9th Circus Court overturns AZ law barring late term abortions

Last summer, we wrote that U.S. District Court Judge James A. Teilborg ruled HB 2036, titled Mother’s Health & Safety Act, “is constitutional,” denying the American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Reproductive Rights’ request to stop the law from taking effect. The bill prohibiting most abortions after 20 weeks into a pregnancy was signed into law by Gov. Brewer.

The Court wrote “Given the nature of [abortion procedures], and the finding that the unborn child has developed pain sensors all over its body by 20 weeks gestational age, the Court finds that the State has shown a legitimate interest in limiting abortions past 20 weeks.”

“Furthermore, Arizona expressed concerns for the health of the pregnant woman, finding that the instance of complications is highest after 20 weeks of gestation. This additional legitimate interest further supports HB 2036 regulations on abortions.”

Today in a 44-page opinion, the liberal and appropriately nicknamed Ninth Circus Court of Appeals reversed the District Court’s order, denying declaratory and injunctive relief to plaintiffs and held that the Constitution does not permit the Arizona legislature to prohibit abortion beginning at twenty weeks gestation, “before the fetus is viable.”

The case Isaacson v. Horne, (link) was argued before a three member panel of Circuit Judges Mary M. Schroeder, Andrew J. Kleinfeld, and Marsha S. Berzon.

Has the ubiquitous and multifaceted maverick, John McCain, already enmeshed in granting amnesty to illegals, nosing into cable and satellite television offerings and being vexed by having to continually update his iphone apps, also found time to peddle his squishy abortion views to the Ninth Circus Court of Appeals?

AZ Conservative Coalition: Newest legislator ratings

The Arizona Conservative Coalition’s (ACC) most recent legislator ratings, reflecting legislative actions as of 5/21/2013 is now available. Click here for the updated report.

Legislators are assigned to a group based on their latest rating. Bills used in the evaluation along with the summary of criteria used to weight bills can be seen here. There is also an excellent, concise analysis of each bill considered.

Check out the FAQs section, which answers the question, “Why is a particular legislator rated better or worse then I would have expected?”

Be sure to take time to review Howard Levine’s informative weekly narrative, which provides background on the tracking process.  

The folks at ACC provide individual grades for Arizona’s Republican Representatives and Senators. There is quite a variation. This week the Senate ratings range from a high of 92.4 down to the bottom-dragging RINO category of 38.5.

In the House of Representatives the top scorer received a 95.1 with the bottom of the list rating a weak RINO rating of 47.8.

Just days ago we witnessed a disgraceful act of Republican treachery, with 6 GOP state Senators colluding with and voting in tandem with the cohesive Democrats to endorse Arizona’s ObamaCare Medicaid Expansion, irresponsibly being pushed by Gov. Jan Brewer.

The Senate’s 13 Democrats hung together supporting the costly and unsustainable scheme. The 6 Republican collaborators voting with them are Rich Crandall (LD-16), Adam Driggs (LD-28), John McComish (LD18), Steve Pierce (LD-1), Michele Reagan (LD-23) and Bob Worsley (LD-25).

Remember their names when the upcoming elections roll around. Not one of these defectors is worthy of conservative support.

Gang of 8′s Jeff Flake fudges on border security

Duck, dodge and obfuscation become hallmarks of AZ’s junior senator

Chris Chmielenski writing for NumbersUSA exposes AZ Sen. Jeff Flake’s exaggerations during questioning by Sens. Jeff Sessions and John Cornyn. The back story and exact quotes are riveting.

Flake also stretched the facts when describing the makeup of the Southern Border Security Commission — which comes complete with a $2 billion authorization — saying it will be made up of “border governors, local ranchers, and others.” Not quite.

Read the facts here. The actual bill — all 867 pages of it — is here. The third word in the third sentence after the bill number (S. 744) is about as accurate a description as we can expect.

Let your voice be heard. The Phoenix “Remember 1986” Coalition has scheduled a press conference at 10:00 am, Tuesday, May 21, at Sens. John McCain and Sen. Jeff Flake’s Phoenix Offices, S/E Corner of Camelback and 22nd Street to denounce the comprehensive Amnesty Bill and to remind McCain and Flake of the failed 1986 Amnesty. The event is part of a nationwide “No on S744” day. Participants are urged to bring visuals (signs). “The Remember 1986 Coalition advocates for true immigration reform without a controversial amnesty element which has scuttled previous attempts at federal immigration legislation, according to spokesman Barbra Heller. Contact Heller at (602) 505-8760.

Check out the national grades on the Immigration Report Card Locator  In Arizona, junior Sen. Jeff Flake is rated D+. His mentor, John McCain comes in even lower, with a D-.

Immediately below them are Arizona Democrats Raul Grijalva and Ed Pastor each earning an F-.

