Mesa parents arrested for unsanitary home
Don't these pigs have any REAL criminals to hunt down???Mesa parents arrested for unsanitary home, police say
By Matthew Longdon and Jason Sillman The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team Tue Jul 30, 2013 8:25 PM
Two Mesa parents are behind bars accused of allowing their three children to live in an unsanitary home covered in roaches and rotten food, according to police documents.
Police arrested Kari Fredenburg, 43, and Shawn Fredenburg 43, Monday night at their home near Main Street and Recker Road.
The officer went to the home after someone reported the living conditions and found rotten food on the kitchen counters, in the fridge and all over the floor. There were roaches running around maggots on the ceiling and bathroom toilet had not been flushed and was full of mold, according to the Mesa report.
Police say the parents and the two younger children, ages 10 and 13, slept on one mattress on the floor in the living room while the oldest boy, whose age was not listed, slept on three couch cushions in the home’s only bedroom. The officer reported that there were torn-up mattresses lining the walls of the bedroom as well as animal feces. The boy told the officer he had the room all to himself because he was the oldest child, according to the report.
The parents knew of the home’s unsanitary condition and felt it was OK for the children to be there, police said.
Child Protective Services took custody of the three kids, police said. The parents are each facing three counts of child abuse, a class 4 felony.
ASU smoking ban starts today
By Miguel Otarola The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team Thu Aug 1, 2013 9:47 AM
The long-awaited smoking ban went into effect at Arizona State University’s campuses Thursday, but how it will be enforced and how violators will be punished is less clear.
The ban prohibits smoking and the use of smokeless tobacco at all ASU’s properties, including the Tempe campus and all other Valley campuses.
The policy also applies to privately owned vehicles in the university’s parking lots and garages as well as property leased by the school, according to ASU’s website. The only exceptions are “leased university residences that have been designated as smoking.”
Before the ban, people could smoke outside of buildings as long as they were 25 feet from entrances.
ASU’s website said the ban is the product of two years of work and planning and effects all employees, students and visitors. Officials said about 800 other colleges and universities have also banned smoking.
Louis Scichilone with the ASU Police Department said police won’t be fining or arresting people who violate the ban, but officers will be letting smokers know about the new restrictions.
“The Police Department is not enforcing the ban, just educating about the ban,” he said.
The school’s website said the ban will not be enforced by the school’s police and asked “ASU community members” to inform smokers on campus if they are in violation of the ban.
“Community enforcement relies on individuals to educate one another about the tobacco-free policy at ASU and ask that individuals extinguish tobacco material,” the website said.
It goes on to say that if a student violates the policy, “the location and time of the violation” Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities.
“If a staff member violates the policy, contact their department supervisor.”
For more information on the ban, go to https://eoss.asu.edu/tobaccofree.
All of the secret stuff I saw was down right ridiculous. A list of 50 resistors in a printed circuit board was classified. One board had an IC, that was secret before it was mounted on the printed circuit board, but once soldered on the printed circuit board was no longer secret.
When we moved a PC into a secret engineering room it literally took us 6 months to get an approval to do that from some secret bureaucrats in Washington D.C.
'Classified' is government code for 'don't embarrass us'
Our View: Too much information is being kept secret
By Editorial board The Republic | azcentral.com Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:49 PM
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning’s conviction is really the sideshow.
What deserves the spotlight is the creeping secrecy of government. Our government. The government that’s supposed to be a beacon of light and liberty.
More than 5 million government employees and contractors have security clearances. That’s a lot of secrets. A lot of secret-keepers. Too many.
The Government Accountability Office is looking at whether too many things are being classified and how the decisions are made to release information to the public.
Rep. Duncan Hunter requested the study. He told Foreign Policy that “classification inflation” limits public access to information that should be available.
In requesting the GAO study, Hunter pointed out another problem: “With access to classified information contingent on the issuance of security clearances, overclassification stands to dangerously expand access to material that should ordinarily be limited.”
Manning and Edward Snowden show the dangers of having too many secret-keepers.
It’s easy to find examples of overzealous classification.
One of the pieces of information Manning made public was a video of a 2007 U.S. helicopter attack in Iraq in which U.S. airmen laugh and call the targets “dead bastards.”
That attack killed civilians, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver. A subsequent military investigation showed the happy-go-lucky troops misidentified camera equipment for weapons before killing people they so callously denigrated.
The only reason for classifying that video is to protect the military from embarrassment — cover your backside.
What’s more, mixing in fake secrets with real ones increases the pressure to blow the whistle.
Manning says his motivation was to expose the military’s “bloodlust” and U.S. diplomatic deception. He dodged conviction on the most serious charge of aiding the enemy, but was convicted on 22 espionage, theft and other charges in the release of secrets to WikiLeaks.
As a soldier, he broke trust. But he did the public a favor. Whistle-blowing is a time-honored way to keep government accountable.
That’s especially true when the government is showing an adolescentlike fetish for hiding things that don’t need to be hidden.
Another example from very close to home:
The Department of Homeland Security refuses to make public what it knows about how many undocumented migrants get away, how many are caught multiple times or what percentage successfully enter the U.S. It’s classified.
The Arizona Republic sought the information. Now, Republican and Democratic members of Arizona’s delegation are asking for it, too. The lack of data makes it impossible to accurately assess the effectiveness of individual DHS border strategies.
If there’s a good national- security reason to hide information on border crossings, we haven’t heard it.
Snowden’s leaks about National Security Agency spying got him a one-way ticket to no man’s land. But it also put a light on the kind of government snooping that makes a lot of Americans queasy.
This nation is under threat from terrorists, and there are good reasons for keeping some information classified.
But Manning, Snowden and the DHS raise big concerns about what’s being withheld from the American people and why. That’s an issue that deserves the spotlight.
For those of you who have not used pressure cookers they are fantastic machines that cook much faster then a microwave oven.
You put a little water in them, which when heated turns to a gas which pressure cooks the food.
After you put the food in the pressure cooker you seal it up and put it on the stove.
If you only cook small stuff like I do the pressure cooker will get up to full pressure in one or two minutes.
If you slice up your veggies many things will be cooked in 1 or 2 minutes after the cooker is fully pressurized. You can cook fish in 4 or 5 minutes.
You can also cook things like roasts in them much quicker then in a conventional oven, but I have never done that. A beef brisket will cook in 50 to 70 minutes.
And I didn't know this until those nut jobs in Boston used them to kill people but pressure cookers also make great bombs.
Google Pressure Cookers and Backpacks, Get a Visit from the Feds
The Atlantic Wire
Philip Bump
Michele Catalano was looking for information online about pressure cookers. Her husband, in the same time frame, was Googling backpacks. Wednesday morning, six men from a joint terrorism task force showed up at their house to see if they were terrorists. Which begs the question: How'd the government know what they were Googling?
Catalano (who is a professional writer) describes the tension of that visit.
[T]hey were peppering my husband with questions. Where is he from? Where are his parents from? They asked about me, where was I, where do I work, where do my parents live. Do you have any bombs, they asked. Do you own a pressure cooker? My husband said no, but we have a rice cooker. Can you make a bomb with that? My husband said no, my wife uses it to make quinoa. What the hell is quinoa, they asked. ...
Have you ever looked up how to make a pressure cooker bomb? My husband, ever the oppositional kind, asked them if they themselves weren’t curious as to how a pressure cooker bomb works, if they ever looked it up. Two of them admitted they did.
The men identified themselves as members of the "joint terrorism task force." The composition of such task forces depend on the region of the country, but, as we outlined after the Boston bombings, include a variety of federal agencies. Among them: the FBI and Homeland Security.
Ever since details of the NSA's surveillance infrastructure were leaked by Edward Snowden, the agency has been insistent on the boundaries of the information it collects. It is not, by law, allowed to spy on Americans — although there are exceptions of which it takes advantage. Its PRISM program, under which it collects internet content, does not include information from Americans unless those Americans are connected to terror suspects by no more than two other people. It collects metadata on phone calls made by Americans, but reportedly stopped collecting metadata on Americans' internet use in 2011. So how, then, would the government know what Catalano and her husband were searching for?
It's possible that one of the two of them is tangentially linked to a foreign terror suspect, allowing the government to review their internet activity. After all, that "no more than two other people" ends up covering millions of people. Or perhaps the NSA, as part of its routine collection of as much internet traffic as it can, automatically flags things like Google searches for "pressure cooker" and "backpack" and passes on anything it finds to the FBI.
Or maybe it was something else. On Wednesday, The Guardian reported on XKeyscore, a program eerily similar to Facebook search that could clearly allow an analyst to run a search that picked out people who'd done searches for those items from the same location. How those searches got into the government's database is a question worth asking; how the information got back out seems apparent.
It is also possible that there were other factors that prompted the government's interest in Catalano and her husband. He travels to Asia, she notes in her article. Who knows. Which is largely Catalano's point.
They mentioned that they do this about 100 times a week. And that 99 of those visits turn out to be nothing. I don’t know what happens on the other 1% of visits and I’m not sure I want to know what my neighbors are up to.
One hundred times a week, groups of six armed men drive to houses in three black SUVs, conducting consented-if-casual searches of the property perhaps in part because of things people looked up online.
But the NSA doesn't collect data on Americans, so this certainly won't happen
Russia grants NSA leaker Snowden asylum; he leaves airport
By Vladimir Isachenkov Associated Press Thu Aug 1, 2013 7:24 AM
MOSCOW — National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden left the transit zone of a Moscow airport and entered Russia after authorities granted him asylum for one year, his lawyer said Thursday.
Anatoly Kucherena said that Snowden’s whereabouts will be kept secret for security reasons. The former NSA systems analyst was stuck at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23.
“He now is one of the most sought after men in the world,” Kucherena told reporters at the airport. “The issue of security is very important for him.”
The U.S. has demanded that Russia send Snowden home to face prosecution for espionage, but President Vladimir Putin dismissed the request.
Putin had said that Snowden could receive asylum in Russia on condition he stops leaking U.S. secrets. Kucherena has said Snowden accepted the condition.
The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday published a new report on U.S. intelligence-gathering based on information from Snowden, but Kucherena said the material was provided before Snowden promised to stop leaking.
Snowden, who revealed details of a U.S. intelligence program to monitor Internet activity, has received offers of asylum from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia and said he would like to visit those countries. However, the logistics of reaching any of those countries are complicated because his U.S. passport has been revoked.
Snowden’s father said in remarks broadcast Wednesday on Russian television that he would like to visit his son. Kucherena said he is arranging the trip.
The lawyer has said earlier that the temporary asylum would allow Snowden to travel freely around Russia, but wouldn’t allow him to leave the country. The one-year asylum can be extended.
WikiLeaks, a group which has adopted Snowden’s cause, said its legal adviser Sarah Harrison is now with him. The group also praised Russia for providing him shelter.
“We would like to thank the Russian people and all those others who have helped to protect Mr. Snowden,” WikiLeaks said on Twitter. “We have won the battle — now the war.”
Kucherena said that Snowden spent little time packing and left the airport in a taxi. The lawyer said the fugitive had friends in Russia, including some Americans, who could help ensure his security, but wouldn’t elaborate.
Snowden’s case has further strained U.S.-Russian ties already tense amid differences over Syria, U.S. criticism of Russia’s human rights record and other issues.
Putin’s foreign affairs aide, Yuri Ushakov, sought Thursday to downplay the impact this will have on the relations between the two countries.
“This issue isn’t significant enough to have an impact on political relations,” he said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies.
He said that the Kremlin hasn’t heard any signal from Washington that Obama could cancel his visit to Moscow ahead of next month’s G-20 summit in St.Petersburg.
Linda Valdez you seem to think that government is a silly game where whoever steals the most stuff wins. Maybe that is how the game is played, but it is wrong.
Last just because I am defending Flake in this case doesn't mean I like him. I think he is a phoney baloney pretend Libertarian.
Linda Valdez | azcentral opinions
Posted on July 31, 2013 1:54 pm by Linda Valdez
Ugly reality about Pretty Boy Flake
Jeff Flake has a model’s smile. It’s no surprise to see him named Capitol Hill’s Most Beautiful Person.
But pretty faces are a dime a dozen. What Arizona needs is somebody who can bring home the bacon.
Sen. Flake won’t.
His aversion to so-called “pork” is a personal stand that has real impact on Arizona.
Our state needs federal investments as much as states that have less attractive, but more effective senators. I’ll bet those guys find Flake’s distaste for pork most attractive. It leaves more for them.
Flake’s anti-pork stand means Arizona does not have a junior senator who is working to bring money back to the state for lots of important purposes, from highways to proper staffing at the Ports of Entry.
An ugly reality.
In the Thursday, Aug 1, 2013 New Times
article
article
titled
"Target Shooting a Major Cause of Arizona Forest Fires"
they seem to be using the lame excuse that guns might cause fires to ban shooting on government land.
The article says 31 fires MIGHT have been caused by guns since 2009. That is only a measly 5 fires a year.
Of course the gun grabbers usually take very small steps to achieve their goals. First it will be to ban shooting on these lands and next it will be to ban guns period.
I wonder how many fires were caused each year by smoking, campfires, or cars, compared to natural causes like lightning????
The article says a bullet MIGHT hit a rock, which MIGHT cause some sparks which MIGHT start a fire.
Of course every summer monsoons that passes over the same desert probably creates hundreds of lightning strikes which MIGHT cause fired.
You could use the same lame excuse to ban cars from driving in the desert. The frame of the car MIGHT strike a rock, which MIGHT create some sparks which MIGHT cause a fire.
Of course it's probably more likely that the exhaust from a car might start a fire, then either a bullet or a car part hitting a rock causing sparks which MIGHT cause a fire.
The Phoenix New Times article is at this URL:
Violence will rise as climate changes, scientists predict
By Monte Morin
August 1, 2013, 4:35 p.m.
Long before scientists began to study global warming, author Raymond Chandler described the violent effects of dry, "oven-hot" Santa Ana winds gusting through the city of Los Angeles.
"Every booze party ends in a fight," he wrote in his 1938 story "Red Wind." "Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husband's necks. Anything can happen."
While social commentators have long suggested that extreme heat can unleash the beast in man, formal study of the so-called heat hypothesis — the theory that high temperatures fuel aggressive and violent behavior — is relatively new. Using examples as disparate as road rage, ancient wars and Major League Baseball, scientists have taken early steps to quantify the potential influence of climate warming on human conflict.
Now, three UC Berkeley researchers have pulled together data from these and other studies and concluded that the incidence of war and civil unrest may increase by as much as 56% between now and 2050, due to warmer temperature and extreme rainfall patterns predicted by climate change scientists.
Likewise, episodes of interpersonal violence — murder, assault, rape, domestic abuse — could increase by as much as 16%, they report in a study published Thursday by the journal Science.
"We find strong causal evidence linking climatic events to human conflict … across all major regions of the world," the researchers concluded.
The study assumes a global temperature increase of at least 4 degrees Fahrenheit over the next half-century, based on data from the World Climate Research Program in Geneva. It also assumes that humanity will do little to adapt to large changes in regional climate or altered rain patterns, such as developing new heat and drought-tolerant crops.
With those ground rules established, the team examined 60 papers across a variety of fields — including climatology, archaeology, economics, political science and psychology — and analyzed them against a common statistical framework.
