At the end of last week, the US House of Representatives voted 218 – 185 to stop funding organizations that perform abortions– even though the funding covers family planning and not abortion. All House Republicans + 11 Democrats voted for the bill which would completely de-fund Planned Parenthood and other family planning organizations.

On Thursday evening, before Friday’s vote, there was three hours of “emotional” floor debate in the US House of Representatives. The measure was sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence (D-Ind). From Politico.com…

Pence, of Indiana, touched off a vicious back-and-forth Thursday night in which Republicans insisted the organization is too aggressive about performing abortions and several Democrats charged that the GOP was waging a “war on women.”

Included in Thursday night’s speeches was the comment (above) by Rep. Jackie Spier (D-CA) who called out self-righteous, male Republicans for attacking women’s health. Reminding her male colleagues that abortion is legal in the US, Spier had the courage to reveal that she had had an abortion for medical reasons and had the courage to say to her male colleagues, How dare you judge women who make that difficult medical decision?

From the Huffington Post…

“…I’m one of those women he [Chris Smith, R-NJ] spoke about just now. I had a procedure at 17 weeks pregnant with a child who moved from the vagina into the cervix.”

After a weighty pause, Speier went on. “I lost a baby,” she said, pausing again. “But for you to stand on this floor and suggest, as you have, that somehow this is a procedure that is either welcomed or done cavalierly or done without any thought is preposterous.”

In the video above, Spier also says, “You may not like Planned Parenthood, but there are many on our side of the aisle who don’t like Halliburton.” She adds that you don’t see Democrats offering one amendment after another and wasting time trying to de-fund them. (Halliburton is the multi-national defense contractor that has made millions– if not billions– helping the US kill people around the world. For Republicans, killing people is just fine and, in fact, “business friendly,” but killing fetuses is murder. Go figure. Vice President Richard Chaney and President George W. Bush were both big-wigs at Halliburton before they ran the US into the ground. But I digress…)

More on the family planning debate from the Huffington Post…

[Terry] O’Neill [head of the National Organization for Women] said that the assault on contraception and family planning, which broadens the abortion battlefield, has long been the aim of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “The men in the black dresses — the guys who like to dress up in the black robes, and I’m talking about the Catholic bishops — have been doing this for decades. Their goal is to deprive women of reproductive health care services generally. Their strategy is to go after abortion first, contraception second,” she said. “One in three women will have an abortion in their lifetime. So, in fact, abortion is an essential, ordinary part of women’s reproductive health care needs.”

Speier questioned how an abortion debate was relevant to the House GOP’s campaign pledges to focus on job creation. “To think that we are here tonight debating this issue when the American people, if they are listening, are scratching their heads and wondering, What does this have to do with me getting a job? What does this have to do with reducing the deficit? And the answer is, nothing at all,” she said. “There is a vendetta against Planned Parenthood, and it was played out in this room tonight. Planned Parenthood has a right to operate. Planned Parenthood has a right to provide family planning services. Planned parenthood has a right to perform abortions. Last time you checked, abortions were legal in this country.”

No federal funds are used by Planned Parenthood for abortion services, and such services make up a tiny fraction of its operations. Jess McIntosh, a spokeswoman for Emily’s List, a Democratic-affiliated group that works to elect pro-choice women to Congress, noted that one in five women have visited a Planned Parenthood for health-related services, which will make the organization harder to demonize than ACORN, despite the similar assault being waged.

“This is a really clear example of why it’s important that we have a representative Congress. You don’t get that experience with a roomful of men,” said McIntosh. “Republicans are trying to demonize women by describing faceless procedures with no real life consequences. And what Representative Speier did yesterday was make that impossible. She put a human face on a real life choice. It’ much harder to demagogue that.” [Emphasis added.]

The legislation to de-fund family planning will now move to the Senate.

Old Glory (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

Since I wrote Disgusted? It’s time to organize a year ago, our state’s swirl down the drain has accelerated, and the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives is working hard for military-industrial complex– while ignoring the needs of the American people.

Liberals, who were only disgusted last year, are either: 1) angry about the destruction of our country by greedy corporatists and ready to take to the streets to protest capitalist dictators or 2) resigned to the destruction of our country and preparing for total economic collapse by buying some chickens, planting a garden, installing rainwater harvesting and solar panels, and living “off the grid”.

Living "off the grid": rain water cistern + loyal guard dog. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

If you have been reading the news (1, 2, 3, 4)  in the past year, you, too, are probably somewhere on that sliding scale of disgusted-angry-resigned.

Before you buy those chickens, try organizing. Trust me, right-wing Tea Partiers are not the only people who are fed up with business-as-usual government in Washington, DC and Phoenix.

On Monday, February 21, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) will hold an organizing meeting in Tucson.

Political commentator Jim Hightower and Congressman Raul Grijalva will be the guest speakers at the inaugural meeting of the newly formed Tucson PDA chapter. If you listen to KXCI, you have heard Hightower’s sometimes-caustic but always poignant political commentaries.

From his website, here’s a taste of Hightower’s tell-it-like-it-is style.

Corporate America’s idea of Patriotism
If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.

More than an old adage, that’s a crucial operating principle of presidential leadership. Indeed, it’s a mark of political character, defining whether a president will stand up for the many, or be pushed around by the arrogant few.

In the past, when over-privileged corporate barons selfishly feathered their already-luxurious nests at the expense of America’s national interests, some U.S. Presidents had the moxie to get in their royal faces. Using what Theodore Roosevelt called the “bully pulpit” of the presidency, those White House champions of the common good confronted the greed of the corporate elite, rallying the larger public to bring them down to earth.

