Arizona Does It Again

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One thing good about the current times we are in is that when senseless legislation is signed in the middle of the night to avoid attention it gets noticed. The right wing governor of Arizona has done it again. Last night she signed legislation that not only goes against the right wing mantra of local control, it also will cause more deaths by use of guns.

Brewer signed into law legislation that would force cities and counties to not destroy weapons obtained by law enforcement through buybacks, and instead make the guns available for purchase to the public. This is wrong on a couple of levels.

First, the purpose of the buybacks is to get guns and other weapons off the streets. In Arizona that is a good thing. Second, this legislation takes away local control of these types of programs from local law enforcement that may not agree with Brewer or the gun nut lobby. The reason given by the GOP legislature leadership. Destroying weapons is a waste of taxpayer resources. Really? Isn’t the time spent on an investigation after a gun death a waste of taxpayer resources? The NRA has a similar idiotic reason for being in favor of the law. They say the sale to the public would help recover public funds.

So it’s all about money. Of course that’s why the NRA is still in business. They don’t necessarily care about gun owners. If it wasn’t for the support of gun manufacturers, the NRA wouldn’t be able to do much. So once again we see what values are cherished by Brewer and the far right wing legislators in Arizona. Money is more important than a life. Local control is good unless they disagree with the governor. Pathetic. But this is what the country has come to expect from Arizona.

And she signed this in the evening to avoid publicity and news coverage. Oh, and she also signed a second bill to keep cities, towns, and counties from gathering any information about people who own and sell firearms. Wow.

Why India?

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Another day, another disaster in India. The news today is that 87 people, low wage workers died when an 8 story building collapsed. This is only a few months after 112 garment workers died in another factory. Reports are that the day before this happened workers were worried about coming to work because of the condition of the building. They were assured by the manager that there was no problem and they should come to work. The textile businesses that were in the factory serve companies such as Bennetton, The Children’s Place, and Dress Barn.

I love what is said by the corporations when these things happen. They either deny any work is being done for them recently (as if that makes a difference), or make some other excuse.

The Children’s Place spokesperson – “none of our product was in production at the time of this accident.”

Dress Barn? “Not purchased any clothing from that facility since 2010. We work with suppliers around the world, and have a supply chain transparency program to protect the rights of workers and their safety.”

The question is why do corporations do business in these places? Because labor is cheap, and they can disavow themselves from how the workers are treated, poor workers, starved for income to support their families. Something to think about the next time you go to one of these bright cheerful places in the mall near your house.

Terrorists???

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Since the Boston Marathon bombing I am having real issues with the way all of it is being reported. What is the difference between the two brothers and what they did and Timothy McVeigh? Both are terrorism. Both crimes were committed within the US so they should be considered domestic terrorist events. The only difference is that the two brothers were weak adherents to the Muslim religion. I say weak because the older brother at least smoked, drank, and did other things that aren’t exactly good for a religious guy.

Other than that, this is another incident domestic terrorism. It is not the first or last that will occur. But lets quit acting like it is something new or unique. Just because these guys are immigrants, one was still a citizen and the other here legally.

Sequestor Update

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I have been listening the past few days and am amazed at the polls telling us that many people don’t know what the sequester is. The dictionary definition is pretty simple. As a noun it means “A general cut in government spending”. That’s pretty easy isn’t it? What this sequester does is put into place across the board cuts in spending. And the reason it is even worse is that the government is half way through the fiscal year. So the first year’s cuts have to be done in 6 months instead of being spread out over 12.

It doesn’t really matter who’s idea it was. The idea on both sides was that the cuts would be so arbitrary especially in defense that neither side would allow it to happen. It was put into place because Republicans would not compromise. They didn’t believe in balance, only cutting spending which all economists said would not work without destroying safety net programs. So here we are in the same position. The revenue agreed upon in 2012 was basically to allow TEMPORARY tax cuts to expire for those making over 400k – 450k. All the President is asking now is to implement a balanced set of spending cuts and increases in revenues until the entire tax code is reformed.

So instead of giving tax subsidies to very successful corporations, he wants to eliminate them. Instead of hedge fund managers paying 14%, people making over a million dollars in adjusted gross income should pay a minimum of 30% as most middle class workers pay. This doesn’t seem like a difficult choice to someone with common sense. Republicans though want only spending cuts, although they won’t say where those cuts should come from. They will come from defense, but also cuts to hurt the middle class and poor. Those that can least afford it.

So if you are a military civilian worker and lose your job, or 20% of your income due to furloughs, call Mr. Boehner who is more worried about his Speakership instead of the country. The guy who is in charge of the organization that is responsible for appropriations bills but is telling the Senate to get off their ass. The guy who says Obama should negotiate but has said he will no longer negotiate with Obama. The guy that whines about President Obama golfing as he is getting back from a week long vacation.