No, Fox News, Abraham Lincoln was not defeated by a Black man

I love it when one network news show highlights the mistakes made by their competitors. This one is kinda funny, IMHO.

Is anyone in Prescott a doctor?

The Prescott Courier newspaper was unable to find a primary care doctor in the area who would accept new patients with most insurance, saying that many primary care physicians are retiring or going to other, more profitable areas of medicine. While doctors may do better financially in other areas of medicine, the article points out that a lack of primary care physicians forces more people to emergency rooms, and drives up the cost of health care for everybody living there.

Taxes - one to support, one to examine carefully

I know, I know, I am supposed to be a taxer and a spender, being that I am a Democrat and a liberal and all, or so they say. But I have grave concerns about how much our sales taxes in Arizona have increased in recent years, since sales taxes tend to hit the poorest the hardest. We tax goods, like clothing, diapers, and back to school supplies, but do not tax services, such as poodle grooming or spa visits. As we are now paying a combined state and local 8.3% on our purchases in Phoenix, I am hesitant to support any new sales taxes.

One sales tax deserves our support. That is the Phoenix Parks Preserve Initiative, being voted on Tuesday, May 20 (click here to get a vote by mail ballot). This continues for 30 years an existing 0.1% sales tax (in other words, your taxes won't change if it passes) in the City of Phoenix to fund parks, recreation, and nature preserves. Just as it was critical for past city leaders to preserve the areas now known as North Mountain, South Mountain, and Piestewa Peak, it is likewise important that we not turn hilltops and mountainsides in far north Phoenix into a sea of tile roofs. This initiative preserves open space, allows the City to develop new parks all over town, adds shade and other amenities to existing parks (very important given how much warmer our night time temperatures are compared to a couple generations ago...when there were fewer people and less cement), and expands youth activities during the critical after school hours when they may otherwise get into trouble.

One possible statewide tax increase that may greet you on the November ballot is being put together by the TIME Coalition, a group of business and community leaders working to address the fact that, if Arizona does not raise revenues for transportation, there will be no money left to build new highways in most of this state by 2015, but only enough to maintain current highways. Kudos to our business community for addressing this. However, with Governor Napolitano's veto of a property tax cut that will largely benefit business, the business community has vowed to take that property tax cut to the voters this fall as well. How will it look for the same leaders who are advocating for one tax cut (for themselves, mostly) on the ballot to be advocating at the same time for a tax increase (paid by you, the consumer)? I think many voters will vote both down, and perhaps that is the best option. The tranportation plan that will likely be on the ballot this fall will have $42 billion in transportation project all over Arizona over the next 30 years. Fortunately, it will include a chunk for mass transit (expanded bus rapid transit in various cities, as well as a train between Phoenix and Tucson, and commuter rail in both cities), but 58% still goes for highways. And all this would be financed by a 1.0% sales tax, meaning you would now be paying 9.3% in Phoenix, and similar rates elsewhere. Since Arizona has not raised the gasoline tax, which is one of our main sources of highway funding, since the early 1990's, it is time to at least let that tax keep up with inflation and the cost of building roads. And those who choose to live close to their work will not only contribute less to air pollution, traffic congestion, and climate change, but won't be hit as hard in the pocket book for their responsible lifestyle. I will be analyzing the proposal as it evolves, and will let you know where I stand. Let's meet our state's transportation needs, and take away the time tax of being stuck in traffic. But let's not open up pristine areas of the state that should be preserved as God made them, let's move people around in an efficient and cost effective way, and let's make sure the responsibility for paying for it is shared equally.

State Democratic Convention picks delegates in long, low key meeting

You may have heard that the Arizona Democratic Party picked the remainder of its delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this summer at a meeting on Saturday at the Wyndham Hotel in downtown Phoenix. Yours truly was on the credential committee, so I missed some of the action, but there were lots of rounds of voting, keeping us there 9 hours. Notably, for perhaps the first time ever in the history of the Democratic National Convention (at least in the Arizona delegation), there will be an openly transsexual delegate. Also, former U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini (served 1977-1994, and was Arizona's last Democratic U.S. Senator), who is not seen at too many Party events these days , showed up and was elected as a delegate. He had some choice words about his former Arizona colleague, Senator John McCain, and let Arizona Democrats know that he had personal stories of McCain's temperament (or lack thereof) that show this man should not be President of the United States. DeConcini said in a letter to the Democratic State Committee "I know firsthand just how clever, deceitful and misleading of a leader (McCain) can be, is, and would be if elected President." He sited an article in the Financial Times chronicalling encounters McCain has had with Senators of both parties. Former Republican Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire was quoted in the article DeConcini distributed as saying that McCain was not suited to be President. No word if those Republican Senators have recanted since McCain tied up the nomination, but DeConcini has no love lost for McCain.

