|W|P|112805382297893179|W|P|Breaking News|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
|W|P|I am disapointed that you did not feature a photo of Scooter from the muppet show. Where is your Gen-X smarminess? |W|P|More breaking news:Jack Jackson to run against Renzi!
http://www.backjackson.com/
Okay, it's probably not breaking news. Still, I hadn't heard about it. What do you know about this dude?
Tedski|W|P|As a matter of fact, Jeff, I wrote about this some time ago. Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|Because that Scooter is not Evil, Tom. :) I swear aging Gen Xers...
The Tucson Weekly's Best of Tucson issue is out and they have named Rep. Raúl Grijalva Tucson's best public servant. Given how, er, less than supportive two of their writers have been in the past, that's quite a feat.
For some reason, they named John Kromko as the best mischief maker. Given how long its been since he's been anything close to effective, I am scratching my head on that one.|W|P|112801541047389514|W|P|The Weekly Has Spoken.|W|P|prezelski@aol.com |W|P|YAY!!! It must of killed the Weekly that their readers picked raul for the 2nd year in a row!BWHAHAHAHA! Suckas!
|W|P|In other news, flocks of wild javelina flew over on their migration to the frozen tundra of Cancun...
Apparently there is a poll circulating that shows Nina Trasoff ahead of Fred Ronstadt, and Karen Uhlich slightly ahead of Kathleen Dunbar. I haven't seen the poll, so its hard to really draw an awful lot from it.
The thing that it confirms to me is what I've been saying all along: Uhlich was going to have a slightly harder time of it than Trasoff. This runs counter to what many people were thinking. There is some sort of mythology that Fred Ronstadt is somehow resoundingly popular because of his name. Well, yes, he's well known, but that doesn't necessarily mean well liked.
I don't know where this started. Yes, Ronstadt is from a family that has been prominent in Tucson since before the Civil War. That helped him get elected narrowly. That sort of thing works until you actually have to run on a record.
This is where Ronstadt falls apart. He doesn't like to explain himself. There is even a story of him blowing up at citizens at a neighborhood association meeting. He isn't what anyone would call a people person. This sort of lack of personal connection is what can mess you up in a local race. What also hasn't helped is that he's run an anemic campaign.
It's helpful to point out that the Democrats nominated a smart but weak candidate in 2001, and she came close to beating Ronstadt.
Karin Uhlich is running against Kathleen Dunbar, who is far more personable than Ronstadt. She can walk into a room and charm just about anyone. Of course, when you actually know what is up, you know it's total BS, but she puts on a nice show. People, unfortunately, like this. She has a much better constituency service operation than Ronstadt does (Ronstadt seems to think his constituents are only the folks that own chain stores). This sort of thing matters in an election. The fact that the poll shows Uhlich with a slight lead against Dunbar is a great sign for both her and Trasoff.
I hope the local party shows this poll to some of the contributors. Unfortunately, the big contributors for the party are neighbors of some of the people who donate to Ronstadt and Dunbar. This leads them to think that somehow the two Republicans are inassailable. Hopefully, they will see what is actually going on on the ground and help out.|W|P|112800194235821340|W|P|Poll Shows Democrats Ahead|W|P|prezelski@aol.com |W|P|Nerd alert...Actually, the Ronstadt family moved to Tucson after the Civil War, though Colonel Federico Ronstadt did spend a lot of time here drumming up support for the cause during the War of Reform (1857-1861) and the War of the French Intervention (1862-1867).
Just thought you would like to know.
|W|P|Tom, that's scary...and slightly arousing..no, no, just plain scary.
Bill Bennett on his radio show this morning:
I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.(From Media Matters) Well, the best you can say about the guy is that he didn't couch it in "code words" or anything.|W|P|112795566539115925|W|P|What's That They Say About a Gaffe?|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
|W|P|That really makes me ill. What the hell is wrong with people??? Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|"I will never understand the mad rush of some people to blame those in distress rather than inconvenience themselves with empathy." Eli Blake|W|P|Just remember it was Bill Bennett who went out on a limb and wrote a book called, 'The Book of Virtues' in which he defined conservatives as more 'moral' than liberals. And what exactly did he DO with the millions he made off of the book?Went to Vegas and blew it all at the slots.
How virtuous.
Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|well he was careful to avoid putting down gambling as a non-viture. |W|P|I GUESS WE SHOULD RETHINK THE ANNUAL BILL BENNETT POKER TOURNAMENT TO BENFIT THE NAACP!
Tom DeLay has just been indicted by a grand jury in Travis County, Texas for conspiracy.
I'm not gloating, really.
From the above article, it seems that DeLay's attorney, Bill White, is a Loudon Wainright III fan.
CNN has a copy of the indictment posted. In it we find out that DeLay's middle name is Dale, the same as the first name of our other favorite Texas exterminator.|W|P|112792672675055785|W|P|Breaking News|W|P|prezelski@aol.com |W|P|That's "Eliminator" if you meant Earnhart. Tedski|W|P|Uh, no, I was refering to Dale Gribble of King of the Hill.I thought Earhardt was from North Carolina?
I know all of you are very busy people, so I will summarize Michael Brown's testimony for you:
It's all someone else's fault.
By the way, the big story going around yesterday was that Brown is still on the FEMA payroll as a consultant. At today's hearing, he was refered to as the "outgoing director" and kept refering to the agency as "we." It seems as though he was never canned. Is there any punishment for anyone in this administration?|W|P|112785103507473551|W|P|Michael Brown Testimony|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
Some of you may remember a while back I wrote a bit on Paul Gourley, the newly elected president of the College National Republican Committee. He was involved in a fundraising scandal. For those who don't know, Gourley singed off on letters basically bilking elderly contributors. From this, he apparently earned the presidency of the CRNC.
This week's New Republic has an article (registration required) on their convention from a few months back. The scandal involving Gourley goes a bit deeper than what I had earlier described. Apparently, a direct mail firm has some sort of exclusive contract with the CRNC and gets huge kickbacks.
RDI, or Response Dynamics Inc., is the biggest scandal in the history of the College Republicans. More precisely, it is a direct-mail firm that brought the College Republicans approximately $9 million last year. Most of that money went straight back to RDI, which claimed $8.2 million to cover expenses and their fees, according to the Los Angeles Times.So, it seems that the CRNC is merely a money laundering operation for this firm, RDI. But that's not all. Apparently, the CRNC's relationship with RDI is important enough that members of the Republican establishment, including congressmen, involve themselves in elections so as to make sure that the arrangement continues. Candidates that were on the wrong side of an election, according to the article, can find themselves on the outs in the Republican party for years afterward. This all can lead to really intense elections. If you wonder where people like Karl Rove and Jack Abramoff cut their teeth, it was in the rough and tumble of CRNC politics. This election was rife with allegations of homosexuality, smear blogs (CR Veterans for Truth, not making that up), false populism, parliamentary tricks and vote rigging. Okay, YDA can get pretty down and dirty. At my first convention, a group of folks tried to claim that they were the Young Democrats of American Samoa. Our credentialing rules were so loose at the time, that I think they may have gotten away with it. But, for the most part, things have been relatively clean. Yes, it's hardball, but still clean. Part of this may be because many people in the DNC wanted to steer clear of the YDA. The organization was in a shambles (and sometimes a joke) for years and only recently has gotten back on its legs. The problems stemed from a meeting in Phoenix in 1987. Trouble in the YDA usually starts with Arizona. There is a YDA "establishment" too, and as long as I've been around, they can pretty much elect who they need to elect. And yes, the losers are largely excluded from YDA. However, they can still advance in the party. In fact, it seems sometimes they get further when they don't have to play games in the YDA.... College Republicans had understood this game for years. They had heard many such stories from the children of elderly men and women who receive boxes full of these letters. And many chairmen of the organization sought to break the relationship with RDI. "Everyone called it heroin," says [Jennifer] Holder. The CRs sincerely tried to kick their addiction, but they simply couldn't.
