Sacred Datura grows in the wild. (Image Credit: Pamela Powers Hannley)

Is Pinal County becoming the new dust bowl? This past summer dry conditions, high winds, and a destroyed ecosystem created a series of perfect storms.

Dust storms of Biblical proportions formed in Pinal County’s scraped-clean, barren acreage, blew into Phoenix, and made national headlines when multiple haboobs engulfed millions of Phoenicians.

Subsequent dust storms created fatal driving conditions along Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix. A series of dust storms caused multiple pileups on one October day– leaving one person dead, 15 injured, and more than 16 vehicles destroyed.

What is the state’s answer to this dangerous situation? Two days after that horrific October day on I-10, state officials shrugged their shoulders and blamed motorists for the accidents. From the Arizona Daily Star…

State officials say that motorists – not a lack of safeguards – are to blame for dust-related crashes such as the multi-vehicle wrecks on Interstate 10 on Tuesday.

And there are no plans for state agencies to collaborate on strategies to reduce collisions related to dust storms.
“Dust storms don’t kill people; highways don’t kill people. Drivers kill people,” said Bart Graves, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. “They panic and they do the wrong thing and something bad happens…” [Note that state officials are using the same argument that they use to justify taking no action on gun control.]

In cases of unpredictable dust storms, Graves said, “there is virtually no way we can do that.”

Aloe vera grows wild and like datura is a plant that pollinators love. (Image credit: Pamela Powers Hannley)

The state is being lazy on the issue of dust storms, and I was glad to see Tucsonans calling them out in today’s Arizona Daily Star story about dust storms and hazardous driving on I-10.

Unfortunately, the article primarily focused on high-tech methods to predict dust storms and not on ways to prevent them.

I have lived in Arizona long enough to remember when there used to be vegetation along I-10. Leaving Tucson on the way to Phoenix, mature palo verde and mesquite trees lined either side of the freeway and filled the median for miles. This green belt was so beautiful– especially after a desert rain when the palo verdes were in bloom. Beyond the trees on either side was other desert vegetation like creosote and jojoba bushes, cacti, and yucca. On the way to Wilcox, mature ocotillo and wild flowers like Mexican sunflowers and sacred datura filled the median. In the spring, the view toward the Dragoons was a riot of color with miles of blooming fire-red ocotillos mixed with the yellow and white wild flowers. Along the sides of the freeway were more wild flowers, desert shrubs, cacti, and other native plants.

These hardy desert trees, shrubs, and wild flowers not only decorated the freeway and made the drive more pleasant; their roots held the soil.

Cacti and agaves will grow and multiply just about anywhere. (Image Credit: Pamela Powers Hannley)

I never knew why the plants and trees in the median were removed. One day the trees going west and the ocotillos going east were just gone. All that was left was dirt, rocks, scrub grass, and maybe an occasional wild flower.

Overgrazing, over cultivation, and over zealous (but uncompleted) development destroyed the ecosystem along the freeway. Vast stretches of dirt line I-10 between Tucson and Phoenix. It’s no wonder haboobs are whipped up and no wonder that Pinal County has air quality problems.

In addition to– or instead of– high-tech gadgetry to predict dust storms, Arizona should mount a freeway planting program. (After all, as the Star article points out, what are you going to do after you predict a major dust storm? Shut down the freeway? Halt commerce on the interstate because a computer model tells you to?) The median and the easement along the freeway should be replanted with desert trees, shrubs, and wild flowers. Other states have vegetation along their stretches of the interstate highways. We have dirt and, therefore, we have dust storms. Along I-10, on the way to Palm Springs, mature salt cedars line the freeway for miles and provide a buffer between the dry desert and drivers.

In addition to a state-sponsored replanting program, landowners who allow their acreage to sit uncultivated or undeveloped should be fined. They are creating a public health and public safety problems for the residents of Arizona; they should pay for remediation.

Another step the state can take is to make commuting between Tucson and Phoenix safer is to move forward on the I-10 corridor commuter train. Not safe to drive? Take the train.

Arizona’s state government should stop shirking its duty to protect the health and welfare of the citizenry… and start planting.

Informational tents erected by Connect the Dots, Progressive Democrats of America, Jobs with Justice, and political campaigns drew in many interested people.

Labor Day 2011 in Tucson was a blend of old fashioned games and old fashioned politics.