Study topics ranged from the trivial to the sublime.
In one paper, researchers held up traffic at a sweltering Phoenix intersection to see whether motorists in cars without air conditioning were more likely to honk in anger than drivers in climate-controlled vehicles. In another, psychologists looked at weather records and Major League Baseball statistics to see whether pitchers were more likely to throw bean balls at opposing batters as the mercury rose.
Still others used data from tree rings in Southeast Asia to gauge the influence of severe drought on the collapse of the once-mighty Angkor kingdom, or analyzed sediment from Middle Eastern seas to determine how desertification influenced the fall of the Akkadian Empire more than 4,000 years ago.
No matter where in the world they looked, and no matter what time period, the researchers said they observed a link between temperature, precipitation and conflict. They calculated that large-scale group conflict could increase between 28% and 56% over the next 37 years, while interpersonal violence could increase between 8% and 16%.
"The result is alarming," said study coauthor Marshall Burke, a UC Berkeley graduate student who specializes in how climate change affects food security. "However, if we get our act together and we mitigate future climate change ... the effects will be much smaller."
The authors say they can only speculate on the reasons why increased temperature and changed patterns of rainfall would move humans to violence.
"The physiological mechanism linking temperature to aggression remains unknown," they wrote.
One traditional explanation is that climate shifts hit agrarian economies particularly hard. "People are more likely to take up arms when the economy deteriorates," said study leader Solomon Hsiang, who examines the policy consequences of climate change at UC Berkeley.
Hsiang and his colleagues make no attempt to establish a clear cause, though they say there might be a physiological link between heat and aggression. But they are not biologists; their intent, they say, is to spur further research and encourage adaptive planning in the face of global warming.
"We like to compare it to smoking," Burke said. "In the 1930s scientists were figuring out there was this really strong relationship between smoking and lung cancer, but it wasn't for many decades after that they figured out the precise mechanism that links smoking to lung cancer."
Researchers who weren't involved in the analysis praised the team for their ambitious attempt to synthesize data from a variety of studies in disparate fields.
The paper "presents a strong case for the effects of rapid climate change on violence," said Craig A. Anderson, an Iowa State psychology professor who studies violence. "There is considerable evidence that when people are uncomfortably hot, they become more physically aggressive. They tend to interpret minor annoyances as being more serious and intentional provocations than they would in comfortable temperatures."
Yet others said the paper fell short of its intended goal.
"The study does not give a single example of a real conflict where both data and qualitative evidence suggest that the violence was caused at least partly by climatic anomalies," said Halvard Buhaug, a professor of political science at the Peace Research Institute Oslo in Norway.
An accompanying editorial by Science Editor in Chief Marcia McNutt, a geophysicist, did not address the study specifically, but instead called on scientists from different fields to help study the cumulative impacts of climate change.
"There is a need for all scientists to rise to this challenge," she wrote.
monte.morin@latimes.com
Mexican city fines concert $8,000 over drug ballads
Fri Aug 2, 2013 2:20 PM
MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities seeking to ban drug ballads known as “narco-corridos” have levied one of their stiffest punishments yet against the music, fining concert promoters 100,000 pesos (almost $8,000) for a weekend performance in the northern city of Chihuahua.
Authorities said Friday the city-imposed fine was for a performance Saturday by Alfredo Rios, better known as “El Komander,” one of the best-known singers of the “Altered Movement” genre whose lyrics frequently focus on shootouts, killings and guns.
Thousands of people in the border state of Chihuahua have died in drug-related violence in recent years, and starting about three years ago, authorities in the state capital decided to try to discourage songs that glorify drug trafficking or crime.
Javier Torres, the Chihuahua City assistant government secretary, said the concert promoters had been forced to forfeit a 100,000-peso deposit they posted prior to the weekend concert.
Torres said the money will be used to buy computers for community centers. It’s not the first time that promoters have lost deposits after singers stepped out of bounds. In July, the organizers of a local fair lost a 97,000-peso deposit after the Tucanes de Tijuana performed some narco-corridos in Chihuahua City.
“In an atmosphere of violence, it’s not right to have people glamorizing crime,” said Torres. “That feeds this type of culture, above all among young people around high school age, who see these references to crime and think they’re attractive.”
“What we are doing is protecting society, protecting our citizens and our youth,” said Torres. “(Crime) prevention is fundamental, and that can’t be done with more gunfire.”
There is little doubt that “El Komander” has glorified violence.
In one song “Cuernito Armani,” [AK-47] a reference to a designer assault rifle, he sings, “My luck was with me, a bullet pierced their driver, their truck flipped over, they couldn’t do me any more harm.”
Some other lyrics, such as those of “Tachycardia,” celebrate drugs. “Go get the jugs to get the drunkenness going, go get some floozies to enjoy, and don’t forget my additive, you know I’m a cocaine addict.”
It was unclear which of the songs violated city rules, but Torres said “there were five or six songs that reflected criminal acts, or glorified drug trafficking.”
Omar Valenzuela, Rios’ manager, acknowledges that “El Komander” has built a reputation.
“When he comes on to sing, people see him as a real big Mafia hotshot, even though he isn’t,” Valenzuela said. Age, marriage — and perhaps a well-founded fear — have changed him.
“His songs have changed a lot … Now that he’s getting radio play, he has some love songs out,” Valenzuela said. “He shows a lot of respect for the cities (where he performs), and for his own life. We wouldn’t want anyone to get mad, so there a lot of songs he doesn’t sing anymore.”
A number of famous Mexican banda and norteno singers have been killed in recent years, and some of the killings have been attributed to drug capos angered by the musicians’ songs or personal life.
But the whole idea of trying to censor songs irks Valenzuela.
“This censorship is a big fat lie,” Valenzuela said. “The politicians can tell the press they’re banning this … but they continue to listen to it. The police who stop us on the street ask for records.”
“A lot of people from the government, the federal police, the security forces, were sitting there enjoying it, drinking wine when El Komander sang,” Valenzuela said. “They even requested songs.”
Concert organizers seem to have accepted the lost deposits as one of the prices of bringing well-known acts to the city. And Rios, who didn’t have to pay any fine, has no plans to change his repertoire.
“Alfredo is more worried about what his fans want, than what the governor or the press says,” said Valenzuela.
Five myths about libertarians
By Nick Gillespie, Published: August 2
Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason.com and a columnist for the Daily Beast, is a co-author of “The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What’s Wrong With America.”
The specter of libertarianism is haunting America. Advocates of sharply reducing the government’s size, scope and spending are raising big bucks from GOP donors, trying to steal the mantle of populism, being blamed for the demise of Detroit and even getting caught in the middle of a battle for the Republican Party. Yet libertarians are among the most misunderstood forces in today’s politics. Let’s clear up some of the biggest misconceptions.
1. Libertarians are a fringe band of “hippies of the right.”
In 1971, the controversial and influential author Ayn Rand denounced right-wing anarchists as “hippies of the right,” a charge still leveled against libertarians, who push for a minimal state and maximal individual freedom.
Libertarians are often dismissed as a mutant subspecies of conservatives: pot smokers who are soft on defense and support marriage equality. But depending on their views, libertarians often match up equally well with right- and left-wingers.
The earliest example of libertarian principles in partisan politics might have come in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,when Anti-Imperialist League Democrats rejected empire and war — and believed in free trade and racial equality at a time when none of that was popular. More recently, civil libertarians such as Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) supported Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in his filibuster on domestic drones and government surveillance.
Libertarians are found across the political spectrum and in both major parties. In September 2012, the Reason-Rupe Poll found that about one-quarter of Americans fall into the roughly libertarian category of wanting to reduce the government’s roles in economic and social affairs. That’s in the same ballpark as what other surveys have found and more than enough to swing an election.
2. Libertarians don’t care about minorities or the poor.
As the recent discovery of neo-Confederate writings by a former senior aide to Sen. Paul shows, there sometimes is a connection between libertarians and creepy, racist elements in American politics. And given the influence of Ayn Rand among many libertarians, it’s easy to think that they care only about themselves. “I will never live for the sake of another man,” runs a characteristic line from Rand’s 1957 novel, “Atlas Shrugged.”
But at least two of the libertarian movement’s signature causes, school choice and drug legalization, are aimed at creating a better life for poor people, who disproportionately are also minorities. The primary goal of school choice — a movement essentially born out of a 1955 essay about vouchers by libertarian and Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman — is to give lower-income Americans better educational options. Friedman also persuasively argued that the drug war concentrates violence and law enforcement abuses in poor neighborhoods.
Libertarians believe that economic deregulation helps the poor because it ultimately reduces costs and barriers to start new businesses. The leading libertarian public-interest law firm, the Institute for Justice, which has argued Supreme Court cases for free speech and against eminent-domain abuse, got its start defending African American hair-braiders in Washington from licensing laws that shut down home businesses.
3. Libertarianism is a boys’ club.
While the stereotype of a libertarian as a male engineer sporting a plastic pocket protector and a slide rule once had more truth to it than most libertarians would care to admit, the movement is in many ways the creation of three female intellectuals.
As Brian Doherty details in his 2008 book, “Radicals for Capitalism,” the modern libertarian movement was hugely influenced by best-selling novelist and writer Rand; writer and critic Isabel Paterson; and author Rose Wilder Lane, the daughter of “Little House on the Prairie” author Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose work she edited. The first national ticket for the Libertarian Party, in 1972, had a woman, Toni Nathan, as its vice-presidential candidate, and from its inception, the party has supported reproductive rights and full equality under the law for women.
Newer groups such as the Ladies of Liberty Alliance are growing by emphasizing the benefits of economic freedom to an expanding class of female entrepreneurs.
4. Libertarians are pro-drug, pro-abortion and anti-religion.
Charges of libertinism are, alas, exaggerated. Virtually all libertarians believe that the prohibition of any consensual activity breeds far more problems than it solves. But a key tenet is that just because something is legal doesn’t mean you have to endorse, much less practice, it. Ron Paul drew laughs during a GOP presidential primary debate in 2011 when he asked audience members if they would try heroin if it were legal.
About 30 percent of libertarians — including many libertarian-minded politicians such as Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) — are staunchly pro-life. But most believe that the best way to change behavior is through moral suasion, not versions of prohibition that don’t work.
The same goes for religion: It should be free and celebrated as long as participation is voluntary. After all, proto-libertarian Roger Williams co-founded the first Baptist congregation in America and created Providence, R.I., as a haven of religious tolerance and fully secular government at a time when that was unheard of.
5. Libertarians are destroying the Republican Party.
In 1975, Ronald Reagan saw a kinship between libertarians and his party: “If you analyze it, I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism,” he said.
There seems to be little sense of a shared soul now, though, as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says things such as: “This strain of libertarianism that’s going through both parties right now and making big headlines, I think, is a very dangerous thought.” Christie was referring primarily to Rand Paul, a potential rival for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has attacked Rand Paul, Amash and other critics of the surveillance state as “wacko birds,” and defenders of the GOP establishment are worried about the party’s growing libertarian streak.
Yet Republicans acknowledged the need for a major reboot after the 2012 election, and that’s precisely what libertarian-leaning politicians are offering. Rand Paul has proposed a budget that cuts about $500 billion in annual spending, and he has called for reform of unsustainable entitlements and an end to overseas military adventurism. What’s been dubbed his “hipster outreach program” is an attempt to appeal to a wider slice of voters than middle-class whites. Republicans “need to be white, we need to be brown, we need to be black, we need to be with tattoos, without tattoos, with ponytails, without ponytails, with beards, without,” he told a New Hampshire audience in May.
That’s a message that might rankle stand-pat Republicans but is likely to appeal to younger voters who, according to a recent College Republican National Committee study, want government to be smaller and more inclusive.
gillespie@reason.com
A Cheap Spying Tool With a High Creepy Factor
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
With a handful of plastic boxes and over-the-counter sensors, including Wi-Fi adapters and a USB hub, Brendan O’Connor, a security researcher, was able to monitor all the wireless traffic emitted by nearby wireless devices.Brendan O’Connor With a handful of plastic boxes and over-the-counter sensors, including Wi-Fi adapters and a USB hub, Brendan O’Connor, a security researcher, was able to monitor all the wireless traffic emitted by nearby wireless devices.
Brendan O’Connor is a security researcher. How easy would it be, he recently wondered, to monitor the movement of everyone on the street – not by a government intelligence agency, but by a private citizen with a few hundred dollars to spare?
Mr. O’Connor, 27, bought some plastic boxes and stuffed them with a $25, credit-card size Raspberry Pi Model A computer and a few over-the-counter sensors, including Wi-Fi adapters. He connected each of those boxes to a command and control system, and he built a data visualization system to monitor what the sensors picked up: all the wireless traffic emitted by every nearby wireless device, including smartphones.
Each box cost $57. He produced 10 of them, and then he turned them on – to spy on himself. He could pick up the Web sites he browsed when he connected to a public Wi-Fi – say at a cafe – and he scooped up the unique identifier connected to his phone and iPad. Gobs of information traveled over the Internet in the clear, meaning they were entirely unencrypted and simple to scoop up.
Even when he didn’t connect to a Wi-Fi network, his sensors could track his location through Wi-Fi “pings.” His iPhone pinged the iMessage server to check for new messages. When he logged on to an unsecured Wi-Fi, it revealed what operating system he was using on what kind of device, and whether he was using Dropbox or went on a dating site or browsed for shoes on an e-commerce site. One site might leak his e-mail address, another his photo.
“Actually it’s not hard,” he concluded. “It’s terrifyingly easy.”
Also creepy – which is why he called his contraption “creepyDOL.”
“It could be used for anything depending on how creepy you want to be,” he said.
You could spy on your ex-lover, by placing the sensor boxes near the places the person frequents, or your teenage child, or the residents of a particular neighborhood. You could keep tabs on people who gather at a certain house of worship or take part in a protest demonstration in a town square. Their phones and tablets, Mr. O’Connor argued, would surely leak some information about them – and certainly if they then connected to an unsecured Wi-Fi. The boxes are small enough to be tucked under a cafe table or dropped from a hobby drone. They can be scattered around a city and go unnoticed.
Mr. O’Connor says he did none of that – and for a reason. In addition to being a security researcher and founder of a consulting firm called Malice Afterthought, he is also a law student at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He says he stuck to snooping on himself – and did not, deliberately, seek to scoop up anyone else’s data – because of a federal law called the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Some of his fellow security researchers have been prosecuted under that law. One of them, Andrew Auernheimer, whose hacker alias is Weev, was sentenced to 41 months in prison for exploiting a security hole in the computer system of AT&T, which made e-mail addresses accessible for over 100,000 iPad owners; Mr. Aurnheimer is appealing the case.
“I haven’t done a full deployment of this because the United States government has made a practice of prosecuting security researchers,” he contends. “Everyone is terrified.”
He is presenting his findings at two security conferences in Las Vegas this week, including at a session for young people. It is a window into how cheap and easy it is to erect a surveillance apparatus.
“It eliminates the idea of ‘blending into a crowd,’” is how he put it. “If you have a wireless device (phone, iPad, etc.), even if you’re not connected to a network, CreepyDOL will see you, track your movements, and report home.”
