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SHORT TAKE BARKLEY: CNN’S USEFUL IDIOT Charles Barkley, the old faithful of spouters-off everywhere, became CNN’s useful idiot Friday when he spouted off to Wolf Blitzer about conservatives” “Hey, I live in Arizona. I have got great respect for Senator McCain. Great respect. But I don't like the way the Republicans are taking this country. Every time I hear the word ‘conservative,’ it makes me sick to my stomach, because they're really just fake Christians, as I call them. That's all they are. But I just -- I'm going to vote Democratic no matter what.” Blitzer played the role of good cop, offering Barkley an opportunity to take back his bitter criticisms, without success. CNN gave the mighty mouth an opportunity to disparage conservatives without allowing equal time for a rebuttal, confirming its well known political bias. Thus, Barkley served as a useful idiot for the “Clinton News Network.” Barkley also said he is pro-choice, favors of same-sex “marriage” and in his judgment, conservatives are too judgmental. Also, he said Republicans had lost their mind. He just bought a house in his native Alabama in order to fulfill a seven-year requirement to run for governor there in 2014. Memo to Barkley: We’d prefer to see you use that house immediately, instead of your home in Arizona. More memos: It’s a shame you turn a blind eye to the fact that many abortion mills are located in black neighborhoods, and a highly disproportionate percentage of African-American babies are aborted. And that’s just the way the racist founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, wanted it. You, Charles, could do a great service to African-Americans by pointing out the truth of abortion’s dirty little racial secret. Furthermore, it’s a shame you believe that boys and girls do not have the right to grow up with a father and a mother in their household. Children lacking one or the other parent – especially the father – fall prey to a long list of social ills. Have you not heard of the blight of “Fatherless America”? If conservatives are “judgmental,” I wonder what it is that you do on your TNT basketball broadcasts all winter long. You’re not holding back any judgment on anyone. And you did not hold back judgment on conservatives last Friday. You said conservatives are “false Christians,” implying that you know something of the Christian faith and something about Biblical tents of judging. Here’s what the Good Book actually says about judging: Matthew 7: 1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” Also, Leviticus 19:15: “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” Charles, how many times have you “lost your mind?” You once threw a man through a plate glass window at a bar, resisted arrest and then said you were sorry the crime hadn’t been committed from the second story of the bar. Barkley arrested after bar scuffle | Arrest Complaint Since you like to launch grenades at conservatives, Charles, you have opened yourself up for judgment. Your career resembles something akin to “fake Christianity.” Here are some of the highlights: In March 1991, during an overtime game in New Jersey, Barkley tried to spit at a heckler, missed and instead spat on a young girl. Rod Thorn, then president of NBA operations, suspended Barkley without pay and fined him $10,000 for spitting and using abusive language at the fan. 12/2/99--The NBA fined Charles Barkley (Hou) $20,000 for disparaging remarks made about ref Mike Mathis following Wednesday's Hou-Pho game.
11/11/99--The NBA fined fined Charles Barkley (Hou) $5,000 and suspended him for one game for throwing the ball at Shaquille O'Neal as the two scuffled during Wednesday's LAL-Hou game.
2/8/99--The NBA fined Charles Barkley (Hou) $5,000 for foul language directed at fans during Friday's Hou-LAL game.
4/24/98--The NBA fined Charles Barkley (Hou) $10,000 for using profane language and making obscene gestures at a fan during Thursday's Hou-Uta game.
3/30/98--The NBA fined Charles Barkley (Hou) $10,000 for calling ref Jack Nies "a gutless official who holds grudges" following his ejection in Friday's Orl-Hou game.
2/15/97--The NBA Charles Barkley (Hou) $2,500 and suspended him for 1 game for leaving the bench during the altercation in Friday's Hou-Sea game. Leaving the bench is an automatic fine and suspension.
12/20/96--The NBA fined Charles Barkley (Hou) $7,500 and suspended him for 2 games Barkley accidentally cut the ref's nose.
10/28/96--The NBA has fined Charles Barkley (Hou) $5,000 and suspended him for 1 game for a fight in Friday's NY-Hou game. The suspension will start with the first game of the season.
3/6/96--The NBA fined Charles Barkley (Pho) $7,500 for criticizing the refs following Sunday's Pho-Dal game.
2/28/96--The NBA fined Charles Barkley (Pho) $10,000 for not attending the media session for the All-Star weekend.
2/15/96--Charles Barkley (Pho) was fined $5,000 for slamming the ball at the feet of the ref after Tuesday night's loss to Seattle.
4/15/95—The NBA suspended Charles Barkley (Pho) for 1 game for exceeding the league flagrant foul limit. Barkley received his 6th flagrant foul of the season during Friday's Phoenix-Denver game. Barkley served his suspension during the LA Lakers game Saturday night.
10/28/94--The NBA fined Charles Barkley (Hou) $5,000 and suspended him for one game for a fight in Friday's Hou-NY game.
In conclusion, I can’t let you off the hook for the many racist remarks you have made over the years about “white people.”
Charles, you wore out your welcome in Phoenix and demanded that the Suns trade you. When the trade went through, it was announced at the Tempe New Year's Eve Block Party and the news of your departure received a thunderous ovation. NAPOLITANO'S HIGHER EDUCATION PROPOSALS ARE OFF THE MARK By Matthew Ladner, Goldwater Institute
Gov. Janet Napolitano called for the doubling of the number of college
graduates by 2020 in her 2007 state of the state address and paying
the tuition for students who graduate high school with a B average.
