Humane Society endorses Carmona

Flake is no friend of animals

WASHINGTON (Oct. 3, 2012) -- The Humane Society Legislative Fund, the nation’s leading political advocacy organization for animal welfare, announces its endorsement of Richard Carmona, M.D., D-Ariz., in the open Arizona U.S. Senate race.
 
Responding to the HSLF candidate questionnaire, Carmona stated, “Animals are a crucial part of the lives of many Americans, and our people have a long, if not always positive, history with both domestic and wild animals. I believe that bond should be recognized by the federal policymakers, and due consideration given to the impact of our laws and regulations on domestic and wild animals.”
 
The 17^th U.S. Surgeon General, Carmona was senior editor of the 2010 reference manual for emergency medical response personnel, “Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response: Principles & Practice,” which includes a section on planning for the needs of household pets and service animals as part of the mass care/sheltering responsibilities of emergency managers, as required by the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act of 2006.
 
Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., was part of a rogue group of lawmakers, in a vote of 349 to 24, to oppose efforts to include pets in disaster planning – this vote, coming in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in the Gulf Coast, after so many people stayed behind and put themselves and first responders at risk because there were no plans to care for pets. The bill passed the Senate unanimously and was signed into law by President George W. Bush in October 2006.
 
“Arizona voters have time and time again approved common-sense animal welfare reforms, banning cockfighting, steel-jawed leghold traps on public lands, and inhumane confinement of animals on factory farms,” said Sara Amundson, executive director of the Humane Society Legislative Fund. “Jeff Flake has opposed nearly every animal welfare reform in Congress, and we urge Arizona voters who care about the humane treatment of animals to support Richard Carmona for Senate.”
 
Rep. Flake has opposed numerous common-sense animal protection policies throughout his tenure in Congress. Among his votes, Rep. Flake has:

• Voted against requiring state and local authorities to consider the needs of people with pets and service animals in their disaster planning (H.R. 3858/P.L. 109-308)
• Voted against establishing a program at Veterans Administration medical centers in which patients with post-deployment mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder would train service dogs as a form of therapy, and the trained dogs would assist veterans with disabilities (H.R. 3885)
• Voted against strengthening the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s enforcement of the federal law against dogfighting and cockfighting (H.R. 2673, Blumenauer Amendment)
• Voted to allow the use of bait to lure and shoot bears for trophy hunting on federal lands, even though Arizona prohibits bear baiting (H.R. 2691, Gallegly Amendment)
• Voted to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on the use of aerial gunning, toxic poisons, steel-jawed leghold traps, and other inhumane methods of killing predators as a subsidy for private livestock ranchers (H.R. 2112, Campbell Amendment)
• Voted for a devastating “extinction rider” that would have weakened the Endangered Species Act by preventing the listing of imperiled species and designation of critical habitat (H.R. 2584, Dicks Amendment)
• Voted to allow the slaughter and processing of downer livestock, too sick and injured to walk on their own, for human consumption (H.R. 2673, Ackerman Amendment)
• Voted to allow the long-distance transport (including export) of American horses for slaughter for human consumption in other countries where horse meat is considered a delicacy (H.R. 503)
• Voted twice to allow the interstate commerce in chimpanzees and other primates for the exotic pet trade, which poses a danger to animal welfare and to public health and safety (H.R. 80 and H.R. 2964)
• Voted twice to allow American trophy hunters to import the heads and hides of polar bears killed for sport in the Arctic, even though polar bears are listed as a threatened species (H.R. 2643, Inslee Amendment and H.R. 4089, Peters Amendment)

HSLF is a nonpartisan organization that evaluates candidates based only on a single criterion: where they stand on animal welfare. HSLF does not judge candidates based on party affiliation or any other issue.

ROUNDUP BURIES 'BEST PAPER' DEFEAT

Front page rife with 

misleading journalism

By Jim Keyworth

Gazette Blog Editor 

If you read the front page of the Payson Roundup yesterday (Tuesday, Oct. 2), you experienced two instances of irresponsible journalism.