Can individual consumers guard against such a prospect? Not really, he concluded. Applications leak more information than they should. And those who care about security and use things like VPN have to connect to their tunneling software after connecting to a Wi-Fi hub, meaning that at least for a few seconds, their Web traffic is known to anyone who cares to know, and VPN does nothing to mask your device identifier.
In addition, every Wi-Fi network that your cellphone has connected to in the past is also stored in the device, meaning that as you wander by every other network, you share details of the Wi-Fi networks you’ve connected to in the past. “These are fundamental design flaws in the way pretty much everything works,” he said.
For most of us that would mean working 52 weeks, with one week of vacation.
But our royal Congressmen and Congresswoman are taking a 5 week vacation now. Which means they only work 47 weeks a year.
I suspect they take off a lot more time then a measly 5 weeks a year. But I don't have the details on that so lets calculate their pay assuming they work 47 weeks a year.
In that case they are paid $3700 per week, or $740 for those long 4 hour days they put in.
On the other hand I think we should be glad they take off so much time. Can you imagine how much our taxes would be if they worked full 8 hour days, for 52 weeks a year robbing us and giving our hard earned money to the special interest groups that helped get them into power???
Congress: Divided, Discourteous _ Taking a Break
Associated Press
By DAVID ESPO AP Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON August 2, 2013 (AP)
The accomplishments are few, the chaos plentiful in the 113th Congress, a discourteous model of divided government now beginning a five-week break.
"Have senators sit down and shut up, OK?" Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blurted out on Thursday as lawmakers milled about noisily at a time Sen. Susan Collins was trying to speak.
There was political calculation even in that. Democrats knew the Maine Republican was about rip into her own party's leadership, and wanted to make sure her indictment could be heard.
Across the Capitol, unsteady bookends tell the story of the House's first seven months in this two-year term. Internal dissent among Republicans nearly toppled Speaker John Boehner when lawmakers first convened in January. And leadership's grip is no surer now: A routine spending bill was pulled from the floor this week, two days before the monthlong August break, for fear it would fall in a crossfire between opposing GOP factions.
A few weeks earlier, Boehner suggested a new standard for Congress. "We should not be judged on how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws that we repeal," he said as Republicans voted for the 38th and 39th time since 2011 to repeal or otherwise neuter the health care law known as Obamacare.
Reaching for a round number, they did it for a 40th time on Friday, although the legislation stands no chance in the Democratic Senate and the GOP has yet to offer the replacement that it pledged three years ago to produce.
House Democrats claimed to hate all of this, yet couldn't get enough.
After attacking virtually every move Republicans made for months, they demanded the GOP cancel summer vacation so Congress could stay in session. The break, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said, "shows shocking disregard for the American people and our economy."
To be sure, there have been accomplishments since Congress convened last winter, although two of the more prominent ones merely avoided a meltdown rather than advancing the public's preferred agenda.
A closed-door session helped produce compromise over President Barack Obama's stalled nominations to administration posts and important boards — avoiding a blow-up that Republicans said would follow if Democrats changed the Senate's filibuster rules unilaterally.
Months earlier, at the urging of their leaders, House Republicans agreed to raise the government's debt limit rather than push the Treasury to the brink of a first-ever national default.
Legislation linking interest rates on student loans to the marketplace passed, and, too, a bill to strengthen the government's response to crimes against women. Two more measures sent recovery funds to the victims of Superstorm Sandy.
Among the 18 other measures signed into law so far: one named a new span over the Mississippi River as the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge, after the late baseball legend. Another renamed a section of the tax code after former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas.
A third clarified the size of metal blanks to be used by the Baseball Hall of Fame in minting gold and silver commemoratives: a diameter of .85 inches in the case of $5 gold coins, and 1.5 inches for $1 silvers.
The Senate passed sweeping immigration legislation to spend billions securing the nation's borders against illegal entry and creating a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million immigrants currently in the country unlawfully. The vote was 68-32, with all Democrats and about one-third of Republicans in favor.
But House Republicans, many of whom oppose granting citizenship to anyone living in the country illegally, deemed the bill a non-starter. They intend to have alternative legislation this fall. If it succeeds, that will give the two houses about a year to somehow compromise before Congress' term expires.
The Senate approved a bipartisan farm bill that followed customary lines in providing funding simultaneously for growers and for government programs to feed the hungry.
But a revolt by tea party conservatives blocked passage of a combined bill in the House, which then approved a measure to aid farmers. The leadership promises one for nutrition programs this fall, and an attempt will be made to find common ground with the Senate.
So far, Congress' classic two-house compromises have been elusive.
Both houses have approved budgets.
But some Senate Republicans have blocked Democratic attempts to begin compromise talks, saying they will relent only if there is agreement in advance not to raise the federal debt limit as part of any deal.
"Let me be clear, I don't trust the Republicans," said GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, a tea party-backed first-term lawmaker from Texas. "I don't trust the Democrats, and I think a whole lot of Americans likewise don't trust the Republicans or the Democrats because it is leadership in both parties that has got us into this mess."
Indeed, most opinion polls over the past six months put public approval for Congress in the mid-teens, with disapproval generally over 70 percent.
And yet, says Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., "Congress does reflect the American people and the American people are divided."
Sen. Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican who took office in January, said gridlock "is not as bad as I expected," and seems exaggerated by the frenzied 24-hour-a-day news cycle. She said she has been able to agree with several Democrats on amendments to bills in committee.
On a larger scale, though, even prior agreements are endangered. One example:
Under legislation already in effect, spending for one category of federal programs is supposed to total $967 billion for the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1, with a portion set aside for defense and another share for domestic accounts.
In the House, Republicans approved a budget that adheres to the $967 billion figure but puts more into defense and less into domestic programs than is mandated.
In the Senate, Democrats opted for $1.058 trillion, far in excess of the agreed-upon total.
The difference, about $92 billion, must be reconciled before lawmakers can approve legislation to keep the government in operation after Sept. 30.
Further complicating matters, some tea party-backed Republicans say they will vote for such legislation only if it cancels all funding for the health care law that Congress passed three years ago — a condition Democrats and Obama vehemently reject.
The alternative to compromise is a partial government shutdown, an outcome leaders in both parties say they can avoid.
But that's a struggle for after vacation.
Postal Service takes photos of all mail
By ASSOCIATED PRESS | 8/2/13 10:25 AM EDT
WASHINGTON — The Postal Service takes pictures of every piece of mail processed in the United States — 160 billion last year — and keeps them on hand for up to a month.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said the photos of the exterior of mail pieces are used primarily for the sorting process, but they are available for law enforcement, if requested.
The photos have been used "a couple of times" to trace letters in criminal cases, Donahoe told the AP on Thursday, most recently involving ricin-laced letters sent to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"We don't snoop on customers," said Donahoe, adding that there's no big database of the images because they are kept on nearly 200 machines at processing facilities across the country. Each machine retains only the images of the mail it processes.
"It's done by machine, so there's no central area where any of this information would be," he said. "It's extremely expensive to keep pictures of billions of pieces of mail. So there's no need for us to do that."
The images are generally stored for between a week and 30 days and then disposed of, he said. Keeping the images for those periods may be necessary to ensure delivery accuracy, for forwarding mail or making sure that the proper postage was paid, he said.
"Law enforcement has requested a couple of times if there's any way we could figure out where something came from," he said. "And we've done a little bit of that in the ricin attacks."
The automated mail tracking program was created after the deadly anthrax attacks in 2001 so the Postal Service could more easily track hazardous substances and keep people safe, Donahoe said.
"We've got a process in place that pretty much outlines, in any specific facility, the path that mail goes through," he said. "So if anything ever happens, God forbid, we would be able very quickly to track back to see what building it was in, what machines it was on, that type of thing. That's the intent of the whole program."
Processing machines take photographs so software can read the images to create a barcode that is stamped on the mail to show where and when it was processed, and where it will be delivered, Donahoe said.
The Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program was cited by the FBI on June 7 in an affidavit that was part of the investigation into who was behind threatening, ricin-tainted letters sent to Obama and Bloomberg. The program "photographs and captures an image of every piece of mail that is processed," the affidavit by an FBI agent said.
Mail from the same mailbox tends to get clumped together in the same batch, so that can help investigators track where a particular item was mailed from to possibly identify the sender.
"We've used (the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program) to sort the mail for years," Donahoe said, "and when law enforcement asked us, 'Hey, is there any way you can figure out where this came from?' we were able to use that imaging."
ASU smoking ban starts today
I wish they would enforce the laws against illegal drugs and alcohol the same way they enforce this new tobacco ban on the ASU campus.
Too much information is being kept secret
'Classified' is government code for 'don't embarrass us'
I don't have a secret clearance and never have had one. But many times I have worked in secret engineering or manufacturing rooms, where I had to be baby sat by somebody with a secret clearance.
Don't Google "pressure cooker" unless you love cops
Don't Google "pressure cooker" unless you love Homeland Security goons in your living room!!!
Russia grants NSA leaker Snowden asylum
Of course you have to remember that Russia is a police state just like the USA, and the Russian government is almost certainly doing this for political reasons. But even still Edward Snowden is a freedom fighter for exposing the corruption and law breaking by the US government.
Ugly reality about Pretty Boy Flake
Sorry Linda Valdez, you are pretty much full of BS. If every senator and congressman was more like Jeff Flake the American government would be much better.
A new lame excuse to ban guns???? Forest Fires???
Source
www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2013-08-01/news/target-shooting-a-major-cause-of-arizona-forest-fires
Global warming causes global violence????
I suspect if this was true Phoenix would have more murders then Chicago. That's one interesting thing about the Chicago Tribune web site. Almost every day they list all the murders that occurred in Chicago the previous day. Something that ain't even close to the number of murders in Phoenix.
Mexican city fines concert $8,000 over drug ballads
It's not about drugs, it's about cash! $8,000 in cash or 100,000 pesos!!!!
A proven model
Five myths about libertarians
Source
A Cheap Spying Tool With a High Creepy Factor
Low tech internet spying - NSA tools for the homeless???
Source
Congress to take a 5 week vacation!!!!
Let's see our royal US Congressmen and US Senators get paid $174,000 a year.
Postal Service takes photos of all mail
Homeland Security, the FBI and the NSA aren't the only government agencies spying on you. The US Post Office snaps a photograph of every thing you mail.
Russia protects Snowden from the USA
| Subject: | Refunds for people with bus passes effected by the bus strike |
| Date: | Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 3:18 PM |
| From: | xxxxxxxx |
| To: |
Valley Metro Customer Services csr@ValleyMetro.org |
|
I am sorry if this sounds like a silly question.
After all most of us consider the people that run the government a bunch of crooks and thieves who would steal the gold fillings out of their mothers mouth if they could get away with it. But during the first week of August this year there was a bus strike for several days and there was no bus service in Tempe, Mesa, Chandler and parts of Scottsdale and Phoenix. Is Valley Metro going to give refunds to people who had bus passes but could not use them during the days of the bus strike??? OK, I can hear you laughing, but please tell me if you are going to give out refunds? And if you are not please tell me that you are not going to give us refunds? This is a request for public records per the Arizona Public Records laws. Second this is a request for damages. I beleive the bus strike was for the days Aug 1 thru Aug 4 of 2013, which was Thursday thru Sunday for a total of 4 days. And I could not use the bus on those 4 days. I have a month long bus pass which costs $64. The $64 divided by 31 days give a total cost of $2.07 per day. So I would like a refund of $8.28 in real damages. Also I had to walk every where instead of take the bus, so I would like $100 a day to cover those damages. So that is $400 in damages, plus $8.28 real damages for a total of $408.28. Of course that is if you settle out of court. If I have to sue you either in the state our federal courts I want more money to cover my expenses. Thanks Valley Metro: CEO approved lack of minimum service By Dianna M. Náńez The Republic | azcentral.com Sat Aug 3, 2013 8:51 PM Valley Metro is saying CEO Steve Banta approved the decision not to require that the bus company provide residents minimum southeast Valley service at all times, including in the event of a strike, a contract provision that The Arizona Republic has learned is currently mandated under Phoenix bus-service contracts. As of late Saturday, the three-day-old bus strike was ongoing and negotiators for bus company First Transit and for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433, which represents about 400 drivers, remained at the bargaining table, aiming to broker a compromise on a new contract and get buses rolling again. Banta previously told the Republic that he was not on the contract procurement team and that he did not know why the team decided not to include a minimum-bus-service provision. On Saturday, following a Republic story about the lacking requirement, that has left tens of thousands of residents without bus service, Valley Metro spokeswoman Hillary Foose said, in an e-mailed statement to the Republic, that Banta approved the decision. “What he (Banta) said…is that, while he was not part of the procurement team, Steve did approve the decision,” Foose wrote. Banta did not return a request for further comment or reaction to the company statement. That provision may have been the key to helping prevent the ongoing strike that has shut down all bus service in the southeast Valley, Tempe Councilman Kolby Granville told the Republic on Saturday. The 40 routes not operating account for nearly half of the total Phoenix-area bus routes. Valley residents, who endured the Phoenix and Tempe bus strike last year - which because of the minimum-service requirement maintained some bus service - waited at bus stops this week wondering why they were left without the safety net this time. Granville said that he is among the council members who were “surprised” to find out in the days leading up to the strike that the contract approved in January for a new company to run southeast Valley bus services lacked the requirement. The Tempe City Council and the Valley Regional Public Transportation Authority board of directors, which includes appointed representatives from Phoenix-area cities, approved the contract with First Transit. Granville and Tempe Councilman Joel Navarro said that it was a glaring oversight not to inform Tempe council members, prior to that approval, of the decision not to include the requirement. Navarro told the Republic Friday that he has called for an internal review into why the decision was made and if the city can still make changes to the contract to include the requirement. Tempe City Councilwoman Shana Ellis, who is Tempe’s representative on the Valley Metro board, did not return repeated requests for comment. The Republic asked Valley Metro for names of the individuals who served on the procurement board. “As for the names of the evaluation panel, this information is privileged,” Foose said in an e-mailed statement. “I can tell you that the panel was comprised of representatives from Valley Metro, Tempe, Mesa and Scottsdale. We also had an outside transit perspective from Denver.” The provision, Granville said, was in Veolia’s bus contract, which operated Tempe service before it was unified with other southeast Valley cities under the First Transit contract, which took effect July 1. Marie Chapple, a Phoenix Public Transit spokeswoman, told Republic Saturday, that if a strike was to happen against Phoenix bus companies, residents could count on some service because the city requires the safety net in its contracts with First Transit and Veolia. “Just talking with passengers, yes, it did help (during last year’s strike,” Chapple said. “People were still able to try and find a way (to get to their destination),” she said. “We wanted that in there (because) the most important thing is to serve the people the people.” The contract requirement isn’t just vital because it reassures Valley residents, desperate to get to work and appointments, that a regardless of a strike, and as long as they are willing to put up with longer waits, the bus company must keep some buses rolling, Granville said. The minimum-service requirement also is tied to a hefty fine if service is not provided, he said. Granville said the fines for not providing minimum service and the cost of flying in drivers from other properties to provide minimum service can serve as a deterrent to allowing contract negotiations to deteriorate to the point of a strike and give a bus company a significant monetary incentive to ending a strike. “When people run the numbers, when they see how much money a strike is going to cost,” he said, “If it’s (the fine) is high enough, it would make everyone think long and hard before dealing with that punishment.” Banta has said that there are drawbacks to requiring minimum service, including safety concerns tied to using outside drivers who are unfamiliar with the community’s bus routes. “It’s unsafe to expect outside operators to safely use new equipment and operate routes/on roadways without training or experience,” Foose wrote. Granville refuted that concern, saying, “I certainly wouldn’t want an untrained bus driver but if they are certified to drive a bus in Denver, they can certainly drive a bus in Phoenix.” Chapple said that there were no safety issues tied to outside drivers operating buses during last year’s strike. Banta also has said that although Phoenix and Tempe required Veolia to provide minimum service, which was to equate to the amount of bus service provided on Sundays, during last year’s strike Veolia was unable to meet that level. Granville and Navarro agreed that some service is better than no service. “I think it’s a mistake that should not be repeated in the future,” Granville said of the oversight, adding that residents who depends on public transportation and the cities that earns revenue from transit services are paying the price. |
|
Also that clause forced Valley Metro to indirectly support the strike by forcing them to pay drivers who are on strike, but per the contract not allowed to drive buses.
