it was lobbying the City of Scottsdale via its Charter Review Task Force); it's registered as a non-profit Arizona corporation. Both directors listed on the organizational paperwork, including Mr. Ray Torres, list a New Jersey address (or as they like to refer to it - "really eastern Scottsdale").
BTW - the New Jersey address listed is the same as that of the headquarters of American Water, the parent company of Arizona American Water.
Not exactly a shocking coincidence, that.
It will be fun to watch Mr. Ward's campaign finance reports for money from New Jersey and American Water.
Later...
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Obama's address on health care reform; a solid triple to deep center
Overall, it wasn't quite an unequivocal endorsement of a strong public option (hence, not a home run),but it was really good*.
*Actually, I thought this speech a solid double, but the line "it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition" rates an extra base, with a wide turn at third. :)
Excerpts of the speech are posted here.
A full transcript is here.
Some of the highlights included a definite tone of not kissing the insurance industry's a** and not caving into the "scare tactics" of their lapdogs (my word, not his :) )in the GOP.
Yet, as firm as he was in his message about making sure that that all Americans are able to find affordable and effective health insurance coverage, the President offered a couple of olive branches to the GOPers -
Consideration of mandating that everyone obtain coverage
Creation of an insurance exchange that would allow private insurers to compete for new customers (OK, so competition isn't exactly what the GOP and the insurers were looking for...it beats being put out of business.)
A discussion and experimentation with medical malpractice reform (this one brought forth the only standing ovation from the Republicans; for the rest of the speech, they sat on their hands...well, all of them except Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina. More on that in a moment.)
Continuing the baseball metaphor that starts this post, now it is up to Congress.
The past few weeks have been the equivalent of the seventh inning stretch, and tonight's speech was a case of Barack Obama leading off the bottom of the seventh with a clutch lead-off triple.
Now he's standing on third, waiting for the Democrats in Congress to drive him in.
A few days ago, I wrote how it was time for President Obama to step up. He did so tonight.
Now it is time for Congress to step up too.
We know it won't be Sen. Max Baucus, he's the equivalent of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox in this metaphor (except instead of taking money from gamblers to throw the World Series, he's taken campaign contributions from the health insurance industry in exchange for going into the tank on this).
It might be Speaker Nancy Pelosi (maybe - she's been making some of the right noises recently).
It might be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (less likely I think, but still in the realm of possibility).
It could be someone from deep in the backbenches like CD5's Harry Mitchell, grabbing a bat and stepping into the batter's box like Kirk Gibson did in the 1988 World Series.
*Somebody* will step up.
...And that somebody will have to be a Democrat. Rep. Wilson's behavior during the speech demonstrated exactly how much contempt that the Republicans have for civil discourse in modern politics and modern society.
During the speech, when President Obama pledged that the proposed reforms would not provide insurance coverage for illegal immigrants, Wilson, perhaps thinking that he was among teabaggers at one of this summer's town halls, shouted "You lie!"
Not even during the worst depredations of the Bush Administration when most Democrats and many independents called for impeachments and criminal investigations and more, did a member of Congress show so much disrespect for the office of the President and the institution of Congress.
Wilson later issued an apology for the timing of his outburst (apparently the boos and dirty looks, some even from members of his own party, reminded him of his place), but stopped short of either retracting the statement or providing evidence that the President did, in fact, lie.
Expect more of the same, though perhaps in a more genteel manner, in the coming weeks.
*Actually, I thought this speech a solid double, but the line "it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition" rates an extra base, with a wide turn at third. :)
Excerpts of the speech are posted here.
A full transcript is here.
Some of the highlights included a definite tone of not kissing the insurance industry's a** and not caving into the "scare tactics" of their lapdogs (my word, not his :) )in the GOP.
Yet, as firm as he was in his message about making sure that that all Americans are able to find affordable and effective health insurance coverage, the President offered a couple of olive branches to the GOPers -
Consideration of mandating that everyone obtain coverage
Creation of an insurance exchange that would allow private insurers to compete for new customers (OK, so competition isn't exactly what the GOP and the insurers were looking for...it beats being put out of business.)