On that note, State Representative Erik Fleming is running for Senator Trent Lott's seat in Mississippi. Fleming was defeated for YDA president in 1995, but threw himself into state politics, elected only a few years after losing. Erik is a fine individual, and I was happy to support him way back when, and he'll make a fine United States Senator.
NB - My bro complained that I had too many pictures of Republicans. I hope the picture of Erik Fleming makes up for it a bit.
By the way, some Republican posted an anonymous comment on here. I think he was trying to imply that I was some sort of smokehead. He made the comment anonymously though, so unless he's got the cojones to give his name, he really doesn't deserve a response.|W|P|112778971559796316|W|P|Another Update|W|P|prezelski@aol.com |W|P|Wow, looking at that photo, you'd think he'd been elected chair of the log cabin republicans./not that there's anything wrong with that
|W|P|I had to go back to find the pothead comment. Given the frat-boy background of the Republican establishment I really don't think that they have room to make these sort of criticisms.
I heard that last week, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor spoke out against a proposed initiative to make judges in our largest counties elected rather than appointed.
So she doesn't want judges to be elected, but she has no problem having judges decide elections.|W|P|112753059719108761|W|P|Quick Take|W|P|prezelski@aol.com Michael Bryan|W|P|I don't defend O'Connor on Bush v. Gore, but her defense of merit selection is, well... meritorious. Eli Blake|W|P|Just wait until Bush appoints a replacement for O'Connor. |W|P|It's been nearly a week since your blog has featured a picture of a Democrat. What gives? Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|Yeah, Tom is right for once. Post some hot geeky Democrats.
A story has been making its way around the liberal portion of the blogosphere that Pres. George W. Bush is back on the sauce. The story originated with an overly dramatic account in the always reputable National Enquirer of Laura Bush walking in on the President while he is about to take a shot. Supposedly she said "Stop, George."
Something we all say, but with different punctuation.
According to the article, the President was so distraught over the destruction from Hurricane Katrina that it drove him to drink.
And therin lies my problem with the story.
As much as the schadenfraude infected portions of my lefty anatomy would be stimulated by it, I can't believe this one. If he was driven to drink, one would have to assume that the guy was engaged and also aware of the full scope of what was going on. To say that he needed a drink to deal with this crisis is giving him far too much credit.|W|P|112749480188863459|W|P|Sorry, I Can't Buy It.|W|P|prezelski@aol.com |W|P|"making it's way..."it's = it is
its = possessive of it
Tedski|W|P|Its...I mean it's fixed.Smartass.
shrimplate|W|P|Like you, I have a little difficulty believing that particular story. But unlike you (I guess,) the reason I doubt the story is because it is highly likely that Bush has been occasionally binge drinking, all along. The Enquirer story paints this as maybe a 1st-time thing, which I doubt.
Alcoholism is a progressive disease. Without treatment it just gets worse. And Bush has never been in treatment of any kind.
A year or so ago he even slurred words during a speech and press conference, causing a writer at the NYT to admit that Bush looked like he was medicated.
He probably alternates (or even sometimes combines) mild anxiolytic drugs and alcohol.
When I can stand watching him on TV for 5 minutes he often seems to me to be "on something." It's my nursing experience drug-radar thing.
I could be wrong.
Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|I agree with the poster above me. I think Bush has been drinking since 9/11 actually. Eli Blake|W|P|Don't know about Bush, but Karl Rove must have had a few drinks before shooting off his mouth at a conference last week.I mean, Karl Rove cracking jokes off about Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson (and in front of Bob Novak at that-- the last line of the story lists him as in attendance)? I bet his lawyer, who has advised him to keep his mouth shut about it probably called and blistered his ears.
Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|Rove is probably still hyped on his pain meds. shrimplate|W|P|A source quoted in the article mysteriously says of Bush that "Everyone's drinking around him."Also, after re-reading it, the article does in many instances imply that some people think Bush has indeed been sneaking drinks all along. Obvious enough.
Cheney has had several DWI's, but he is much more reticent about his personal life. There is no reason, however, to assume that he himself is entirely free of alcohol-related problems.
Cheney is a man who gained 35 pounds of weight after having suffered a heart attack, so I would not presume he would be compliant regarding other matters of his health.
Generally speaking, if an organization is sick at the top, illness and codependence will resonate all through it at all levels.
Note how all the bell-ringers have been booted out of this administration.
Face it, the entire White House is alcoholic. Not just the people who work there, but the entire organization.
|W|P|Better a drunk than the leftist potheads and junkies mass-halucinating Democratic party talking points. Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|You know you misspelled a word there.Are you on pot yourself?
I was poking around on Espresso Pundit the other day, and he printed an e-mail that he got from Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa. Johnson was touting the candidacy of Maricopa County School Superintendent Sandra Dowling for Governor. I'm not sure how serious the speculation about Dowling is, here is a snippet from the e-mail that Espresso Pundit printed:
Doesn't sound like it's serious speculation to me. An interesting phrase there is "If I remember Sandra correctly..." Does this mean that Johnson hasn't talked to her lately? It really wouldn't suprise me to find out that a Republican legislator doesn't bother to talk often to the local officials that have to implement their hare-brained schemes, even when they are of their own party and county. I also find it interesting that Johnson touts Dowling's educational credentials, something that Johnson routinely ignores and belittles when it suits her legislative aims. Even if this is serious speculation, Dowling is probably not going to be a strong candidate. It's a funny thing, really. For a county official to run for governor, they need a pretty strong base. The only county to really have that right now is Maricopa. This is precisely the county where officials have very little visibility (Joe Arpaio and Andrew Peyton Thomas aside, but look what they have to do to get attention) because so many of their normal responsibilities are handled by the cities. We have had, in recent history, Maricopa county officials that have attempted to run for statewide office, thinking the population advantage would propel them to victory. Anyone remember Fred Koury? Yeah, no one else does either. He was a Maricopa County supervisor who got all the conservatives in Phoenix fired up. He got demolished in the primary by Fife Symington, who had as many years in elective office as Koury's housecat. The County School Superintendent's office is very low key. Here in Pima County, for example, even educators would be hard pressed to tell you who Linda Arzoumanian is and what her job actually is. And in Pima County, the county officials tend to be much higher profile locally than county officials are in Phoenix, so imagine how hard it could be for Dowling to break out of the pack. What is interesting is that even with one candidate with a famous name (Don Goldwater) and another with a strong legislative background (John Greene), yet another waiting in the wings (Ken Bennett), that they are still flailing around to find someone, anyone, who could put a dent in Janet Napolitano's armor. Keep looking around, boys and girls. NB - SurveyUSA has a list of the "Approval/Disapproval" ratings of all 50 governors. Napolitano is at a comfortable +24%.|W|P|112733452628751234|W|P|Sandra Dowling for Governor?|W|P|prezelski@aol.comJust thought you would enjoy hearing about another name being bantered around for Governor – our own Maricopa County School Superintendent, Sandra Dowling. Now that would be a race! If I remember Sandra correctly, she is a bulldog and would give Janet quit [sic] a time of it – with all of Sandra’s credentials in Education, she might take the stage – front and center – from the Governor.