Sadly while the people vote for our elected officials, it seems these elected officials end up working for the government employees that are supposed to work for them.
I say that because in most elections the voter turnout is so small that when government employees all show up at the polls and vote for more government pork, they can and do swing elections to their side.
A good example of that is the City of Phoenix. The 3,000+ Phoenix Police officers get about 40 percent of the Phoenix budget. If the Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton shovels the pork to the cops, those 3,000 votes can easily help him win an election when the turnout is very small. After the cops, the Phoenix firemen get about 20 percent of the Phoenix budget. Again if Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton shovels government pork to the firemen, that will allow him to pick up another 1,500 votes.
Southeast Valley bus strike has commuters scrambling
By Chris Cole, Haley Madden and Brennan Smith The Republic | azcentral.com
Thu Aug 1, 2013 8:51 AM
A bus strike hit tens of thousands of southeast Valley commuters hard Thursday morning as they scrambled to find other modes of transportation to work, appointments or health care.
At 6 a.m., the Tempe Transportation Center, a large bus hub, the whir of engines was replaced by silence. Bus benches were empty as Metro light-rail riders filed on and off their trains, which are not affected by the strike.
At 7:30, normally prime commuting time, the Chandler Park and Ride at Germann Road and Hamilton Street, the Superstition Springs Park and Ride at U.S. 60 and Power Road in Mesa, the Gilbert Park and Ride at Oak Street and Page Avenue, and the Sycamore Street Park and Ride at 1806 West Main St. in Mesa, all were empty. That was a recurring theme at bus stops across the southeast Valley.
A few riders, however, unaware that the strike is on, went to stops waiting for a bus that wasn’t coming.
Maria Garcia, 31, was waiting at Thompson Peak Parkway and Raintree Drive in Scottsdale for Route 81 to commute to Phoenix when a reporter informed her that the route was among those affected by the strike.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Garcia said. “This is going to affect and disappoint a lot of people. I can’t believe they’re doing this again.
“How do they expect us to get to work?”
Others began checking the internet on cellphones at bus stops as word spread that the strike is on.
“I didn’t know they were on strike and now I don’t know how I am going to get to work,” said Cory Painter of Phoenix. “I would want to tell them (the union drivers) that other people have to get to work, too. It’s unfair that they’ve done this twice now.”
Painter said he has been taking the bus to work because his car is broken and he does not have the means to get it repaired.
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433, which represents about 400 southeast Valley bus drivers, went on strike at midnight after failing to reach agreement on a new contract with First Transit, which operates buses in the southeast Valley for Valley Metro Regional Public Transportation Authority.
Late Wednesday, First Transit said it sent union officials a last-minute offer to address a sticking point in hopes of averting the strike. A union official said he was meeting with a federal mediator to discuss returning to the negotiating table.
Meanwhile, operations have ceased on 40 of Valley Metro’s 101 Phoenix-area bus lines serving Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert and Tempe, as well as parts of Scottsdale and Ahwatukee. Express routes to downtown Phoenix and Scottsdale Airpark also shut down.
Transit officials said the 40 routes average 57,000 weekday boardings. Phoenix transit officials said that the strike affects nine local routes and nine express routes and advised residents to visit the city’s transit website for a list of alternative routes.
Express bus lines to downtown Phoenix and the Scottsdale Airpark are considered major Valley transit arteries for workers who commute from the southeast Valley.
Valley Metro advised those who depend on buses to get to work, appointments and health care to look for alternative transportation and to visit the company’s website to search for carpool options. They said Metro light rail may have increased train service if demand warrants.
This is the second transit work stoppage in the Valley in 18 months. In March 2012, one of two transit companies serving the Valley at the time went on a limited six-day strike, providing only skeleton service in Phoenix and Tempe.
Tempe resident Devon Blake said he rides the bus almost every day and that he is “embarrassed” by the strike.
“I really don’t like striking. Nobody can get to work and nobody can get where they have to go,” Blake said.
Blake said he was planning on heading to the picket line at the center manned by several striking drivers to “try to talk some sense” into them.
“I want to talk to them and see what we can work out and if we can have service by tomorrow,” Blake said. “They said a week, two, to three weeks, or it could be a month, I don’t know.”
“I hope the boss understands,” said Mesa resident Tariq Rogers, who takes the bus to work at Scottsdale Road and Shea Boulevard. “This is not a good time for that to happen right now. I’m trying to call people, but none of my people are answering their phones. They’re all asleep.
“I think that these guys need to work this stuff out, man. Whatever it is, they need to work this out because this is ridiculous. They don’t realize the people they’re hurting out here that don’t have other ways to work or might work far away and can’t get a ride to work. Now we’re stuck, now we have to go on strike. We could lose our jobs because you knuckleheads are fighting over petty stuff. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Mesa resident Emmanuel Santillan said he rides the bus from his home in Mesa to work in Tempe.
“These buses were going to be a lot of help to get to work and back, now I’m just going to have to resort to other means, most likely a bike to get there,” Santillan said.
He called the strike a threat to his livelihood.
In Scottsdale, there was confusion over which routes are running and which are not running, given that some lines still in operation share stops with those that have ceased.
Those not running in Scottsdale are Routes 72 and 81, and Express Routes 511 and 514.
Those still running in Scottsdale are Routes 17, 29, 41, 50, 76, 106, 154 and 170.
Michael Brown, who had just gotten off his overnight shift at Jack in the Box at Thunderbird Road and Scottsdale Road, said he would have to call a cab to get home. He plans to arrange for a carpool during the duration of the strike.
“I depend a lot on the bus transportation,” Brown said. “I hope they can come to an understanding soon.”
Ernest Miller, 46, heard about the bus strike this morning but decided to come to the bus stop anyway to see if anything had changed.
“I’m supposed to be at work right now,” Miller said. “I might just go back home.”
Miller, who was standing at the bus stop on Scottsdale Road north of Shea Boulevard at 6:20 a.m., said he understands the bus drivers’ reason for striking, but isn’t sure how he’s going to get to work if the strike continues.
Joel Santeramo, 38, said he’s only been taking the bus this week because his car broke down on Friday. The strike is only a temporary inconvenience to him.
“I’m going to be an hour late to work at least and it’s going to cost me $20 for a cab ride,” Santeramo said.
He was sitting at the bus stop on Scottsdale Road north of Shea Boulevard and works only four miles away.
“They’re using (the heat) to their advantage,” Santeramo said. “They timed it right. ... It was a smart move.”
The central issue in the dispute does not involve wages, union officials say. Rather, it involves “management rights” with First Transit’s operating contract with the Valley Metro RPTA. The union fears that Valley Metro could order First Transit to violate the union’s labor agreement by unilaterally reducing driver wages or cutting work hours.
First Transit spokesman Nick Promponas told the Republic late Wednesday that the company has sent changes tied to the management-rights provision in the hopes of averting a strike. First Transit wanted drivers to consider not walking so that the sides may return to the table this morning.
“Our goal is to not disrupt the community, especially those folks who rely on the service,” Promponas said. [What a lie!!! This is the main purpose of a strike. Unions use strikes to disrupt their employers bossiness, hoping to force them bend to their demands.]
First Transit says that drivers were welcome and have the right to show up for work, although under the union agreement, they are not allowed to drive a bus. It is not known if any drivers who might cross the picket line would be assigned other duties during the strike.
Jen Biddinger, a bus company spokeswoman, confirmed that the company has no backup transit plans for Valley residents, adding that “passengers will need to consider other travel arrangements.”
Lead union negotiator Michael Cornelius said that “the bottom line is we want it to end quickly.”
“We want to be there for the passengers,” Cornelius said. “Unfortunately, there’s a huge foreign multinational company standing in the way.”
Biddinger apologized to commuters.
“First and foremost, we are disappointed in the decision by the union and regret that we are unable to reach an agreement,” she said, adding that First Transit laments “the uncertainty this is causing passengers.”
Offer rejected; bus workers to vote on strike proposal
By Brennan Smith The Republic | azcentral.com Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:31 PM
Southeast Valley transit-union leaders rejected a final offer from the bus company Friday and will suggest a strike after negotiations on a new operating contract unraveled during the afternoon, setting the stage for an indefinite halt in public transportation on Aug. 1.
Michael Cornelius, lead union negotiator for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433, said that First Transit, which operates buses in the southeast Valley for the Valley Metro Regional Public Transportation Authority, presented the union with a “last, best and final” offer Friday afternoon.
Cornelius said union leadership “will not endorse” the proposed deal and will set up a vote next week with union members and recommend a strike.
“We will take it to our membership for their vote, but we will not endorse as it strips years of history and worsens current working conditions,” Cornelius told The Republic via text message.
Friday was the final scheduled negotiation as the clock ticks down on a 30-day extension that ends at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. If the extension expires without a new agreement, the union could strike, stopping service on 40 routes in Tempe, Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert, as well as some routes in Scottsdale and Ahwatukee Foothills, and express service from those southeast Valley communities to downtown Phoenix and Scottsdale.
Negotiations resumed Friday with both a federal mediator and former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor sitting in as an independent observer to move talks along and cool tempers at an increasingly contentious bargaining table.
Cornelius said First Transit officials arrived to negotiations late Friday and sent an initial proposal that would give RPTA greater rights to determine termination of union members rather than the operating company, something Cornelius said “we will not accept under any circumstances.”
Repeated calls were made to First Transit officials, but they could not be reached for comment by Friday evening.
McGregor had been asked by Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and the Phoenix City Council to assume a similar role as a disinterested third party during a six-day strike in March 2012. She worked with the union and Veolia Transportation Services, which then was the bus operator. McGregor was credited with helping end the strike.
Cornelius said McGregor was “great,” but ultimately union leaders rejected the final deal from First Transit.
On Monday, Cornelius said several bus drivers were complaining that they had not been paid at all during July and that the union was considering filing a civil suit against First Transit in response. The union represents about 400 southeast Valley drivers.
However, First Transit spokesman Maurice Harris said the company had paid all of its employees on July 5 and July 19, satisfying a state law that requires payment at least two times per month, no more than 16 days apart.
Employees who attended a voluntary training program prior to First Transit taking over operations received an additional paycheck on July 5, Harris said.
First Transit, part of United Kingdom-based FirstGroup, took over southeast Valley operation from Veolia for Valley Metro on July 1.
These government idiots are again part of the PROBLEM!!!!
The current contract that Valley Metro has with First Transit says that if there is a strike, that non-striking bus drivers can't cross the picket lines and drive buses!!!! They have to be put to work twiddling their thumbs or doing anything but driving a bus.
From a prior article I posted that clause says:
And its probably elected officials like Mesa City Councilman Scott Somers who sold out to the unions and allowed the clause in the contract.
Without that clause there would be at least a few buses rolling the the east valley making the strike less severe!!!
Public officials decry SE Valley bus strike
By Gary Nelson The Arizona Republic | azcentral.com Thu Aug 1, 2013 11:18 AM
Public officials are angry that tens of thousands of their constituents are scrambling for rides in triple-digit heat because of a bus strike.
“This was a nuclear option that wasn’t necessary,” Mesa City Councilman Scott Somers said.
Somers is chairman of the Valley Metro Regional Public Transportation Authority, which oversees bus operations in the Valley. First Transit operates buses in the southeast Valley for Valley Metro. [he was almost certainly one of the people that approved the contract that says non-striking bus drivers are not allowed to drive buses]
The strike began at midnight Wednesday, affecting mostly the southeast Valley but also some routes in Phoenix and Scottsdale. Some of the approximately 57,000 people who board the buses every day got up Thursday morning unaware of the strike, and found themselves stranded.
“I feel for the thousands of people who rely on bus service in the Southeast Valley on a daily basis,” Mesa Mayor Scott Smith said. [although he was almost certainly one of the people that approved the contract that says non-striking bus drivers are not allowed to drive buses]
Smith said sometimes the reality of a strike can jar both sides into seeking a quick settlement, but there’s no guarantee in this case.
“Who knows what it will take?” Smith said. “We’re hoping that they quickly resolve their differences and we can get back to business as usual.”
Although elected city officials are deeply involved in establishing overall transportation policy in the region, Smith and Somers said they have little power to intervene. [That is misleading. Our elected officials that approved the contract, could have, and should have put a clause in the contract that forbid strikes. And they really screwed up by approving the current contract that said non-striking drivers are not allowed to drive buses]
The buses are publicly owned, but the labor dispute involves two private entities: Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433, representing the drivers, and their employer, First Transit. First Transit is a part of FirstGroup, based in the United Kingdom.
“It’s a private-sector spat that’s influencing public services,” Somers said. “We gain a lot of benefit out of public-private partnerships and contracting, but there are downsides. And this is one of them.” [Again Somers is trying to blame the private sector for a very poorly written contract between the city of Mesa and First Transit. Somers, it's YOUR fault, don't blame the private sector]
Somers said RPTA officials had hoped the union would avoid calling a full-blown strike after rejecting the company’s offer this week, perhaps limiting bus service but not shutting it down altogether.
“Unfortunately, calmer heads did not prevail,” he said. “And what’s bothering me is it is the working class of folks who are in those hourly jobs and really depend on public transportation are the ones that get hurt.”
Somers said he had received an e-mail from a man who lives in Mesa and takes the bus to his job in Ahwatukee.
“This strike is going to really affect his ability to go to work and make a living,” Somers said.
Chandler City Councilman Jack Sellers, who was recently named vice chair of the Maricopa Association of Governments transportation policy committee, said the strike could hurt the Valley’s efforts to develop better transit options. [And Chandler City Councilman Jack Sellers is probably part of the problem too. Chandler approved the same contract with First Transit that Mesa did]
“I feel like one of the things that we really need to improve here in the Valley is our transit offerings as well as expanding transit ridership,” Sellers said, “and these kind of things create a terrible setback because the thing that causes people to rely on transit is the idea that it’s going to be there when they need it.” [Sounds like Sellers is doing some heavy shoveling of the BS here!!!!]
“It is certainly frustrating,” Sellers said about the strike. “I would say it’s going to have a pretty serious impact, if it goes on, particularly.”
Other mayors called for a quick end to the strike.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton told The Republic he does not know yet how many city employees were impacted by the strike, but believes many heading to downtown Phoenix were.
