Pro-life legislation gets nod from Gov. Brewer

The daily glumly calls them “restrictions on abortion rights.” 

We cheer HB2564, the Abortion Consent Act, signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer, which implements a variety of changes to statutes related to abortion – including modifying the existing parental notification and judicial bypass requirements that apply when a minor is seeking an abortion.

The law sets new requirements that physicians must follow when obtaining written informed consent of patients seeking abortions. It also allows certain health professionals to abstain from having to facilitate or participate in an abortion or provide abortion medication.

Former Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat and abortion advocate, had vetoed all pro-life bills sent to her.

Judge Sotomayor meets the senators: What they said, what they meant

Ron Fournier, AP’s Washington bureau chief, writes an entertaining interpretation of the political lingo being used in the pre-confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor.

Read his piece here.

Bashas’ grocery files for bankruptcy protection; closings result in 1,000 additional job losses

Bashas’ Supermarkets Inc. has announced the closure of 10 more stores by July 21 — negatively impacting approximately 1,000 jobs Valley wide.

Earlier this year, Bashas’ closed five under-performing stores. The store closures, attrition and about 300 layoffs at its corporate headquarters have resulted in the Chandler-based grocery chain eliminating 1,700 people from its payroll in the past year.

The company, the only one of the state’s top-five grocery chains that is locally owned, is still run by the Basha family that founded it in 1932.

Bashas’ competes in a highly competitive grocery market, with Wal-Mart and Fry’s as No. 1 and No. 2, and in a climate where recession-ravaged shoppers have cut back to necessities and cautious lenders have clamped down on providing credit, according to a report in the daily.

 UPDATE:

The chain has now filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix, a move that will impact thousands of creditors — both large and small.  Bashas’ owes as much as $55 million in unsecured debt to between 20,000 and 25,000 vendors, many of them Arizona businesses — and $84 million in long-term debt to a group of lenders led by Prudential Securities and $110 million in revolving loans to a group of banks led by Wells Fargo.

The report can be read here.

The following locations are slated for closure::

Bashas’:

•1919 E. Ray Road, Chandler
•6085 W. Chandler Blvd., Chandler
•4321 E. Baseline Road, Gilbert
•4727 E. Bell Road, Phoenix
•18785 S. Interstate 19 Frontage Road, Green Valley
•687 S. Lake Powell Blvd., Page
•1761 E. Arizona 69, Prescott

Food City:

•4335 W. Glendale Ave., Glendale
•1648 S. 16th St., Phoenix
•4338 W. Thomas Road, Phoenix

Politics of personal destruction used to elevate Sotomayor

Opposition research to undermine plaintiff: firefighter Frank Ricci

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s advocates are pulling out all stops in their efforts to have her sail through her upcoming confirmation hearing. As an example, the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way is urging reporters to scrutinize what they called the “troubled and litigious work history” of Frank Ricci, the Connecticut firefighter at the center of Sotomayor’s most controversial ruling.

“To go after so sympathetic a plaintiff as Frank Ricci . . . is a new low in the politics of personal destruction,” said Roger Pilon, the director of the libertarian Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies. “If they were smart, they’d keep a low profile.”

The 35-year-old Ricci was the lead plaintiff in the case Ricci v. DeStefano, challenging New Haven’s refusal to promote white firefighters after black and all but one Hispanic firefighters failed to score high enough on a promotion exam.

Sotomayor and a majority of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the city’s claim that it was justifiably concerned about a potential civil rights suit being filed by the black firefighters.

Last month, however, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 2nd Circuit by a 5-4 vote.

Read the complete McClatchy news report here.

An overwhelming majority of Americans oppose the position that Sonia Sotomayor took on the affirmative action case — with 71 percent favoring the promotion of the white firefightersand the one Hispanic, who scored well on the test. Only 19 percent side with the city — and Sotomayor — in abandoning the test and awarding no promotions.