I was sent a link, probably really for my brother, but what the heck, for a web page for a fundraiser by Rep. Pamela Gorman. Gorman is from the conservative Potemkin village of Anthem. You may remember her as the one that defeated Rep. Clancy Jayne last year in a bruising primary. Gorman ran as the "true conservative" against the supposedly moderate Jayne. Given how I don't remember Jayne as very moderate, that tells you where Gorman is.
Gorman had a fundraiser scheduled this last weekend at the Scottsdale Gun Club (remember when these places were "Rod and Gun Clubs"? Maybe fishing is just too whimpy these days. Maybe it's too French) The invitation is interesting, it calls on people to "celebrate diversity" and then features a picture with several different types of guns. See, its a joke, because us libburrals always mock them for their lack of diversity, but they love all guns as equal in the eyes of God. See, get it?
It's really funny if you are from Anthem.
Gorman recently got together with her consultant Chris Baker and formed a consulting firm called Black Mountain Associates. Supposedly, she will not deal with the Arizona accounts. Yeah, that'll happen.
While poking around for some information about Gorman, I ran across her very poor campaign site, as well as her blog. She's a fellow member of Blogger. That makes us just the same, right?
I found an old entry where she complains about Gov. Napolitano vetoing one of her bills.
At least one of those good bills was vetoed without so much as a reading by her.Aww, pobrecita! I would feel sympathy, if the legistlators themselves read the bills more often. The Republican leadership and their lobbyist buddies rush through so many bills that they don't get a proper reading and hearing (anyone remember Alt-Fuels?). Heck, how many of Gorman's colleagues read her bill before they passed it? Probably very few, and Gorman counted on that. Here's another complaint about a call for a special session (same entry):
Why on earth would we want to come back, upheaving work schedules and family commitments, only to create more good bills that she will then veto?Yeah, it's a tough drive from Anthem to the legislature*, a good fourty minutes or so. What about Democrats like Albert Tom or Manny Alvarez who have to drive from all sorts of far flung places in this state only to have the majority try to totally shut them out: not hearing their bills and even trying to not let them have their say? Yeah, no sympathy there. Maybe if your collegues would treat the Democrats as more than a distracting way to keep a quorum, you would get a bill that the Governor wouldn't have to veto, eh? Gorman and her colleagues don't seem to understand that a Democratic governor got elected, and they can't just click her heels and wish she'd go away. It all sounds like so much whining. Sort of like what they accuse us of. Anyway, enough complaining about all that. I got the basics on the Gorman's fundraising and consulting from this Sunday's Political Insider column in the Republic. I included a picture of her because she's nice to look at, but still "ideologically impared." * I decided not to make any comments here about the irritating habit of people moving to stucco exurbs like Anthem to get away from the city, then complaining about how far they are from city services.|W|P|112731183651070451|W|P|Pamela Gorman Fundraiser|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|Query: Is it as bad as it was in the Mass. State Leg. when the Dems finally broke the power of the Republicans by redoing the campaigns in that state in the 1930s? By bad I mean the Dems had never even been allowed into the Speaker's suite, where anytime a Dem had to talk to the speaker they could not even let the leather of their shoe over the doorline. Tedski|W|P|Not quite that bad...but bad.There is a story about Thomas Brackett Reed, who was known as "Czar Reed" when he was the speaker of the US House. A freshman Democrat asked Mr. Reed "What rights does the minority have?"
"They have the right to draw a salary and be present for a quorum."
Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|It is sad that the Republicans have such a tendency to be power hungry *****. |W|P|Actually, Clancy Jayne IS a moderate. Anyone who beleives in a functional government is branded a moderate around here. Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|Tom, I know what I am getting you for Christmas. Eli Blake|W|P|I remember last year when there was some sort of a traffic backup on I-17 south of anthem, and watching the news when they interviewed some guy stuck in it in an idling SUV, and he complained and said that they should expand the highway to six lanes.And there, in a nutshell, is the disconnect that Republicans have from reality-- they want to cut taxes (even though for most of them, the actual amount of the cut will be minimal) and then expect the state to provide first rate service to fix whatever is ailing them.
And if you call them on it, they will mumble something about how they should cut waste and fraud in the budget. (Excuse me, if there is any waste in the budget then since Republicans have been writing the budget for at least the last generation, the people complaining about it should quit voting for more of the same).
|W|P|It seems that a certain North Valley State Senator, or a Arizona Senate employee working on his behest, want disparately to misdirect the voters from the Senator's own campaign finance scandal, by exploiting a small mistake, that a legislative candidate in District 6, made on his web site. The State Senator in question is Dean Martin, Republican from District 6, and the target of his attacks is former Arizona House member, Clancy Jayne, also a Republican and also from District 6.
Mr. Jayne, posted on his web sit, an example of a pre-printed nominating petition to instruct his volunteers on how to fill it out. Unfortunately for Mr. Jayne, the example he used had the names of real voters printed on it. Use of a voter list for anything but a political purpose, is illegal. One of Mr. Jayne's opponents, complained to the Secretary of State's office and the Secretary of State's office ask Mr. Jayne to take down the pre-printed nominating petition page, which he did, within two hours. No crime was committed because Mr. Jayne did not profit from the posting, nor was there intent to profit or break the law.
That didn't stop someone from making postings all over the Internet claiming that Mr. Jayne and his campaign chairman, Mr Vath, committed a felony, which nobody has accused them of or charged them with.
Senator Dean Martin on the other hand, has some explaining to do.
After the 2004 election, it was discovered that the young senator from the North Valley made a hefty profit for himself and his wife, Kerry Martin, by pocketing thousands of dollars worth of campaign contributions from lobbyist that regularly have business before his Senate Finance Committee.
I'll let the fact speak for themselves.
As they say in court, the facts are irrefutable. According to Sen. Martin's own campaign finance reports, that anyone can verify by going to the Arizona Secretary of State's web sit.
