“This is not surprising considering he made the same evolution in 2008,” the statement said. “It’s too bad he didn’t choose to follow through on those promises after his election.”

They also invited Obama to visit the Arizona border, the busiest illegal entry point in the nation, rather than El Paso, where illegal traffic has plummeted in the last two decades.

“It is no wonder the President chose El Paso and not Tucson as a backdrop to talk about immigration reform,” the senators said.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, also a Republican, also said Obama should have gone to Arizona, saying in a statement: “Our state remains America’s gateway for illegal immigration, and we continue to bear the brunt of the federal government’s failure on this issue.”

“If the president felt confident in declaring the border secure, he should have come to tell the people of Arizona face-to-face,” she said.

Young Congressman Quayle is dissatisfied with the President on border security:

Republican U.S. Rep. Ben Quayle said Obama’s speech was “driven by politics and politics alone.”

“Instead of real solutions and reforms, the president offered finger pointing and spin,” he said. “The U.S. border with Mexico is far from secure. No campaign speech can change that fact.”

Finger pointing and spin! Gosh, that’s harsh. I was curious to see what legislation Quayle, who is on the Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee, has sponsored on immigration and border control. The answer is none.

Last week Sen. John McCain, who had previously sponsored DREAM Act legislation, vowed to block the latest effort.

The Arizona Republican, who is ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, said Democrats were using the defense measure as a tool to push liberal agenda items in the runup to the midterm elections.

Excuse me, but why was this guy ever given the benefit of the doubt, so much so that Democrats I know were willing to vote for him in 2000? He voted against the MLK Federal holiday in 1983 when he was in the House.

He likes cheap labor. The laborers, not so much. He doesn’t think too highly of American workers either, as evidenced by what he said about them in 2006.

John McCain never was and never will be “good on immigration”, nor on anything else that matters to anyone who isn’t rich and powerful.

RL Miller of Grist.org had a well-circulated piece about right wing “zombie” American politicians. They either deny climate change outright or spout gibberish such as this:

Climate change has existed throughout history. We have seen through archeological evidence that temperature swings are natural. The question that remains; “Is man causing large perturbations in the climate?”

After researching the causes of temperature fluctuations on earth, I found the largest factor to be the sun. The earth’s orbit changes. Also the earth’s spin and axis change over time. When areas of the earth are closer to the sun, the temperature is hotter and when they are further away, cooler. The sun also has more activity at times and less at other times. They have been able to map out large changes in the earth’s temperature over time to the sun. Times with no polar ice caps have corresponded to times when we were closer to the sun. Ice ages have corresponded to times when we were further from the sun.

The effect of proximity of certain areas of the earth to the sun is called seasons, genius, and most of us learned that in fifth grade. The rest of her statement is just idiotic. I’m talking about Ruth McClurg, Arizona CD7 tea party endorsed Republican Congressional Candidate.

It’s no surprise that Arizona is well represented in climate change denialist whackjobbery.

Does the virus only spread from Senate candidates? I turned my attention, randomly, to Arizona. Sadly, the Grand Canyon State is completely overrun with Climate Zombies.

Trent Franks (Ariz.-02) has yet to see clear and convincing evidence that global warming exists; Ben Quayle (Ariz.-03) states that the planet has warmed and cooled since the beginning of time; Janet Contreras (Ariz.-04) believes that the science has been called into serious question; Jeff Flake (Ariz.-06) identifies himself as a skeptic; and Ruth McClung (Ariz. -07) is tied with Wisconsin’s Johnson in the Stoopid Contest for her comment, above, regarding earth spin. I don’t have quotes from Paul Gosar (Ariz.-01) or David Schweikert (Ariz.-05) yet, but the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity will be pouring money into their races. Jesse Kelly (Ariz.-08) founded the Arizona Tea Party, so is presumed zombiefied. Scorecard: five out of eight GOP candidates have gone on record as doubting the science, and the other three probably will.

Gov. Jan Brewer has been silent on the subject of climate, apparently because zombies can only be killed by becoming headless.*

Is Sen. John McCain transmogrifying into a Climate Zombie? Long a self-proclaimed maverick who sponsored climate bills, he now tells the Arizona Republic that “there are dramatic environmental changes happening in the arctic region — whether one believes they are man-made or natural.” Uh, senator? Suddenly the cause of change is in doubt?

Of course is McCain is in doubt. He doubts he’d continue to get sweet campaign contributions if he didn’t change his tune on climate change.

*Googling “headless zombies” yields 1.6 million hits, including 68,700 images. Let’s not count Jan Brewer out! I’m sure she’d personally club a baby polar bear if Greta Van Susteren would cover it.