Reagan, O’Connor: Liberal elites masquerade as Republicans

Last Monday night the Arizona Project featured Republican state Sen. Michele Reagan (LD-23) as its guest. The group even had her appearance in a live streaming video for all to see. Amazingly, the woman who voted with the Democrats for the costly and unsustainable expansion of Medicaid — a key element of ObamaCare — told the group she was adamantly opposed to the scheme, though she supported it days later.

Arizona Conservative Coalition runs a weekly updated ranking of legislators during the session. Expect the chronically low-rated Michele Reagan to drop even further after this deception.

Last Tuesday evening Legislative District 28 held its monthly meeting. District chairman Scott O’Connor took the opportunity to admit to the Republican elected Precinct Committeemen he leads that he is a RINO and a minority on the EGC — the Executive Guidance Committee of the Maricopa County Republican Committee.

These two incidents beg the question: How did Arizona Republicans get skunked and what are we going to do about it?

Obama’s IRS target list, headaches, continue to grow

Fox News reports that the Internal Revenue Service scandal involving the unjustified targeting of conservative groups also had conservative Hispanics in its sights. The list continues to grow and the excuses get weaker. Meanwhile, six-figure bonuses and promotions are the order of the day for the henchmen behind this outrageous focus and denial of tax exempt status requests for conservative and faith based groups.

Sarah Hall Ingram, the IRS commissioner overseeing the tax exempt division when it began targeting Tea Party, evangelical and pro-Israel groups for harassment has been promoted. Ingram is now the director for implementing ObamaCare. She received $103,390 in bonuses while she was harassing patriotic American organizations.

Meanwhile, during a House Committee hearing delving into this malicious mistreatment, Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Illinois) grilled outgoing IRS commissioner Steven Miller about the targeting of the Coalition for Life, a pro-life group in Iowa. Unbelievably, the IRS specifically asked about the content of the members prayers. Watch the shocking video by clicking here.

Then watch as Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) receives a standing ovation after this blasting interrogation of outgoing acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller:

Transparency tales from Obama regime

“The way to make government responsible is to hold it accountable. And the way to make government accountable is to make it transparent so the American people can know exactly what decisions are being made, how they are being made and whether their interests are being well served.”  — Barack Obama

 

“To seize this moment we have to use technology to open up our democracy. It’s no coincidence that one of the most secretive administrations in our history has favored special interests and pursued  policies that could not stand up to the sunlight. As president, I’m going to change that. We will put government data online in universally accessible formats. I’ll let citizens track federal grants, contracts, earmarks and lobbying contracts.  I’ll let you participate in government forums, ask questions in real time, offer suggestions that will be reviewed before decisions are made and let you comment on legislation before it is signed.  And to ensure that every government agency is meeting 21^st century standards, I will appoint the nation’s first chief technology officer to coordinate and make certain that we are always at the forefront of technology and that we are incorporating it into every decision that we make.”

Abortionist Gosnell,72, sentenced: Life isn’t long enough

Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist responsible for cutting the spines of babies born alive after botched late term abortions was convicted Monday of three counts of first-degree murder.  A 41-year-old mother also died. Today he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

Not nearly long enough.

A high living multi-millionaire, Gosnell was convicted of infanticide, racketeering and more than 200 counts of violating Pennsylvania’s abortion laws by performing third-term abortions.

ABC 6 Action News in Philadelphia has the report and video.

Seeing Red AZ’s previous posts about this murderous butcher are linked here, as is the horrific Grand Jury Report where the gruesome details were originally filed in January 2011 by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.

Amnesty’s actual costs skyrocket to $6.3 trillion

Jeff Flake, when given clear choices, sides with far left

What a surprise! The Soros-backed “Media Matters” is running interference for the McCain/Flake Amnesty Gang. 

Media Matters (MM), a reliable arm of the Obama regime, with far reaching tentacles in every aspect of the left-wing MSM, goes to the mat attempting to undercut a new study by the conservative policy group Heritage Foundation which details the enormous costs — $6.3 trillion — associated with the implementation of the latest version of amnesty for those in our country illegally.

The radically liberal group (MM) then claims the report “has been repeatedly debunked, even by conservatives, and is a revision of a 2007 study that utilized “fatally flawed” methodology.” 

This blatant deception is an interesting position for Media Matters, which manipulates news by placing its talking points into the eagerly colluding hands of the liberal press. The group even orchestrated the pressuring of advertisers to drop their sponsorship of Glenn Beck’s former show on Fox News.

So why is this liberally biased site the go-to for Arizona’s junior senator Jeff Flake who professes to be a Republican? Here’s Flake, outfitted in his amnesty cloak offering his obnoxious tweet.

For the facts on amnesty’s unsustainable costs, check in with the Heritage Foundation and read the just released findings in the new report by scholars Robert Rector and Jason Richwine, Ph.D.: The Fiscal Cost of Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty to the U.S. Taxpayer.