A discussion and experimentation with medical malpractice reform (this one brought forth the only standing ovation from the Republicans; for the rest of the speech, they sat on their hands...well, all of them except Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina. More on that in a moment.)
Continuing the baseball metaphor that starts this post, now it is up to Congress.
The past few weeks have been the equivalent of the seventh inning stretch, and tonight's speech was a case of Barack Obama leading off the bottom of the seventh with a clutch lead-off triple.
Now he's standing on third, waiting for the Democrats in Congress to drive him in.
A few days ago, I wrote how it was time for President Obama to step up. He did so tonight.
Now it is time for Congress to step up too.
We know it won't be Sen. Max Baucus, he's the equivalent of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox in this metaphor (except instead of taking money from gamblers to throw the World Series, he's taken campaign contributions from the health insurance industry in exchange for going into the tank on this).
It might be Speaker Nancy Pelosi (maybe - she's been making some of the right noises recently).
It might be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (less likely I think, but still in the realm of possibility).
It could be someone from deep in the backbenches like CD5's Harry Mitchell, grabbing a bat and stepping into the batter's box like Kirk Gibson did in the 1988 World Series.
*Somebody* will step up.
...And that somebody will have to be a Democrat. Rep. Wilson's behavior during the speech demonstrated exactly how much contempt that the Republicans have for civil discourse in modern politics and modern society.
During the speech, when President Obama pledged that the proposed reforms would not provide insurance coverage for illegal immigrants, Wilson, perhaps thinking that he was among teabaggers at one of this summer's town halls, shouted "You lie!"
Not even during the worst depredations of the Bush Administration when most Democrats and many independents called for impeachments and criminal investigations and more, did a member of Congress show so much disrespect for the office of the President and the institution of Congress.
Wilson later issued an apology for the timing of his outburst (apparently the boos and dirty looks, some even from members of his own party, reminded him of his place), but stopped short of either retracting the statement or providing evidence that the President did, in fact, lie.
Expect more of the same, though perhaps in a more genteel manner, in the coming weeks.
Andy Thomas exploring a run at AG
The controversial Maricopa County Attorney has almost made official his long-rumored interest in the job of Arizona Attorney General.
It's "almost" official because while he has informed the AZ Republic, the paperwork hasn't reached the Secretary of State's office yet (or if it has, the SOS hasn't posted it yet).
The Arizona Republic has the story on its website.
This announcement by the usually divisive Thomas will have the unexpected side effect of uniting both his supporters (the "rule of nativism" adherents) and his detractors (the "rule of law" adherents).
The nativists will be happy that a fellow traveler could become the highest-ranking law enforcement official in AZ; the rest of us realize that if he goes for AG, he'll have to resign from his post as Maricopa County Attorney.
And that Thomas even getting through a state-wide primary is far from guaranteed (though given the current state of the AZGOP, Thomas will start off as the favorite in almost any primary field).
And2, he is such a polarizing figure that he could cost the GOP a huge number of independent votes.
So for that reason and the "resign-to-run" aspect, this Democrat has one thing to say -
Run Andy, RUN!!!
It's "almost" official because while he has informed the AZ Republic, the paperwork hasn't reached the Secretary of State's office yet (or if it has, the SOS hasn't posted it yet).
The Arizona Republic has the story on its website.
This announcement by the usually divisive Thomas will have the unexpected side effect of uniting both his supporters (the "rule of nativism" adherents) and his detractors (the "rule of law" adherents).
The nativists will be happy that a fellow traveler could become the highest-ranking law enforcement official in AZ; the rest of us realize that if he goes for AG, he'll have to resign from his post as Maricopa County Attorney.
And that Thomas even getting through a state-wide primary is far from guaranteed (though given the current state of the AZGOP, Thomas will start off as the favorite in almost any primary field).
And2, he is such a polarizing figure that he could cost the GOP a huge number of independent votes.
So for that reason and the "resign-to-run" aspect, this Democrat has one thing to say -
Run Andy, RUN!!!
