Arizona: Washington

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

John Perr is one of the better economics bloggers. He posted this piece at crooksandliars.com Born Again Deficit Virgins:

Everything you need to know about the descent of the conservative movement into a hypocritical caricature is illustrated by two of its proudest constituencies: Republican deficit hawks and so-called "born again virgins." Having already violated the moral strictures they claim to hold dearest, each now asks the American people to join them in pretending their sin never happened. But unlike a generation of Republican leaders who built a mountain of national debt for the United States, the secondary virgins only screwed themselves.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This is why I was careful to say "many conservatives" rather than generalize and paint with a broad brush all conservatives in my earlier post on this topic. There are still many conservatives who share with their more liberal counterparts an abiding faith in the Constitution and the rule of law.

David Keene of the American Conservative Union, Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, and former congressman/Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr are backing a proposal to send Guantanamo Bay detainees to a prison in Illinois, as well as President Obama’s plan to try terrorism suspects in federal courts. Keene, Norquist and Barr Back Obama on Gitmo « The Washington Independent

The three conservatives have long been members of the

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A h/t to Flounder for a comment he posted earlier, "I think one of the biggest takeaways of the elections last night are that the right-wings TABOR Amendments failed in Maine and Washington."

During the Special Session this past summer, the Accidental Governor and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Russell Pearce agreed to include a mini-TABOR provision in the "Sham-Wow!" budget deal that failed to pass. We are likely to see these efforts revived in the next legislative regular session.

The right-wing think tanks that peddle the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) like a traveling medicine show selling a cure-all for what ails you and that pour millions of corporate cash into initiative and referendum campaigns have failed to garner enough signatures to qualify this destructive measure for the ballot in Arizona.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

McClatchy News continues its investigative report on Goldman Sachs with part 2 of the series Goldman takes on new role: taking away people's homes:

Goldman Sachs spent years buying hundreds of thousands of subprime mortgages, many of them from some of the more unsavory lenders in the business, and packaging them into high-yield bonds. Now that the bottom has fallen out of that market, Goldman finds itself in a different role: as the big banker that takes homes away from folks such as the Beckers.

The couple alleges that Goldman declined for three years to confirm their suspicions that it had bought their mortgages from a subprime lender, even after they wrote to Goldman's then-Chief Executive Henry Paulson — later U.