How fast can you say "grade inflation"?
 What's
important to note, however, is that there isn't any reason to think
Arizona needs such a doubling. In the Carnegie Foundation's
publication Change,
Paul Barton wrote that the notion that the U.S. has a dire need
for an ever increasing number of college graduates is a myth.
"Confusion about the demand for college graduates runs throughout
discussions of national workforce needs," Barton wrote.
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, 29 percent of all jobs
actually required a degree in 2004. But the U.S. Department of
Education's National Education Longitudinal Study reports that 40
percent of its sample attained a two- or four-year degree or higher.
Many people with college degrees have jobs that do not require them.
Of course, Arizona's universities can and should do more to improve
their abysmal graduation rates. The National Center for Education
Statistics lists
Arizona State's four year graduation rate as 28 percent, the
University of Arizona at 30 and
Northern Arizona University at 27. The six year graduation rates
for these three schools stand at 56%, 56% and 47% respectively. Maybe
it's just me, but it seems like Arizona taxpayers are already
subsidizing a good deal more than we should.
The crisis in our public universities is effectiveness, not
affordability. They need focus,
reform, and
competition, not new subsidies and a continued lack of
accountability. Massive new taxpayer subsidies will simply turn
today's farce into tomorrow's tragedy.
ASU LIBRARY'S FINEST COLLECTION THE
'HALLUCINOGENIC RAVINGS' OF A HEROIN ADDICT This morning, I was doing some research at ASU's Hayden Library. Eventually, a middle-aged man who was leading a group of prospective students on a tour of the campus passed by my work desk and stopped nearby. The man told the prospects that business, economic and social science books were located on this particular floor. Then he proceeded to tell them that ASU has some very valuable collections in Hayden Library. One of them is that of William Burroughs, author of "The Naked Lunch." "He was a heroin addict, and this is some pretty heady stuff," the tour guide said of Burroughs. "His is probably one of our finest collections." What's more, Amazon's editor's review calls Burroughs the 20th century drug culture's version of Edgar Allen Poe. The book represents "the hallucinogenic ravings of a heroin addict." Wow. Just think how these future Sun Devils are salivating to attend the "new university" whose finest collection is the work of a hallucinogenic heroin addict. It doesn't get any better than this. ASU ... the Harvard of the West. Wow. Your tax dollars at work training the leaders of tomorrow.. GOLDWATER'S LEGACY NOW ASSOCIATED WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD Jan. 21, 2008 The late Sen. Barry Goldwater's "conservative legacy" is becoming less and less significant. The Peggy Goldwater Award is Planned Parenthood Arizona's most prestigious recognition of volunteer leadership. The award is named after its first recipient, Peggy (Mrs. Barry) Goldwater. In 1937, Peggy Goldwater joined Mrs. Dwight Heard and other leading women volunteers to establish the abortion agency. During the spring of each year, the Peggy Goldwater Award is awarded to a Planned Parenthood volunteer who has shown extraordinary commitment to the agency's mission as well as the generosity of their financial support.
CALLING SUZE ORMAN:
STATE OF THE SPATE SPEECH PUT GOVERNMENT FIRST
By Starlee Rhoades, Goldwater Institute
Jan. 16, 2008
What can Arizona lawmakers learn from guru of personal finance Suze
Orman? Plenty. Orman's mantra is "people first, then money, then
things," which is pretty much the opposite of what we heard on
Monday in the Governor's annual State of the State address.
 Governor
Janet Napolitano proposed 12 new government programs and initiatives
for the state, in addition to the expansion of several existing
programs. These proposed new and expanded programs are offered at a
time when Arizona faces a $1.25 billion structural deficit.
The new programs proposed range from providing free community
college tuition to every child in Arizona who makes at least a B
average in high school to expanding the state's health care program
for "children" up to the age of 25.
While "things" were covered extensively, the Governor didn't make
much mention of "money." She offered no details on how the state
will pay for the new programs and only mentioned one cost saving
measure to address the current budget deficit. The Governor also
offered no plan for rejuvenating Arizona's lagging economy.
The "people" also got the short shrift. Not one proposal was made to
make it easier for the people of Arizona to provide for themselves.
Over the coming days the Goldwater
Institute will provide analysis on the proposed new programs and
their potential costs to taxpayers. We will also provide
recommendations that respect the freedom of the people of this state
first, then address the state's money troubles, then propose things
the government can do to make our lives better. The people first,
then money, then things.
