Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

There seems to be some noise about getting former Senate President Ken Bennett to run for Rick Renzi’s seat. Geez, the Republicans are talking about this and the guy’s political body ain’t even cold yet. That ain’t a good sign, is it?
Bennett was talked up as a candidate for governor, even John McCain was rumored to […]

So, let me get this right, Karl Rove told Sheryl Crow not to touch him? You know, folks are right about me, I just don’t understand the Republican mind.
Of course, these are guys that think that Ann Coulter is “hot.”

Last week, after his wife’s buisiness was raided by the FBI, Rick Renzi stepped down from the House Intelligence Committee.
Now, here’s the funny part: he didn’t step down from the House Natural Resources Committee, the committee that handled the land swaps that got him into trouble in the first place.
It would be like someone who got too […]

I watched a wee bit of Arizona Capitol Television yesterday. I really have no excuse for this. I don’t have a head injury and the remote worked just fine. I don’t know what came over me.
I caught a bit of a hearing on SR 1003, which would reject recommendations from the Governor’s office on salaries […]

With the word “Renzi” looking more and more synonymous with the word “toast,” there is a Democratic candidate making noises: Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick from Flagstaff.
Kirkpatrick has already met with various pooh-bahs from both the DCCC and Arizona’s congressional delegation, and people have been supportive (but short of outright endorsement, of course). Some talk even suggests […]

As they start to realize they are losing the global warming argument, the new tack of conservatives is to attack the energy use of environmentalists. To hear them tell it, if you are concerned about global warming, you are commanded to live in a little cabin somewhere off the power grid and ride your bike around […]

I’ve been asking around because I haven’t been able to figure out why Jon Kyl’s questions to Alberto Gonzales have been virtually unreported by either the local or national media. It’s strange, both because we kept hearing in the last campaign about how valuable Kyl is because of his high profile on committees like Judiciary, […]

Thanks to TucsonMark, we have a link to this morning’s Wall Street Journal article detailing the allegations against Rick Renzi. Apparently, it involves an alfalfa field near Sierra Vista. What, no buckwheat?
Renzi tried to get Resolution Copper Company, who wanted to sink a new underground mine near Superior, to buy the field in exchange for arranging the […]

The word is out that the Wall Street Journal has had a reporter in the state for the last couple of weeks turning over every possible rock to get the goods on Rick Renzi. Talk is that tomorrow’s edition of the Journal will feature a blockbuster story about the invesitgation into the land swap.
So…where is […]

As much as I disliked John Ashcroft or even Edwin Meese, I always thought the guys were smart and knew what they were doing. They were serious people who were up to the job. I don’t get that impression about Alberto Gonzales. I don’t know, something about him just tells me he is way out […]

Well, it’s finally happened: some action has been taken in the inquiry into Rick Renzi. The FBI raided an insurance company owned by Renzi’s wife yesterday. Depending on who you ask, the inquiry either involves a defense contract, or a land swap. In any case, this thing has finally gotten past the “some sources say…” stage.
The […]

Rodney Glassman’s campaign announced today that it has gotten to 65% of its fundraising goal. Glassman has committed to only raising money in $20 increments. Since I gave him the same Andy Jackson that everyone else did, I am as much of a “high roller” giver to his campaign as Jack Camper or Peter Likins […]

I heard about the indictment of Russ Jones last night. I decided to wait until the morning to write anything, but I was going to say something like, “Look for Greg Patterson to claim that Jones is the victim of zealous prosecutors…”
Well, it turns out, he already had.
Here’s what Patterson says:
In order to get on […]

I got a note from John Kromko last night. He wanted me to put up a link to his latest petition drive, No More Water Fees. In the 80’s and 90’s, a Kromko petition drive was enough to send chills down the spines of elected officials and bureaucrats everywhere. His organizational ability lost some of its […]

I recieved a phone call from a high ranking friend who complained that she can’t read my blog on her Blackberry. Is there anyone out there that is able to read this on their Blackberry? I don’t know enough about how they work, should I suggest she just read the RSS feed?
I am running a plug-in […]

Much has been made about how much money John McCain has raised in Arizona, but little attention has been paid to how much money Democratic candidates have raised in Arizona. Y’all could check this out yourself on Open Secrets, but you’ll miss my brilliant and insightful commentary.
Yeah.
Anyway, here are the raw numbers:
Bill Richardson - $71,325
Barack […]

So much stuff to write about and I’m just now catching up.
That’s okay, the Star ran a helpful editorial yesterday on the SB 1169. The bill’s purpose was to mandate that county governments redact Social Security numbers from documents so that they cannot be used for identity theft. When it was pointed out to them […]

Tommy Thompson at a meeting of Reform Judiasm leaders today in Washington, according to Ha’aretz:
I’m in the private sector and for the first time in my life I’m earning money. You know that’s sort of part of the Jewish tradition and I do not find anything wrong with that.
After a poor reaction from the audience, […]

Josh Brodesky has an article in yesterday’s Arizona Daily Star about a community meeting that Raúl Grijalva had at Roskruge about No Child Left Behind. The article focused on Grijalva’s troubles with how the act treats English language learners, but also went over concerns that were voiced about teacher certifications and limits on cirriculum.
I read […]