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Mayor Jim Lane already ceding the governance of Scottsdale to out-of-town lobbyists
You know, I freely admit that I was not happy with Mary Manross' performance as Mayor of Scottsdale. It's a South Scottsdale (older neighborhoods, families building lives, Scottsdale as "home") vs. North Scottsdale (overpriced and undervalued subdivisions, yuppies building McMansions, Scottsdale as "vacation home") thing.
Manross may not have had much use for South Scottsdale and its neighborhood activists (and those activists returned the feeling), but I suspected even last year that as bad as she was, she was better than Jim Lane, her challenger and the eventual victor in last year's mayoral election.
Hindsight being 20/20, damn if I wasn't spot on with that opinion.
The latest example of this is Lane's formation of a Charter Review Task Force. It was filled out on June 2nd, with Lane's hand-picked choice, Steven Twist, selected to serve as chair.
The Charter Review Task Force's first meeting took place on Monday, August 31 (no minutes available yet, but the marked agenda is here.)
The fourth item on the agenda/minutes for that meeting best highlights Lane's lack of respect for the idea of Scottsdale's residents actually having a say in the governance of Scottsdale.
It involved inviting guests to speak on possible changes to Scottsdale's charter.
One of those guests was Dr. James Svara, an ASU professor. He's an acknowledged expert on municipal governance, so I'll cut Lane some slack there. He may or may not be a Scottsdale resident (I *think* he lives in Phoenix, but I'm really not sure), but he has a very strong background in the area of interest.
The other two "invited" guests were a little more eye-opening, and bewildering.
One was the ORANGE Coalition. It's a "private property rights" organization that lists a Scottsdale address and professes to be a Scottsdale advocacy group (at least they did when I ran into one of their petition circulators outside the Scottsdale library earlier this summer).
There's only a couple of problems with that "Scottsdale group" thing -
1. Their address is listed as 4400 N. Scottsdale Rd #9-473. What they don't say is that is a mail drop - Suite 9 at that address is the home of UPS Store #1692. In and of itself, that isn't damning; there could be plenty of good reasons to use a mail drop instead of a local office. However...
2. While the chair and treasurer have some ties to Scottsdale, three of the directors do not, other than being able to find Scottsdale on a map. Actually, given the info to follow, the fact that the main page of their website focuses on opposing the Clean Water Act, and features a video clip of Senator James "climate change is a hoax" Inhofe, it looks an awful lot like an astroturf group.
Mark Killian is a former Speaker of the AZ House and Director of the AZ Department of Revenue. He's from Mesa. Republican anti-government ideologue.
Laura Knaperek is a former State Representative. She's from Tempe. Republican anti-government ideologue.
Dan Kelleher is a former executive of American Water, the parent company of Arizona American Water. The same Arizona American Water that pumped contaminated drinking water to its customers in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. At least two times that are publicly known.
The ORANGE Coalition's proposed amendments to Scottsdale's charter are here. Not surprisingly, their "proposal" includes a clause that would prevent the City of Scottsdale from taking over the Scottsdale part of Arizona American Water's system.
The other invited guest was the Goldwater Institute, a Phoenix-based anti-government and anti-tax lobbying group. They've never met a government service or function that they didn't want to privatize to the benefit of one of their corporate contributors. Not surprisingly2, they advocated shrinking the size of Scottsdale's city government by privatizing everything, including police services (see page 21, paragraphs D and E, of the linked .pdf, section titled "Performance Based Policing").
Good God.
I am not somebody who believes in recalling an elected official just because he/she is doing things that some of us disagree with (hey, it's politics - disagreement happens.) That's what elections are for.
However, refusing to do the job that an official was elected to perform *is* grounds for removal from office, and Lane has made it clear that he is more interested in using the Mayor's office to push an ideological agenda than in looking out for the interests of Scottsdale and its residents.
The sad part is that Lane *is* intelligent, and should be able to take a look at the cluster**** that the ideologues in the lege have perpetrated on the state budget and learn the lesson.