There was no great tension between Obama and Clinton supporters. The numbers of how many pledged delegate each gets from Arizona were already determined by the primary several months ago. However, unpledged Party Leaders and Elected Officials (PLEOs) were elected. Also, a new Vice Chair was elected for the Arizona Democratic Party to fill a vacancy, and this person gets a vote at the convention. The winner, Charlene Fernandez, has pledged her support for Obama.

The myth of suburban affordability

In addition to data showing an increasing number of America's poor and financially strapped families living in suburbs rather than central city and rural areas, and local data showing much higher foreclosure rates in the suburbs, the Center for Neighborhood Technology has put together a mapping tool for many metropolitan areas, including that of Maricopa County, AZ, showing that housing and transportation costs are often lower in central cities than in suburbs. This runs counter to the belief of many who purchased homes a few years ago that they had to "drive 'til you qualify" and find cheap housing in far flung locations. Of course, some of the most affordable housing is in areas of town in which you do not want to live, but as an urban dweller, I stand by the idea that there are many affordable neighborhoods in central Phoenix (and older areas of Tempe, Mesa, Glendale, and other Valley cities) that are worth living in, and our governments should focus on making those affordable areas more liveable (better city services, better public schools) instead of building costly new infrastructure to support new, far flung exurbs.

The following map shows the average monthly cost to own a home in the Valley of the Sun. The darkest areas have the highest cost.

Of course, people who live closer to work also spend less on transportation costs. So in addition to cheaper housing, the central city areas are cheaper for transportation, especially with gasoline over $3.50 a gallon in many places. In the blue areas, people spend more than 45% of area median income on housing and transportation combined.

This seems intuitive, but it goes against what many tell us here. Perhaps it is just easier for the "real estate industrial complex," as former Arizona Republic columnist Jon Talton used to call it, to make a profit in outlying areas, so they perpetuate the myth. You know, the Republic hasn't much been worth reading since Jon Talton left.

Unauthorized workers helping prop up Social Security, Medicare

Although it has been reported before, a new report confirms that people working with incorrect or mismatched Social Security numbers are paying $9 billion a year in federal taxes. It is likely that most are immigrants working without authorization in the United States. They pay into Social Security and Medicare, but federal law prohibits them from collecting Social Security or Medicare benefits. Since the federal government profits off of this, does anyone wonder why the government has been slow to enforce immigration laws? Of course, this doesn't even touch those who are working under someone else's Social Security number, perhaps even yours. So if your next Social Security earnings statement shows you having far more income than you remember earning, there could be someone else working with your Social Security number, but you will see the higher benefit when you retire thanks to their work. I guess not all identity theft is a bad thing?

Bush, Dems looking to help ex-cons re-enter society

From the Center for American Progress: "President Bush yesterday reached across traditional political dividing lines to sign into law a broad program that provides federal grants for assistance to ex-convicts, pointing to his own struggle with alcohol addiction as an example of redemption."

Ever wonder where your tax dollars go?

Just in time for tax day, the National Priorities Project released a state-by-state, city-by-city summary of where our federal tax dollars go. They do not include Social Security and Medicare, which are paid out of separate funds (or so it is said).

Good news: wind power in America up 45% last year

No, the increased wind power did not all come from Washington, but installed wind power rose 45% last year.

Conservative Goldwater Institute takes aim at Sheriff Joe

The conservative Goldwater Institute has taken aim at Sheriff Joe Arpaio over spending and management practices which they infer make the jobs of local police departments more difficult. I am more fair and balanced than most bloggers, linking to an opinion piece from the Goldwater Institute. Just don't expect me to do this on a regular basis. ;-)

Another study shows Arizona toward the bottom in education

The Census Bureau today released a study showing Arizona having the 3rd lowest per-pupil funding of K-12 education. The two states that spend less than Arizona, per-pupil, were Idaho and Utah. The highest spending states were New York, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia. How much we spend, or how much we have to spend, depends of course on the local cost of living, since schools have to buy land, build buildings, and pay teachers based on local costs. Clearly it is more expensive to do all three in New York, New Jersey, and DC. And while Arizona may not be up there with the east coast, it is clearly not in the bottom three places in the country in terms of cost of living, which leads me to believe we are shortchanging the future of our state.

Majority of doctors now favor health care for all Americans

A survey found that 59% of doctors in the U.S. support universal health care, up from 49% in 2002.