What is it with them? This past Wednesday the House of Representatives passed a bill that would enable authorities on Indian reservations to better coordinate with the Feds to prosecute non-native rape suspects and provide assistance to rape victims. For some reason, 92 members saw fit to vote against it, all of them Republican. The nay votes included our very own Reps Flake, Franks, and Shadegg.

I’ve been searching the internet and not finding any reason for so many Republicans voting against it. Recall that when Republican Senators (including our own Kyl and McCain) voted against the Franken Amendment (which disallows federal contractors from forcing employees who are raped or assaulted into arbitration clauses and was inspired by the brutal rape of KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones in 2005) the justification was that it was an unbearable imposition upon the poor, dear corporations to open them up to the risk of expensive lawsuits for failing to protect their workers from rape.

HR 725 doesn’t appear to jeopardize precious corporate profits so I’m going to guess the nay votes are the usual Republican whining about government spending on undeserving little people. Women, even.

I certainly hope the local news media take note of this and ask Flake, Franks, and Shadegg to explain their vote against Native rape victims, especially in light of the large number of tribes in Arizona.

UPDATE: Amnesty International provides some background on the issue.

It’s safe to say that Buz Mills destroyed his chances at winning the GOP primary with his embarrassing performance on Sunday Square Off. First, he floundered when Brahm Resnik pressed him about school funding and the ratio of teachers to “administrators”. Poor Buz clearly did not expect Brahm to bust out with the stats to put the lie to the Goldwater talking points he’d been fed and he did not have a plan B. Quel dommage

He’d have been okay had that been his only fumble. Republican primary voters aren’t particularly concerned with factual challenges to anti-tax dogma. Where he did himself in was when the topic was immigration and he told Resnik he wouldn’t have signed Arizona’s 2007 employer sanctions law.

“I don’t like business being the tax collector, and I don’t like them being the policeman,” Mills said. He said the costs of enforcing employer sanctions were being passed on to consumers and making Arizona less competitive.

Oh my.

See, your more savvy Arizona conservatives know how to dodge the question of holding the illegal employers accountable when it arises. “It’s so gosh darn hard to prove that employers are ‘knowingly’ hiring illegals!” This is their handy explanation for why the so-called “toughest employer sanctions law in the nation” hasn’t done diddly squat to stop companies in Arizona from hiring undocumented workers or to punish them when they do. Seriously, watch how quickly your typical conservative politician or pundit pivots the conversation back to bashing the immigrants when the subject of employers comes up. They expect that no one follows up by asking them why the majority of Arizona employers are not signed up with e-Verify (though the law requires that they do so) or why prosecutors cannot subpoena employers’ records (stripped out of the employer sanctions law and from SB1070 in a deal cut with the Chamber of Commerce in return for their silence on it). Basically, we’re relying on the employers themselves to volunteer that they’ve hired undocumented workers. Oddly enough, they haven’t been very forthcoming. Think about every high profile Arpaio raid of a workplace that has happened in the past few years. Think about how you NEVER hear about what happens to the employers. Because nothing happens to them.

Poor Buz didn’t get the memo on all that. He kissed up to the Farm Bureau by objecting to the substance of the employer sanctions law, which opened him up to questions on that stance by Brahm Resnik. How tragic for him.

How instructive for the rest of us. The supporters of SB1070 crow about how 70% of Arizonans support that law. How would that same 70% of Arizonans respond to the knowledge that Arizona’s illegal employers are getting a free ride?

Probably not going to happen but a girl can dream.

In exasperation I turned to the mike and explained that Democrats most certainly do not underestimate Brewer or any conservative politician. It’s an annoying strawman that conservatives (with the complicity of the MSM) love to throw at liberals to steer the conversation toward the political skills of people like Sarah Palin and Andy Thomas and away their awfulness as public servants. Back in 2008 I did a panel on Channel 12 with some bloggers where we watched McCain’s speech and the RNC Convention and blogged about it on the air. A prominent GOP former officeholder was in the studio to do a segment with a well-known former Dem officeholder. In the lull between segments the Republican was shaking hands with us and talking about the election. He was positively giddy about Sarah Palin, claiming she was just the boost the McCain camp needed. I made some derisive remark and he pounced. “Admit it! You guys are scared of her!” “Yes,” I replied, “we are scared of her. She’s scary.” That wasn’t enough for him as he taunted me like 3 more times that the Dems were scared of Sarah. Dude was practically dancing a jig over our fear of Sarah that dared not speak its name. Sigh. It was like talking to a 3 year old. “Yes, you’re right. We are scared of Sarah Palin.”