In addition, a strong public majority — 55 to 36 percent — favors abolishing affirmative action entirely, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll.

This brief video explains the 20 firefighter’s reverse discrimination lawsuit.

The payoff for supporting BHO is hardly chump change

Billions of dollars in federal aid — about $17 billion – in the first piece of the administration’s massive stimulus package, delivered directly to the local level to help revive the economy, have gone overwhelmingly to places that supported President Obama in last year’s presidential election.

What a surprise!

Counties that supported Obama last year have reaped twice as much money per person from the administration’s $787 billion economic stimulus package as those that voted for his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, a USA TODAY analysis of government disclosure and accounting records shows. That money includes aid to repair military bases, improve public housing and help students pay for college.

The reports show the 872 counties that supported Obama received about $69 per person, on average. The 2,234 that supported McCain received about $34.

Read the article here.

Obama and Napolitano lay out welcome mat to greater influx of illegals

With Barack Obama ensconced in the White House — when the global traveler is actually in Washington DC –  and Janet Napolitano as Homeland INsecurity Secretary (DHS), new federal standards have been announced intended to tie the hands of local police in enforcement of  immigration laws.

Think of it this way: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has essentially had a federal program crafted specifically to restrain him.       

Former Arizona Gov. Napolitano says that targeting people who commit minor offenses is not the goal of the program. It is arresting and deporting illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes and major drug offenses, the daily reports.

In other words, come on in, the door is open and the welcome mat is out. The federal government of the United State has no intention of enforcing border security or protecting national sovereignty, less than eight years after September 11^th.

For his  part, Arpaio has vowed to continue conducting crime-suppression operations and says he will continue booking suspected illegal immigrants who commit minor crimes in jail, where immigration status has been automatically checked as part of the federal 287 (g) program.

According to the administration, the culprits to be curbed are not those illegally entering the U.S., but the law enforcement professionals who apprehend them.

A DHS spokesman made this odd statement:  “The focus is going to be on criminal aliens.”

Isn’t that anyone who breaks into our country in violation of the law? The fact is, illegals engage in continued criminal activity once the initial act of stealthy crossing into this country has occurred.  There is a booming market in forged, counterfeit and stolen identification, birth certificates, Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses, the necessary components to facilitate their lives in the U.S. after arriving.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has referred 30,000 suspected illegals to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the program, about 26,000 of whom were identified after being booked into jail for crimes ranging from felonies to misdemeanors.

Arpaio’s crime sweeps have been hailed by the voters who repeatedly reelect him and other advocates of stricter enforcement.

“DHS has already negotiated agreements with numerous state and local agencies – many just within the last few years. It is counterproductive to bully them now with this kind of ultimatum and undermine their successful programs,” said U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, (R-TX), a strong supporter of the 287 (g) program. “This is another example of the administration making it harder to find and deport illegal immigrants,” he said.

Unconventional activist bares all

FOX 10’s Steve Krafft exposes tomorrow’s skinny dipping contest to be held at The Shangri La Nudist Ranch north of Phoenix. Owner Horst Kraus says he expects to host 300 to 500 people as they attempt to set a national world record.

According to the report, Kraus, who greeted the newscaster clothed, then removed his garments to show that he’s comfortable in his own skin. For those interested, the KSAZ report provides a pictorial link to the nudist resort.

If you can bear watching Kraus bare all, the video can be seen here.

Kraus, as CNN previously reported also hosts summer nudist camps for youngsters — making him  a most unconventional Republican activist — and a high-dollar campaign donor to such notables as Sens. Jon Kyl, John McCain and Congressman John Shadegg.

More layoffs at the Republic

According to Editor & Publisher, the publication covering the newspaper industry, Gannett Co., the parent company which publishes the Arizona Republic, USA Today and 85 other daily newspapers, is again handing out pink slips.  In all, Gannett is eliminating approximately 1,400 positions across its newspaper division, or 3 percent of its work force.  The Republic is laying off at least 20 staffers.

