This was too much fun to pass up!  Thank you Kyle-Anne Shiver!! Who wrote this delightful piece…

http://bigjournalism.com/kashiver/2010/02/28/former-veep-goes-girly-man-has-hissy-fit-in-pages-of-new-york-times/

This piece of pure, dribbling, drooling emoting is going to either make you collapse in a torrent of tears or retch into the nearest barf bag.  The only human beings on the planet to whom this editorial would appeal are a bunch of 13-year-old girls without a single clue between them.

With hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, Al is going all out to save his massive investment in the Global Warming hysteria.  Here, he comes up with histrionics befitting the amount of personal loss he stands to suffer.

Ok, so this isn’t totally about Arizona … or is it?

How about the AzCC’s Residential Energy Standards?  Or the AzCC’s stepping out from their legal role as rate-payer watchdog and into making energy policy for Arizona that is; A) out of its pay-grade by the Arizona Constitution, and B) totally based on a outright fraud.

The RES and subsequent foray into “Green Energy” at all costs, without a thought to the real cost per Kwh for fantasy sources of reliable energy is a dangerous road for Arizona’s economic future.

Cost per on demand 24/7 available Kwh of “green electric generation” cannot compare with *clean coal* and *clean nuclear* power period.  Windmills and acres of solar panels dotting the landscape with miles of transmission towers and lines crisscrossing the environment altering the patterns of migratory birds and thunderstorms might be a Quixotic vision of an environmentalists utopia, but unfortunately reality bites.  The sun doesn’t shine 24 hours a day, so you need environmentally unfriendly Lithium batteries to store the energy for later use.  The wind doesn’t blow 24 hours a day in exactly the right velocity and direction to provide on demand electricity for job producing industrial small businesses in a cost effective way.

Time to debunk the Green Dream.   We’ve even heard that schools in Arizona are spending unrestricted amounts of money to “green” up their classrooms.  Shouldn’t that be money better spent with the teachers and kids on real learning?

Anyway, until someone politically stands up and says “Look Mommy!  The Emperor is wearing NO clothes!!”  we will continue down the path to an “Olive Drab Green” future rather than the pretty green that Al Gore would have us believe in.

Found this interesting photo online. Anyone want to take a guess who this cat-in-the-hat-Uncle-Sam-wannabe is?

A m e r i c a n P o s t – G a z e t t e

Distributed by C O M M O N S E N S E , in Arizona

Democrats are in disarray, Republicans are making gains nationwide, poll numbers are improving, and generic ballot polls show Republicans poised to make big gains in 2010.  With pickup opportunities in CD1, CD5, and CD8 here in Arizona, Saturday’s AZGOP Annual Meeting should be a great time for all.

Or not.

It seems someone isn’t happy with the state of things and is looking to hijack the meeting and maybe the entire Party this weekend.  Gila Courier has coverage of a letter that started landing in PC mailboxes and the interesting tale behind it.  Others have been warning about the possibility that McCain supporters may make a move to remove State Party Chairman Randy Pullen so that they can take over the party apparatus in advance of the GOP primary against JD Hayworth.

It should be a VERY interesting time for all in attendance.

Jan Brewer's Straw Man?

This is gonna be short and sweet – AND ITS ONLY SOMETHING TO CONSIDER.   Is “Buz” Mills Jan Brewer’s straw man in this election cycle?

Consider she qualified for Clean Elections funding (in spite of having a record to run on and being an established political brand in Arizona politics).

Consider how hard the Goldwater Institute (who generally dislikes Governor Brewer’s affinity for taxes) is struggling to close down the CCEC matching funds provision of the voter approved Clean Elections program.

Think about it.  Brewer obtains three-quarters of a million dollars in public financing and because of the dog-pile of money dumped into the race by a competing candidate (Buz Mills), Governor Brewer will be matched with little effort on her part.

How hard will it be collecting the necessary funds to mount a successful campaign to retain the governor’s seat?  How many good candidates are already in the race?  And don’t forget the 800 pound gorilla in the Big Tent running for his political career in the U.S. Senate.  Times are tough.   Could one of Jan’s advisers have come up with a quick and easy way for her to short-cut the system?