The Facts,
(1)Sen. Martin is the owner of Digital Print Design,
(2) Sen. Martin's wife, Kerry Martin, is the owner of Grassroots Programs
(3) Both Digital Print Design and Grassroots Programs are just mail drops at Paradise Valley Mail and share the same rented mail box. Neither business is listed in the phone book.
(4) Sen. Martin steered $9,022.01 in campaign funds through Digital Print Design and then into his own pocket.
(5) Sen. Martin steered $ 7, 331.54 in campaign funds through his wife's, Grassroots Programs, for what he called "Voter outreach," and then into his own pocket.
(6) Sen. Martin disbursed $6,922.33 to himself from campaign funds which he reported as a "Repay of a loan" but there is no record of this loan ever being made from Senator Martin to his campaign fund.
(7) Sen. Martin bought $ 12,175.16 worth of electronics and computers for himself with campaign funds, tax free.
(8) Sen. Martin spent $2,281.61 of campaign funds for cell phone service, tax free
(9) Sen. Martin spent $2,202.74 on food and booze with campaign funds including a $1,040.46 bar tab at his favorite watering hole and $100.19 for pizza and $30.21 at Krispy Kreme.
(10) Sen. Martin has profited from public office and is therefore corrupt and unfit for public office.
Maybe people that live in glass houses, shouldn't through stones, especially if the only reason they were elected was because they were named after a famous singer.
P. S. Senator Martin's Democratic opponent spent a grand total of $26, of which $10 was a late fee.
There is more about this on
www.newszap.com
|W|P|ARIZONA SENATOR DEAN MARTIN, A CAMPAIGN FINANCE CON-ARTIST PROFITING FROM PUBLIC OFFICE
Have you ever wondered what the members of the Arizona Legislature do with all that campaign money they get from lobbyist with business before the legislature? It's not just the political signs on our highways or the political mail filling your mail box that they spend that money on. Some members of the Arizona Legislature have found a way to make a big profit from running for office.
Elected officials are prohibited from directly receiving money from people with business before them, but that doesn't stop them from putting money from lobbyist in their own pocket.
Election laws in Arizona require all candidates for the legislature to file periodic campaign finance reports with the Arizona Secretary of State's office, showing who contributed to their campaigns and where they spent those contributions. The problem is, no one takes a close look at those reports.
One member of the Arizona Senate has found a creative way to profit from running for office, he pays himself first.
North Phoenix Republican Senator Dean Martin had no opponent in the 2004 Republican primary for the Arizona Senate in his overwhelmingly Republican district where Republican registration outnumbers Democrats 46.6% to 27.5%, so the winner of the Republican primary is pretty much assured of election to the legislature. The incumbent, Senator Martin, did have a Democratic challenger in the person of Marla Wing, who describes herself as a professional petition gatherer.
Senator Martin, the Chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, spent $63,323.82 to defeat his Democratic Party opponent, who spent a grand total of $26, of which $10 was a late filling fee with the Secretary of State's office, but Senator Martin didn't spend all that money on signs and postage.
Senator Martin's campaign finance reports indicate the his largest expenditure was $9,022.01 to a company called Digital Print Design, with the address of 4718 E Cactus Rd # 159.
The owner of Digital Print Design, Senator Dean Martin, the address for Digital Print Design, a rented mail drop in Paradise Valley Mall.
Senator Martin's second largest campaign expenditure was $7,331.54 to a company called Grassroots Programs for, "Voter outreach." Grassroots Programs has the same rented mail drop address as Digital Print Design. The owner of Grassroots Programs is, Kerry Martin, Senator Martin's wife.
If you don't have a calculator handy, that's $9,002.01 to Digital Print Design and $7,331.54 to Grassroots programs for a total of $16,353.55, but that's not all.
Campaign Finance reports indicate that Senator Martin loaned his campaign committee $2,854.68, of which $517.35 was for tools, but his expenditure reports show that he gave himself $6,922.33 as "Repayment of loans." Senator Martin made a profit of $4,067.65 on his loan to his campaign, that's not counting the $517.35 for tools, which he gets to keep for himself. That's a nice, tax free, profit. I don't think any payday loan business charges that much.
Add on $4,067.65 to the $16,353.55 on your calculator and you have $20,421.20.
You might think that steering over $20,000 in campaign contributions from lobbyist into a legislators own pocket was bad enough, think again.
Senator Martin's campaign finance records indicate he bought $12,175.16 worth of electronic equipment and computers with campaign funds, which he gets to keep, tax free.
He spent $2,281.61 on cell phone service for himself with campaign funds,
Senator Martin spent $2,202.74 on food and booze with campaign funds including a $1,040.bar tab at Tom's Tavern in downtown Phoenix, $100.19 for pizza and $30.21 at Krispy Kreme.
Add all the goodies to that $20,421.20 and you get $37,080.71, which is 58.5% of his total campaign expenditures or one and half times a legislators, $24,000, yearly salary. So who does the Arizona Legislature represent, the taxpayer or the lobbyist's that pay them more?
Interesting side information on Marla Wing, there are rumors that she has worked for Senator Martin in the past and that he asked her to run against him. I have not been able to locate Marla Wing.
Eric Thor
Nazi-hunter and activist Simon Wiesenthal has died peacefully at his home in Vienna.|W|P|112722967006880021|W|P|Simon Wiesenthal|W|P|prezelski@aol.com Eli Blake|W|P|And let us never forget.
I walked for the Democratic City Council ticket yesterday. One person who showed up was a fellow named Jason Williams, who is running for Superintendent of Public Instruction next year.
I'm not sure if the name is a good or bad thing; I guess it depends on which Jason Williams people associate him with. He is the Phoenix regional director for Teach for America, an organization that recruits and trains teachers and places them, often in schools in stressed areas. Given what I do for a living, I can appreciate this sort of work.
The other candidate in that Democratic primary is Slade Mead, a former Republican State Senator who was read out of the party for, gasp, being pro-public schools. I get the impression that he was recruited by party leaders to run. I know that there was an active effort to get him to switch parties after his defeat in the primary last year.
I don't know who I support. Williams was a classroom teacher not too long ago, and he has sucessfully administered a educational program. Mead has great policy experience (he was vice-chair of the education committee before they stripped him of that job), plus he's got a story he can tell to the voters about what his old colleagues really think of public schools.
Interestingly, the primary seems to have the same shape as the last one. In 2002, the primary was between Rod Rich, a classroom teacher from the East Valley, and Ken Blanchard, a state senator with similar "Republicans hate me" credentials (Blanchard beat House speaker Jeff Groscost in what was the biggest upset in Arizona political history). Interestingly, as a Senator, Mead seemed to vote more with the Democrats more than Blanchard did...
In that primary, the entire establishment lined up with Blanchard. He managed to win the primary, only to get beaten by Tom Horne in the general election. Rod Rich was a political neophyte who everyone personally liked but didn't have a great deal of political support.
