Sustainability, Equity, Development

Embrace

2012-01-27T21:56:00.001-07:00

Re-Election Committee

2012-01-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

Gabrielle Giffords Resignation Video

2012-01-22T13:33:00.001-07:00

What We Can't Imagine

2012-01-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

Excerpts from Gabby:

She was sitting in speech therapy holding a photo of a wooden chair and staring intently at it. She was trying, almost desperately, to describe what she was looking at.

"Spoon," she said again.
Angie Glenn, her speech therapist, a young woman of good humor and great patience, corrected her, "No, Gabby, not a spoon," she said, "It's something you sit in. You sit in a . . ."
"Spoon," Gabby said.

The next photo in Angie's pile was of a lamp.

"Yes, yes, yes," Gabby recognized it, but couldn't produce the word.
Angie provided a hint, "You turn on the . ."
Gabby stared at the picture on the table in front of her.
"Cheeseburger," she said, finally. She knew that wasn't it.

That's about when I entered the room, bearing tulips, which I presented to Gabby with a light kiss. It was the eve of Valentine's Day.
I asked her, "What kind of flowers are these?"
"Chicken," she told me.

In case any of you thought 2011 was a tough year.

When Mitt Romney Came to Town

2012-01-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

Newt Gingrich's super PAC Winning Our Future has produced a scathing 28 minute video that puts real people and real suffering behind the Romney greed fest known as Bain Capital, a disgusting Gordon Gekko collection of filth that:

a) purchases a company
b) borrows tons of money in that company's name
c) steals all of the borrowed money
d) shuts the company down and fires all of its employees

Well, it's actually more complicated, but not much. This is not about creating real value. It's corporate cannibalism. In a sane society, it would be illegal and result in prison.

If only every American could see this piece. It's not perfect, but it's more truth than fiction.

By the way, Romney has now stated that American concerns about economic disparity is nothing but "envy."

For The Dogs

2012-01-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

This isn't difficult.

A Face I Would Never See

2011-12-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

Words fail me in capturing what I wish to say about the volumes spoken by this recent TIME magazine photograph of Congresswoman Giffords, taken eleven months after she was shot in the head at point blank range. Sparing you the perhaps futile effort to describe why or how, I'll just state that this is a face I thought I would never see.When I look at the photo and construct for myself what I see behind the eyes, I see what I would have not thought possible for this person prior to last year. It is not about "better or worse" or "wise or unwise." Closer to the mark involves the experience of suffering and mortality. Not surprisingly, Gabrielle and her husband Mark put forward a positive image of hope and courage, but it shows a certain honestly to allow television programs to broadcast the brutal, gut-wrenching photographs of her shortly after she was shot.The approval and publication of this photograph is also an act of communication, however conscious or intentional, and anyone interested in food for thought is invited to contrast this photograph with those of the Congresswoman prior to 2011. In the world that existed then, it is a face I would never see.

Media's Anti-Obama Bias

2011-10-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

Anyone reading the press over the past few years with the slightest interest in discerning the way in which the events and outcomes are framed cannot help but notice the hostility towards the current President of the United States. We can argue about the reasons why this may be the case, but that it's the case is beyond dispute.

An analysis focused on the tone of news coverage of the GOP primary for president examined the treatment of the different candidates, finding that Rick Perry received the most favorable treatment of the candidates, while Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty received the least favorable. (The study took place while Perry was the front runner.) For comparative purposes, the analysis included Barack Obama, and surprise, surprise:

One man running for president has suffered the most unrelentingly negative
treatment of all, the study found: Barack Obama. Though covered largely as president rather than a candidate, negative assessments of Obama have outweighed positive by a ratio of almost 4-1. Those assessments of the president have also been substantially more negative than positive every one of the 23 weeks studied. And in no week during these five months was more than 10% of the coverage about the president positive in tone.

At least someone noticed.

October 9/10 TIME Poll

2011-10-14T00:15:00.007-07:00

Some highlights from the Oct. 9-10, 2011 TIME Poll Results

Do you feel things in the country are generally going in the right direction or do you feel things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?
RIGHT DIRECTION 14%
WRONG TRACK 81%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 5%

In general, do you approve or disapprove of the way the President Obama is handling his job as President?
10/9/11 – 10/10/11: 44% approve, 50% disapprove, 6% no answer/don’t know
6/20/11 – 6/21/11: 48% approve, 46% disapprove, 6% no answer/don’t know
8/16/10 – 8/17/10: 46% approve, 45% disapprove, 9% no answer/don’t know
7/12/10 – 7/13/10: 49% approve, 45% disapprove, 6% no answer/don’t know
7/27/09 – 7/28/09: 56% approve, 38% disapprove, 6% no answer/don’t know

Would you say that Obama is tough enough to be President during these times or not?
YES 50%
NO 44%
NO ANSWER/ DON’T KNOW 5%

Would you say that Obama cares about people like yourself or not?
YES 59%
NO 37%
NO ANSWER/ DON’T KNOW 5%

In your opinion, who do you think has been a better president - Barack Obama or George W. Bush?
BARACK OBAMA 48%
GEORGE W. BUSH 37%
SAME/EQUAL 7%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 9%

Regardless of how you usually vote, overall, which party - the Democrats or the Republicans - do you trust to do a better job in dealing with the main problems the nation faces over the next few years?
DEMOCRATS 42%
REPUBLICANS 31%
BOTH 1%
NEITHER PARTY 18%
TEA PARTY *
OTHER 2%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 6%

In politics as today, are your views best represented by the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the Tea Party, another party, or do none of the parties really represent your views?
DEMOCRATIC PARTY 30%
REPUBLICAN PARTY 17%
TEA PARTY 12%
NONE 35%
OTHER 4%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 2%

Do you feel that the political debate in Washington and the media mostly represents the concerns your discuss and hear in your own community, or not?
MOSTLY REPRESENTS 36%
DO NOT REPRESENT 60%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 3%

On another note, is your opinion of the Tea Party movement very favorable, somewhat favorable, or don't you know enough about the Tea Party to have an opinion?
VERY FAVORABLE 8%
SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE 19%
SOMEWHAT UNFAVORABLE 9%
VERY UNFAVORABLE 24%
DON’T KNOW ENOUGH 39%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 1%

Has the Tea Party had a positive impact on American politics today, a negative impact, or has it had little impact?
POSITIVE IMPACT 34%
NEGATIVE IMPACT 40%
LITTLE IMPACT 25%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 2%

Do you consider yourself a member or follower of the Tea Party, or not?
YES 6%
NO 93%
NO ANSWER/ DON’T KNOW 1%

In the past few days, a group of protesters has been gathering on Wall Street in New York City and some other cities to protest policies which they say favor the rich, the government's bank bailout, and the influence of money in our political system.

Is your opinion of these protests very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, very unfavorable, or don't you know enough about the protests to have an opinion?
VERY FAVORABLE 25%
SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE 29%
SOMEWHAT UNFAVORABLE 10%
VERY UNFAVORABLE 13%
DON’T KNOW ENOUGH 23%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 1%

Do you agree or disagree?

A. Wall Street and its lobbyists have too much influence in Washington.
AGREE 86%
DISAGREE 11%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 4%

B. The gap between rich and poor in the United States has grown too large.
AGREE 79%
DISAGREE 17%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 3%

C. Executives of financial institutions responsible for the financial meltdown in 2008 should be prosecuted.
AGREE 71%
DISAGREE 23%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 6%

D. The rich should pay more taxes.
AGREE 68%
DISAGREE 28%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 4%

In your view, will this protest movement have a positive impact on American politics today, a negative impact, or will it have little impact on American politics today?
POSITIVE IMPACT 30%
NEGATIVE IMPACT 9%
LITTLE IMPACT 56%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 6%

In politics today, is it better for Republicans and Democrats to work together, or is it better for party members to stick to their positions and refuse to compromise with the other side?
BETTER TO WORK TOGETHER 89%
BETTER FOR PARTY MEMBERS TO STICK TO POSITIONS 8%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 4%

In the past few years, would you say that America's position in the world is growing, declining, or has remained about the same as before?
GROWING 7%
DECLINING 71%
ABOUT THE SAME 21%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 1%

Thinking about your own feelings about the state of the country today, which of the following describes best how you feel?
ANGRY 25%
UPSET BUT NOT ANGRY 25%
CONCERNED BUT NOT UPSET 45%
NOT CONCERNED 1%
FEELING POSITIVE 4%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 1%

Overall, what do you think is the best way to reduce the federal budget deficit - by cutting federal spending, by raising taxes, or by a combination of both?
CUTTING FEDERAL SPENDING 29%
INCREASING TAXES 4%
COMBINATION 65%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 3%

Would you favor or oppose raising taxes on people with annual incomes of a million dollars or more to help cut the federal deficit?
FAVOR 73%
OPPOSE 23%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 4%

If the government did raise taxes on people earning a million dollars a year or more, would this hurt the economic recovery, or not?
WOULD HURT THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY 21%
WOULD NOT 74%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 5%

Would you favor or oppose giving upper income people a reduce retirement benefit, with lower income people getting the full retirement benefit, sometimes called "means testing"?
FAVOR 55%
OPPOSE 38%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 7%

Would you favor or oppose increasing social security payroll withholding beyond the current $106,000 of income?
FAVOR 54%
OPPOSE 36%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 10%

Would you favor or oppose some combination of all these proposals?
FAVOR 70%
OPPOSE 23%
NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 7%

At this point, would you say you'll definitely not vote in the Presidential Election, probably not vote, may or may not vote depending on how you feel at the time, probably vote, or definitely vote in the Presidential Election?
DEFINITELY NOT VOTE 2%
PROBABLY NOT VOTE 1%
MAY OR MAY NOT VOTE 7%
PROBABLY VOTE 6%
DEFINITELY VOTE 84%
DON’T KNOW/NO ANSWER *

If the Presidential Election were held today, and the candidates were Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, and you had to choose, for whom would you vote?
BARACK OBAMA 46%
MITT ROMNEY 43%
OTHER/NEITHER 3%
WOULD NOT VOTE 1%
UNDECIDED/DON’T KNOW/NO ANSWER 7%

If the Presidential Election were held today, and the candidates were Barack Obama and Rick Perry, and you had to choose, for whom would you vote?
BARACK OBAMA 50%
RICK PERRY 38%
OTHER/NEITHER 4%
WOULD NOT VOTE 1%
UNDECIDED/DON’T KNOW/NO ANSWER 7%

If the Presidential Election were held today, and the candidates were Barack Obama and Herman Cain, and you had to choose, for whom would you vote?
BARACK OBAMA 49%
HERMAN CAIN 37%
OTHER/NEITHER 4%
WOULD NOT VOTE 1%
UNDECIDED/DON’T KNOW/NO ANSWER 9%

The Mormon Question - Again

2011-10-11T00:15:00.005-07:00

(Click on the image above to see it enlarged and easier to read.)

Mitt Romney’s crawl towards the 2012 Republican nomination for president has generated initial salvos across the bow of Romney’s Mormon background. Two fundamental assertions have emerged: 1) A Perry backer has asserted that the Mormons are a cult, and 2) several conservative Christians have declared that Mormons are not Christians.

Back in 2006 when Romney was running for president, I wrote a piece on Mormonism and the idea of a Mormon president. In response to the recent hoopla, Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary, points out (correctly) that Mormonism doesn’t really fit the fundamental components of a cult. Certainly, it gathers believers together into an organization promoting the notion that they possess a superior truth and a higher status with God than those with other beliefs. That applies to most organized western religions.

The Mormon Church does rigorously commandeer 10% of one’s income and reviews individual tax returns, but they do NOT have the flock surrender all possessions or pay enormous sums for church activities. The indoctrinations do foster an “us and them” mindset, but Mormons are not isolated from society. Charismatic leaders don’t seduce pretty wives and daughters. They're no Jones camp in a jungle or Heaven’s Gate preparing for a comet. They are not Scientology slaves in Sea Org.

Mormonism is not a cult.

The second assertion is more complex depending on the semantics of "Christian," and Mouw refuses to touch it. Still, barring a severe twist on the meaning of "Christian," it is correct. Mormons are not Christians.

They do believe Jesus Christ is the direct son of God, but crucial components of the Christian faith are utterly contradicted by the key cornerstones of Mormon belief. Perhaps most notable is the Mormon conviction that God was once a man, a human being, and that men (good Mormon men) have the potential to become what God is now, with their own universe over which they have dominion (and often more than a few wives). God has a physical body just like a man.

Mormon founder Joseph Smith wrote:

God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted Man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens...I say, if you were to see him to-day, you would see him like a man in form -- like yourselves, in all the person, image, and very form as a man....it is necessary that we should understand the character and being of God, and how he came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity, I will refute that idea, and will take away and do away the veil, so that you may see....and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did. - (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 3).

LDS church writings have some troubling remarks likely to see daylight should Romney become the nominee. Some have been exaggerated or twisted by those hostile to Mormonism, but consider this publication posted at Brigham Young University's site by the Mormons themselves. The ideas there are not slanted or distorted or those of an extreme fringe. They are fundamental.

In what has some slant but says a lot in eight minutes, this "Banned" Video on Mormonism (8:42) provides a taste of some of what's going on.

Who's Funding Whom?

2011-10-10T00:15:00.002-07:00

BARACK OBAMA CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS ($46.3 M)

The New York Times notes the following in its coverage of the latest FEC reports for the 2012 presidential election.

Mitt Romney's $18.4 million dwarfs all of his primary challengers, with the next closest candidates (Paul and Pawlenty) at $4.5 M. All fall short of Obama's $46 M war chest, but more far more interesting than the total funds raised are the nature of the contributions themselves.

MITT ROMNEY CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS ($18.4 M)

We've been treated to ample assertions about class warfare, which is probably a good thing, since most metrics (take your pick) show it's been happening since the 1980s and started in earnest with Bush's election in 2000.

Half of the contributions for President Obama are less than $200. For those contributing to Mitt Romney, 70% are the maximum legal limit.

The reader does realize that this is small change compared to the now unregulated billions in PAC electioneering unleashed by the Supreme Court, but it's enough to make it all too clear who is behind whom.

Occupy Why?

2011-10-09T00:15:00.001-07:00

It's Personal: Corporate profits are at an all-time high, but corporations are paying lower taxes than ever before. Some aren't paying any at all...Executive pay is now about five times higher than it was in 1980, adjusted for inflation. The average salary for the rank-and-file American worker, however, is about the same as it was in 1980.

Increased Support: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told CBS News, "They are basically sending us a message that says, 'Don't create a society where one percent basically has all the wealth.'"

Occupy Wall St Quiz: Who said each of the following? (Answers at the link.)

1. I for one am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country.
2. I think it expresses the frustration the American people feel.
3. They blame, with some justification, the problems in the financial sector for getting us into this mess, and they’re dissatisfied with the policy response here in Washington. And at some level, I can’t blame them.
4. Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself!
5. We are the 1 percent.
6. God bless them for their spontaneity. It’s young, it’s spontaneous, it’s focused and it’s going to be effective.
7. This is like the Tea Party — only it’s real. By the time this is over, it will make the Tea Party look like … a tea party.
8. I think it’s dangerous, this class warfare.
9. What they’re trying to do is take away the jobs of people working in the city, take away the tax base that we have.
10. I’m very, very understanding of where they’re coming from.

By the way, care to venture a guess as to the income and net worth of those voicing criticisms of this "mob"?

Consider that this is just beginning and will get interesting.

Cantor's Hypocrisy Chokes God

2011-10-08T00:15:00.001-07:00

(In 2009, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-VA, had very different views about Tea Party anger) Eric Cantor, the 2nd ranking Republican in Congress, voiced concerns about the Occupy Wall Street protests that have now spread to over 50 cities nationwide and bear an uncanny resemblance to the nature of the protests that emerged in the Arab Spring of the Middle East. Here and elsewhere the notion of an American Spring is developing, and like the early stages of what occurred in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, people didn't quite know what to think.

Clearly, the Republicans don't know what to think. GOP candidate for President Herman Cain remarked of the Occupy Wall St protesters, "Don’t blame Wall Street."

Cain said, "Don’t blame the big banks. If you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself!"

Only most rarely does the Supreme Being comment on American politics, but even the Lord God gasped when Cantor had the hypocrisy, after years of embracing Tea Party lynchings of Obama and Pelosi effigies, vandalism of representative offices, and death threats, to denounce the Occupy Wall St participants as "pitting Americans against Americans."

Closer to reality, Vice President Biden recognized the parallels between the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movement, "The Tea Party started why? TARP. They thought it was unfair, we're bailing out the big guys. What are the people up on the other side of the spectrum saying? The same thing."

In the same statement where he condemned the new movement, Eric Cantor, as America faces the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, two unfunded wars, crushing unemployment, 50 million Americans without health insurance, crumbling transportation infrastructure, and a collapsing education system, promised that if the Republicans win both houses and the presidency in 2012, they will defund Planned Parenthood.

The Lord heaved, "Well, that will fix everything."

Fox News Distorts Occupy Wall St. Information

2011-10-07T00:15:00.001-07:00

Fox News and others have jumped on an individual's Proposed List of Demands posted at the Occupy Wall Street Website as if it were the finalized, official document of an organization. It is not.

They are ideas submitted by a single individual, Lloyd J Hart, whose name and phone number appear at the bottom of his list. Another individual has also posted a Demand and Action List for Congress to be considered by others associating themselves with the movement.

Of course the corporate controlled media will subtly or not so subtly place its slant on the events as they unfold. We can anticipate that Fox News, which has no problem doctoring photographs and editing videos to mislead its viewers, will present the most glaring distortions.

I have already encountered individuals who think Occupy Wall St. is calling for completely open borders, a mandatory minimum wage of $20, and the forgiveness of all debt.

This is going to get ugly.

99 and 1

2011-10-06T00:15:00.001-07:00

The 99% and 1% distinction currently deployed by the escalating Occupy Wall Street demonstrations offers a compelling and easily understood concept that has the makings to gain considerable traction.

First, let's note that the 99% and the 1% can refer to two separate financial measures, wealth and income. One could argue that the two are so closely related that either measure points to the same realities.

Starting with income distribution, to get straight with some of the figures, the Wealth and Want Website has sound statistics regarding the facts of income distribution in the United States including links to additional references allowing one to dive as deep as desired into the data.

As they list there, summarizing for the key 8 groups:

P0-89 (bottom 90%)
9/10 households — income below $104,696

P90-100 (top 10%)
1/10 households — income above $104,696

P90-95 (next 5%)
1/20 households — income between $104,696 and $148,423

P95-99 (next 4%)
4/100 households — income between $148,423 and $382,593

P99-100 (top 1%)
1/100 households — income above $382,593

P99.5-100 (top 0.5%)
1/200 households — income above $597,584

P99.9-100 (top 0.1%)
1/1,000 households — income above $1,898,200

P99.99-100 (top .01%)
1/10,000 households — income above $10,659,283

Putting the above into some simple sentences, you are in the 1% club for income if you gross over $382,593 per year in 2006 dollars, or $430,000 in 2011 dollars.

Make less than $430,000 / year, and you are in the 99% group.

When examining wealth, the inequality is far worse, with the richest 20% owning over 4/5 (84%) of EVERYTHING. The richest 1% own almost half the country, and we wonder why they control everything, including our media, and virtually run the country to serve their own interests.

One of the ways they do this is to dramatically understate and effectively obfuscate the reality of poverty and its existence in the United States. The national psyche simply does not get how poor we are. Andrew Price at Good Politics wrote Americans Are Horribly Misinformed About Who Has Money last month.

Helping illuminate the situation is an excellent paper, Building a Better America One Quintile at a Time [PDF], by Michael I. Norton (Harvard Business School) and Dan Ariely (Duke University).

Price in his post notes that the nation is becoming a a plutocracy.

Becoming?

We're already there.

American Spring

2011-10-05T00:15:00.001-07:00

This was unanimously voted on by all members of Occupy Wall Street last night, around 8pm, Sept 29. It is our first official document for release. We have three more underway, that will likely be released in the upcoming days: 1) A declaration of demands. 2) Principles of Solidarity 3) Documentation on how to form your own Direct Democracy Occupation Group. This is a living document. you can receive an official press copy of the latest version by emailing c2anycga@gmail.com.

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

They've Got Tickets to Hell, but They Don't Care

2011-09-01T19:15:00.003-07:00

The Pima County GOP has garnered national attention for selling raffle tickets at $10 to win a Glock 23 semi-automatic pistol and three 12-round clips. The Glock 23 is essentially the same pistol as the Glock 19 that Jared Loughner used on January 8th to gun down Congresswoman Giffords, killing six and wounding 14.

(The Glock 19 with the 30 round clip used at the Safeway at Oracle and Ina) What is it with these people? The Republicans have become a damned confusing set of folks. Why aren't the sound thinking business oriented components reacting to the fact hating, science rejecting schizoid hysteria that cheers when a candidate for president declares that hurricanes are a sign from God to control federal spending, or that the USSR is the number one concern among Americans today, or that global warming is fiction as heat records burst like Jiffy Pop and Greenland breaks in half, or that raffling in Giffords district essentially the same damned gun used in that massacre is perfectly reasonable?

(The Glock 23 with the 12 round clip being raffled by the Pima GOP) As the photos show, these are completely different handguns, and the outrage over such a raffle in Giffords district is just nonsense.

Well, it appears there's no shortage of nonsense these days. A former vice-president of this country, one that will go down in history as a war criminal, has all but declared he was the acting president during his boss's first term, and now, the current GOP front runner for president has a book, Fed Up!, that reads more like Mein Kampf than Dreams from my Father.

Whether their tickets are for a ride to, at best, a world that no longer exists, or worse, to Hell itself, or their tickets raffle off a gun that butchered many including a Congresswoman in her own district, they simply don't care.

Bachmann Wants $2 gas / Warns of Soviet Union

2011-08-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

Supporting limited government and lower taxes, GOP Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has called for government price controls to insure that gasoline stays at $2 / gallon, “If we get government out of the way and support the free market, supply and demand will reduce costs for everything.”

Bachmann also asserted that the most serious concern on the minds of Americans today is the resurgence of the former Soviet Union and its quest for world domination. Leaders in the various 15 individual sovereign nations that used to comprise the former USSR voiced confusion at Bachmann's assertion, “We remain very unclear as to how such a unification could proceed if in fact we could find anyone that wants to do it.”

In a Kazakhstan restaurant, former soldier Aleksei Stronokov choked on his vodka when asked about Bachmann's statement, “What a fu**ing idiot!”

Princeton Identifies Most/Least Religious Universities

2011-08-20T00:15:00.006-07:00

Princeton University has conducted research to produce a ranking of the nation's universities by the prevalance and significance of religion in the students' lives. Not surprisingly, Brigham Young University topped the list of most religious, followed by Hillsdale College, Thomas Aquinas College (Catholic), Wheaton (evangelical) and Grove City (evangelical).

The least religious universities? Bennington College, Reed College, Bard College, Vassar College and Sarah Lawrence College. Three of the top five for least religious are in New York.

Some noted that the students at Oral Roberts evangelical university failed to make the top ten, but a recent ORU graduate clarified, “We're not really religious. At ORU we learn how to form a church and fleece the gullible."

Giffords Returns for Debt Vote

2011-08-02T00:15:00.002-07:00

Everyone knows that Congresswoman Giffords returned to the House yesterday in what became a poignant display of genuine interest in serving her country against the backdrop of the self-righteous rancor the Tea Party has unleashed against the nation.

This Huffington Post piece and Peter Poyer's article discuss it better than any remarks I could have.

I've said little about the debt debacle because my spiritual fuse flames out every time I consider a remark. Let's hope this circus marks the beginning of the exposure of the truth regarding the lunatic fringe that has all but usurped the Republican Party.

Great job, Gabby. Way to go.