Barack Obama does not seem to have such presidential fortitude. Corporate America has been given a wealth of tax breaks, regulatory favors, and absurd levels of subsidies in recent years, amassing a stash of cash that now tops $2 trillion. But they adamantly refuse to invest that in American jobs and communities. Yet, in a recent meeting with these arrogant powers, Obama showed neither anger nor strength. Rather, he essentially begged them to consider “what you can do for America.” Pretty please. With sugar on it. “I want to encourage you to get in the game” of job creation, he pleaded.

Encourage? Why not demand?

And what did he buy with this genteel appeal to corporate patriotism? He got the corporate thumb jabbed in his eye. “Bottom line,” barked the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s chief lobbyist after Obama’s plea, “The most patriotic thing a company can do is to ensure it is in business.”

What a perfect expression of today’s prevailing corporate ethic. It’s a perverse twist on John Kennedy’s appeal: Ask not what you can do for your country; ask what you can do for yourself. Why should any President want any part of that?

What: Organizing meeting for Progressive Democrats of America
When: Monday, February 21, 7:00pm (Registration begins 6:30)
Where: Tucson YWCA, 525 N. Bonita (just south of St. Mary’s Road, half mile west of I-10)
Suggested Donation: $5 at the door.

In the past week, the mainstream corporate media has been busily reporting on anti-government protesters in Egypt, Iran, and Yemen– while ignoring anti-government/pro-union protesters in Wisconsin.

Last week, Wisconsin’s newly-elected Republican Governor Scott Walker proposed welching on union contracts with state workers and stripping public employee unions of collective bargaining rights.

Protests in Wisconsin swell to 30,000
Protests by union workers and supporters started almost immediately– even though Walker threatened to call out the National Guard.

On Tuesday, there were 12,000-15,000 protesters at the capitol in Wisconsin. By Wednesday, there were 30,000 protesters– and the action was finally covered by National Public Radio– even though liberal talk show host Ed Schultz had been covering action live via call-ins from protesters in Wisconsin for days and is broadcasting his show from Madison on Thursday (locally on 1330 AM, The Jolt).

From The Nation…

In some senses, Wednesday’s remarkable rally began Tuesday evening, when Madison Teachers Inc., the local education union, announced that teachers would leave their classrooms to spend the day lobbying legislators to “Kill the Bill” that has been proposed by newly-elected Republican Governor Scott Walker.

The teachers showed up en masse in downtown Madison Wednesday morning.

And then something remarkable happened.

Instead of taking the day off, their students gathered at schools on the west and east sides of Madison and marched miles along the city’s main thoroughfares to join the largest mass demonstration the city has seen in decades – perhaps since the great protests of the Vietnam War era.

Thousands of high school students arrived at the Capital Square, coming from opposite directions, chanting: “We support our teachers! We support public education!”

Thousands of University of Wisconsin students joined them, decked out in the school’s red-and-white colors.

Buses rolled in from every corner of the state, from Racine and Kenosha in the southeast to Green Bay in the northeast, from La Crosse on the Mississippi River to Milwaukee on Lake Michigan.

Buses and cars arrived from Illinois and Minnesota and as far away as Kansas, as teachers and public employees from those states showed up at what American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union president Gerald McEntee says is “ground zero “in the struggle for labor rights in America.

The moms and dads of the elementary school kids came, and the kids, carrying hand-lettered signs:

“I love my teacher!”

“Scott Walker needs to go back to school!”

“Scott Walker needs a time out!”

And, “We are Wisconsin!

“I’ve been here since the 1960s, I’ve seen great demonstrations,” said former Mayor Paul Soglin, a proud former student radical who was nominated for a new term in Tuesday’s local primary election. “This is different. This is everyone – everyone turning out.”

Everyone except the governor, who high-tailed it out of town, launching a tour of outlying communities in hopes of drumming up support for his bill. Most of the support Walker was getting was coming from national conservative political groups, such as the Club for Growth, which have long hoped to break public-employee unions. But the governor held firm, saying after a day of unprecedented protests – in Madison and small towns and cities across the state – that he still wanted to pass his bill. He’s got strong support in the overwhelmingly Republican Assembly. But he cannot afford to lose one more Republican state senator. And the unions and their backers are determined to find that one Republican who is smart enough and honest enough to recognize that the governor’s assault of public employees is an assault on Wisconsin itself.

The state’s largest teachers union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council has called on its 98,000 members to come to rally in their hometowns and then come to the Capitol. “All citizens of Wisconsin should come to Madison!” reads the call. Tens of thousands will come. The state, county and municipal employees will come. The nurses will come. The small business owners will come. The parents and students will come. They will ask the question: “What’s disgusting?” And they will answer with a roar: “Union busting!”

Reporting from the Ed Schultz show on Thursday morning, John Nichols from The Nation said police and firefighters’ unions have joined the students, teachers, and other public union members in protesting the governor’s union-busting efforts. He said, there are no longer union workers and non-union workers– just workers.

Although Wisconsin Republicans have the votes to rubber-stamp Walker’s radical anti-union proposals, there are signs that some are wavering.

At the time of this writing on Thursday, all Democrats have walked out of the Wisconsin capitol building before the union-busting bill could be voted on; Republican lawmakers need the Democrats to have a quorum and a vote. TalkingPointsMemo reports that the state police may be called in to round up the Democrats.