The first and most egregious was the Roundup story on the Arizona Newspapers Association (ANA) Awards competition in which the Roundup FAILED TO WIN BEST NON-DAILY NEWSPAPER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MANY, MANY YEARS (we were winning that award every year way back when I was working there).

Actually they did tell you in the very last paragraph of the story that Arizona Capital Times won the award this year, but it was BURIED VERY, VERY DEEP on the continuation page.  At the beginning of the article, the Roundup blew its horn (out of all proportion with reality) about some minor awards it did win, making it sound like they swept the competition.

If one were practicing responsible journalism, one would admit up front, in the lead paragraph, that a long streak had come to an end.  Instead, the Roundup tried to mislead its readers into thinking all was well on the awards front.  It’s a little reminiscent of how the Roundup buried the story about Editor Pete Aleshire spending a night in jail.

The other example of dishonest journalism in Tuesday's paper – giving front page coverage to a story told by Rep. Paul Gosar about the Libyan ambassador being tortured and sodomized before he was killed that is total BS.  If the Roundup didn’t know that, it should have.  That kind of political crap has no place in a newspaper that claims to be fair, much less on the front page.

But maybe this front page tells us why the Roundup is no longer the best little non-daily in the state.  Maybe its irresponsible, misleading, sugarcoated, pandering journalism is finally catching up with it.  What goes around…

The prestigious Arizona Press Club awards are the ones that matter, and the Roundup has been pretty much a no-show at that competition the last few years. 

Questions that won't get asked tonight

Portrait, Robert Reich, 08/16/09. (photo: Perian Flaherty)

By Robert Reich

Robert Reich's Blog

readersupportednews.org

03 October 12

overnor Romney: You've said that you have used every legal method to reduce your tax liability. You've also said that as president you would close tax loopholes in order to help finance a major across-the-board tax cut. What specific tax loopholes have you used that you would close? A followup: Would you close the loophole that allows private-equity managers to treat their income as capital gains, subject to a 15 percent tax, even when they risk no capital of their own?

President Obama: You have spoken eloquently of the need to reduce the influence of big money in politics. What specific measures will you advance if you are reelected to accomplish this goal?

Governor Romney: You have promised to repeal the Dodd-Frank bill if you're elected. Yet our largest Wall Street banks are significantly larger than they were before the near meltdown of 2008. How would you prevent another bank from being too big to fail?

President Obama: The Dallas Federal Reserve Board, one of the most conservative in the nation, has called for a limit to the size of Wall Street banks. Sanford Weill, the creator of Citigroup - one of the largest Wall Street banks - says Wall Street banks should be broken up. If you are reelected, will you support capping the size of Wall Street banks?

Governor Romney: You have said you'd repeal the Affordable Care Act if you're elected. That would leave 30 million Americans without health insurance. You championed a small version of the Affordable Care Act in Massachusetts. Does that mean you believe it's more efficient for each state to have its own system for insuring the uninsured?

President Obama: Last December, in a speech you gave in Osawatomie, Kansas, you noted that in the last few decades the average income of the top 1 percent has gone up by more than 250 percent, to $1.2 million per year. For the top one hundredth of 1 percent, the average income is now $27 million per year. And yet, over the last decade the incomes of most Americans have actually fallen by 6 percent. If you're reelected president, what do you propose to do about this trend?

Governor Romney:  Your mathematics has been attacked by those who say it's impossible to provide the tax cut you propose; expand the military, as you want to do; preserve Medicare and Social Security, as you promise to do; and at the same time balance the federal budget, as you say you'll do. Can you take us through the math, please, with specific numbers?

President Obama: You have called for equal marriage rights for gay Americans. If you're reelected, will you support repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act?