As a volunteer with the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) booth, my job was to work the crowd and attach as many “Healthcare not Warfare” stickers to as many people as possible. This task afforded me the opportunity to engage in multiple conversations about universal healthcare, ending US military adventurism, and other political issues with dozens of people during the course of the day.

Two of the more extended and spirited discussions I had on Labor Day were with  Republican City Council candidate Jennifer Rawson and Republican Mayoral candidate Rick Grinnell. (I’m not sure if they were tag-teaming at the Labor Day event, but they passed by the PDA and Connect the Dots booths one right after another. Little did they know what they were stepping into.)

Rawson wandered by first, then Grinnell. They both accepted my “Healthcare not Warfare” stickers, and began to tell me who they were; but, of course, I already knew. I started my conversations with both of them with the same question:

If you are elected as a City Council person [or Mayor], how would you reduce the poverty rate in Tucson?

“Create jobs!” Rawson responded enthusiastically.

“How?” I asked.

At this juncture, Rawson shifted the topic from jobs and poverty to a story about a small business owner who received a bill for $5000 from the city for a light pole erected on her property. Boo hoo for the business owner was Rawson’s message. Of course, she didn’t offer anybackground information on this story– such as whether or not the small business owner has asked the city to erect the light pole on her property. Details, details. Instead she went off on the city and the fees…yada, yada, yada.

“Fix city government. It’s full of corruption. We really need to clean house!” was Grinnel’s answer to the poverty problem. (Well that didn’t answer my question at all. Ironically, when I checked Grinnell’s website today, I realized that he is on the Rio Nuevo Board… hmmm… city corruption… pot calling the kettle black?)

“So, do you want to know my ideas for creating jobs in Pima County?” I asked them both. Not allowing either of them to answer my rhetorical question, I launched into my ideas. I told them both that the Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities (better known as TREO) and the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau (MTCVB) were a waste of money because they have been ineffective in their strategies to boost the Tucson economy or create jobs. Here is what I told them…

TREO’s tactic– also employed by economic development groups in dozens of cities– is to chase large corporations and sports teams with tax breaks, free land, and taxpayer-funded facilities (ie, ball parks, industrial parks, convention centers, etc.) This strategy benefits businesses, for sure, but it is was not producing long-term, good jobs in Tucson (remember IBM? remember Wiser Lock? remember spring training?)– or anywhere else– because these companies and sports teams are not loyal to the location. They are just looking for the best deal, and the cities and politicians are so desperate to look successful at job creation that they break the bank with the deals they offer. (I didn’t realize when I was dissing chasing sports teams that Grinnell used to do just that!)

The way to grow jobs– and help small businesses– in Tucson isn’t to give tax breaks to relocating corporations or to excuse fees levied on existing business; it’s to invest in businesses that are “born and raised” in Tucson — like Gadabout, Bohemia, Patio Pools, Technicians for Sustainability, Nimbus Brewery, Thunder Canyon Brewery, eegees, etc. Instead of spending $1 million to bring in another call center or baseball team, why not offer 50 – 100 individual $10-20,000 low-cost loans or grants to different local businesses with innovative ideas or well-crafted business expansion plans? (I’m talking real plans– not just “Hey, if we give you a $5000 tax credit, could you maybe hire someone someday?”)

With a $20,000 investment, would Gadabout start a skin care line? Would Nimbus or Thunder Canyon improve expand distribution to other states or start a spin-off business? Would Technicians for Sustainability start manufacturing their own line of solar shingles? Would Bohemia start marketing local art on the Internet or open another store or reduce their consignment fee (thus helping local artists make more money)? Who knows? At any rate, investment– not giveaways– will grow businesses (and jobs) because it fosters innovation and expansion– not just increased profits for the business owner.

After promoting Local First and trashing TREO’s ineffective strategies, I moved on to MTCVB. Tucson has a vibrant arts and music scene. Our musicians and artists are every bit as talented as Austin’s or New Orleans’. Tucson also has great musical events– the blues festival, the folk festival, Club Crawl, HoCo Fest, just to name a few– and local music in clubs nightly, but you won’t learn about any of these attractions on the MTCVB website. It’s all mariachis, golf, swanky resorts, rodeo, baseball(?), the Gem Show, cacti, and sunsets. On the MTCVB website, the only art represented is David Dominguez Gallery, Tohono Chul Park, the Tucson Museum of Art, and the Open Studio Tour. Huh? No mention of Dinnerware, Raices, the warehouse district galleries, or the Central Tucson Gallery Association. MCTVB is promoting business– not Tucson and Tucson’s cultural, artistic, and musical assets.