Williams showed up to the walk yesterday with two volunteers who worked the room with him. So, at some level, he knows a little bit of what needs to be done, and the primary is still a year off.
Mead is despised by the Republican activists. Don't underestimate this as a motivator for Democratic primary voters.
So, what happens if the Republicans nominate a weak candidate for governor? Blanchard lost 50-46, a pretty small margin given the supposed Republican advantages in this state. Other state wide Democratic candidates lost by similar close margins. If there is a weak Republican at the top of the ticket, it could swing things our way in a few more of the lower races.
Which is why it is really important to nominate people for all of these "constitutional offices." We could pull out a win here and there, and these offices have a lot to do with the services that regular citizens need from the state. Remember that the dreaded and poorly administered AIMS test came out of the Superintendent's office, not a Governor or group of legislators.|W|P|112713882257324677|W|P|The Other Jason Williams|W|P|prezelski@aol.com Eli Blake|W|P|I really like the idea of Mead running, because it will show a lot of moderate Republicans who are becoming disgusted with the direction the leadership is taking their party (and believe me, they are out there) that they don't have to stay there and get dumped on.It is true that it is hard for ANY Democrat to win a down-ballot statewide race. The following exchange I had with a lady I know might explain it. This was on the day that a judgement came in against Jim Irvin that looked to cost the state $60 million.
I asked her what she thought of it. She said she thought it was disgusting. I asked her if she had voted for Jim Irvin.
She said, "I don't know, is he a Democrat or a Republican?"
I answered, "He's a Republican."
Her response: "Well, then, I guess I did vote for him. I only pay attention to the important races, like the President and the Governor, after that I just vote for all the Republicans."
(sigh) (There are some days when I question the wisdom of having gotten up in the morning.)
But, in spite of voters like her, it IS possible to win a statewide race if you aren't running for Governor. Napolitano and Terry Goddard have now won the last two races for A.G. (and I've heard the Republicans are even gloomier about their prospects of beating Goddard next year than they are of beating Janet).
Remember how Bush was supposed to have some sort of crackerjack staff that knew about how important image was? Well, yesterday they decided that it would be really great to have George W. Bush photographed during an appearance at an oil refinery. Yeah, way to go! Is Michael Moore doing their scheduling now?
Also, it turns out that Dick Cheney still sucks. Yeah, I know that all of us were thinking that maybe the extended vacation in Wyoming during the height of this crisis may have mellowed him, but apparently not. A report has surfaced that Cheney personally intervened when a local power company was trying to restore power to southern Mississippi, pressuring them to restore power to a company that runs...wait for it...
...gasoline and diesel pipelines.
Cheney even got the Department of Energy to call state power regulators. The company was bullied to not only neglect other residential areas to restore the power, but was forced to shut off power to one of the few functioning hospitals in the area to do it.
You can never really scrape the bottom of the barrel with these people, can you?|W|P|112688986733226091|W|P|Just as They Seem to Finally Get It|W|P|prezelski@aol.com Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|Are they actively shooting people yet? |W|P|If they are, it's probably the wrong people.
The picture at the right is making the rounds on the Intertron. Okay, I know someone had a great time with Photoshop here, so the picture isn't literally true. However, I read that Dick Cheney is telling people he made a sacrifice by coming back from vacation four days early. Wow.
There are some truths that aren't literal.
PS - "Intertron" is a word my roommate uses and is a reference to a short lived show called Quark that starred Richard Benjamin. Only a matter of time before I started using it. I think I've got it out of my system now.|W|P|112682684136492807|W|P|Out of the Mouths of Photoshop...|W|P|prezelski@aol.com |W|P|This comment has been removed by a blog administrator. Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|I remember Quark.
Nina Trasoff won the Ward Six Democratic Primary by an impressive 65%-35% margin. Early numbers show that she won the mail-in ballots by a ridiculous fifty points. This made for a rather big hole for Steve Farley to get out of. Despite what a couple of people told me tonight, my quick and dirty math on the numbers show that Farley lost the election day vote as well.
The margin both suprised me and gave me hope for the general election. I saw some numbers from Trasoff's field operation that predicted this sort of outcome, my thought was Howard Dean's campaign in Iowa. You know, overly exuberant volunteers over estimating the support that their candidate had. But the fact that Trasoff's field effort could even generate such numbers gave an indication at how sophisticated it was.
Farley had been involved in grassroots politics for years, in fact, his campaign towards the end touted him as "the grassroots candidate." For some reason, this didn't translate into sneakers on the ground. Farley's people included an organizer who put together the local anti-proposition 200 effort. She had put together that campaign with bailing wire and chewing gum and did a better job than the Phoenix people with all of their big names and money. For some reason, the same magic didn't work this time.
Early on, it seemed like so many leading activists who would traditionally be associated with liberal candidates like Farley lined up with Trasoff. This probably took a lot of wind out of his sails early on. The biggest problem was that Trasoff is just as progressive as Farley, and it became difficult to tag her as too conservative for the liberal activists.
Farley's biggest problem may have been his own overassessment of his support. I've talked about this before, he has a tendency (actually, all of us on this side of the political fence suffer from some form of this malady) to read support for one of his issues, or even lack of opposition, as support for him as a candidate. This, plus his other logical leaps, probably led to some strategic errors. The main leap was his argument that he beat Fred Ronstadt once before. (He was opposed to a plan that Ronstadt supported, and Ronstadt's side lost. Using his logic, I beat Howard Dean and John Edwards in the 2004 presidential primary) The argument was supposed to convince voters that he was the best guy to run against Ronstadt, but the argument was so complicated that only voters who were too sophisticated to buy the argument would understand it.
He made many of these sorts of arguments, even up to the end. This morning, for example, they played a soundbite from him where he said that people that just paid $60.00 to fill their gas tanks will remember that he was the one who tried to get them light rail. He forgot that someone who needs $60.00 worth of gas, even with these prices, is an east sider with an SUV and probably voted against his transportation plan.
The size of her margin is an indication that the party is pretty strongly behind her. The bad old days of the losing candidate's supporters forming "Democrats for some Republican" the week after the primary are, hopefully, over.
It's on to the general election and...
...Victory.
UPDATE: The Star reported that the tunout was 12%. An article just posted in the Tucson Citizen put the turnout at 24.2%. I trust the Citizen's number more, since it has a decimal point, and so many of the numbers in C. J. Karamargin's article seem to be estimates (ie - they end in five!).|W|P|112668222784986162|W|P|Trasoff Wins!|W|P|prezelski@aol.com |W|P|This comment has been removed by a blog administrator. Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|yay for Nina! |W|P|Farley's field person who worked on Prop 200 (which lost) also worked on Volgy's campaign (which also lost). Enough said. |W|P|"her side" included hundreds of walkers. It got beat in Tuc in spite, not because of any one preson.
Okay kids, remember that those of you that are registered in mid-town Tucson get to vote in the Ward Six Democratic primary today! As most of you know, I am supporting Nina Trasoff.