Governor Romney: You support states' rights, and don't support wealth redistribution. Yet as you know, the citizens of most so-called "blue" states - notably California, New York, and Massachusetts - send more federal tax revenue to Washington than they receive back from Washington, while most of the citizens of "red" states send less tax revenue to Washington than their citizens receive back. Would you, as president, seek to end this subsidy of red states by blue states?

President Obama: In the 2008 campaign you and your opponent, Senator McCain, both supported some version of a "cap and trade" system for limiting emissions of carbon into the atmosphere. During the last four years, evidence has mounted that climate change may be doing irreversible damage to the planet. If you are reelected, will you push for a "cap and trade" system, or a carbon tax, or both?

Governor Romney: America has had some very wealthy men elected president. Your wealth is estimated to be more than a quarter of a billion dollars. The wealthy men elected president - a Republican, Teddy Roosevelt; Franklin D. Roosevelt; and John F. Kennedy - all fought for equal opportunity, reduced the power of large corporations and Wall Street, and gave average working Americans more economic security. Do you share these objectives, and, if you're elected president, what will you do to achieve them? Please be specific.

President Obama:  TARP authorized not only a bailout of Wall Street banks but help to distressed homeowners. You chose not to condition the bailout of Wall Street on the banks reducing the amount people owed on their mortgages. In hindsight, do you think that was a mistake?  A follow up question, if I may: It is estimated that one in five American families is still underwater - owing more on their home mortgages than their homes are worth.  So far your efforts to help them have fallen far short of the goals you set. If you are reelected, what specific measures will you initiate do more for these families?

Governor Romney:  You have campaigned as a "businessman" who has the managerial experience to turn the economy around. Yet some say you've run one of the worst campaigns in recent memory - filled with gaffes, misstatements, poor timing, Clint Eastwood, and much else. Conservative columnist Peggy Noonan, for example, calls your campaign a "calamity." Should Americans be concerned about your management abilities?

President Obama: You faced a particularly truculent Republican congress. But some say you didn't fight Republicans hard enough during your first term, that you often began negotiations with compromises, and you didn't use the full powers of your office to get more of what you wanted. Do you think there's any validity to this criticism and, if so, what will you do differently in your second term?

Did AG Horne steal the election?

The big story is Arizona today is the finding by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery that Arizona Attorney General (Republican) Tom Horne - the state's top law enforcement official - broke campaign-finance laws during his 2010 bid for office.

His opponent, (Democrat) Felicia Rotellini, who lost to Horne by a few percentage points, issued this statement:

"The 2010 attorney general's race was decided by precious few votes.  While there's no way of knowing if that election might have ended differently without the boost provided by TV ads paid for with hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal donations, I do know this: Tom Horne stands accused of breaking the law, as determined by an FBI investigation and the Republican Maricopa County attorney.  The attorney general will have his day in court, as he should.  But the fact that Tom Horne needs to have a day in court is shameful.

"An attorney general accused of breaking the law by his fellow law-enforcement officials undermines the credibility of the AG's office and hurts the state of Arizona.  This goes well beyond politics.  It goes directly to the core attribute of the job: the ability to prosecute wrongdoers on behalf of the people of Arizona.

"You can't stand accused of breaking the law and meanwhile defend the law.  Attorney General Horne should be as ashamed of his alleged conduct as we, the people of Arizona, are disappointed in it.

"Let me also say this: As a career prosecutor, I know how hard resources are to come by in a world where you're faced with investigating and prosecuting homicides, rapes and massive fraud.

"I very much appreciate the work and diligence of the FBI and the Maricopa Attorney's Office and the courage of all the witnesses that came forward in this case.  Again, they've proven that no one in Arizona is above the law."

For much more on this story, see today's Arizona Republic or go to azcentral.com

For a subscription to the Republic, by far your best Rim Country newspaper value, call 1-800-332-6733.

