I once had a senior business executive tell me: "Just because a man has the muscles to dig a ditch they think they deserve a camper and a house in the suburbs." I really think to republicans, deservedness, is the basic rationale for discrimination in healthcare, jobs, welfare, housing, education, (and worst of all) voting.

A Congressional Gun Control Pledge

Congressional Gun Control Pledge

As a member of the United States Congress, I _____________________________ hereby pledge that I understand “Gun Control” for purposes of this pledge is defined as a set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians and that I will support gun control by:

·        Gun control will be regulated primarily and overridingly at the Federal level, but may be supplemented at the State Level for unique circumstances of each state.

·        Work/vote for the establishment of a Firearms and Ammunition Tracking Database (DB) for all persons residing within the United States.

·        The complete ban on sale, possession, or import of any assault rifle, military grade weapons, high magazine capacities, or weapons with automatic rapid firing mechanisms in the United States by any citizen except through military channels.

·        Background checks, competency and training requirements and fingerprinting on anyone seeking to purchase a firearm and that authorized purchases are made in person (not online or by mail) and only from licensed dealers.  Anyone convicted of a felony, under a domestic violence restraining order, or has been placed on the “no fly” list shall be prohibited from owning a firearm.

·        Gun show sales must be transacted through a licensed dealer before possession.

·        Purchase of Ammo shall be recorded by person in the Firearms and Ammunition Tracking database, and limited as to quantity per year and be sold through authorized and licensed dealers (not online).

·        Silencers and noise suppressors shall be illegal.

·        All weapons sold in the United States must have identifying information such as a serial number on the weapon.

·        Concealed and Carry is to be illegal except by those receiving special training and applying for and subsequently acquiring a special license to conceal and carry.

·        Open carry of a weapon by civilians shall be prohibited.

Signed by:______________________________________ Date:___________________________

The Petraeus Affair

General Petraeus strayed, showed bad judgement, and did the honorable thing in resigning.  As the Director of the CIA, he was compromised and would have had trouble leading after the affair became public. 

The trouble with all this, if you listen to the items in the press, seems to center around timing and what the White House knew and when they knew it relative to the election.  Instead of what a tragedy it is to lose such a competent public servant and leader, Republicans seem to salivate at the prospect of embarrassing the president all the while, perhaps unconsciously, fantasizing about unwinding the Presidential election last week.  Can Kenneth Star be far behind?

But lets face it: General Petraeus did the most honorable thing by waiting until after the election to resign.  That way, American could stay focused on the real priority, the election, instead of getting all sidetracked into the depraved world of affairs, cuckold husbands, paparazzi photos of couples and "the other woman." If another country wants to distract America while it invades us or another country, all they need to do is to start a sex scandal.  I just hope we don't fall over the "fiscal cliff" while we are fixated on all the sordid details of "sex, lies, and video tape."

The "Greed is Good" Generation goes to the Polls

Remember when US Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell said shortly after Obama was elected that it was their priority above all else to make the Obama Presidency a one-term administration?  We also heard much the same from Rush, Sara, and many others as if reading from the same script.  They really mean it; that is their priority above and instead of anything else suggesting that they would rather see America go down the tube than to lose any power in Washington.

What about the American People?  Well, I have a theory:  Basically, for Republicans, winning, no matter how, is all that matters.  But before you say "duh" hear me out as to why I think the very appearance of this blatant shift to "guerrilla" partisanship portends a much more perilous path for American politics not unlike the free-wheeling 2000's would lead to the near collapse of the US economy.

"Winning" at any costs is not only Charlie Sheen's mantra, it is what the one-percenters and their wannabe's talk about around cigars and brandy at the country club, in reverential tones.  Just so long as it is a score, there is respect.  Like the Wall Street folks who cross over into any gray area of the laws and regulations just so long as they "make a killing" is all that is important.  And, illegal and immoral activities are clearly "gray areas" so long as they don't get caught.

We have a generation of young people who grew up on movies like the Sting, Wall Street, and many others where not only the con was on, but the thieves became handsome or gorgeous characters that the new generation could fantasize about.  For my generation, crime could not pay.  For my son's generation, it is all about winning.

OK, we have seen what "Greed is Good" ethos did for Wall Street, but now that it has metastasized to politics, what's the harm?  Winning in politics is what it is all about.  But the problem for America is that we could be heading for an uprising or violence and unrest.  Smoldering below the surface, learning to do without, waiting for a little prosperity to trickle down their way, is a growing number of newly disenfranchised Americans.  Republican elected officials across the country are using voter ID tactics to disenfranchise large numbers of mostly Democratic votes.  They admit it!  It is a blatant win at any cost political tactic; that is the point.  But, again, as with the financial crisis of four years ago, there are consequences, there is a cost. 

God help us all.