Protests spread to Ohio
Also on Thursday morning, pro-union protests spread to the Ohio capitol; Ohio’s newly-elected Republican Governor John Kasich has proposed union-busting measures, similar to that of Wisconsin’s governor.

Kasich has proposed ending collective bargaining and replacing negotiated salaries with merit raises. Thousands of workers representing multiple public employee unions showed up in the Columbus capitol building to hear the debate.

Ed Schultz’s MSNBC television show will be broadcast from Madison, Wisconsin on Thursday night.

Republicans actually like the other Grover (Norquist) better than this one. (Photo Credit: Sesame Street)

If only the Arizona Legislature could fix the state’s budget problems as quickly as they passed the corporate welfare package this week… sigh…

In a matter of days, Governor Jan Brewer proposed a $538 million corporate tax cut package, it was passed by both the House and the Senate– with no amendments allowed– and it is expected to be signed into law today. This is a travesty.

How does giving away more than a half-a-billion dollars in corporate welfare help a state that is millions– if not billions in debt– hasn’t balanced its budget in years and is closing schools and parks, laying off teachers, and killing healthcare for the poor? The answer: It doesn’t.

At just over 6 percent, Arizona already had one of the country’s lowest corporate tax rates, and we have one of the country’s worst economies, worst unemployment rates, and poorest k-12 school systems. Reducing the state’s corporate to 4.9 percent will help no one but the corporatists. Even House Speaker Kirk Adams admitted the lawmakers don’t know the impact of the new legislation. From the East Valley Tribune:

The votes in the House and Senate came after extensive debate about whether there’s proof that anything in the package will actually create a single job in the state. Even House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, conceded there is no guarantee.

“But this much we know: By reducing taxes on business employers, on entrepreneurs, by getting competitive again, Arizona will finally, thankfully, be in the game,” he said.

None of the Democrats and a few Republicans in the Legislature voted against the corporate tax cut legislation. Some wanted to amend it; others complained that it was ramrodded through so quickly that legislators didn’t have time to read it.

What will the Chamber of Commerce and big-business lobbyists say to Governor Brewer today after she signs the corporate welfare bill into law? Wham. Bam. Thank you, ma’am.

Ironically, it was just a few short months ago (when Brewer was running for office), that she said there was “no way” she would support corporate tax cuts after asking the voters to approve a sales tax increase. Remember that sales tax increase we approved because they said it would fund k-12 education? Gotcha. They just gave that away!

What the New York Times’ Paul Krugman wrote recently about Republicans on the federal level holds true for Republicans in the Arizona Legislature: They are sacrificing our future.

Women wearing burkas. (Photo Credit: Second City Style.)

Even though federally-funded abortions have been illegal in the US for more than 30 years, conservative Republicans campaigned on this issue during 2010. (Of course, we all know Republicans don’t allow FACTS to get in the way of their sound bites.)

Now Republican members of the US House of Representatives have introduced multiple bills to make illegal something that is already illegal. So, what’s up with that?

The bottomline is that with newly introduced legislation Republicans have declared a war on family planning, a war Planned Parenthood, a war on women’s health services, and a war on women– particularly poor women. Planned Parenthood offers family planning and preventive health screening to 3 million people per year– mostly poor women who don’t have health insurance. Less than 10 percent of Planned Parenthoods’ services are related to legal, non-government-funded abortions, but that hasn’t stopped Republican ideologues from targeting them and their services for elimination.

The Republican bills introduced in the US House of Representatives:

• would severely limit access to all women’s health services, particularly birth control and family planning;
• would eliminate all funding for any organization that offers legal abortions (even though the government funding is not paying for those abortions);
• would penalize women who BUY THEIR OWN INSURANCE if that insurance plan includes abortion coverage;
• would redefine rape;
• and would eliminate federal subsidies to private insurance plans (purchased by individuals or employers under the Affordable Care Act) if those plans include any abortion coverage.

Essentially, Republicans are trying to eliminate a woman’s right to choose the course of her medical care.

Here is an excerpt from Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman interviewing Celie Richards, president of Planned Parenthood. You can listen to or read the full interview here. [Emphasis added.]

AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show looking at what’s being described as “the most dangerous legislative assault on women’s health” ever. Since taking power in January, the Republican-led House has introduced several major anti-choice bills that women’s rights activists say could place severe limitations on access to reproductive health services. This, despite a campaign pledge to focus on creating jobs. Republican House Speaker John Boehner hailed the proposed legislation.

HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER: A ban on taxpayer funding of abortions is the will of the people, and it ought to be the will of the land. The current law, particularly as enforced by this administration, does not reflect the will of the American people. Last year, we listened to the American people through America Speaking Out. They spoke on this issue loudly and clearly. So we have included it in our pledge, and today we’re making good on that commitment.

Congressman Chris Smith has introduced bipartisan legislation that codifies the Hyde Amendment and other similar policies by permanently applying a ban on taxpayer funding of abortions across all federal programs. This commonsense legislation reflects the will of the people and deserves the support of the House. It’s one of our highest legislative priorities, and as such, I’ve directed that it receive the designation of H.R. 3.

AMY GOODMAN: That was House Speaker John Boehner. As he noted, H.R. 3, called the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” would cut off public funds for abortions. A second bill, H.R. 358, called the “Protect Life Act,” would prohibit federal funds from being used to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion services under the Affordable Care Act. A third bill, H.R. 217, called the “Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act,” would deny federal family planning funds to any organizations that perform abortions, regardless of whether or not the organization uses that federal money for abortions.