Slick isn’t it (if its true)?  Someone could be really gaming the system and should be shut down.  Shame on those veteran incumbents who couldn’t be re-elected without CCEC.

Veritas for the record supports Clean Elections funding of entry level candidates into the political process as a means of equalizing the playing field and as a mitigation measure against deep pocketed special interests from buying elections.  I am deeply disappointed in the Goldwater Institute that given all the abuses of Constitutional law, they are choosing this narrow niche in which to sally forth into courtroom battle.

A misconception should be clarified.  Clean Election funding is NOT involuntary and does NOT involve taxes.  When you err in your driving (and for some criminal actions) you have made a voluntary decision to contribute to Arizona’s Clean Election fund.  And lets not forget those voters who include a $5 contribution along with their Arizona income tax filing as well as the thousands of voters who give the candidate of their choice $5 during this time of year.

Lastly, is CCEC truly a violation of “campaign speech”?  What about the candidate who’s told by the big corporate special interest “… these are our issues.  Now did you want to talk about a contribution from our members?”  Isn’t that stifling the “free speech” of the candidate who truly wishes to represent their voters?

Two final parting thoughts:  The CCEC should be reformed, perhaps by amending it to only be available for the first election and first re-election bid of a candidate.   Lastly, should there be a cap on election spending by all interests in Arizona elections?  Why should someone be willing to spend millions of dollars for a job that pays peanuts?

This ought to scare the hell out of you. These people have a seat at the table and are influencing the direction of the country.

Last Thursday, Espresso Pundit’s Greg Patterson broke a story about the release of a list of “Joe’s” who have patronized a valley VIP prostitute ring known as the Desert Divas. The story on this actually went public when the Phoenix New Times wrote an article back on February 12th that seemed to go nowhere.  Thursday that list of “Joe’s went public. Patterson explains that hew was able to walk into the Phoenix Police Department’s office of public records and obtain the list in a CSV file and it’s now online for the whole world to see.

Once Patterson posted the list at Espresso Pundit, he left it at that. (He even turned comments “off.”)  The Phoenix New Times was quick to jump on his story and also posted a link to the list and spun the story as a heads up to valley wives who may want to see if their hubbies were on the list.

Until now, no names have been mentioned in writing. Saturday, I received several phone calls informing me that two well-know political operatives show up on the list. I verified this myself.

Since Saturday, I’ve sat on the story after hearing that Dennis Welch of The Arizona Guardian was not going to publish. Well, Welch went public on Sunday. Sean Noble also picked up on it today and even reprinted Welch’s article on his blog, Noble Thinking. And one of our own, “GOP Cannon” posted his/her take on it earlier today. So now I’m going to chime in on the story and what I know.

The first name which may come as a surprise is that of Charles Jensen, the founder and President of Politics on the Rocks. I spoke with Charles on the phone and he catagorically denied any involvement or association with Desert Divas or any prostitute or prostitution ring. According to Jensen, he rented one of his properties to someone he won’t identify earlier (in 2007) who probably was a client of the Desert Divas. That means that the list was actually based on addresses given to law enforcement by the Divas. That address was tied back to the owner, Charles Jensen, who did not reside there. When I spoke with Charles on Saturday, he said that he was obtaining legal counsel in order to chase down the actual evidence provided by the Diva to Phoenix PD (probably a police report or transcrpt). That attorney will also likely go after anyone who attempts to libel Jensen. So the key to the Jensen’s innocence hinges on whatever evidence the Phoenix PD used to create their list of “Joe’s.” I happen to believe Jensen and think that one of his renters was the “Joe.”

The other name that shows up on the list is lobbyist, G. Michael Williams of Williams & Associates. I spoke with Williams Saturday night and he knew nothing of the list and catagorically denied it. It even appears that Williams and Associates  may not have even been at the address shown on the Diva List at the time that the alleged incident took place.

Having spoken to both gentleman, it appears that this is all a matter of mistaken identities tied to the addresses where the supposed acts took place. I’m going to take both men at their word especially since they appear to have alibis and attorneys.