TREO and MTCVB should be de-funded, and their missions and tactics re-tooled. Their strategies are not working; it’s time to think forward.

What is our shared vision for Tucson and how do we realize it? Grinnell and Rawson offered me canned Republican answers to my sincere question about jobs and poverty. Is continued Democratic Party rule the answer? I’m not so sure about that; the Democrats have perpetuated the inept policies of TREO/MTCVB. Stay tuned for more…

Teams representing different labor unions prepare to push a giant ball back and forth across the field. Is this game an analogy for the political struggle between local Democrats and Republicans?

Approximately 25 stalwarts representing National Nurses United, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), and MoveOn.org braved 108 degree temperatures to protest outside of US Senator Jon Kyl’s suburban Tucson office on September 1, 2011.

The lcoal demonstration was part of a national movement to encourage Congress to think about Main Street– rather than Wall Street– when making spending (and cutting) decisions in the near future. Kyl’s office was chosen as the site for the local demonstration because he has been appointed to the Super Congress, which will make tough spending and cutting decisions this fall.

Kyl’s staff locked themselves in a conference room as peaceful protesters knocked on the office door and chanted outside.

Since Kyl’s staff refused to open the doors and listen to local constituents, activists left dozens of Post-It Note messages on his door encouraging him to save social safety net programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and unemployment), tax the rich and corporations to raise revenue, and put Americans back to work.

To watch other videos from around the country, click here.

‘Nuff said.

On August 31, 2011, join Progressive Democrats of America Tucson Chapter, local MoveOn activists, and local nurses at Jon Kyl’s Tucson office (yes, he has one) at 6840 N. Oracle Rd., Suite 150, 6 p.m. Click here for a map. Click here to RSVP.

Arizona Senator Jon Kyl is a member of the new Super Congress which will decide our future and the future of our children and grandchildren. Tell Kyl to “have a heart”– not an ideology.

Given: System-wide, US healthcare costs have been on an upward trajectory for decades.

Given: The #1 reason Americans go bankrupt is that they cannot pay their medical bills.

Given: As we grow older, our healthcare (and health insurance) costs increase.

Given: Baby Boomers are entering their Golden Years, and between 2010 and 2040, the US population over 65 years of age will double.

Given: Fiscal hawks at the state and federal level want to reduce, dramatically change, or eliminate government-backed health insurance (Medicare and Medicaid), as well as social safety net programs (ie, Social Security, food stamps, and unemployement).

Given these facts: It is not difficult to see how the colliding forces of an aging population, increasing healthcare costs, and decreasing government support could create a perfect storm in US in the not-so-distant future.

New research published in the September 2011 issue of The American Journal of Medicine gives us a glimpse of what that perfect storm may look like.

Using statistical modeling, scientists from the University of California, San Francisco and Columbia University reported that without significant changes in risk factors or treatments, “…the aging of the US population will result in a sizeable increase in coronary heart disease incidence, prevalence, mortality, and costs.”

More specifically:

• “…incident coronary heart disease [new cases] is projected to increase by approximately 26%, from 981,000 in 2010 to 1,234,000 in 2040…
• “Prevalent coronary heart disease [is projected to increase] by 47%, from 11.7 million to 17.3 million.
• “Mortality will be affected strongly by the aging population; annual coronary heart disease deaths are projected to increase by 56% over the next 30 years, from 392,000 to 610,000.
• “Coronary heart disease-related health care costs are projected to rise by 41% from $126.2 billion in 2010 to $177.5 billion in 2040 in the United States.”

The public health and economic consequences of these projections are staggering– particularly if extremist Teapublicans like Congressman Paul Ryan and sheep-like followers (including Arizona’s own Jeff Flake) have their way.

Let’s assess the current situation…

• 52 million Americans don’t have health insurance.
• 61% of bankruptcies in the US due to medical costs.
• 9.1% of Americans are unemployed.
• Teapublicans– with the help of President Obama– want to fix the “deficit problem” by cutting entitlement programs WITHOUT cutting military spending or raising revenues or creating jobs (which would boost the economy).