If you live in Wards Five or Three, you have a primary too. Only one candidate on the ballot, but come on out to support Steve Leal and Karen Uhlich anyway.
The Citizen re-ran their editorial supporting Steve Farley yesterday. That seems very unusual.
Those of you that are Republicans, you have a set of uncontested primaries. Vote if you'd like though, Vernon Walker would appreciate a strong turnout in Ward Five...
UPDATE: I voted at 7:45 this morning and was only the ninth person to come in. Nine! What is with all of you? You want me making your decisions for you? Good, I'm fine with that.|W|P|112661691447398351|W|P|Primary Vote Today!|W|P|prezelski@aol.com |W|P|Nice picture of the cat! Tedski|W|P|That's Linda Ronstadt's cat!
Some of us carping little liberals have been carping lately about Michael Brown's rather thin resume. Now, it turns out that he may have even exagerated and lied about his previous career.
It's bad enough that his last management experience ended with his getting fired after several threatened lawsuits (he managed an association that ran Arabian Horse Shows), now it turns out that he may have made up his only preivous experience at emergency management.
He claimed to manage emergency services in Edmond, Oklahoma. I have no doubt that given the constant threat of tornados and drought in the area that this is no small feat. However, he apparently served as some sort of glorified intern. He hadn't even graduated from college yet.
The guy only seems to have been hired because the previous director, Joe Allbaugh, was his roommate in college.
When James Lee Witt came into the office back in 1993, the place was a shambles exactly because of this sort of cronyism. Witt and Allbaugh seemed to be able to put the place back together. Maybe President Bush was just so confident of the work that Witt and Allbaugh did that he thought he could put any bozo in charge and things would work out.
UPDATE: Wonkette, the blogger that needs to meet me, is reporting that rumors are swirling that Brown may be fired by the end of the day. Still begs the question: why did he get hired in the first place?
ANOTHER UPDATE: Well, not totally fired...yet.|W|P|112628317585652526|W|P|¡Ijuela! It Just Gets Worse|W|P|prezelski@aol.com |W|P|This comment has been removed by a blog administrator. Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|You and your lady chasing...;p Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|After thinking about it-that guy looks like a used car salesman. |W|P|No, he has not been fired. He is still collecting a fat paycheck while a Coast Guard officer does him job for him for a considerably lower salary. Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|And he is still capable of messing up things since he is still in charge of "Operation Trash the US Government-FEMA devision." Eli Blake|W|P|He resigned.Of course they will now try to claim that all the problems were Michael Brown's fault, but we have to make it clear that the mistake in judgement of hiring him in the first place is still an issue.
Tedski|W|P|Wow, you'd think that a member of the legislature would know the difference in cases of pronouns:He: Nominative case, subject
His: Genitive case, possession
Him: Accusitive case, object
Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|This comment has been removed by a blog administrator. Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|Cannot expect much for 24K a year Ted.
Weah has been campaigning relentlessly and is regarded as the prohibitive frontrunner for election. Interestingly, his campaign manager is a man named Baccus Matthews, who led the so-called "Rice Riots" that toppled the de facto one party rule of the True Whigs back in 1979.
Earlier today, Weah pledged $10,000 out of his own pocket to help our hurricane victims. Weah maintains a home in New York and his country feels a special affinity to ours. He sees a lot of his nation's struggle with poverty and disaster in the plight of people on the gulf coast.
Nice to see that there is someone in the third world that isn't totally mad at us. Of course, it would be nice if this whole thing wasn't so screwed up that we need their pity.|W|P|112620960289062082|W|P|More on George Weah|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
As I read more about the administration response to the disaster, I see things like this:
With the Bush Administration's approval, [Pat] Robertson's $66 million relief organization, Operation Blessing, has been prominently featured on FEMA's list of charitable groups accepting donations for hurricane relief.I'm not one of these lefties that go into caniptions every time a religious group or another gets involved in anything. As a matter of fact, I don't consider Robertson a religious figure, he seems to be more like a well-connected Republican buisnessman. A cynical and corrupt one at that. Robertson's organization has been under investigation from Virginia officials when money that was supposed to go to helping refugees in Rwanda went instead to aiding Robertson's mining operations in Zaire. People were getting massacred, and Robertson used that to help himself make money. Truly, truly sick. This "charity" is also under fire for misdirecting funds to help promote some sort of protein shake that is sold at GNC. One of Robertson's other organizations, the Christian Coalition, was successfully sued by black employees over the sorts of discrimination we thought was over fourty years ago. Why is this guy allowed to opperate with a Federal blessing, but FEMA is blocking the Red Cross and even Wal-Mart from the area so they can help? By the way, I'm hearing now that Tom DeLay pal Joe Allbaugh and Texas Governor Rick Perry are trying to cash in now too.|W|P|112618762686368240|W|P|...And They Insist on Making Me Sick|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
Tedski|W|P|I'd love to check it out...but what the heck is your address?Or your name, for that matter.
Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|Well Ted, the Mayor of New Orleans was trying to get things done at least.But I have heard a few Republicans starting to say the I word.
Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|In addition, even though the Feds said only 60% of New Orleans could be gotten out, apparently the Mayor managed to get 80%. Eli Blake|W|P|That's all Republicans can see from something like this. How to make a buck.There was a story on last night on CNN (unfortunately it was not on their website) about how some 9/11 recovery funds that were given to banks to make low interest loans to businesses wanting to rebuild in Lower Manhattan, may have been abused by the banks and given to businesses not even in New York.
|W|P|The government in this country is evil and the people who voted for Bush get what they deserve...unfortuantely for the rest of us, we are lumped in with this shit.Karma will get them, it always does.
Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them.She said this, and then giggled. Giggled. I realize that the media loves her, since she "tells it like it is" or some such nonsense. Personally, I've seen that her comments have a tinge of elitism; her insults are most often directed at people outside of her old line Brahmin class. Anyone remember her rude comments directed at Geraldine Ferraro? You can listen to the audio, if you want. David Corn has some excellent commentary on this. Second thing that made my blood boil: firefighters that have been sent to volunteer have been instead tasked with public relations duties. For God's sake, what the hell is wrong with these people? I suppose this is what happens if you put some second rate political hack in charge of FEMA. A team of 50 firefighters was assembled and deployed...to accompany George Bush on a photo-op. We wonder why people are so cynical about politicians. Somebody out there, give me a sliver of hope.|W|P|112607524661780125|W|P|Let Them Eat Astrodome Stadium Dogs|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|I was listening to NPR this afternoon at work and on that program that airs at 4 to 5 or the late afternoon one: they interviewed a guy who with 2 buddies hopped into a Huey helicopter that one of them apparently owns, flew to New Orleans and then started to rescue people. At one point they had finished and saw a hospital that was filled with innocent cats and dogs that their owners had been forced to leave behind. So these three guys went off to a non-disaster Wal-Mart and bought $1,900 of dog food and then took it back to the hospital. Does that help a little?
