To all Arizona taxpayers and health care consumers:
Arizona's 2012 Legislative Session is officially over, but our legislators' work is not yet done. Legislators have until 5 p.m. on Friday, May 18 to sign the Arizona Health Care Freedom Pledge to stop Governor Jan Brewer from setting up an ObamaCare insurance exchange in Arizona.
Listed below are five things YOU can do to stop ObamaCare in Arizona.
If the U.S. Supreme Court does not strike down the ENTIRE corpus of the ObamaCare legislation (not just the individual mandate) the federal takeover of health care will march onward, making health care more expensive and less accessible, and stifling medical innovation through huge new tax and regulatory burdens.
Unfortunately, Gov. Jan Brewer is helping the bureaucratic beast of ObamaCare to survive, by spending $30 million of your federal tax dollars to set up an ObamaCare health insurance exchange in Arizona.
The exchange is a new bureaucracy that will soon require tens of millions of dollars annually in new surcharges, fees and/or taxes on Arizona families and businesses.
Five things YOU can do to STOP ObamaCare in Arizona
1. Click Here to urge your Legislators to sign the Arizona Health Care Freedom Pledge (our email action system will also send thank-you emails to Legislators who have already signed the Pledge).
2. Look out for the June release of AFP-Arizona's 2012 Legislative Scorecard. Our statewide postcard mailers about the Scorecard will let constituents know whether or not their Legislators signed the Health Care Freedom Pledge by the May 18 deadline.
3. Get educated about the Arizona ObamaCare insurance exchange. Start by reading our Fraudulent Claims document, about the misinformation the insurance company lobbyists are telling your Legislators.
Click here to see a list of the Arizona Legislators who have already signed the Pledge,
and HERE to use our email action system to send thank-you emails to the signers.
5. Get ready to fight the ObamaCare exchange in a special legislative session in September, if Gov. Brewer persists in trying to set up an exchange here in Arizona.
Nationwide, health care freedom activists are winning the battle to stop the imposition of ObamaCare exchanges in the States. But we must win in every State, including Arizona.
AFP-Arizona is asking all Arizona Legislators to sign the Pledge by 5 p.m. on Friday, May 18. Legislators who fail to sign the Pledge are leaving the door open to the imposition of an ObamaCare exchange in Arizona – and harming the prospects for the repeal of ObamaCare.
Tom Jenney,
Arizona Director
Americans for Prosperity
www.aztaxpayers.org
A veteran’s address to the Congress and Senate
If I were somehow able to address our Congress and Senate in assembly, I would have a few words to say:
"One of your jobs is to support the men and women who serve and those who have served." "If not for our Armed Forces, would America be a free sovereign Nation today?"
"If you honorable members of the Congress and Senate want to help those who served
America at the risk of life and hardship, will you support and care for those who survived?" "Those who now need help who are sick and those who will need future help and care who may become sick?" "Is America obligated or is she not obligated to her fighting men and women?"
"I ask, who is accountable?"
"I ask you to pass legislation to help those who are sick and may become sick, due to horror of war."
"I ask you to stand up if you believe America is obligated to care for its own in the service of their Country."
"Those of you who feel there is little to no obligation, then remain seated."
"I, along with millions of Vietnam veterans, were willing to give their life for their Country in time of war. "I, and all those others who served with Honor and dignity were not willing to give their life to a government who knowingly poisoned us".
My advocacy and mission is to help Vietnam veterans who are sick due to agent orange exposure. Veterans who did not have boots-on-ground, in most cases, can not qualify for VA disability. I write, why we need House Bill HR-3612 and Senate Bill S.1629 passed. These Bills will restore VA benefits for Vietnam veterans who need help. I ask the American people to write to Congress and Senate to support these Bills.
In the words of our Forefathers: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty, to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Hence, upon these words as stated, as written, our Nation was formed.
John J. Bury
US Navy/Retired/Vietnam war veteran
Kumbaya
Well I am ashamed to admit this but, I just attended my first town council meeting since moving to Cave Creek Jan. 3, 2008. I am ashamed of this because I am awakening to the fact that my apathy and lack of involvement in the town I have chosen to live in is totally contradictory to the democratic principals that this nation was founded on. That my desire to just enjoy God's creation in this very special place is going to be lost if I maintain this attitude.
