Where I'm From and Where I am Now

Where I'm from? Well, that didn't take long.

A secretly funded political group aligned with Rahm Emanuel has donated more than $445,000 to aldermanic candidates to help the mayor-elect in a high-stakes battle over control of City Hall.

Whatever. Just fix the CTA, Mr. Mayor, if you please.

Where I am now? Just another version of Crazypantsland. It's getting to the point that daily updates are clearly needed to keep track of the insane shit spewing out of Maricopa County. Let's see, so far this we we have had:

* State Senate President Russell Pearce (R-White Power) decreed that the public will be barred from media briefings in the senate building because, as four people were arrested for disruptive behavior, allowing the public in clearly creates a safety hazard. I'm not sure why he's so worried, since he decided last month to let legislators carry guns into the building and onto the floor, because, as he said, "Guns save lives."

* In fact, guns save so many lives in Arizona that the senate decided people should be able to carry them into any government building they want. No more "no weapons allowed' stickers on the DMV door! The only way for agencies to prohibit people from carrying guns into their facilities now will be to install metal detectors and hire armed security, and the state sure has money to burn on that. What could possibly go wrong?

Interestingly, the Arizona House and Senate buildings do not currently have metal detectors. Which probably explains why Pearce doesn't want the newly armed rabble to be able to come in.

* On the culture war front, the House passed a bill eliminating public funding for abortion. That's swell enough on its face, but, as with so many other bits of legislative dumbfuckery in this state, it comes with extra consequences.

HB 2384, which gained preliminary House approval earlier this week, would make it illegal to use public funds to train medical professionals to perform abortions.

But the language goes beyond direct tax dollars. It also forbids the use of any federal funds that pass through the state treasury or even through other levels of government.

And even tuition or fees paid to a state university of community college would be off limits for the costs of the training.

See the super awesome part at the end there? The University of Arizona has a decent medical school, or had one, anyway. HB 2384 means that students in the OB/GYN department may no longer be able to get training on how to perform an abortion, even the only kind that's sometimes moral, you know, depending on who you ask (perhaps the ethics department can start teaching that woman = incubator, which should clear that little problem right up).

* I posted some time ago about a proposed bill that would prioritize married people over singles and unmarried couples for adoption, and that's now steaming right on forward. "The best interest of the child" had been the previous guiding principle in placement for adoption. Under the new law, that would still be a consideration, but the state has essentially made the decision a priori that a married couple is always in the best interest of the child. Whee. I report, you decide.

* Is there any good news? Yes. Red Bulls and Sporting Kansas City are coming this weekend for an MLS preseason tournament with two eminently shreddable Arizona semi-pro teams. I'll be the one in the Sounders jersey and Red Stars (*sob*) scarf.