To discuss the legislation, we’re joined now by Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood. Through its affiliates, Planned Parenthood provides family planning, contraception and abortion services at more than 800 health clinics across the country, serving more than three million patients a year.

Cecile Richards, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you talk about what’s happening in Washington, D.C., today, where you are lobbying Congress?

CECILE RICHARDS: Sure. Thanks, Amy. Thanks for having me. It’s great to be back.

The House leadership in Congress has basically just declared war on women, really from day one. And I know you had that clip there from Speaker Boehner, but it goes much further than that. They not only are now trying to—federal funding hasn’t been available for abortion for more than 30 years, but what they’re really doing is trying to overturn the legal right to abortion in any context. As well, though, it’s way beyond abortion. Now they’re basically trying to end family planning and access to birth control in America. The Republican budget that came out basically gets rid of the nation’s Family Planning Program. And as well, we expect in the next day or two, with the support of the Speaker, there will be an amendment to basically end all federal funds going to Planned Parenthood, including funds that are used for basic birth control, cancer screenings and preventive care for more than three million people every year.

AMY GOODMAN: In your 800 clinics of Planned Parenthood, how much of the work is around abortion? What is the array of services that you provide?

CECILE RICHARDS: Less than 10 percent of our services are related to abortion. In fact, 90 percent, more than 90 percent of Planned Parenthood’s care is preventive care. We do—we provide birth control to about two-and-a-half million people every year. We do almost a million cancer screenings for breast exams, as well as cervical cancer screenings. We’re now one of the largest providers of STD testing and treatment in the country.

And for so many women who come to Planned Parenthood, like other family planning clinics, we are their only doctor. You know, the vast majority of women who come to Planned Parenthood, it will be the only doctor they see all year. And so, I think one of the most damaging things about what’s being proposed by the Republican leadership right now in Congress is it would basically take away healthcare for three million people who currently have it.

CECILE RICHARDS: No, and it hasn’t since—it hasn’t for more than 30 years. So, I mean, I was really struck by the clip that you played from Speaker Boehner talking about the will of the people. I actually thought the will of the people, based on this last election, was to get the American economy back going and get people back to work. So it’s quite stunning to me that instead of focusing on jobs and really getting the economy going, they are spending all of their time talking about issues that I think the American people are settled. And the fact that they would, after this healthcare—you know, working over the last two years to finally expand healthcare access to folks in America, their very proposals would take away healthcare for more than five million women who currently have access to it through the nation’s Family Planning Program or through Planned Parenthood.

AMY GOODMAN: Let’s go through these three major bills right now before Congress.

CECILE RICHARDS: OK.

AMY GOODMAN: First, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which critics call the “Stupak on Steroids” bill.

CECILE RICHARDS: Well, the Smith—the Chris Smith bill that Speaker Boehner was referring to is the most far-reaching bill we have ever seen. And not only does it codify the Hyde Amendment, which of course we disagree with, but—that is currently the law that federal funds can’t be used for abortion—but it even says, if you use your own money, a woman uses her own money to purchase health insurance that covers abortion, she will have to pay higher taxes, because she can no longer get the tax benefits of having healthcare coverage that’s comprehensive. Same with small business owners. If you’re a business owner and you get a tax benefit from providing—from providing healthcare coverage, if that coverage also includes abortion coverage, you can no longer get that tax benefit. And it’s going to deny—essentially, the purpose of the Smith bill is to take away the right of women to have abortion coverage in insurance anywhere in America, even women with desperately needed terminations based on medical need.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the redefining of “rape” that’s included in H.R. 3, Cecile Richards.

CECILE RICHARDS: Well, this is the most egregious thing and that absolutely has—I think defines the kind of attitude we’re seeing by the House leadership, which is it attempted to say there are only certain kinds of rape that now you would have the right to get an abortion, and that was forcible rape. They wanted to redefine what are good rapes and what are bad rapes. And it has created an enormous public outcry, and I think to the embarrassment of the leadership. But I think it’s just one indication of how far they are willing to go in taking away women’s access to healthcare in America.

AMY GOODMAN: Wait, you have to explain that further. Good rapes and bad rapes?

CECILE RICHARDS: Well, yes, if it wasn’t considered forcible, if it was simply you were raped, if it was a date rape or other kind of rape that wasn’t considered forcible, where you could demonstrate—I guess it would be up to the rape victim to demonstrate that it was—how forcible it was, you could not have access to abortion coverage as a result of the rape.

AMY GOODMAN: You know, it’s interesting, because we just played in the headlines a group of women, and some men, who are suing around the issue of rape in Iraq, and a videotape—

CECILE RICHARDS: Exactly.

AMY GOODMAN:—was made of one woman, and her commander saying, looking at the videotape that the men made who were raping her, he didn’t feel that she had fought back hard enough.

CECILE RICHARDS: Exactly. I just saw that, that you had played it. And I think it is incredible to me that at this time in the United States of America, we are talking about going so far back, basically repealing women’s rights in a way that is just unthinkable. And again, I think it’s—as you said earlier, it’s not simply about—it’s not simply about ending Roe v. Wade, which is really the purpose of Mr. Smith and Mr. Boehner, it’s literally taking away the access to birth control in America, which is unbelievable. How did we get here?

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go on to the federal legislation—yes, there are more bills that are being weighed now in Congress.

CECILE RICHARDS: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: The Congress is saying that they are focusing on jobs, jobs, jobs.