A uniform carries power because it reflects the authority and trust of the public that chose it. It’s a violation of military regulations to wear your uniform “for the furtherance of political activities” if you’re on active duty, and even former military members are prohibited from appearing in public in their uniform with the exception of certain ceremonial occasions. Maybe there is no bar to an elected peace officer in Arizona wearing his uniform to promote his preferred candidate. But when you’re in uniform you are never representing only yourself, Sheriff Babeu.

Meghan – who attended rallies hosted by the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform – says the new law is “seriously flawed” and “essentially a license to pull someone over for being Hispanic.”

“I believe it gives the state police a license to discriminate, and also, in many ways, violates the civil rights of Arizona residents,” Meghan said in her blog post at The Daily Beast, titled, “Hate the Law, Not Arizonans.”

“Simply put, I think it is a bad law that is missing the bigger picture of what is really going on with illegal immigration.”

Meghan is right. Her father, the senior Senator from Arizona, used to agree with her until very recently.

It’s not that I don’t think she comes by her opinions honestly and independently. It’s just that every time her father positions himself as a hardcore conservative on a controversial issue (even when it’s a reversal of a previously held position), there’s Meghan publicly taking the contrarian view. I’m starting to find myself in agreement with this commenter at the uberconservative Free Republic site:

Meghan McCain is simply John McCain’s sock puppet for when John McCain has to act conservative but wants to express his RINOness

I can’t say for certain it’s deliberate but Meghan McCain, who is undeniably a political operative at this point, has shown herself to be quite adept at embracing socially liberal views and/or repudiating certain Republican tactics, so as to ingratiate herself with moderates while still retaining her GOP cred. And it works. Not just for Meghan’s own aspirations but for her dad’s electoral prospects as well. More than a few times at the Phoenix Pride festival a person would cite Meghan (or Cindy McCain for her pro-marriage stance) as a reason that John McCain “isn’t so bad”. Erm, no. Unless and until Meghan McCain gets elected to that office, Meghan McCain is not going to be casting a vote as a US Senator. The person who is going to be doing that, hopefully only until Jan. 2011, is her cranky old bitter sore loser obstructionist of a father.

All of it in earmarks.

Cause he gets up in the morning,
And he goes to work at nine,
And he comes back home at five-thirty,
Gets the same train every time.
cause his world is built round punctuality,
It never fails.

And hes oh, so good,
And hes oh, so fine,
And hes oh, so healthy,
In his body and his mind.
Hes a well respected man about town,
Doing the best things so conservatively.

And his mother goes to meetings,
While his father pulls the maid,
And she stirs the tea with councilors,
While discussing foreign trade,
And she passes looks, as well as bills
At every suave young man

Cause hes oh, so good,
And hes oh, so fine,
And hes oh, so healthy,
In his body and his mind.
Hes a well respected man about town,
Doing the best things so conservatively.

And he likes his own backyard,
And he likes his fags the best,
cause hes better than the rest,
And his own sweat smells the best,
And he hopes to grab his fathers loot,
When pater passes on.

Cause hes oh, so good,
And hes oh, so fine,
And hes oh, so healthy,
In his body and his mind.
Hes a well respected man about town,
Doing the best things so conservatively.

And he plays at stocks and shares,
And he goes to the regatta,
And he adores the girl next door,
cause hes dying to get at her,
But his mother knows the best about
The matrimonial stakes.

Cause hes oh, so good,
And hes oh, so fine,
And hes oh, so healthy,
In his body and his mind.
Hes a well respected man about town,
Doing the best things so conservatively.

Granted, the song does describe a lot of Republicans to a tee, but still.

Good job to Brahm Resnik, who did his best not to let McCain slide with his talking points on government spending.

Here’s a (paraphrased) synopsis of the exchange between Resnik and McCain on spending:

McCain: The Democrats are spending too much! Earmarks!

Resnik: But earmarks are only a minuscule percentage of government spending. Entitlements like Social Security and Medicare are a way bigger chunk of spending. Are you in favor of cutting those entitlements?

McCain: Shut UP!! Earmarks are corrupt!! I don’t like earmarks!!! LA LA LA I’M NOT LISTENING!!!!!!

Do the teabaggers like you? (paraphrased)

Resnik: Do the Tea Partiers like you?

McCain: Yes.

(After the Sunday Square Off broadcast, Joe Dana interviewed two local teabaggers who stated, emphatically, that they don’t care for John McCain.)

Loving father McCain responds to Glenn Beck insulting his daughter Meghan (paraphrased):

Resnik: Glenn Beck called your daughter a “useful idiot”. Are you offended?

McCain: Nope.