OLD GOLDWATER CRONY SAYS ‘HOLY-ROLLERS’ AND NEOCONS RUINED GOP By Dennis
Durband, Editor Victor Gold is the author of the book, “Invasion of the Party Snatchers: How the Holy- Rollers and the Neocons Destroyed the Republican Party.” A former speechwriter for George H.W. Bush and an aide to Barry Goldwater, Gold was a guest on a smalltime Phoenix radio station this morning, and I couldn’t believe my ears over what this guy was saying. At least, Gold got it half right. There is no question that the high-spending administration of the current president has destroyed the Republican Party’s majority in Congress. The 2006 election massacre was a direct result of the neocon/Big Tent crowd watering down the GOP until it was hardly distinguishable from the Democrats. As for the claim that Christians ruined the party, that is outright laughable. The party that Gold knew was a perennial doormat, a minority party that never saw the light of day. If it hadn’t been for values voting Christians, there never would have been a Republican revolution in 1994. The Republican Party would have never broken the Democrats’ long monopoly of power in Washington. Gold apparently regards Goldwater as the measuring stick of GOP success. Goldwater and Reagan may have combined efforts to launch a conservative movement, but by the end of his life, Goldwater bore little resemblance to a conservative. Gold criticized former Cong. Tom Delay for being a hypocrite. Maybe DeLay is due for some criticism, but the demise of the party had far more to due with greater factors and great sellouts. Many good Republicans have honored the party’s belief system, but they couldn’t prevent the center from collapsing when pro-aborts, big spenders and calculating politicians crowded in under the Big Tent. The bitter Gold swings at anything that moves. Not even Ann Coulter is exempt from Gold’s misguided tome. Don’t bother to buy or read this dish of sour grapes. But remember that if the GOP is to rise from its ashes, it will be largely due to those who exemplify Republican principles. That means those who adhere to Judeo-Christian values will have to rescue the party from those Goldwater cronies yelling “Big Tent!” Leave the Big Tent to the circus where it belongs. PROPOSED HEALTH COVERAGE FOR DOMESTIC PARTNERS VIOLATES SEPARATION OF POWERS
By Clint Bolick, Goldwater Institute
Jan. 10, 2008
Extending health benefits to domestic partners of government employees
is a fiercely contentious issue. Arizona voters decided last year not
to prohibit such benefits, but efforts to create them have come up
empty in the state legislature.
 No
problem, says the Department of Administration, a state executive
agency: we'll mandate insurance coverage for domestic partners of
state employees and retirees by bureaucratic fiat. And it did just
that in a proposed rule filed last November 30 to expand the term
"dependent" to include domestic partners.
State agencies are not omnipotent; our state Supreme Court has ruled
that agencies "have no common law or inherent powers-their powers are
limited by their enabling legislation." State law gives the department
authority to administer insurance for state employees-but no fewer
than six statutes clearly define "dependents," all of them
encompassing spouses and children but clearly not domestic partners.
Likewise, state agencies are not allowed to make budget appropriations
(can you imagine if they were?); yet this regulation will cost
millions of dollars every year. So in one fell swoop the agency has
usurped two fundamental legislative powers: policymaking and
appropriations.
The Arizona Republic applauded the move, saying "Arizona is preparing
to take an obvious, practical, and fair step." No, it isn't. An
administrative agency is not the state. We have a constitutionally
ordained way of making law and policy, and bureaucratic fiat is not
it.
No matter how one feels about the underlying policy issue, it is vital
to preserve the separation of powers that helps limit government
overreaching. If domestic partner benefits are created, it should be
by the people directly or through their elected officials-not through
unelected bureaucrats. The Governor should halt this proposed rule
before it becomes effective, or surely will face a legal challenge
whose resolution should not be a close call.
PHOENIX BILKS TAXPAYERS FOR $10,000 A WEEK ATTORNEY FEES TO DEFEND CORPORATE WELFARE
By The Goldwater Institute
The City of Phoenix has paid more than $100,000 to attorneys from the
law firm of Fennemore Craig to defend the City in a legal challenge
filed by the Goldwater Institute. This taxpayer-funded legal counsel is
above and beyond the City of Phoenix's Law Department of 250 full-time
attorneys and support staff. BIG BROTHER'S BAILOUT OF HOUSING MARKET
By Dr. Tom Patterson, Chairman, Goldwater Institute Here's a seldom-reported fact. Our recent housing bubble was caused by government. The intended consequence was to stimulate the economy. But below-market interest rates produced above-market real estate values.
The justification for the various subsidies and moratoriums is that they would prop up the housing market and prevent the economy from tumbling into a recession. Maybe they would. But these solutions actually perpetuate the conditions that caused the bubble and keep the market from making the necessary adjustments. Beyond unintended consequences, there are issues of fundamental fairness. Why should homeowners who deferred other expenses and selected a house within their means subsidize those who did neither? Should people be entitled to relief if they have a subprime mortgage that they can afford? Should borrowers get help with a mortgage they received in the first place because they lied about their income? All the cures are worse than the disease. Whether we're forcing government or rich lenders or Wall Street to pay really doesn't matter much. The bailout schemes reinforce Americans' belief that the consequences of risky behavior should be borne by government. Government should assure transparency, prevent fraud, honor contracts and butt out. For once, let the markets work. UA’S COACH OLSON WANTS OUT OF MARRIAGE TO PRO-ABORTION RINO WIFE The Arizona