Ideology can and must take a back seat to practical considerations in retail level politics, and municipal government is the most retail level of government. It's about fixing potholes and streetlights, not the "big" issues of the day. (OK, so that is a New England reference, not a Scottsdale one. It still works. :) )
There's a reason that the old truism, popularized (but not created) by the late Speaker of the U.S. House, Tip O'Neill, was "All Politics is Local," not "All Politics is Partisan."
Mayors are supposed to know that, even before they enter office.
Manross may not have had much use for South Scottsdale and its neighborhood activists (and those activists returned the feeling), but I suspected even last year that as bad as she was, she was better than Jim Lane, her challenger and the eventual victor in last year's mayoral election.
Hindsight being 20/20, damn if I wasn't spot on with that opinion.
The latest example of this is Lane's formation of a Charter Review Task Force. It was filled out on June 2nd, with Lane's hand-picked choice, Steven Twist, selected to serve as chair.
The Charter Review Task Force's first meeting took place on Monday, August 31 (no minutes available yet, but the marked agenda is here.)
The fourth item on the agenda/minutes for that meeting best highlights Lane's lack of respect for the idea of Scottsdale's residents actually having a say in the governance of Scottsdale.
It involved inviting guests to speak on possible changes to Scottsdale's charter.
One of those guests was Dr. James Svara, an ASU professor. He's an acknowledged expert on municipal governance, so I'll cut Lane some slack there. He may or may not be a Scottsdale resident (I *think* he lives in Phoenix, but I'm really not sure), but he has a very strong background in the area of interest.
The other two "invited" guests were a little more eye-opening, and bewildering.
One was the ORANGE Coalition. It's a "private property rights" organization that lists a Scottsdale address and professes to be a Scottsdale advocacy group (at least they did when I ran into one of their petition circulators outside the Scottsdale library earlier this summer).
There's only a couple of problems with that "Scottsdale group" thing -
1. Their address is listed as 4400 N. Scottsdale Rd #9-473. What they don't say is that is a mail drop - Suite 9 at that address is the home of UPS Store #1692. In and of itself, that isn't damning; there could be plenty of good reasons to use a mail drop instead of a local office. However...
2. While the chair and treasurer have some ties to Scottsdale, three of the directors do not, other than being able to find Scottsdale on a map. Actually, given the info to follow, the fact that the main page of their website focuses on opposing the Clean Water Act, and features a video clip of Senator James "climate change is a hoax" Inhofe, it looks an awful lot like an astroturf group.
Mark Killian is a former Speaker of the AZ House and Director of the AZ Department of Revenue. He's from Mesa. Republican anti-government ideologue.
Laura Knaperek is a former State Representative. She's from Tempe. Republican anti-government ideologue.
Dan Kelleher is a former executive of American Water, the parent company of Arizona American Water. The same Arizona American Water that pumped contaminated drinking water to its customers in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. At least two times that are publicly known.
The ORANGE Coalition's proposed amendments to Scottsdale's charter are here. Not surprisingly, their "proposal" includes a clause that would prevent the City of Scottsdale from taking over the Scottsdale part of Arizona American Water's system.
The other invited guest was the Goldwater Institute, a Phoenix-based anti-government and anti-tax lobbying group. They've never met a government service or function that they didn't want to privatize to the benefit of one of their corporate contributors. Not surprisingly2, they advocated shrinking the size of Scottsdale's city government by privatizing everything, including police services (see page 21, paragraphs D and E, of the linked .pdf, section titled "Performance Based Policing").
Good God.
I am not somebody who believes in recalling an elected official just because he/she is doing things that some of us disagree with (hey, it's politics - disagreement happens.) That's what elections are for.
However, refusing to do the job that an official was elected to perform *is* grounds for removal from office, and Lane has made it clear that he is more interested in using the Mayor's office to push an ideological agenda than in looking out for the interests of Scottsdale and its residents.
The sad part is that Lane *is* intelligent, and should be able to take a look at the cluster**** that the ideologues in the lege have perpetrated on the state budget and learn the lesson.
