Six anti-labor bills are winding their way through the Arizona Legislature– four target unions, making collective bargaining illegal and outlawing union dues deductions from paychecks; one would strip civil service protections from 29,000 state employees, allowing the governor to fire civil servants and hire her pals; and the last is a ballot initiative which would [...]
Labor union members and Jobs with Justice labor supporters will be demonstrating downtown today against the anti-union legislation currently sailing through the Arizona Legislature. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC, a corporatist group that writes business friendly legislation for Republican legislatures like ours) and the right-wing Goldwater Institute schooled Governor Jan Brewer and her minions [...]
Since Occupy Tucson was evicted by the Tucson Police from Veinte de Agosto Park in December, Occupiers have been busy– the food drive, multiple marches, regular general assemblies, and occupying the sidewalk. Today, Occupy Tucson announced that they will begin occupying DeAnza Park at Stone and Speedway. From their press release… The tents are coming [...]
When Americans are unhappy in an election year, they often adopt a ‘throw-the-bums-out’ attitude toward incumbent politicians. In 2008, the Democrats seized control of all three branches of government. In 2010, Americans threw dozens of Democratic ‘bums’ out, and many Tea Party-leaning Republicans went to Congress for the first time. In 2012, Congress’ nearly complete [...]
Ready for a serious shot of retail therapy? The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show starts today– January 28, 2012. The Gem Show is clearly one of the best reasons to live in Tucson. The Gem Show is actually several shows taking place over the course of the next few weeks. Some of the shows are [...]
Today– January 20– is a date that has gone down in infamy. Today is the anniversary of the landmark Citizens United case. To commemorate the Supreme Court case that struck down campaign finance reform, ruled that money is speech, and paved the way for obscene amounts of money to flood our elections, Occupy Tucson, MoveOn.org, [...]
Do you have to have sex to be sexually satisfied? Apparently not… if you’re a woman over 40. Sixty percent of the women who responded to a survey reported in the January issue of the American Journal of Medicine said that they are satisfied with their sex lives—regardless of their level of current sexual activity, [...]
Former Surgeon General and Tucson resident Richard Carmona, who is running for retiring Senator Jon Kyl’s seat, raised an impressive $570,000 in six weeks. Carmona is challenging Phoenix lawyer Don Bivens for the Democratic Party nomination. The winner of the primary will face either Congressman Jeff Flake or businessman Wil Cardon. The video above was shot [...]
Tucson is a community in turmoil. It has been tied in knots for more than a year over the issue of how best to educate its children in a world of shrinking resources and high poverty. Propagandists—both pro and con—have embroiled locals in continuous debate over the merits of the Mexican American Studies (MAS) program [...]
Tucsonans turned out in force last week to support postal worker jobs and protect the Cherrybell mail processing plant from closure. Inside the Leo Rich Theater, a capacity crowd of more than 500 citizens listened to United States Postal Service (USPS) representative Brian McCoy’s dog and pony show touting plant closures and layoffs as the [...]
Traditionally, war is a messy business– all that blood, sweat, and tears– not to mention danger, death, destruction, dismembered bodies, human suffering, nightmares, guilt, wasted taxpayer dollars, mounting deficit spending… you know the drill. (Pun intended.) In recent years, the US military-industrial complex has made war less messy and less dangerous, at least for a select [...]
Although it has been nearly a week since Tucson Police evicted Occupy Tucson from their Veinte de Agosto Park encampment, Occupiers have not folded up their tents and disappeared into the night. They continue to meet, organize, protest, and solidify the movement for 99% and against corporate takeover of our country. Tomorrow– Dec. 28– will [...]
Throughout the day yesterday, Occupy Tucson posted calls to action on its facebook page alerting supporters to a possible eviction that evening. For a little more than two months, Occupy Tucson has maintained a continuous encampment downtown– first at Armory Park and then at Veinte de Agosto Park, after their first eviction by the Tucson [...]
When old timers talk about Arizona’s economy, they often refer to the “5 C’s”– cotton, copper, cattle, citrus, and climate. The “5 C’s” built Arizona, but how relevant are they in today’s world of limited resources? At least 4 of the 5 C’s come with a high environmental cost, since cotton, copper, cattle, and citrus [...]