If you think income disparity and greed are destroying our country now, just wait. If Teapublicans like Michelle “down with entitlements” Bachmann, Rick “minimum wage” Perry, Mitt “the oligarch’s baby” Romney, Sarah “cut NPR to balance the budget” Palin, Jeff “I was against austerity before I was for it” Flake*, and, of course, FOX “the poor need to pay their fair share” News have their way, there will be literally millions of sick, elderly Americans living at the subsistence level without healthcare services or medicine.

Is this the future we want?

The balanced budget deal passed earlier this month is the only one in history that includes cuts in spending and no increases in revenue. We need sanity in government, and I’m not sure we’ll get it from the Gang of 12.

We need to put people back to work– at good-paying jobs (not the kind Perry created in Texas)– so they can contribute to the economy and contribute to Medicare and Social Security through their paychecks. To control healthcare costs, we need universal healthcare– instead of this hybrid system that allows insurance companies to continue their rape of the American people. We need to eliminate the Bush era tax cuts for the rich and cut tax loopholes for individuals and corporations. We need to end the wars and cut military spending.

Yes, we need sanity in government.

* In all fairness, this is also the position of Senators Jon Kyl, John McCain, and Mitch McConnell and Congressmen John Boehner and Paul Ryan.

At yesterday’s northwest Tucson town hall Arizona Senator John McCain got an earful from progressives, conservatives, and other Southern Arizonans who are “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.”

McCain tried to use the forum to push right-wing talking points– focusing on blaming President Obama for everything and pushing the idea of more corporate tax cuts, while freezing federal jobs. Unfortunately, the crowd wanted to know how Congress will create jobs– not cut jobs. Under the weak recovery, an estimated 1.5 million jobs have been created; with last week’s the debt ceiling/deficit reduction deal (which McCain voted for) an estimated 1.8 million jobs will be lost.

If you missed your chance to express yourself at the town hall yesterday, you have another chance today, August 10. MoveOn.org is organizing nationwide protests to Demand Congress Focus On Jobs Not Cuts.

Bring your signs, your sunscreen, and your floppy hats to Speedway and Campbell today. Here’s the information from MoveOn…

Tucsonans To Rally for Jobs and the American Dream
Rally Wednesday [August 10] at 4:30pm
NW Corner of Speedway & Campbell Tucson, AZ

In the wake of a final debt deal that raises the nation’s debt ceiling but fails to protect the middle class, local residents will gather Wednesday [August 10], at 4:30 at Speedway & Campbell to demand that our Arizona members of Congress stand up for the American Dream and focus on job creation rather than cuts to vital programs that many Americans depend on.

The debt deal, which will do nothing to create jobs, forces deep cuts to important programs that protect the middle class while asks nothing of big corporations and millionaires. And though it does not require cuts to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid benefits, it opens the door for these down the road via an unaccountable Congressional committee.

“We have a simple message: we need jobs, not budget cuts, said Ben Bosley a local MoveOn member. “We’re here today to say ‘enough is enough’ and demand that Republicans like John McCain and Jon Kyl stop their assault on the American Dream. It is far past time that Washington end the tax giveaways to corporations and the wealthy and use that money to revitalize our community and create good jobs that we so desperately need.”

The protest will take place on Wednesday at 4:30pm at the NW corner of Speedway Blvd & Campbell Avenue in Tucson.

Participants will also unveil a new Contract for the American Dream: a plan, written by over 125,000 Americans, to create jobs rather than destroy them. Local MoveOn on members will be delivering this document to Arizona members of Congress. The Contract was released Monday and can be seen here: http://contract.rebuildthedream.com.

Wednesday’s rally is one of over 250 such events nationwide, organized by the new American Dream Movement. In July, over 800 rallies were held across the country to protest the final debt deal that fails to protect the middle class. The American Dream Movement is a growing movement inspired by protests in Wisconsin and fueled by the brutal right-wing attacks on the middle class and the poor. MoveOn.org, along with countless organizations, have joined the American Dream Movement to fight to ensure that Americans have the opportunity to find a decent job, afford to go to college, and secure a future for our children and our communities.

Send this to every unemployed person you know.

Members of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) Tucson Chapter demonstrated their support for Medicare on the recent 46th anniversary of this important component of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and other social safety net programs were under attack by Congressional Republicans during the recent budget deficit/debit ceiling fiasco in Congress.