Brodesky Highlights Cloth Machine

2011-07-14T00:15:00.003-07:00

(Tucson, Arizona) Star reporter Josh Brodesky has an excellent piece in today's paper that hits the nail as squarely on the head as any piece you'll find on the Clothmeisters. I really don't have anything to add and encourage folks to take a look.

In this case, the aficionado is former Oro Valley Mayor Paul Loomis, who lost his re-election effort last year. Since then, he's raked in $150,000+ in no-bid RTA consulting fees for "engineering oversight" on the trolley car. Over two years ago, I said the RTA would become a Clothfest. Think orgy. This trough will feature the likes of Larry/Dan and the whole fam damily in spades including aunts, nephews, cousins, in-laws, the neighbor's dog and Uncle Bob's ocotillo.

Quoting directly from Brodesky:

Since the RTA's inception, Hayes has doled out more than $3.6 million in small, no-bid contracts. The thinking is these contracts save money because the RTA doesn't have to hire any salaried staffers. But it's also led to some strange contracts.

(Paul Loomis) The RTA can tap Sheila Storm, the communications director for Pima Association of Governments, for some public relations help. Still Hayes has doubled up on help for her, inking David Joseph (whose wife Michele is the spokeswoman for Sun Tran) and former Tucson Citizen transportation reporter Garry Duffy, for additional PR.

Hayes also gave nearly $89,000 in contracts to a firm led by his daughter-in-law's brother.

Yes, you did just read that. I am not making this stuff up.

And now we have Loomis and his engineering skills. He studied ocean engineering in college.

Brodesky wrote in the piece, "This is so Tucson," which is exactly what Cigar Man wrote in a comment at the previous post about the Rio Nuevo fiasco.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Rio Nuevo Cloth Antics Continue

2011-07-02T00:15:00.014-07:00

(Tucson, Arizona) Late last May we were led to believe that Donovan Durband, former Director of the Tucson Downtown Alliance, would be tapped to take the helm of the fledgling and sadly Cloth infested Rio Nuevo project, an enterprise that has managed to squander hundreds of millions of dollars to pay various characters to plan to study, study to plan, plan to pretend to study, create nice drawings of colorful bridges half a mile into the air over a wash, renderings of a new arena, a godawful effort to build a financial nightmare of a hotel near the TCC, and other shenanigans. Numerous blogs including this one as well as Star reporter Rob O'Dell have documented in considerable detail the embarrassing excuse for what a TIF district is supposed to be.

A few years ago, after then Rio Nuevo Director Greg Shelko went before the state legislature and acknowledged that $9 million had been spent which accomplished nothing (except stuffing certain coffers) for the community, the state came within a hair's breath of pulling the plug and shutting the whole mess down. It was THAT close, but alas, some well wishing individuals eager to salvage the effort from its corruption, suggested the entire board be replaced with individuals selected by the state, individuals who did not consider stuffing the pockets of well connected Clothmeisters as the prerequisite to scoring gigs for Rio Nuevo projects.

Their efforts worked, and a new board was established, minus Larry/Dan and their groupies - or so we had hoped.

Before we continue that path, flashback to 2007 or so when we had Durband running the Tucson Downtown Alliance. Briefly, businesses in a certain downtown area must pay an extra tax, the Business Improvement District (BID), whose funds are collected by the city and used to fund the Alliance. With these funds, Donovan most adeptly provided various services including the washing of the streets, security, marketing, Downtown Saturday Night, and other advocacy for the businesses paying this tax. These employers loved the Alliance and the work it performed to help them prosper.

The well functioning Alliance proved irresistible to Clothmeisters noted for their eagerness to take over or destroy anything that's working. (A training institute comes to mind.) So they usurped the Alliance, put Larry/Lynn, Inc. on its board, changed its name to the Tucson Downtown Partnership, and brought in Certified Cloth Aficionado Glen Lyons as the new director, bumping Durband to #2 briefly before booting him to give a sweet gig ($60K for a few hours a week) to Cara Rene, the wife of Nina Trasoff's chief of staff. Clothmeisters serve themselves, handing Lyons a $120+K salary to schmooze and provide downtown businesses positively nothing that could remotely occur as tangible. Need one ask what happened to the services formerly provided by the Alliance?

Returning to Rio Nuevo, the new board started trying to repair the damage and stop the incompetence, corruption, fuzzy bookkeeping, shady arrangements, and other FUBAR. New board member Alan Willenbrock, a razor sharp finance guy who calls a thing for what it is, choked on the $200M hotel being rammed down their throats, and loudly voiced his opposition to the fiasco, stating with conviction that it would hemorrhage profusely.

Well, this was inconvenient, so Clothmeisters had conflict of interest hound, Lewis&Roca/Rio Nuevo attorney Keri Silvyn write a letter asserting that Willenbrock had a conflict of interest. A decent person, Keri had spearheaded the Imagine Greater Tucson effort with the best of intentions. Anyway, key voices cited her letter to raise fears of legal action, and guess who was ousted from the board? For those who could see, the hypocrisy of those behind the assertion produced an involuntary retch. Key take away - "We may not be on the board, but we still want control, and those who don't do what we want will be removed."

So, who wanted that hotel so bad and why? Answer - Who would get a lot of money if it happened? Who serves those who would get a lot of money? Did anyone pay anyone for the privilege?

IMPORTANT POINT: If Donovan Durband were beholden to this cast of characters I loosely tag as "Cloth," they would have had no need for Glen Lyons. They would have used Durband and the Alliance for their greedy objectives and rewarded him handsomely. They brought in Lyons because Durband actually does serve the community and its best interests, not the greed of the well connected. Anyone with a sound mind and a conscience knows that Durband is part of the solution.

Regarding the 5-4 board vote to make him the Executive Director of Rio Nuevo, who were the five in favor and who were the four against? Those in the know can cite legions of material to support him. What do the four say about their votes? Not that it matters, for since when did a silly vote get in the way of Cloth objectives? After the board voted to give Durband the position, guess what?

Now it's time to bring in the big gun, Maestro Lewis&Roca attorney Si Schorr, operating at the level of no less than Lord Larry and Godfather Dan. Rio Nuevo Chairperson Jodi Bain calls for help, and soon enough Bain and new Rio Nuevo attorney Mark Collins get to chat with Keri, who (drum roll) opines that Donovan Durband might be perceived as having a conflict of interest. Jodi does not want Donovan to get that job, adamanti! Why? Is this really about a conflict of interest? What about Vice-Chair Mark Irvin's vote for $18 million in contracts that included Sundt Construction? Oh, Jodi Bain works for Town West, and who did she want to get the Rio Nuevo Director position instead of Durband? Larry Lewis.

This Larry Lewis (investment adviser for whom?). Anyone else notice that Town West has been buying up properties near downtown, say close to Stone and the railroad tracks? Any of that going on recently? Now why might Jodi want Larry so bad? Remember when I mentioned retching when certain characters allege a conflict of interest?

Anyone else curious that through the entire grueling process of vetting and screening the candidates, no one said a thing about this conflict of interest? Only after the board approved him, then and only then, did Jodi raise her concerns. Do you smell what I smell, "You mean I didn't get my guy?!!! F$%k!! Sh&%!! #&@#@$%!!!! Donovan%#$&Durband!! Get me Si Schorr NOW!!!"

Occam's Razor. This is a blatant attempt by Jodi (and the Cloth behind her) to overturn the vote of the board and keep Durband from getting the position. They want someone they can control. On a perhaps unrelated topic, why did attorney Gugino (chummy with Eckstrom, Hein, etc.) suddenly resign last March?

You do realize the FBI is investigating Rio Nuevo.

One can't imagine why.

A Wee Bit of Scotland

2011-06-25T12:15:00.016-07:00

(Stirling, Scotland) After decades of "one of these days" projections that never occurred, a lifelong desire to drive the roads of Scotland through its rich terrain of mountains, valleys, and countless lochs became reality last week. Not having the disposition for tour guides or packaged programs, I rented a car and selected my own routes, accompanied by my dear companion L on an adventure that for better or worse would be one of our own making.

L had the easier commute to Edinburgh, catching a Ryan discount flight from Berlin. My flight from Nashville, Tennessee required so much of Saturday, June 11, that it became Sunday, June 12. The free rental car upgrade resulted in a shiny new silver Mercedes E-Class with black interior and yes, the driver's seat on the right side of the car.

The five-minute drive to L's hotel required an hour, but I survived the plunge into the pool, the crash course, of driving on the left side of the road, navigating roundabouts, and unfamiliar traffic signs and signals. After several stops for directions and assistance (some males can in fact do this) and some navigational consternation, I arrived at the Edinburgh airport TraveLodge hotel, mentally preparing for Murphy's Law to prevail with the discovery that there were in fact two Edinburgh airport TraveLodge hotels and that I was at the wrong one.

(The Wallace Monument) These thoughts ended abruptly when L came running out of the building, smiling ear to ear. What a sweet embrace in the parking lot of a discount airport hotel. She grinned at the Mercedes, and before noon L and I were heading west on the M9, bound for Stirling, Scotland, its famous castle and other sites rich with historical drama. While Stirling is quite small (the smallest city in Scotland), its significance and importance rivals any location in the country. Upon arrival, we drove slowly, our eyes and minds devouring our surroundings. We parked near downtown. Within just hours of landing in Scotland, L and I were enjoying our first plates of fish and chips.

Our B&B did not expect us until 5, and my energy, while compromised, remained functional. We made our way to Stirling Castle and took our self-guided tour with informative audio guides that provided interesting and useful background information. In preparation for the trip I'd studied Scottish history in some detail, and this paid off as the audio guide presented much of the 1200 – 1700 period, in particular the highlights of Stuart kings and Mary, Queen of Scots, many of whom had lived or spent time at the castle. While I had planned to visit the William Wallace memorial, energy was waning, and the view of the monument from the castle was good enough for this trip. We returned to town and casually absorbed the ample smorgasbord of sights and sounds until it was time to “truly locate” the B&B, another little adventure.

(Girls learning what it was to be a maiden inside Stirling Castle) The Forth House Guesthouse offered immediate access to downtown Stirling, and after a power nap we walked into the city in search of a proper pub, which we found, a more or less locally frequented establishment featuring authentic Scottish fare. As we had heard and would soon verify, the Scottish pubs offered the perfect ambiance to relax and enjoy a meal and a drink. We suspected that Sunday evening at 7:00 differed from a weeknight, but the place filled most of its seats with a diverse set of folks including some touring couples like ourselves, younger locals, and a highly intoxicated man of about fifty seated alone at a table save a small piece of luggage and his pint, which he drank slowly.

Unlike the American establishments concentrated on milking patrons for as much money as possible as quickly as possible, the Scottish pubs served other objectives. The darkly yet warmly lit rooms produced an atmosphere I have craved as long as I can remember. They had lots of wood, wood floors, wood tables and chairs, wood bars, wood walls, wood shelves, wood stairs and railings, lots of wood. The fantastic bars had an ample row of taps for first rate ales and lagers chilled at separate temperatures. Behind the bars, well lit walls displayed richly stocked shelves full of liquor and in particular a Scotch selection to die for, not to mention a wine selection capable of pleasing all but the most uppity wine connoisseurs. Charging prices that allowed patrons to not only grab a bite, but stay awhile and have a second drink, or a third, the pubs provided community, as the saying goes, “where everybody knows your name.”

(Forth Guest House) We ordered the Scottish mainstay of haggis, neeps, and tatties, which came on a plate separated by oat cakes mounted vertically like walls between the three. Haggis is best enjoyed if one doesn't think about what it is. Yours truly sent a cautious fork into the dark, spiced concoction that looked like a combination of meat and dough. To my surprise, it was quite good. A few small doses of this stuff over the week would not hurt me. L ordered a Guinness and I enjoyed a dark Scottish brew not entirely different from some of the high quality ales produced in America's Midwest (the quality ones you won't find advertized on television). I loved the food, and in particular, the oat cakes. More on the oat cakes later.

A trip to the restroom spared me what L and other onlookers then witnessed, the intoxicated man flipping backward over his chair, feet over head as the last remnants of his beer sailed skyward. Not laughing or smiling, the humiliated soul sought to end his intimacy with the pub floor as quickly as possible, and before I could return, had scurried away as onlookers returned to their prior conversations.

L and I slowly walked the rather empty, Sunday evening streets of Stirling. In spirit I could have spent another three hours downing a few more pints and taking in the sights, turning to L as occasions warranted to share thoughts or observations, but in body by this time I was spent and running on the last remnants of fumes.

We awoke Monday morning for the second B of “B&B” and arrived at 8:04 AM for the published “8-9 AM” breakfast, and most fortunately, for the “8-9” meant starting at 8 and finishing at 9. One didn't start at 8:30. As all breakfasts this week would, it started with a selection of high quality cereals (although one choice was corn flakes, which almost no one chose) that had oats, nuts, dried fruit, heavy, substantive cereals that satisfied to which one could add fresh fruit and milk or yogurt. Then came the real breakfast of haggis, eggs, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, beans, bacon, potatoes, and dark pudding with choice of "white" or "brown" toast. We left Stirling well satiated and ready for a day of adventuresome driving across the extraordinary country in the border region between the lowlands and highlands. The drive did not disappoint, and I will remember it always.

Our trip took us northwest from Stirling towards Doune as L reminded me, “Keep left!” and we enjoyed spectacular “eye candy” of jaw dropping terrain that included not just the mountains and valleys, but a rich and diverse presentation of extraordinary colors and mixtures of colors. L's artistic eyes marveled in the delicious display of roadside flowers and other vegetation, the green of the grasses and hillsides, the Scottish summer skies of morning, afternoon, and night, and the architecture of town after town, each qualifying as a vacation destination with roadside B&B's for those choosing to stop, and water was everywhere. As I drove the Mercedes around curve after curve, up and down the hills, I kept thinking of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. We were on his turf. I was driving through the Shire, expecting to see little hobbit mounds with their tiny wooden front doors and the peephole windows.

The A84 took us through the central lowlands, up through Doune, Callander, and to A85 over to Crianlarich. The highlands, Loch Ness, Inverness, Aberdeen, Perth, and the Highland and Speyside distilleries would have to wait for another trip. When we reached Dalmally and Loch Awe I knew we were close to a sight I really wanted to see, Kilchurn Castle, but we couldn't find it. As a particularly compelling hotel showed up on the left, L suggested we stop.

What a delightful, old hotel, a marvelous structure located right on the Loch with a fantastic view to the south. We admired the sight, and when we turned to our left, in the distance stood the castle. We doubled back from the hotel in search of a road to the castle. No road, but a footpath to the castle did exist.

Kilchurn Castle is considered the most professionally photographed castles in all of Scotland. While quite accessible, it is far enough from the tourist hot spots to escape the crowds. We had the place to ourselves - no audio guides, attending staff, and admission fees. L and I visited Kilchurn Castle proper, thoroughly exploring the 560 year old structure.

As we explored the various rooms and climbed to the higher stations in the structure, I found myself imagining what may be impossible to truly imagine, the many human experiences of people occupying the rooms of this building so long ago when it was the only building (other than tiny shacks) for many miles. Whatever the history books said, who really occupied these dark rooms centuries ago? Truth be told, who can say what is significant and what is not, but I am certain some of what occurred inside these walls never reached pen and paper.

From Kilchurn we continued west, and the Scottish terrain continued to amaze. I could only imagine from photographs how beautiful the highlands must be. My eyes welled up on several occasions. The history of the people in these lands involves considerable hardship and violence, but I couldn't help thinking that to some extent, “If you're lucky enough to live around here, then you're lucky enough.”

As we started getting closer to Oban, my attention became increasingly focused on the clock and the time remaining to catch the 6 PM ferry to Islay. We nixed the plans to visit the Oban distillery in favor of using extra time to visit other sites as we headed south in what proved to be an excellent choice. We shared a quick lunch of fish and chips in Oban, stocked up on British cash, and headed south. L noticed a place on the map called Kilmartin that had dozens of historic sites. We stopped and found ourselves looking at the Kilmartin Stones. Only later did I learn that we had in fact been through the heart of Kilmartin Glen, one of the greatest concentrations of ancient monuments in Scotland.

When we reached the Kennacraig port, we still had time to visit a castle, this one just a wee bit off the usually traveled path (as if Kennacraig were not already a wee bit off said path), Skipness Castle, located near the remote village of Skipness.

The drive to Skipness featured what we did not know would be a preview of coming attractions, a tiny, single lane road barely wide enough for one vehicle. To allow traffic in both directions, pullouts to the left occurred every several hundred yards. The consideration of oncoming traffic became a vital component of using these roads, and failing to do so would be delinquent driving. Drivers were expected to note oncoming traffic as soon as it was visible. Whoever had the first turnoff would signal this with a flash of headlights and turn to their left on the little space provided.

The tiny road to Skipness became even tinier after turning left towards the castle. Again accessible only on foot, as we hiked I wondered how many of the Scots themselves had actually made it to this place. While inside the ruins of Skipness Castle, once again I wondered who had been inside this place at its prime, whatever its prime might have been, and what constituted their lives.

We weren't on the ferry for the island called home by the distilleries of Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Caol Ila, Bunnahabian, Bruichladdich, Bowmore, and the almost brand new Kilcharin for fifteen minutes before we were talking about scotch with one of the locals returning to the island. The ferry served Scotch with dinner during the ride, but we opted for “Black Rock Ale,” one of the brews produced by an Islay brewery located near Bowmore.

As anticipated, the drive from Port Askaig to Port Ellen occurred without incident and provided a brief introduction to the island, taking us through Bowmore and past the Bowmore distillery. We arrived at the B&B around 9:30, and our host invited us into the living room for an explanation of the accommodations, pouring a generous “taste” of an Islay whisky blend known as Black. When I finished the taste, he poured a second one.

(Kildaton Cross) Our first morning on the island began with a breakfast feast featuring haggis that was delicious and SPICY! Amply fueled with another fine morning meal, we headed east for the “wee bit” of a drive I had fantasized for the better part of a decade, the drive from Port Ellen to the distilleries of Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg. We passed Laphroaig as we would be touring it that afternoon and stopped at Lagavulin, touring their gift shop and walking around, but it still felt a little early for tasting and shopping, and in the mind that I would be returning here, I didn't buy anything but took note of the 20cl bottles and some of the glasses and other items. In light of everything that would be coming up, I'm not sure what made me think I would actually make it back.

The reception room at Ardbeg occurred like the entrance to heaven itself, and my concern for the time of day evaporated. Let the tasting begin, and ohh, the water of life indeed! I must have had 5 tastes of different versions of the beyond delicious whisky for the Islay scotch lover. I bought a 50ml miniature to later perform something I had always wanted to do, a side by side comparison of Laphroaig and Ardbeg. I've thought about this comparison for years.

After Ardbeg, L and I headed up the east coast of the island towards the ancient ruins of Kidalton. The Kidalton Cross is considered one of the finest remaining high crosses in Scotland, carved in the late 8th century. This Cross was crafted 100 years closer to the crucifixion of Christ than to our visit today. We walked around the tombstones, reading the engravings and looking at the countryside. Other than an elderly couple who departed shortly after we arrived, we were the only people in sight.

That afternoon we entered the Laphroaig distillery and tasted the 10 year, the Cask Strength, and the 18 year. The 18 year Laphroaig is quite possibly the best scotch I have ever tasted. Over the next 90 minutes, we watched and learned in great detail the process which produced the incredible spirits we were drinking. I bought a bottle of the 10 year, and we returned to the B&B for some delightful R&R. Refreshed, we found a terrific restaurant in Bowmore right on Loch Indaal with floor to ceiling windows looking over the water.

(Peat, a dense, rich soil full of decomposing vegetation on its way to becoming oil, is placed on burning coals to produce a thick smoke which rises up to the next floor over the barley, giving Laphroaig its strong peaty flavor.)

"Whisky" (without the e) refers to products distilled in Scotland, Wales, Canada, or Japan. "Whiskey" indicates it was made in the United States or Ireland. In 1968 the USA's Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms decreed that America would adopt the first spelling. So many American distilleries told the ATF what they could do with their decree that it backed down and let producers use the spelling of their choice.

Wednesday started with a slightly smaller yet terrific breakfast before we headed up the single lane 8016 to bypass Bowmore and head directly into Bridgend and over to the Islay House Square, which featured a series of shops and art galleries, Islay Ales, the brewery which produced the ales we enjoyed on the ferry, and a marvelous community maintained garden enclosed by stone walls. We tasted more brews, bought some whisky fudge, and looked at the galleries.

A short drive took us to the Woollen Factory, a historic facility whose owner had established contracts serving the Prince of Wales and other dignitaries. The owner, easily in his late sixties, bought the factory decades ago. It now featured a variety of tartan weave, as well as solid cashmere/mink blends, thick wool blankets and scarves, and other “home grown and made” wool products of the highest quality. He personally greeted the two of us and then offered to walk us through his domain. Some of the extraordinary machines had been in operation for dozens of years.

We headed for Portnahaven, an exquisite little village that seemed like a place at the edge of the world far out of reach of all things bad on the planet. As far as we could tell, few people and fewer (if any) tourists were around. L struck up a conversation with an elderly woman having lived in Portnahaven all of her life, a reality I can't even pretend to grasp. The woman shared that during the 1950's, she and a friend had all of the papers and arrangements to move to the United States, arrangements that included green cards, apartments, and employment. At the last minute, she had changed her mind and decided to stay. For 50 years, she has wondered what life might have been had she left.

That ponder is a cerebral rabbit hole without a bottom.

(Portnahaven as seen reflected from a window of one of the properties along the coast) That evening, we enjoyed one of those meals one will remember for life, seafood that for the most part one simply doesn't get at a restaurant, at least not in such quantities. It started with scallops, huge scallops including the attachments with the eggs (which I had never seen before, let alone eaten), presented inside of a sauce making it appear like a soup. After this "scallop soup" came the main dish, more lobster and crab than you could eat, masterfully pre-cut so only minimal effort was required to extract the meat. Our host knew the local fishermen who went to sea each day, "Everything you are eating was in the sea this morning."

The food occurred to bottomless glasses of whisky and beer. When I said that I couldn't possibly have the coffee and dessert, our host smiled, “At least taste the coffee.”

Oh my Lord. The coffee, some kind of remarkable concoction, proved irresistible. I turned to its maker, my eyes wide. He grinned, "Yeah, it has whisky.”

With the coffee came more oat cakes, a rather dry food unlikely to appeal to most, but I loved them, and perhaps due to the alcohol, as I ate them after this meal I became overwhelmed with emotions I didn't fully understand. If our host could tell, he kept it to himself as my eyes grew moist and my lower lip started to quiver, but L knew at once and could see my struggle to remain composed. If I had been alone, I would have been sobbing like a little boy. Instead, I managed with regular wipes of my eyes and the occasional napkin over my mouth. There is something about those oat cakes that stirs something deeper than I can reach, calling to memories I no longer have.

One doesn't lie down after such a feast. For the remainder of our last night on the island, we walked hand in hand in the never ending dusk beneath a sun that took four hours to set, a walk in as much silence as speaking, listening to everything.

Thursday morning we caught the ferry off the island and found ourselves in Kennacraig at 11 AM, ready to head north to Lochgilphead and over through Inverary, down along the famous Loch Lamond, and then into Glasgow. As we descended from rural to urban, population density spiraled and the transportation options grew complex. We chose a course right into the heart of Glasgow and slowed to the downtown pace of stop and go through the city.

We reached the Edinburgh airport, returned the shiny Mercedes, caught the bus downtown, and taxied to the B&B. Our new hosts were exquisitely British, “If you walk to the castle, you will arrive in 17 minutes. If you stop for directions, you will arrive in 19 minutes. If you leave, shut the windows entirely, for the rain comes at the building sideways.”