This all came to light when a developer wanted to change the rules of the game so that he could benefit financially from a bad investment, by wanting up-zoning to put a resort in my back yard. What I came to realize, was that it was not only my backyard but all the residents of Cave Creek's back yard. I have been blessed by this developer because now after four and one half years I know my neighbors and they are just not neighbors but friends. And my lack of interaction with even my closest neighbors (now friends) has left me uninformed and unaware of what is happening in my own back yard. So for this I ask my neighbors, my friends, and all of Cave Creek for your forgiveness.
This place is very special with a very diverse and distinctly unique people from artists to engineers, horsemen (and women) to motorcycle enthusiasts (other wise known as bikers) to those who work in the valley, to those blessed enough to just enjoy this life. This in itself does not make us different but what does make us different is our love of this rural Sonoran Desert lifestyle and its dry heat.
What I have observed from all this is that I am not the only one who has moved here and simply just want to enjoy this lifestyle with out the inconvenience of being informed and involved. We move in and put up locked gates and fences to keep those that we do not want in, out. We put up walls to separate what is mine from what is yours and in all of this putting up we have lost something that is more valuable than what we are trying to protect, and that is unity. I am not talking about people who all think the same on every issue, I am not talking about a communal lifestyle, but what I am talking about is a community that knows what is going on in their government (and not just what effects (sic) me) but what effects (sic) my community, my neighbors, my friends.
I know this, that our forefathers met and deliberated for months putting forth a document that would give us rights and freedoms. That they had much discussion, they made huge sacrifices and in the end birthed the best danged nation in the world. But these gifts are not free, if we do not come together as a people and become involved in our governmental process then we deserve what we get and we will in the end be forced to live behind the locked gates and walls we have put up.
The great benefit of this is that now when I am out and about in Cave Creek I get to talk to my friends, my neighbors, my fellow Creekers. Let's come together right now for Cave Creek. (sorry could not help myself)
Steve Snider
Cave Creek
Great photos
Hello from Kamloops BC, Canada. We stay in the Cave Creek area 3 months in the winter and we just love seeing the great animal pictures Sonoran News publishes. That bobcat and house cats photo from April 25 was just great, and then the nifty pic of a Gila monster! Our compliments to those who took the photos, and to you for publishing them!
Jean and Ron Humphreys
Kamloops BC, Canada
Illegal immigrants collecting fraudulent tax "refunds" on massive scale
Illegal immigrants are collecting lots and lots of bucks from US taxpayers by claiming “refunds” (note quotation marks) for children who are not, nor ever have been, in the USA. This is thanks to something called the “Additional Child Tax Credit,” and the fact that the IRS refuses to do anything about this widespread fraud, even after plenty of hard evidence has been handed to it. (Oh well, it’s an election year. No need to upset non-citizens who might be voting in November.)
Bill Sumner
Phoenix
No spin, no jargon – just the facts
Your email of May 8, 2012, "No spin, no jargon – just the facts" from 'Fred Griesbach, AARP [email protected]' is extremely misleading AND does your members a great disservice. I do not dispute the general numbers presented in that and related content you provide, only your failure to clearly and accurately document where the Social Security dollars are going. How about some intellectual honesty? How about fairness and balance? You owe AARP members (the reason for your existence) the details and breakdown of how those Social Security dollars are being spent. For example, since you seem to favor colorful charts, how about pie charts showing the 2000 vs. 2011 components which are being paid from the Social Security Fund? Can you honor my simple request in a fair and balanced manner?
One final point. If you desire sincere, accurate feedback from your surveys, perhaps you should try designing them more appropriately so that they evoke an unequivocal response. As your current survey on SS demonstrates, members can select broad-brushed answers to vague questions sincerely, yet the overall results will likely fail to reflect true member sentiment. You can then use the interpreted survey results to support your position, not ours. As is, your survey is extremely misleading.
Will a follow-up or future survey contain more specific Q&As, and thereby be less subjective?