Democrats have a painful understanding that a right wing politician being clearly dumb and obviously mean is no impediment to electoral success. So no, I don’t underestimate Sarah Palin as a politician. Or Jan Brewer or Andy Thomas. The problem Dems have with them is that they suck at their jobs. Badly. So badly that real people are harmed and the community is damaged. Give me a break on Jan Brewer needing time to adjust to her position as Governor. She was elected Secretary of State in 2002 and reelected in 2006. It’s the position second in line to the Governor. Is it too much to expect that she should have, you know, brushed up on the ins and outs of the job a bit? You know, just in case? And let’s not forget that she spent several years in the Lege, where she shepherded through the Fife-ster’s revenue destroying tax cuts. She didn’t learn a thing or two about whipping up votes during her time as Majority Whip??

But hey, why bother with trifles like competence and compassion when you can pander to your base with easily regurgitated soundbytes about freedom and low taxes and abortion and gays, right? What we’re seeing with a lot of right wing politicians today is a highly accelerated form of the Peter Principle. The principle holds that people within an organization will be promoted, usually from jobs they’re fairly good at, to a point where they are put into a job at which they suck. Unfortunately, by the time they’ve reached that level of incompetence, they’re in really important positions with a lot of power and stinking up the joint. See: Michael “Heckuva Job Brownie” Brown. But local politics offers right wingers with no particular aptitude or inclination to be good public servants the opportunity to babble a stream of platitudes and code words and win elections, thereby stinking up the joint from day one. See: 1700 W. Washington St. and Maricopa County.

Now the stench has gotten so foul that even the Republic has to acknowledge that a bunch of rabid ideologues who suck at their jobs and don’t care about the majority of people who live here are running the state. Oh my, oops, how did that happen? Maybe Dems were underestimating their political prowess for a time (not anymore, I assure you) but we’ve been correct in our (poor) estimation of them as public servants all along. Too bad that the opinion leaders in this state have chosen to prioritize political theater over policy direction lo these many years.

Bill Montgomery, a Thomas employee, and attorney Jason “Jay” Beckstead have opened campaign-finance accounts with the Election Department, Osborne said, and are gathering signatures to run for county attorney, an election that has not yet been called.

Now, ordinarily a person would look at that and exclaim, “Hey! You can’t just go around collecting signatures for a race that doesn’t exist yet! That’s getting an unfair head start on other competitors! Plus, it doesn’t exist yet! Shenanigans!”

But, you know, IOKIYAR.

There are many comments to the article, with the Thomas shills putting in overtime. I found this exchange particularly amusing:

YellowJackett Feb-19 @ 10:05 AM
Andrew Thomas has done a GREAT job as county attorney, that’s why all these LEFTIES hate him! He had the courage to do what the people wanted and crack down on illegal immigration. That has earned him the undying hate of all the apologists for illegal immigration and criminals…

RealNewsJunkie Feb-19 @ 10:09 AM
Sure, BL, sure… Now take your county car and drive away to an emergency press conference!

Do you not think people remember that your handle here was outed long ago?

BL is MCAO spokespoodle Barnett Lotstein.

Jason Rose??!?

Rose has been a busy little turd-polishing flack these days. Just last Saturday he and another of his prominent clients, Joe Arpaio, helped to raise over $100k for JD Hayworth. No, not for Hayworth’s potential Senate run against John McCain. It was to help pay JD’s legal fees for being the target of investigation due to his association with former high-powered lobbyist and current jailbird Jack Abramoff.

Most people’s understanding of the Abramoff scandal is hazy – something about Indian tribes and gambling and campaign contributions and skyboxes – but there was a horrifying aspect of it that, in my opinion, was given far less coverage than it warranted. There are certain things you can know about a person that tell you everything you need to know about that person.

Jack Abramoff lobbied and paid off members of Congress to maintain sweatshops, sexual slavery, and forced abortions in the Marianas Islands. From the TPM article:

For months, activists and members of Congress pushed for labor reforms in the Northern Marianas, an American territory that was rife with cases of human rights abuses. The teenaged girl [Representative] Hall attacked (referred to by lawyers and activists by her stage name, “Katrina,” to protect her anonymity) was just one of those cases.

The billing records from Abramoff’s lobbying firm, Preston Gates, show that Abramoff and his associates logged long hours helping CNMI dodge such charges. Hall’s office worked closely with Abramoff’s team to compose the lawmaker’s statement on Katrina, according to those same records.

That’s JD’s skybox buddy. Make no mistake, Hayworth knew about it. I don’t know what Jason Rose knows about Abramoff’s efforts to protect the existence of sweatshops, sexual slavery, and forced abortions in Saipan. Somehow, I don’t think the knowledge would bother him that much. And that’s what bothers me about Phil Gordon, whom I find to be a likable and competent guy for the most part, when he sidles up to certain elements of the GOP in Arizona.

Phil, it’s not because they’re Republicans. It’s because they’re scumbags.

Yesterday the Capitol Times reported that MCSO Captain and SCA commando Joel Fox is feeling very down.