Ideology can and must take a back seat to practical considerations in retail level politics, and municipal government is the most retail level of government. It's about fixing potholes and streetlights, not the "big" issues of the day. (OK, so that is a New England reference, not a Scottsdale one. It still works. :) )
There's a reason that the old truism, popularized (but not created) by the late Speaker of the U.S. House, Tip O'Neill, was "All Politics is Local," not "All Politics is Partisan."
Mayors are supposed to know that, even before they enter office.
Breaking news: Obama speaks to students, world doesn't end
...though I'm sure some students will disagree when they hear their parents say "You heard the President - do your homework!" :)
Detroit Free Press coverage here.
Fox23.com (Tulsa, OK) coverage here.
ABC News coverage here.
And for the "world not ending" coverage, visit NASA.gov multimedia page here. I recommend the live space station video with pictures of the Earth.
Detroit Free Press coverage here.
Fox23.com (Tulsa, OK) coverage here.
ABC News coverage here.
And for the "world not ending" coverage, visit NASA.gov multimedia page here. I recommend the live space station video with pictures of the Earth.
AZ Republic headline seeks to brighten the day of Republicans
From AZCentral.com -
This will brighten the day of Reps, particularly those in the lege and the Governor's office, because they know that some of the parents affected by the budget cuts that ended KidsCare Parents *will* find a way to buy private insurance, even if it means skimping on other expenses (like food, clothing, and shelter, you know, stuff that isn't really necessary).
Those Reps can now look forward to their rewards - campaign contributions and nice pats on the head - from their masters in the corporate health insurance industry.
Masters who have millions of dollars' worth of bonuses and stock options to fund.
10,000 working parents in Arizona to lose health insurance
Nearly 10,000 working parents will lose their health insurance this month in the wake of state budget cuts, leaving some families with nowhere to turn as they seek affordable coverage.
KidsCare Parents, a program that provides low-income families with inexpensive insurance, will end Sept. 30.
This will brighten the day of Reps, particularly those in the lege and the Governor's office, because they know that some of the parents affected by the budget cuts that ended KidsCare Parents *will* find a way to buy private insurance, even if it means skimping on other expenses (like food, clothing, and shelter, you know, stuff that isn't really necessary).
Those Reps can now look forward to their rewards - campaign contributions and nice pats on the head - from their masters in the corporate health insurance industry.
Masters who have millions of dollars' worth of bonuses and stock options to fund.
Monday, September 07, 2009
The text of the President's planned remarks to students on Tuesday
Since there has been so much conservative angst over the President's planned address to students tomorrow, the White House has released the text of the remarks as prepared for delivery.
A brief analysis shows that conservatives actually have a solid basis for their concerns.
In the speech, President Obama encourages students to follow his radical agenda by staying in school, paying attention to their teachers, and listening to their parents!!
A number of Republican parents have professed the intention to keep their children out of school tomorrow. After reading the speech, my only question is why *all* parents aren't taking their kids out of school tomorrow.
As a public service, the remarks should be published everywhere to maximizetheir reach the chance for all parents to control the ideas that their children hear the fates of their children.
BTW - in case it isn't obvious, there is a *lot* of sarcasm in the preceding bit. :)
However, the President's remarks are not the least bit sarcastic.
From WhiteHouse.gov -
A brief analysis shows that conservatives actually have a solid basis for their concerns.
In the speech, President Obama encourages students to follow his radical agenda by staying in school, paying attention to their teachers, and listening to their parents!!
A number of Republican parents have professed the intention to keep their children out of school tomorrow. After reading the speech, my only question is why *all* parents aren't taking their kids out of school tomorrow.
As a public service, the remarks should be published everywhere to maximize
BTW - in case it isn't obvious, there is a *lot* of sarcasm in the preceding bit. :)
However, the President's remarks are not the least bit sarcastic.
From WhiteHouse.gov -
Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event
Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009
The President:Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.
I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.
I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning. Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."
So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.
Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility. I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility
for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox. I’ve
talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.
So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. But I was fortunate. I got a
lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.
Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.
I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.
And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.
Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.
That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take
better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter. Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.
It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.
So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
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