Putting it unkindly, your Arizona State Legislature is stupid, heartless, immoral and racist.
And then there’s Republican Sen. Scott Bundgaard. I’ll bet the ladies over at our own Time Out Shelter are shaking their heads over his antics. Not that they haven’t seen such behavior before, but to claim immunity from arrest after you’ve pummeled your girlfriend – on the side of a freeway, for God’s sake? And then lie about it? How low can a state senator go?
But this isn’t about Scott Bundgaard. It’s about a state legislature that is proving just how low it can go, a state legislature that has cut education to the bone (placing us down there below the likes of Mississippi and Alabama), that has literally condemned those in need of organ transplants to death (talk about death panels), and that won’t make the hard choice to get our budget back under control. The hard choice is a tax increase, but nobody has the guts to do that anymore.
Rather, it’s a state legislature that wants to impose a flat tax rate that will have the effect of raising taxes on everybody who makes less than $100,000 a year, while lowering them on everyone who makes over $100,000 a year. That is so Republican.
But what has really ticked me off is House Bill 2443 which would prevent abortions based on the race or gender of the fetus. It’s on its way to Gov. Jan (couldn’t speak a grammatical sentence if her life depended on it) Brewer where her signature will make it law.
Now that’s a good law you might argue. It’s wrong to base abortions on the race or gender of a fetus. And you would be right. It is wrong.
But that’s not why your Arizona State Legislature passed it. No. In fact, the reason they passed it is to impose further restrictions on a woman’s right to choose while PRETENDING to do it “to protect against bigotry and prejudice,” according to Rep. Steve Montenegro of Litchfield Park who is behind the bill. It will not surprise you that Montenegro is a Republican. It will also not surprise you that the bill passed on strict party lines – the Republicans in favor, the Democrats opposed.
In fact, as Rep. Katie Hobbs of Phoenix (a Democrat) pointed out, Montenegro could cite no evidence that such a problem even exists – except a magazine article about such practices in Asian countries.
I don’t care what you think about abortion. Personally I don’t think it’s anybody else’s damn business what a woman chooses to do with her body. Just like the woman who chooses to terminate a pregnancy, the self righteous who think it is their business will have to answer one day to their maker – who is really the ultimate authority on the matter. I truly believe He or She or It will come down on the side of women on this one.
If you believe otherwise, that’s fine. It’s still a free country, I think.
But regardless of how you feel about abortion, I don’t see how you can tolerate a state legislature whose Republican members couldn’t behave ethically if Jesus himself were standing before them.
So frankly, I’ve had it. I don’t like these Bozos. I don’t like what they stand for. I don’t like what they’re doing to our state.
If you disagree, please comment on this column below and I will run it. Even if you’re comment is just “Bullsh*t” like the guy who commented on the Obamacare First Anniversary article I posted the other day. Heck, maybe you can even provide an insight that will help me understand the kind of behavior Your Arizona State Legislature is displaying.
I would be amazed, but I’m open to it.
Otherwise, I say it’s time for the real middle class – not the Tea Party retirees who claim to represent the middle class – to rise up and throw the immoral bums out.
12 comments:
"So frankly, I’ve had it." Then move away.
You have put it very well.
It shouldn't matter why a woman wants an abortion. It's her body and if she doesn't choose to use it as an incubator to what is, biologically, a parasite (go look up the definition of parasite before you get all huffy about my use of the word), then it shouldn't be anybody's business and she shouldn't have to tell anyone WHY she wants to abort. "I don't want to be pregnant right now" is all the reason that should be needed.
Government needs to get out of the morality business and let people manage their own sexuality and their own reproduction and answer to God for anything HE doesn't like. It's none of our business.
I loved reading your article! Finally, some sanity for a change. For the life of me, I cannot understand why people keep voting for these "bozos" as you call them. Look at how Jan Brewer won people over with her "deer in the headlights" stare during her debate with Terry Goddard. Here was Goddard, son of a politician, a graduate of Harvard, a successful mayor of Phoenix and later, our Attorney General, with a plan for this state. Yet people voted for Jan, the woman who graduated with a radiology degree from Grand Canyon U. and by default became governor when Napolitano left for D.C. She has no plan for this state and she blindsided our tourism industry when she lied and said that people were being beheaded in the desert by illegal immigrants. If this is not bad enough, we have Russell Pearce running roughshod through the legislature without regard for anyone else. Obviously, these are not the most educated people and it should be no surprise to us then that they do not value education. How can we attract businesses to this state if we are not able to offer them an educated workforce, or a high standard of education for their own children? These legislators cannot think past the next step -- they are incapable of thinking 3, 4 or 5 steps into the future regarding the consequences of their actions. Education is not only our hope, but an investment in our people and therefore, our state. You are right that there is not enough revenue and they need to raise it. Taxes are one way to do this, and there are other ways as well. If they would only look to see what other states have done they'd be able to find some other ways of doing things. I wish people would wake up and vote for some real change for this state. When is enough, enough?
Sincerely,
Ramie Janis
Aye aye, attaboy and amen, Jim.
sandy from Scottsdale
i cant understand the dribble coming out of your mouth. I am a independent that has switched from democrat for the sole reason that i am sick of democrats saying anything they want, including racism comments about tea party members. they can literally say what they want and not answer to it, just like our president. the truth is both sides lie and cheat and be deceptive, but i am so disgusted from the idea that democrats think they can just spend money like its pixie dust. when my daughter and son will pay for it. i dont expect you to post this, but i will respectively understand, because you are probably one that says that great r word you like to use so much. thank you.
I agree with everything you've said about our legislature. Unfortunately, the idea of proposing legislation to deal with issues that don't exist, and are highly unlikely to ever exist, is not unique to Arizona. In Oklahoma, the state legislature wants to ban, or maybe already has banned, the use of sharia law as if, in a country that is 3% Muslim, that is a problem or is ever likely to become one.
IN MY OPINION YOU GOT EVERYTHING CORRECT. CHEERS TO YOU.
Great to see a new "Off the Rim", Give 'em hell Jim.
Besides standing for racist, the "R" word also stands for Republican. Please read my column again. Nowhere did I advocate spending more money, just raising a little through a tax increase so we can balance the state budget without killing our schools and our parks and our people. The "Rs" gave out tax cuts when we had a state surplus, so why not a tax increase when we have a deficit. Makes way too much sense, I guess. And I hate to sound anti-R, but why not make those people who build those fancy mansions in the Valley pay a higher percentage in taxes instead of always giving them tax breaks? They have way more than their fair share. But I'd be happy if a tax increase were simply fair and square -- applied equally to all of us -- not the flat rate increase the legislature wants to impose so people making less than $100,000 get the increase while those making more than $100,000 pay less. Mark my words, at some point the middle class is going to rise up and say "ENOUGH." We've seen a taste of it in Madison, and it will happen. And when it does, it will happen at the ballot box where all your guns and bullets won't do you a bit of good.
Respectfully
Jim Keyworth
Simply refreshing! I hope we can sit down and chat some day.
"LESS GOVERNMENT! LESS GOVERNMENT!"
The GOP would wrap a women's uterus in government red tape; only then will you never hear their battle cry.
Think: Would a GOP official quietly watch a rapist's child grow in his wife's womb?
Next is banned contraception on the far right's agenda in it's war against women's rights.
Remember, and vote in November!
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