Pay attention to Heritage President Jim DeMint’s analysis of this dire situation:

The $6.3 trillion number is the cost to taxpayers of supporting illegal aliens under amnesty, including any taxes they would pay into the system versus the amount of government benefits and services they would take out.

On an individual level, the number is just as stunning. The study by Heritage reveals, “the average adult unlawful immigrant would receive $592,000 more in government benefits over the course of his remaining lifetime than he would pay in taxes.”

With amnesty, unlawful immigrants become lawful — and eligible for ObamaCare benefits, Social Security, welfare, and Medicare. The study addresses the massive costs after the Gang of Eight’s 13-year waiting period for benefits. As a result, government spending and fiscal deficits would increase dramatically – clearly not a concern to the deceptive “Gang of 8” gangsters, including Arizona Sen. John McCain and his open-borders seatmate protégé Jeff Flake. These nominal Republicans will also be opening the floodgates for millions of new Democrats, ensuring a path to oblivion for the GOP.

Opportunism not playing well for Jeff Flake

Even when Flake inadvertently votes the right way, he backtracks when confronted

The latest Public Policy Polling survey does not bode well for Arizona’s junior senator Jeff Flake. In fact, after just 3 months in office Flake has already become one of the most unpopular senators in the country. We’d understand if Flake lost favor over his stance on granting amnesty to the at least 25 million illegal aliens who have invaded our country, but that’s not the reason for his decline.

It’s no secret where Seeing Red AZ stands on Jeff Flake. We strongly supported conservative businessman Wil Cardon in his bid for the senate seat, open through Jon Kyl’s retirement. Our previous regard for Club for Growth fell to zero after the group ran vicious back-to-back, distortive, independent expenditure campaign ads intentionally misrepresenting Cardon.

Flake has done nothing to earn the trust of conservatives. From laughingly breaking his term limits pledge — declaring “I lied” — or using the flimsiest excuse to cravenly avoid casting a responsible vote opposing “cap-and-tax,” the junk science-based, massive national energy tax, to doing a pre-senate race waffle on his always liberal stance on illegal immigration. Flake’s opportunistic moment, was so  “jarring” to the pro-open borders Periódico de la República de Arizona (Arizona Republic), it even editorialized the guy they idolized as a “statesman” had become a mere “politician.”

So imagine our plight as we find ourselves defending what we know to be his self-serving vote, parting company with mentor McCain on expanding background checks for gun purchases. For his vote, the República, which writes lengthy reports on bullying, again engages in name calling, this time calling Flake a “coward.”  We were rapidly thrust back to our senses when finger-to-the-wind Flake vacillated the day after his vote.  Flake flim-flamingly said he cast his nay vote because the language was “too broad.”  Constitutionally-based conservative convictions never entered the picture. 

The raucous protestors outside his office, along with his “long time friend” Gabrielle Giffords and her hypocritical, carpetbagging husband Mark Kelly — who despite their friendship, have pledged they will support a senate challenger, have prompted Flake to now propose a “streamlined” version he hopes will win Congressional support.

In appeasing the gun control advocates demanding he apologize for failing to support Barack Obama’s prized legislation restricting firearms, the aptly named Flake alienates conservatives who believe in the relevance of the Second Amendment of the Constitution. He’s lucky he doesn’t face the Republican voters he needs until 2018.

The polling questions regarding Flake asked by the left-of-center — they call themselves “Democratic-leaning” — Public Policy Polling, run from page 3 through 7 of the 21 page report and can be viewed here. Their polling on the same topic also includes Alaska, Nevada, and Ohio.

Obama to Planned Parenthood: “God bless you!”

Largest abortion provider gets sanctification from Obama:

They do such good work, after all. If you’ve read anything at all about the Kermit Gosnell infanticide trial, you’d realize why abortions are worthy of this president’s commendation. Not surprisingly, Barack Obama is the first sitting President to ever appear at such a gala. This event took place Friday in Washington, D.C.

Vowing he would never allow Republicans to cut taxpayer funds for the nation’s largest abortion provider, Obama said, “If there’s one thing the past few years have shown, it’s that Planned Parenthood isn’t going anywhere.” The crowd cheered wildly, presenting him with a standing ovation. “It’s not going anywhere today, it’s not going anywhere tomorrow.” 

“Everybody sit down,” Obama demurred. “You’re making me blush.”

In its latest annual report, Planned Parenthood bragged that it performed 333,964 abortions in 2011 – a record year for the group.

The abortion profiteers have received a record $542 million in taxpayer funding — in the form of government grants, contracts, and Medicaid reimbursements — according to a Susan B. Anthony List analysis of the report. The amount is 45 percent of Planned Parenthood’s annual revenue.

Charlie Spiering writing for the Washington Examiner has more here.