Conservative Lute Olson and his RINO wife Christine are splitsville, and the University of Arizona coach is taking the rest of the season off. He plans to return next season. We knew Coach Olson was a better man than to stoop for the pro-choice Pennsylvania GOP national committeewoman. We were disappointed to see their involvement in the pro-abortion WISH List – Women In Senate and House who demand abortion rights on demand for women. Olson had divorce papers served on his wife in New York Thursday night. She said she was “devastated” by this and that she plans to stay committed to their marriage. Oddly, the Olsons have been “represented” by the Gordon James public relations firm in the Valley of the Sun. The James, Gordon and Lisa, are “Republican” politicos with ties to supporters of Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano and who have sewn discord within the Republican Party. The James gained notoriety within the past year when Lisa ran unsuccessfully for state Republican chairman and their PR firm created auto-dialer messages attacking Randy Pullen, the man who defeated her in that contentious January election SCOTTSDALE COUNCIL CAVES IN TO HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISTS' PRESSURE
By Cathi Herrod, President Last night, the Scottsdale City Council caved in to the demands of advocates of homosexual behavior and voted 4-3 to add "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" to the list of individuals receiving special employment protections as employees of the City of Scottsdale. Those voting "yes" were Mayor Mary Manross, Council Members Wayne Ecton, Robert Littlefield, and Betty Drake. Councilmen Tony Nelssen, Ron McCullagh, and Jim Lane all voted against the measure. To thank these council members for standing up to the pressure, please send them an email. Their email addresses are: jlane@scottsdaleaz.gov, tnelssen@scottsdaleaz.gov, and rmccullagh@scottsdaleaz.gov. I urge you to take a moment and read CAP General Counsel Peter Gentala's testimony against the ordinance available here.No evidence was presented to the City Council that discrimination against homosexuals has been an issue for Scottsdale city employees. In fact, to get a picture of any community-wide discrimination against homosexuals, a council member asked the Chief of Police about crimes against the GLBT community. The Chief of Police responded that last year there were 8,970 violent crimes in Scottsdale. Only one of these was committed against a gay couple, and it has not been determined whether that crime was motivated by animosity towards homosexuals. This year, there have been two reported incidents, and both are still under investigation. Those are the facts. But over the last year, the media has portrayed Scottsdale as being under a wave of systematic crime against homosexuals. Nothing could be further from the truth.What no council members or city staff were able to answer were the practical questions of what the ordinance will mean. Will men who "identify" themselves as women now be allowed to use city park and library women's restrooms instead of the men's room? Will the city now have to spend millions of dollars to remodel restrooms? Has the city opened itself up to be the target of new lawsuits based on fuzzy definitions of "gender identity"? Will Christian employees be punished or fired for exercising their First Amendment rights and voicing their deeply held convictions about sexual behavior? No one knows the answers to these questions. What we do know is that there are no facts that support this ordinance. Its real purpose is to incrementally pass measures recognizing homosexual behavior and relationships that will lead to the legalization of same-sex "marriage." CREATIVE FINANCING FOR THEME PARK IN ELOY ISN'T GOOD FOR BUSINESS
By Dr.
Byron Schlomoch, Goldwater Institute Maybe it's a good idea. A music-themed amusement park in Eloy just might work. True, the park would be in the desert between Tucson and Phoenix with a limited available work force and limited infrastructure for large numbers of visitors. Still, there have been surprises before. Who could have predicted Branson, Missouri?
At first glance, this doesn't seem like that big of a deal, or something that could affect the average taxpayer. Businesses borrow money for an initial capital investment all the time. And, the sales tax would only be paid by people coming to the park. The thing is, this is a pretty special privilege the state is being asked to confer. In a nutshell, this private business would be financed as if it were a municipality, county, or the state, and get all the tax benefits that come along with that. Needless to say, most businesses in Arizona don't get these sorts of benefits. The adoption of this proposal will allow the state to favor one business by lowering its investment costs and not doing so for other businesses. Arizona's constitution has several provisions to prevent these types of deals. In fact, the Goldwater Institute has filed a lawsuit against the City of Phoenix to prevent it from offering a sweetheart deal to a mall developer. This project also does present a risk for all Arizona taxpayers. If Decades' owners default on their "government" bonds, Arizona's legitimate government bond ratings could suffer. All of these creative financing schemes for private businesses that cities around the state continue to offer beg one question: if we are so desperate to help businesses open in Arizona, why don't we lower costs for everyone? If costs are too high, then cutting business taxes is the way to address the problem. VOTER PROTECTION ACT CONTRIBUTING TO BUDGET SHORTFALL
By Dr. Tom
Patterson, Goldwater Institute Words like "crisis" and "pain" describe the state budget situation. The revenue shortfall for this fiscal year, once thought to be as high as $600 million, now looks to be somewhere north of $800 million. Next year looks even worse.
The VPA provides that any measure passed at the ballot box can never
be amended by the Legislature unless the amendment "furthers the
purpose" of the original initiative, and even then only with a
three-fourths vote. So we have an ever-growing body of appropriations,
taxes and laws which, practically speaking, can never be changed.
The practical problems that arise from having unchangeable laws become
obvious as the Legislature struggles with the hole in the current
budget. The Legislature, the appropriating body under our
Constitution, really controls only one-third of the state
budget. The rest is either mandated by the feds, is the result of a
judicial fiat or is protected under the VPA. Practically speaking, we
can't do much about the first two, but the VPA is a self-inflicted
wound.
The Legislature would be more able to avoid new taxes, new debt and
accounting gimmicks to balance the budget if they were able to
reprioritize spending, at least on a temporary basis. The VPA stands
in the way of this fiscal commonsense.