Will this taint the GOP brand here in Arizona? I tend to doubt it. I also agree with the earlier post by GOP Canon. There are probably individuals in the GOP who will take advantage of this perception of a scandal and use it as leverage to advance their position of power in the party. That’s sophomoric, unethical and disgusting and it needs to stop.

If you’re looking for the hottest details on the sex scandal de jour, look someplace else.

In the past few days, there has been some publicity surrounding the founder of a Republican organization.  It was no surprise that some in the mainstream media jumped on this.  What did surprise me is that some Republicans in the blogosphere repeated these awful allegations.  As much I would like to call you out for this, I do not want to triple traffic on your blog, or needlessly bring attention to this taudry and unsubstantiated rumor.

Nothing has been proven.  In fact, the person I’m talking about has receipts and other documents to establish that they were physically out of the state on the relevant dates in question.  Presumption of innocence aside, what about clear cut evidence establishing innocence?

What galls me perhaps the most is not that this person has an excellent reputation to protect, not that he is a genuinely nice and decent guy and does not deserve this garbage, but that Republicans are once again forming a circular firing squad.  I challenge you: how many people can you name who have done more for the party than this person we’re talking about?  He has formed a large organization which gets hundreds of attendees, many of them first time participants in the political process, and provides a large venue for Republican causes and candidates.  This organization has been particularly popular among the younger folks.  This demographic, by the way, would have delivered the presidential race to John Kerry and Barack Obama throughout the deep South and across the United States.

Why are we spreading idle gossip and rushing to judgment, especially about someone who has done so much for the party, particularly when he states his innocence and has tangible proof to back it up?  I wish some of the other bloggers would consider taking their comments on this down.  In the internet age, it seems like all it takes is a statement and a computer to damage someone’s reputation in an awful way.

Speaking of damaging reputations: to the GOP official who is calling around for the sole purpose of spreading this rumor as gospel truth, I have just had my third confirmation today that you are doing this, and if I get one more, I am going to name you.  Right here on the site.  I know you two don’t get along, but that’s no excuse for trying to destroy someone with false information.  I will name you.  Why don’t you try me?

“In the simplicity of their minds, people more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have such impudence. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and continue tothink that there may be some other explanation.”

What the sociologists are telling us, is that by the time facts become clear, people are emotionally wedded to the beliefs planted by the propaganda and find it a wrenching experience to free themselves. What happens is, those who believed “the big lie” begin to denounce and ridicule the truth-tellers rather than the liars whom the truth-tellers expose with facts.  A current example is the impassioned debate over illegal immigration, gun control, abortion, same-sex marriage, 9/11 and the birth place of Obama.  Eventually, rational fact is replaced with passionate defense of emotional investments.

Oh, and the quote I opened this bit of fact with?  He was an insignificant individual of foreign birth who led a nation into oblivion and the world into war.  But he understood the power of “The Big Lie”.

So please remember this when you hear these famous words of Rahm Emanual …

“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”

There’s a ‘crisis‘ for everyone; Borders … Economy … Health Care … Banking … H1N1 Flu … Climate Change (formerly Global Warming) … and the list goes on and on.  The only ones who benefit are those in power.

As someone who follows pop culture and its relationship to the political arena, I found it somewhat interesting when the trailer to 2012 was released a few months ago.

In the trailer, there is a clip where the aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy, is swept up by a ginormous tidal wave. The ship capsizes and, as the trailer shows, the ship rolls right on top of the White House.

This scene should actually come as no surprise. The same director who put out the movie Independence Day also destroyed the White House by an invading alien spaceship laser-beaming it into oblivion. The director then was Roland Emmerich. The date that movie was released was July 3, 1996. (In fact, President Bill Clinton was given a private viewing the day before at the White House.) Emmerich will release 2012 on Friday, November 13th. Danny Glover will play the President of the United States.

One surpising thing I remember at the time that ID4 was being talked up across the country, was that many audiences were applauding when the White House was destroyed. Some of you may remember that even Rush Limbaugh mentioned it on his program.

My strange fascination in doomsday and apocalyptic movies makes me wonder if Emmerich planned this latest clip because it provoked such a popularly macabre response in his earlier work or if he has some disdain for who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. For some reason, the mood of the country tells me he may generate the same reaction all over again.

Coincidence? We shall find out.