Romney plans to go with 'zingers'

By Andy Borowitz
The Borowitz Report
 
NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—With the first Presidential debate just two days away, G.O.P. nominee Mitt Romney has been working intensively on two skills that have eluded him throughout the campaign: talking and thinking.

According to one aide, much of Mr. Romney’s debate preparation has involved rehearsing a slew of prepackaged “zingers,” with mixed results: “We gave him what we thought was a foolproof line about the budget deficit and he somehow turned it into a crack about gay Mexicans.”

Reportedly, Mr. Romney’s practice debates have gone worse than expected, with the former Massachusetts governor getting trounced by a variety of opponents, including the Apple personal assistant Siri.

At a joint campaign appearance in Ohio today, Ann Romney attempted to lower expectations for her husband’s performance at this Wednesday’s debate: “When Mitt starts working his mouth and goes off on some weird tangent about who knows what, please just tune him out. God knows that’s how I’ve survived all these years.”

Mr. Romney also downplayed his debate prospects, telling supporters: “President Obama could very well be the greatest debater in human history. He’s Abraham Lincoln, Clarence Darrow, and the Roman orator Cicero put together. Next to that silver-tongued bastard I’m going to sound like someone with a head injury.”

Later in the day, Mr. Romney’s campaign released a statement apologizing to people with head injuries.

Photograph by Richard Ellis/Getty.

Gila County winery earns fair honors

Pleasant Valley Winery received a blue ribbon in the Gila County Fair for its Pomegranate wine, a blue ribbon in the Pleasant Valley Fair for its Apple wine, a red ribbons on its "Outlaw" and Pinot Grigio wines, and a white ribbon on its Riesling.

Mitt's self-immolation is poetic justice

 

A stake through the heart.

 

By Jonathan Chait

New York Magazine

readersupportednews.org 

 

I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll be wrong again, but I may never have been as wrong as I was when I initially predicted that Mitt Romney’s heinous diatribe against 47 percent of America would have little direct impact on the election. It’s an absolutely crushing blow. Obviously it doesn’t guarantee his defeat — if a secret video surfaces depicting Obama promising to impose Sharia law in his second term, Romney will stand a good chance of coming back — but it destroys his public standing in ways 

What’s devastating about (a recent Obama ad featuring Romney's comments), aside from the juxtaposition of Romney’s words against photos of regular Americans, is something I only noticed the second time I watched it. It’s the sound of silverware clinking on china in the background as Romney speaks. That detail contrasts the atmosphere Romney inhabits with the one in which most Americans live. You can tell, even though you’re not seeing this, that the remarks are being made to people enjoying a formal dinner.

The damage of the remarks is twofold. Obviously, it deeply reinforces the worst stereotypes voters have of Romney. Indeed, the fact that he is currently running ads trying to make the case that he does care about all of America testifies to the grim position in which Romney finds himself. If you’re trying to clear the threshold of “does this candidate hate me” six weeks before the election, you’re probably not on the verge of closing the sale.

Worse still, the comments destroy Romney’s fundamental credibility. Here America sees what he says behind closed doors. Nothing he can say in public can possibly overcome the damage of these comments, because voters will quite correctly assume that he is telling them what they want to hear. George W. Bush’s campaign figured out how to do this to both Al Gore and John Kerry — by painting them as liars, Bush destroyed them as a message delivery platform. Romney has, essentially, done it to himself.

The size of the political damage Romney has incurred is beside the point. He was trailing narrowly, but in a polarized electorate with a tiny number of undecided voters. Not only has he turned some of those undecided voters against him, but he’s blown up his bridge to reach them.

My initial instinct, that Romney would escape, arose in part from my general belief that what is and what ought to be are not usually the same thing. Candidates routinely get tripped up by trivial mistakes, and escape unscathed from monstrous acts. Life isn’t fair. But if the 47 percent comments do finish Romney off, as now appears likely, it will be eminently fair.

