AZ Politics

Not surprisingly, I was quite unimpressed by Bush’s State of the Union. He started with the lie that our Union is strong, and didn’t stop with the lies and half-truths and terrible ironies throughout. The high point was when Bush alluded to his defeat on Social Security ‘reform’ and the Democrats gave him a standing ovation. The rest was Bush’s characteristic jive of taking our highest ideals and traditions and shitting all over them for the low and corrupt ends of his ‘base’.

But I don’t really want to talk about the SOTU. It is never politically significant, anyhow. Most years, Bush’s ratings have fallen following his SOTUs. And while he didn’t drop any real clinkers this year, such as addressing the use of performance enhancing drugs in professional sports, neither did he say anything that will have any resonance or ring true outside his base. What I thought was really interesting was the Democratic Response.

I would like to invite you all to participate in a new blog carnival that I have started to highlight the best and brightest blogging in the Arizona Sonoran Desert region: The Coyote Carnival. Please submit your nominations for the best writing from the best blogs based in the region. The topic at this point … Read more

Bush’s self-appointment as the ambassador of democracy in the Middle
East continues to misfire with
the Palestinian elections handing a clear majority of 76 of 132 seats
in Parliament to Hamas, which is officially considered a
terrorist organization by the United States’ government and Israel, as
well as the EU and Canada. Hamas also does not recognize the state of
Israel and its destruction is part of the
organization’s charter, as are some other choice bits that are likely
to make the peace process difficult at best:

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through
Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a
waste of time and vain endeavors."

Bush is calling for Hamas to change it’s charter. Don’t hold your
breath. Though Hamas has made some hints that it
intends to continue to negotiate with Israel through intermediaries, it
is not altogether clear that Israel will be receptive. Israeli hard-liners may use the rise of Hamas as a reason to break off all talks, likely prompting another intensification of mutual violence.

More…

I just finished reading George Saunder’s novella, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. It is nothing like what you would expect, but yet is everything you could want in a political satire for our times. Instead of rushing headlong at the subject as I am wont to do (and did do in my own novella Homeland), Saunders started from a much more exploratory place and wound up with what is essentially a Dr. Suess book about genocide.

More from Saunders on how the book was written on the flip…

Flake endorses fellow Arizonan for House majority leader. I don’t know how much weight this public show of support will throw, but it is certainly, to my mind a neccessary precondition to a Shadegg win. Flake is a nationally recognized spokeman for limited government and reduction of government spending and a vocal critic of ‘earmarking’. … Read more