Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

Another list!
This is a list of the top people who have been mentioned on my blog since May. There have been a total of 194 posts, with 523 people mentioned over that time.

Councilmember Kathleen Dunbar - 32 Mentions
Councilmember Fred Ronstadt - 24 Mentions
Governor Janet Napolitano - 20 Mentions
Councilmember Karin Uhlich - 19 Mentions
Rep. Raúl Grijalva […]

It’s New Years Eve Eve…which means I should do a year-end wrap of some sort. But, rather than carefully thought out, long-view analysis, instead, I’ll just do a top 10 list. I figure that’s what all of the credentialed “journalists” are doing these days anyway.
These are my top 10 posts, judged by the number of […]

We beseech thee, Master, to be our helper and protector. Save the afflicted among us; have mercy on the lowly; raise up the fallen; appear to the needy; heal the ungodly; restore the wanderers of thy people; feed the hungry; ransom our prisoners; raise up the sick; comfort the faint-hearted.
St. Clement of Rome

Monsignor Edward Ryle […]

Today’s Tucson Weekly has an article on Chris Simcox, leader of the so-called “Minuteman” militia movement. It is worth a read, and if you have time, it is also worth reading the longer report on Simcox’s past that has been published by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The report raises a number of questions about Simcox’s […]

Some gophers told me that Christine Toretti-Olson will not be running for congress in CD 8. Her husband, Lute Olson, apparently put the kibosh on it. If this is true, it makes sense given his past preferences. Olson is at heart, a Republican, but he is registered as an independent. He tries to stay out […]

¡Feliz navidad y prospero año nuevo!
Na szczescie, na zdrowie z Wigilia!
And, of course, to Bill O’Reilly, Season’s Greetings.

Lorraine Frank, appointed to the State Board of Regents last year by her protege Janet Napolitano, died yesterday at the age of 82.
Frank had been an important figure in the civic and political life of this state, working to get arts programs into many rural schools as well as serving as Democratic National Committeewoman for […]

Just for grins, scroll down and check out the “Supporters” entry on the front page of Don Goldwater’s campaign site.
Here I thought that setting up Christmas decorations and deciding on napkin colors for the Department of Administration would result in a much stronger political base. Shows how I was wrong.

Emil Franzi has an article in the Northwest Explorer which crowns Jeff Latas as the probable Democratic nominee in Congressional District 8. He complains about the “shallow commentary” that the local media has given the Democratic field. Yeah, I agree on that one. Trouble is, he then rates Latas’s abilities as a candidate entirely […]

Some of my myriad fans tell me they are waiting with baited breath for my opinions and or predictions on the “race” to replace Sen. Gabrielle Giffords.
Truth to tell: I have no idea what the heck is going on.
I know this much, if the supes thought there were three solid votes for any of […]

Rep. Rick Murphy (R-Glendale) is circulating a proposed House Concurrent Resolution to abolish the Clean Elections program. He believes that this would survive the constitutional challenges that scuttled the anti-Clean Elections initiative that was attempted in 2004.
Hmm…let’s just savor the memory of that one. Jim Click and the other big money types spent thousands hiring […]

The nattering in the transom is that Christine Toretti-Olson will run in Congressional District 8 after prodding from national Repubican leaders.
The only trouble with this is that she doesn’t even live in Arizona. Near as I can tell, she hasn’t even been here more than half a dozen times. In fact, the Republican National Committee […]

Maybe the conservatives are right, there is a liberal media conspiracy.
The WB network showed The Wizard of Oz opposite Pres. Bush’s speech. The Scarecrow had that all too prescient line:
But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t they?
L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz, was a hardcore […]

I noticed that the “LeftyBlogs” news roll on the side bar here has been carrying a notice for a petition to have a “Western Super Tuesday” set of primaries and caucuses, hopefully to give more of a voice to Western States and thus, somehow, produce a candidate more pallatable to the Western States.
I signed the […]

One local político, who I will mercifully not name, was going through a voter file and voters were marked with different color highlighters.
“So, what do the colors mean?”
“Yellow are my firm supporters. Orange are soft supporters.”
“What about the blue?”
“Those are the ones we hope don’t vote.”
My fellow blogger Greg Patterson over at Espresso Pundit […]

Somebody named Annie Mous or something posted a couple of days ago that I missed the Alex Rodriguez story. Yeah, I did. Keep in mind, I’m not paid for this, guys.
I spoke to Rodriguez last weekend, and it never came up. Part of the reason may have been that I was standing next to Spencer […]

A friend of mine in DC just called me up to ask me if Patty Weiss announced for congress this morning. I have no idea yet. It’s nice that people think I’d know, though.
I checked the Arizona Daily Star to see if they did an update that would tell me. Then I remembered that they […]

I hadn’t seen C. J. Karmargin’s Political Notebook column in the Arizona Daily Star for two weeks. Given how much has been going on in local politics, I found this really odd.
I asked around about this. Turns out that the Star thinks that a regular political column, even a regular political reporter, is […]

Didn’t make it this time, sorry guys.
So many people were voting for Rep. David Bradley and Rep. Ted Downing, it really left them with only one vote left to choose between me and other candidates that they may have had other reasons to vote for, such as Steve Farley and Leslie Nixon. Don’t worry […]

Dennis Quinlan, Ed Ableser’s campaign manager, read my previous entry on Ableser’s troubles and wanted to point out to me that he never actually violated the spending limits, and that the questions that arose were because of an error in the filing.
He also pointed out that Ableser has reached a settlement with the Clean Elections […]