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What's the Matter with Arizona?
Author: BobR    Date: 05/02/2013 12:08:15

Almost a decade ago, author Thomas Frank wrote "What's the Matter With Kansas?". It described how a formerly populist-democratic state in the midwest slid into a conservative backwater. Using emotional social issues, voters were turned away from "elitist" liberals and voted against their own economic interests. That has happened time and again in southern and midwestern states.

Arizona is another one of those states. From its inception until the late 1940s, it was primarily a Democratic state. Since then, however, the only time the state voted for a Democratic president was in 1996 (Bill Clinton). Unlike Kansas, however, they have become known for their extreme conservative state laws that induce incredulous jaw-dropping gapes every time, with the outside observer certain that this was the furthest they could possibly go.
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78 comments (Latest Comment: 05/03/2013 03:02:09 by livingonli)

Why yes, the NRA is JUST like the NYCLU...
Author: Raine    Date: 05/01/2013 13:59:34

...in case you were wondering.
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67 comments (Latest Comment: 05/02/2013 02:51:46 by Will in Chicago)

Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 04/30/2013 10:49:30

Good Morning.

Today is our 4,223rd day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from our ongoing war, courtesy of Antiwar.com:

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 2,200
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,081

We find this morning's cost of war passing through:

$ 1, 435, 280, 650, 000 .00


Let's talk about buildings and machinery today. We very much focus on the human elements of war, but war doesn't happen without infrastructure. Usually, it's something that happens in the background and off everyone's radar screens....that is, until it becomes hazardous to our troops and our allies.
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78 comments (Latest Comment: 05/01/2013 01:38:23 by TriSec)

Monday - Bleagh
Author: BobR    Date: 04/29/2013 11:49:26

I was getting ready to write the blog this morning, and then remembered I have an 8:00 meeting. Oof. I will get to the blog after the meeting.
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56 comments (Latest Comment: 04/30/2013 00:50:20 by livingonli)

Who Is a Terrorist?
Author: velveeta jones    Date: 04/28/2013 14:24:49

Velveeta is angry this morning. How is that different from any other Sunday you ask? I don't have an answer for you, sorry.

I've been thinking lately - [Note: it's really not good to allow me to think for too very long] about terrorism, flag waving and republicans and I can't help finding some very scary similarities. I did try to find some comparisons with liberals, but other than going to an extreme, extremes liberals just seem to be quietly tending their gardens instead of making bombs. And really, someone needs to do that- tending gardens is a lot more therapeutic than bomb-making.
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4 comments (Latest Comment: 04/28/2013 22:07:13 by Raine)

Why I'd vote " NO ".
Author: TriSec    Date: 04/27/2013 11:49:21

This may shock you. I have decided to oppose the BSA's proposed changes regarding our national membership policy. I have to applaud the BSA's shrewd move in utilizing the Friday News Dump to the fullest extent last week. Not only was it Friday, but it was this Friday and at the height of the lockdown when this all came out. The Nation had riveted it's attention on my backyard, so this was easy to overlook.
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6 comments (Latest Comment: 05/01/2013 01:49:14 by Raine)

THEY take care of Themselves.
Author: Raine    Date: 04/26/2013 15:14:48

Last night the Senate voted to end the furloughs for Air Traffic Controllers. Today it appears to be heading toward the House for a vote.
The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed by unanimous consent a bill that would end the furloughs of air traffic controllers. The furloughs have been blamed for widespread delays at the nation's airports.

The bill approved late Thursday would allow the transportation secretary to move up to $253 million during the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.


You know what the Senate didn't vote to end?
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54 comments (Latest Comment: 04/27/2013 00:20:17 by Raine)

Reliving the Lessons of the Past
Author: BobR    Date: 04/25/2013 12:55:33

As mentioned in yesterday's blog by Raine, the disaster at the West, TX fertilizer plant was the result of lax oversight provided by the TX government, and lax adherence to rules by the factory owners. This is all by intention, to hear Governor Rick Perry tell it. This is all part of the Republican mantra - let the free market decide. The factory in TX apparently "free-marketed" itself into a smoldering hole in the ground, taking 35 people with it.

That just seems to be part of the Libertarian "I-got-mine" concept, where everyone is free to grab whatever they can as fast as they can, and who cares who gets stepped on along the way. This is essentially how America operated 100 years ago during the "gilded" age, where children worked long hours at factories, and deaths were common. "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair describes these conditions at meat packing plants in Chicago, but that pattern was repeated everywhere across America. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 resulted in 146 deaths, and the beginning of a turnaround for worker safety.
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32 comments (Latest Comment: 04/26/2013 03:16:01 by Will in Chicago)

Deep in the Heart of Taxless
Author: Raine    Date: 04/24/2013 15:25:44

Amid the chaos of last week, Many were watching westward, towards the small town of West, Texas.
The number of people who died in a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, last week now stands at 15, officials said Tuesday. Some earlier reports had indicated that 14 people had lost their lives. At least 200 more were injured.

In Waco, TV station KXXV says that officials believe they have found all the victims, quoting Mayor Pro Tem Steve Vanek saying "No more victims. Everything is searched," in a news conference today.

The latest death toll comes as investigators continue to study the catastrophe and the fire that preceded it. The explosion left a crater 93 feet wide and 10 feet deep, investigators said Tuesday.

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70 comments (Latest Comment: 04/24/2013 21:49:55 by Raine)

Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 04/23/2013 10:32:04

Good Morning.

Today is our 4,216th day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from our ongoing war, courtesy of Antiwar.com:

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 2,196
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,081

We find this morning's cost of war passing through:

$ 1, 445, 834, 675, 000 .00


It's been an interesting week around here, that's for sure. As a friend of mine commented, this is zero degrees of separation...everybody in this city knows somebody that ran, worked, or was there. No exceptions. My friend from Scouts, a Mr. Mark Fisette, is also a Guardsman and was there at the scene.
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49 comments (Latest Comment: 04/23/2013 22:40:59 by livingonli)

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