“When our public transit system has a work stoppage, it hurts the entire region and particularly downtown Phoenix, because many of the people utilizing public transit, especially the express routes, are coming downtown,” he said.
Stanton spent Wednesday night talking to both sides of the dispute hoping to encourage a solution. [Mayor Stanton seems to be sleeping with the Phoenix Police and Phoenix Fire Department unions and he will almost certainly sell out to the bus driver unions]
“I’m frustrated that it got to this point of a work stoppage and I expect both sides to roll up their sleeves and get right back to the table today as soon as possible and announce that this strike is over,” he said. “That’s my demand and expectation.”
Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane said he is “always concerned about” a bus strike. [Then why did you approve a contract that allows them to strike????]
“This situation comes up with some regularity at contract time,” he said. “There is not a great deal that can be done in the way of replacement that I’m aware of. [That is rubbish. You could have written a contract with a no strike clause in it!!!]
“It means we’re at the mercy of MAG’s metro lines. I hope they would be able to resolve it in some reasonable amount of time. In the meantime, alternatives are going to be the product of their own ingenuity.”
Chandler Mayor Jay Tibshraeny termed the strike “an unfortunate situation and a very extreme inconvenience for many of our residents that depend on that service.”
“I just think it’s ill-timed and not productive,” Tibshraeny said. [Thanks for all the hot air and no action. That and a $1 will buy you a cup of coffee]
Chandler is working to get the word of the strike out to residents, he said.
“Any influence we can have we will certainly exert on the negotiations,” Tibshraeny said. “Obviously we’re encouraging them but at the end of the day, we’re not the ones signing the contract.”Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell, quoted in a Valley Metro press release, said, “It is imperative that ATU and First Transit work together in good faith to achieve a fair and equitable solution to this labor dispute for the good of our transit passengers.” [And now we have Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell shoveling the BS]
He urged the company and union to “quickly resolve this issue to avoid impacting thousands of passengers and their essential travel.”
Eugene Scott and Michelle Mitchell contributed to this report.
Routes threatened by bus drivers' strike
The Republic | azcentral.com Thu Aug 1, 2013 6:42 AM
These 40 Valley Metro are expected to be shut down after drivers went on strike at midnight:
30 University in Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa: Serves South Mountain Community College, 32nd St./Broadway Road, 52nd St./University Drive, Mill Ave./University Drive, University Drive/Price Road, Main St./Sycamore, University Drive/Country Club Drive, University Drive/Gilbert Road, University Drive/Greenfield Road, University Drive/Power Road and University Drive/Sossamon Road.
40 Apache/Main Street in Tempe and Mesa: Serves Apache Blvd./Price Road, Main St./Sycamore/ Country Club Drive/Main St., Main St./Mesa Drive, Main St./Gilbert Road, Main St./Greenfield road, Main St./Power Road and Superstition Springs Center.
45 Broadway in Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa: Serves 19th Ave./Southern Ave., Broadway Road/19th Ave., Central Ave./Broadway Road, Broadway Road/24th St., 48th St./Broadway Road, Hardy Drive/Broadway Road, Broadway Road/Rural Road, Broadway Road/Price Road, Main St/Sycamore, Mesa Drive/Broadway Road, Gilbert Road/Broadway Road, Broadway Road/Greenfield Road, Banner Baywood Medical Center, Superstition Springs Center.
48 48th Street/Rio Salado in Phoenix and Tempe: Serves Arizona Mills Mall, Priest Drive/Baseline Road, 48th Street/Broadway Road, 52nd St./University Drive, Tempe Center for the Arts, Tempe Transportation Center.
56 Priest Drive in Phoenix and Tempe and Guadalupe: Serves 48th St./Chandler Blvd., 48th St./Warner Road, Priest Drive/Baseline Road, Arizona Mills Mall, Priest Drive/Southern Ave., Priest Drive/University Drive, Priest Drive/Washington St.
61 Southern Ave. in Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa: Serves 43rd Ave./Southern Ave., 19th Ave./Southern Ave., Central Ave./Southern Ave., Southern Ave./24th St., Southern Ave./48th St., Southern Ave./Rural Road, Southern Ave./Price Road, Southern Ave./Dobson Road, Southern Ave./Country Club Drive, Southern Ave./Gilbert Road, Southern Ave./Greenfield Road and Superstition Springs Center.
62 Hardy/Guadalupe in Tempe: Serves Guadalupe Road/Price Road, Kyrene Road/Guadalupe Road, Hardy Drive/Baseline Road, Hardy Drive and University Drive, Tempe Transportation Center, Tempe Marketplace.
65 Mill/Kyrene in Tempe: Serves Hardy Drive/Warner Road, Kyrene Road/Guadalupe Road, Mill Ave./Baseline Road, Mill Ave./Broadway Road, Tempe Transportation Center.
66 Mill/Kyrene in Tempe., Chandler, Gila River Indian Community: Serves Lone Butte Casino, Kyrene Road/Warner Road, Kyrene Road/Guadalupe Road, Mill Ave./Baseline Road, Mill Ave./Baseline Road, Mill Ave./Broadway Road, Tempe Transportation Center.
72 Scottsdale/Rural in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tempe and Chandler: Serves Chandler Fashion Center, Rural Road/Chandler Blvd., Rural Road/Ray Road, Elliot Road/Rural Road, Rural Road/Southern Ave., Tempe Transportation Center, Scottsdale Road/McDowell Road, Scottsdale Road/Lincoln Drive, Scottsdale Road/Shea Blvd., Scottsdale Road/Thunderbird Road, Scottsdale Road/Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd., Scottsdale Healthcare Drive.
77 Baseline Road in Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa: Serves Baseline Road/75th Ave., Baseline Road/51st Ave., 27th Ave./Baseline Road, Central Ave./Baseline Road, 24th Street/Baseline Road, South Mountain Community College, 48th St./Baseline Road, Arizona Mills mall, Priest Drive/Baseline Road, Rural Road/Baseline Road, Baseline Road/Price Road, Dobson Road/Baseline Road.
81 Hayden/McClintock in Scottsdale, Tempe and Chandler: Serves Chandler Fashion Center, McClintock Drive/Chandler Blvd., McClintock Drive/Warner Road, ASU Research Park, McClintock Drive/Guadalupe Road, McClintock Drive/Southern Ave., McClintock Drive/Apache Blvd., Tempe Marketplace, Hayden Road/McDowell Road, Hayden Road/Camelback Road, Hayden Road/McCormick Parkway, 90th Street/Shea Blvd., Raintree Drive/Northsight Blvd.
96 Dobson in Mesa and Chandler: Serves Basha Road/Fulton Ranch Blvd., Dobson Road/McQueen Road, Dobson Road/Pecos Road, Dobson Road/Chandler Blvd., Elliot Road/Dobson Road, Dobson Road/Baseline Road, Mesa Community College, Main St./Sycamore, Dobson Road/University Drive, Mesa Riverview.
104 Alma School in Mesa and Chandler: Serves Boston St./Washington St., Alma School Road/Chandler Blvd., Alma School Road/Elliot Road, Fiesta Mall, Alma School Road/Broadway Road, Main St./Sycamore, Alma School Road/University Drive, Mesa Riverview.
108 Elliot Road in Tempe ,Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert: Serves Priest Drive/Elliot Road, Elliot Road/Rural Road, ASU Research Park, Elliot Road/Dobson Road, Arizona Ave./Elliot Road, Guadalupe Road/Val Vista Drive, Guadalupe Road/Power Road, Sunland Village East, Super Springs Center.
112 Country Club/Arizona Ave. in Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert: Serves Hamilton St./Morelos St., Arizona Ave./Chandler Blvd., Arizona Ave./Ray Road, Arizona Ave./Elliot Road, Country Club Drive/Guadalupe Drive, West Mesa Park and Ride, Country Club Drive/Juanita Ave., Southern Ave./Country Club Drive, Country Club Drive/Main St., Center St./McKellips Road.
120 Mesa Drive in Mesa: Serves Lewis Court/Coury Ave., Mesa Drive/Broadway Road, Mesa Drive/University Drive, Center/8th Street.
128 Stapley in Mesa: Serves Inverness Ave./Stapley Drive, Stapley Drive/Southern Ave., Stapley Drive/Broadway Road, Stapley Drive/University Drive, Stapley Drive/McKellips Road.
136 Gilbert in Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert: Serves Gilbert Road/Germann Road, Gilbert Road/Chandler Blvd., Gilbert Road/Civic Center Drive, Elliot Road/Gilbert Road, Gilbert Park and Ride, Gilbert Road/Baseline Road, Gilbert Road/Broadway Road, University Drive/Gilbert Road, Gilbert Road/McDowell Park and Ride, Lindsay Road/Brown Road.
156 Chandler/Williams Field in Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert: Serves Chandler Blvd./54th St., Rural Road/Chandler Blvd., Chandler Blvd/Chandler Village Drive, Dobson Road/Chandler Blvd., Arizona Ave./Chandler Blvd., Gilbert Road/Chandler Blvd., Gilbert Mercy Hospital, Williams Field Road/Higley Road, ASU Polytechnic.
184 Power Road in Mesa and Gilbert: Serves ASU Polytechnic, Guadalupe Road/Power Road, Superstition Spring Center, Banner Baywood Medical Cente4r, University Drive/Power Road, Red Mountain Community College, Power Road Park and Ride.
BUZZ in Mesa: Serves downtown Mesa, the Mesa Post Office (First/Center streets), Country Club Drive/Brown Road, Alma School Road/University Drive, Brown Road/Mesa Drive, and the Mesa Multi-generational Center.
Express 511 Tempe/Scottsdale Airpark in Scottsdale, Tempe, Salt River Indian Community: Serves Tempe Transportation Center, Scottsdale Community College, 90th Street/Shea Blvd., Scottsdale Airpark.
Express 514 Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Phoenix, Paradise Valley, Fountain Hills, Salt River Indian Community: Serves La Montana Drive/Palisades Blvd., 92nd St./Shea Blvd., Scottsdale Community College, Scottsdale/Road/McDowell Road, Central Ave./Van Buren St., 17th Ave. Jefferson St.
Express 520 Tempe in Phoenix and Tempe: Serves Broadway Road/Price Road, McClintock Drive/Alameda Drive, Rural Road/Southern Ave., Southern Ave./Mill Ave., Central Ave./Van Buren St., 17th Ave./Jefferson St.
Express 521 Tempe in Phoenix and Tempe: Serves Baseline Road/Price Road, McClintock Drive/Baseline Road, Southshore Drive/Lakeshore Drive, Mill Ave./Baseline Road, Central Ave./Van Buren Street, 17th Ave./Jefferson St.
Express 522 Tempe in Phoenix and Tempe: Serves Elliot Road/Country Club Drive, Warner Road/Rural Road, 48th St./Elliot Road, Tempe Sports Complex, Priest Drive/Elliot Road, Central Ave./Van Buren St., 17th Ave./Jefferson St.
Express 531 Mesa/Gilbert in Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa and Gilbert: Serves Gilbert Park and Ride, Gilbert Road/Ash St., West Mesa Park and Ride, Central Ave./Van Buren St., 17th Ave./Jefferson St.
Express 533 Mesa in Phoenix and Mesa: Serves .Superstition Springs Park and Ride, Central Ave./Van Buren St., 17th Ave./Jefferson St.
Express 535 Red Mountain/Downtown in Phoenix and Mesa: Serves Power Road Park and Ride, Gilbert Road/McDowell Road Park and Ride, Central Ave./Van Buren St., 17th Ave./Jefferson St.
Express 541Chandler in Phoenix, Mesa and Chandler: Serves Arizona Ave./Ray Road, Alma School Road/Elliot Road, West Mesa Park and Ride, Central Ave., Van Buren St., 17th Ave./Jefferson St..
Express 542 in Phoenix and Chandler: Serves Chandler Park and Ride, Central Ave./Van Buren St., 17th Ave./Jefferson St.
FLASH Back in Tempe: Serves Rio Salado at ASU Lot 59, ASU campus.
FLASH: McAlister in Tempe: (not currently operating while Arizona State is in summer session) Serves Spence Ave./Rural Road, Rio Salado at ASU Lot 59.
Link Arizona Ave. in Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert: Serves Chandler Park and Ride, Arizona Ave./Chandler Blvd., Arizona Ave./Elliott Road, Southern Ave./Country Club Drive, Main St./Sycamore.
Link Main Street in Mesa: Serves Main St./Sycamore, Country Club Drive/Main St., Main St./Gilbert Road, Main St./Greenfield Road, Main St./Power Road, Superstition Springs Center.
Orbit Earth in Scottsdale and Tempe: Serves Tempe Transportation Center, College Ave./Curry Road, Scottsdale Road/Continental Drive, North Tempe Multi-Generational Center, Tempe Marketplace.
Orbit Jupiter in Tempe: Serves McClintock High School, Tempe Public Library, College/Southern Ave., Forest/Gammage, Tempe Transportation Center.
Orbit Mars in Tempe: Serves Southern Ave./Evergreen St., McClintock High School, Dorsey/Broadway Road, Tempe Transportation Center.
Orbit Mercury in Tempe: Serves Tempe Transportation Center, 8th St./McClintock Drive, Escalante Community Center.
Orbit Venus in Tempe: Serves Tempe Transportation Center, Broadway Road/Roosevelt St., Priest Drive/University Drive, 5th St./Farmer Ave.
Phoenix suggests options for riders during bus strike
The Republic | azcentral.com Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:15 PM
To help passengers understand which Valley Metro bus routes continue to operate, Phoenix has posted an overview map of affected routes, a list of those bus routes and suggestions for alternate routes and travel options in Phoenix at http://phoenix.gov/publictransit/index.html.
Phoenix continues to operate 45 Valley Metro bus routes within the city and to West Valley cities and Scottsdale.
Phoenix bus routes may be able to provide another way to a passenger’s destination via Phoenix transit centers: Ed Pastor Transit Center at Central Avenue and Broadway Road; Central Station Transit Center at Central Avenue and Van Buren Street; Paradise Valley Mall Transit Center on the north side of the mall; and Desert Ridge Marketplace at Loop 101 and Tatum Boulevard.
Passengers may be able to combine bus travel with a ride from family and friends or a taxi and use those passenger facilities as pick-up and drop off points.
Passengers in south and southeast Phoenix are most impacted because Baseline Road and Southern Avenue are serviced by the southeast Valley contract, where drivers are striking.
Phoenix-operated bus service will continue on north-south roads with some east-west service. Passengers may be able to reach their destination using another route.
Bus passengers are also urged to take caution as they wait for a bus in the summer heat. Phoenix urges them to drink plenty of water and carry portable shade, such as an umbrella, during the wait and when walking to and from bus stops.
More personal-cooling tips are available at http://phoenix.gov/publictransit/index.html under the Rider Information link.
Updated information on the progress of labor negotiations for southeast Valley bus service is available at http://www.valleymetro.org/ or 602-253-5000.
Southeast Valley buses back on streets after 4-day strike
By Brennan Smith The Republic azcentral.com Mon Aug 5, 2013 8:17 AM
Public buses began rolling again across the southeast Valley on Monday morning, just in time for the first day of school in many districts.
While the bus strike that shut down service in the region for four days involved public-bus drivers and not school-bus drivers, thousands of students, especially in Tempe, rely on public buses.
