ARIZONA-WHERE STUPID LAWS ARE BORN

APRIL 2014-PHOENIX, ARIZONA: A demented state legislature has just passed a new bill that would ban the passing of any future legislation banning plastic bags. Slate says it is in the bidding for worst state of the week, a place Arizona has enjoyed repeatedly in the past, especially when Jan Brewer was governor. State Sen. Nancy Barto proposed the bill that now waits for Gov. Ducey to sign. Barto is the fruitcake that recently pushed through another piece of mind-boggling legislation making it a law for Arizona doctors to tell women getting an abortion that it is reversible. The medical community says this is not only impossible but could be dangerous.

The meeting of the Arizona legislature reminds me of that movie from 1948, The Snake Pit, covering a woman's life during her stay in a mental institution.

AN ANGRY GUN NUT COULD LIVE NEXT DOOR TO YOU

There are around 300 million guns in the U.S. That's 90 per 100 residents, which comes out to 2.4 per household. You'd think we were preparing for a war. What is even more shocking is that 4.8 million of those households, approximately 5%, have someone living in them who is pissed off at the world and they have a gun or guns. They aren't all gun nuts and you can read the definition of this bonehead here. When you boil it down to figures like this it makes the statement, 'There are too many guns in America' believable. Even wacky Wayne LaPierre should be able to understand hard facts like this. But he doesn't. This weekend, WW will be in Nashville at the NRA convention telling all his gun nut minions that no matter what, they have to run out now and buy more guns.

STARTLING FACTS THAT SHOULD SHAME PROGRESSIVES

The Pew Research Center has found that 39% of Americans consider themselves Independent voters, having left the two major parties in frustration. I am one of them. But the balance is aligned as follows: Democrats 32%; Republicans 23%. But around 90% of Independents do lean either left or right. Of these leaners 48% are Democrats, 39% are Republicans. Among the registered voters of this group, 48% are Democratic, 43% Republican. So how have we lost so many elections to the GOP recently? Because you Progressives are sitting on your butts and not voting.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT-ARIZONA A PROGRESSIVE STATE?

George W.P. Hunt, the first governor of Arizona, tried to get the state off to a good start. He was an arch Progressive and David Berman is attempting to capture his avant-garde politics in his book, "George Hunt: Arizona's Crusading Seven-Term Governor." If Hunt were alive today, Berman thinks he would be impressed with development but would scream over the political situation. Yes, it's hard today to look at or listen to any Republican politician in Arizona without howling over their absurd ideas and antics. Hunt believed,  "...government can make life a little fairer for more people." "...believed in supporting public education." "Much of his views are grounded in his hatred of poverty. He saw class bias..."

In fact, he was for everything the current Gov. Doug Ducey is against.

LIBERALS NEED TO WAKE UP AND DO THE RIGHT THING-3

Alterman asks, "Why do such smart guys say such stupid things?" He traces the answer back to the source of power in this country. The Koch Bros. who plan to spend $900 million on the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson who gave $150 million to the GOP in 2012. Rupert Murdoch with his networks and newspapers spreads malicious rumors like Barack Obama is a secret Muslim and undocumented alien who hates white people. Eric Alterman says in his The Nation article that conservatives don't even bother to offer ideas rather, "...they’re making calculated attempts to undermine our democracy, exploiting and manipulating a public that has decreasing resources for the kind of reliable information that would lead to a pragmatic 'liberal' response."

If this doesn't piss you Progressives off, nothing will, and if not we will go through 2016 just like past elections skipping the vote. 

ARIZONA-WHERE STUPID LAWS ARE BORN

First, Gov. Doug Ducey proposed cutting Arizona education budgets to fund private prisons. Then Dr. Gov. Ducey declares his medical credentials in the passage of  Senate Bill 1318, termed "voodoo"  medicine, "ordering that henceforth doctors must tell women that drug-induced abortions might be reversible." Not possible scientifically and the first state in the nation to do this reports Laurie Roberts in the AZ Republic. He's joined by Arizona radical, Cathi Herrod, of the Center for Arizona Policy, another home-grown bunch of fanatics. A couple of doctors here in the state who are experts in the field of abortions say it's not only bad but it could be dangerous.

If you hang around long enough I'll have more of these gems for you. Thought we had rid the state of crackpots like former governor Jan Brewer but apparently Ducey has picked up the mantle.

NOTHING HAS CHANGED SINCE THE THE LATE 1800s

It is amazing that someone with the intellect of Mark Twain could make a statement like this using one of my favorite words for many politicians, especially Republicans. In the late 1800s, when the writer would have likely said this, Republicans were in control of the U.S. Congress. I bring this up since President Obama will soon be asking Congress to cooperate in the outcome of the Iran nuclear talks. Will they forget their stupid ideology and at least negotiate or follow Mark Twain's supposition?