Who is Andrei

Who is Andrei Cherny?

Have you gotten your personal call from Andrei asking for funds even tho you don't live in the great Az Congressional District of 9?  Have you received your letter from Terry Goddard supporting him and lambasting Kyrsten Sinema?  Or have you received anonymous emails questioning Dave Shapira's qualifications to hold a congressional office?

Well, I have, and for what it is worth, here is what I think:  When I was running as a candidate for the House in 2010 both Kyrsten Sinema and Dave Shapira were there most months working at Dem Headquarters and helping us with running our campaigns, bringing sharper focus our messaging, and generally being accessible.  They were there for us and for the party.

Yes, I know Andrei was State Democratic Party Chair, but unlike with Bill Roe or even Don Bivens, I never ran into Andrei; he just wasn't that visible.

But, that is not my current beef.  I periodically go over to the Daily Kos and see what is up in Liberal Land.  And if you do and put in Andrei Cherny in the search bar, eureka, this is what comes out:

Daily KOS on Andrei

Poke around on some of the links in the post of the Daily KOS, particularly the YouTube video of Andrei's views on ACA (Obama Care) and other issues like immigration.

Makes you wonder "who exactly is Andrei Cherny?"

My Daily Dose of The Arizona Republic

"Dems question Romney's Finances" is on the front page of the printed version of the Arizona Republic today, Monday July 9th.  Read on a little and one sees that the Dems have problems with opaque or hidden donors to the Romney campaign, his offshore bank accounts, and his unreleased bank accounts.  Romney calls these "attacks" as "an unfounded character assault,...".

My question is more basic: Why aren't also the Republicans questioning offshore bank accounts, opaque donors, and unreleased bank accounts?  Is this a question asked just by Dems only?  If for not for legality reasons, parking money using the Caymen Islands or Switzerland to for bank accounts by a presidential candidate has to be questioned on moral grounds.  As far as I know, it has to be unprecedented in American history.  And, we aren't even talking about the the offshore tax shelters, outsourcing of job to foreign governments and Romney's systematic destruction of American companies.

Transparency, Really?

I am writing to share what I see as an opportunity to solving the current Arizona budget shortfall over the next few years. As I understand the process, the Legislature provides a budget for each agency and, once approved, funding levels are something that the agencies are then left to implement. If a reduction is required, the agency leadership enacts this with furloughs, program benefit eliminations and reductions, staff reductions, and line-by-line eliminations in expenses. The problem inherent with this approach, perhaps a variation of the “agency problem,” is that cuts in administrative expenses or pet projects and funding priorities may take priority over the important value-add components on the front lines of the service delivery system. In other words, the cuts miss the areas of greatest inefficiencies or those not adding value to the agency and its mission.

There are many ways to control this in addition to budgets. Some include appointments of the agency directors, compliance and sunset audits, and administrative oversights, policies and procedures. But there is evidence that these established processes are losing their effectiveness over time, and I believe is why the Legislature has dug in their heels on budgeting. An alternative, more effective approach could build on some legislation passed into law last year.

ARS 41-725 Comprehensive database of receipts and expenditures of state monies is to be implemented “On or before January 1, 2011” and was intended to provide transparency in Arizona’s state government as it has been done already in other states. The law is the right idea but needs to be supplemented with what is called “Performance Metrics” and in doing so, if properly stipulated in the implementation plans of this legislation, will place the performance of the agencies in the clear light of day, create information systems information understandable to everyday citizens, and pay back many times the costs of implementation. “If properly stipulated” is a big if but is absolutely critical; outside independent consultants will be needed but the payoff will be dramatic.

ARS 41-725 goes on to say in section B that “The department must present information in the database in a manner that is intuitive to members of the general public, including graphical representations.” But you won’t hear a lot of support for this from the individual agencies as, not only is it difficult to operate in sunlight, but what metrics or graphical representations to design into this database will not occur naturally to the agencies staff; they need guidance and help. What you will hear is a lot of talk about the size of the project, the “un-funded mandate” and that more time is needed. At best, I am afraid that any real information and transparency will be hidden in an avalanche of detail completely unusable to the general public.

While that legislation is on the right track, it is sure to be blunted and defeated by forces within the Legislature and within the agencies unless the citizens of Arizona prevent this from happening. If this new approach is implemented, all state agencies can then be compelled to make the tough decisions to operate within the providence of their individual agency missions serving the citizens of Arizona and doing so, will dramatically drive down the cost of State Government.

As a former Arizona state employee of two agencies in both an auditing and information systems administration capacity, I have a detailed understanding of some fundamental operational and cultural issues facing the agencies from an insider’s point of view. I don’t pretend to offer a magic bullet solution, State Government is very complex, but there are some strategies that will turn the state around. The power of the possibilities in transparency and presenting performance metrics of the agencies could be astounding.