Changing the Voter Protection Act can only be accomplished by a vote of the people and it won't help resolve the current budget crisis. If the VPA can't be eliminated, surely reasonable minds could agree that a five or 10-year moratorium on amendments would be sufficient to protect citizens' interests. We can act now to avoid painful crises in the future. DEMS TALK GOOD GAME ON 'DISCRIMINATION,' BUT HOW MANY TRANSGENDERED FOLKS HAVE THEY HIRED? By Dennis Durband, Editor Nov. 16, 2007 Tempe congressman Harry Mitchell explained in a letter to a constituent why he voted in favor of ENDA – the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. ENDA would prohibit intentional employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. This legislation would also stipulate a means by which to handle complaints of such discrimination. This bill would apply to employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, and joint labor-management committees. Religious organizations and the armed forces would be excluded from ENDA. I believe that discrimination is wrong. No American should ever be a target of discrimination because of his or her religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation or disability. The Civil Rights Act currently protects employment discrimination on the basis of gender, race, religion, color and national origin, but stops short of offering recourse for employees discriminated against based on sexual orientation. I also believe that equality in the workplace is a basic and fundamental right and that workers should receive compensation based solely on their skills. Because that is not the case today, ENDA is a necessary measure to eliminate hatred and discrimination from America's workplaces. I voted for and the House passed ENDA by a vote of 235 to 184 on November 7, 2007. This legislation has been referred to the Senate for further consideration. Please be assured that I will keep your views in mind as this bill continues its way through the legislative process. Again, thank you for contacting me about this issue. I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me again should you have any additional questions, comments, or concerns. Homosexual pressure groups backed ENDA because it is a bill that represents a major piece in the incremental gains strategy of the homosexual agenda.What I would really like to know is how many cross-dressing, transgendered and questioning folks the Democrats in Congress have hired to work in their offices. And what is their quota system for hiring these strange people? It doesn’t take a creative imagination to wonder what kind of a “style show” might occur daily in the Bay Area offices of leftist lawmakers.ENDA REPRESENTS BUILDING BLOCK FOR HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA By Cathi Herrod, President In an historic vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday prohibiting discrimination in employment (ENDA) against individuals based on their sexual behavior. The House voted 235 - 184 in favor of ENDA. Arizona Congressmen voting yes: Flake, Grijalva, Mitchell, Pastor; Arizona Congressmen voting no: Renzi, Shadegg, Franks. Giffords did not vote, although she cast votes on other items under consideration yesterday. The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate for consideration. To see the complete breakdown of the vote, visit clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll1057.xml.Why does this matter? After all, no one supports discrimination in the workplace. As always, one must look at the bill's real intent, purpose, and impact. In today's culture, there's little evidence that homosexuals are losing their jobs or not getting jobs because of their sexual orientation. To the contrary, homosexuals as a group have a higher per capita income and hold more professional level jobs than most other groups. Certainly homosexuals have not faced the discrimination faced by people of color and women that established the need for legislation prohibiting discrimination in the workplace. No, passage of ENDA is a critical building block to the pro-homosexual special rights agenda set forth by the Human Rights Campaign. Consider the statement issued by HRC President Joe Solmonese after the House vote: "Our fight for equality will not be won overnight. It will be one step at a time, and we will not give up until we reach the finish line. This is a critical piece of legislation and a major step toward the finish line for all Americans." Make no mistake. The "finish line" means "full equality" in the form of same sex marriage and the promotion of homosexuality throughout all segments of society, including the church. The "finish line" means hate crimes laws preventing preaching and teaching biblical truths about homosexual behavior. The bill provides a narrow exemption for religious organizations. In all lik elihood, however, many para-church organizations, including CAP, would not be exempted from the bill's provisions. Pregnancy resource centers likely would not be exempted. Businessmen desiring to operate their businesses according to their religious beliefs would not be exempted. Only an organization propagating the faith or controlled by a religious organization or society is exempted.Next up will be Senate consideration of the House approved version of ENDA. Negotiations also continue on "hate crimes" legislation. While the White House has indicated President Bush will veto both measures, let's not take a potential veto for granted. We'll let you know when it's time to let the President hear your voice! Meanwhile, the proponents behind ENDA and hate crimes legislation in Congress also are pouring millions of dollars into state and federal election campaigns. The Human Rights Campaign Fund is one of the most well-funded advocacy organizations in the country.
ARIZONA'S TAX BITE With a $600 million general fund shortfall -- almost 6 percent of the general fund budget -- some Arizonans might be tempted with a tax increase. After all, the state recently enjoyed a tax cut. Arizona is a low-tax state, right?
The good news is Arizona's tax burden ranking is falling. In 1980, Arizona ranked 12th highest among the states, then taking a whopping 10.3 percent of Arizonans' incomes. Wait a minute--that's the same as today! Turns out state and local tax burdens across the nation are at record levels. We're not doing better in the rankings because we've reduced our tax burden; it's that everyone else's tax burden has increased.
Fortunately, Arizona taxes less than California (11.5%), slightly less than Colorado (10.4%) and Utah (10.7%), and only a little more than Nevada (10.1%). But New Mexico taxes at only 9.8 percent and Texas taxes an even lower 9.3 percent.
So, while our overall tax burden is far from the worst in the country, taxation has effects deeper than the sum of its parts.
The Tax Foundation also looked specifically at states' business tax climates. With number one being the best, Arizona is right in the middle at 25th. Under this ranking, California is at a dismal 47th. But, Nevada ranks 3rd, Utah 17th, Colorado 13th, New Mexico 23rd, and Texas 8th. In our region, Arizona only outranks California.
Business is the engine of an economy's prosperity. And right now Arizona's economic future is too dependent on California's monumental fiscal incompetence. Just being better than California is not a tax or fiscal policy that will ensure economic prosperity in the future. HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN: HOLLYWEIRD WRITERS STRIKE!