CECILE RICHARDS: Right.

AMY GOODMAN: And then I want to talk about the state level and talk about states like, oh, South Dakota. Is it possible that the killing of abortion providers could be considered justifiable homicide? This is what we’re going to take on, as we continue after the break with Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Stay with us.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: We continue with Cecile Richards. She’s president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the nation’s leading provider of reproductive healthcare and sex education and the country’s largest advocacy organization for women’s health and rights. Let’s talk about H.R. 358, the Protect Life Act. What would that do, Cecile Richards?

CECILE RICHARDS: Well, I’m sorry, tell me—the number doesn’t—

AMY GOODMAN: H.R. 358, Protect Life Act, that would allow hospitals to refuse to provide abortions even when necessary to save a woman’s life.

CECILE RICHARDS: Right. I apologize, I didn’t remember the number. We have—as you know, there is a raft of bills that have now been introduced in Congress, really in the House. And the concern over this bill is what—is allowing hospitals to refuse treatment, even in the case of a woman’s life who needs an abortion. And, of course, this has been—there have been massive expansions of conscience clauses and legislation to allow hospitals and even, of course, pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions. And this is a concern about this bill, that it would allow, if a woman—and as you know, in some communities, you don’t have a lot of hospitals to choose from. And this would—our concern about this bill is it would allow hospitals to refuse life-saving treatment, if a woman needed an abortion, based on conscience. And again, I think this is where the leadership of the House isn’t focusing on women’s health. They are focusing on an ideological agenda, and they don’t understand how this is going to affect real women’s lives. And that’s the story that we’re trying to tell to Congress.

AMY GOODMAN: H.R. 217, the measure which has 122 co-sponsors, called the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, that would ban federal funding for other services to organizations that perform abortions? How would that affect Planned Parenthood, and what does that mean?

CECILE RICHARDS: I know, there’s so many. So, essentially, the other—one of the big goals is to prevent healthcare providers who provide an array of healthcare services—if any of the services they provide include abortions or abortion referrals, they should not be—this bill says they should not be able to get any federal funds for family planning, which, on the face of it, is ridiculous. Right now, as an example, Planned Parenthood is the biggest reproductive healthcare provider in the country. We actually—under the Title X program, which is our nation’s Family Planning Program, we provide more than a third of the clients who come in through the Title X program, we provide them family planning. So this would essentially take Planned Parenthood completely out of that system, as well as any other family planning provider that provided abortion care.

And if I could—you know, to remember, abortion is legal in this country. This is basically taking something that everyone is—that family planning clinics are providing that is a legal service and saying, “If you provide this service, you can no longer provide family planning.” The most ridiculous part about it is that, for Congressman Pence and the others who are proposing these bills, Planned Parenthood does more to prevent unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion than any organization in America. So I don’t really know where they think the millions of women who come to us and other providers are going to go for family planning anymore and what the result will be.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to the state level, Cecile, to what is happening in various states. With at least 29 anti-choice governors, the battleground has shifted to the state legislatures. First, talk about what’s happening right now in South Dakota.

CECILE RICHARDS: Well, I mean, South Dakota is one example of a very egregious bill that speaks to the interference of anyone who was trying to terminate a pregnancy. And it’s a complicated bill, so I don’t want to get into all of the details, but it is a—what we’re seeing in South Dakota—I could list states across the country—are state legislatures who unfortunately are much in the mold now of the leadership of the House of Representatives, who, instead of focusing on the really hard and important issues of the day—about their budgets, their economy—they are using this as an opening, with the sort of the shift to the right in the leadership and in these legislatures to now try to repeal every single—every single right that women have to legal abortion. And they’re focusing, as well, on providers. And the goal is not only to make sure that women don’t have access, but to make sure that doctors are afraid to even provide legal abortions in this country. And that’s really what the South Dakota bill is about.

AMY GOODMAN: And talk about what is happening in Kansas, Cecile Richards.

CECILE RICHARDS: Well, I mean, there are so many things happening in Kansas, I don’t even know—I don’t even know where to begin. I mean, we have obviously—in the state of Kansas, we’ve been dealing with very bad legislation for years, for decades. So, I mean, we could talk about these specific states, but I think the important thing, just to sort of bring it back overall, is that what we are seeing—but it’s not just at the state level. I agree with you that there are a lot of problems at the state level, but we are literally seeing the federal government, the U.S. House of Representatives, trying to end birth control access in America. So, I agree that the states are where some of the most egregious state bills are, but it’s much bigger than that. And I think this is—what we are seeing around the country is this unbelievable overreach by the leadership that was elected in November, not focusing on what the people want, but in fact focusing on issues about abortion access, taking away birth control, allowing hospitals to refuse treatment, allowing pharmacists to refuse birth control. This is not what the American people voted for, and I think there’s going to be an enormous political backlash, which we’re already beginning to see at Planned Parenthood, folks coming into our clinics and saying, “I cannot believe I’ve just heard that the U.S. House of Representatives is trying to shut down Planned Parenthood.”

Ironically, the GOP– the party that will fight to the death for individual rights, gun rights, corporate personhood, and tax cuts for the rich– has jumped at the chance to squash women”s rights and harm families. What will be their next attack on American women– the country’s largest minority group? Are burkas in our future?

For a chilling list of Republican attacks nationwide on women’s health, check out this story: Five Ways That The GOP Is Trying To Eradicate A Woman’s Right To Choose. (Note the Arizona Legislature’s participation in this effort.)

For more of this interview, check out the Democracy Now website.