Arizona PIRG Education Fund Releases New High Speed Rail Report

Calls on State of Arizona and ADOT to Follow Through on Commitment to High Speed Rail Funding & Development

Today the Arizona PIRG Education Fund released its new report The Right Track: Building a 21st Century High Speed Rail System for America which quantifies the benefits of high speed rail and sets recommendations for future investment.

Recently, the Obama administration announced that 31 states will receive a portion of $8 billion in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to plan & build high speed rail. Arizona was not awarded any money in this most recent round of grants, although the state did receive $1 million from the Federal Railroad Administration in 2008 to begin design of a Phoenix-Tucson passenger rail line.

“A national network of fast, frequent and dependable trains is a critical tool for reinventing the nation’s economy. Our state has previously recognized the need to greatly improve our rail system and now needs to be committed to building off of the momentum provided by the Administration,” said Jesse Victor, Transportation Associate for the Arizona PIRG Education Fund.

The Arizona PIRG Education Fund report analyzes the potential of high speed rail in nine different regions, including the Southwest. According to data cited in the report:

• The completion of a national high-speed rail network will curb congestion by reducing car travel by 29 million trips and air travel by nearly 500,000 flights annually.
• The task of building out the nation’s high speed passenger rail network is estimated to generate up to 1.6 million construction jobs, providing a needed shot in the arm for America’s manufacturing sector.
• A national high speed rail network will reduce global warming pollution by 6 billion pounds, the equivalent of taking almost a half a million cars off the road.
“The Phoenix area light rail represents a great step our state has taken toward a 21st century transportation solution to reduce the amount of time we spend in traffic, create jobs, reduce our dependence on oil and the pollution we spew into the air. As a mode of public transportation that has already proven far more popular than was even expected, Arizona decision makers must remain committed to ensuring rail’s continued success and expansion throughout our state,” Victor stated.

The report concludes with public interest recommendations for how to spend high speed rail investments including the need to invest adequate resources, maximizing “bang for the buck,” assuring transparency, setting standards and measuring progress.

-30-

The Right Track: Building a 21st Century High Speed Rail System for America can be downloaded at www.arizonapirg.org

The Right Track pdf

Some perspective: In the executive summary of that 77 page report, you’ll learn that China is spending $293 billion on high speed rail while the U.S. is spending a total of $10.5 billion. I’m looking forward to reading the whole thing tomorrow.

To Arizona Tea Party Groups.

As a former member of Senator John McCain’s Presidential campaign, (The Senior enlisted military advisor for retired military endorsements on his website) I have just told Senator McCain I cannot support and will not help him with his current senate campaign.

Instead I am backing Mr. J.D. Hayworth for Senator of AZ.

Joe McCain, Senator McCain’s brother sent me an E mail below.

He has compared the Tea Party members in AZ and across the United States as gangs that would do well as members of the NAZI party. Ref: Response below that mentions the Horst Wesell song.

Look it up on line or click here for the link.

It is a great shame that John McCain’s brother Joe identifies the the Tea Party movement across America as gangs of NAZI’s.

Sincerely,
Senior Chief Geoff Ross
U.S. Navy retired
Navarre Florida
Emerald Coast Tea Party Patriots

Here’s the offending email

To: [redacted]

Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:37:12 -0500

Chief, in brief, I will just say that you are the kind of torch-bearing, howling, unthinking Rebublican that will keep the goverment in the hands of the Treasury-looting Democrats, as moderate Americans who are trying to find a way through these parlous times will turn back away, just as they have so many times — as their distaste of the mob that went after a manifestly irresponsible Bill Clinton. Soon, a man who would have fallen from office according to many of his own party, became an object of sympathy in the face of the drooling lynch mob that went after him in Congress. And an electorate that rejected a Newt Gingrich who so pompusly espoused ‘Family Vaues’ while sleeping with an aide while his own wife was deathly ill in the hospital

And now you have aimed your vituperous litany against one of the few Republicans who actually thinks, and tries to find not the expedient road but the ethical one, in favor of a lightweight spouter of easy right wing axioms. Well, it speaks for itself. I won’t tolerate it.

I don’t say that you are unpatriotic, I say that you are unthinking, unrational, and unreasonable. And are the kind that is turning the GOP of Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan into a Citadel of Intolerance that will remain a minority as long as it plays these strident themes that sneer at practically anyone that tries to think as Communist, Marxist, Socialist, or especially as UnAmerican. Funny that the great majority of Americans are so UnAmerican…..

Maybe you and like gangs need to rewrite the Horst Wesell song or The Internationale. You won’t have to change very many words to make them fit.

This came to my junk mail, for I had already removed your name from my mailing list. No more.

Joe McCain

Sweet!