By The Arizona Conservative It’s a beautiful thing: Hollyweird writers going on strike and sparing families of some of the garbage on the idiot box and the silver screen. The strike was juxtaposed against a stinging rebuke of the media by Carl Bernstein, a Washington Post reporter who helped break the Watergate story. Talks between Hollywood writers and studios abruptly broke off last week and a strike has ensued. This could be the strike that cripples the television industry, morally bankrupt as it is and capable of creating little in the way of socially redeeming value. For some unknown length of time, America’s airwaves will be free of new pollution from the idiot box. Hollyweird screenwriters – vastly out of touch with America -- last struck in 1988, for 22 weeks. That fortunate strike delayed the fall TV season and cost the industry $500 million. As this new strike approached, networks sped up production of movies and television shows. They can do us all a favor and stay on strike, or get real jobs, and end the cultural rot that has done so much to dumb down America. It is also ironic that Bernstein just this week criticized the excesses in entertainment and celebrity reporting, during a meeting with college prep students. He said that more reporting resources go to the exploits of celebrities than to hard news. "The problems we have in news and journalism are about us not doing our job well enough," Bernstein said. "The ideal of providing the best available version of the truth is being affected by the dominance of a journalistic culture that has less and less to do with reality and context." Bernstein said the "idiot culture" is partly to blame for the dysfunction of political life in the United States. "You can't separate the appetites and demands of the people themselves and what they are given," he said. "The blame simply can't all be put at the feet of those who present news." Let’s hope for a long strike and that Americans find useful things to do with the time they might have spent numbing out on stupid, insulting forms of “entertainment.” And let’s hope that the media takes a hint and reports less on entertainment and more on things that matter. CLINT BOLICK: I'M SHOCKED, SHOCKED! Oct. 24, 2007 Oro Valley's recent decision to yield its status as Arizona's subsidy capital didn't come a moment too soon. The first report for two sales-tax rebate subsidies awarded for Oracle Crossings Center and Steam Pump Village are in, and the results are predictable.
Explanations for the revenue paucity include delayed construction and insufficient demand for retail space. Could it be that the market is telling the town something?
The Oro Valley experience is only the latest evidence that politicians are lousy investors. A few years back, Tucson gave Slim-Fast a big subsidy to build a plant; within a few years the plant went bust and the promised jobs disappeared-along with the taxpayers' money.
Arizona's founders had their own epiphany 100 years ago: subsidies lavished upon railroad companies that never managed to lay track. Determined never to repeat that error, they wrote into the Constitution the anti-gift clause, which absolutely prohibits gifts to individuals or corporations in the form of subsidies or otherwise.
Cities have ignored the constitutional constraint, engaging in a frenzied competition over who can bestow the most corporate welfare. The Goldwater Institute's constitutional challenge to the $97.4 million subsidy of the CityNorth mall in Phoenix offers hope in reining in local government excesses.
Politicians have every right to be gamblers-but the Constitution instructs that they do so with their own money. TOM PATTERSON: HERE COMES THE RAIN AGAIN, COURTESY OF NAPOLITANO Oct. 11, 2007 Say
your family finances hit a rough spot. What should you do? One option
would be to pull out the plastic and rack up credit card debt. You don't
have to be a financial genius to understand that's not very smart. Yet
that is pretty much Governor Napolitano's plan to address Arizona's
revenue shortfall. Matters are even more grim for next year. This year's budget assumed a surplus of $400 million from last year (which didn't entirely materialize). So next year's budget will begin with a $1 billion gap between current spending and revenue levels.
The governor is using debt to substitute for a cash appropriation to balance the budget and that is specifically what the state founders intended to prohibit. The practice of forcing future generations to pay for things we want today would have been unthinkable to our fiscally responsible forefathers. Ultimately, there is no realistic choice considering the situation except to enact real spending cuts, politically painful though that may be. TOLERANCE LITE, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA STYLE By Cathi Herrod, President,
Center for Arizona Policy Where can you find those who have honed intolerance to a fine art? Among those who preach tolerance as the highest of virtues, of course! Last month, Priority College Ministry, a student club at the U of A, s ucceeded in pulling off a Christian concert despite the best efforts of student body leaders to sabotage the event. The club had been promised more than $4,000 in student funds for the event by the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, or ASUA. All student organizations are eligible to receive funds, but ASUA changed the rules after promising the funds, making "blatantly religious or political events" ineligible for funds. Priority College Ministry was left in a lurch, and if it hadn't been for local churches who were willing to help fund the concert at the last minute, it would have been cancelled.But ASUA apparently doesn't mind funding items that are both politically and religiously charged. At the very same meeting where they changed the funding rules, they voted to pay for a two-page ad in the school newspaper to promote "Coming Out Week" for one of the campus's homosexual clubs. Not to be outdone, U of A administrators created a new office of "gay and lesbian affairs" on campus last week, and hired a local homosexual activist as its first director. If you are a Wildcat alum, you now know what to do when you are next solicited for a donation. And if you haven't heard today's related radio commentary, "Intolerant Wildcats," you can listen to it online.IT'S THE SPENDING, STUPID (JANET NAPOLITANO) By Bryon Schlomach, Goldwater Institute Holy misdirection, Batman! Only sitting elected officials could make a spending problem seem like an economic illness. Arizona's state revenues are short an estimated $600
million for 2008, just three months into the fiscal year. The culprit
cited is a slowing housing market and falling home values. Dr. Byron Schlomach is the director for the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute. KKNT TALKERS BLOWN AWAY, BLOWN OUT By Dennis Durband, Editor KKNT Radio, alias "The Patriot," dial 960 in Phoenix had bled long enough, so the station recently jettisoned 3-6 p.m. drive time talk show hosts Tom Liddy and Austin Hill. Nationally-syndicated talker Hugh Hewitt moved into the slot to fill the void. Tapscan Ratings showed KFYI Radio, with Sean Hannity and J.D. Hayworth, blowing away Liddy and Hill by nearly a 3-1 margin. Hannity, whose show runs 1-4 p.m. and overlapped the first hour of Liddy and Hill, pounded the duo 123,400 listeners to 37,700. Hayworth went up against Liddy and Hill from 4-6 p.m. and the former congressman pounded them, 96,200 listeners to just 37,300. To put it mildly, Liddy and Hill were boring as month-old bread. And Liddy is no conservative. Liddy is the former chairman of the Maricopa County Republican Party. Hill has also been filling in on stations in L.A., Dallas, Chicago and D.C. The duo got their start at KFYI during the start of the Iraq War in 2003. CRUEL INTENTIONS: REPUBLIC HIT PIECE ON CHARTER SCHOOLS AIMS TO DISCREDIT MOVEMENT By Clint Bolick, Goldwater
Institute
The Arizona Republic recently featured a two-part series on alleged
financial improprieties of charter schools. Focusing on a small
number of rogue schools leads one to wonder if the reporter's intent
was to tar the entire charter school movement and invite a regulatory
response.