Extremist Teapublicans– including Arizona’s five Teapublican Congressional Representatives, Paul Gosar (CD1), Trent Franks (CD2), Ben Quayle (CD3), David Schweikert (CD5), and Jeff Flake (CD6)– brought the country to the brink of default by choosing to cling to their ideology, rather than thinking about what’s best for our country and voting with the majority of Americans.

For the final vote, Gosar joined Democratic Blue Dog Gabirelle Giffords (CD8) and voted for the compromise debt ceiling bill. Progressive Democrats Raul Grijalva (CD7) and Ed Pastor (CD4) voted against the bill– since it included no revenue increases and leaves Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid volunterable to future cuts.

Franks, Quayle, Schweikert, and Flake voted the straight Teapublican line on every vote– including voting against the debt ceiling deal because it didn’t include a balanced budget amendment.

In these tough economic times, it is disheartening that so many Congressional representatives are more concerned with ideology over the health and economic well-being of US citizens.

It’s highly ironic that the current social and political battle over our nation’s debt and deficit is occurring this week with the 46th anniversary of the signing of Social Security Act of 1965 on Saturday, July 30.

After a long political battle dating from Harry Truman’s presidency to Lyndon Johnson’s, Johnson signed this legislation creating universal, single payer healthcare insurance for the nation’s elderly (Medicare) and indigent (Medicaid).

From The Nation…

With reporters and photographers surrounding them, Johnson took a place beside former President Harry Truman, who the sitting president thanked for “planting the seeds of compassion and duty which have today flowered into care for the sick and serenity for the fearful.” [Emphasis added.]

These healthcare reforms were part of Johnson’s Great Society, which had two primary goals: to eliminate poverty and to eliminate racial injustice. After his landslide victory over Barry Goldwater in 1964, Johnson and his progressive Democratic Congress enacted forward-thinking reforms that were reminiscent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and began the full-on War on Poverty, which reduced the poverty rate significantly over the subsequent 10 years. Many important Great Society programs– aimed at improving labor, healthcare, and education for poor and working class Americans– are still in existence: Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, student loans for college, work study, and Head Start. These programs were strengthened under Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

It is so sad how far we have fallen from this level of compassion. The programs of Roosevelt’s New Deal and Johnson’s Great Society– programs that have provided a social safety net for millions of Americans and wiped out many inequities of the past– are now facing a full-frontal attack by conservatives, bankrolled by big business.

Republican Congressmen would have you believe that the nation’s financial problems can be fixed by just cutting spending– specifically dramatically changing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid (long-term spending) and dramatically cutting other discretionary (non-military) spending (ie, food stamps, children’s healthcare, food safety, pollution abatement, etc) which actually makes up less than 20 percent of the budget. Oh, yeah, and they want to protect oil subsidies, corporate tax loopholes (which allow multinational corporations like Bank of America to pay no taxes; tax loopholes for the rich; continue the Bush era tax cuts that they fought so hard for in December 2010; dismantle Social Security (so retirement funds for those under 50 can be gambled on the stock market); and offer more tax cuts (more trickle down economics).

At a time of high unemployment, high gasoline costs, high food prices, escalating college education tuition, skyrocketing healthcare expenses, a disintigrating social safety net, and soaring corporate profits– Republicans want workers, the elderly, and the indigent to “tighten their belts” to protect the profits and tax breaks of corporate jet owners, big oil, big pharma, big insurance, and Wall Street gamblers and corporate execs everywhere.

From the Associated Press (via the Arizona Daily Star)…

Two years after economists say the Great Recession ended, the recovery has been the weakest and most lopsided of any since the 1930s.

After previous recessions, people in all income groups tended to benefit. This time, ordinary Americans are struggling with job insecurity, too much debt and pay raises that haven’t kept up with prices at the grocery store and gas station. The economy’s meager gains are going mostly to the wealthiest.

Workers’ wages and benefits make up 57.5 percent of the economy, an all-time low. Until the mid-2000s, that figure had been remarkably stable – about 64 percent through boom and bust alike.

Executive pay is included in this figure, but rank-and-file workers are far more dependent on regular wages and benefits. A big chunk of the economy’s gains has gone to investors in the form of higher corporate profits.

“The spoils have really gone to capital, to the shareholders,” says David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff + Associates in Toronto.

