Tag: Arizona

A 'holiday' message sent from Jan Brewer to Arizonans:

"Merry Christmas!

When I first became Governor, I issued an Executive Order that encourages the celebration of Christmas and Hanukkah and prohibits any censorship of these religious holidays. I encourage you to read the Executive Order here.

As you may know, elected officials throughout our country have attempted to strip both Christmas and Hanukkah of their meaning. Some officials even prohibited government employees from placing religious items of celebration at their desks, renamed Christmas trees as "holiday" trees, and renamed Menorahs as "candlesticks."

As Governor, I call things what they are...a Christmas Tree and a Menorah... and will gladly allow both Christmas and Hanukkah to be celebrated at the State Capitol. I encourage my colleagues and fellow elected officials to do the same.

Again, Merry Christmas to you and your family!

May God bless you, your home, the State of Arizona and the United States of America.

Sincerely,

Jan

P.S.  If you'd like, leave me a Christmas greeting on my Facebook.

Now THAT is leadership.

He's not having a good 2012.

After getting pounded by the court in the health care litigation arguments (see here and here), he had to turn around less than a month later and argue that Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070, had been preempted by federal immigraton law.  The case, Arizona v U.S., featured another legal beat-down and, unlike the health care cases, the liberal wing of the court didn't exactly leap to his defense.  To top it off, his Arizona opponent was the same person he had faced in the health care cases - the great Paul Clement.

"Balancing the budget" by killing the dollar bill and forcing Americans to carry little burlap bags full of dollar coins like it is the 12th century, not the 21st?  I know this is RightMichigan.com, not 30 Rockefeller Center, but... Seriously?

According to Roll Call, that's the proposal being floated by a "Republican" Congressman from Arizona by the name of Dave Schweikart.  (Because the last time Republicans followed the lead of an Arizonan it worked out so well.  (ZING!))

Schweikart (pictured at right swimming in cold, hard home-state-mined cash) claims that burning all the paper money and forcing Americans to use those gold colored copper one-dollar coins (you know, the ones you immediately hand back to the cashier or the bank teller asking for "real money" every time she tries to hand it to you?) will help balance the budget by saving less than $200 million a year.  Coins are more durable, the argument goes, so they'd last longer and cost less to reproduce.

Yeah they last longer.  Because they sit in the bottom of our sock drawers since you'd have to lug around eight pounds of metal to buy a freaking Big Mac!  The American people have had the option -paper or coin--for years.   We've chosen lighter pockets and fewer trips to the chiropractor.

Camp and Upton sit on the powerful Super Committee and have not yet provided any clear inclination that they back this expensive, onerous, poorly thought out  bit of cow-towing to Arizonan special interests (I'll get there, bear with me), but its just a sneakily stupid enough of an idea I figured it'd be worth raising the red flag.

Please read more below the fold.

Right to Work states lead the nation in creating new jobs (1999-2009)

1. Texas              +866,000
   
2. Florida             +291,600
   
3. Arizona            +194,800    
   
4. Virginia            +138,400
   
5. Nevada            +124,500

46. California        -170,400
    
47. Indiana           -225,300
    
48. Illinois            -332,700    
    
49. Ohio              -508,200
    

Sarah Palin: "America's Enduring Strength" from Sarah Palin on Vimeo.

You can read the reports about the debate all over the internet or you can watch it for yourself at wkar.org.  It turned out to be one of the wilder debates you'll ever see and actually proved to be quite informative.

Most voters don't know much about David Leyton other than the fact that he's the local prosecutor in Flint, the 4th most violent city in the United States and a city where local community leaders have demanded Governor Granholm deploy the National Guard to protect the streets because of Leyton's ineffectiveness.

After Friday's debate, we now know a bit more.  Granted, we still don't know how Leyton voted on Michigan's medical marijuana law.  He was asked directly five times and each time would only answer that "the people have spoken."  But he did have a few answers liberal enough that he felt comfortable providing.  According to David Leyton himself-

*Leyton supports affirmative action.

*Leyton supports unrestricted human embryonic stem cell research.

*Leyton supports civil unions and "special benefits" for gay couples.  (Those are his words.)

But maybe more informative than what Leyton said directly was what he said when attempting to dodge one question in particular.

Attorney General Mike Cox months ago went to court to back Arizona's common sense illegal immigration law.  Skubick asked the candidates whether or not Michigan needs an Arizona style immigration law of its own.  

Leyton:

"Michigan needs a law that's good for Michigan and that's an Attorney General who cracks down on employers who hire illegal immigrants."

The answer to the illegal immigration problem, to national security and to securing Michigan's borders is to declare war on job makers and only to declare war on job makers.  And that shuffling noise you hear is the sound of more job providers making their way towards Michigan's exits in case another job killing liberal like Leyton lands in Lansing.

I love the line about a "healthy tension" between states and the federal govt... YES.

The idea that he is using these issues to advance the campaign is understandable, but given the severe need for the measures in the first place it is a good thing.. altruistic or not.  Fact is, if he did not pursue Asian Carp, The Health care debacle, or assert sovereignty on the states right issues of protecting our borders, he would be called to the carpet for not doing his job by some.