 The
Goldwater Institute stands second-to-none in our demand for financial
accountability for all public entities, including charter schools.
But the Republic overlooks the real story-that charter schools as a
whole outperform
traditional public schools with significantly fewer dollars.
Arizona is the nation's leading pioneer of charter schools, which are
public schools that are allowed to offer distinctive curricula (though
even there, the Empire is striking back in the form of "curriculum
alignment," which the Goldwater Institute is challenging in court).
Charter schools enroll only 7.5 percent of the state's children, yet
by the state's own standards, nine out of 10 of the top-ranked public
schools are charter schools. Students attending charter schools
typically are from poorer families and possess greater special needs
than traditional public school students, yet they usually outperform
the public schools with which they compete. Moreover, competition
from charter schools boosts performance in traditional public schools,
according to a study by Harvard Professor Caroline Hoxby.
The state should more carefully monitor financial governance at
charter schools, and take action against the bad actors. But it also
should aggressively promote parental choice in both the public and
private educational sectors, for choice is the tide that lifts all
boats.
Meanwhile, we eagerly await the Republic's expose on financial waste
in traditional public schools-but won't hold our breath!
LIBERAL POLITRICKSTERS CAUGHT RED-HANDED STEALING CAMPAIGN SIGNS The Arizona Conservative Little things like campaign laws and ethics seldom get
in the way of liberal politricksters. Such was the case Wednesday night
for a campaign sign stealer in Phoenix who got caught red-handed taking
down council candidate Jon Altmann’s sign. GORE WINS LD 8 STRAW POLL AMONG DEMS; MRS. CLINTON WOULD LIKELY WIN AMONG DISTRICT 8 RINOs By Dennis Durband, Editor
O’CONNOR COURTHOUSE VACUOUS, EMPTY – JUST LIKE HER
SUPREME COURT CAREER By Cathi Herrod, President,
Center for Arizona Policy Parents and grandparents, take notice! As your children start off a new school year, take time to get to know what's going on at your local public school. Organizations such as the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) constantly pressure school administrators and teachers to use the classroom to use the classroom environment to indoctrinate students into accepting homosexual behavior as just another healthy option. For example, last year GLSEN encouraged educators in Mesa Public Schools to "use inclusive, affirming, gender-neutral language when referring to sexuality and human relationships in every-day speech..." and to say words like "'lesbian,' 'gay,' 'bisexual,' 'transgender' each day in a positive way." Teachers were also asked to "use inclusive language that implicitly allows for LGBT possibilities," always substituting "parent" for "mother" or "father," or using "spouse," rather than "husband" or "wife." School clubs are often used by homosexual activists to further their cause, but they are sometimes given innocuous names like "Club SODA." This fun-sounding name is actually an acronym for "Sexual Orientation Diversity Awareness." Other clubs pushing a pro-homosexual-behavior agenda include Unitown and Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs). GLSEN also pressures schools to observe various "days of action," such as "No Name Calling Week," the "Day of Silence," and the "Transgender Day of Remembrance." The occasions are used to get the attention of all students and convey the message that their school supports homosexual behavior. UNACCEPTABLE! 7,500 GANG MEMBERS IN PHOENIX!
The Arizona Conservative Authorities say there are 250 gangs with 7,500 members in Phoenix. The majority of towns in America do not have populations of 7,500. These shocking numbers are completely unacceptable to the citizens of this county. These shocking figures, reported by ABC Channel 15 should have prompted the governor’s office, the state, Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio and the city to take stronger measures to regain control of this lost city. It should have happened long before things got this far out of hand. This kind of crime is totally unacceptable to the citizens of and visitors to Arizona – all of whom have no guarantees of safety. Phoenix is becoming another Detroit. Sheriff Joe is tough on prisoners, but weak on criminals. Gov. Napolitano needs to show some leadership and bring this horrible situation brought under control. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and his chief of police ought to wipe out gangs or resign. While Gordon, Napolitano and Arpaio have been busy politicking and staging publicity stunts, gangs have been terrorizing Phoenix, committing murder and mayhem. We, the people, demand eradication of this gang infestation that plagues this city.
FIRST, DOCTORS, DO NO HARM The civil case will take on a different tone that the criminal charges. This time, the juries will be presented with the loss suffered by the families of the victims, as opposed to the sympathy shown the medicos by the Grand Jury. WAKE UP, WAKE UP ARIZONA!
