Month: February 2014

By Tom Prezelski

Originally posted to Rum Romanism and Rebellion

It is statehood day, so I wanted to write something special. This was written a few years ago and posted in a few different places. I was going to re-visit this list, but I decided that I still like my choices, since you still have not heard of most of these. My call to the reader to feel free to take issue with this list still stands.

February 14th is, among other things, Statehood Day in Arizona. This means that someone, somewhere, will publish the inevitable “greatest Arizonans who ever lived” or “people/events that changed Arizona” lists in newspapers or blogs. The results of these lists are predictable. They nearly always, for instance, include Barry Goldwater. I have nothing against Goldwater’s inclusion, but the late Senator is a little like the Beatles; yeah they were great; yes, things are different because of what they did, but that does not mean that they are not over-rated.

So I am making my own list. This list will not include easy choices like Goldwater, Kino and Poston, names which should already be familiar to most readers. Instead, I take this opportunity to highlight some of the individuals whose names should be familiar, but have instead slipped into relative obscurity despite their role in shaping the Arizona we all know and love.

My standards in making this list are fairly simple. First, the named individual must no longer be alive and must have no institutions, streets, towns, parks, or substantial monuments named for them. Naturally, the individual must have made a lasting, positive contribution to Arizona during their lifetime regardless of the length of their residency in the state. This last one is, of course, highly subjective, and I will have to admit not only to my geographic bias as a Tucsonan but also my political bias as a Democrat. Anyone who has an issue with one of my choices, or someone I did not choose, should feel free to make these views known.

Posted by Carolyn Classen   Only one showing tonight of: Harold & Maude at 7 p.m. February 14, Valentine’s day 2014, of this unforgetable, age-defying cult movie showing at the Loft Theater, 3233 E. Speedway. Not sure why it’s become a cult movie, but I guess it’s the 60 year age difference between young Harold … Read more

Posted by Bob Lord

Okay, actually there are several things about Thucky, but I liked the alliteration so I went with it. 

The thing about Thucky for this post is that he purports to be really well read, and perhaps he is, but the synapses just don't fire for him the way they fire for the right-wing economists he worships. In my school days, he would have been referred to as a "dummy try hard." He works really hard. He reads about Rogerson and Prescott. He believes they're really smart. He reads everything they churn out. He knows their conclusions, but doesn't truly grasp how they got there. Nor does he have the mental strength or the intellectual curiosity to challenge anything his heroes throw out there for him. 

Let me digress for a second. I use the male pronoun to refer to Thucky, and have no real basis for doing so. Perhaps it's because most of us tend to assume anonymous people are the same gender as we are, or perhaps it's because the real Thucydides actually was male. I don't know, but I recognize the possibility that when I say Thuckmeister I perhaps should be saying Thuckstress.

Anyhow, I've been having this ongoing debate with ole Thuckarooskie about the effect of tax policy on tax revenue, and I've realized that Thucky doesn't really grasp fundamental concepts. 

He's on safe ground when he just parrots what Rogerson and Prescott and others have concluded. But when he engages in his own analysis, he gets into trouble. 

This gets a bit geeky, but try to hang in here for this example.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Announcement from the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce:

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The GOP crazy base bills are moving through the legislature at a break-neck pace this year. Last year "black helicopters day" at the Arizona Lege didn't come until April. Black helicopters day at the Arizona Lege.

On Wednesday the annual "constitutional sheriffs" bill, a favorite of anti-government right-wing conspiracy theorists who believe the black helicopters of the federal "guvmint" are coming for their guns and "freedom!", is sponsored by far-right extremist groups like former Graham County Sheriff Richard Mack's conspiratorial Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and the Oath Keepers, made up of former and current law enforcement officers and military personnel who believe it is their duty to defy what they deem to be unconstitutional orders. Here is a profile of Mack from the Southern Poverty Law Center. 'Army' of Sheriffs to Resist Federal Authority.

In 2012, wingnut Rep. David Gowan (R-Sierra Vista), who has now been promoted to House Majority Leader, sponsored HB 2434 which would have required employees of federal agencies to first notify the sheriff of the county "before taking any official law enforcement action in a county in this state." HB 2434 was actually approved by the Arizona legislature. It took a veto by Governor Jan Brewer to restore sanity. Governor Brewer vetoes 'States' Rights' Tea-Publican bill.

The sponsor of this year's version of the bill, SB 1290 (.pdf). is the "Birther Queen," Rep. Judy Burges (R-Sun City West), who is also the Grand Inquisitor of climate science denialism. This woman is never without her tinfoil hat.