It will be fair because Romney has spent the last five years refashioning himself in the image of his party, discarding his most decent elements along the way, only to be caught in the end speaking bluntly. I’ve argued that the comments reflect his true beliefs now, but it scarcely matters. America has now seen Mitt Romney talking about us (or 47 percent of us, which offends many more of us) behind our backs.

And then, finally, there is a poetic justice in the substance of Romney’s self-immolation. This is not a random gaffe, a joke gone bad, or even a terrible brain freeze. It is Romney exposed for espousing a worldview that is at the heart of his party’s mania. The idea he summed up at that fund-raiser was a combination of right-wing fever dreams I’ve been analyzing since Obama took office — the Ayn Randism, the fact-free class warfare, the frantic rage at a changing America. The Republican Party is going down because its candidate was seen advocating exactly the beliefs that make the party so dangerous and repellant.

   READER COMMENTS   

 

+39 # Willman 2012-09-30 17:53

My hope is that RoMoney is bullied by the 47% on election day the same way he bullied the student at his prestigious private school he attended.

+14 # Maxwell 2012-09-30 21:46

My hope is that Jonathan Chait is correct. My hope is that the nation heard what Romney said in private and took it to mean what it does in fact mean: that Romney represents only the rich and that he doesn't care at all about poor or even working Americans.

Romney said in so many words that his job is "not to worry about those people". "Those people" are you and me, folks. Romney was addressing the richest people in the country when he said that. Romney will represent them, but not you and me.

How much clearer could his position be?

 

+5 # Barbara K 2012-10-01 04:06

Maxwell: I agree with you, he meant what he said. The only reason I can see that he even wants to be president is his hunger for power, but it is only for his own gain and the pandering he can do to his fellow millionaires. To him it is not and never was about us, the regular people.

 

+1 # Independentgal 2012-10-01 05:15

That Romney only represents the rich is so true. That's what the Republican party has been for years now --- of, by, and for the super rich and the large corporations. Perhaps some of the Republican right wingers will begin to realize what fools they've been to support Romney and his cohorts. The only problem with that is that they've been so brainwashed by Rush and Fox that it may take a while before it becomes apparent to them.

 

+19 # brux 2012-09-30 22:51

Go to Greg Palast's website and read about the many ways the Republicans are using to steal the election.

In 2008 almost 5 million voters were disenfranchised using any of the 9 ways Palast describes to throw away people's ballots.

I would not be so sure or cocky that Obama is going to win unless we do something about these Republicans and their dirty illegal tricks.

 

+4 # tahoevalleylines 2012-09-30 23:14

William J. Scnoebelen has a dark history in the occult, but seems to have a well documented account of what's wrong with Mitt in his book: "Mormonism And The temple Of Doom".

Religion should not be part of a Presidential campaign. Looking at a candidate's belief system and subsequent world view should be.

A man that feels OK with "Harvesting Profits" from working companies, dismembering them and leaving behind ruined lives is not Presidential timber...

The long term fallout from Mitt's fits contaminates the GOP and millions of supporters who are compelled by circumstances to ride this horse to the bitter end. It well could be a very bitter end.

One thing going for Romney and the country; President Mitt would probably receive better treatment from House & Senate Dems than Obama's treatment from GOP members.

The biggest surprise of the election could be Romney's recanting of the bizarre and blasphemous rituals of the LDS. Next, the Civil Engineering shock: Romney lays out a comprehensive engineering proposal for dealing with America's water problems. Based on the 50 years old HAWAPA suite of engineering features, the entire US would benefit from restored aquifers and a multitude of Hydropower sites

The plate is pretty full now.. but Mitt, could you also face up to Peaking Conventional Oil? Care to make a phone call to Richard Heinberg? $10,000?

 

+7 # tigerlille 2012-09-30 23:38

Mitt Romney is the literal embodiment of the psychological concept of projection. Everything he alleges about the supposed 47% of the American public who don't pay taxes is in fact true about himself, right down to the sense of entitlement and the failure to take responsibility for his own life. Yes indeed, I would dearly love to see this shallow, self-righteous man take responsibility for his own life with out his inherited wealth and privilege, with out corporate welfare, and without recourse to a system of predatory capitalism thar does not burden him with any sort of morality or common decency.