After hearing his advice on nice walks to gardens, reasonable walks for groceries, and not so nice walks to avoid, we asked for his thoughts on a nearby pub with character and affordable prices. He suggested the Conan Doyle, a pub named after the Sherlock Holmes author who had frequented the place during his prime. In case our “affordable” was less modest than might be presumed, he couldn't resist suggesting another option, a fine establishment with exquisite fare at triple digit pound per person prices, but then added, “You likely require reservations.”

We had neither reservations nor the inclination to part with triple digit pounds per person, and walked the three blocks along Broughton Street to the Conan Doyle, and in just that walk we noticed more pubs, cafes, wine shops, boutiques, and city markets than existed on the entire island of Islay. We were farther from the island than a boat ride and a drive. I noticed the creative economy of space both inside the buildings and outdoors, where some rooms had widths of just a few feet, sinks extending only inches from the wall, yards behind buildings split by stone walls into narrow slits of turf, one per residence. Space was not left idle, and tiny balconies and micro-porches held meticulously maintained vegetable or flower gardens.

The Edinburgh Castle attracts thousands of visitors per day, so I wanted to arrive early Friday morning and begin with what I expected would be a bottleneck where the lines could get long – the Royal Jewels of Scotland and the Stone of Destiny. The Castle had an interesting and informative exhibition taking about 20 minutes to traverse on the way through the building to the jewels. For this part of the castle, photography and the use of cell phones were prohibited.

I won't add to the abundant material on the castle, save to remark that in the Scottish National War Memorial, dedicated to those Scots who served and died in WWI and WWII, one of the displays contained captured flags from Japan and Nazi Germany. As I stood there, looking at the two flags, it occurred to me that this was the first time in my life I stood face to face with a real Nazi flag. Though behind glass, the flags were up front and viewers could get within inches. The Japanese flag, as real as reality gets, had dozens and dozens of Japanese signatures, clearly a flag of some importance. I looked at each flag for quite some time.

(The Elephant House, where Harry Potter author JK Rowling wrote many of her early novels) After the castle we walked the Royal Mile, a tourist saturated collection of shops and restaurants serving its volumes of visitors. Even here, the ever perceptive and resourceful L found a remarkably quiet and reasonable restaurant where she enjoyed a Guinness and a rich salad heavily laden with goat cheese. I couldn't resist the “Wallace Special,” a hamburger topped with haggis. After lunch we reached the end of the Royal Mile and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, noticing a marked increase in access control and security measures. In the gift shop it became clear why. The place serves as one of the official residences of the Queen of England. We passed on both the tour of the palace and the abundance of souvenirs associated with Buckingham Palace, leaving the Mile for a stroll through downtown Edinburgh. By this time, my capacity for new data was tapped.

After R&R at the B&B, we caught a bus further into town for live music, Stramash, a small and quite intimate musical concert where 5 musicians played for an audience of only 20 or 30, allowing face to face conversation between all after the show. We arrived in time to first have dinner and selected a pub of the more popular, energetic variety for our last plate of fish and chips with her usual Guinness and my dark, Scottish ale. After the show, we walked the streets of Edinburgh past the countless pubs full of Friday night festivities amongst the wood, the well lit shelves, the whisky, and the lively conversations of the patrons.

In so short a visit we only scratched the wee surface of the rich and deep, but it provided a taste, a taste as thought provoking as unforgettable.

Donovan Durband to head Rio Nuevo

2011-05-26T00:15:00.005-07:00

Some may remember that Donovan Durband once served as the able and well respected Director of the Tucson Downtown Alliance, an adept organization that promoted downtown and provided a variety of services supporting downtown businesses and activities.

During the period where Cloth Aficionados were plundering various agencies and stealing their funding, their eyes turned to the Alliance, and they replaced Durband (salaried in the $60K range) with Clothmeister Glen Lyons ($120K+), doubled the size of its board, and changed its name to the Downtown Tucson Partnership. Lyons promptly ousted Durband so he could hire the wife of a city council member's chief of staff. The DTP quickly devolved and became yet another cheer leading squad for the local boondoggles.

While the public could easily overlook TREO's stealing a few hundred grand from the various agencies that actually did something, the amply documented Rio Nuevo saga produced an outrage even the most talented Clothmeisters could not suppress. Its former director Greg Shelko, as well as Glen Lyons and said wife he hired, found other employers to pay them to occasionally show up. The FBI is now investigating Rio Nuevo, and Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup is not running for re-election.

Think what you like of Republican city councilman Steve Kozachik, but make no mistake, the man is no clothophile. He even suggested that the generously funded likes of TREO and MTCVB have performance measures, and imagine the gall, that the performance against these measures be reviewed.

Durband stayed in town when his agency was destroyed and accepted a position on Kozachik's staff, hardly putting him into the cloth corner, and now he has been tapped to take the helm of Rio Nuevo. Does this mean he's drunk the Cloth kool-aid and participated in their indoctrination programming? Is this an effort to take his talents away from a recalcitrant council member? Time will tell, but not likely.

It's difficult to imagine a former Kozachik staff member advising various contractors to pay Larry/Dan consulting for consideration in lucrative Rio Nuevo deals to produce plans for studies and blueprints for strategies. I don't see it.

Donovan Durband is accepting a difficult job in an environment where patience and the benefit of the doubt have been bled past dry. Greedy schmucks and self-absorbed egos are in every meeting. Perhaps the overarching presence of an FBI investigation and a new Mayor that can do something other than cheer for the charade will assist the efforts to transform a cloth windfall into a productive project for downtown Tucson.

By the way, Donovan, I've got an awesome idea for this really cool bridge.

Republicers

2011-05-07T00:15:00.002-07:00

Birthers – don’t believe Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.
Deathers – don’t believe Osama Bin Laden is dead.
Machisnos – don’t believe Barack Obama is a man.
Femnots – don’t believe Michelle Obama is a woman.
Orphanistas – don’t believe Barack Obama’s daughters are his own.
Terrestrials – think Obama was born in outer space.
Retrocashists – think Obama ran up the national debt 1980 – 2008.
Blacksassins – think Obama was the second gunman on the grassy knoll.
Stealthallahs – think Obama is secretly a Muslim.
Underkoshers – think Obama is secretly Jewish.
Barackspins – think Obama is a whirling Dervish.
Obamalamas – think Obama is the reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama.
Hityouthers – think Obama is descended from a love child born to Hitler in 1943
Barackatrinas – think Obama caused the 2005 hurricane in New Orleans.
Obamahots – think Obama invented global warming.
Obamabots – think Obama is a robot controlled by the Dark Lord Nazzerath of the Meldikon Empire in the Goryilliath system.

A Tale of Two 5/1's

2011-05-02T19:15:00.006-07:00

(Above - May 1, 2011. President Obama, Vice-President Biden, Deputy National Security Advisor Dennis McDonough, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, White House Chief of Staff William Daley, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and other officials watch the mission unfold in Abbattabod, Pakistan.) The reality of the situation drips from the photograph, the expressions in the room showing the gravitas of competence in the face of difficulty and risk. Count the smiles in the room.

Contrast the faces in the May 1, 2011 photo with that of the May 1, 2003 photo of George W Bush declaring "Mission Accomplished" while Iraq's condition continued to deteriorate, Afghanistan remained a total mess, and Osama Bin Ladin remained very much alive.

May 1, 2003 - Mission Accomplished without the accomplishments

May 1, 2011 - Mission Accomplished without the smiles

Bridges Too Far

2011-04-30T12:15:00.001-07:00

In what could be a signal of changing tides regarding the hateful rhetoric of the extreme right, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has vetoed House Bill 2230 which sought to modify the Arizona 911 Memorial by removing panels that contained 11 phrases considered offensive by AZ Rep. John Kavanagh (R), the sponsor of the bill.

The Memorial features a shiny steel circular band engraved with 54 phrases selected (with public input) from the 9/11 commission report, news reports and articles, and other sources at the time. Conservatives didn't like the choices. In 2008, Len Munsil promised to tear it down if elected Governor, joined by Russell Pearce and others in condemning the work as containing “left wing statements.”

Among those slated for removal:

“Erroneous U.S. air strike kills 46 Uruzgan civilians”
“Terrorist organization leader addresses American people.”
"You don't win battles of terrorism with more battles"
"Feeling of invincibility lost."
"Fear of foreigners"
"Congress Questions Why CIA and FBI Didn't Prevent Attacks"
"Middle East violence motivates attacks in the US"
"Foreign-born Americans afraid"

In what has attracted national attention, the “fear of foreigners” plaque includes the murder of Singh Sodhi, a turban wearing Sikh who owned a Mesa gas-station and was gunned down four days after 911. Further, the bill specifically instructs that the panels be removed prior to the 10th Anniversary of the attacks and that they be sold to a scrap metal dealer.

Scrap metal.

Of course others were incensed, in particular Sodhi's family. Kavanagh apologized to the family once he realized he didn't know what he was talking about, saying (my words),”Well, uh, I really meant the other stuff.”

The Birther conversation has been beaten to death, so I'll skip it, except to note that it was that veto where Brewer used the “bridge too far” expression. She was right.

Two bridges down, many to go.

Cinema Shrugs

2011-04-17T00:15:00.009-07:00

(The John Galt Line) In what has to be one of the longest awaited disappointments in the history of cinema, the anticipated for decades effort to bring Ayn Rand's opus, Atlas Shrugged (1957), to the big screen finally happened Friday. Rand's 1000+ page novel represented the pinnacle of her career and influence, permanently engraving "Who is John Galt?" into the wall of a particular conversation.

Ayn Rand's earlier and also impressive The Fountainhead (1943) was made into a motion picture by the end of that decade (1949), and a good one at that, starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal. When Atlas Shrugged overtook The Fountainhead as the national Ayn Rand favorite, everyone believed it would be made into a film and simply speculated on who and when.

Some kind of curse seemed to attack efforts to film the epic story of Dagny Taggart, heroine of Taggart Transcontinental Railroad, Henry Rearden, masterful business tycoon and owner of Rearden Steel, Francisco D'Anconia, the brilliant genius and heir to the D'Anconia fortune, the pirate Ragnar Danneskjold, Ellis Wyatt, and the rest as they struggle against the slime of Orren Boyle, Wesley Mouch, Bertram Scudder, and a host of looters. Arguments over content control, acquisitions and mergers, personnel changes, all contributed to derailments of project after project. Ayn Rand herself worked on a screenplay, getting about a third of the way into the story before she died in 1982. Recently, an effort almost succeeded in making what would probably have become one of the greatest cinematic atrocities ever produced, with Angelina Jolie playing Dagny and Brad Pitt playing Rearden. (Note the inane, idiotic poster with Angelina and Brad donning pistols, which have no role in the story.)

(Dagny wearing the Rearden Metal bracelet) While God or some set of benevolent forces spared us the above fiasco, the picture released Friday, intended to be the first of a trilogy, offers its own version of painful cinema, suffering the malaise that can inflict a film attempting to replicate a voice it does not genuinely possess as its own.

This situation can produce excruciating dialog as actors speak words without adequate grounding or context, leaving the viewer with the unpleasant realization mid-scene that these are actors reciting lines. Sometimes the lines themselves seem to come out of nowhere, not fitting into the conversation taking place. The contextual vacuum can also produce scripts that fail to sufficiently frame what is occurring. Individuals watching this picture without having read the book will miss so much as to render the experience frustrating if not just plain boring. Roger Ebert blasted the film and gave it one star, which is rare under his generous system which hands a couple of stars to even the unimpressive and uninteresting. Rotten Tomatoes matched his opinion.

(Francisco D'Anconia with Hank Rearden) Ever since reading the book in 1978, I pronounced Wesley Mouch as "mooch." The film uses "mowch" as in "mouth." Considering what is typically associated with the word "mooch," I was quite surprised to hear it pronounced differently. The film wisely nixed the smoking in the 1957 novel, but the prevalence of alcohol proved distracting for characters who were not heavy drinkers, including D'Anconia. While I'm poking little holes, the actors for Dagny, Rearden, and D'Anconia were entirely too young and older performers would have enhanced credibility.

Wisely (or more likely, out of necessity) the producers shot the film on a tight budget of about $10 million, which is nothing for a Hollywood feature. Ayn Rand's following and the Tea Party bunch who have heard of her should insure the picture's ability to recover this modest investment. Barring a game changing event, the second and third installments should be able to operate with comparable budgets, so despite brutal reviews and marginal box office of the first film, they might get made.

Some of the Tea Party types so fond of Ayn Rand and her libertarian philosophy will no doubt delight in the production of the picture and enjoy notions that it will help spread the libertarian message. It won't. Those having read the book have already reacted to its message, and the film will have no impact on their sentiments. Those seeing the film without having read the book will be unmoved and unconvinced by a disjointed story that offers no real arguments or sense of cause and effect to explain why the events are taking place.

At the end of the day, so to speak, the film rights to Rand's extraordinary epic of remarkable characters and thought provoking content ended up in the hands of one with a bare bones budget and no time. Her masterpiece was shot "at the last minute" for a song. Should parts two and three make it to the screen, it's possible they will demonstrate considerable improvement. Odds favor they'll serve more of the same. All of that now said, I have to say that the way the Rearden Metal glowed blue in the film was way cool.

Not Intended

2011-04-16T00:15:00.004-07:00

Everyone here has heard of Jon Kyl's ridiculous assertion that 90% of Planned Parenthood's funding went to provide abortions (false). When confronted with data (3% total and 0% federal), Kyl's office responded that his remarks were “Not intended to be a factual statement.”

Stephen Colbert has reacted by inviting the nation to submit its own set of remarks not intended to be factual at a Twitter account. They have:

Jon Kyl removes all of the tags on his mattresses.
Legally, Jon Kyl cannot be within 100 yards of Helen Mirren.
Jon Kyl does not close cover before striking.
Jon Kyl sticks his gum under the table.
Jon Kyl steals food & water from families in Africa.
Jon Kyl likes to put cell phones in his body.
Jon Kyl wears depends when he's on the senate floor.
Jon Kyl doesn't floss.
Jon Kyl's favorite dish is spam with sour cream.
Jon Kyl enjoys giving enemas to his Rottweiler.
Jon Kyl has a thing for Nancy Pelosi's feet.
Jon Kyl looks like he does because he enhances his spam diet with broccoli and children.
Jon Kyl's NCAA basketball bracket had the Scientologists winning the championship.
Jon Kyl can unhinge his jaw like a python to swallow small rodents whole.
Every Halloween Jon Kyl dresses up as a sexy Mitch Daniels.
Jon Kyl sponsored S.410, which would ban happiness.
Jon Kyl let a game-winning ground ball roll through his legs in Game 6 of the '86 World Series.
Jon Kyl once ate a badger he hit with his car.
Jon Kyl doesn't know bananas should be peeled.
Jon Kyl doesn't like bananas.
Jon Kyl likes to tell first graders that Santa Claus is a lie told by bad parents.
Jon Kyl once gutted an aardvark so he could eat the half digested ants.
Jon Kyl liked the Partridge Family in his 20s and has a poster of David Cassidy in his bathroom.
Jon Kyl's wife never liked David Cassidy, Larry Craig, the Rottweiler, or Pelosi's feet.
Jon Kyl is responsible for the wardrobe malfunction.
Jon Kyl sings hideous karaoki after three drinks. Before three drinks, it's worse.
Jon Kyl doesn't understand Harry Potter.
Jon Kyl didn't understand Charlotte's Web.
At the grocery store Jon Kyl grew confused when he wanted more groceries than he could hold.
Every time Jon Kyl held a shovel, hammer, wrench, rake, ruler, he was posing for a camera. When he held a screwdriver, it was orange in a glass.
Jon Kyl never changed a car's oil, tire, battery, spark plug, belt, filter, hose, wire, bulb, wiper.
Jon Kyl never heard of the things he hasn't changed and thinks a vacuum cleaner cleans vacuums.
Jon Kyl has never washed a car – he has never driven a car.
Jon Kyl is still afraid of his parents and doesn't trust his children. Neither parents nor children are concerned.
The Society for the Provention of Cruelty towards Animals has filed an injunction preventing Jon Kyl from unsupervised contact with animals domesticated or undomesticated.

His Rottweiler is relieved.

Now that Kyl's so easily tagged disregard for the truth has become a symbol, he has chosen to retract his deliberate distortion from the Congressional record. Kyl is not running for re-election next year. Perhaps he wanted to clarify the nature of his character before he makes his greatest contribution to the US Senate by leaving it.

Black Presidents

2011-04-14T00:15:00.002-07:00

150 years later, the Confederacy still hasn't figured out that it lost the War.

Anonymous Comment
Repealing Reality, March 24, 2010

Since Obama's election I've written a few pieces noting how his becoming President has caused certain elements of society to stoke the flames of sentiments tracing back to the Civil War. Others have noticed this as well, and last week CNN featured a John Blake piece noting these themes, including a poll detailing the ways in which Southern sentiments remain.

The conversation continues to spread. This week Rachel Maddow picked it up and noted that some have been writing on the subject for years, in particular Tony Horwitz's Confederates in the Attic (1999) which discusses how certain groups of society just can't let go, can't move on, can't join the progress of civilization towards a world that works for everyone. It should be no surprise that such energies would approach fever pitch with the election of an African American President.

The irony of the thematic links between Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln is rich. The cast of characters that demonize Obama are essentially the same set of folks that despised Lincoln during his presidency. For the same reasons. In fact, during Lincoln's presidency these individuals contemptuously referred to him as "the Black President."

Literally, and while words like "socialist" and "fascist" were not around, the same rhetorical themes existed with "tyrant, dictator, despot..." towards Lincoln. With it came the resulting noise about nullification, secession, and the like. (The 1863 cartoon refers to Lincoln as "King Abraham.")

A certain, 150-year déjà vu itches the national psyche as we see over the top vilification of Obama and rabid attempts to undermine his legitimacy. It's not hard to find the 1860 version of the same sentiments towards the first president referred to as "black." Unlike then, these days everyone appears afraid of offending those behind the vitriol. We see efforts to lie and/or sugar coat the ugly reality underneath the animosity, including attempts to re-write history regarding the Civil War and what it was all about, lies and deception piled higher and higher on what these folks are and were.

The lies are old and have changed little. The Confederacy lied back then. This included ludicrous assertions such as that the slaves liked slavery (not kidding). Of course, when John Brown raided Harper's Ferry, the South went ballistic, because in truth they were terrified the "happy" slaves would join the revolt.

More significantly, the Confederacy lied about the conflict being about states rights. We still hear conservatives pushing this nonsense today. What a crock. The Confederacy was more hostile to states rights than the North. Immediately after it was created, it started imposing its will on states far more intrusively than what occurred in the North, invading both West Virginia and Tennessee to keep them in line. In December 1862 President Jefferson Davis denounced states rights as destructive. In February of 1864, Davis remarked, "Public meetings of a treasonous nature are being held in the name of states rights."

I'll jump to the punch line - the rather simple fact that whites in the South founded the Confederacy on the ideology of white supremacy. Its sole mission and purpose was to justify and protect the institution of slavery.

Occam's Razor, and unlike today's mouthpieces and all of their gobbledygook, back then Confederate Vice-President Alexander Stephens didn't mince words, "Our new government's foundations are laid, it cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man - that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition."

You won't find that quote in a high school history book in this country, not one. That's the snake, and rather than denounce it for what it is, rather than fight it as we did in the 1960s, the GOP has chosen to wine, dine, and dance with it, ironically betraying the first "black president," the very man who founded their party in the first place.

If you want a deep dive, The Truth About the Confederacy provides considerable food for thought and shows how its material is particularly relevant in the current political discourse.

Sustainability, Efficiency, and Health being cut

2011-04-12T00:15:00.005-07:00

Blog reader K.P. contacted me about the possibility of submitting an article for publication. Naturally, I replied that she was welcome to send me what she had to say. I will let her piece speak for itself, except to note that it lists just a taste of the possible consequences of the current political environment. Under the surface, it points to disturbing questions about what the Republican Party is really about in the 21st century. K.P. has some inside knowledge regarding the Environmental Protection Agency and what GOP funding cuts could jeopardize.

Through the early months of 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency has been under a series of attacks from GOP representatives and major business owners. These attacks include a proposed major cut to the EPA budget, as well as the introduction of other acts aimed at cutting down the relevancy and effectiveness of the EPA. With environmental problems continuing, this could be an unfortunate hit to the EPA.

The backlash towards the EPA is stemming mostly from major business owners in factories and power plants. The EPA’s plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions has not only ruffled the feathers of these business owners, but now a number of GOP leaders who are looking to fire back at the EPA for what they see as unnecessary regulations. The problem with the stance of the GOP is that lowering the EPA’s budget and ending these emissions regulations would be dangerous in raising pollution and possible health risks.

Not having any type of emission regulation at all would be a dangerous precedent. It’s basically a green light for these businesses to relax standards as much as they need to stay profitable, increasing pollution and risks to public health. This combined with lower resources for the EPA could put people in affected areas at risk for a number of respiratory health issues such as asthma, mesothelioma, and different forms of cancers.

The EPA’s budget was finally at the level in 2010 where it could run a great amount of programs geared towards making the nation more sustainable and keeping health risks to a minimum. These included working to keep public water facilities safe for drinking. The EPA worked with local and state water systems, as well as water suppliers to enforce a set of standards that would allow for safe water consumption.

The EPA also does a great amount of work in maintaining air quality for the country. The AQMG (Air Quality Modeling Group) is a part of the EPA geared towards helping out local and state officials. The AQMG is setup to give these officials a series of models, diagrams, and programs geared towards helping provide the best air quality possible in these areas. A reduction in quality air could certainly turn into a raised risk of asthma and other respiratory problems.

Asbestos removal is another important initiative of the EPA. Every year the agency works in local buildings, schools, and structures to help remove this dangerous material from places where it could be exposed. Formerly known for its diversity as a building material, asbestos is now known for its connection to health problems such as asbestosis, nausea, mesothelioma, and dizziness. Although it’s not in use today, agencies such as the EPA are working to have it removed from older buildings to prevent dire health risks. For example, mesothelioma life expectancy is extremely severe, usually averaging only a year following diagnosis.

These are just a few of the initiatives that make the EPA a driving force towards sustainability and efficiency in America. With the EPA’s movement to not only increase sustainability, but also cut down on health risks, slashing their budget and cutting their initiatives would likely be the wrong move.

Today's Jim Efstathiou article in Bloomberg Businessweek reinforces K.P.'s remarks.

Giffords in Newsweek

2011-04-11T12:15:00.003-07:00

For those who have yet to see it, Newsweek magazine has just published a Peter Boyer article regarding the aftermath of the January 8th shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. I'm not inclined to comment except to call it to the reader's attention and provide a link:

What's Really Going on with Gabby Giffords?

Those interested in the Congresswoman and what has been happening since she was shot are encouraged to read Boyer's piece.

Sarah's Sustainability

2011-04-09T12:15:00.003-07:00

Sustainability is the capacity to endure, and only by persisting long term in a particular effort (e.g. a blog, a hobby, a project) does one get a sense of what's involved to build the underlying support necessary to continue indefinitely. A campaign for the presidency also requires endurance, and Sarah Palin's numbers as a politically viable candidate for high office have been eroding and continue to fall as she fails to generate what can pass for gravitas for all but those who don't know what the word means. Simply put, Sarah Palin exploited good looks, a knack for sound bites, and the fame of a Vice-Presidential nomination to embark on self-glorifying publicity tours designed to generate as much revenue as possible.

Pundits on both sides of the spectrum have suggested that for credibility she must aggressively educate herself in the substance of world affairs and economics. But, come on, that would mean she'd have to do things like read books and my heavens, actually study something less readily understood than The Cat in the Hat. Unless we count tourist ventures for photo ops, she has yet to start.

The shooting in Tucson only mildly contributed to what was already happening regarding matters Sarah Palin. The numbers started falling in 2010, and now an NBC/WJS poll shows her negatives at 53% with only 25% positive. The woman is not running for president, and her ego won't have her run for anything else.