Common Ground Tucson is hosting the first in a series of monthly events celebrating community. This coming Sunday, February 20, 2011, from 3-9 p.m., join other Tucsonans on the roof of the Pennington St. Parking Garage for sharing, learning, talking, and– most importantly– seeking common ground.

If you want to help Tucson grow, thrive, and become more sustainable, and you want to meet like-minded folks, you’re invited! Here is the scoop from the Common Ground Tucson website.

The invitation is to every group, organization, collective, congregation, school, club, small business and individual in the Tucson area to show up and share what they do and/or want to do to make Tucson (and the world) a happier, more peaceful, sustainable and balanced place.

The event is an orchestration of that sharing. It includes the usual tables and booths for displaying information and interactive outreach, but….

the real excitement is that it’s a continuous round of inventive ways to invite and inspire participation that connects people experientially with those resources and opportunities. It’s a showcase of local talent, musical, artistic, entrepreneurial and organizational, all designed for everyone to take part in right on the spot. It’s about healing, intervening, water, wildlife, food, faith, transportation and compost. It’s mini workshops, group games, challenges and dialogue. It’s singing and dancing and telling each other jokes, stories and imagined possibilities.

It’s everything we can imagine and set into motion, and yet, its true core intention, is about connecting with each other and the big picture of what that means to all our lives. Common Ground is a stage where everyone is a performer, quiet or loud, optimistic, pessimistic, young or old, no matter what you believe is true or isn’t, because…. Tucson is such a stage.

It’s finally time to get to know one another and we’re here to make that easy.

The Pennington St. Parking Garage is on the southeast corner of E. Pennington St. and N. Scott Ave. in downtown Tucson. Common Ground Tucson plans to hold monthly events on the third Sunday of each month at this time and location.

Solar energy panel on display at Solar Rock 2010. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

Sunshine is one commodity Tucson has in abundance. We have successfully based our tourism industry on sunshine, blue skies, mountain views, unique vegetation, and cowboy lore, but beyond that Tucson has done little to capitalize on our sometimes over-abundance of the sun… until recently.

With the help of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the University of Arizona received solar power research funds and created a Solar Zone at their Tech Park. Earlier this month, Tucson Electric Power Company began offering customers the option of purchasing solar power, generated by the UA’s solar farm.

Some worry about the water usage of solar power. Large solar power installations can use the sun to generate power to heat water and produce steam to turn turbines, which generate electricity. This is how electricity is generated in traditional electric generating stations, but solar energy has replaced coal, gas or nuclear energy to heat the water. If you use solar power this way, your water usage would be about the same. The savings would come in more abstract ways: not destroying the environment by mining coal and shipping it to the power plant or not building hugely expensive and dangerous nuclear power plants that leave waste we don’t know how to dispose of.

The UA’s Solar Zone features solar panels that use a different technology– concentrated photovoltaic. The panels that individuals install on their homes use photovoltaic technology. UA scientists are building a different type of power plant based on that technology that uses less water than traditional electric generation.

Beyond the Solar Zone

Developing a water-wise method of generating power from the sun– all good. But what else can Tucson do to become the solar capitol of the US?

In my opinion, this should be Tucson’s new motto: Everything that sits in the sun should generate power.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I got this idea from a National Public Radio (NPR) commentary. The commentator challenged the idea of promoting electric cars that have to be plugged into the electric power grid. Her question: why use coal-generated electricity to power an electric car? Why doesn’t the car generate it’s own power? Most cars sit in the sun all day. They can be collecting solar power for their own use, or the solar-panel-equipped cars could be plugged into the power grid at the parking lot and sell energy back as they’re sitting there.

Alternatively, what about carports with solar panels? You could generate electricity for your electric car or your home use. Why not?

The Sky Bar on 4th Ave. recently installed huge, very impressive mega-carports covered with large solar panels in their parking lot.  Brooklyn Pizza (a related business next door to Sky Bar) has been making solar-powered pizza for years, but these new solar arrays go beyond pizza-making. Think about it. What a great idea for a Tucson business– give your customers some shaded parking and generate your own electricity.

What Tucson Can Do

How can Tucson use the solar-powered carport/ramada concept to help the citizenry and maybe save money? Most Tucson parks have shade structures for picnickers, and several parks have VERY LARGE shade structures to play basketball. All of the basketball structures and many of the picnic ramadas have electric lights, but none of the have solar panels (as far as I know).

OK, it would be a lot of money to retro-fit the picnic ramadas, but think about it. Why not have solar powered LED lights on those ramadas– instead of regular electric lights powered by TEP? (When we were at Fort Lowell Park on Saturday, the light under our ramada came on automatically at 3 p.m. I have no idea whether this light is on a light sensor or a timer, but what a waste of electricity if this is happening all over the city!)

Maybe a more doable project would be to add solar panels and water harvesting collection tanks to all of the basketball ramadas first. The solar panels could power lights on the basketball court and maybe generate electricity to power a swimming pool heater or help with the power needs of a nearly rec center. Water collected off the roofs could nourish plants, trees, or even a community garden.

I know there are initial investments related to these ideas, but I’m sure there’s grant money out there. Or maybe someone can broker a public/private partnership (as long as the citizens still benefit– and not just the business “partners”.) Adding solar panels and water collection tanks to city-owned shade structures will allow us to use our valuable resources more wisely and improve quality of life of our residents. Who knows? If you add enough photovoltaic panels, it could the economic viability of Tucson’s Parks and Recreation Department.