Also when they interviewed a few of Arizona's firefighters, the guys were talking about actually using their vacation time until they got word they were going to be shipped out.
One last thing-in the past 24 hours the Salvation Army has taken in over $100,000 worth of goods for the people in the Colisium and I hear they may shut down BOB for more people.
And Gov. Blanco hired James Lee Witt to handle the Federal people.
I hope that helps some.
|W|P|No, it doesn't help that they are opening up the BOB so that the poor victims can continue to sleep on seats instead of putting them up in hotels - what kind of country do we live in where this is acceptable?!? Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|Excuse you, this way the people can get access to medical care, access to relief supplies (clothing, food, and personal items), and get a hold of social workers faster. Right now we need to get people those three things ASAP. You cannot do that if you stuff them all into hotels. Now after a few weeks, send them all in to Scottsdale, they have a few resorts that could be used.
Oh and according to the eager beavers at the DU the mayor of New Orleans tried to use the school buses to get people out. Unfortunately people started to die on the buses so he had the busing stopped.
Eli Blake|W|P|I don't think I can offer you much of a sliver of hope when we have stories like this one about the memo that FEMA chief Michael Brown (a political crony who was hired for the job with no experience in disaster management) sent to FEMA employees pre-Katrina. The article states, Brown’s memo told employees that among their duties, they would be expected to “convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public.”
Pretty much sums it up. Don't worry about earning good press by doing your job well, just make sure you LOOK like you're doing something.
And as for Ma Bush, it pretty much shows in her son. After cracking jokes about having fun visiting New Orleans when he was a young preppy, he went to Mississippi and talked with a 'typical' victim and promised to get his home rebuilt. The 'typical' victim he was giving an ear to was Trent Lott.
Art Jacobson|W|P|Jim Pederson, the former Chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, is running for Congress. He’s running for the U.S. Senate as a matter of fact, against Republican Senator John Kyl.Kyl represents everything that needs to be changed in the administration’s conservative, “God Helps Those Who Help Themselves” approach to the nation’s welfare.
But Pederson is running with such delicacy of feeling as to suggest that he has bought in on the Republican frame for the debate: Now we must all pull together…plenty of time for investigations and finger-pointing later.
I don’t know whether to scream or throw up.
I want our candidates and our Congressional delegation to howl, to refuse to be silent, refuse to be “cooperative.” Right now is the time to be critical. God, I wish Pederson had had the courage to say that he was declaring now, today, when the human consequences of Republican policies were clear and unforgettable.
I wish he’d had the courage to speak up, even at the risk of frightening off the middle-of-the-roaders in our party who think that the sweet spirit of conciliation is the way to win.
I wish he’s had the courage to risk losing for being accused of ‘playing politics’. It might be the only way to win.
Art Jacobson|W|P|This comment has been removed by a blog administrator. Tedski|W|P|Art...we have a decent candidate to run against Jon Kyl...and we already want to rip him before he has even announced?Geez.
Eli Blake|W|P|I thought that Pederson made the right move by delaying his Senate announcement in respect for the victims. Jim is a class act all the way around, and I am looking forward to working as hard as I can to get him elected next year.Bloggers like us can get away with being loud and obnoxious because we AREN'T in a position where we have to worry about either offending anyone or opening ourselves up to a negative attack (I once was accused of practicing witchcraft by a poster on a Republican blog, but I just had a good laugh over it. In retrospect, I wish I had saved the thread, because then it would occupy a place of honor in my computer).
Michael Bryan|W|P|Here's a bright spot.Over 1000 Tucsons have signed up to help Katrina evacuees at the TCC. That's probably more than a 1:1 ratio as we are expecting less than 1000 evacuees.
I think that's the real America.
Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|I do not know about that Eli, I happen to think (like a few other major people in history) that being honest and truthful is important enough to always say it...even when it ticks people off. Hey Ted: 11 posts! We can now call you the new Tony.
Eli Blake|W|P|Elizabeth:Of course we are all honest and truthful on our blogs (after all, the truth naturally favors our side).
The difference is that for someone in Jim's position, while he is honest, he recognizes the need to temper it with a certain amount of tact. It is not dishonest to keep one's mouth shut if wisdom suggests that this is the best course.
Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|And that is true Eli! :)
You all may recall that Walker was trashed in a long cover story in the Tucson Weekly last week for never voting, shady buisiness practices and being a tax cheat. This propted Walker to drop out of the race last Wednesday. Walker, of course, blamed his "political opponents" and claimed that his family recieved death threats. Yeah, right.
Walker tried to pay off one of the many default judgements against him, but he saw the writing was on the wall.
So, why the heck would he be talking about getting back in?
Well, because of the way campaign finance laws work, the Republicans need a "slate" of at least three candidates to run a "coordinated effort." Without a third candidate, their hands are tied. The Republican Party will be legally unable to spend money promoting the candidates.
This begs the question of why they couldn't recruit a competent candidate in Ward 5. They made a big deal about opening a "campaign office" on the South Side a couple of years ago (it was in the back of an office on South 12th Avenue and President), then quietly closed it to no fanfare.
Since a candidate needs to win city wide, the registration advantage in the ward shouldn't be a barrier to recruiting candidates. Heck, Councilmember Roy Laos, the last Republican to represent the area, never won the ward. Are they saying there are no decent, articulate Republicans in the area? What does this say about how seriously they take the needs of the citizens of the South Side?
Next question: What would allow him to do this?
Well, it's simple. From a legal standpoint, he never dropped out. The deadline for dropping out passed a few weeks ago, and his name will be on the ballot anyway. Being that he has no opponent in the primary, he can get nominated with no effort whatsoever.
If the Republicans are asking him to do this despite everything just so they can spend money on the other races, it shows they really don't care who runs for and gets elected to the council.
NB - Interestingly, the Arizona Daily Star never ran word one about any of these allegations until he dropped out of the race, then only gave them two paragraphs in the story. So, why did the much less serious allegations about a certain Democratic legislator deserve two full stories in a week, but the allegations against Walker doesn't justify any ink?|W|P|112579259761340574|W|P|He's Out, He's In|W|P|prezelski@aol.com Elizabeth Rogers|W|P|oh you know as well as I do it is that damn "liberal media" that hates anyone not of the Republican party. Art Jacobson|W|P|Ronstadt and Dunbar are not running under the city matching funds program so they can raise as much money as they want, so long as individuals give no more than 370 dollars.It really should be enough.
|W|P|Well that's depressing Art....
Ann Coulter went on Sean Hannity's radio program the other day and the subject came of the dropping of her column from the Arizona Daily Star. She claims it was because of an attempt to "keep conservatives out." Never mind that she is being replaced with a speech writer for former President Bush, Tony Snow (who has his own problems.) She also claimed that MSNBC also ruthlessly discriminates against the poor, downtrodden conservative. That's why Joe Scarborough and Tucker Carlson have such a hard time finding work there.
Papers add and drop columns all of the time. Why does this one seem to get under the skin of these guys?
