Troll.

Chickenshit.

Dude, they worked for that money. It is deferred compensation. So if you want to steal their retirement, it is you who is then guilty of wage theft.

You can always buy a roll of Republican elephant stickers and paste one between "to" and "Arizona" on the posters if it makes you happy.

There may be a "defect" in the pension, but it is was negotiated and is guaranteed by (1) the Arizona Constitution, and (2) a contractual obligation. It's called the rule of law. If there is a shortage in the pension fund, the state has an obligation to raise taxes to make the contributions to the pension fund that it has not been making to keep the pension fund solvent. There is the real "defect" in this public employee pension. Legislators who want to steal from pensioners.

I agree with your point. I am only giving Orr the benefit of the doubt on his vote because he did not explain his vote. I have asked him to explain it here. It may have been no more than a "safety vote" to allow him to play the "moderate" role, or it could be his genuinely held belief.

I do recall seeing the occasional sign right here in Arizona in the early 1960s. That's why I find this so disturbing. This is a fight that was fought and won and was over. The haters never stop hating.

Is this supposed to be some kind of sociopath Dominionist threat? Jesus would smack you upside your ignorant head for your blasphemous perversion of his teachings. Taking the Lord's name in vain (presuming to speak on behalf of God) violates the Third Commandment.

A Catholic chaplain at MedStar Washington Hospital Center stopped delivering a 63-year-old heart attack patient Communion prayers and last rites after the man said he was gay, the patient said Wednesday. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/gay-patient-says-catholic-chaplain-refused-him-last-rites/2014/02/19/35d163f6-99b1-11e3-80ac-63a8ba7f7942_story.html?hpid=z5

Jim Click, is that you?

I wish! I do not recall who coined the term originally, it has been widely used. It may have been The Economist, or The Nation, or The Atlantic. If you Google search "Kochtopus" check out "images for Kochtopus."

After 30+ years of faith based supply-side "trickle down" economics, you would think the unemployment rate would be down to zero, everyone would have a well-paid job, and the economy would be booming. Where's the evidence? That's the thing about fantasies ... they're not real.

Careful, I did a post similar to yours in the past in which Laurie Roberts quoted a passage from "a blogger" without proper attribution to Blog for Arizona or a link to the post which she dismissed as "delusional." In her world, she believes that "De-Kook the Capitol" means electing moderate Chamber of Commerce approved Republicans instead of Teabaggers. She still wants perpetual one-party -- Republican -- control of Arizona. Democrats are "irrelevant." She cannot conceive of a Democratic controlled state legislature.

Ah, they are not appearing together? We could sell tickets to that fight.

Thanks for the update on the Moral March, I will post about it. But you are missing the larger point I have made previously: this can't be a one-off event. This is something that has to sustained public pressure on the Arizona legislature while it is in session. You should know that the media does not care about a march. They will pay attention to a movement.

I see that our blog troll is off his meds again -- rambling way off topic. The only issue here is that 201 Tea-Publicans wilfully voted to default on the national debt and to call into question the full faith and credit of the United States, in violation of the 14th Amendment. These Tea-Publican economic terrorists were willing to unleash an economic catastrophe on their country and their fellow American citizens solely out of an ideological temper tantrum. They could not even agree upon what hostage to take, or how much ransom to extort. They simply voted to "blow it up!" This goes well beyond being reckless and fiscally irresponsible. These Tea-Publican economic terrorists are a clear and present danger, and are unfit to serve in public office.

38 of the 50 state constitutions, including Arizona, ban direct aid to private and parochial schools. It is unconstitutional. And yes I know the history of this provision, the Blaine Amendment (1875), that was directed at Irish Catholic immigrants at the time. I am wondering how many of our Christian Reconstructionist and Dominionist legislators will support such direct aid going to Muslim schools. Jewish schools, Hindu schools, Buddhist schools, etc. It is fairly evident their intent is to provide direct state aid to Christian schools (now including Catholics).

Welcome on board, Carolyn! Those corporate bastards at Gannett killed Tucson's oldest newspaper a few years ago. I remember how upsetting it was for Citizen staff at the time. They have been laying off staff at the Arizona Republic in recent years as well.

Welcome to my friend Carolyn Classen. It will be good to have a "city beat" reporter with your Carolyn's Community now here at Blog for Arizona. Keep up your excellent work!

"Robert" clearly did not read the ruling. The Court correctly found that the legislature made the determination that Prop. 108 did not apply to this legislation before passage. Since the legislature made this determination, they cannot be heard to complain. The legislature sues as a body of the whole, not the digruntled minority of malcontents.

Great job, Donna. Our lawless legislature and the 'Kochtopus' Death Star, the Goldwater Institute, have lost yet another vexatious lawsuit.

I've noticed that you like to throw out names of economists as if that gives your troll comments weight and credibility. When challenged to provide a link to a specific citation to the "facts" you allege in your troll comments, not once have you ever done so. I am familiar with all of these economists, but I am not going to do your due diligence for you. Your comments are unsubstantiated and unsupported, and thus are not entitled to any weight or credibility. The conservative economists you cite are all invested in historical revision and a revival of the Andrew Mellon/Herbert Hoover economic policies (e.g. the Hoover Institute). The school of conservative economics, which has been the policy of the U.S. since Ronald Reagan and continues to be the economic policy under Obama due to the Republican Congress, is the source of our economic ills over the last three decades. It is time that this disproved and discredited economic theory is buried on the ash heap of history forever. If it wasn't for right-wing billionaires propping up these pseudo-intellectuals in right-wing think tanks and endowed university chairs, it would have already died of natural causes.

As I have posted here many times since 2010, the "Aughts were a lost decade for U.S. economy, workers", see for example http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/01/AR2010010101196.html?hpid=topnews and numerous similar reports at that time and since then. The economy has not produced jobs at a rate of 4% growth since 2000. Obama has spent his term in office digging out of the massive unemployment created by a decade of lack of growth and jobs and the catastrophe of the Bush Great Recession. The U-6 measure of "underemployment" still stands at 13.1% in January 2014. None of this has anything to do with Obamacare. The CBO report refers specifically to people who may want to work fewer hours, or who will no longer have to work simply to keep their health insurance (the "insurance trap"). This is a good thing, it is employment mobility that Republicans used to support as workplace freedom. And with hours opening up, maybe some of the unemployed will be hired to fill those hours.

That was my first reaction as well, "he's still alive?"

My point exactly! Thank you for your legal acumen.