Let’s think big and green, Tucson.

A scene from the 2010 Tucson Peace Fair. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

Righties would like to believe that Lefties are at home, moping and depressed at the state of our state and our country– following the 2010 “shellacking”– and sipping Chardonnay as we read progressive blogs and long for a political miracle.

While there may be some truth to that scenario, Southern Arizona Lefties have a myriad of socializing, organizing, and energizing opportunities in the coming weeks to cheer us up and sharpen our resolve.

Corazon de Justicia Awards Dinner, Friday, February 18, 2011– Sponsored by Derechos Humanos, this dinner recognizes the work of “community organizers for their commitment to justice and social change.” Beginning at 6:30 p.m., the event will be held at the Apollo Middle School. The cost is $35 per person. Follow the link for more information about the program and the keynote speaker David Bacon, a writer for TruthOut, The Nation, and other publications. (Here’s a link to a story on last year’s event.)

Organizing Meeting for Progressive Democrats of America Tucson Chapter, Monday, February 21, 2011– Jeff Latas (former Congressional candidate), Phil Lopes (former Arizona Legislator), and other progressives are firing up local lefties and trying to get us organized. This first meeting will feature Congressman Jim Hightower and our own Congressman Raul Grijalva (Chair, Congressional Progressive Caucus). The meeting will be held at the Tucson YWCA, 525 N. Bonita (just south of St. Mary’s Road ½ mile west of I-10). The meeting begins at 7:00 p.m., with registration starting at 6:30. Suggested donation is $5 at door. For more information contact Phil Lopes: lopesphil@gmail.com.

“Join me in this new chapter to help energize the much needed change we desperately need in our country and in Arizona. We can no longer count on someone else doing the changing and we definitely shouldn’t count on the status quo of our current party structures. It is up to us to make this much needed political change and we must act now. Hope to see you and many of your friends at the YWCA on 21 February,” says Latas.

29th Annual Tucson Peace Fair and Music Festival, Saturday, February 26, 2011– Billed as “Arizona’s largest gathering of peace, social justice and environmental groups,” the Tucson Peace Fair is a free, family-friendly event featuring live music and dozens of booths representing activist organizations and political movements. The event is 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Reid Park Bandshell. (Here’s a link to a story on last year’s event.)

1st Annual Consuelo Aguilar Awards Luncheon, Saturday, February 26, 2011– The Southern Arizona Unity Coalition will honor the 11 ethnic studies teachers with presentation of the first Consuela Aguilar Award. The goal of the group is to honor Aguilar’s memory by recognizing community leaders “who embody her commitment to education and community empowerment.” Tickets are $25 each, and the event will be 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the University Marriott.

Democratic Party LD28 St. Patrick’s Day Party, Saturday, March 13, 2011– This is an annual fundraiser for local Democrats. The potluck event is held at the home of life-long Tucson Democrats George and Margie Cunningham, parents of City Councilman Paul Cunningham. The event is from 2 to 5 p.m. at 630 N. Alamo. Tickets will go on sale after Feb. 15. They are $20 if purchased prior to March 10 and $25 after the March 10 or at the door.

March for Peace and Jobs, Saturday March 19, 2011 — March 19 is the 8th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. This event is still being organized by the End the Wars Coalition. The March will begin at 10 a.m. at Armory Park and end with a rally at noon at DeAnza Park. Watch for more details. From the Tucson Peace Center website: March and Rally to Protest the Wars and Demand funding for social programs. Puppets, floats (that will fit on the sidewalk) and other forms of creative protest are invited. If you focus on Border issues, join us. If you focus on Health Care, join us. If your focus is Education or Job Creation, join us. (You get the idea–) Environmentalists, ethnic studies students, anti-SB1070′ers–join us with your banners and your priorities. We are all scrambling for the crumbs of funding left over after our government is finished paying for multiple wars–demand change now!

Solar oven-- one of the many environmentally friendly products featured at Solar Rock 2010. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

Solar Rock Tucson, Sunday, March 27, 2011– Solar Rock is an outdoor,  solar-powered music concert and vendor fair. The rock concert demonstrates the power of the sun loud and clear. Last year, there were several vendors with information on solar panels, solar hot water systems, rainwater harvesting, bicycle commuting, and all things environmentally friendly. This year’s event is from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. at Armory Park.

22nd Annual LULAC Educator’s Banquet, Thursday, March 31, 2011– The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) will host its annual awards banquet in the Copper Room of the Tucson Convention Center. Tickets are $75 per person. No host bar begins at 5:30 p.m., with the dinner beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Mark your calendars, fellow comrades! Come out and meet other like-minded people at one or more of these worthwhile events.

A recent editorial cartoon in the Arizona Daily Star depicted a tiny, portly, balding man in a suit feverishly kicking the shoe of a very tall and stately-looking Uncle Sam. The tiny man (labeled “state legislatures”) was screaming, “Take that. And that. And that!”

With the multiple anti-federal government — and anti-local government– bills proposed this winter by the Arizona Legislature, the cartoon was a fitting scenario for the mess our state is in, but to be true to our state legislature’s antics, it should have included another frame showing the tiny, angry man kicking a child (labeled “local government”.)

Two recent editorials– one in the Arizona Daily Star and one in the Tucson Weekly– reveal what a sham our state government is on the topic of immigration and birthright citizenship.

AZ immigration bills are temper tantrums, not policy in the February 10 Star, takes on the anchor baby bill that State Senate President Russell Pearce is trying to push through the legislature. [Emphasis added.]

