Arizona: United States

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Arizona may be the only state in the nation where mothers can no longer tell their children that some day they can grow up and be President of the United States.  — John McCain paraphrasing a joke by...

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The right-wing has exhibited a disturbing trend towards a new era of McCarthyism in recent years. But their latest craziness is religious bigotry and fear mongering against Muslim American citizens.

In the mind of right-wing conspiracy theory loving religious bigots, Muslim Americans are all spies for Islamo-fascism (a term fabricated by the right-wing and of no actual significance) and Islamic sleeper-cell terrorists who are conspiring to "Islamize" a "Christian" America. Seriously. I kid you not.

A quartet of Republican Congressmen, including Arizona's own Reps. Trent Franks and John Shadegg, convened a press conference this week to demand that the House Sergeant at Arms investigate the organization Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), because this advocacy organization does what every other advocacy organization does, but they do it while being Muslim.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On September 30, 2009 I posted this piece of advice for Democrats Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat: the public option is alive and well:

Let's be clear. The 60 votes senators incessantly talk about is not required to pass a bill. It is a vote for cloture to close debate and to move on to voting for a bill. Democrats have 58 senators and two independents who caucus with the Democrats. They ostensibly have 60 votes for such procedural matters as cloture votes. This is a question of party discipline and unity.

The only way opponents of health care reform with a strong public option can prevent enactment of such a bill is if one or more Democrats side with the Republican obstructionists and against their party leadership on a procedural vote for cloture.

By Karl Reiner

The water level in the Colorado River’s storage lakes has been steadily dropping, leading to the possibility that Tucson will face a water shortage in the future.  As consumers of local ground water and supplies from the Colorado, we need to start paying attention to the problem.  The combined effects of population growth, drought and global warming trends are turning the region’s water future murky.

A recent government report on climate change states that global warming has already brought about some climate modifications.  Man-made pollution composed of greenhouse gas emissions was found to be the main cause behind higher average temperatures in the Midwest.  The increased warming has extended the growing season by a week. It also caused more frequent heavy rain storms.

The report warns that these changes are only the beginning.