Corporate profits are up by almost half since the recession ended in June 2009. In the first two years after the recessions of 1991 and 2001, profits rose 11 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

And an Associated Press analysis found that the typical CEO of a major company earned $9 million last year, up a fourth from 2009.

Driven by higher profits, the Dow Jones industrial average has staged a breathtaking 90 percent rally since bottoming at 6,547 on March 9, 2009. Those stock market gains go disproportionately to the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans, who own more than 80 percent of outstanding stock, according to an analysis by Edward Wolff, an economist at Bard College.

But if the Great Recession is long gone from Wall Street and corporate boardrooms, it lingers on Main Street:

• Unemployment has never been so high – 9.1 percent – this long after any recession since World War II. At the same point after the previous three recessions, unemployment averaged just 6.8 percent.

• The average worker’s hourly wages, after accounting for inflation, were 1.6 percent lower in May than a year earlier. Rising gasoline and food prices have devoured any pay raises for most Americans.

• The jobs that are being created pay less than the ones that vanished in the recession. Higher-paying jobs in the private sector, the ones that pay roughly $19 to $31 an hour, made up 40 percent of the jobs lost from January 2008 to February 2010 but only 27 percent of the jobs created since then.

Hard times have made Americans more dependent than ever on social programs, which accounted for a record 18 percent of personal income in the last three months of 2010 before coming down a bit this year. Almost 45 million Americans are on food stamps, another record…

Federal Reserve numbers crunched by Haver Analytics suggest that Americans have a long way to go before their finances will be strong enough to support robust spending: Despite cutting what they owe the past three years, the average household’s debts equal 119 percent of annual after-tax income. At the same point after the 1981-82 recession, debts were at 66 percent; after the 1990-91 recession, 85 percent; and after the 2001 recession, 114 percent. [Emphasis added.]

At a time when Americans can least afford it and the income gap between the richest 1 percent and the rest of us is larger than the Grand Canyon, Republicans are asking for even further financial sacrifices from Main Street Americans AND they are willing to throw the world into financial crisis as they cling to their trickle down ideology of protecting the rich while casting the rest of us aside. If they want to “fix” Social Security, they should put Americans back to work at good-paying jobs. According to 2009 figures from the US Census, 14.3 percent of Americans (and 20.7 percent of American children) are living in poverty; 43 million Americans– the largest number ever.

What can you do about it?

Call your Congressional Representatives today and tell them to vote to:

• raise the debt ceiling (and stop the grandstanding),
• raise revenues (by cutting military spending, eliminating corporate loopholes that allow them to avoid paying taxes, eliminate Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, etc.),
• protect the programs that benefit millions of Americans: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment, college tuition grants, etc.
• solve the deficit problem by putting Americans back to work.

Here are the numbers:
CD8 Gabrielle Giffords: 520-881-3588 (local) or 202-225-2542 (DC)
CD7 Raul Grijalva: 520-622-6788 (local) or 202-225-2435 (DC)

CD6 Jeff Flake from Mesa (We need to lean on this guy who wants to be our next Senator.):
480-833-0092 (in Mesa) or 202-225-2635 (DC)

Senator Jon Kyl 520-575-8633 (local) or 202-224-4521 (DC)
Senator John McCain 520-670-6334 (local) or 202-224-2245 (DC)

What else can you do?

Progressive Democrats of America’s Tucson Chapter is holding a demonstration to show support for protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid on Saturday, July 30 from 10 a.m. – noon at the corner of Speedway and Campbell.

MoveOn.org is calling on us– all of us– to visit our Congressional representatives’ offices today, July 26, at noon and tell them to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Don’t let extremist Teapublicans destroy our economy and our country’s social safety net– as they play chicken with President Obama and the world financial markets over raising the debt ceiling. (If you know anyone who lives in John Boehner’s Ohio district, forward it to him.)

From Move On…

This weekend, it became 100% clear that Republicans would rather see America default, Social Security checks stop going out, the stock market plummet, and unemployment soar than give one inch on their position: that the very richest people and most profitable corporations shouldn’t pay one penny more in taxes.

Even after the president offered Republicans a debt-ceiling deal most MoveOn members probably consider unconscionable—with trillions in cuts, even to Medicare and Social Security—speaker Boehner still walked away from the table.