Poor Ann is having other problems too, the otherwise conservative Harding University has dropped her from their lecture series. Many of their alumni complained about Coulter. One alumni, Mike Cope, a Church of Christ minister in Abeline, TX was paraphrased in an article saying her views are un-Christian.
Ann, of course, responded in her inimitable way on her website:
I'm afraid they leave me no choice . . . - I'm going to have to invade Harding University, kill its leaders, and then convert them to Christianity.That Ann is a comedy genius. Hannity picked the item up from WorldNetDaily, a conservative news site (no word on whether they employ prostitutes.) I went to the site to see what they had to say, they only reprinted a wire story. But I did find an item about a football player named Myron Rolle. In the article, they author talks about how many of his fellow students went the "Ivy league route," but Rolle decided on Florida State University. So what went into the thought process? "God came first" So, God told him to go to FSU? Many of the Ivies don't offer athletic scholarships, so I think we all could have appreciated the answer of "FSU offered to let me play football and pay me for it." I think that over the last week, God has some bigger things to worry about. Given recent scandals, I don't think that God has much to do with big time college athletics these days. I wonder about the mention of the Ivy league: is the author trying to say that God doesn't like Harvard or Yale? One of the aspects of football that has always bugged me is this sort of showy false piety that is associated with it. It even bugged Reggie White toward the end of his life. When one team says that God helped them win, it implies that somehow the other team is less worthy, further from God. It demeans the faith of others, and it trivializes God.|W|P|112567955178961030|W|P|More on Coulter and the Arizona Daily Star|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
Eli Blake|W|P|Well, one thing that this makes plain.Anne is vain.
She had a fit over the picture they took of her on the cover of Newsweek a few months ago, and now she is taking this personally.
Maybe, it just might be that people are tired of lies, distortions, shrill personal attacks and trying to paint everything as good and evil. Those things are Anne's strong suits, so maybe she needs to realize that if she is to survive, she needs to evolve (there's that word that conservatives have such a problem with).
Telling the truth might be a step in the right direction (although for her to be taken seriously, she needs something more drastic-- like maybe an identity change).
JEFFREY BROWN: In the immediate term the impact on most citizens will be at the gas pump?
RED CAVANEY: Yes. They will see more opportunity for supply with this kind of flexibility than we would have otherwise had.
As much as I hate the waivers, if they are temporary, maybe they can be justified. But, I wonder how quickly consumers will see the "benefits" of this. By the way, Cavaney admits that they wanted the waivers even before the hurricane. I always wonder why prices go up quickly in this situation, but it takes forever for them to go back down. Brown wonders about this too:
So, in other words, the price increases are not the industry's fault, and our dealers are only increasing prices because they want to help people. Geez. I have to give Cavaney some credit though. He didn't as crass as some oil types are. Of course, that is faint praise. At the very least, he hid his glee at being able to work under relaxed regulations with higher prices. It can at least be argued that Cavaney is arguing a public policy angle. Others, however, have taken this as an opporitunity to take shots at people that are not even envolved in this whole thing. Jonah Goldberg, for example, decided that it was a good time to take a pot shot at Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel. He has also decided that this is the time to blame the environmentalists, particularly the "deep ecologists" and wiccans. Yeah, because wiccans run everything, especially the rescue agencies. I have to give him a bit of credit though. In The National Review Online's Corner he has a response to liberal critics (like me) who are questioning whether money that could have gone to FEMA and the Corps of Engineers went to Iraq instead. He says that instead, we should look at other wasted money. I don't agree with him, but at least he's a conservative that admits that money is actually limited:JEFFREY BROWN: And why does it hit so quickly? People wonder how that works -- why is it overnight that prices rise so high?
RED CAVANEY: Well, what happens is there are about 160,000 retail outlets where the consumer actually buys their gasoline and diesel. About a little less than 10 percent are owned and operated by the industry itself, the refiners and the people that produce it. The rest are small businessmen and women, small companies that they own those things and it's very competitive marketplace because I don't think there's any other industry that actually posts its price for everybody to see every time they go by. And so what you see is the dynamic move of people trying to decide that I want to steal some customers away from my competitors. I'm going to lower my price by 2 cents or somebody else saying, look, I think I can make more money by holding my price with fewer customers. And so those are the kinds of decisions that ultimately drive the market.
JEFFREY BROWN: Right now people are seeing it go up though.
RED CAVANEY: People are seeing it because the problem with a commodity is if that's the product you're giving to consumers, you don't want to be caught without it, so you'll pay almost anything to get that last truckload to be able to take care of your customers.
The choice should be between the highway bill, ag subsidies and the like. The Don Young Highway should at least be renamed to the "Go Suck Eggs New Orleans Highway."I hate to give the guy props for anything, but there's some truth there. Also, our man Rush Limbaugh is blaming the victims for their own plight. His argument, if you actually want to read it, is that liberals are wrong to say this is about race and class, but conservatives are right to say it is about race and class. Understand? Keith Olbermann also quoted Limbaugh on his program as saying that it is their own fault for living there, I couldn't find the quote online. Well, Limbaugh never claimed to be a compassionate conservative. A couple of my own pot shots: wouldn't it be nice if the Louisiana National Guard wasn't tied up elsewhere? Or...too bad that these folks no longer have a good way to declare bankruptcy when the creditors come around.|W|P|112566824133411956|W|P|Hurricane Reaction|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
|W|P|This comment has been removed by a blog administrator. Eli Blake|W|P|I have a more nationally oriented blog (http://tiodt.blogspot.com) and haven't had any problems with discussing the politics of it. When it comes down to it, most of the blame is squarely on the right (everything from cutting flood control budgets for the New Orleans district of the Corps of Engineers) to failing to spend wisely the billions in homeland security dollars that they were supposed to use after 9/11 to protect us from a major disaster (and Katrina even gave them several days warning ahead of time before hitting the coast and they still didn't have supplies.Today though, I was outraged by this story about how 21 (now 23) foreign countries have offered humanitarian assistance and been turned down by President Bush.
HOW DARE he presume to speak on behalf of the people dying in New Orleans and tell all of these countries that we would 'take care of it ourselves' and that their aid was not needed.
He is an arrogant jackass, and more people will die as a direct result of it.
Not commenting on it only allows the Republicans, on whose shoulders this all falls (and I haven't even discussed the 90 degree waters in the northern Gulf yet and how unusual that is for August), to define it as a failure by Democrats. IF you read the Arizona Republic today, they had some quotes on page A-17 that make it clear (most notably, the quote from Senator Landrieu last year pleading with the Bush administration not to cut funding for the flood district-- it was cut anyway). The Republicans dropped the ball, and they know it (check out the 2001 FEMA report on New Orleans and the threat-- it was all predicted in advance) so they will do what they always try to do-- redefine it so that they are held blameless.
Eli Blake|W|P|This comment has been removed by a blog administrator. Eli Blake|W|P|Also, I proposed today that they delay the implementation of the new bankruptcy law for people in the affected zip codes, possibly for one year.