What is most disturbing about the Romney presidential campaign is what a perfect opponent he is for President Obama. Romney is such a repulsive individual that Obama is not being held accountable for fis omissions, out right lies, and failiings. He looks so good compared to Romney that no one is challenging his administrations ' attempt to reinstate the clearly unconstitutiona l indefinite detention act, or his unlawful declaration of Bradley Manning's guilt, or his collusion with and failure to prosecute wall Street banksters, or his assumption of presidential power to assassinate any individual in the world without due process, even US citizens, and even US citizens who are children; and that is justis the tip of the iceberg. Funny how things work
out;;

 

+8 # Barbara K 2012-10-01 04:03

I hope that the states conducting the Voter Suppression realize that to take away one's voting rights by purging them from the Rolls can lead to rioting in the streets of their towns. Voting is our constitutional right and if these liars and cheaters want to deny our Votes with their suppression and cheating machines, I think they should re-think that nasty action. People are fed up with stolen elections and tossed out ballots.

 

+2 # charsjcca 2012-10-01 05:27

Barbara: There will not riot. These are the same communities where restrictive covenants and red-lining was tolerated.

One interesting side bar to this Boca Raton event was who else was in the room. A report I saw said that Mitchell A. Burns was there. Burns is the retired Chairman and CEO of Ryder System Inc, as well as former Chairman of National Urban League. As a former employee of Ryder I remember the various awards Ryder garnered for diversity and fairness. Which raises an interesting question: "Which Burns was in the room that day?" Burns knows how to hold a press conference and disavow what was said if it offended him. We have long tolerated these split political personalities and treated that as normal. It is time we call a spade a spade. Who is Burns?

 

+1 # Big Jake 2012-10-01 04:22

If there is a real Romney, the 47% comment reflects that. It is pure Ayn Rand. The elites have jumped on that band wagon and have sold it to far too many. Those of us who are struggling and that is more than the 47% are looking for answers. Not too long ago, in ideology appeared and gained mass support by blaming a religious group for our troubles. That did not turn out so well. The comment will probably sink a leaky ship and well it should. However, just eliminating the Romney’s will not fix the mess albeit that Romney and his ilk will wreck a fragile nation much quicker. Romney is too easy to spot unlike the Reagan’s who won the support of the people and allowed the nation to be gutted by his friends and perhaps we will never know if Reagan ever got it. The 47% are growing fast as we continue to transfer the nation’s wealth to the few. That fact will not be fixed by a forced redistribution of wealth but it can be fixed by an appropriate monetary policy as existed from 1942-1952. Study that record and consider what happened.

 

+1 # natalierosen 2012-10-01 04:31

Perfect article and right on the money (pardon the pun.) No surprises from Romney here.

The political right has turned mean, racist, and it was in the end MOST unethical as we can now see by the Republican voter suppression tactics. There is something in my left of center compadres that says we would never deprive those in our nation of that which makes us us - the ability to cast a vote. It is for most of us the only power we have. But the right does NOT care. If anything they want to remove even from life itself those who think a nation has the duty to provide those who cannot help themselves the basics - food, clothing, shelter and health care.

Romney and his Republican Party of charlatans and those know nothings who do not know enough to figure out Romney does not give a damn about anyone but himself and those of his own class. His class does not even include most Tea Baggers who erroneously think Romney cares about them. He doesn’t.

If one thinks back to the picnic table lunch Romney had with middle class people one can see how ill at ease he was and insulted even their food. But when he was at the infamous Florida dinner of those millionaires and billionaires whom he counted on for cash he feels just fine. One can see it.

He did not fool me for a minute. He SURELY is not and never has been fine with me!