Republicans hope the threat of default will be enough to force Democrats to sacrifice and compromise even more.

But Democrats like Raul Grijalva are standing strong. Rep. Grijalva is one of 80 Democrats who have joined Leader Pelosi in saying that cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits are off the table. Over the next few days, Rep. Grijalva will face extreme pressure to cave into every Republican demand and let irresponsible threats drive terrible decisions in Washington.

That’s why, with other leaders of the American Dream movement, we’re putting out an urgent call for every patriotic American to show up outside progressive congressional offices on Tuesday at noon to deliver a crucial message of support: “Thank you for protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Keep standing strong.”

Can you deliver the message to Rep. Grijalva at his office on Tuesday at noon?

Yes, I can drop by on Tuesday!

We’ll follow up with all the details and a link to print your own “Keep standing strong” signs to bring to Rep. Grijalva.

Then you just have to show up on Tuesday here:

738 North 5th Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85705

We need to show as much public support as possible, so please pass this along to anyone else you know who could join in on Tuesday. This is a moment when we need to bring the progressive movement together to show our strength and show our boldest leaders that we’re with them. 

Let’s get out there on Tuesday and let leaders like Rep. Grijalva know how important it is to keep standing up to Republican threats. We can’t let Republicans crash the American economy to protect tax giveaways for the rich.

As someone who lives in CD8– Gabrielle Giffords’ district– I received a different version of this MoveOn letter urging CD8 residents to go to her office (3945 E. Fort Lowell Road, Suite 211) to encourage her to support the position that Pelosi and Grijalva have taken. I don’t know how many people will show up at Giffords’ office, but I think it’s a good idea because it emphasizes that CD8 residents need to have a dog in this fight.

Raising the debit ceiling and reducing the deficit by cutting corporate subsidies and tax loopholes for the rich– while protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid– are crucial issues. If you can’t go to your Congressional representative’s office today in person, contact them. Here is their contact information: Raul and Gabby.

Last week, Governor Jan Brewer called the Arizona Legislature into special session to make a one-word change in state law which would allow extension of unemployment benefits to the chronically unemployed in Arizona– at no cost to the state.

Legislators argued and grandstanded for two days and, in the end, changed nothing. As the Arizona Daily Star said, Legislators showed “indifference to struggling Arizonans.”

State lawmakers wrapped up their special session Monday and went home without making the one-word change needed to continue funding unemployment for people out of work for at least 79 weeks.

Extending long-term unemployment insurance for another 20 weeks is a no-brainer. It would have extended a safety net to thousands of Arizonans on the brink. It would have continued to inject $3.2 million of federal money into the economy each week. And it should have been easy to do. All lawmakers had to do was change the number “two” to “three” in a formula used to grant the 20-week extension.

Most importantly, it would have been the right and moral thing to do.

These are extraordinary times. The unemployment rate has dropped to 9.3 percent, which is roughly double what it was 10 years ago. While extending unemployment benefits by another 20 weeks would have helped 15,000 people stay afloat, cutting them off will affect an additional 30,000 people who will hit the 79-week mark later this year. So in essence, state lawmakers have ripped away the safety net for 45,000 jobless Arizonans. That’s roughly the size of the crowd at a UA football game. [Emphasis added.]

It’s sad but not surprising that Republicans did this. After all, Arizona right-wing ideologues are just following the lead of right-wing Congressional ideologues like our own Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl, who have voted against extending unemployment many times. And, all of them are more interested in handing out corporate welfare and tax breaks for the rich than helping citizens in need.

Lest we forget the names of the people who passed corporate welfare in the wink of an eye but denied a no-cost extension of unemployment benefits, the Arizona Democratic Party has provided the following list of names and the unemployment rates in their districts.

“Rather than help jobless Arizonans, they punished them. Rather than strengthening our economy, they sapped it of another $3 million a week,” said Andrei Cherny, Arizona Democratic Party chairman. “Weakening our economy and middle-class families is not what we deserve from our state legislators. Even Governor Brewer’s top political advisor agrees that voters in 2012 will remember this outrageous action from the out-of-touch Russell Pearce Republicans.”

These lawmakers should be held accountable for their actions. Here is a list of Republican lawmakers who voted not to extend unemployment benefits. We should fire them all.