“I was really worried that they weren’t going to start back up and not being able to get to school,” said Shania Davis, who lives in Phoenix, and was catching a bus at the Tempe Transportation Center to Compadre High School for opening day of her senior year.
“It’s a relief that you can get back and forth again. It’s a lot easier. You can’t really walk in this heat. I’m just happy the bus is back and running.”
Sue Taaffe, a Tempe transit employee, said that on average about 4,500 Tempe students have a free bus pass each year.
The strike, which ended with a contract agreement early Sunday afternoon between Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433 and First Transit, which operates buses in the southeast Valley for Valley Metro Regional Public Transportation Authority, already had inconvenienced tens of thousands of riders who rely on service to get to work, appointments and health care.
The agreement, which came after a marathon negotiating session that lasted nearly 24 hours, will be put to a vote of the nearly 400 southeast Valley bus drivers represented by Local 1433 within a week, union officials said. Meanwhile, the union ordered drivers off the picket lines and back to work.
Service resumed in time for this morning’s commute in Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler and parts of Scottsdale, Ahwatukee Foothills and south Phoenix, as well as all service from the southeast Valley communities to Phoenix and Scottsdale. In all, 40 of Valley Metro’s 101 Phoenix-area bus lines that average 57,000 weekday boardings shut down.
Phoenix resident Roy Hardwick, who works at Embassy Suites in Tempe, made a 40-minute walk to work during the service shutdown.
“I use the bus to go to work every day,” Hardwick said. “I basically had to walk to work while the strike was going on. I was kind of upset about it and they should have had emergency buses for people that work up and down Scottsdale Road.”
Hardwick said that he has friends who at Mayo Clinic and could not get to work without the buses.
“I don’t really know what happened, if they lost their jobs or not, but the strike affected people that had to go to work,” Hardwick said. “A lot of people can’t afford to take off work for a strike.
“I’m glad it’s over with. When you think about Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale, Gilbert, all those, the east Valley has a lot of people. They have thousands and thousands of people who ride the bus. It’s hard to get a grip on that.”
I wonder how much money in corporate welfare the city of Tempe, Arizona State University and the state of Arizona are giving to State Farm to build this Marina Heights project???
I should send them all a request for public records to get the information. Of course they will probably blow me off as they always do and not answer the request for public records.
See also:
$600 million Tempe Town Lake project begins
By Thomas Hawthorne and Dianna M. Nańez The Republic | azcentral.com Thu Aug 1, 2013 9:00 AM
The massive Marina Heights development in downtown Tempe, to be anchored by a State Farm insurance regional headquarters, is expected to become a job hub that will draw hundreds of Valley-based prospects, dignitaries said during ceremonies Wednesday.
Ground was broken on the 2 million-square-foot, 20-acre, $600 million mixed-use development that is expected to take some of the sting out of the anticipated loss of the US Airways corporate headquarters in the downtown area. The airline has said its headquarters will move to Fort Worth, Texas, when its merger with American Airlines is complete.
The bulk of the Marina Heights complex, on a site owned by ASU just east of the commercial and condo high-rises on the southern edge of Tempe Town Lake and just north of Arizona State University’s Sun Devil Stadium, will be occupied by State Farm, which Gov. Jan Brewer said reflects the state’s fast-growing economy.
Brewer said she envisions that State Farm and other Marina Heights employers will draw from Arizona’s talent pool, especially ASU graduates.
“Arizona has cultivated one of the premier business climates in the nation, and companies are taking notice,” Brewer said.
ASU President Michael Crow said the school had its own stake in the project, with the ASU Athletic Facilities District being adjacent to Marina Heights.
“The hope for us is that ASU can be of greater service to State Farm,” Crow said. “New people, new ideas and new engagement.”
Crow envisions the influx of employees bringing profits to the university’s sports district, which in turn would support renovation of Sun Devil Stadium, something Crow says has long been needed. [Since when is ASU in the sports entertainment business???? I thought the mission that the Arizona government gave ASU was to educate kids, not make money putting on sports events???]
Renderings of the five-building complex were unveiled Wednesday. The first structure, 370,000 square feet, is expected to be completed by mid-2015.
The development partners are Sunbelt Holdings and Ryan Cos.
Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell said the project will bring thousands of jobs, boosting the entire Valley. He said that although State Farm will be choosing jobs based on varying skill sets through an application process, he believes that the community is filled with enough talented individuals to fill them.
Earlier, Councilman Joel Navarro said he believes that Marina Heights and the State Farm regional headquarters are cause for celebration for Valley residents who have long cited jobs as their No.1 priority.
For Tempe residents critical of slow Town Lake development, which took a nosedive during the economic downturn, the project will mean new businesses on undeveloped land along the lake’s edge.
State Farm has begun hiring for the estimated 900 jobs that will be added to the insurance giant’s existing Valley workforce of about 2,100.
“It’s tremendous,” Navarro said. “There’s a lot of opportunity for the city to really take advantage of the growth and a lot of opportunity for the region.”
Downtown Tempe is expected to benefit from the thousands of workers who are expected to spend money at Mill Avenue District restaurants and shops.
“It’s the ultimate goal we are trying to achieve,” “Navarro said. “It means more sales-tax revenues.”
Tempe may be mostly landlocked but has spotlighted its convenient location in the Valley.
“The big plus is that we’re so centralized within the region,” Navarro said. “A lot of people enjoy the fact that they can find a home and live, work and play in Tempe.”
Navarro said that corporations expanding in today’s market are attempting to locate in places with easy commutes, urban living, strong schools and an educated workforce. Tempe has all that, he said.
The city is home to the nation’s largest university campus by enrollment. Many who live in Tempe are young professionals who prefer urban over suburban living. Suburban homeowners in Scottsdale, Chandler, Mesa and the Ahwatukee Foothills area of Phoenix live close enough to freeway access to make working in Tempe a viable option.
Robert Villegas, a State Farm spokesman, said that it is difficult to predict demand in the insurance business as far out as 2017 when the entire Marina Heights project is to be completed but that current analysis is so strong that State Farm is hiring en masse to boost its service to the growing metro Phoenix market.
“With the 900 jobs openings that we have right now ... we are continuing hiring throughout the rest of 2013,” Villegas said.
“It’s fun because of the amount of hiring we’re doing.”
Villegas encourages those interested in working at State Farm to check the company’s website, because new jobs are added regularly.
Navarro said that the new developments are a tipping point for Tempe, spotlighting prospects for businesses and a hotel-conference center.
“State Farm is just the beginning,” he said. “There’s so much more coming down the road.”
State Farm jobs
How to apply: Visit statefarm.com/careers, then click “Search Jobs” — Keyword: AZ.
Job-seekers who have skills for a job that is not posted can post a resume on the site.
Politicians will say anything to justify and glorify their deeds. If Jan Brewer caused a train wreck she would be bragging about the jobs created to clean up the mess, while forgetting to point out the damage caused by the train wreck.
Most of the jobs being created in this article require only a high school education - translation minimum wage jobs.
The real question is how many millions of dollars in government welfare is ASU, the city of Tempe and the State of Arizona giving to State Farm to create these minimum age jobs????
Of course AZ Gov Jan Brewer and Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell could care less about that and are more concerned with the bribes, oops, I mean campaign contributions they get in exchange for the corporate welfare they shovel to State Farm.
Last but not least don't forget to check out:
Brewer: new State Farm facility in Tempe proof economic policies are working
Posted: Wednesday, July 31, 2013 4:23 pm | Updated: 10:53 pm, Wed Jul 31, 2013.
By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX — Gov. Jan Brewer is touting a new facility for a major insurance company as proof her policies are working to boost the state economy, even though it appears most of the jobs being created require only a high school education.
Brewer spoke during what became a groundbreaking ceremony of sorts — minus the shovels and the dirt — for Marina Heights, a new office complex to be built on the banks of the Salt River in Tempe. The major tenant will be State Farm insurance which will use the space to provide claims, customer service and sales support.
Most immediately, State Farm will add 800 workers this year, said company publicist Angela Thorpe.
She would not provide a breakdown, saying that can be gleaned from looking at current openings online. That, however, showed 632 of the openings are for para-professional jobs, including customer service reps and staffers to take a customer's initial claim.
Another 66 are service representatives for the company's bank.
Brewer, in prepared remarks, called the State Farm decision to put its regional operations center at the site “is further validation that our policies have made Arizona the best place in the country to do business.”
“It's also further evidence that the Arizona comeback is in full swing and remains strong,” the governor said.
Brewer has signed a series of measures designed to attract more jobs to the state. That includes a comprehensive package that cuts corporate income taxes by 30 percent, reduces business property taxes and provides eligible firms with $3,000 tax credits for each new job created.
There is job growth, at the rate of about 50,000 a year. But the governor's own Department of Administration said three fourths of those which will be created through the end of 2014 will be jobs that do not require a high school education and, by extension, are at the low end of the pay scale.
Thorpe said State Farm is a “leading employer” among insurers in terms of salary and benefits, but said she cannot provide information on what the company is offering in pay.
More lower-paying jobs will not help the state turn the corner in its earnings ranking.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis puts Arizona's per capita personal income at $35,979. That is 84 percent of the national average.
It also ranks Arizona as 41st from the top. Five years before that the state was 32nd.
Brewer, however, said she is pleased with creating more jobs, at whatever level.
“I would think those thousands of people that are looking for work, that need a job, that's really going to help the economy,” she said.
“We're bringing all that salary into the state of Arizona,” Brewer continued. “This is a great day.”
The governor said that all of the incentives she has signed are not the end.
“We are not done making Arizona friendlier to job-creating businesses,” she said during Wednesday's ceremony. But when pressed for specific afterwards, she declined to elaborate.
“We are currently working on some other innovative kinds of things to encourage businesses to come here,” Brewer said. But the governor said she also wants “to encourage businesses to prosper that have been with us through the bad times and moving into the good times.”
Press aide Andrew Wilder said any details will have to wait until his boss unveils her legislative agenda in January.
Sal DiCiccio brings Phoenix necessary tough love
By Editorial board The Republic | azcentral.com Fri Aug 2, 2013 7:07 AM
Sal DiCiccio’s efforts as a councilman have earned him a variety of labels among his constituents, from tireless protector of taxpayer money to brash champion of conservative ideals and everything in between.
They have also earned our appreciation. DiCiccio is our pick to be re-elected to represent District 6, because both the council and our city benefit from his crusades, especially his efforts to overhaul Phoenix’s broken pension system.
DiCiccio was the first on the council to recognize the gravity of the city’s pension problem, and he has been unquestionably the most vociferous in advocating for its aggressive reform.
We’re glad he has. The city’s pension and compensation plans are unsustainable, and the unchecked influence of city unions threatens to further strain an already bloated bureaucratic budget. There’s been no watchdog more persistent and no voice more clear on these issues than DiCiccio.
For his efforts, he’s been vilified by local unions, which have poured money into supporting challenger Karlene Keogh Parks in an effort to oust the greatest threat on the council to their soaring pension plans. DiCiccio’s position on these unions isn’t so much political as it is pragmatic, however, and taxpayers would benefit from the policies he hopes to install.
Keogh Parks has the support of Mayor Greg Stanton, elected in 2011 with substantial union support. Keogh Parks, who helped lead Stanton’s transition team, has an impressive history of civic involvement, and her greatest asset might be her unabashed love for her city. In a discussion with The Republic’s editorial board, she beamed while speaking of her experience as campaign manager for former Mayor Margaret Hance.
But what Phoenix needs now is tough love, and that’s what DiCiccio brings to the table.
Yes, he has developed a well-earned reputation as a firebrand — a slow burn he needlessly stoked this spring in opposing the city’s eminently reasonable expansion of its anti-discrimination ordinance. On financial issues, however, he is pushing Phoenix in the right direction, often through a willingness and ability to work collaboratively with his peers.
He co-chaired an economic task force with Tom Simplot and drastically reduced the amount of red tape for those starting small businesses. He worked with Vice Mayor Bill Gates to craft the recently passed ethics policy, the first of its kind for Phoenix politicians. And for all his disagreements with Stanton, he insists he holds the mayor, if not his policies, in high esteem.
Today’s Phoenix City Council needs a budget hawk far more than it does a near-automatic second vote for Stanton’s positions. It needs Sal DiCiccio, whom we recommend for another full term.
But in reality government is mostly about "special interest" groups giving bribes, or campaign contributions to politicians to pass laws that will benefit them.
This article seems to provide evidence for that.
And of course government employees are one of those "special interest" groups. In this article they were the number 2, 11, 12, 16, 18 and 20 when it comes to shoveling money to politicians in exchange for pork.
Lobbyists spend big in California in the first half of the year
By Marc Lifsher
August 3, 2013, 9:00 a.m.
SACRAMENTO -- Corporations, unions, local governments and other interests spent $137 million to influence legislation and regulation at the California Legislature and state agencies in the first half of this year.
Professional trade and general business groups paid about $6 million to lobby, followed closely by labor unions with $5.7 million.
The healthcare industry spent $4.2 million, local governments $2.1 million and trial attorneys and utilities accounted for $700,000 each.
All the interest groups lobbied on dozens of bills that affect their members or bottom lines. For example, the petroleum industry managed to defeat, delay or substantially water down more than half a dozen bills that would have banned or limited the use of hydraulic fracturing to access new pockets of hydrocarbons, locked in shale deposits far underground.
Here's a list of the top 20 lobbyists, ranked by spending from the secretary of state:
Western States Petroleum Assn. -- $2.3 million
Californa State Council of Service Employees -- $2.2 million
California Chamber of Commerce -- $1.8 million
California Hospital Assn. -- $1.8 million
Service Employees International Union (United Health Workers) -- $1.7 million
Chevron Corp. -- $1.3 million
California Medical Assn. -- $1.2 million
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan -- $1.2 million
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. -- $1.1 million
AT&T -- $1.1 million
California Teachers Assn. $954,000
California School Employees Assn. -- $921,000
California Manufacturers & Technology Assn. -- $911,000
California Retailers Assn. -- $799,000
California Building Industry Assn. -- $763,000
County of Los Angeles -- $749,000
Consumer Attorneys of California -- $739,000
California State Assn. of Counties -- $731,000
Southern California Edison -- $730,000
League of California Cities -- $715,000
Now it looks like most government jobs are very high paying jobs with lots of job security.
Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos qualifies for pension
By Amy B Wang and Eugene Scott The Republic | azcentral.com Sun Aug 4, 2013 2:13 AM
When Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos leaves his post, he will qualify to receive full pension payouts in the six-figure range through the City of Phoenix Employee Retirement System because his age and years of service total 80.
Cavazos, who turned 53 in January, abruptly announced Thursday he would step down to become city manager of Santa Ana, Calif., a move that is pending Santa Ana City Council approval on Monday. Cavazos has been Phoenix city manager for four years and has been with the city since 1987.
If approved, Cavazos would likely leave Phoenix in mid-October, with nearly 27 years of service with the city.
Cavazos did not return calls on Thursday or Friday.
Phoenix spokeswoman Toni Maccarone said the city manager would not grant interviews until after the Santa Ana City Council meeting on Monday “out of respect for the process.”
“Retirement is a very personal decision,” Maccarone said. “I just would like to caution you on doing your own calculations because retirement calculations are very complicated, and until a person actually submits paperwork and gives a firm date of retirement, no one knows the exact numbers.”
