Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Advertisement When the clock struck midnight on June 30, legislative leaders ordered the clocks in the Arizona Legislature turned off to suspend time so that it would still be June 30. Day 171 of the regular legislative session never occurred. On day 171, the Accidental Governor vetoed the budget of the GOP … Read more

by David SafierI get comments. Most of them, from you folks, are intelligent and based on the posts. And then there are spammers whose purpose is to create links to their websites, just like spam email. They write generic comments about how I'm doing a wonderful job and writing important things everyone should hear. Flattery, … Read more

by David SafierEnjoy. If you want to take 4 minutes and 22 seconds out of your day, listen to Obama's thoughts on the Fourth, our past and our future. I'll take his words over a limp teabag any day.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Happy birthday America! You're 233 years young. Celebrate the 4th of July.

by David SafierFrom the Arizona Guardian: “We made huge adjustments to the ’09 budget, and that shocked the system, so much so that some of our members couldn’t handle the shock,” [Huppenthal] said. “During the course of the past six months, we’ve done an enormous amount of reductions, but it’s not near enough.” He is … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Alaska Disasta, Sarah Palin, announced today that she is stepping down as Governor of Alaska. If you did not catch her press conference, catch the replay. It was a rambling and incoherent series of non sequitur anecdotes. As Steven Colbert might describe it, it was "the craziest f#?king thing I've ever heard."

"Alaskans aren't quitters"… but I'm abandoning my job as governor. Huh?

Here is just a short clip from the press conference. When I find a video of the full statement I will update this post later.

Palin's announcement follows closely on the heels of the publication of a scathing report on the 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee, "It Came From Wasilla," in Vanity Fair magazine by Todd S. Purdum. McCain campaign staff members anonymously trashed Palin and questioned John McCain's serious lack of judgment. A must read article.

CNN reports Palin stepping down this month:

Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she will step down as Alaska's chief executive by the end of the month. She will not seek election to a second gubernatorial term in 2010.

* * *

Palin, a Republican, was elected governor in 2006. She was tapped as Arizona Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate last year.

Palin said she was transferring authority to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who will be sworn in at the Governor's Picnic on July 26.

A Republican source close to her political team told CNN's John King that it was a "calculation" she made that "it was time to move on." The governor's "book deal and other issues" were "causing a lot of friction" in her home state, the source said, adding that he believes she is "mapping out a path to 2012."

Following Palin's announcement, the Democratic Nationanl Committee blasted what it called her "bizarre behavior."

"Either Sarah Palin is leaving the people of Alaska high and dry to pursue her long shot national political ambitions or she simply can't handle the job now that her popularity has dimmed and oil revenues are down," DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said.

"Either way, her decision to abandon her post and the people of Alaska who elected her continues a pattern of bizarre behavior that more than anything else may explain the decision she made today."

Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC just reported that her sources close to the governor report that Sarah Palin is getting out of politics altogether. She has had it with the "blood sport" of politics as Palin described it in her statement. We'll see Mrs. Greenspan.

Political commentators almost universally are harshing on Sarah Palin saying that "she's finished with politics" after this strategic blunder — and that's just from the Republican strategists.

Good riddance… well, on second thought, she will probably wind up on Faux News or talk radio. This celebrity hound ain't going away.

UPDATE: Press conference video from MSNBC below the fold (for technical reasons).