For the last year, we have had the refrain:

Obama (blah) Gulf oil spill. Palin blasts Obama's (blah) oil spill.
Obama (blee) Israel and the West Bank. Palin slams Obama's (blee) West Bank.
Obama (blue) earthquake in Haiti. Palin outraged at Obama's (blue) towards Haiti.
Obama (bligh) uprising in Egypt. Palin blasts Obama's (bligh) Egypt.
Obama (bluh) rebel forces in Libya. Palin slams Obama's (bluh) Libya.
Obama (bling) tsunami in Japan. Palin condemns Obama's (bling) Japan.
Obama (blewk) national budget crisis. Palin appalled at Obama's (blewk) on budget.

How long is this interesting?

Soon enough, she will occur as little more than a circus attraction. Granted, she is a fabulously wealthy circus attraction who profited handsomely by ginning up a bunch of excitement among the more primitive elements displeased with the election of “one of those.” Well played, Sarah. Now go buy an island or a ranch or a town in Montana, and stay there. Now that is something that can last a long time.

Well, maybe not.

Shutdown - Restart?

2011-03-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

Comments on Middle East Uprisings

2011-02-24T00:15:00.000-07:00

Moammar Gadhafi:
Young people are taking pills and being exploited by Osama bin Laden.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:
Religiously united youth are rising up in demand for an Islamic state as Iran did in 1979.

Glenn Beck:
A secret organization of Islamic extremists are executing a vast conspiracy to establish world domination by a Hitler like Islamic dictator who will establish Shariah Law and ban Christianity, assault rifles, the consumption of pork, and my show.

George W. Bush:
I made Iraq and Afghanistan peaceful and prosperous democracies. Now other Asian countries see that it’s possible for them, too.

Sarah Palin:
So we discussed what was going on in Africa. And never, ever did I talk about, well, gee, is it a country or is it a continent, I just don't know about this issue except, you know, that the Persian principles of the freedom loving women and young girls of Mozambique and Madagascar have always talked about freedom, uh, truth, and the American way.

Rush Limbaugh:
Barack Obama is calling on his Muslim brothers to overthrow the regimes that were friendly to the United States. He wants to isolate us, to cripple this country, to tear down America in the world, to tie our hands and bend us over before our enemies, as a means to implement his socialist agenda.

Bill O’Reilly:
This is just another example of the Obama administration trying to undermine American interests in other countries to help himself win re-election in 2012.

Michele Bachmann:
How do we know that Barack Obama was not born in Libya or Egypt? We don't know. Obama might be Tunesian. He might be related to Mubarak or Gadhafi. They all look alike to me.

Osama bin Laden:
Shit.

Word Reaches Us

2011-02-20T12:19:00.005-07:00

Gifted writer Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, has written the following poem for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

©2011 by Alice Walker

Word reaches us that you are sleeping, sleeping.

Dismayed we have turned to the sea. We encounter among others walking there a sense of what we have lost: the broad expanse of humanity’s sensitivity to the oneness of itself.

Gabrielle, while you sleep, resting your nimble brain, we think of walking with you in the valley of the shadow of death; holding you up.

We hope you can feel our grief; our sorrow vast like the ocean that draws us.

We know in this moment you teach us many things: how all across the world there is no one who deserves this fate. We know we must bleach and sterilize our tongues, brighten with understanding all our dark thoughts.

Sister, whom I never met except in this pain that has so wounded you thank you for reminding us through your suffering and your suspenseful sleep that we must change.

Intifada II - The Democratic Gap

2011-02-05T12:15:00.003-07:00

Dr. Tamir Sheafer and Dr. Shaul Shenhav, political science professors at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, are known as prolific producers of insightful studies in politics and public policy. Recent work includes a study of the the dysfunction of Isreali political discourse regarding Gaza and the Palestinians, and an in-depth 40-year-study of media coverage of Isreali elections. A search on their names will yield an overview of their work.

Just this week, on February 1st, Hebrew University released an “Ahead of Print” article about a study where Sheafer and Shenhav analyzed 90 countries with respect to the expectations of the general population regarding democracy and human rights. Then, using objective data from they assessed the actual levels of democracy and human rights that exists in each country. Not surprisingly, the study arrives at the very intuitive result that it is not the level of democracy/freedom that indeed exists that determines a population's unrest, but the difference between this level and the expectations that have developed among the people.

Like most brilliant insights, it is remarkably simple, and the study distinguishes a concept that is now going viral amongst educated political scientists and astute government officials, that of the “democratic gap,” i.e. the difference between the freedom the population expects and the freedom the government provides. Time Magazine wasted no time reacting to the story and published an article referring to the story, as did International Business Times.

The research data were collected in 2008 through public opinion polls and objective international indices, which measured the "democratic gap" in a large number of countries and revealed that the popular uprisings which took place recently in Thailand, Iran and Egypt could have been predicted as early as two years ago.

In countries like North Korea, for example, revolution is deemed unlikely because the population has been beaten down to where expectations consist of little more than bare subsistance. In the West, where expectations are high, revolution is unlikely because democracy and freedom are well established.

According to the data, countries that can expect difficulty include Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, and China. While a nervous Jordon recently took steps to appease its people, the findings for Jordon (as well as Algeria and Malaysia) in fact show a "positive democratic gap", meaning the the government is providing an environment that exceeds expectations, which suggests wide scale revolt is unlikely.

Let's face it, democracy is like the genie and the bottle, and taking the long view, it took thousands of years for humanity to develop functioning (well, more or less) democracies. Right wing hacks go on and on about the US founding fathers as the inventers, but historians know that the US Constitution relied heavily, very heavily, on lessons painfully learned over centuries in the evolution of Britain's government.

Once the genie was out, while very slow from the perspective of a person's relatively short life, from a historical perspective democracy is taking the planet by storm, now everywhere in Europe and North America and working its way into the rest of the world.

Expect the democracy gap to become a household word in the next few weeks, and by its very nature this metric gives dictatorships and repressive regimes cause for concern.

Rodd and Mark

2011-02-04T21:25:00.009-07:00

(Astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of Congresswoman Giffords, addressing the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC.) Rodd McLeod, campaign manager for Gabrielle Giffords during her first run for Congress in 2006 and again in 2010, sent the following email message this evening to a list of her supporters. Some readers here may find it interesting.

As we approach the month anniversary of the shootings, I thought it fitting to offer a brief update on Gabby and Mark, and our extended Giffords family.

First of all, Ron Barber and Pam Simon continue to heal and improve.

Gabby is also improving steadily. Her warmth is evident and she quickly bonded with the medical staff at TIRR. She can sit up, smiles to greet people who come into her room, and she understands the nursing staff whether they speak to her in English or in Spanish. Gabby has a very long road ahead of her, with daily physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. It is very hard work, but for Gabby, hard work is nothing new. We remain hopeful about her recovery, which continues on a steady upward trajectory. Her parents are with her now, and she is responding to their presence and to the love pouring in from across the country, especially from Arizona.

Mark spoke yesterday at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC. Watch him deliver his remarks here.

Earlier today, NASA announced that Mark will rejoin the STS 134 space shuttle crew that is scheduled to launch on April 19th. Gabby has always been a strong supporter of Mark's work for NASA and our country. Mark and his crew have trained for the past 18 months. We believe that his commanding this mission is the right thing to do.

Those of you in Tucson may have noticed that the memorials at Safeway and at UMC have begun to be taken down. The University of Arizona is working on collecting and archiving the gifts and well-wishes from so many people, which may be reflected in a permanent memorial. Many of you have visited these sites regularly, and your support and prayers have been invaluable. As these sites are taken down, please consider spending some time volunteering at your favorite charity.

Sincerely yours,

Rodd McLeod
Campaign Manager, 2010

Mark Kelly concluded his address at the National Prayer Breakfast by reading the prayer that Rabbi Stephanie Aaron, the Congresswoman's Rabbi who married them, said over Gabrielle's hospital bed that first night after the shooting, when she was still in a coma and fighting for her life:

In the name of God, our God of Israel, may Michael, God's angel messenger of compassion, watch over your right side. May Gabriel, God's angel messenger of strength and courage, be on your left. And before you, guiding your path, Muriel, God's angel of light, and behind you supporting you stands Raphael, God's angel of healing, and over your head, surrounding you, is the presence of the divine.

Intifada

2011-01-28T13:00:00.003-07:00

The PNAC neocons are likely to suggest that the US invasion of Iraq served as a catalyst for the uprisings and protests now sweeping the Middle East. Glenn Beck will refer to an organized Islamic conspiracy to unite all Moslem nations under one banner and take over the world. Rush Limbaugh will say that Democrats are behind the unrest as part of a plan to insure Obama’s re-election. Sarah Palin will tweet that the fuss has to do with Michelle Obama’s efforts to curb childhood obesity.

The reality of course has nothing to do with any of the above. The demonstrations and riots are about brutal economic oppression and the growing inequality between rich and poor, fueled by increasing outrage over unemployment, food inflation, corruption, freedom of speech, and poor living conditions.

Egypt is currently capturing the limelight, but this is bigger than Egypt, where what is happening would probably not be taking place without the recent development in Tunisia, which overthrew President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali on January 14. Granted, Egypt is no Tunisia, but the events are connected and extend across the region. At least ten self-immolation attempts occurred in Algeria just in the week from January 12 to January 19, most associated with the lack of housing. In Jordon, protesters enraged over widespread hunger called for Prime Minister Samir Rifai to step down with cries, “Beware of our starvation and fury!”

Though small, protests in Jordon occurred today as well. In Yemen, protests occurred in multiple cities including Sanaa University where a slogan read, “Leave before you are forced to leave.”

Protesters have also set themselves on fire in Mauritania and Saudi Arabia. Sudan is facing a secessionist referendum, and across the Mediterranean, Albania is facing increasing pressure from its opposition parties.

Boston.com has a terrific sequence of photographs of the developments in Tunisia, Lebanon, and Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak’s grasp is slipping. Facebook pages called for January 25 to be a "day of revolution against torture, poverty, corruption, and unemployment." Egypt has virtually shut down all Internet, all cell phones, all messaging, and it has brought in the army to clamp down on the crowds. Curiously, many of the protesters think the army is on their side.

From a Daily Beast article on Egypt:

Dalia Ziada, a popular 29-year-old Egyptian blogger, noted, "Men and women are standing side-by-side in calling for their rights."

You don’t see political flags [in the crowds],” said Ahmed Samih, an activist who directs an Internet radio station in Cairo. “You don’t see the Muslim Brotherhood. You see Egyptians. You see the flags of Egyptians all over the place."

Or as Ziada put it: "All you have is an idea."

Marco Vicenzino, director of the Global Strategy Project, is suggesting that Mubarak, 82, step down peacefully in a way the prevents additional bloodshed, including his own.

Of course, countries like Iran don't have to worry about anything like this.

The Unintended

2011-01-26T21:45:00.006-07:00

(Unintended Consequences, Lee Roy Beach) Everyone knows various versions of the tale where one obtains what one has long desired, but instead of the anticipated fulfillment, the results are unforeseen and sometimes disastrous. Remember Terry Jones, the minister who announced plans to burn the Qur'an? He got the attention he wanted, with unintended consequences.

Many in the GOP have been screaming for the last two years about what they would like to burn. Their takeover of the House has already generated seismic shifts in national sentiments and the electricity in the network of the nation's political discourse. John Boehner is Speaker of the House, a house with a considerable number of tea party candidates.

Rand Paul and Michele Bachmann are making proposals. Paul's include eliminating the Affordable Housing Program, the Commission on Fine Arts, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the State Justice Institute. He would also eliminate the Consumer Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, the Department of Education, and slash others as follows:

Legislative branch -- 23%
Federal courts -- 32%
Agriculture Department -- 30%
Commerce Department -- 54%
Health and Human Services -- 26%
Homeland Security -- 43%
Interior Department -- 78%

Oh, and eliminate food stamps.

Bachmann's ideas add: cap Veterans Affairs health care spending, privatize the Transportation Safety Administration, Federal Aviation Administration and Amtrak, repeal the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to leasing.

The ideas of these new representatives don't feel the same as they did when spoken at tea party rallies.

Obama's numbers are climbing (1/13-17/2011 NBC-WSJ poll), but this occurred before the State of the Union, which has only fortified his numbers. What initiated the jump? The tragedy in Tucson? Without question the horrific violence shed the hateful rhetoric in a different light, but his eulogy at the University of Arizona, even with the country's tendency to come together after a tragedy, seems insufficient to shift his approval numbers so dramatically.

The GOP's victory in the House replaced its bash Pelosi privileges with a job. It also installs President Obama as the most visible and reliable line of defense against people who apparently want to return this country to the Stone Age. Unlike Jones, Speaker Boehner doesn't have the option to proclaim, "Never mind!" and tell his folks to take the signs down and go home.

Now seen as a voice of reason and intellect protecting a center against extremism, Obama becomes the face of progress so hard won over two centuries. This will continue to fuel approval of his presidency and dramatically enhances his re-election bid in 2012.

Empty Chair

2011-01-25T21:35:00.002-07:00

Ever since Gabrielle Giffords was elected to Congress, when I watched various events where Congress was assembled, in particular the President's State of the Union address, I would look into the audience just to see if I might catch a glimpse of her in her seat.

I never found her place.

Until tonight.

I never imagined that when I would find her place at the President's State of the Union address, it would be empty.

Shutting Up Sarah

2011-01-19T00:15:00.003-07:00

Sarah Palin is boasting that liberals cannot get her to shut up.

Her assertion is misleading, implying that somehow this particular distinction applies only to liberals.

Truth be told, conservatives have precisely the same inability to shut her up.

Moderates have also demonstrated that they have no capacity whatsoever to get Sarah Palin to shut up.

In fact, God, Jesus, Buddha, Allah, and the Dalai Lama have all acknowledged that they have been and remain unable to get Sarah Palin to shut up.

In an exclusive interview with Enlightenment Magazine, God noted, "We've pretty much reached the conclusion that even Sarah Palin can't get Sarah Palin to shut up."

Gautama Siddhattha Buddha added, "For Sarah Palin to shut up would be a contradiction of form and essence."

Jesus Christ wept, "Every time I hear that bitch I'm reminded of what it was like to feel forsaken."

The Blood of Patriots

2011-01-17T22:00:00.008-07:00

Last week a white male Catholic Republican Federal Judge saw his friend, a Jewish Democratic Congresswoman, shot in the head just before he was murdered. A 20-year-old Mexican-American gay college student saved the Congresswoman's life, allowing for emergency surgery by a Korean American combat surgeon. Days later, the world watched an African American President eulogize the fallen.
Circulating online, multiplying sources/variations.

On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.
Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated 4/4/1968.

When we are mowed down by you, we multiply.
Tertullian

Snake Bite

2011-01-15T20:00:00.013-07:00

If you dance with a snake, you're going to get bit.
Anonymous

Naval air veteran Eric Fuller, 63, was shot in the knee and the back at the January 8 supermarket shooting. Fuller attended a gathering at St. Odilia's Catholic Church in northwest Tucson for Christiane Amanpour's "This Week" program on ABC.

Tucson tea party leader Trent Humphries also attended the event, and apparently Fuller took exception to his presence, taking his picture and shouting, "You're dead!"

I don't know what Framer said or did that set Fuller off, but in his recent Guardian interview, Humphries suggested his tea party efforts were also a victim of the shooting, as if the nature of the rhetoric associated with his efforts had no role. He also questioned Giffords lack of security at the event (?!) which not surprisingly inflamed Blog for Arizona.

Authorities removed Fuller from the premises, who faces charges of disorderly conduct, threats and intimidation. Humphries must press the charges or they will be dropped.

According to the latest CNN article, Humphries will not press charges, saying that he doesn't want to do anything to heighten tensions after the shooting. Regarding Fuller, The New York Times coverage of today's incident suggests the shooting may be a tragic blow to an already fragile mental health situation.

Many speak of the political rhetoric going ballistic after the election of Barack Obama, but hindsight reveals that the escalation (not that it hasn't been escalating for years) began in earnest with Sarah Palin's speech at the GOP convention, where her dismissive contempt for a "community organizer" peppered with other inflammatory soundbites launched us on the hate fest we've enjoyed for the last two years. Naturally, facts and reality were the first casualty in this orgy of shrill vilification.

Framer and I go a ways back, and what's happening is breaking my heart on many levels. The fact is that neither Framer nor his group had anything to do with the shooting.

But in a world where Obama is a Nazi communist witch doctor born on the planet Vega, so effing what?

Sunday: Frank Rich has a New York Times piece, No One Listened to Gabrielle Giffords, that just nails this sorry state of affairs - spot on.

Catch-22

2011-01-14T00:15:00.008-07:00

Conversations kill.
The Big Empty - Stone Temple Pilots

Everyone gets that talk of 2nd amendment solutions and cross hairs didn’t cause a Tucson lunatic to go postal. The guy who pulled the trigger would probably associate the name "Sarah" with a cheesecake.

Instead of tying a specific instance of violence to political rhetoric, a more accurate interpretation of the national response is that a giant alarm blasted a signal many could hear, awakening them to what has been around since Obama's election, “Holy shit! We’ve got national leaders pasting gun sights over elected officials! We’ve got people talking about bullets replacing ballots! Republicans think Obama’s an extra-terrestrial!”

Caught with their claws elbow deep in the vitriol jar, the hate mongers are pleading for everyone to stop pointing fingers, “We didn’t do it! We hate violence! Not our fault!”

The crime is the act of the criminal and the criminal alone. Sarah said so on Wednesday so it must be true. No one else is responsible. We’re not connected. Our words and images don't influence each other. Doctored photos showing our president as a witch doctor, a Nazi, a butcher, a demon, a clown, a monster are harmless. No worries about those Palin rallies where crowds were whipped into shouts of "Kill him!" regarding the black monster who "pals around with terrorists seeking to kill Americans."

It's all good fun in politics.

Say this blog had an audience as large as Beck's or Limbaugh's or Palin's. Is it fine if I publish provocative images with moving paragraphs about the victims and strong assertions about who has blood on her keyboard? Would it be responsible for me to note that it’s less than $500 to fly into Anchorage? Take the Glenn Highway north out of Anchorage about 40 miles into Wasilla. Make a left at Lucas Road and another left onto Nevada. 1140 W. Parks Hwy is right there.

A motivated criminal can locate this information in seconds, and crimes are committed by criminals alone. There's no issue with my conveniently packaging it for an audience of millions and any particular kook who might be among those millions. It isn't dangerous at all.

Now Sarah's getting death threats, and I guess it's not fun anymore. Palin staffer Rebecca Mansour asserts, "When you start to accuse people of having the blood of innocent people on their hands, it incites violence."

Huh? What about that criminal acting alone stuff? You mean I shouldn't have posted the above? Which is it? What about the accusation that someone pals around with terrorists seeking to kill Americans? What does that incite? Weenie roasts at parks?

So Sarah can dish out buckets of venom at will, and the death threats and / or violence her targets experience are the result of criminals having nothing to do with her rhetoric. That's free speech. If someone flings as much as a teaspoon of sentiment that her activities may be culpable in people getting hurt, that's blood libel.

March 21-26, 2010

2011-01-12T00:15:00.001-07:00

Congress passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act on Sunday, March 21, 2010. That night, the Pima/Swan office of Congresswoman Giffords was vandalized. On Thursday, 3/25, Sarah Palin posted her now infamous "Take Back the 20" map featuring cross hairs targeting 20 members of Congress who supported the bill. The map made me sick, and convinced that this was the sort of thing that would get people killed, I posted Retreating, Reloading, and Aiming. That Friday, 3/26, conservative and former Palin supporter Elizabeth Hasselbeck addressed Palin's map on The View.

Later that same day, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords spoke to MSNBC about the vandalism, the increasingly violent rhetoric, and Palin's cross hairs. The video below offers the full five minute interview, not the one cut to the brief remark about the map. The video says A LOT.

Three Targeted Reps

2011-01-11T00:15:00.003-07:00

Shushannah Walshe has a good piece discussing the three Arizona representatives targeted on Sarah Palin's cross-hairs map, Ann Kirkpatrick, Harry Mitchell, and Gabrielle Giffords.

Remember that this map was published during the spring of 2010 during the height of the health care debate when the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and Fox Inc., were whipping the information challenged into a complete frenzy with notions of Gestapo squads coming to haul granny off to death camps. Remember when Giffords office was vandalized? Remember the gunshot at Grijalva's office? Remember the racial slurs and the spitting? Remember the Swastikas? Remember the talk about "Second Amendment solutions" and the images of guns at rallies? Remember radio host Joyce Kauffman, "If ballots don't work, bullets will."

All three AZ reps received threatening letters and phone calls. The following two messages were left at Harry Mitchell's office (phone) shortly after the publication of the cross hair map:

I cannot tell you how much I wish a panty bomber would come in and just fucking blow your place up.

I’m gonna tie you up and disembowel you with a rusty pitchfork.

All three had to suspend and/or cancel town hall style meetings because they descended into unproductive shout-fests. Mitchell said, "They don’t want to have a discussion of any kind. They just want to yell at you."

Mitchell staffer Rob Sherwood observed, "You are not just wrong on the issue, you are a scumbag, you are evil. When someone believes that about you, it dehumanizes you to a certain extent. A thought like that in the hands of someone who is maybe unstable could lead straight to violent action."

Remember the memo distributed to right wing groups?

Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”

Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”

Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.

The process is neither new nor complicated. Whip the kooks into a seething blather of unbridled rage. Somewhere in the sea of hatred a nut job will come unglued. Then, when the nut job goes postal, dismiss his actions as those of an isolated mental case. See? There's no connection, no connection at all. He's just a kook. He got the idea to shoot her from the back of a Wheaties box.

"Don’t retreat. RELOAD!!"
Sarah Palin Facebook and Website, March 2010

"Get on target for victory in November Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shoot a fully automatic M-16 with Jesse Kelly"
Sarah Palin Website, June 2010

Well, after years of speeches, countless tweets and other web content, now all of a sudden we get:

“I hate violence.”
Sarah Palin email to Glenn Beck, January 10, 2011

It gets better. About the cross-hair map, Palin staffer Rebecca Mansour has declared, "We never ever, ever intended it to be gun sights."

Not gun sights? After all of this, those little symbols represent what? Pizzas?

I kid the reader not, Mansour has answered the question. Know what those cross-hairs were supposed to represent while you're shooting that "fully automatic M-16" with Giffords opponent Jesse Kelly?

They were surveyor's symbols.

The Killa from Wasilla

2011-01-10T00:15:00.002-07:00

Bloody Knees

2011-01-09T08:45:00.007-07:00

Barring the complications of swelling, infection, or other issues, the odds continue to climb that Congresswoman Giffords will survive her gunshot wound to the head. Naturally, her supporters and loved ones are praying that the Gabrielle that survives is the same Gabby they know and love. In churches across the country, including mine, congregations will be speaking and praying for her speedy and complete recovery.

Three staff members were also shot. Ron Barber and Pam Simon are expected to survive. Director of Community Outreach, Gabe Zimmerman, 30, was killed.

The others killed include 9 year old Christina-Taylor Green, 63 year old U.S. District Judge John Roll, and three retirees.

The southern Arizona political blogosphere has seen its traffic explode as the entire planet conducts searches on the Congresswoman and the shooting. The analytics I am seeing suggest that internet traffic is also inquiring on the violent rhetoric and the increasingly hysterical language being used at political events. In his press conference yesterday, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik didn't hold back regarding his outrage at the irresponsibly violent and hate stroking speech of talk radio and media figures. We know exactly who he means.