John Traynor
Carefree
Same-sex marriage is a Civil Rights issue
In reference to same-sex marriage, Republican National Committee Chairman, Reince Priebus recently said, "I don't think it's a matter of civil rights. I think it's just a matter of whether or not we're going to adhere to something that's been historical and religious and legal in this country for many, many years." Time-out. Let’s break this down for a moment. Slavery was historic in this country for “many, many years,” yet we eventually saw the ignorance of our ways and evolved our views in the name of human decency. Just because something is historic does not mean that it is effective or even relevant. Shall we also encourage young women to drop out of school at thirteen to tend to household duties since that was a historically typical practice? As for religion—Mr. Priebus, stoning blasphemers and putting children to death for cursing their parents is also a religiously condoned act. Additionally, if you have sex with your wife while she is on her period, you both are to be banished from your people. If your argument is that these laws were nailed to the cross with Jesus, then so was Leviticus 18:22. Furthermore, marriages in the Bible—right down to Adam and Eve—were arranged and wives were seen as property.
Surely, this is not the same sacred union that we call marriage today, yet conservatives consistently claim that God defined marriage in The Bible thousands of years ago. I would argue that very few modern marriages even remotely resemble the marriages found in The Bible, and if we are to adhere to God’s view of marriage, then all the fathers out there better start getting together and negotiating marriage contracts between their children.
The bottom line is that the United States recognizes marriage as a civil union, not a religious one, and to claim it as a religious institution is to redefine what the Constitution defines as marriage. Therefore, any argument against same-sex marriage in the name of religion should be irrelevant to the issue. In that case, it is a civil rights issue, Mr. Priebus, and if it’s not—if it is indeed religious—then you should be fighting for your right to choose your own wife just as hard as I am fighting to choose mine.
Molly Gum
E-mail
Obama on same sex marriage
I am disappointed that President Obama has become the first U.S. President to "come out" in support of same-sex marriage. Even more disturbing is his pointing to his Christian faith as a motivation for his position. This is to mock Christianity for The Bible clearly and unequivocally condemns homosexual acts. The Golden Rule does not sanction the approval of any kind of moral evil.
Obama can call himself a Christian or anything else he likes. However, Christianity advances a culture of life. Obama, in stark contrast, advances a culture of death which is clearly evident in his radical support for abortion (murder) and contraception which, like homosexuality, thwarts the natural generation of life.
Obama has finally taken off his mask and revealed to the world his true intent which is the annihilation of America. Let us hope his emboldened arrogance will be his own undoing at the polls in November.
With respectful and cordial best wishes, I remain,
Paul Kokoski
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Dear Sonoran News:
Why is the left up in arms over the de-funding of Planned Parenthood in Arizona?
Since when should taxpayer money be used to sponsor terrorist organizations? Planned Parenthood doesn't target innocent adults as terrorists do, but unborn babies are its victims!
Mike Rachiele
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Is your barber dangerous??
Dick Carpenter and Lisa Knepper of the Institute for Justice recently published a study of the burdens of occupational licensing and the extent to which they prevent people (who are mostly poorer and lack college degrees) from entering professions that should be fairly easy to enter if it were not for the demands of governmental licensing. Unfortunately, our “conservative” “free enterprise” state of Arizona ranks as the worst among all 50 states……yes, the worst. A May 11th Wall Street Journal article says: “Arizona imposes the heaviest combination of the number of licensed occupations (64) and the regulatory burdens (in time and money) required to secure them.”
This must change. In addition to Arizona being a supposedly conservative state, we hear lately (ad nauseam) about the problem that we have way too many right wing Republicans (who are usually thought to be believers in less business regulation). That description obviously does not apply in this case. As a lifelong Republican and a former lobbyist I can testify to the fact that this subject of occupational licensing is frequently raised by a small minority but has never been acted on, in spite of the plethora of these pro business legislators.
The last serious attempt to deregulate was about 30 years ago when Arizona Representative Jim Skelly held hearings on a bill that would have deregulated barbers and cosmetologists.
For those who still believe that these laws really exist to protect the public (no thinking person does), you would expect to find these hearings filled with members of the public demanding to be protected from errant and dangerous barbers and cosmetologists. But (most of you will not be surprised to learn), the hearing rooms were, instead, packed to overflowing with barbers and cosmetologists demanding to be regulated. This, of course, proves the point that these occupational licenses really exist to protect the regulated professions from competition.
Can’t we end this charade in Arizona??
Roy Miller
Phoenix