Cavazos is Phoenix’s highest-paid employee. His average annual total compensation during his final three years would be significantly higher because he received a $78,000 raise last year, bringing his annual base pay to $315,000. A retiree’s annual pension is based on a formula that includes the final three-year average of an employee’s total compensation.
In addition, the municipal pension program in Phoenix allows employees to add deferred compensation, fringe and travel allowances, and sick leave into their benefit calculations to boost their pensions. It is unknown how many of those benefits the city will allow Cavazos to roll in to “spike” his annual retirement payout.
Cavazos has a contract calling for the city to contribute an additional amount equal to 11 percent of his annual pay, or $34,650, into a deferred-compensation account. Cavazos also is reimbursed 3 percent, or $9,450, of his required 5 percent annual contribution to the city’s main pension system, meaning he only pays in 2 percent.
Cavazos would receive his pension payouts from Phoenix in addition to his new city-manager salary in Santa Ana, if he is approved for that job. His base salary in Santa Ana would be $315,000, with total benefits that could cost the city more than half a million dollars a year, according to a preliminary agenda posted on the city’s website.
In March, Phoenix voters passed reforms aimed at controlling surging employee-pension costs. The measures will overhaul the retirement system for thousands of new city workers, potentially saving taxpayers nearly $600 million over 25 years. The reforms include not allowing a new employee to retire until the combination of that person’s age and years of service equals 87.
The reforms will not impact Cavazos, said Phoenix Councilman Daniel Valenzuela, who co-chaired the city’s pension-reform committee. “It’s for new employees. Anyone who is currently working with the city of Phoenix is essentially locked into a contract which includes their wages and benefits,” Valenzuela said.
Valenzuela said Cavazos’ salary — and the retirement benefits that come with it — were well deserved.
The councilman said Cavazos’ work during the economic downturn was exemplary.
“The city was facing in very recent history a 27 percent deficit: a $227 million deficit. And today there’s approximately $44 million in the contingency fund, the highest it’s ever been,” Valenzuela said.
Valenzuela said losing Cavazos shows that even after raising the city manager’s salary, Phoenix still struggles to remain competitive.
“I don’t foresee having to do it again. But even with Phoenix being the sixth-largest city in the country, David’s pay is still significantly lower than the seventh-largest city in the country, San Antonio,” he said. The top executive in San Antonio earns a base salary of $355,000. “But with that said, I still think that’s a very high salary.”
Republic reporter Craig Harris contributed to this article.
The GOP flips the script on Obama
By Dana Milbank, Published: August 2
Republicans need to make up their minds: Is President Obama a socialist or a corporate stooge?
“The president claims his economic agenda is for the middle class. But it’s actually for the well-connected,” Paul Ryan, the GOP’s 2012 vice presidential nominee, wrote this week in USA Today, rejecting Obama’s latest proposal for a corporate tax cut. “There’s no doubt that it works well for them. But for the rest of us, it’s not working at all.”
Ryan, in his brief commentary, protested that Obama is “interested in tax reform for corporations — but not for families or small business.” He further accused Obama of implementing health-care and regulatory policies that favor big businesses and big banks.
That’s rich.
Ryan, after all, is the guy who just a year ago accused Obama of “sowing social unrest and class resentment,” of supporting “a government-run economy” and of “denigrating people who are successful.” He has charged the president with leading the nation toward “a cradle-to-grave, European-style social welfare state.”
Republican lawmakers seem to think that Americans have short memories and lack Internet connections, for their latest line of attack — that Obama’s health-care and tax policies favor the corporate elite — directly contradicts their previous allegation that Obama was waging “class warfare” with “socialist” policies attacking these very same corporate elites.
“Why is it,” Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) asked at a Ways and Means Committee hearing last month, “that under this White House, Warren Buffett gets a break from Obamacare, but Joe Six-Pack, the single mom working at the local restaurant, they don’t get any kind of break?”
The theme was picked up Wednesday by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who, rather than crediting Obama for offering to cut the corporate tax rate, complained that Obama’s “scheme” would “actually require small businesses to pay higher tax rates than big companies.”
So Obama’s that rare socialist who is in bed with big business? Then again, the point of the Republicans’ critique of Obama isn’t to be logical; it’s to be critical — relentlessly, if not rationally.
Boehner, asked at a news conference this week about Obama’s series of speeches on the economy, replied: “If I had poll numbers as low as his, I’d probably be out doing the same thing if I were him.” Obama’s job-approval rating is 46 percent. Boehner’s is just over half that.
The indecision over whether Obama is a socialist or a plutocrat is but one of the contradictory critiques his opponents have yet to resolve. They also haven’t determined whether he’s a tyrant or a weakling, arrogant or apologetic. It all suggests the opposition is based less on principle than on reflex.
“We have a president that’s a socialist,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry said at one of the 2012 Republican presidential debates, disregarding both nuance and grammar.
But now, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is one of several Republicans complaining that Obama is unfairly boosting corporations by extending the deadline for them to comply with Obamacare. “We have big business being thrown a big bone,” he said on the Senate floor this week. “This is not fair.”
Likewise, Boehner says, “the president is not leading,” a charge echoed by other prominent Republicans. Mitt Romney called Obama a “weak president,” and Newt Gingrich, during the 2012 campaign, called Obama “so weak that he makes Jimmy Carter look strong.”
That should come as a relief to Republicans, who spent much of 2010 calling Obama a tyrant. Many of them still do. Darrell Issa (Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, says Obama is guilty of “imperial behavior” and “abuse of power.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) asserts that Obama is “someone who wants to act like a king or a monarch.” And Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) still prefers to think of Obama as “a tyrannical despot.”
If you’re going to be a despot, you might as well be a tyrannical one.
The Republican lawmakers may be so muddled because their thought leaders can’t agree on the proper line of attack. Karl Rove believes Obama is a “political thug,” Rush Limbaugh thinks the president is a “street thug,” and Grover Norquist concurs that Obama acts as if “someone made him king.” But Sean Hannity prefers to think of him as “weak.”
The confusion grew so intense during Obama’s intervention in Libya that some Republicans contradicted their own critiques in the span of days. Gingrich, for example, demanded in early March 2011 that the United States should “exercise a no-fly zone this evening.” Two weeks later, after Obama took the action that would bring down Moammar Gaddafi, Gingrich said, “I would not have intervened.”
It was a brave stand against the cruel tyranny of consistency.
Twitter: @Milbank
Duh!!!! Isn't that the whole purpose of unions, to protect their members from their employers???? If you ask me the unions are just doing their job.
Of course the real problem here is the "government schools" or "public schools". As long as people are required to pay taxes to support government schools that don't educated their kids we will have this problem. The solution is to get rid of the government schools and let parents send their kids to any school they want.
Union told to address perception it protects bad teachers
L.A. teachers union urged to improve training for bad teachers
By Teresa Watanabe
August 4, 2013, 9:41 p.m.
The Los Angeles teachers union must combat public perceptions that it protects bad teachers and should help them improve with better training, a city school board member told union activists in a wide-ranging speech Sunday.
Monica Ratliff, a fifth-grade teacher who pulled off an upset win in May for the Los Angeles Board of Education, told more than 400 leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles that the public likes teachers but distrusts labor unions.
"People have a fair amount of affection for teachers," said Ratliff, who drew a standing ovation of cheers and chants. "People have a fair amount of distrust of labor. … If we don't recognize it, it will be our undoing."
She also said union members should be more active in lobbying the state Legislature for such changes as keeping teacher performance ratings confidential — an L.A. Superior Court judge ruled last week that those ratings should be released to The Times. And Ratliff urged teachers to better spotlight their "wonderful work" by offering school visits to board members and others.
Ratliff unexpectedly defeated Antonio Sanchez, a candidate with much more campaign funding and with backing from former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. But she also triumphed without financial assistance from UTLA, which endorsed both candidates.
During the UTLA-hosted weekend of workshops, speakers and political campaigning for new union officers at a Los Angeles hotel, several teachers said their morale was low and anxieties high. The weekend's events were attended by mostly activist teachers who represent the union on their school campuses.
Despite some victories this year — passage of a state ballot measure for more school funding and a revamped L.A. school board that the union perceives as more "teacher-friendly" — many instructors said they felt beaten down by large classes, staff cutbacks, rising teacher dismissals and public disrespect. They also expressed frustration over escalating job demands to raise student test scores, serve breakfast in the classroom and submit to a new teacher evaluation system that many complained they had no voice in shaping.
"In a very real way, UTLA is under attack and we are still at war," union President Warren Fletcher said during a lunchtime address Saturday.
Aaron Bruhnke, a San Pedro High School economics teacher, said his classes sizes are set to balloon to about 50 students this year, and nearly 20% of the teaching staff has been cut in the last five years, including all college counselors. Abelardo Diaz said his Advanced Placement Spanish courses at the Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts are now at 45 students, nearly twice the size recommended by the College Board.
At a Latino Caucus meeting, teachers bemoaned the district's classroom breakfast program, saying it cut into their teaching time, drew vermin and caused messes they had to clean.
And in a meeting for South L.A. teachers, the area's leader, Ingrid Villeda, expressed concerns that the district would replace veteran instructors with inexperienced young ones — including some of the 500 new teachers headed to Los Angeles under a $20-million grant to Teach for America, a nonprofit based in New York. Three teachers also outlined their efforts to fight off campaigns to overhaul their elementary schools — Miramonte, 93rd Street and 68th Street — under the parent trigger law, which allows parents to petition for changes at low-performing campuses.
Villeda and others said they felt threatened by such efforts to take over campuses, attack their seniority rights in lawsuits and displace teachers. "There is fear in every school," Villeda said.
Several teachers also said they distrusted L.A. Unified schools Supt. John Deasy and blamed him for what they called an imperious manner. In his remarks, Fletcher criticized Deasy for "scolding, scapegoating and demeaning teachers" rather than supporting or listening to them but would not say whether the union would seek his ouster. The union previously has conducted a vote of no-confidence in the superintendent in a small survey of teachers.
The union held trainings on parent trigger campaigns, the teacher evaluation system and community organizing, along with workshops on teaching math, reading and even yoga.
The weekend also kicked off campaigning for the union election early next year. Alex Caputo-Pearl, a former Crenshaw High School teacher, announced his bid for president on a slate that has drawn the support of six of the union's eight area leaders. Caputo-Pearl said his "Union Power" group believes Fletcher has been too passive in fighting attacks on teachers and plans to organize the broader community to press for smaller classes, pay raises and protections for campuses against charter schools and other outside groups.
Fletcher, who said he is "leaning" toward a reelection bid but has not officially decided, said he welcomed a "healthy debate" over his performance and union priorities. Among other achievements, he said he helped stop district efforts to use teacher performance ratings in evaluations and protected thousands of jobs from elimination last year. He said his top priorities were restoring jobs — more than 500 laid-off teachers are still out of work — and seeking pay raises.
teresa.watanabe@latimes.com
A consensus by Congress
Sun Aug 4, 2013 7:16 PM
I never thought our do-nothing Congress would agree on anything. And lo and behold, they agreed to take five weeks off for vacation! They need the rest.
— Carl Milton, Gold Canyon
I don't agree with this pork, I am just pointing out what hypocrites our royal rulers are in Washington, D.C.
Black farmers closer to payouts
Aug. 4, 2013 10:16 PM |
WASHINGTON — About 18,000 black farmers, mostly in the South, are expected to receive notice later this month they will receive payments as part of a landmark $1.2 billion discrimination settlement with the Department of Agriculture.
The lead lawyers for the farmers were expected Friday to submit a formal report from the claims administrator, including final payment figures, to U.S. District Court in Washington.
“They need to go ahead and expedite these payments so the farmers won’t have to continue to wait,” said John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association. “Here is it, planting season has come and gone, and the farmers still don’t have their money. These farmers are frustrated.”
It’s been more than two years since President Barack Obama signed the settlement into law. Congress approved the $1.2 billion settlement in 2010 in what has become known as “the Pigford case.”
The case against federal agriculture officials found that the agency denied loans and other assistance for years to black farmers because of their race.
Second round
The settlement marks the second round of payments for black farmers. Thousands received payments as part of a 1999 class-action settlement. The second round, dubbed Pigford II, will pay farmers who missed the first filing deadline.
The maximum payment is $62,500 — $50,000 for the claim and $12,500 for taxes. The filing deadline was last May.
Of the $1.2 billion, about $91 million was approved for attorney fees.
Lawyers for the farmers have said claims were being reviewed by a court-approved mediation and arbitration firm. The lawyers were expected to submit a final report from the claims administrator Friday.
The process has taken longer than initially projected. Farmers originally were told payments could arrive by late 2012.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who pushed for the settlement in Congress, said he remains “deeply concerned with the length of time that it has taken to resolve these discrimination claims.”
He called on lawyers for the farmers, the claims administrator and federal agriculture and justice officials, to move more quickly to resolve any issues.
Boyd said he also met with Congressional Black Caucus members to relay the concerns of farmers, as well as Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and staff from Thompson’s office.
“I know black farmers are frustrated with the delays in the Pigford II settlement payments. I am frustrated, too,” Clyburn said. “But there were safeguards built into the legislation to ensure all of the claims are thoroughly vetted in an effort to be good stewards of public funds.”
Also the schools in the Scottsdale school district will now be run like like prisons where the students are treated like inmates, rather then students.
Tighter security first lesson in Scottsdale this school year
By Laurie Merrill and Mary Beth Faller The Republic | azcentral.com Mon Aug 5, 2013 9:35 AM
Parents and students will notice increased safety and security measures in the Scottsdale Unified School District when school resumes this week.
Classes begin Wednesday, and some of the changes will affect parents before they even get to the school buildings.
School-zone cameras
Scottsdale has become the first municipality in the region to launch portable school towers, new devices that look like phone booths but conceal cameras, police said.
The two units, which began issuing citations July 21, will be rotated through Scottsdale’s 31 school zones, according to police.
Unlike typical speed cameras that snap photos when a car exceeds the limit by 11 mph, the school towers click into action at 6 mph over the limit.
The speed limit is 15 mph between the portable signs erected when school is in session, according to state law.
Motorists in the zones may not pass other vehicles and must stop when anyone is in the crosswalk.
Failure to stop when a child is in the crosswalk could mean double fines.
Violators face fines of $219 and $305 and are not eligible for traffic school, according to Scottsdale City Court. They must appear in court.
The Scottsdale, Cave Creek and Paradise Valley unified school districts all have campuses in Scottsdale, as well as several charter and private schools.
Scottsdale police in June tested a portable tower on Miller Road, Officer Dave Pubins said. From June 4 to 6, the devices recorded 130 violations, though no citations were issued during the test phase, Pubins said.
When school is not in session, the tools will be placed near other pedestrian high-traffic areas, such as parks, pools, shopping areas and sports fields, Pubins said.
The Scottsdale City Council in December approved a five-year contract with American Traffic Solutions, the company contracted to provide photo enforcement in the city.
The school towers and two mobile photo-enforcement vans were included in the contract, which also called for adding cameras to eight new intersections and more electronic-feedback signs, police said.
The devices can be used in places with too little room for the vans, Pubins said. Scottsdale will keep deploying the vans in school zones that have enough parking and continue to use patrol officers, police said.