Some of us have been discussing this for some time. I posted Dancing with a Snake in January of 2009 and the T-shirt post in April 2009. I'm not clear why the search engines are grabbing it, but searches (and links put on Facebook pages I cannot access) are sending a lot of traffic to a 3/25/2010 blog entry Retreating, Reloading, and Aiming. It discusses Sarah Palin's reprehensible map of the country featuring the cross hairs of a rifle scope targeting members of Congress. The three cross hairs were targeting Ann Kirkpatrick, Harry Mitchell, and yes, Congresswoman Giffords. From that piece:

Using the intentionally inflammatory rhetoric of gun violence, Palin advises followers, "Don't retreat. Reload!"

She uses cross hair imagery on political opponents. This is actually happening. I think we've passed the point of no return to where real bullets are going to enter the picture.

Congresswoman Giffords Shot

2011-01-08T11:55:00.007-07:00

Anyone paying the slightest attention to the news now knows that a gunman opened fire at a northwest Tucson Safeway this morning where Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was holding a public event. The latest word is that the gunman fired many shots rapidly and has wounded at least five and perhaps as many as twelve people. Most disturbingly, I heard via phone call that Giffords was shot in the head. I don't have any confirmation of this.

The news is still saying nothing about her condition or the nature of her injuries, but it is confirming that Giffords has been flown to University Medical Center via medivac, which is not a good sign.

Okay - the news has just confirmed that she was shot in the head.

May folks say a prayer in support of this well meaning and dedicated public servant.

Update: NPR is now reporting that Gabrielle Giffords has died, but Sheriff Clarence Dupnik is saying that she is still alive. Pray hard.

Update (2:25 PM Tucson time): Gabrielle is clearly alive, now out of surgery but in critical condition. The surgeon expressed "optimism" that she will live. Word is that a federal judge and five others are dead, including someone on her staff.

Update (2:35 PM): The shooter has been identified as Jared Loughner, a 22 year old Caucasian, and that Giffords is responding to doctors and expected to live.

GOP Congress Lists Goals/Objectives

2011-01-07T00:15:00.004-07:00

Now that the Tea Party and the GOP are running the House, it's time to get the country back to its glory days when the right men were men and the rest did what they were told. Here are components of their 38 Point "Blueprint for a Better America." The first item occurred today.

1. Read the US Constitution on the House Floor.
2. Investigate Obama’s mama.

3. Eliminate health care for those making under $250,000 per year.
4. Re-read the Constitution on the House Floor.
5. Eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency.
6. Investigate Obama’s papa.
7. Ban Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, Mother Jones, Wikipedia, and Oprah.
8. Require all legislation to cite the Constitution.
9. Ban the monitoring of global temperatures.

10. Eliminate the Department of Education and outsource education to the Sarah Palin Channel.
11. Implement daily reading of the Constitution on the Sarah Palin channel.
12. Investigate Obama’s eighth grade social studies teacher.
13. Invade North Korea.
14. Paste copies of the Constitution in all Capital hallways and restroom stalls.
15. Outlaw yoga, meditation, tofu, birth control, flip flops, thong underwear, and the Oxygen channel.
16. Invade South Africa.
17. Outlaw ethnic studies and ban, confiscate, and destroy all copies of films produced outside the United States.

18. Ban all languages but English. Implement mandatory 5 year federal prison terms for persons caught writing or speaking a "foreign" language.
19. Outsource the federal prison system to Liz Cheney owned and operated CLC ("Confined Labor Center") Enterprises. While taxpayers fund inmate incarceration, CLC keeps the proceeds from the sales of inmate produced goods.
20. Make homosexuality a crime subject to a life sentence at a CLC prison.

21. Raze all mosques and synagogues and replace them with good Christian churches.
22. Invade East Libya.
23. Erect a "Constitution Altar" next to the Lincoln Memorial. Place golden tablets featuring the Constitution in platinum letters at the center of the altar.
24. Invade West El Salvador.
25. Eliminate the federal income tax and enact a national sales tax of 25%. Provide sales tax waivers for homes over $5M, room and restaurant charges at resorts, SUV’s, yachts, aircraft, firearms and ammo, Bibles, and copies of the US Constitution. Tax food at 35% and medicine at 50%.
26. Conduct swearing in ceremonies for federal office at the Constitution Altar.
27. Rewrite history books to exclude 1) the presence of Native Americans in North America, and 2) slavery. The books are to teach that North America was uninhabited prior to its discovery by Columbus and that the Civil War was about state’s rights. The wrong side won.

28. Implement worship services at the Constitution Altar every Sunday at 11 AM EST. Require all television programming to cover said service every week.
29. Repeal Amendments 11–27 of the Constitution. Have the Supreme Court declare that the First Amendment does not apply to the desecration of the US Flag, the US Constitution, or any copy of the Bible written in English.
30. Re-establish the gold standard for US currency and eliminate the Federal Reserve. Change US currency to read, "In our sacred Constitution we trust."
31. Repeal child labor laws and the minimum wage.
32. Establish September 17 as a national holy day honoring the Constitutional Convention. All businesses and government are to be closed. All members of Congress and their families are to attend a Noon-7PM worship service at the Constitution Altar.
33. Implement the "Guaranteed Employment Program" which orders all individuals aged 18–65 who draw unemployment for six months to report for mandatory duty in full time positions. For modest wages, they must work for designated contractors supporting the US military, law enforcement, corrections, CLC camps, or public works such as sanitation, sewage treatment plants, the postal service, and others.
34. Dismantle the Food and Drug Administration and allow corporations to manage the safety of their products.
35. Privatize the National Parks and sell off the national forests to the highest bidders in 600 acre parcels.

36. Implement the "Help for Hardship" Medical exchange program which authorizes cash payments for organ donations. Living individuals who fall on hard times can donate a kidney, an eye, a single lung, and other body parts in exchange for cash. Families can choose to donate any and all useful organs of a dying family member for cash settlements. The program also allows the use of a promised organ donation to serve as collateral for loans.
37. Pass the "Caveat Emptor Act" making it impossible to sue manufacturers or producers for damages caused by issues with the products purchased.
38. Eliminate all campaign finance regulation and allow individuals seeking public office unlimited financing of their campaigns with freedom and privacy.

Carol Somers

2011-01-03T21:00:00.008-07:00

Former AZ Representative Carol Somers (R: LD-13) died peacefully December 30, 2010 after a battle with brain cancer. I've been told she was ready and prepared to leave this world. May her wonderful husband Mike, who has heroically provided loving support at her side from start to finish, find solace and support from friends and loved ones.

Among other causes she supported as an elected official, Carol was a workforce development champion committed to helping local Tucsonans improve their skills and wages. I met Carol in 2002 shortly after she became the Chair of the Board of The Southern Arizona Institute of Advanced Technology (SAIAT). Under her leadership, the board implemented critically needed changes and transformed the agency from a marginally effective (and heavily subsidized) training institute into an extraordinary organization that served over 100 employers and trained over 10,000 employees per year, requiring only a fraction of the public subsidy needed by the earlier version. Without Carol, the place would have closed in 2003.

Instead, it became something truly valuable and prospered until 2007. When TREO stole its funding and shot it out of the sky, I resigned. Carol, not yours truly, remained with the crippled plane and guided it to the ground.

Carol was one of the increasingly rare Republicans committed to improving the government instead of dismantling it. She contributed to those efforts seeking a world that works for everyone and not just the fortunate few. May she now reside in a better place.

Christmas – A Winter Solstice History

2010-12-21T00:00:00.004-07:00

The events that led to modern day Christmas began over 4000 years ago, with most credible scholars pointing first to the Akitu Festival, the Mesopotamian New Year, which featured a 12 day feast called Zagmuk honoring their god, Marduk. The tradition included the notion that the current king should die at the end of the year, join Marduk in the afterlife, and do battle with the monsters of chaos.

To spare their king, instead they selected a known criminal and made him king for a day. The criminal enjoyed royal status and privileges for a day. Then he was ceremonially executed.

Many Winter Solstice Festivals occurred. The Persians and Babylonians celebrated a festival called Sacaea, a day where slaves and masters would trade places. Meanwhile, early Europe associated the Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year, with evil spirits and monsters, and held rituals and celebrations to welcome the return of the sun. In northern most Europe (in particular, Scandinavia), the sun would literally disappear for a period of weeks. Scouts would climb the mountains to seek the sun. When it returned, a great festival was held. This festival was called the Yule or Yuletide. People tied apples to the branches of trees to remind them that spring would return.

To the south in ancient Greece, like the Mesopotamians, the New Year festival was associated with a god (Kronos) doing battle with other gods, namely Zeus. In Rome, the god was Saturn and the festival known as Saturnalia. The Romans had fun, with parade like celebrations in the streets, feasts, visiting friends, and the exchange of good luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits). The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles and also did the master/slave swap for a day. Saturnalia was huge.

During the first century C.E. a small set of Jews started working on a document that would become the New Testament. Modern day Christians have a tendency to forget that the first Christians were Jews as was Christ himself. The earliest writings, written by the apostle Paul, consisted of a series of letters addressed to various entities like Galatians, Thessalonians, etc. Writings considered to be written by James (brother of Christ) also occurred this early. Different groups maintained their own oral traditions. Mark came later, and then Matthew, Luke, and John later still (as well as many that were not included). Christians aligned behind the four gospel version with the pronouncement of Bishop Irenæus (185 C.E.)

In terms of original sources for the New Testament, we've got nothing in Aramaic, the language spoken by Christ and the disciples. The first and most influential writer, Paul of Tarsus, wrote (dictated) his letters in Koine or common language, the Hellenistic Greek of his day. This was the lingua franca, the international language needed by any man in public life or one traveling or writing, spread by the armies of Alexander and the Hellenistic kingdoms, which succeeded his empire.

Everything we have consists of later Greek translations. The oldest complete text, Codex Sinaiticus, (4th century), and the oldest fragments found (2nd century) are Greek translations. We don't have what they wrote. We have what others wrote while translating and interpreting what they wrote with an intent that may have been scholastically and linguistically rigorous - or not.

We know that Jews were deeply devoted to their Torah and the Old Testament. The early Christians, being Jews, were those most committed to the Messiah prophesies, in particular the writings of Isaiah, and especially Isaiah 53:5:

But he was wounded because of our crimes, Crushed because of our sins; the disciplining that makes us whole fell on him, and by his bruises we are healed.

Relying on the Greek translations, these writers provide different accounts of the birth of Christ. Paul’s letters focus on the life of Christ and the crucifixion, saying nothing about a virgin birth. Mark, the earliest gospel, also says nothing about such a birth and actually calls Jesus the "son of Joseph."

Matthew and Luke, however, present detailed accounts of a virgin birth of Christ. The two gospels are so similar that biblical scholars have theorized the Q Source, a lost document on which Matthew and Luke are based. The material was consistent with many stories at the time with many common elements: a virgin birth of a savior/god, a manger (in some versions a barn or a cave) with animals, visiting kings with gifts, and the guiding star overhead.

Marduk was a virgin birth as were numerous Hindu gods as was the Buddha. Roman Mithraism was the most popular religion at the time, featuring the tale of Romulus and Remus, which told that great men must be conceived by gods rather than regular mortals. Occam's Razor - odds are that Mary conceived her son the old fashioned way, and that the virgin birth story was added later. Does it matter?

As Christianity started to grow in earnest throughout Rome, the Christians had no fondness for the "Jo, Saturnalia!" celebrations honoring a pagan god. The early Christians wanted a solemn, religious holiday honoring the birth of Christ, which they believed to be December 25. Responding to the continuing celebration of pagan customs, the Church forbid its followers from participating. Right. When the participation continued, the Church did its best to tame the more wild aspects of the party and convert it into a joyous celebration of the birth of Christ, accepting the merriment, the lights, the giving of gifts, and the feasts from Saturnalia.

The New Testament provided a great story to celebrate at this time as well as the imagery for the nativity scene, and by the 12th century, people were displaying such scenes as part of the Christmas decorations, and The Twelve Days of Christmas (note - not a twelve day feast) were implemented in liturgical calendars, 12/25 - 1/5. People had the festival with dinners, pageants, gift giving, and games.

Most scholars agree that December 25 is not the actual date for the birth of Christ. Quoting Luke 2:8 (And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.), some argue he must have been born in the fall since no flock would be out in the fields at night after September.

We do know that in 350 C.E. Julius I, a powerful Bishop of Rome, declared December 25th as the observance of Christmas. Roman Emperor Constantine, who had converted to Christianity, sought to have pagans and Christians celebrate together by incorporating the rituals together. With church support and the Emperor’s power, the winter celebrations became almost entirely associated with the birth of Christ.

Around this same time lived Bishop Nicholas of Smyrna in what is now Turkey. Nicholas was very wealthy and generous and adored children. At Christmas time he would throw gifts into the houses of poor children. The Bishop became a patron Saint of children and seafarers and was granted the title "Saint Nicholas."

In addition to the St. Nicholas legend, the pagan roots of the Germanic holiday Yule referred to the indigenous Norse God Odin, who rode a great horse named Sleipnir that could leap great distances in the air. Odin had long white hair with a long white beard. Children would fill their boots with carrots or straw and place them near the chimney for Sleipnir to eat. As a reward, Odin would replace the food in the boots with gifts. As the Christian version developed in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, the boots became stockings hung by the chimney, Odin morphed into St. Nicholas, and the eight legs of the great horse became eight reindeer. Rudolph did not arrive until much later.

Saint Nicholas. Sint Nikolaas. Sinter klaas.

Santa Claus.

The Reformation occurred and produced these people called Protestants (protest-ant - one who protests), and did these people ever love to get hot and bothered and worked up about whatever had the good fortune to wind up in their cross hairs.

Christmas did. Many Protestants, in particular the Puritans, blasted the celebration of Christmas as a "Catholic invention," the "rags of the Beast" (Beast=Satan), "a festival with no biblical justification." Christmas was a time of "wasteful and immoral behavior."

When the very Protestant Puritans prevailed over Charles I in England, they banned Christmas in 1647. Fighting ensued including riots, and the open celebration of Christmas became dangerous. In 1660, Charles II was restored to power. He ended the official ban, but many years would pass before the holiday's popularity would return.

Like those in England, the Puritans in America despised Christmas. In Boston, Christmas was outlawed from 1659 to 1681. Unmoved by their sentiments, the ruling English Governor (we are 100 years before the revolution) Sir Edmund Andros ended the ban, but uneasy folks refrained from outward celebrations for decades. To the south in New York, Maryland, and Virginia, as well as the German settlers of Pennsylvania, people happily celebrated Christmas openly and without reservation.

To this day, you can find the descendants of the Protestants in America pounding their fists and carrying signs about something they don't like, usually stuff about sex (homosexuality, fornication, pornography, woman's rights), or sort of about sex (suggestive music, movies, TV shows), or about religions that differ from their own, or about things that just plain irritate them (yoga, tai chi, vegetarians).

The American Revolution caused many Americans to lose their taste for Christmas, now considered an English custom, and George Washington, knowing that Christmas was far more popular in Germany, attacked German mercenaries as they were sleeping off a Christmas feast in 1777. While an intriguing tale, whether the Germans were full of food or liquor remains in dispute. In either case, the Christmas timing certainly didn't hurt. Washington's victory inspired a weak American army on the verge of collapse.

Puritan hostility combined with anti-English sentiments following the revolution led to the decline of Christmas in the United States, and by 1820 the holiday was on the brink of extinction. It would be saved by the power of the pen. Author Washington Irving supported the recognition of Christmas with short stories, but more significantly, Clement Clarke Moore wrote a poem that would become famous throughout the globe, A Visit from St. Nicholas, which began, "Twas the night before Christmas."

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

The poem firmly cemented the tying of Christmas to the exchange of gifts and a jolly gift bearing St. Nick with presents for the children. Ironically, it was a British novelist who became perhaps the one individual most responsible for saving the holiday in the United States. In 1843, Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, a tale about an old miser named Ebeneezer Scrooge who is visited by three Christmas ghosts. Dickens re-contextualized Christmas to be about generosity and family, goodwill towards others, and introduced the expression, "Merry Christmas!"

I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.

Their faithful Friend and Servant,
C. D.
December, 1843.

Perhaps as powerful as the story, it's title and the notion of the Christmas carol became fully distinguished. Just ten years earlier William B. Sandys had published Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833), which printed for everyone for the first time the songs, The First Noel, I Saw Three Ships, Hark the Herald Angels Sing and God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, which Dickens featured in his book.

The heart rendering story and songs took the American psyche by storm. The generosity of the spirit, the celebration of life, family and friends, the transformation of Scrooge, all tapped into forces dating back to Mesopotamia. These energies overwhelmed the somber, dull puritan Christian version, and the shift from an emphasis on the birth of Christ to these other factors was unstoppable. Christian churches found themselves in a position where there was going to be a Christmas celebration and a popular one, Christ or no Christ. They chose the former.

While the practice of placing candles in evergreen trees occurred earlier in northern Europe, symbolizing the return of spring, British royalty started using a Christmas Tree in the early 1800s. By 1840, all of Britain decorated a tree for Christmas. A picture of a royal decorated tree was published in 1848 in England, and one appeared in the United States in 1850. By the start of the Civil War, fourteen states had adopted Christmas as a legal holiday. Ten years later, in 1870, Christmas became a United States Federal holiday, and Christmas trees were ubiquitous during the holiday season.

Rekindled by Clement Clarke Moore's poem about the night before Christmas, the legend of St. Nicholas gained energy, and his image was modified, both in the poem, but also significantly by the cartoon illustrations of Thomas Nast, who based an image of St. Nicholas not on a 4th century bishop in robes, but on the Norse god Odin with the white hair and beard, and made him fat. The January 3, 1863 publication of Harper's Weekly contained an illustration that embedded image into the imagination of the country.

In 1897, after her friends told her that Santa Claus did not exist, eight year old Virginia O’Hanlon confronted her father on the matter. He suggested she write to The Sun, a prominent New York City newspaper at the time. One of the paper's editors, Francis Pharcellus Church, who witnessed unspeakable horrors as a war correspondent during the Civil War, chose to answer the question in a philosophical context, Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

More than a century later, his response remains the most reprinted editorial ever to run in any newspaper in the English language.

(The original 1931 Coca-Cola ad in the Saturday Evening Post) By the early 1900's, numerous illustrations of St. Nicholas were appearing in magazines making the coat red, the boots and belt black, and an even fatter physique. Seeking to bolster its sales, the Coca-Cola company hired a talented commercial illustrator name Haddon Sundblom, who in the early 30's produced the image that remains with us today. That Coke created Santa Claus (the whole enchilada) is an urban legend actually believed by a surprising number of Americans, who, amazingly, are unaware that Moore's poem was written over a century before the ad campaign widely published Sundblom's Santa.

Only in 1939 did the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer arrive. Copywriter Robert L. May wrote a poem about Santa's having a ninth, lead reindeer featuring a "nose so bright" that it could lead Santa through the dark night. The entirely commercial venture was launched to entice Christmas shoppers into the Montgomery Ward department store.

Most Christians enjoy the view that Christmas is indeed a holiday starting and ending about the celebration of the birth of Christ, and many complain about the commercialization of the holiday. The fact is that the holiday is profoundly pagan, and some Christians, aware of this reject the holiday outright.

Christmas Quotes:

Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart...filled it, too, with melody that would last forever.
Bess Streeter Aldrich

Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.
Oren Arnold

I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year. As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year. And thus I drift along into the holidays--let them overtake me unexpectedly--waking up some fine morning and suddenly saying to myself: 'Why this is Christmas Day!'
Ray Stannard Baker

The perfect Christmas tree? All Christmas trees are perfect!
Charles N. Barnard

There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.
Erma Bombeck

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.
Peg Bracken

The earth has grown old with its burden of care But at Christmas it always is young, The heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair And its soul full of music breaks the air, When the song of angels is sung.
Phillips Brooks

Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given--when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes.
Joan Winmill Brown

This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone.
Taylor Caldwell

Remember, if Christmas isn't found in your heart, you won't find it under a tree.
Charlotte Carpenter

To the American People: Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.
Calvin Coolidge

Christmas, in its final essence, is for grown people who have forgotten what children know. Christmas is for whoever is old enough to have denied the unquenchable spirit of man.
Margaret Cousins

Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it 'white'.
Bing Crosby

It is the personal thoughtfulness, the warm human awareness, the reaching out of the self to one's fellow man that makes giving worthy of the Christmas spirit.
Isabel Currier

I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
Charles Dickens

Something about an old-fashioned Christmas is hard to forget.
Hugh Downs

They err who thinks Santa Claus comes down through the chimney; he really enters through the heart.
Mrs. Paul M. Ell

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.
W. T. Ellis

Christmas, my child, is love in action.
Dale Evans

Do give books - religious or otherwise - for Christmas. They're never fattening, seldom sinful, and permanently personal.
Lenore Hershey

My first copies of Treasure Island and Huckleberry Finn still have some blue-spruce needles scattered in the pages. They smell of Christmas still.
Charlton Heston

To the American People: Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.Calvin Coolidge

I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world.Norman Vincent Peale

Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves.Eric Sevareid

Remember, if Christmas isn't found in your heart, you won't find it under a tree.
Charlotte Carpenter

Mankind is a great, an immense family. This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas.
Pope John XXIII

The only real blind person at Christmas-time is he who has no Christmas in his heart.Helen Keller

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.
Washington Irving

Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty, for in it are born our art, our science, our religion.
Ralph Sockman

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.
Peg Bracken

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
Burton Hillis

Many Christians believe that without the birth of Christ, the holiday wouldn't exist, and that Christmas is about the hope and rebirth that Christ represents.

The ideas of hope and rebirth date as far back as humanity and the dark of winter, but that's okay. In the spirit of Christmas, I say we refrain from argument when Christians tell us the holidays grew out of their religion and the birth of its savior. Christmas is meant to be shared.

Merry Christmas, Everyone.

Peddling Cloth

2010-12-14T22:45:00.003-07:00

AZ Star Reporter Rob O'Dell has a Twilight Zone story about a Downtown Tucson Partnership presentation this week. Queue up the music and Rod Serling's voice.

During a presentation from Downtown Tucson Partnership Chief Executive Officer Michael Keith, Mayor Bob Walkup declared the corner of East Congress Street and North Toole Avenue as “the hottest entertainment spot in the country.”

Keith gave a presentation that said there has been $120 million in private investment downtown in the past 30 months. Keith said a developer from Austin who had also worked Albuquerque, told him that Tucson is the only downtown in the country where things are going on right now.

Keith said he couldn’t remember the developer’s name.

The private sector investment is so strong, Keith said, that he expected private investors to come to the city soon to build a downtown hotel and arena with private money.

Uh, what? Did we not just read about the Hotel Arizona's imminent closure in the face of occupancy rates below 10%?

The assertions in red are precisely what the Cloth is and does. Seriously, and I mean seriously, read the statements like a mathematician, a physicist, and think. Really. THINK. Believe them? Really. I am not joking. Do you believe what those two men said? Got data? Spreadsheets? Anything?

In their echo chamber of circular cheer leading and clapping for naked emperors, such statements can fly amongst smiles and friendly congratulations.

As Cigar Man likes to say, "Just when I thought it couldn't get any clearer."

Travis Clarifies Cloth Conversation

2010-12-09T19:00:00.007-07:00

While his comments here are very rare, the intelligent and insightful commenter Travis has written quite a response to my criticism of the MTCVB and the the salaries of its top two officers. More importantly, his comments present perhaps the best material I've read regarding the Cloth and its destructive influence in Tucson. I present his remarks below, and they point to the kind of dialog that is so desperately needed in this community and so lacking. For those interested in matters Cloth, what Travis wrote is must read material:

I’m in a different place on this one. Well, torn, actually. May I ask some questions that clarify, but not necessarily defend?

x4mr’s usually intelligent postings feel here incomplete. Almost like things were trending toward mob mentality where otherwise poignant questions about the functions/finances of a community organization are free license to spray-paint the “cloth” on the doors and begin the lynching.

That “cloth” label is appearing more and more in the comments sections of our local news outlets. That might take away from its efficacy and the real understanding of the meaning x4mr originally gave it.