AZGOP lawmakers and unemployment rates in their regions:

Legislative District 1
Sen. Steve Pierce
Rep. Andy Tobin
Rep. Karen Fann
Unemployment rate in
Prescott MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area): 9.5%

Legislative District 3
Sen. Ron Gould
Rep. Doris Goodale
Unemployment rate in
Lake Havasu-Kingman Mohave County MSA: 10.1%

Legislative District 4
Sen. Scott Bundgaard
Rep. Jack Harper
Rep. Judy Burges
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA 8.1%
Yavapai County: 9.5%
Glendale: 8.3%
Peoria: 5.7%
Yavapai County: 9.5%

Legislative District 5
Sen. Sylvia Allen
Rep. Chester Crandall
Rep. Brenda Barton
Unemployment rate in
Gila County: 10.2%
Graham County: 10.5%
Greenlee County: 9.1%
Holbrook: 8.0%
Pinetop-Lakeside: 8.2%
Show Low: 7.5%
Snowflake: 8.5%
Winslow: 7.1%

Legislative District 6
Sen. Lori Klein
Rep. Amanda Reeve
Rep. Carl Seel
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Phoenix: 9.4%

Legislative District 7
Sen. Nancy Barto
Rep. Heather Carter
Rep. David Burnell Smith
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Phoenix: 9.4%
Scottsdale: 6.0%

Legislative District 8
Sen. Michele Reagan
Rep. Michelle Ugenti
Rep. John Kavanagh
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Scottsdale: 6.0%
Carefree: 2.8%
Cave Creek: 3.7%
Fountain Hills: 4.0%

Legislative District 9
Sen. Rick Murphy
Rep. Rick Gray
Rep. Debbie Lesko
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Glendale: 8.3%
Peoria: 5.7%
Sun City: 9.4%

Legislative District 10
Sen. Linda Gray
Rep. Jim Weiers
Rep. Kimberly Yee
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Phoenix: 9.4%
Glendale: 8.3%

Legislative District 11
Sen. Adam Driggs
Rep. Kate Brophy McGee
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Phoenix: 9.4%
Paradise Valley: 3.7%

Legislative District 12
Sen. John Nelson
Rep. Steve Montenegro
Rep. Jerry Weiers
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
El Mirage: 12.1%
Goodyear: 5.8%
Buckeye: 10.1%
Surprise: 10.0%
Litchfield Park: 7.4%
Glendale: 8.3%

Legislative District 18
Sen. Russell Pearce
Rep. Cecil Ash
Rep. Steve Court
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Mesa: 7.4%
Gilbert: 4.6%

Legislative District 19
Sen. Rich Crandall
Rep. Justin Pierce
Rep. Justin Olson
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Mesa: 7.4%
Gilbert: 4.6%

Legislative District 20
Sen. John McComish
Rep. Bob Robson
Rep. Jeff Dial
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Phoenix: 9.4%
Chandler: 6.2%
Tempe: 7.0%

Legislative District 21
Sen. Steve Yarbrough
Rep. Tom Forese
Rep. J.D. Mesnard
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Mesa: 7.4%
Gilbert: 4.6%
Chandler: 6.2%

Legislative District 22
Sen. Andy Biggs
Rep. Eddie Farnsworth
Rep. Steve Urie
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Mesa: 7.4%
Gilbert: 4.6%

Legislative District 23
Sen. Steve Smith
Rep. John Fillmore
Rep. Frank Pratt
Unemployment rate in
Pinal County: 10.6%

Legislative District 24
Sen. Don Shooter
Rep. Russ Jones
Unemployment rate in
Yuma County: 25.3%

Legislative District 25
Sen. Gail Griffin
Rep. David Stevens
Rep. Peggy Judd
Unemployment rate in
Cochise County: 8.2%
Santa Cruz County: 14.7%
Pima County: 7.9%

Legislative District 26
Sen. Al Melvin
Rep. Terri Proud
Rep. Vic Williams
Unemployment rate in
Tucson MSA: 7.9%
Pima County: 7.9%
Oro Valley: 5.6%

Legislative District 30
Sen. Frank Antenori
Rep. Ted Vogt
Rep. David Gowan
Unemployment rate in
Tucson MSA: 7.9%
Cochise County: 8.2%
Pima County: 7.9%
Santa Cruz County: 14.7%

Source: AzDOA Office of Employment and Population Statistics – Special Unemployment Report 2010-2011