The contract calls for the city to pay ATS $1.2 million the first year, the same amount it paid last year, according to a City Council report.
Officials said the program is essentially self-supporting, citing revenue generated from traffic penalties. In fiscal 2010-11, the program put about $925,000 back into city coffers, the report said.
‘Gate-to-gate’ security
Parents will no longer be allowed to walk their children to the classroom door under a stricter security policy in the Scottsdale district.
James Dorer, chief of security for the district, said the schools will start a “gate-to-gate” philosophy, meaning that gates at all campuses will be closed.
In the morning, parents who choose to park instead of using the drop-off lane must leave their children at the gate, where staff will take them to their classrooms or the playgrounds. The same rules apply for afternoon pickup.
Parents who want to go to a classroom must sign in at the front office and get a visitor badge.
“We know parents like to walk their kids to the classroom,” he said, and it has been common for most elementary schools to leave the gates open for classroom drop-off and pickup.
“But that becomes a weak spot,” he said of the congregated adults outside the classrooms. “We don’t truly know if they are parents and what their intentions are.
“The vast majority are parents who are supposed to be there, and they are welcome, but we need to have a process.”
Badges required
All parents on Scottsdale district campuses will be required to get a visitor badge at the front office, even if they are quickly visiting a classroom.
“I’m trying to stress that anytime anyone is on a campus, they have to have an ID (badge) visible, so someone who doesn’t have one sticks out. That’s the goal,” Dorer said.
However, the district is tweaking its philosophy on ID badges for students. A year ago, Dorer outlined a plan that would eventually require all students to wear ID badges at all times. This year, middle- and high-school students will be required to wear them but not younger students.
“We had some successes and some setbacks as with any first-year program,” he said. “There has been mixed reception to it.”
Dorer said that some parents of elementary students didn’t support the plan, and that enforcement varied among campuses.
Elementary students still are supposed to keep their ID badges with them this year, but there won’t be daily enforcement, Dorer said.
Middle- and high-school students still will be required to wear their badges, and that was a mixed bag last year, too. A missing badge, which costs $5 to replace, was considered a dress-code violation, and the district recorded a 900 percent increase in that type of violation last year.
Dorer said that in the workplace, employees are required to wear security badges. “We’re trying to prep our students for that world.
“It’s a change of culture, and it will take time.”
What rubbish. If the government is peeking into your home, property or belonging for any reason looking for reasons to arrest you, that is a search and the government should be required to get a search warrant before doing it. Period!!!!!
Drone Regulations: Spying Concerns Prompt States To Consider Legislation
By LISA CORNWELL 08/04/13 10:16 AM ET EDT AP
CINCINNATI -- Thousands of civilian drones are expected in U.S. skies within a few years and concerns they could be used to spy on Americans are fueling legislative efforts in several states to regulate the unmanned aircraft.
Varied legislation involving drones was introduced this year in more than 40 states, including Ohio. Many of those bills seek to regulate law enforcement's use of information-gathering drones by requiring search warrants. Some bills have stalled or are still pending, but at least six states now require warrants, and Virginia has put a two-year moratorium on drone use by law enforcement to provide more time to develop guidelines.
Domestic drones often resemble the small radio-controlled model airplanes and helicopters flown by hobbyists and can help monitor floods and other emergencies, survey crops and assist search-and-rescue operations. But privacy advocates are worried because the aircraft can also carry cameras and other equipment to capture images of people and property.
"Right now police can't come into your house without a search warrant," said Ohio Rep. Rex Damschroder, who has proposed drone regulations. "But with drones, they can come right over your backyard and take pictures."
Since 2006, the Federal Aviation Administration has approved more than 1,400 requests for drone use from government agencies and public universities wanting to operate the unmanned aircraft for purposes including research and public safety. Since 2008, approval had been granted to at least 80 law enforcement agencies.
But the FAA estimates that as many as 7,500 small commercial unmanned aircraft could be operating domestically within the next few years. A federal law enacted last year requires the FAA to develop a plan for safely integrating the aircraft into U.S. airspace by September 2015.
Damschroder's proposed bill would prohibit law enforcement agencies from using drones to get evidence or other information without a search warrant. Exceptions would include credible risks of terrorist attacks or the need for swift action to prevent imminent harm to life or property or to prevent suspects from escaping or destroying evidence.
The Republican said he isn't against drones but worries they could threaten constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
"I don't want the government just going up and down every street snooping," Damschroder said.
The Ohio House speaker's office says it's too soon to comment on the chances for passage. But similar legislation has been enacted in Florida, Tennessee, Idaho, Montana, Texas and Oregon.
The sponsor of Tennessee's bill said the law was necessary to ensure that residents can maintain their right to privacy.
"Abuses of privacy rights that we have been seeing from law enforcement recently show a need for this legislation," said Republican Sen. Mae Beavers.
Beavers and Damschroder modeled their bills after one signed into law this year by Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who said then that "we shouldn't have unwarranted surveillance."
But the industry's professional association says regulating law enforcement's use of unmanned aircraft is unnecessary and shortsighted. It wants guidelines covering manned aircraft applied to unmanned aircraft.
"We don't support rewriting existing search warrant requirements under the guise of privacy," said Mario Mairena, government relations manager for the Arlington, Va.-based Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
The association predicts unmanned aircraft systems will generate billions of dollars in economic impact in the next few years and says privacy concerns are unwarranted.
In Maine, Gov. Paul LePage vetoed the state's drone-regulating legislation, saying "this bill steps too far" and would lead to lawsuits and harm Maine's opportunities for new aerospace jobs. He plans to establish guidelines allowing legitimate uses while protecting privacy.
The American Civil Liberties Union supports legislation to regulate drone use and require search warrants, but it would also like weapons banned from domestic drones and limits on how long drone-collected data could be kept, said Melissa Bilancini, an ACLU of Ohio staff attorney.
In North Dakota, Rep. Rick Becker's bill to ban weapons from drones and require search warrants failed, but the Republican says he plans to try again because "we must address these privacy concerns."
Democratic Rep. Ed Gruchalla, formerly in law enforcement, opposed Becker's bill out of concern it would restrict police from effectively using drones.
"We are familiar with drones in North Dakota, and I don't know of any abuses or complaints," he said.
Drones can be as small as a bird or have a wingspan as large as a Boeing 737, but a program manager with the International Association of Chiefs of Police says most law enforcement agencies considering unmanned aircraft are looking at ones weighing around 2 pounds that only fly for about 15 minutes.
"They can be carried in the back of a car and put up quickly for an aerial view of a situation without putting humans at risk," Mike Fergus said, adding that they aren't suited for surveillance.
Medina County Sheriff Tom Miller in northeast Ohio says his office's 2-pound drone is intended primarily for search-and-rescue operations and wouldn't be used to collect evidence without a warrant.
Cincinnati resident Dwan Stone, 50, doesn't have a problem with some limits.
"But I don't oppose drones if there is a good reason for using them," she said.
Chase Jeffries, 19, also of Cincinnati, opposes them.
"I don't want the government being able to use drones to spy on people," he said.
Valley Metro: CEO approved lack of minimum service
By Dianna M. Náńez The Republic | azcentral.com
Sat Aug 3, 2013 8:51 PM
Valley Metro is saying CEO Steve Banta approved the decision not to require that the bus company provide residents minimum southeast Valley service at all times, including in the event of a strike, a contract provision that The Arizona Republic has learned is currently mandated under Phoenix bus-service contracts.
As of late Saturday, the three-day-old bus strike was ongoing and negotiators for bus company First Transit and for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433, which represents about 400 drivers, remained at the bargaining table, aiming to broker a compromise on a new contract and get buses rolling again.
Banta previously told the Republic that he was not on the contract procurement team and that he did not know why the team decided not to include a minimum-bus-service provision.
On Saturday, following a Republic story about the lacking requirement, that has left tens of thousands of residents without bus service, Valley Metro spokeswoman Hillary Foose said, in an e-mailed statement to the Republic, that Banta approved the decision.
“What he (Banta) said…is that, while he was not part of the procurement team, Steve did approve the decision,” Foose wrote. Banta did not return a request for further comment or reaction to the company statement.
That provision may have been the key to helping prevent the ongoing strike that has shut down all bus service in the southeast Valley, Tempe Councilman Kolby Granville told the Republic on Saturday.
The 40 routes not operating account for nearly half of the total Phoenix-area bus routes.
Valley residents, who endured the Phoenix and Tempe bus strike last year - which because of the minimum-service requirement maintained some bus service - waited at bus stops this week wondering why they were left without the safety net this time.
Granville said that he is among the council members who were “surprised” to find out in the days leading up to the strike that the contract approved in January for a new company to run southeast Valley bus services lacked the requirement.
The Tempe City Council and the Valley Regional Public Transportation Authority board of directors, which includes appointed representatives from Phoenix-area cities, approved the contract with First Transit. Granville and Tempe Councilman Joel Navarro said that it was a glaring oversight not to inform Tempe council members, prior to that approval, of the decision not to include the requirement.
Navarro told the Republic Friday that he has called for an internal review into why the decision was made and if the city can still make changes to the contract to include the requirement.
Tempe City Councilwoman Shana Ellis, who is Tempe’s representative on the Valley Metro board, did not return repeated requests for comment.
The Republic asked Valley Metro for names of the individuals who served on the procurement board.
“As for the names of the evaluation panel, this information is privileged,” Foose said in an e-mailed statement. “I can tell you that the panel was comprised of representatives from Valley Metro, Tempe, Mesa and Scottsdale. We also had an outside transit perspective from Denver.”
The provision, Granville said, was in Veolia’s bus contract, which operated Tempe service before it was unified with other southeast Valley cities under the First Transit contract, which took effect July 1.
Marie Chapple, a Phoenix Public Transit spokeswoman, told Republic Saturday, that if a strike was to happen against Phoenix bus companies, residents could count on some service because the city requires the safety net in its contracts with First Transit and Veolia.
“Just talking with passengers, yes, it did help (during last year’s strike,” Chapple said. “People were still able to try and find a way (to get to their destination),” she said. “We wanted that in there (because) the most important thing is to serve the people the people.”
The contract requirement isn’t just vital because it reassures Valley residents, desperate to get to work and appointments, that a regardless of a strike, and as long as they are willing to put up with longer waits, the bus company must keep some buses rolling, Granville said.
The minimum-service requirement also is tied to a hefty fine if service is not provided, he said.
Granville said the fines for not providing minimum service and the cost of flying in drivers from other properties to provide minimum service can serve as a deterrent to allowing contract negotiations to deteriorate to the point of a strike and give a bus company a significant monetary incentive to ending a strike.
“When people run the numbers, when they see how much money a strike is going to cost,” he said, “If it’s (the fine) is high enough, it would make everyone think long and hard before dealing with that punishment.”
Banta has said that there are drawbacks to requiring minimum service, including safety concerns tied to using outside drivers who are unfamiliar with the community’s bus routes.
“It’s unsafe to expect outside operators to safely use new equipment and operate routes/on roadways without training or experience,” Foose wrote.
Granville refuted that concern, saying, “I certainly wouldn’t want an untrained bus driver but if they are certified to drive a bus in Denver, they can certainly drive a bus in Phoenix.”
Chapple said that there were no safety issues tied to outside drivers operating buses during last year’s strike.
Banta also has said that although Phoenix and Tempe required Veolia to provide minimum service, which was to equate to the amount of bus service provided on Sundays, during last year’s strike Veolia was unable to meet that level.
Granville and Navarro agreed that some service is better than no service.
“I think it’s a mistake that should not be repeated in the future,” Granville said of the oversight, adding that residents who depends on public transportation and the cities that earns revenue from transit services are paying the price.
Here is the bus pass I purchased, but which I could not use on
August 1 thru 4 in the cities of Chandler, Tempe, Mesa and Gilbert
which had all of their bus service stopped by the bus strike.
Some of the bus service was stopped in Phoenix and Scottsdale too.
But other bus unions also provide bus service in Phoenix and Scottsdale
so bus service did not come to a complete halt in Phoenix and Scottsdale
like it did in the other cities.
Also the light rail service, which is run by another union continued to provide
service. I did ride once on the light rail during the strike, when I went to the
First Fridays event in downtown Phoenix.
Here are photos of both sides of my bus pass, which I could not use
during Aug 1 thru 4. The bus pass number seems to be # L31-0013125.
I probably bought it at the APS office in Chandler.
Southeast Valley bus strike has commuters scrambling
If this contract was with any Arizona government cities or agencies I suspect it is unconstitutional and violates the gift clause of the Arizona Constitution. But I suspect it is with the private company First Transit, so in that case it is probably not a violation of the Arizona Constitution.
"drivers were welcome and have the right to show up for work, although under the union agreement, they are not allowed to drive a bus"
If the union contract says Valley Metro has to pay drivers who show up for work, but can't have them do their job of driving buses I suspect it is a violation of the Arizona Constitution's gift clause.
"drivers were welcome and have the right to show up for work, although under the union agreement, they are not allowed to drive a bus"
That contract is almost certainly unconstitutional per the gift clause in the Arizona Constitution.
Routes threatened by bus drivers' strike
article
Phoenix suggests options for riders during bus strike
article
Southeast Valley buses back on streets after 4-day strike
article
$600 million Tempe Town Toilet project begins
$600 million Tempe Town Toilet project begins
http://tempe-town-toilet.tripod.com
article
Brewer: new State Farm facility in Tempe proof economic policies are working
Brewer: new State Farm facility in Tempe proof economic policies are working
http://tempe-town-toilet.tripod.com
article
Sal DiCiccio brings Phoenix necessary tough love
There are a lot of things I don't like about Sal DiCiccio but I have to give him credit for wanting to cut government fat in Phoenix. Or at least some government fat.
Public servants??? No public parasites!!!!
Lobbyists spend big in California in the first half of the year
We are told that our government masters are "public servants" that perform things us citizens are either incapable of doing or are too stupid to do.
Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos qualifies for pension
When I started working government jobs were low paying jobs that had job security.
The GOP flips the script on Obama
If you ask me Obama seems to have been a clone of tyrant George W. Bush ever since he got elected. Well in addition to also being a socialist tyrant.
Union told to address perception it protects bad teachers
Union told to address perception it protects bad teachers
A consensus by Congress
article
Black farmers closer to payouts
When it comes to doling out pork, our government masters don't obey the "equal opportunity laws" they expect the rest of us to obey.
Photo radar bandits for 15 mph school zones???
Scottsdale Schools to be run like POW camps???
Scottsdale Schools to be run like prisons???
Photo radar bandits for 15 mph school zones???
Search Warrants required for drone overflights???
If you ask me the 4th Amendment is pretty clear and we don't need a bunch of silly new laws forbidding government spying on us.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized"
The problem is our government masters have made thousands of lame excuses on WHY they don't have to honor the 4th Amendment. As in this case the cops use the lame excuse that flying an airplane over your home to spy on you isn't really spying on you and thus not a violation of the 4th Amendment.
Valley Metro: CEO approved lack of minimum service
Use this article when I sue Valley Metro for a refund on my bus pass
Source
Valley Metro Bus Strike Lawsuit
Here are the nity gritty details about the
bus strike
and about the lawsuit I plan on filling against Valley Metro and
the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale and Gilbert.
Previous articles on bad government.
More articles on bad government.