I’ve eagerly followed x4mr’s questioning/tear-down of TREO and Rio Nuevo largely because it was about damn time.

I was involved as a committee member with GTEC (TREO’s predecessor) and departed in disgust at the absolute bullshit happening there. The organization was clearly doing pretty much what x4mr accuses TREO of. There was no real plan of action, lots of justifying funding by trumpeting “successes” (businesses coming to town) they had no real part in. Overblown salaries, numerous international trips to “forge relationships”, and a hell of a lot of golf. All capped off each year with a nifty PowerPoint for a packed La Paloma ballroom annual meeting where everyone slapped each other’s backs and marveled at the emperor’s snazzy new suit.

A collection of Tucson’s sharper minds realized nothing was getting done, so they worked some board-level magic, folded the organization, and created TREO to get to the many hearts of the issue and revamp the whole economic development scene. I will maintain here that, as messed up as the politics of this are, there remain true leaders, smart individuals, and hard workers involved at all levels who endeavor to improve our city’s lot. Problem is, they have to deal with the “cloth”, too, as they sit right alongside them on the boards and the staffs.

This means that both the well-intentioned and the “cloth” also carried onto the new organization. You can’t have one without the other. (Maybe x4mr can give us a catching name for the well-intentioned. Then we could pit “well-intentioned” against the cloth and we’d have a true good vs. evil story to tell.)

As much as I cringe at the personality involved (brace yourself; the man is incredibly articulate), I once attended a presentation by Newt Gingrich. An audience member challenged him on the inefficiency of our government. Why is everything it does so convoluted, slow, shamefully expensive, and often way off target? Why didn’t anyone just clean house and reorganize it all to be really effective so that we could address languishing issues in education, poverty, and the economy?

He stood back for a second and smiled, the history teacher in him rising to the surface.

“That inefficiency we love to complain about—and I’m right there with you—is actually a gift from our nation’s founding fathers,” he said.

He went on to explain that our open form of government was specifically meant to be a mess because that’s what prevents any one person or group from gaining too much power. It prevents dictatorships. Historically, those regimes that do gain too much power are labeled so that even those with the vaguest knowledge of history can gain from the inherent warnings: Caesar’s Rome. Nazi Germany.

Short version: Our open form of government requires that everyone has a voice and can participate. It makes things slow, frustrating, and diluted. However it prevents the real nastiness of totally efficient governments while allowing for some things only a government can really pull off. Along with this nifty freedom of speech, don’t we really kind of appreciate the U.S. mail, the Interstate highway system, and FAA air traffic control?

Oh, and this Internet thing is kinda cool, too.

On the local level, we have the same thing. Everyone gets a voice/to participate in the government and community organizations/efforts like Rio Nuevo, GTEC/TREO, and the MTCVB. And this is prone to creating inefficiency and occasionally a clusterf***.

In addition to the GTEC/TREO destruction/rebuild, I sat in on a number of the early (wow, 10+ years ago) Rio Nuevo planning meetings. It was an exciting thing, the community coming together to finally get a handle on revitalizing downtown. There were smart, experienced, and well-intentioned leaders involved. But you could also see the influence of those with only self-interest creeping in. Sadly, no clear leader emerged who could corral all the cats, the self-interested pulled the thing in all directions, and we ended up with cluster****. But Tucson’s long been saddled with the same bad group-think. Think placement of the ballpark, the giveaway of land to developers, or the exceedingly long-term failure to assemble any sort of cohesive transportation plan.

At least the Fox Theater is nice. Oh, wait, that was a private party effort, not actually part of Rio Nuevo.

TREO I’m undecided on. I know great individuals on both sides of that coin and they both make excellent points. Maybe it’s just messy and prone to some really dumb moves, as it’s torn in all kinds of political directions. (x4mr = all-too-familiar with that.) But, really, name one similar organization anywhere that has singlehandedly been responsible for the kind of overarching economic development TREO is charged with/aspires to. How the hell do you measure for that?

That brings me around to the MTCVB.

Of all the organizations lumped under Tucson’s “economic development” umbrella, the MTCVB has long been the best organized and seemingly most effective. Because I was once a member—dating back to before the time that current CEO Walker was hired—I have some solid knowledge of their purpose and inner workings. My experience with those other “cloth”-infested organizations had me impressed with this one.

A few facts:

1. Tourism is one of Tucson’s top revenue-generating industries. That means it currently employs many, many people AND brings dollars to our community, both in business profits and tax revenues. Though it can’t really support a downtown hotel, it’s one of the big ones that is actually working for us on a large scale.

2. A significant portion of the MTCVB’s funds come not from our tax dollars, but from a “bed tax” paid by those who visit our community and stay in hotels. This tax was instituted specifically to support the tourism industry in Tucson through its own efforts. More tourism = more bed taxes = more budget with which to promote tourism to Tucson. We all voted for that, as it makes some sense. We don’t pay this tax unless we stay in our own hotels. However, we DO pay bed taxes in other cities when we stay in their hotels. Stick it to the tourists, man.

3. The MTCVB’s membership is less “cloth” oriented and more focused on its industry. That includes many small restaurant, hotel, and other tourism-related business owners. That’s you and me. (Though Humberto “give me money for my crappy hotel or I shut it down and maybe lose you the gem shows” Lopez is part of that circle, too.)

4. Within its field, Tucson’s MTCVB is highly-regarded. In fact, their originally foray into online marketing set the initial standards for their sister organizations around the nation. It’s more than a web site; it’s a whole email/database marketing system. It’s also very efficient, as they are able to market directly to specific interests/market segments (i.e. golf, ecotourism, regions of the country/world, and age groups). At the time, it was cutting-edge to the point that the Tucson firm that built it for them packaged the technology and sold it to many other CVBs nationwide. All their numbers are closely tracked, including the number of calls made to their various 800- lines and web traffic. But that’s key: there are real numbers to look at.

Lest it sound like I’m defending them, I’ve heard rumblings the past few years from the right players suggesting that the MTCVB’s financials need some real looking into.

Here we are. As Warren Buffett put it, “A rising tide may raise all boats; but when the tide goes back out, you find out who’s been swimming naked.” It’s the upside to the down economy. We see which organizations ain’t doing things right. Fewer dollars to spread around mean we start asking better questions before we hand it over.

Instead of trying to argue for or against the MTCVB, I’d like to pose the questions that are occurring to me as I read these articles/watch the (cringe) Fox video:

1. The $2.3 million: Is this money the City gives to the MTCVB in addition to the “bed tax” dollars (which are specifically designated for this purpose)? If it is “in addition”, what would the MTCVB have to scale back/eliminate were this money no longer available? Would that have a realistic direct effect on the results they are achieving (if any) for Tucson?

2. Why does Walker look like a deer in the headlights in this interview and in front of the Supes? He’s way smarter than that. Plus, it should have been obvious to him and his PR team that this was coming. Is this just Fox news doing what they do? Or, is there something else happening here? Walker’s long had some of the best PR counsel in town. Did he get rid of them?

3. Wow, salary $230K seems high. How does that compare with others in his position in other cities? Is that out of whack or just what talent at his level makes these days? (Remember, we want to make sure we have that talent. If we fail to compensate talent at an equitable level, they can probably find satisfactory compensation elsewhere and we end up with second-rate leaders.) Better yet, are we getting from Walker enough to justify that salary? It’s what his board approved, right?

4. Is $180K salary for an assistant, as in an administrative assistant, or are we mistakenly referring to his VP of Marketing as an “assistant”. The VP is also high-level and well-regarded talent within that industry. However, that VP is also a long-term friend of Walker’s. Are we talking cronyism, or are we getting what we’re actually paying for? Also, re-use the same questions from #3.

5. What do the MTCVBs results (the numbers) look like? How are things measured: Responses volumes to ads distributed? Phone calls? Online statistics? How are these correlated with actual visits/tourism dollars spent here? How does that compare with what other cities are doing?

6. (Maybe this is more like #5b, but I do like a good list of 10) How closely do Tucson’s tourism statistics (airline passengers, hotel nights stayed, big events attracted) correlate with the MTCVB’s stated efforts/numbers? x4mr will, of course, warn us that correlation is not necessarily causation or any other sort of direct effect. Perhaps we should get him and his big stats brain to skip a weird movie (Human Centipede, really?) and give us the low-down here.

7. The MTCVB is a membership organization. Its membership is largely made up of businesses that (supposedly) benefit from its efforts. How do THEY feel? If its impact directly helps/hinders them, why do they keep paying dues and buying ads on the web site and in the MTCVB’s magazine? Know anyone who is a lowly member? What will he/she tell you if you buy them a drink/cigar and speak in hushed tones?

8. Speaking of the magazine, my understanding is that it is advertiser, not tax-payer supported. Is it supporting itself? How do the advertisers feel about its value? Do they find visitors walking in with it or coupons from it? Considering so much is now online, is the magazine still a relevant part of the MTCVB’s marketing efforts? How many people is it delivered to?

9. How overlapping are the leadership/boards (and look historically, too) of the MTCVB and the other certified-cloth organizations? While you’re sorting that out, how do you determine which individuals are “cloth” and which are true leaders/well-intentioned who have to operate in the same circles to get things done? This is politics, after all. Messy, messy.

10. How do the MTCVB’s budget, staff size, and activities stack up within their industry? When presented with what they’re doing and how they’re doing it, what do other CVB-type organizations react? They were (at least once) regarded as a shining star amongst this crowd. Still the case?

Cliché for my bottom line here: Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Let’s not just label everyone “cloth” just because they’re in overlapping circles. There are good people out there, too. People who are working to lead Tucson to better places. Ask better questions. Then, if things come up fishy, get out the torches and ropes. We are, after all, marketed as a true “western” town: cowboys, cactus, and the dusty boots of a sheriff’s posse. Tourists would probably love an old-style hangin'.

Awesome, Travis. Your comments are most welcome and appreciated.

Null to Void

2010-12-08T18:00:00.005-07:00

Arizona Star reporter Rob O’Dell has been busy lately, and today he published an online piece informing us that the Hotel Arizona in downtown Tucson is likely to close after the gem show if it doesn’t receive a “taxpayer-funded improvement package.”

Readers here can no doubt imagine the love expressed for hotel owner Humberto Lopez in the reader comments submitted after the piece. The bombshell in the article is near the bottom, where we learn that the hotel currently projects 6% occupancy for the month of December.

The hotel closed the restaurant and gift shop, laying off staff by the dozens. The gem show is in February.

Six percent.

What were the occupancy projections in the HVS forecast for the $230M Garfield Traub project?

Oh, but wait, this is winter when the weather is great everywhere else (a refreshing 17 degrees at my place this morning) and people don’t visit the SW desert. Occupancy rates will dramatically rise in the summer when people flock into town for the 115 degrees. Oh. Uh.

Oh, but wait, the issue is really the hotel itself. Other hotels in the area are doing just fine. Starr Pass and the La Poloma and the Doubletree are raking it in. Oh. Uh.

Oh, but wait, I have an idea. Let’s spend upwards of $10M per year on a visitor and tourism agency to generate huge numbers of tourists, visitors, and conventions that will pack our hotels and save the day. That’s money well spent and win/win for everyone. Oh. Uh.

Oh, but wait, we're not thinking big enough. Let's pass tax increment financing to produce a juicy TIF district that can generate hundreds of millions of dollars to REALLY improve the downtown area, just like San Diego, Albuquerque and other awesome towns. Oh, uh...

UPDATE: From the expanded 12/9 article: Nearly 70 of the hotel's approximately 200 rooms are out of service.

"We had seven rooms sold last night," Lavigne said.

So, if no one is coming now, what improvement changes this and why?

Cloth Featured on Television

2010-12-07T18:00:00.002-07:00

Cloth Aficionado Jonathon Walker got to appear in the above television spot that specifically showed the 2008 tax return featuring the $3.2 M annual Ka-Ching! of the MTCVB salary and benefits slice of the Cloth kitty. $400,000 of that sweet fountain goes to two people, and the television piece shows which two.

Over 400 grand to two guys, and they do what?

Pay $2.8 M to another set of folks, and these folks do what?

Pay another $5 M to consultants, and these consultants do what?

1. Make pretty pamphlets
2. Make pretty web pages
3. Call local businesses

Call local businesses to do what? Ask for money. In exchange for what?

Advertising in the pretty pamphlets and web pages. And who actually reads the pretty advertisements?

The businesses that bought them!

CLOTH.

Walker makes $230,000 a year with an assistant who makes $180,000. Think about that. Seriously.

Those interested can probably find a video of Walker performing ClothTalk before the Tucson city council this week. Expect to hear tourism numbers without supporting data and the false implication that said numbers are the result of a pretty web page. Hits to said page will not be disaggregated by viewer locale for fear of revealing most came from inside Tucson.

Meanwhile, the Rio Nuevo saga continues.

Up Next: The TREO Cubicle Farm - making millions taking credit for your business results since 2004!

Four Corners

2010-12-06T20:00:00.004-07:00

I had the pleasure of eating lunch and touring landmark historical buildings with a Modern Languages professor and three Fulbright scholars, one from Libya, one from China, and one from Tanzania.

Alcoholic beverages are prohibited outright in Libya, although available via black market if you know someone who knows someone. No one drinks out in the open. Entirely Muslim, there is no Christmas in Libya, and the Muslim holidays are few. Libya's political holidays have remarkably simple names, “Evacuation Day,” “British Evacuation Day,” “Italian Evacuation Day,” “National Day,” and then there's Quadafi's unique Jamahiriya Day, referring to the “people/Democracy” part of its two part government. English is considered the second language in Libya, and in their public schools, all children begin learning English in the third grade. About half of the country can speak and read English.

The globally ubiquitous photograph of the young Chinese student standing boldly in front of a column of tanks during the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising isn't so visible in China. I asked the Chinese student if she had heard of someone standing before tanks and stopping them. She had no idea what I was talking about, and she's a Fulbright scholar. The coffee shop had wireless, so I got my laptop and image googled “China tank man”. The screen was instantly filled with dozens of photos. We then found ample material online all about the incident, which she devoured.

I asked the woman from Tanzania about growing up in her town and if she had greater connections with other people than what she is experiencing since she has been in the states. My question was based on concepts so eloquently captured in God Grew Tired of Us. Her face lit up, and it was clear she knew exactly what I was pointing towards. She relayed, “When I was growing up, I knew everyone in all of the families around me, the parents, grandparents, children, babies, and I really knew them, all of them. Everyone knew everyone and everyone saw everyone and often.”

I asked her if being in the USA resulted in periods of loneliness and isolation compared to what she was used to, and with complete candor she acknowledged without hesitation, “Yes, I get very lonely here.”

I find myself before questions I have yet to formulate, except to say that the semantics and definitions of certain words are shifting. Do the Sarah Palin devotees that cheer as she talks about freedom occur to you as free? What values indeed have value?

Those Africans may not have a nickel or know if they will get to eat tomorrow, but they have an experience of community the likes of which most Americans cannot even imagine. Is a house owned really superior to a house shared? Ayn Rand asserted that a house shared is a house destroyed, yet we share roads and parks and libraries. Conservatives may assert, “A house is shared by family.” Yeah, but thinking of Africa, what if we were all family?

Imagine if we operated like that.

David Nolan 1943 - 2010

2010-11-23T00:15:00.003-07:00

I had the pleasure of meeting David Nolan and watching him debate during the 2006 AZ CD-8 election where he sparred with Arizona Senator Gabrielle Giffords and former Arizona Rep. Randy Graf. Nolan was a delight to both see and hear, and I learned when we were young we shared very similar sentiments.

We were both avid science fiction fans during high school, in particular enjoying the works of Robert Heinlein, agreeing that Heinlein's best was, no, not the best selling Stranger in Strange Land (1961), but in fact Time Enough for Love (1973), which features the Notebooks of Lazarus Long, "Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house."

In high school we were Ayn Rand devotees (he more or less remained one). He chose what is generally considered the preferable sequence, The Fountainhead (1943) first and then Atlas Shrugged (1957). I started with Atlas Shrugged, which renders The Fountainhead rather unclimactic. Religion never came up, so only today did I learn that Nolan was also a Unitarian Universalist.

The growth of the Tea Party, the Nolan chart, and the comments in the video above all point to the need for more illuminating angles and perspectives regarding our political discourse. His frustration with the Libertarian Party sounds eerily familiar with what Tea has expressed about the GOP. Without question David Nolan was a truly free thinker committed to what he considered best for humanity and not focused on what was best for himself and his friends at the expense of others. He will be missed.

A Piece and a Poem

2010-11-22T00:15:00.010-07:00

The Star's Josh Brodesky continues to enhance the work of fellow reporter Rob O'Dell regarding the Rio Nuevo component of Tucson's Cloth machine. Like his earlier piece interviewing former Tucson Mayor George Miller, Brodesky's latest article builds upon O'Dell's efforts by presenting the events from another angle, helping readers distinguish the forest amongst the trees.

I'll say little since readers can just click over and read it themselves, but will note that it rather eloquently captures the deafening absence of accountability in the entire Rio Nuevo conversation. I should also mention its coverage of the jaw dropping effort of Humberto Lopez who (stepping in Garfield Traub blood that is still warm) is now proposing HIS downtown hotel project using city money. Great timing, dude.

Worth mentioning in particular and posted at the Tucson Choices blog in its entirety is a late night poem written by Michael Lane and submitted as a comment at Brodesky's article. The poem is titled:

Rio Nuevo – Who Knows Where the Money Goes

The answer? The same person accountable for the project.

No one.

If you listen carefully, you can hear the footsteps of those running away with their share of the $230M No one spent.

Medical Horror

2010-11-21T14:25:00.009-07:00

A thankfully rare type of horror film features sadistic medical professionals who find creative ways to inflict medical atrocities on helpless victims. By medical atrocity I mean something distinct from the gore of torture or just hacking people apart. I refer to the deliberate production of horrific medical circumstances. In real life, consider the experiments conducted by the Nazis such as Josef Mengele. In fiction, we have Mary Shelley's respectable Dr. Frankenstein, or Joseph Green's The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962), which presents the creepy notion of a dismembered head lying in a dish and kept alive by machines. Based on the HP Lovecraft novel, Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985) features a scene where a body starts tending to its own severed head which it carries in one arm. Ingmar Bergman's deeply disturbing Serpent's Egg (1977) provides the psychological equivalent, where a nurse is imprisoned in a room with an infant who (unknown to her) has a fatal brain disorder where it can't stop crying. They time how long she lasts before smothering the baby. The general idea is to break the proper components and boundaries and reassemble them into the horrific.

Birth defects give us nature's example of this nightmare, babies born with their hearts outside their chest, or brains with no protecting skull. If modern medicine cannot fix them, death is an act of mercy. Some fairly disturbing films have addressed the deeply unsettling implications of the perverse connection of Siamese twins, for example, two people with separate mouths sharing the same intestines. The genre I am discussing is the one where an evil villain deliberately produces such situations.

Such content can become some of the most repulsive and disturbing cinema ever produced. Dutch film director Tom Six just couldn't resist sharing his scatological fetish by producing a thoroughly revolting movie, The Human Centipede – The First Sequence. A mad physician surgically attaches three people from mouth to ass. Person one gets to eat food. The second person must eat the excrement of the first person. The third eats the excrement of the second and excretes the results for all three. Lovely.

Normally, Chicago Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert has to assign a star rating to every film he reviews. In this case, he would not assign the film any stars, even zero stars, "I refuse to do it. The star rating system is unsuited to this film. Is the movie good? Is it bad? Does it matter? It is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don't shine."

I once had a horrible nightmare where a summer camp for toddlers, once the parents were gone, forced the young and vulnerable to cut into themselves and artfully expose their internal organs on the surface of their bodies, livers, kidneys, stomachs, inflating and deflating lungs, beating hearts. At the end of the camp, the children displayed their mutilated selves on stage before their parents. One can imagine what the children went through as authority figures told them this was how to please their parents and made them do it. Then consider what the parents experienced when they saw their butchered children on stage, and the cackling of the camp directors as they watched the parents realize what had happened to their children.

That's all I'll say about that (no book or film).

Tom Six, however, has the green light to produce the sequel: The Human Centipede II: The Full Sequence, where 12 people will be surgically connected in the same fashion. Don't watch either picture. This is no courageous artist producing value by exploring a new frontier. These two films are nothing more than the result of a sicko with a thing for making people eat poop.

Vacancy

2010-11-19T00:15:00.003-07:00

Star reporter Dale Quinn has a piece calling our attention to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Transwest Resort Properties Inc., the company that owns Tucson's Westin La Paloma as well as the Westin Hilton Head in South Carolina. The move was made to stave off imminent foreclosure due to failure to make mortgage payments for over three months.

According to the piece, Bill Petrella, the resort’s general manager, stated that room rates average around $300, but a simple inquiry at its web page shows many rooms available for well under $200. Those familiar with statistics know how one can play with means. Whatever the rates, the bottom line isn't sufficient to pay the mortgage. The ship is taking on water.

This follows up on a Quinn 9/26 article about the J.W. Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa, which is delinquent on $165 million in mortgages and also teetering on the brink.

Perhaps if we built a $1/4 billion dollar hotel downtown, so many people would flock into town that it would be overwhelmed. People who couldn't get rooms at the downtown jewel would have to settle for the La Paloma in the foothills or the Starr Pass resort. The extraordinary energy would produce a critical mass and word about Tucson would go viral across the globe. Gay bohemians from Sweden and avant garde artists of the Parisian creative class would ride the trolley car and marvel at the pretty tile on S. 4th and 6th Ave.

Juanito's 12 Ave. taco truck couldn't make tacos fast enough.

UPDATE: Quinn 11/19 Follow Up Piece

Bread and Butter

2010-11-18T00:15:00.007-07:00

When a DVD comes with a boatload of previews, almost every time I am annoyed and hit the skip button to pass over the lot of trailers as quickly as possible. I knew something was up when I found the previews to the Winter's Bone DVD so compelling as to make the disc worth watching for the previews alone without watching the film itself.

If the trailers preceding a film on its DVD are extraordinary, odds are high the film is as well, and in the case of Winter's Bone, that's a yes.

Gender equality continues to ooze into the human psyche, lagging and leading in various areas. In a lot of cinema, and without question in Winter's Bone, it has arrived. Played by virtual unknown Jennifer Lawrence, protagonist Ree Dolly, for the sake of her younger siblings who clearly cannot survive without her, seeks to find her father, who has put up the family's home and land as bond for bail after being caught cooking banned concoctions. Well, he's dead, and everyone knows he's dead, but without evidence of his demise, the family's home and land are toast.

"He didn't show up for court because he's lying dead somewhere."
"And you know this how?"
"I'm a Dolly, bread and butter, and that's how I know dad is dead."

The night ride in the boat, and what happens at the end of that ride, is truly unforgettable cinema. Winter's Bone is a serious film about family ties and bonds when things go bad in the part of America you don't see on CNN.

Winter's Bone is a fantastic motion picture worthy of Academy Awards.

Cloth Distilled

2010-11-17T07:15:00.002-07:00

Star reporter Rob O’Dell has a telling piece today noting Tucson Finance Director Kelly Gottschalk’s list of objections to the blistering Rio Nuevo audit recently released that found what everyone already knew, the project blew $230 million dollars on consultants and Clothmeisters.

The "Yeah, but" list contained nothing of significance, items like, "You got the boundaries wrong."

The line in the article that has evoked the greatest response in the reader comments is Cloth distilled, "She said the $900,000 that Rio Nuevo paid to demolish buildings on the property doesn’t count as spending since the project wasn’t built."

Doesn’t that just say it?

In the Clothiverse, the millions paid to MTCVB don’t count. The millions paid to TREO don’t count. Nothing was done, so the spending doesn’t count.

Regarding MTCVB, at a meeting this week Supervisor Ann Day referred to information about its results as "superficial and vague."

