Occupy Phoenix in Photos
I happily attended the Occupy Phoenix afternoon protest at Old City Hall. Lest anyone accuse me of being a one-sided closed-minded liberal, I will remind everyone that I also attended the first Phoenix Tea Party rally held at the Capitol Building in 2009. Read more 
New Post on Main Street Plaza
Last February I wrote a story for Main Street Plaza about a cozy relationship between John Eastman and Apostle Dallin H. Oaks. Last week John Eastman was appointed Chair of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).
I see an interesting connection between one of the highest ranking officials from the Mormon Church and NOM.
Read it here.
Greg Stanton on QTalk Arizona
QTalk Arizona is interviewing the 2011 Phoenix mayoral candidates each week. We’re having some casual conversations with the candidates and asking them to ‘remove their campaign hats’ to just talk to us as real people. We took some of our own listener’s questions along with our own and posed them to the candidates.
This week, we’re talking with Greg Stanton. Read more
Bad bills (lots of them) becoming law today
This is an email press release from the Arizona Democratic Party. I want everyone to see it, so I’m posting here:
Series of extreme measures are handiwork of Russell Pearce Republicans
Today could have — and should have — been a day when bold legislation took effect to help turn Arizona around. The kind of initiatives that would create a stronger economy, safer streets and better schools. Instead, the Russell Pearce Republicans and Gov. Jan Brewer have given us bad bills, all becoming law today, that either solve nothing or land another punch on the state’s black eye. Read more
More from Quartzite, Jennifer Jones
My original post about Jennifer Jones being arrested at a Quartzite, Arizona City Council meeting for speaking while she had the floor is posted here.
I’ve continued to follow the story and let’s just say that things got even more out of control up there! This ugly situation is just another black eye for Arizona. Read more
Caleb Laieski on QTalk Arizona
Caleb Laieski is only 16 but he has accomplished a lot in the past few years: from founding his own organization, to helping change policies in his former school district to protect LGBT youth from bullying, from making national headlines, to being the Youth Grand Marshal at the Phoenix Pride celebration, to attending a conference at the White House, to lobbying on the Hill, and even meeting the President and Vice-President of the United States.
The most exciting thing I did my sophomore year of high school was build a float for Homecoming and make friends with the Goth kids. Read more
VIDEO: Jennifer Jones Arrested for Speaking at City Council Meeting in Quartzite, Arizona
Things are screwed up in Quartzite, Arizona: abuse of power, illegal arrests, and city council members who don’t even know basic rules and procedures. But in 21st century America nothing happens in a vacuum, no matter how much small-minded politicians wish it were so.
Forget freedom of speech, forget Open Meeting Laws, forget justice. Just sit down and shut up or you’ll be arrested, even if you’ve done nothing wrong.
Jennifer “Jade” Harris Jones had the floor during the Call to Public and was calmly making statements about improper adoption of new rules and procedures, some of which are in clear violation of Open Meeting Laws. For example, fewer people are allowed in the room, standing is prohibited, photography and videography are only allowed from one small area. Chief of Police Jeff Gilbert even attempted to force publisher Doug Gilford to choose between speaking and video recording the proceedings. (Check out Doug’s website here.)
You thought you had the right to speak as a citizen at a city council meeting, huh? Not in Quartzsite. Read more
Republicans and Marriage Equality
One of the most important lessons I think we can learn from the passage of same-sex marriage in New York this past weekend is this: equality knows no party affiliation. This law was passed by a Republican controlled Senate. Read more
The Recall of Russell Pearce
The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office confirmed that over 10,000 signatures have been validated for the recall efforts against Senator Russell Pearce. Considering that only 7,756 valid signatures were needed to to call a special election, over 10,000 valid signatures demonstrates that there is significant support to remove Russell Pearce from office.
Now that Pearce seems to be taking this recall effort seriously, some of his supporters have gone on the defense, making all kinds of bald-faces assertions about the members of Citizens for A Better Arizona, of which I am a member. Former Congressman JD Hayworth said that we are, “an ultra-liberal, open border, pro-amnesty mafia…who carry swastikas and call ALL conservatives Hitler.” Read more
Downtown-centric Mayoral Debate
I attended the mayoral debate hosted by the Downtown Voices Coalition last night at the Lexington Hotel.
There was a big turn out and lots of great questions about light rail, infill, and downtown development. I tweeted that one candidate is bat shit crazy. I stand by that.
The rest of the story is posted here.
Mayoral Candidate Forum for a Greater Downtown Phoenix
Please plan to join us and presenting partner, Phoenix Community Alliance, for an evening of dialogue with Phoenix’s 2011 mayoral candidates. Questions posed during the forum will be gathered from the public with a simple online survey. This means, YOU will help decide the evening’s topics. More details coming soon, so stay tuned . . . Read more
George Takei on qTalk Arizona- Oh Myyy
George Takei was in town for Phoenix Comicon and qTalk Arizona was there to talk to the actor about his work, his life, and his activism.
George talks about how the GLBT rights movement is so young compared with the general movement of all human rights. Even in such a short time, we have made tremendous progress, with still quite a bit to go. George is an optimist, in his own words, and feels that the future is bright. Read more
Steve Nash for Marriage Equality
Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash recorded a video in support of Marriage Equality. Steve Nash is from a much more civilized country called Canada, so it makes sense that he would be of this opinion. What does surprise me is that he has the courage to actually be public about it. I’m sure a lot of sports fans disagree with his position but he doesn’t let that stop him from speaking his mind.
Thank you Steve Nash for speaking up and for being an ally for the LGBT community! You are a quality public figure who is on the right side of history.
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ACTION ALERT: Tell Gov Brewer To Listen to the Voters
In a press conference yesterday, Gov. Jan Brewer (R) announced she will seek a declaratory judgment against Arizona’s new medical marijuana program. This unbelievable affront to the voters, and waste of taxpayer money, comes from a governor obsessed with “standing up to the feds” on illegal immigration, but not for her own seriously ill citizens.
Call and email her today and remind her that the people of Arizona voted for this law and it passed! Arizona has passed this same law twice before and she is standing in the way again. Read more
The Parking Lot from Hell
My friend Sean Sweat had an opinion piece run in the Arizona Republic today. (Or as I call it, The Arizona Repulsive, which is what got me fired as a community blogger at the Repulsive, I mean Republic.) Read more