The Arizona Conservative "Tokyo Rose" is back on the radio and this time she is sporting the moniker, "Wake Up Arizona!" Just as Tokyo Rose lied about America and tried to undermine the morale of our armed forces during World War II, Wake Up Arizona! is now subverting national sovereignty by advocating for amnesty, through offensive and insensitive radio commercials. Who are the targets of the vile messages? Conservatives who oppose amnesty and who favor a controlled border. The greedy people behind the radio spots are businesses that benefit directly from employing cheap labor, such as McDonald's and professional sports teams connected to Jerry Colangelo. One radio commercial features a Latina woman condescendingly dressing down conservatives and warning them that Hispanics voted a whopping 44 percent for George W. Bush in 2000 and that by opposing amnesty guest worker programs GOP candidates will lose that "big" block of voters in the future. These ads directly subvert America and American sovereignty -- all in the name of the greenbacks the greedy sponsors lust for by using illegal, cheap immigrant labor. These commercials will no more change the hearts and minds of Americans than Tokyo Rose did during Great War II. Wake up, Wake Up Arizona!
TANCREDO REGAINS TOP SPOT IN TAC PRESIDENTIAL RATINGS Colorado Cong. Tom Tancredo has regained the No. 1
position in The Arizona Conservative presidential, after slipping to
second place last month. Tancredo has made strong public showings
recently, while stories surfaced about former leader Fred Thompson
previously lobbying for the abortion industry. Thompson fell all the way
to sixth place. The remaining contenders in order of position appear below. Not all of our ranked contenders are announced candidates, but they are people we would respect to some degree as entries in the White House sweepstakes. 1. Cong. Tom Tancredo KKNT AMNESTY ADS FIT WITH STATION'S COMPROMISING NATURE July 16, 2007 Some of our conservative blogging brothers are expressing angst over KKNT Radio's airing of pro-amnesty advertisements. I don't know why there are surprised. That's just KKNT being KKNT. After all, KKNT is the station that gives us neocons Tom Liddy, Austin Hill, Hugh Hewitt, Mike Gallagher and Michael Medved. KKNT is also the source of many liberal soundbites from news anchor John Gibson. The Phoenix station was also the source of campaign ads by RINO Rick Murphy, who challenged conservative Cong. Trent Franks in 2004. The bottom line is advertising revenue -- not conservative ideology. CNN SETS JOURNALISM BACK A DECADE WITH BIASED REPORT FROM ARIZONA July 14, 2007 CNN, aka the "Clinton News Network," aired a completely biased report Friday night on Arizona's latest get-tough-on-the-border-invasion law, signed recently by liberal Gov. Janet Napolitano. Proponents of open borders received a disproportionate share of air time from CNN. The statistics cited by State Rep. Russell Pearce were refuted. The statements of pecan growers and the owner of numerous McDonald's Restaurants that they only hire legals was not challenged. It was clearly obvious that the owners of the businesses enjoyed cheap labor. The report was moderated by Anderson Cooper. Ultra-left cookie-cutter media, such as The Arizona Republic and CNN, have been supporting the border invasion for several years. Meanwhile, illegals are killing Americans on the roads and filling up prisons, while overcrowding schools and hospital emergency rooms. MAN RECOVERS FROM COMA AFTER MEDICS TRIED TO STARVE HIM TO DEATH By Cathi Herrod, President,
Center for Arizona Policy On Sunday, Jesse Ramirez Jr. became responsive after being in a coma since he was badly injured in a car accident on May 30th. Mr. Ramirez is lucky to be alive. Just ten days after the accident, Jesse was moved from the hospital to a hospice. The tubes that provided him with food and water were removed. Members of Jesse's family were alarmed that these actions were taken so quickly after his injury. So, with the help of our friends at the Alliance Defense Fund, they filed a lawsuit to have his food and water restored. As a result of the lawsuit, Jesse was again given nourishment. He had gone without food and water for five days. About a week after his food and water were restored, Jesse began to show signs of recovery. He is now alert to his surroundings, responds to voice commands, and recognizes family members. He has been moved from a hospice to a rehabilitation center. Hopefully, Jesse's miracle recovery will continue. Jesse's case raises grave concerns. His food and water was removed too quickly, without sufficient deliberation, and without lawful authority. In fact, Jesse's nourishment should never have been removed in the first place. Arizona law states: "A surrogate who is not the patient's agent or guardian shall not make decisions to withdraw the artificial administration of food or fluid." Jesse had neither an agent [person appointed by power of attorney] nor a court-appointed guardian. The reality is it took a lawsuit for the law to be followed so Jesse could have a chance at recovery.By Cathi Herrod, President,
Center for Arizona Policy THOMPSON ASSUMES TOP POSITION IN T.A.C. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE RATINGS June 23, 2007 The Arizona Conservative has released its latest presidential preference ratings, and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson has take | ||
But,
the developers of
But
trouble can be the mother of opportunity. Lawmakers may, for the first
time, have a realistic chance to reform one of the structural anomalies
that caused the problem in the first place, the Voter Protection Act (VPA).
Not
exactly. It is true that Arizona's state and local tax burden is below
the national average, ranking 31st highest among the states
this year according to the Tax Foundation. Still, Arizona's governments
take 10.3 percent of Arizonans' income.
The
first project forecast sales of $106 million over the last two fiscal
years, which would have generated $2.12 
State
government in Arizona has gorged itself for the past five years, growing
at a truly unsustainable 12 percent rate. 
However, under
Governor Napolitano, every budget from 2004 to 2007 has grown faster
than Arizonans' collective personal income. Nearly 7 percentage points
faster in 2004, 12.3 points faster in 2005, 5.7 points faster in 2006,
and 0.5 point faster in 2007.