CLOTH.

Regarding TREO, word is that Snell is now asserting the city should provide funds for workforce development training. I imagine PCC would get this funding, but the spending wouldn’t count since no one would be trained.

The city once did provide workforce development funding. Money went to an institute that trained over 10,000 workers annually from over 100 companies. Since it generated much of its own revenue, the taxpayer cost was less than $25 per trained worker. Money went to Goodwill for a program that provided customized workforce training for youth that led to entry level but promising jobs. The program found employment for everyone it trained. Money went to the Microbusiness Advancement Center for training small business start ups.

Joe Snell stole ALL of that funding, shutting down the first two programs and crippling the third.

Cloth Maestro Irritating Pima BOS

2010-11-15T19:15:00.001-07:00

Furthering the notion that the AZ Star's clarity on Cloth is growing, Star Reporter Andrea Kelly has an article regarding the Pima County board's frustration with Cloth Aficionado Jonathon Walker, the ridiculously overpaid head of the Metro Tucson Convention and Visitor's Bureau. The MTCVB is one of the key hubs of the Tucson Cloth apparatus, siphoning millions of local taxpayers dollars into the coffers of a handful of those near the top of the Cloth hierarchy. Walker's gig pays about $1/4M a year, and his right hand dude makes nearly $200K.

To do what? You know the answer to that.

Even TREO's Joe Snell has to pretend to report to a board (some of whom have real jobs where they do this thing called work) and attend a few meetings now and then. Walker enjoys a board as cloth infested as that of the Downtown Tucson Partnership. Word is that sometime back around 2003 or 2004, Walker considered doing something one week that could be loosely interpreted as work.

Staff talked him out of it.

When I first started talking about the Cloth, many scratched their heads and couldn't believe something so absurd could actually be legit and true. People are starting to get it.

The Pima County Board is upset with Walker because they find themselves unable to get him to attend a meeting.

I swear I'm not making this up.

Sarah Palin Blasts Academic Elitists

2010-11-10T00:15:00.001-07:00

Sarah Palin has extended her war of words from those with the Wall Street Journal and other economists regarding US monetary policy to blasting university professors "in all fields" for practicing academic elitism and misleading Americans away from common sense values and understanding.

The condemnation left few areas untouched. Palin asserted that mutating bacteria strains and the frequent use of fruit flies in scientific experiments implied nothing about evolution and that the good people of America accept Jesus Christ and the fact that God created the heaven and the earth as described in the Bible.

Fossils, according to Palin, are simply interesting rock shapes and have nothing to do with the remains of former life on earth, and NASA is an atheist conspiracy to continue the fallacy of space, which does not exist, "The sky is just a pretty picture God gave us to admire."

Palin condemned mathematicians and physicists for deliberately confusing students with material that "never gets used" such as trigonometry, which has no practical application, claiming that "math people" seeking job security deliberately complicated the number pi with lots of extra digits, "Common sense people know that those digits don’t make any difference."

On Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, she declared that "speaking a language other than English is un-American, and everyone knows that Cultural Studies professors teach their students to hate America."

Palin’s financial advisors have suggested she run for president as it would provide lucrative speaking engagements and television gigs for herself and everyone in her family. Robin Leach, known for his television show, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," notes that a POTUS gig for Palin would easily generate tens of millions of dollars.

Palin is running in 2012, and if elected, she promises to make everything great for America by canceling all education after the eighth grade, "All that elitist stuff contributes nothing to the common sense values of God, guns, and country."

Bizarre Development

2010-11-05T12:15:00.003-07:00

MSNBC has suspended Countdown host Keith Olbermann for making political contributions to candidates seeking federal elected office. That Olbermann would not be aware of MSNBC policy prohibiting individuals in positions such as his from making such contributions is simply not credible. That Olbermann would not be aware that individual donations exceeding $200 must be reported BY NAME AND OCCUPATION to the Federal Elections Commission, and that this is then posted in searchable databases online, is simply not credible.

WTF?!

Olbermann donated the maximum individual contribution of $2400 to three campaigns. Here is where it's a bit weird. The three are Congressman Grijalva, Congresswoman Giffords, and get this, Kentucky's Jack Conway, who ran against Rand Paul.

Perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket. Either that, or stay in the house and not venture anywhere outside this weekend.

AZ Star's Clarity on Cloth Grows

2010-11-01T00:15:00.004-07:00

In addition to excellent work by Josh Brodesky, and in particular Rob O'Dell, regarding Tucson's economic and downtown development circus, the Star's Andrea Kelly and Rhonda Bodfield appear to be grasping certain concepts. Their Sunday political potpourri notes the following about Tuesday's hearing on the Tucson downtown hotel:

Two men dressed in dog suits were selling hot dogs for $25 apiece. Their sign, a reference to the $230 million spent on Rio Nuevo with little to show for it, noted that the snacks had no meat, no mustard, and no relish, but proceeds would be funneled to consultants.

Anyone driving past Valencia and Country Club can look to the southwest corner and see an empty parking lot with an "Available" sign. A few years ago, cars belonging to employees of local companies filled that lot to capacity so they could enter a state of the art training facility to upgrade their skills to compete in the 21st century economy.

Training employees of Tucson companies to compete in the 21st century economy? A TREO trip to Sweden is clearly the superior use of city tax dollars. Grab a few hot dogs to eat on the plane.

A Mildly Naughty Post

2010-10-28T18:15:00.004-07:00

Okay. Let's just admit right up front that publishing the Facebook rant of a Clothmeister's wife is not exactly the high road. That said, we're talking about Clothmeisters, people who make so much for so little. As already reported, Metropolitan Pima Alliance Director Michael Guymon will be leaving MPA to become a TREO VP on November 15. Further, Guymon was one of those most fervently leading the Garfield Traub downtown Tucson hotel bandwagon. Needless to say, certain parties were most displeased when the long anticipated "Ka-Ching!" of rich proportions evaporated into the desert sky.

With the $200M+ bonanza now DOA, it seems Michael's wife could not restrain herself from a short outburst at her Facebook page. Sympathetic friends attempted to console her. Before you get all bent up, note that hubby was well paid to try, but will have to forego the rewards if he had delivered the goods. She's crying about the beach house that will have to wait.

Jean McKnight Guymon:
It's official. Every one on the Tucson City Council will NOT receive my vote for re-election. I may send each and every one of the rotten bunch a rotting pumpkin. I may not-so-delicately place the rotting pumpkins on each of their numb-skulls.....'nuff said......I could go on and on and on and on.....
Tuesday 9:49pm

Lisa Brunner:
YIKES! Based on last nites conversation - I guess things did not go so well!!
Tuesday 10:04pm

Margie Preble-Creedon:
Sounds like you need to run for City Council!
Wednesday at 6:57am

Staci Richard:
Aren't their "numb skulls" actually rotting pumpkins! Run for City Council, Jean, and we'll support you : )
Wednesday 9:26am

Kristen Jarnagin:
Seriously..I know what you're referring to and it's a shame that so many crazy people are running Tucson! I try not to drink the water when I go down there in fear that I might be converted.
Wednesday 1:54pm

Staci Richard:
What happened last night? I saw craziness too when I worked for GTEC.
Wednesday 2:22pm

Not to worry, Jean, hubby will be well taken care of in his new TREO gig.

Staci - Different acronym. Same Cloth.

Reality Bitch Slaps Cloth

2010-10-27T07:30:00.001-07:00

In the greatest single defeat for the Cloth since the word's new semantics was distinguished, the Tucson City Council unanimously cemented the demise of a $200M+ publicly funded downtown hotel boondoggle. In a major vindication of ousted Rio Nuevo board member Allan Willenbrock, truth spoke to Cloth and overcame the slimy connections and well lined pockets of Clothmeisters paid to insure that Garfield Traub would rake in millions at city taxpayer expense.

The losing Clothmeisters include Lord Hecker, master schmoozing attorney and principle in Larry/Dan Consulting, MPA Director and soon to be another do nothing TREO VP goon, Michael Guymon, former councilman Fred Ronstadt, Brent Davis, and Rick Kaneen. One could argue whether they lost, for the cool thing about being a paid lobbyist is that you get to keep all that cash even if you deliver the essence of NADA. This is not the first time Larry/Dan consulting swung and missed, but it is perhaps the highest profile instance where the Lord promised and failed to deliver.

As noted over at Tucson Choices, this has to be a blow to Cheerleader Bob. Perhaps he should head over to Pima College for some customized training in urban development. Word is that PCC can put together programs specifically tailored to meet any training need.

Shootout at the Cloth Corral

2010-10-26T10:15:00.004-07:00

Those interested in seeing the Cloth in real time live action should attend the Tucson city council's public hearing tonight where some believe a final up down vote will take place regarding the construction of a new $260M downtown hotel. The Star is calling for additional conversation before a decision is made, to which some groan in agony, "Yeah, let's talk about this for another three years."

General Contractor Turner/Sundt will certainly turn out a motivated mob of hotel supporters whipped up by promises of high paying jobs. Those against the hotel, seeing it as a boondoggle with horrendous financial consequences, will certainly have some means of expression.

Clothmeisters will be on hand to deliver the goodies for salivating builder Garfield Traub, who has lined the pockets of many to score the prize. Possible hotel champions include Michael Guymon of Metropolitan Pima Alliance, Brent Davis, Rick Kaneen, and former councilman Fred Ronstadt, who is rumored to be considering a run for Mayor. Perhaps even Lord Hecker himself will attend to give nods of approval or scowls depending on who is speaking. Of course, none of these characters take money from any contractors, and none of them get a juicy check of gratitude if this project gets built.

By the way, effective Nov. 15, Michael Guymon is leaving the MPA to become Vice-President for Regional Development for Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities (TREO). And people think I'm making this stuff up.

I'm getting conflicting predictions on what will occur this evening. I've always said with a tone of resignation that of course the stupid thing will be built, the same resignation I feel about the Rosemont Mine. It will happen, and the public will yet again fork out massive subsidies so a small number of people can make a fortune. With the hotel, it will be continuing support to keep it solvent. With the mine, it will be water and the extensive clean up costs after the few have had their fun.

That said, regarding the hotel some sharp people are telling me different. If they are right, the hotel dies tonight. The Star's Pueblo Politics plans to live blog the event.

Anonymity is for Low Profiles

2010-10-24T20:49:00.005-07:00

Back in 2006, when Jeff Latas and Patty Weiss were slugging it out with Giffords and the GOP tried to hoist Steve Huffman over locally popular Randy Graf, the local blogosphere became so hysterical that Art Jacobson and others disabled anonymous comments. That said, if one knew how to navigate, the blogs were lightning fast and far ahead of traditional media, which had to conduct investigations, interviews, fact checks, and obtain approval...and unlike some bloggers, reporters are never anonymous.

Blogs have been known to bash the press. Espresso Pundit's Greg Patterson has had it out for the Arizona Republic for years (I smell envy), and lately Blog for Arizona's David Safier has been bashing the AZ Daily Star. The press is more reluctant to write articles about bloggers, and virtually never mentions anonymous bloggers. In April 2008, ADS reporter Daniel Scarpinato interviewed various bloggers and published, "Blogosphere becoming a potent force in politics". The piece featured Espresso Pundit, Daniel's News, Tedski's RRR, this place, Trent's Arizona Eighth, and Michael Bryan's Blog for Arizona. None of us were anonymous, and the article used our real names.

I wrote about Daniel's piece at the time and considered it pretty good. Even then, we were discussing the way blogs can say anything while reporters are held to a higher standard by people paid to do so.

In addition to the ADS critic Safier, Blog for Arizona features the highly prolific AZBlueMeanie (28 posts in the last five days). In general when discussing national issues, I consider AZBlueMeanie a terrific blogger who posts some outstanding content. Like Safier, he also bashes the press from time to time. On March 24 he published The bloom is off the Bodfield which ripped Star reporter Rhonda Bodfield and referred to the departed Scarpinato as a "talentless hack."

It was noticed.

Like AZBlueMeanie, I use a handle. So did Samuel Clemens. It's legal. That said, I am not anonymous. A third grader can find my real name, occupation, employer, home address, and a photo of me in my office at my computer where I work. In 30 seconds.

I was surprised to learn that AZBlueMeanie was posting with such intensity and frequency as a truly anonymous blogger. He is flying too high if he wishes to remain unknown. You know what's coming. One could speculate that the dial on ADS reporter Josh Brodesky's pressure cooker has been rising for awhile. The recent brouhaha regarding Jan Brewer's health popped the valve, and Brodesky got the green light for a piece that hit Safier on his posts about the governor's health.

He also published AZBlueMeanie's real name.

Antenori Irks Cloth

2010-10-22T00:15:00.004-07:00

Arizona Rep. Frank Antenori got some of the Cloth aficionados all irritated and persnickety this week by having a "Rio Nuevo" bus tour for supporters and other interested individuals. On Wednesday, approximately 50 people paid a suggested price of $60 - $100 each for the tour, the funds going to the Antenori for Arizona campaign. The tour was guided by former RN Board Member Allan Willenbrock, who was ousted from the board when he noted that the financial projections for the downtown hotel were complete fiction and entirely inconsistent with established data for comparable scenarios.

The tour featured:

Dirt lots west of Interstate 10
Trolley Routes
The Scott Ave. Orange Griffin
The Site of Free MOCA rent
Low Income Housing Projects
Taxpayer supported Train Depot Plaza
City owned hotel site
The new entrances at the TCC
Rainbow bridges, $46m underpasses

After the tour, the group met at Lot 175 in front of El Charro. Lot 175 funnels $10-15K per month in uncounted cash to a well connected clothmeister. Then they entered El Charro for margaritas and munchies and a discussion of what could have been and where the $200 million actually went.

Word is that Frank chose not to expose the group to the $100K+ in office furniture sitting dormant in TREO's vast array of empty cubicles. He was afraid some of the tourists might get lost in the expansive office space rented by TREO at taxpayer expense.

Fitz Nails It

2010-10-21T06:54:00.002-07:00

AZ CD-8: Resume Snippets and the Non Debate

2010-10-19T20:49:00.013-07:00

EDUCATION:

Gabrielle Giffords:
Scripps College, B.A. Sociology and Latin American History
Fulbright Scholar, Chihuahua, Mexico
Cornell University, Master of Regional Planning
Fellow, Harvard University JFK School of Government

Jesse Kelly:
Montana State University: Dropped out after one year

EMPLOYMENT:
Gabrielle Giffords:
First job post education: Associate, Regional Economic Development, Price Waterhouse, New York City.
Second job post education: Replaced her father as CEO of the family business.
First elected office: Arizona House.
Second elected office: Arizona Senate.
Current job: US Congress.

Jesse Kelly:
First job post education: US Marines.
Second job post education: Project Manager for his father in the family business.
First elected office: N/A
Current job: Project Manager for his father in the family business.

The reader already knows where they stand on the issues.

Both were born into wealth and privilege. What did they do with the opportunity placed in their hands?

To the discerning, the answer to this question was powerfully illustrated at Monday night's debate, where a grotesque display of hatred and a committed response to hatred played out in what could hardly be called a debate. No, I wasn't there, but I've received enough emails to get a terrific angle that ties very well with Jenn's post at Blog for Arizona.

Both candidates are right when they say the voters face a clear choice in this election, and this post assumes the reader is familiar with what happened Monday night.

Unlike the fabulous 2006 exchange at the Temple Emanu-El, or the 2008 exchange at the University of Arizona, what happened Monday night in 2010 was not a debate. Of course the Congresswoman had to participate, and her remaining civil and rational in a sea of raging hysteria required more than most know. To the aware in the audience, the event sharply illustrated the distinction between the educated and the ignorant, the worldly and the small minded, the seasoned and the raw, but most sadly, the well meaning and the self-righteous. I am glad I wasn't there.

Put another way, the non debate could not have offered a starker contrast between 1) someone with a genuine interest in government, someone who has exerted extraordinary effort to learn what it takes to pursue the best governance possible, and 2) someone who doesn't even understand what government is.

A Cloth Purge at DTP

2010-10-18T18:00:00.002-07:00

Cloth Aficionado Glenn Lyons resigned from the Downtown Tucson Partnership last April. For those who may not remember, Lyons was the Clothmeister put in charge of the organization to forward the Cloth agenda. Part of this effort included dismissing the organization's most valuable employee, Donovan Durband, so the agency could hire Cara Rene, wife of C.T. Revere, who was chief of staff to City Councilmember Nina Trasoff.

Word is that Lyon's replacement, Michael Keith, lacks his predecessor's enthusiasm for dismissing results in favor of stuffing the coffers of clothophiles.

Michael Keith has been in office five months. Guess who is leaving the Downtown Tucson Partnership next week? From her resignation letter released today:

I want to let you know that I am leaving the Downtown Tucson Partnership.

The decision is not an easy one, but is spurred by the desire to embrace new opportunities.

Last I heard, TREO isn't hiring.

Star Reporter Recognized

2010-10-17T10:43:00.001-07:00

The Arizona Newspaper Association has named Arizona Daily Star's Rob O'Dell as Journalist of the Year for 2010. Regular readers of this blog have known for at least a year that O'Dell is one of the few reporters that truly understands the distinction “Cloth,” most obviously from his stellar analysis and reporting of the cloth infested Rio Nuevo fiasco.

O'Dell is one of the reporters that actually investigates these things called facts and tries to provide insightful reporting that increases public awareness of what's going on, items like a quarter million to a consultant for a glossy pamphlet or a downtown hotel based on laughingly inaccurate financial forecasts. So far, he has spared the likes of TREO and its ongoing boondoggle from scrutiny.

Cloth groupie David Hatfield was not recognized for his sloppy kiss coverage of Tucson's economic development champions.

Way to go, Rob. Keep up the good work.

Let Me In

2010-10-08T00:15:00.002-07:00

With few exceptions, a Hollywood remake of a foreign film results in a five fold budget mutilation of artistic expression to produce the cinematic equivalent of Walmart. At worst, we get travesties like The Vanishing (1993), but more often than not we simply get louder explosions, fancier special effects, more expensive sets, and performances by actors going through the motions for the money.

Almost always, remakes are about the money, so we put Bridget Fonda and Gabriel Byrne together for La Femme Nikita (1997). We put Al Pacino in Insomnia (2002) and Sarah Michelle Gellar in The Grudge (2005), Jessica Alba and Alessandro Nivola into The Eye (2007), and so on.

They’re after the money, and by and large, they suck.

Note that I said with few exceptions, because Director Matt Reeves has successfully created a remake, Let Me In (2010), that actually rivals the original film, the extraordinary Swedish work by Tomas Afredson, Let the Right One In (2008), based on the 2004 novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist. I posted Blood in the Snow immediately after seeing the original.

(The Hug Shot - Above in the original film and below in the remake) Let Me In is good cinema that effectively captures what worked in the original film, in some cases enhances it, and cuts what detracts. Both films effectively create a somber, unsettling edge that comes from character ages so low (12) that innocence and young affection accentuate the violence and sexual tension. I don't think I have ever heard the line, "Do you like me?" pack such weight.

Both films move at a slow pace (incurring the wrath of many film critics), but they do so for the same reason understood by few film critics, which is that done right, slow cuts deeper. That said, without question the remake shifts in the American direction, most noticeably in the intensity of the vampire's violence. With sound design at volume reinforced by more graphic imagery, what this little girl is and can do requires far less imagination.

Let Me In is a remake of Let the Right One In, and without question it regards its source with great admiration and respect, seeking to match and improve upon the original's intent. Many shots and scenes are almost carbon copies down to the last detail. For cinema aficionados, watching both films and noting the contrasts is entirely worthwhile, in particular the swimming pool climax scenes in each.

Cigar Man Hits Limelight

2010-10-06T07:18:00.009-07:00

Thanks to photographer Mark Pain’s fluke photograph at the Ryder Cup 2010 in South Wales, the Internet has gone viral with searches for the identity of the “Cigar Man” with Groucho Marx, Rastafarian features (some say he’s Jonny Quest’s Hadji) standing in the photo in an outfit believed to represent Spanish golfer Miguel Angel Jimenez. The photo shows the ball flying right towards the photographer, who was indeed hit in the next instant. Woods was furious as it was his poor strike of the ball, not Pain’s position, that caused the photographer to be hit.

The bad shot for Tiger produced a great shot by Pain, and bloggers are now photoshopping the image onto album covers and numerous other famous photographs of sporting events. Some say the “Cigar Man” picture is one of the best sports pictures ever taken. No word yet on the identity of the mysterious spectator.

Cyber Violence Escalating

2010-10-05T00:15:00.010-07:00

Almost three years ago I posted Cyber Violence Is Real when the world learned that Lori Drew, using a fabricated MySpace account, posed as a 16 year old boy and wrote Megan Meier, "The world would be a better place without you."

Meier responded with a message reading "You’re the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over" and hung herself. She was 13.

In the three years since Meier's suicide it has gotten far worse. Everyone now knows about the recent suicide of 17 year old Tyler Clementi. Without his knowledge, a roommate used a web cam to record some dorm room intimacy highlighted with Twitter commentary.

CNN on Cyber Bullying

The plot thickens dramatically with Facebook, which introduces a great deal of complexity. Someone who is NOT your FB friend but knows someone who is can rather easily (often just by asking) use their FB access to see everything you have shared. I know a case where this happened, and rather personal content regarding an evening's activities taken from FB got published on a widely read blog ("enhanced" photos included) and sent out as an email blast to everyone working at a particular company. No one was fired, but certain people were mortified, and one of those in one of the photos resigned in humiliation.

Also, those who think FB friends don't care who they friend, or who they like, or what comments they post at whose pages, are naive. Your FB friends watch who you friend, and in some cases they care, in particular established, feasible, or even "in your dreams" romantic interests. If you have a partner or are dating someone even if still casually, know damned well they click on the link of anyone you friend. If the wife is an FB friend, and you friend six attractive sweeties over three days, expect a chat. I know a college student who was berated and abused by an FB friend who saw that he friended someone apparently on the former's "If you are my friend then don't you dare friend" list. Laughing? This is no joke.

A man killed his girlfriend when her FB activity led him to believe she was seeking someone else. Another man killed his ex-wife after she taunted him on FB for not paying child support. Another man killed his wife (they were separated) when she changed her marital status to single. In a similar incident, Tracey Grinhaff posted to her FB friends that she was going to leave her husband. Her husband Gary saw the post, killed her, and then shot himself. They had two children, aged 14 and four.

What is generally considered the first Twitter murder occurred last January.

Cyber Violence can occur even when no one is intending any harm. I was bloodied up pretty badly when two FB friends cheerfully posted about going to a beginning of the school year party that evening. I was a member of the group having the party! No one told me about it. I was NOT invited. WTF?!

Remember FB 101. These two KNEW I would see what they posted. They were consciously telling me about a party when I had been excluded. Not being invited hurt enough, but it just killed me that these two, people I liked, could be so cruel or at best, so unbelievably inconsiderate. I had a HORRIBLE weekend trying to make sense of it. I later learned that all thought my name was included in allstaff@domainaddr and believed I was invited and could attend if I wished. This would render what they had posted harmless. Of course, learning all of this and finding the clerical error on Monday didn't help me Friday night. Little imagination is necessary to extrapolate this scenario. Change the characters, the event, the venue, and add some guns and alcohol.

Another component of cyber violence to be noted involves the production of malicious content the very viewing of which inflicts damage. I am talking about the content deliberately designed to injure the viewer.

Those over the age of forty will remember the notion of the "snuff film," i.e. real footage of a person being killed. Decades ago, the concept seemed like a big deal and the 1978 film, Faces of Death, which showed people being killed by animals, plane crashes, executions, as well as gruesome killing of animals, shocked audiences and was banned in many countries. The 1999 film 8mm involves a pornographic snuff film and regards it as a very significant event.

