Leaving on a jet plane, except in Arizona
Yeah, sure, so Arizona isn't the only state whose legislature has passed a boneheaded sovereignty bill declaring that we don't have to follow federal policies, whether it's the EPA, DOJ or some other jackbooted agency issuing the regulations. But we
are turning it into an art. A sick one. Almost daily.
Just yesterday, committees in both chambers passed HB 2368, which "prohibits the state from funding executive orders issued by the President of the United States and policy directives from the U.S. Department of Justice." Keep your nose out of Sheriff Arpaio's discriminatory practices, Eric Holder! Let the deportations continue, Barack Obama!
Right on the heels of that unconstitutional POS comes HB 2643, which says Arizona and all of its political divisions are prohibited (their word) from putting a dime into administering the Affordable Care Act. Yeah, they're going there. First the executive and legislative branches whack away at health services and housing programs for the poor and middle class; then they plunder, waaay more than anyone expected, public education—while "adjusting" tax rates to benefit the wealthy and corporations. Hundreds protested those dick moves at the Capitol—as have, surprisingly, many MSM editorials, which often point out that Gov. Ducey and his legislative cronies did not campaign on any of this BS.
Now the coalition of crazy wants to take away health care from more than 200,000 Arizonans who signed up for ACA in 2015, a 70 percent increase over the first year. The Republicans' mean-spirited measure would also affect hundreds of thousands of people on Medicaid, not to mention vaccination programs and much more, say health officials.
Never mind the plea from Maricopa County Public Health Director Bob England, who told the committee that [HB 2643] could cost us millions upon millions of dollars in federal funding used to prevent disease and promote public health.
You want clean air? Good schools? Sane immigration policy? Affordable health care? Equal treatment under the law? Too bad, so does the federal government, and if
they want it, we
don't! Regardless of the cost—in lives or dollars. QED.
Worse and worser, over the bump.
The GOP's grandstanding really is pissing in the wind in its most unproductive, smelliest way. And no court will friend them. However, one of the legislature's stick-in-the-eye dumbfuck moves will inconvenience a lot of Arizonans—for no other reason than they're being petty shitheads. No, this latest finger in the president's face isn't nearly as destructive as their assaults on health services and education, but it goes to show how friggin' small this bunch is.
After 9/11, Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005, which instructs states to conduct more documentation checks before issuing drivers licenses; it also requires licenses to be less vulnerable to tampering. States were given until 2014 to comply, a deadline that's been extended until 2016. Just the same, once Obama was elected, Arizona's legislature balked: Go screw yourself, we like our old-fashiony licenses just fine.
Come January 2016, then, Homeland Security says Arizonans will no longer be able to use their drivers license as ID to board planes or enter federal facilities. Sure, Arizonans can use a US passport if they have one, but most people don't, and just try getting one in a rush if an emergency arises. There are simple fixes to this problem, and Sen. Bob Worsley (R-Mesa) has introduced one, a bill that will give drivers the option of purchasing a Real ID license. The bill doesn't require all Arizonans to comply, and a new fee will cover the program's cost.
Problem solved, right? Think again, this is Arizona.
Although Worsley's bill passed the Senate, tea party pinheads in the House refuse to even bring it up in committee, because doing so might look like they're kowtowing to federal policy.
"There's just frustration by being told by Washington what to do that certain members of the House and Senate continue to feel," Worsley said.
Keep in mind, Real ID was a
Bush-era doctrine that some Democrats have tried to repeal. Even more mind-numbingly, the act was intended to thwart terrorism and stop illegal immigration,
the reddest of red GOP meat. Still, it's Obama's program now, and even though the legislature's assholery will inconvenience most Arizonans flying anywhere, and even though fixing said assholery costs nothing, well, that's too bad.
If the president, by himself, found a cure for cancer, these pills would pass a law making it illegal to use state funds to adopt Obamacure. Because death panels or something. Just draw up Articles of Secession already.