Gannett also owns local NBC affiliate KPNX-TV Channel 12.

The Phoenix Business Journal reports that designers, feature writers, copy editors, and business and community reporters were among the latest newsroom casualties. A staff meeting yesterday afternoon reportedly informed employees of the changes and addressed the paper’s future.

Freedom Communications, the parent company of the East Valley Tribune, has advised its employees of 5 percent across-the-board pay cuts, scheduled to go into effect Monday, as they struggle to stay afloat. The company owns 32 newspapers, seven broadcast stations and more than 70 weekly papers, magazines, specialty publications. Previously, the Trib implemented several drastic changes, going to a free circulation, four-day-a-week paper and eliminating its Saturday print edition as ABC 15 reported.

Social Security administrator defends $750,000 conference at AZ Biltmore Resort

FOX News reporter William La Jeunesse reports that the Social Security Administration is holding a 3-day training conference, including such illuminating subjects as “team building,” “diversity training,” “stress in the workplace, and “mentoring” at the exclusive five star Biltmore Resort in Phoenix — with an estimated price tag of $750,000 — paid for by American taxpayers, of course.

700 managers from as far away as American Samoa and Guam, along with a Washington D.C. contingent and their entourages will be lounging poolside at our expense in these most financially difficult times.

Listen closely to the remarks from Pete Spencer, a social security administrator as La Jeunesse asks him about the costly soiree.

By their own calculations the Social Security administration wastes $4.6 billion in overpayments each year.

For a bit of local bragging rights, La Jeunesse previously worked as an investigative reporter for KTVK-TV 3 and at KTSP- TV 10 in Phoenix. Believe it or not, this FOX News reporter began his journalism career at the Arizona Republic, where he spent five years writing investigative pieces for the daily.  How far he’s come!

Decline in Mexican tourism? It’s not the lack of passports

The daily bemoans a new law requiring Americans to have a passport in order to visit Mexico, calling this June 1 prerequisite for crossing the Mexican border the latest in a series of problems plaguing the Mexico travel industry. Beside the need for passports when visiting Mexico or Canada, Valley travel businesses also lay blame on the recession for dampening travel south of the border.

While those may be contributing factors, the fact is, Mexico now ranks as one of the world’s most dangerous nations, with drug cartels reigning bloody terror over Mexicans and visitors alike. It also has among the most elevated rates of swine flu worldwide — a disease now being called a “pandemic.”

The U.S. Department of State travel alerts list cautionary information for those traveling to Mexico.  Here is a sample:

CRIME: Crime in Mexico continues to occur at a high rate, and it can often be violent, especially in Mexico City, Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Acapulco, and the states of Sinaloa and Durango. Other metropolitan areas have lower, but still serious, levels of crime. The low rates of apprehension and conviction of criminals also contribute to Mexico’s high crime rate

THREATS TO SAFETY AND SECURITY: Violence by criminal elements affects many parts of the country, including urban and rural areas, visitors should remain alert and be aware of their surroundings at all times. In its efforts to combat violence, the Government of Mexico has deployed military troops to various parts of the country. Military checkpoints increased in border areas in early 2008.

Visitors are also warned of armed robbery and rape, while kidnappings of non-Mexicans, which are described on the site as a “lucrative business,” continue to occur at alarming rates.

Mexican authorities have failed to prosecute numerous crimes committed against U.S. citizens, including murders and kidnappings. Local police forces suffer from a lack of funds and training, and the judicial system is weak, overworked, and inefficient. Criminals, armed with an impressive array of weapons, know there is little chance they will be caught and punished. In some cases, assailants were wearing full or partial police uniforms and have vehicles that resemble police vehicles, indicating that some elements of the police may have been involved.

Blaming the decline in tourism on passport requirements is akin to blaming the hot summer temperatures in Phoenix on the lack of shade trees.