In just ten years we have moved to where real footage almost as intense is being shown on national news. CNN, ABC News, etc. now show footage of American soldiers shredding Iraqis. Yes, that's different from a snuff film, but it gets murky. One could argue that the whole world watching Neda die in raw cell phone video helped the cause that had her in the street.

That said, there is definitely a line, and on the other side I hurt myself watching the unedited video of what preceded the photo to the right. Done with a small knife, Eugene Armstrong's beheading took three minutes. Okay, I was an idiot, but the key distinction is that YOU DON'T KNOW, not really, what is on the other side of that click. I was trembling, dizzy, nauseas, shaken, and messed in the head for days, no exaggeration. I was INJURED.

I don't think the raw video I saw is available anymore (good), but real footage of beheadings is easy to find with a simple search. Got kids?

I suspect all of this will get worse before it gets better. I wish I could say it surprises me that there are websites devoted to such material. Click at own risk over to JustSickShit.com, but consider yourself warned. I didn't click on anything over there, including the footage from Bolivia of dogs strung up on wires and tortured to death.

The Real Tragedy

2010-10-03T17:15:00.002-07:00

Josh Brodesky has a rather elegant Rio Nuevo piece in the Sunday Star that provides a telling perspective on the nature of the Cloth and the way it usurps the public good for its own gratification.

Brodesky interviews former Mayor George Miller. I encourage folks to read the article as well as the comments it provoked. No need for me to repeat, but the following is worth emphasizing:

The wasted money is outrageous. The project is an embarrassment. But the real tragedy of Rio Nuevo is that our leaders didn't just fail us - they ignored us. They traded in our trust for fancy renderings and consultant bills, and even now they don't seem to get it.

Rarely do so few words say so much. Parts of his language translate directly to the language used here.

His words: They ignored us.
Those here: They serve themselves.

His words: fancy renderings and consultant bills
Those here: glossy pamphlets and consulting fees

His words: Even now they don't seem to get it.
Those here: They serve themselves.

Congratulations to Josh for an excellent piece of work, and thanks to former Mayor George Miller for making the piece possible. We can't go back in time and recover what has been squandered, but we can get clearer and clearer about what's in the way of actual progress.

A Nation in Decline - Potpourri

2010-10-01T21:00:00.003-07:00

This week is the American Library Association's Banned Book Week, and all of the books in the photo have faced efforts to have them banned from libraries. Know anyone who believes books should be banned from libraries?

During the 2008 election, there was noise that Sarah Palin banned quite a list of books from the Wasilla library. In truth, she only inquired about banning books and backed off when the librarian went ballistic. From an article at the time:

"She asked the library how she could go about banning books," ..."The librarian was aghast." ... news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire the librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

The Texas Board of Education has banned social studies books they allege are biased towards Islam and against Christianity. How did they conclude that this bias exists? They counted the words on each subject. The Islam word count was slightly higher. The material itself was not considered. The move was symbolic, as none of the books involved were still being used anyway.

Returning to Sarah, no doubt the inquiry was only academic. The Tea Party is about individual freedom and liberty. Banning or burning books would be completely anathema to its followers. Never mind the bit about Nickel and Dimed (Local Press).

Meanwhile: Fifth of USA thinks Obama is a cactus

In California, we see the Koch brothers fighting legislation to reduce the state's dependence on oil. From big oil to big pharma to big HMO to big finance, we see the fat cats scrambling to keep the system rigged so 2% of the country owns 80% of it. When we pass legislation banning outrageous bank fees, they invent others. We started screwing the middle class with Reagan in the 80's. Clinton provided some relief, but then Bush quadrupled the size of the screw.

America's hegemony is slipping as we fail to address real problems. While China, whose leadership has a lot of scientists and engineers, moves forward, the US is crippled by blathering about gays, abortion, evolution, guns, and textbook word counts. While our country faces a struggling economy and crushing unemployment, Republicans in Congress devote resources to an effort to execute homosexuals in Africa. Here, they filibuster any effort to address anything.

The brilliant mathematician John Nash rigorously refuted the Adam Smith notion that individuals pursuing self-interest optimize the utility of all.

No, they don't.

From Kaletsky's terrific Times piece: The Asian nations’ interest in American politics stems not just from America’s standing as the sole global superpower, but also from a growing belief among Asian leaders that the era of United States hegemony will soon be over, and that the polarization of its politics symbolizes America’s inability to adapt to the changing nature of global capitalism after the financial crisis.

The frogs must figure out how to get the scorpions to realize the greed fest cannot be sustained.

Nogales Cloth Amateurs Indicted

2010-09-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

Nogales Mayor Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel was arrested Tuesday on charges he took bribes to protect contracts or obtain business contracts with the city. He is also accused of money laundering, conflict of interest, illegally conducting an enterprise and fraud.

They also indicted and arrested his father, Octavio Garcia Suarez, on charges that include fraud, theft and money laundering.

"Both the mayor and his father will be held accountable and prosecuted to the full extent of the law." Attorney General Terry Goddard said.

Amateurs.

Tucson’s Cloth know how it’s done. You don’t take the bribe outright. You form a consulting business and charge fees for influence. Granted, the Tucson charade is getting a little surreal. Now it appears proponents of the downtown hotel want it to be built so long as someone else is accountable. Rio Nuevo wants the city to build it. The city wants Rio Nuevo to build it.

Rio Nuevo board member Alan Willenbrock noted that the HVS financial projections for the project were beyond ridiculous - calculations based upon assumptions prior to the great recession as well as Arizona’s tourist magnet SB 1070, which led to the cancellation of well over $100M in booked conventions in Phoenix alone. He was thanked for sharing and then dismissed from the board.

The Tucson Progressive blog has some good content on the hotel.

Like the Rosemont mine, the stupid thing will happen, even though other local hotels (Starr Pass, Westin La Poloma) teeter on the brink of bankruptcy. Despite all the rhetoric, assurances, and guarantees, Garfield Traub will slither into nooks and crannies to create millions in cost overruns bumbling Bob will dismiss as “costs of business.” Dismal occupancy rates will force nauseating public subsidies, but unlike Nogales, no one will be indicted. The Cloth will prosper. TREO will declare the $300M construction costs as capital investment it created, spinning the huge expenditure as, in fact, not an expense but revenue, a return on investment!

Which it is, if you’re Garfield Traub.

Ka-ching!!

Clothmeisters Leaving? We'll See

2010-09-17T12:00:00.001-07:00

According to yesterday's Rob O'Dell piece Clothmeister Greg Shelko, who guzzled over half a million dollars in salary and benefits to (no kidding) spend $250 million dollars on Rio Nuevo and build essentially nothing at all, is going to truly relinquish his very sweet gig.

Well, we'll see. Shelko was removed as director of Rio Nuevo when the state felt it had to crash the party. Not to worry, the Cloth take care of their own, and the city immediately rehired him at $100 an hour to continue doling out the TIF kitty to the Cloth aficionados.

Perhaps Greg will join Larry/Dan consulting and charge developers monthly fees for consideration in lucrative deals. After all, think about all that looming RTA construction. Behind every transportation project is a cash register sounding "Ka Ching!" for the don.

O'Dell also has a semi-related piece suggesting that forces are at work regarding another Clothmeister, TCC Director Rich Singer. Like Shelko, Singer makes an outrageous salary to do nothing at all (the ability to be paid vast sums to do nothing is the most distinguishing feature of Clothmeisters).

I never got the cloth memo and have always had to produce results to keep a paycheck. The students in that classroom think I should be good at helping them learn and get quite upset almost instantly if I am not effective at the front of the room. The exams they must take have to be designed and then graded fairly.

In the other job, those who use the information I produce get downright cranky if I am not timely, or worse, if I am wrong. I don't get to pull a Rush Limbaugh and claim a judge is a taxidermist with three bear heads mounted in his courtroom.

At first glance, a do nothing gig at a TREO or a DTP sounds sweet. Sit around, surf the web, read magazines, clap at a cloth lunch, dinner at Sally's, clap at a chamber breakfast, smile and nod at a planning session, feel important at a board meeting, talk about gay bohemians, visit a call center, play golf, snarf food at an SALC party, .....

I would go insane.

GOP's Eager Tea Nominees

2010-09-16T00:15:00.012-07:00

The Tea Party has caused considerable consternation for the Republican Party this election cycle by defeating establishment candidates generally considered more competitive in the general election this November.

"Not true," alleges Arizona tea nominee Biff Kayhole,"I am every bit as competitive as the slimy RINO I trounced with straight talk focused on the FACTS of the issues." Kayhole made national headlines by declaring that Barack Obama is the worst president in US history. When asked why this is the case, he replied, "Any communist Muslim born in Kenya has to be the worst president in history."

Kayhole is shown above at the Grand Canyon with models posing as family members in what also became the last photo taken of his dog.

Sarah Palin endorsed "Mama Grizzly" Nevada candidate Scrug Sneethin backs not only the elimination of the Department of Education, but the elimination of education itself, both public and private, "Education is why people become communists." When asked how society would obtain medical professionals to treat people who get injured or become sick, Sneethin replied, "That's God's work."

"Education is the problem," Sneethin asserts,"and Sarah Palin gets it, too. What we need is common sense, not the fancy words and high falutin talkity talk in their ibony towers."

Sneethin's cousin, Grog Snukkers, a tea nominee from eastern Kentucky, stands for the elimination of the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and all local police and fire departments, noting that "everything was fine 10,000 years ago when we took care of our own and didn't need none of that shit."

Snukkers also wants to ban air travel and Facebook.

Construction mogul Juss Shilly also shocked the Arizona GOP establishment by defeating their "sure thing" candidate for Congress. Shilly has it out for Social Security and Medicare, suggesting that they provide disincentives for people to be responsible, "Because of social security, people don't save, and because of Medicare, they don't care if they get sick. Think about it. They got no Medicare in Pakistan, Haiti, Somalia, Sudan, or Bangladesh. Their people don't get all fat and disgusting. They don't mess with cancer, and they don't get Alzheimer's at all, man."

The youngest tea candidate to dislodge an established GOP incumbent is Delaware gun enthusiast Kristy "Killer" O'Twiddle, also a Palin endorsed "Mama Grizzly." A single issue candidate, O'Twiddle wants to eliminate all firearm restrictions, including the prohibition of automatic weapons and banning guns for the mentally ill, children, or convicted felons. She also supports making it illegal to keep firearms from public places such as elementary/middle schools, high schools, university campuses, sporting events, courtrooms, or government buildings.

(O'Twiddle with her son and her Ruger P89) Other than her calling for the distribution of guns to prison inmates "for self-protection," her most controversial position calls for the elimination of the Transportation Security Administration and all airport screening activity.

Instead, she proposes that all airline passengers be issued fully loaded Ruger P89 9mm pistols, "If everyone is packing, nothing will happen, and the P89 is as solid and reliable as you can get. Feeds all ammo great, and perfect for combat. Most people don't know that the P89 is what the U.S. military really wanted before communist Obama intervened. The P89 is top quality. My only real complaint is the alloy grip does get slick."

De-Americanizing America

2010-09-12T15:09:00.020-07:00

(Pastor Terry Jones - Before) Long time readers of this place know that I have been calling attention to GOP hate-mongering long before the tea party even existed. I said that they were taking a horrible chance. For reasons I won't get into Dancing with a Snake (1/29/09) got deleted, but these are still up. The events of last week show how close the Republicans are willing to take us to the abyss. We still might fall in.

Toxic Talk (3/01/09)
Toxic Distraction (The "T-shirt Post") (4/15/09)
Darkness (7/21/09)

The shameless Republican behavior regarding the de-Americanization of President Obama is bad enough. You know the list, from the assertion that he not a US citizen to the mindless claim that he is not a Christian (conveniently forgetting their earlier outrage towards his very Christian minister, Jeremiah Wright) to alleging he is a socialist, communist, facist, dictator... all easily shown false with solid evidence. Those involved aren't to be deterred by facts.

Far worse, the hysteria the Republicans generate does not stop with Obama. As said before, and by many including myself, they are taking a grotesquely irresponsible risk. With excruciating irony, we have hypocrites professing to love America engaging in the very behavior the country was created to prevent, religious intolerance and religious persecution.

(Pastor Terry Jones - After) Anyone care to explain how the burning of Torahs, Qurans, or Bibles is anything but religious persecution? You know how close we just came, and it still might happen, but not under the direction of Pastor Terry Jones. Did you notice the shift in his body language, facial expression, and speaking? He has now said he will NEVER burn a Quran, no matter what happens in New York, and his church has torn down the signs about the event.

I'm guessing he realized his current path had a less than optimal early retirement program.

Newt Gingrich's comparison of a New York Islamic community center to placing a Nazi sign next to a Holocaust museum is past unconscionable. If we want to blame an entire religion for the actions of some who cite it for their own agenda, the apt comparison would be a crucifix next to a Holocaust museum, Newt. People think Obama is a demon?

Nicholas Kristof's excellent Is this America? in today's Times closes with:

“We know what it is like when people have attacked us physically, have attacked us verbally, and others have remained silent,” said Rabbi David Saperstein. “It cannot happen here in America in 2010.”

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick put it this way: “This is not America. America was not built on hate.”

“Shame on you,” the Rev. Richard Cizik, a leading evangelical Christian, said to those castigating Islam. “You bring dishonor to the name of Jesus Christ. You directly disobey his commandment to love your neighbor.”

If the Islamic community center is not built or is moved, Osama Bin Laden can raise a toast of victory. He will have succeeded in damaging the United States far more than he could have ever anticipated. He must love watching the Republican Party cater to the hatred/intolerance for which he stands. It is heart breaking enough to realize how many in America will toss the foundation of the country in the trash and march to the sickening tune played by pipers Palin and Beck. Watching Republican leaders cheer the insanity is mortifying.

Tell No One

2010-09-06T00:15:00.001-07:00

The French film Tell No One (Guillaume Canet, 2006) offers a compelling trip down the mystery rabbit hole as a widower Dr. Beck receives an email from his wife.

Problem: His wife was murdered eight years ago by a serial killer.

Then two bodies are discovered in the vicinity of the area where his wife was killed. They find a safety deposit box key with the bodies. Whose key? His wife's. Now they think that he, not the serial killer, killed his wife and the two just found.

Then he gets more emails from his dead wife using an email address only she would know. Then one of his associates is killed, making him a suspect in four murders.

So it begins. This is the kind of film utterly ruined by advance knowledge of the mystery. Like many excellent European films superior to the dollar chasing Hollywood machine, films such as La Femme Nikita, The Vanishing, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, this film is going to be REMADE American style.

See the European original, and skip the pathetic American remake.

Losing It

2010-09-05T10:00:00.002-07:00

The Bush Administration drove the nation into a ditch. Instead of rallying behind the next administration to recover from the worst economic catastrophe since the great depression, we not only say the black guy caused it, but then thwart his efforts to resolve the problem. Bush spent half his presidency on vacation, and we said nothing. Now we're bitching about a weekend.

The redecoration of the oval office? What?

Arizona is about to elect an unelected governor who can't even hold a coherent conversation, won't speak to reporters, and only after weeks of mounting pressure reluctantly admits she outright lied about beheaded bodies in the desert. It is the weeks of standing by the lie, not the lie itself, that is so telling about the nature of this character.

The GOP nominee for Senate in Nevada wants to eliminate the IRS, the Department of Energy, the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, Social Security, and unemployment insurance. The GOP nominee for Senate in Kentucky thinks restaurants should be able to refuse to serve spics, jigaboos, queers, red heads, teenagers with too much acne, Ukrainians, or people with false teeth.

Then, of course, we have Glenn Beck at the Lincoln Memorial talking about God and civil rights while the freedom of religion nation screams that certain kinds of churches should no longer be built, at least not anywhere close or important.

The GOP's most popular figure is a weakly educated know nothing that proudly proclaims her ignorance as "common sense" and denounces the aware and informed as elitists.

How long does this have to last? How ridiculous does it have to get before the critical mass wakes up?

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

2010-09-02T00:15:00.001-07:00

We all know that the current political discourse is toxic and painful. Many blogs and blog readers have checked out because conditions have deteriorated to where many are echo chambers or "choir blogs" that impart no useful information whatsoever.

If you're up for it, below are two blasts from the future, from the set of the gifted, laser minded individuals distinguishing realities decades ahead of us. These two cerebral videos are long by blog standards (10-11 minutes), but deep truth is not captured in a soundbite.

For perspective, one session of my algebra class runs 80 minutes.

I won't live long enough to dip more than a toe into the pool of these realities. At least I got to read about the pool, and more importantly, receive the affirmation that there are others out there who get it. We are getting there, but the progress is so slow, and so painful.

Bring the brain if you click below. Republicans, never mind already.

Mr. Five Months

2010-09-01T06:30:00.006-07:00

The 100% true story from a real small business owner in Tucson:

In May a few years ago, I decided to start cold calling local high-tech companies. I'd created a list of about 100 of them, and saved it as an Excel spreadsheet.

Around this time I met a guy from TREO, and he said that his outfit was interested in helping local businesses, especially small businesses like mine.

I'd heard that pickup line before, and I was a bit skeptical. But I went downtown to TREO and met with him. Nice office they had there. For the number of employees filling the space, it seemed rather big.

Anyway, I told the man about my list. He said that he'd been in Tucson for a long time and had all sorts of contacts at local companies. So, he asked me to e-mail him my list, and he'd give me names of people to call. Sounded good to me. Having a specific name to contact turns a cold call into a warm call.

I e-mailed the list to him. And, since I figured that it would take him a week or two to get a list of names together, I went ahead and cold-called the list. Whenever he got the names to me, I'd just make a new set of calls to my list.

May turned into June, June turned into July, July into August, and no word from this guy. It didn't really matter, as I was off on a cold-calling tear, and there were plenty of numbers to call.

Mr. Five Months finally got back to me in October with the news that TREO policy forbade him from furnishing me with any names. My response was along the lines of "You mean that it took five months to get back to me and tell me that? You need to work on your responsiveness."

He e-mailed back with some mealy-mouthed rhetoric, and I deleted it many moons ago. It was so lame that it wasn't worth keeping.

Shortly after this exchange, I was at a meeting, and a TREO board member was speaking. During the question and answer time, I shared my story from start to finish. Her response: TREO needs more money.

The story points to more than one might initially think, and for every story that gets told, there are hundreds that are not.

Who's Wagging Whom?

2010-08-31T00:15:00.001-07:00

Messiah Complex

2010-08-29T00:15:00.009-07:00

At his "Restoring Honor" rally Saturday, Glenn Beck said, "Something beyond imagination is happening."

Actually, no. It's called a Messiah Complex. It's happened before. Think kool-aid, "Something that is beyond man is happening. America today begins to turn back to God. For too long, this country has wandered in darkness.”

Darkness? That would be the Bush administration. Yes, we are still digging out and will be for years.

87,000 white people attended the rally in what is now considered to be the largest ethnically cleansed audience in the history of the United States, "This day is a day that we can start the heart of America again, and it has nothing to do with politics, it has everything to do with God."

Consider the gall of this guy, "We must get the poison of hatred out of us...we must look to God and look to love."

Other Messiah Complex cases include Jim Jones, David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite (remember Heaven's Gate?), Charles Manson, .. the list is long. You get the idea. The three I listed before Manson killed their entire flocks. Manson had his followers kill others.

Adele Stan has an excellent piece also referring to Beck's obvious Messiah Complex. Most messiahs report to no one (comes with the job) and command the flock to feed their egos with cash contributing and/or sexually submissive devotees. Beck is in fact a pawn serving and worshiping higher forces having nothing to do with God: The Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch.

Frank Rich gets it perfectly: The Billionaires Bankrolling the Tea Party.

This is about money, the ultra-rich working to insure it continues to reap all of the rewards of human endeavors while the rest of us live off their scraps.

All Koched Up

2010-08-28T12:15:00.006-07:00

If we’re going to give a lot of money, we’ll make darn sure they spend it in a way that goes along with our intent... And if they make a wrong turn and start doing things we don’t agree with, we withdraw funding.

Billionaire David Koch, of the giant Koch Industries, and founder of the Koch Families Foundation.

The Foundation funds the Institute for Justice (fights regulation), the Institute for Humane Studies (fights regulation), the Bill of Rights Institute (fights regulation), and of course, the Americans for Prosperity, currently in the news for its ambitious assault on the Obama Administration, sound energy policy, and global warming.

AFP is also funding very election specific hit pieces in four states, one of them Arizona. For NAME substitute Ann Kirkpatrick, Harry Mitchell, Gabrielle Giffords, or in my current stomping grounds, Jack Conway. The ad is the same for each.

NAME voted for Obamacare and cuts to Medicare. NAME raises taxes and supports out of control government spending that costs jobs. NAME is Pelosi's puppet.

Yawn.

Americans for Prosperity will spend millions of dollars in this election cycle in an effort to 1) slam the Obama administration as a force destroying the country and 2) defeat as many Democrats as possible to put as many people in Congress as possible that will do their bidding. Note the quote above.

Who leads AFP? Tim Phillips, former Century Strategies partner of Christian Coalition Director Ralph Reed. If you don't recall, Century Strategies was the outfit used by Jack Abramoff to launder money.

The Democrats have filed a complaint stating the obvious, which is that the foundation is clearly breaking the law by funding groups to run election specific pieces hitting candidates by name, which is flat out illegal.

The grotesquely irresponsible gutting of financial regulations combined with the windfall tax cuts for the ultra mega-rich has given greed soaked scum like Koch a taste of what it is to truly plunder the planet. Armed with a virtually limitless war chest, they have no problem spending vast sums to insure that their domination of the world continues. They will do everything they can to make sure that the country remains organized so that all economic production is funneled directly into their coffers.

It's not the government that's on the backs of the American people.

AZ CD-8

2010-08-27T00:15:00.007-07:00

Republicans have nominated over a dozen tea candidates less likely to prevail in the general election than their establishment GOP rivals. The nomination of Sharron Angle (NV) gives otherwise challenged Harry Reid a decent chance. You know the others, from Rand Paul in KY to Scott in FL to Quayle in AZ.

Yes, they may prevail in their blood red worlds, but Quayle's nomination is as nuts as Paul's. Have you heard these guys? Were it not for being their father's sons, these clowns might be night watchmen for junkyards not wanting to be cruel to dogs. Okay, Paul can do teeth, but word is that his employees can't stand him.

Of course, we have AZ CD-8, which has entertained ever since Jim Kolbe retired after holding the office for 24 years. Establishment favorite Jonathan Paton, despite having the backing of the Click/Diamond machine and state representative credentials, fell to newcomer Jesse Kelly, also a son, in this case of local construction mogul Don Kelly, who of course has strong ties to other construction moguls.

Many (self included) considered Paton a sure thing, with years of generally well thought of legislative experience, and clearly the superior candidate to face Giffords in November. Yes, I've left town, but I've met many in the Giffords campaign. Not taking any credit from the candidate, it is important to recognize the truly extraordinary organization working for her election. For that reason, I still think she would have prevailed over Paton even in this foul economic climate with the tenuous CD-8 dynamics, but it would have been nerve racking.

Kelly's primary victory is good news for the Giffords campaign. Now a Congresswoman for four years, Giffords commands the deep and thorough understanding of national, state, and CD-8 specific issues that comes from living with them for four years. In the upcoming debates, Kelly will repeat the tea party talk about big government and cutting taxes. He'll declare Giffords is like Pelosi.

Sure, a fourth of the room will cheer, like they did for Graf and Bee. Then come the hard general election questions about education, social security, the economy, and the hard district questions about the water supply (Rosemont mine?), solar energy development, the University of Arizona (I hope they post it on YouTube), immigration and the border (for real), transportation infrastructure....

Kelly has the luxury of having no record in elected office and some tea groups that will hit Giffords on his behalf.

Giffords has, and it is no luxury, but the result of years of very hard work, the advantage of knowing what she's talking about.

She also has the ability to hit back.