[Denying automatic citizenship to children born in the US of undocumented parents (AKA anchor babies] would respond to a “problem” that exists largely in their fevered imaginations: armies of pregnant Mexican women waddling across the desert to give birth to infants who, having been born in the U.S.A., automatically enjoy the benefits of American citizenship and can confer the same upon their families.

And here, it is important to establish a few things.

The first is that even if immigrant women were coming here to give birth to so-called anchor babies – a claim Politifact.org rates dubious at best – the fact is that under existing law, such children can’t sponsor their parents for citizenship until they turn 21. Even then, the parents must return home for 10 years before applying.

The second is that what Arizona lawmakers are doing is the very definition of political self-gratification. States do not define citizenship. The federal government does.

The third is that any law Arizona does pass would be unlikely to survive its first court challenge. The 14th Amendment clearly defines a citizen as person “born or naturalized” in the United States. Any attempt to tamper with that amendment should alarm all Americans but particularly African-Americans, given that it is the 14th Amendment, along with the 13th and 15th, that anchored our citizenship and provided the legal basis for Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. [Those pesky facts!]

The most striking thing about the Arizona proposals – and CNN reports that 40 other states are weighing similar measures – is their shrill incoherence. It is worth noting that this is the 25th anniversary of an immigration amnesty signed into law by none other than President Ronald Reagan.

That this icon of conservatism would, like Bush, find himself so strikingly out of step with his followers today testifies eloquently to how strident and nonsensical this debate has become. Rather than offer workable solutions, lawmakers are outlawing ethnic studies classes, requiring Latinos to carry papers like Jews in prewar Germany, decrying anchor babies and rousing the rabble in their xenophobic righteousness.

This is not statesmanship. It is not serious policymaking. It is a temper tantrum, the incoherent bawling of those who see fundamental demographic change coming and like it not one bit.

In There’s a big lie at the heart of the attack on birthright citizenship, in the February 10 Weekly, author Michael Bryan (of Blog for Arizona fame) uses more pesky facts and legal precedence to dispute the nativists’ claim that the 14th amendment “established” birthright citizenship. [Emphasis added.]

Birthright citizenship was not established by the 14th Amendment, but by long and continuous common law practice since before this nation’s founding.

Birthright citizenship has deep roots in American and colonial English jurisprudence, extending back to Calvin’s Case of 1608. Birthright citizenship is the common-law rule of jus soli (the law of the soil), which has been the common law rule of citizenship in America since we were English colonies, and then continuously throughout our nation’s entire 235-year history.

The only exceptions have been that the children of foreign diplomats, the children of members of invading armies and, following the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision of 1857, persons of African descent were not automatically citizens. The only reason the 14th Amendment was passed was to overturn that terrible U.S. Supreme Court precedent—not to “establish” birthright citizenship in general, but only to clarify that birthright citizenship would also apply to the children of slaves, former slaves and those of African descent.

Anyone born on American soil since before our country was even a country was, and always has been, a citizen, either of the United States, or, before independence, of England. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th Amendment (adopted in 1868) merely restated the existing common law of birthright citizenship; they did not create the rule. The intent of both the legislation and the amendment was to make it clear that Dred Scott was overturned.

What the “anchor baby” activists want is not to “clarify” any “mistaken” interpretation of the 14th Amendment, but to use the lie that the 14th Amendment “established” birthright citizenship in order to overturn nearly 400 years of continuous common-law practice in America and deny citizenship to innocent children born of parents of whom they disapprove…

Every child born on American soil, save for diplomats and members of occupying armies, is an American. That is now, and always has been, United States law. That law cannot be changed by merely reinterpreting the Immigration and Nationality Act’s legislative enactment of the 14th Amendment, because the 14th Amendment did not “establish” birthright citizenship any more than Newton “established” gravity.

As Hitler and Goebbels recognized, to lie effectively, you must tell a big lie. Only a lie so complete and audacious that the people cannot believe that you would dare tell it, were it not true, can succeed in re-making reality. The nativist and racist inheritors of that legacy here in America have certainly embraced the central importance of the big lie to successful propaganda operations. Don’t let them get away with it.

Mel Gibson as Mad Max (Photo Credit:MyFreeWallPapers.com)

What is the future of Arizona? In the past 24 hours, two of my friends likened our future to a Mad Max movie. Think about it… No water. Scarce gasoline, food, and shelter. Plenty of sand, guns, crazy drivers. fear, and social unrest. Rugged, every-man-for-himself individualism.

Yikes. Ya gotta admit… they’ve got a point. My only question is, given the current leadership at the state level: Is this Arizona’s post-apocalyptic future or next year?

…the world has “crumbled and…the cities have exploded;” uprisings and social disorder due to energy shortages have destabilized the country; and that “two mighty warrior tribes” had gone to war. The crumbling remnants of the government attempt to restore some form of order, but life has become a “whirlwind of looting and a firestorm of fear, in which men began to feed on men.”

In the film’s opening scene, Max Rockatansky (Mel GibsonMel Gibson) clashes with a team of marauders. Clad in his torn and dirty leather police uniform with his knee in an improvised brace after being shot in the first film, Max roams the desert in a scarred, black, supercharged Pursuit Special, scavenging for food and, especially, petrol, which has become a precious commodity. He also has a pet dog (an Australian Cattle Dog), who has been his only companion, and a rare functioning firearm — a sawn-off shotgun — the ammunition for which is also scarce. [From Wikipedia.]