The Sheriff’s captain who headed up a secretive political committee that broke campaign finance laws in its efforts to support Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio last year is threatening to sue the county for “emotional distress” unless it pays him $75,000.

Capt. Joel Fox, a veteran of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, filed a notice of claim with the county Oct. 23, which is the first step under state law for government employees to sue an employer.

Awwww…. Ordinarily, I reserve my sympathy for people who have truly been victimized in some way. Like, you know, sex abuse victims. Who are the people whose suffering and pain those SCA creeps made a mockery of with their disgusting ad that smeared a Sheriff’s candidate – himself a victim of child sex abuse – as a predator. In the case of Capt. Fox, I can see where he may be feeling some genuine emotional distress. However, his angst is entirely self-inflicted. I would suggest to Joel that one thing he could do to feel better immediately is to stop keeping the secrets that fester in his psyche. Let it out, Joel. Talk. Preferably to a prosecutor or investigator. And for crimeny’s sake, do us all a favor and get yourself an attorney. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Then you need to work on stopping the behavior that compounds the problem. Your addiction to doing the bidding of sociopaths is harming you and the people around you.

Speaking of Arpaio, just wanted to give y’all a heads up that Channel 5 is doing a major report on his problems with the FBI on Thursday. I’ll post more details as I get them.

From the Capitol Times Yellow Sheet:

AND NOW, SOME RELATIONSHIP ADVICE FROM RAY BARNES
Ray Barnes didn’t make any female fans yesterday at a Maricopa County air quality conference. Speaking before the crowd, Barnes apparently started off praising Huppenthal, saying that he respects how “logical” the senator is. And Barnes stressed the need to get “emotion” out of politics. Women, Barnes apparently said according to those in the room, are too emotional and should be more logical, like men. That ignited grumbling in the crowd.

Ugh. Of all the annoying gender stereotypes, the men are logical/women are emotional dualism annoys me the most. Back in 1994, when I was in the Navy and stationed in Japan, I watched in fascination as an argument between two of the guys in the torpedo shop over whether Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal was the superior martial arts film icon escalated to a punching match. Yep, that was definitely an example of the steely-eyed, logical approach to the world for which men are so famous. That fact is that we humans, in general, are a messy and emotion driven lot, no matter what gender we are. I can tell you, based upon years of observing male culture up close in the military, and then several more years in a male dominated tech field, that the dudes are every bit as catty and gossipy and prone to throwing dramatic hissyfits over perceived slights as we gals are. Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. And John Gray is from Uranus.

But I digress. Because I don’t want get all serious and detract from the…um…impact of the sage wisdom of Ray Barnes.

In an interview with our reporter, Barnes defended his statement, saying he actually said “most often women are more emotional than men.” But he wasn’t talking about the women in the audience, Barnes said. “When we go to an affair like that, you don’t see the weakest women, we see the strongest,” he clarified. “Weaker women don’t get involved,” he said. Those “weaker” women, Barnes said, are usually the ones who “stay home with the kids” or run home to the kitchen after work. “It’s a realistic comment,” Barnes said. “I don’t think it’s sexist. I married a woman because she’s a woman, not a man. I married a woman who doesn’t want to get involved in all those things.” Continuing, Barnes said he’s not saying that it’s a bad thing that the “weaker” women stay home with the kids. “As long as one member in the family is strong, it’s fine,” he said. “There’s got to be a passive and an aggressive.” Two “aggressives” in a relationship means World World III every day, he said. And two “passives,” he said, can’t even figure out when to throw the garbage out.

Okee dokee. So in accordance with the “logic” of Ray Barnes we are to understand the following: Women are too emotional, and need to be more logical. Like John Huppenthal is. OTOH, when women are logical, it makes them “aggressive”*, like the women in the audience at the Maricopa County air quality conference. See, being interested in issues causes nice passive marriageable lady brains to turn into logical aggressive John Huppenthal brains. Those are not the brains of the kind of women that Ray Barnes would want to marry. IOW, Ray Barnes does NOT want to marry a woman with a John Huppenthal brain. That would be too close to getting gay-married to John Huppenthal. And they wouldn’t be able to figure out how to take the garbage out. Or they’d be beating the crap out of each other while taking the trash out, aggressively. Are we clear on that?

*I’m not even going to get into my irritation with the men are aggressive/women are passive cultural assumption. We don’t have time for that.

• So How Much of a Cut Am I Going to Get, Sal?
• Things in Ahwatukee That Make You Go Hmm
• Now who could have seen this coming? DiCiccio stands to gain from freeway through Ahwatukee

But what does Sal say about it? See Stumbling Sal for yourself:

It doesn’t get better than that.

Much like the late Jefferson Parish, La., Sheriff Harry Lee did, Maricopa, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio walks the line between all-powerful baron and populist champion of law and order.

Why are your populist heroes almost invariably multi-millionaires?