tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55146892024-03-13T04:26:08.709-07:00Blog For ArizonaMichael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.comBlogger1156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1137369654281650902006-01-15T17:00:00.002-07:002008-03-22T13:16:24.707-07:00Blog For Arizona Site UpdateI have moved over to a typepad-based blog for the time being. I was getting a little tired of some of the limitations of the Blogger platform at present. I hope that you will join me at the new site, but at the same address: BlogForArizona.comMichael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1137298566443873452006-01-14T21:16:00.000-07:002006-01-15T14:57:49.756-07:00Michael: Two Arizona Cities Named in Top 20 Meanest CitiesNational Coalition for the Homeless issued their annual report 'A Dream Denied: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities' for 2006 which names Flagstaff (#10) and Phoenix (#17) among the 20 meanest cities in America.Some of the most serious problems that the homeless face are the lack of social services, the lack of affordable housing, and the outlawing of the very status of Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1137269315568058472006-01-14T12:50:00.000-07:002006-01-14T13:08:35.660-07:00Michael: Gabby Giffords Kicks Off CD 8 BidGabby has finally announced her official campaign launch. As widely expected, the guest of honor at that event will be Congressman Raul Grijalva. With Gabby's money (she just announced clearing her first 250K - I doubt if any of her rivals for the nomination can boast even half of that), her DLC and Party connections, and now with Grijalva apparently in her camp, Gabby is presenting a fairly Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1137204146451964382006-01-13T18:32:00.000-07:002006-01-14T12:38:31.556-07:00Michael: John Shadegg's Bid for Majority Leader(Update: I mistakenly identified the office Shadegg was running for as the Majority Whip. I corrected this mistake. Nobody commented about my mistake - come on people! Hold my feet to the fire!) John Shadegg, Republican Representative of Arizona's District 3 has announced his candidacy for the House's second leadership position, Majority Leader, recently vacated permanently by ethically troubled Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1136879387873689982006-01-10T00:49:00.000-07:002006-01-10T00:49:47.983-07:00Michael: Why Bush's NSA spying broke the lawA tribe of constitutional scholars wrote a letter to Congress that states with great even-handedness and particularity why the Administration's legal justifications are a load of horseshit. I really can't presume to add to the devastation. Anyone who can read this and not understand that Bush needs to be prosecuted and impeached for his stunning hubris and illegal acts has willfully withdrawn Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1136759811674876002006-01-08T15:28:00.000-07:002006-01-08T15:44:16.963-07:00Michael: Florida's Vouchers Defeat Bodes Well for ArizonaThe Florida Supreme Court (FLSC) overturned the Republican sponsored statewide educational voucher system. This is a blow to the effort to privatize schools nationally, including here in Arizona, where GOP politicians passed a voucher program through the legislature last year to expand upon the inroads made into the public education system with charter schools and tuition tax credits. Governor Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1136416673762034502006-01-04T16:16:00.000-07:002006-01-04T16:26:52.706-07:00Michael: 4th Gen War, MaturationI just finished reading Marine Colonel T. X. Hammes latest book on the evolution of modern warfare, The Sling and the Stone. Col. Hammes wrote an article for the Marine Corps Gazette which is essentially a summary of his book. It lays out the thesis more completely and cogently than I could hope to here.In a nutshell, Hammes (along with many other eminent military theorists and professionals) Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1136412415047418422006-01-04T15:06:00.000-07:002006-01-04T15:08:42.526-07:00Michael: Drinking Liberally ReturnsDrinking Liberally starts back up on Thursday, January 5th after a hiatus over the holidays. The location remains The Shanty.This Thursday, in honor of Bush's domestic surveillance, wear a tin-foil hat and get your first drink on the host. Bring your friends, spouses, etc., and feel feel to invite public figures on your own initiative.Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1136007373990685052005-12-30T22:36:00.000-07:002005-12-30T22:36:14.076-07:00Michael: Coulter Jumps the Shark, Again... and Again... and AgainSo now Ann Coulter is defending Bush's wiretaps by trying to rehabilitate the Korimatsu ruling and the Japanese internment it ratified. Really, when will this nut finally be so discredited that even the rabid partisans of the far Right will just shake their heads and say, "Damn, is that bitch crazy?" Does she have to deny the Holocaust? Say that she'd really like to have given Hitler a Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1135922041510934322005-12-29T22:54:00.000-07:002005-12-30T22:06:34.770-07:00Michael: Bush Bought the FarmI don't know how securely sourced this report is, but I see no reason to automatically discount Univision's report just because it has only appeared in the Spanish language press. Apparently Bush bought a little over 2 acres of land just outside Bagdad when he flew in for his fake turkey photo shoot at Thanksgiving 2003. The cost of the land was a real bargain: about 12,000 dollars U.S..I can Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1135843028040570372005-12-29T00:55:00.000-07:002005-12-29T01:16:13.096-07:00Michael: The War on Terror Comes HomeBoy, the Bush Executive never ceases to find new ways to surprise me. I was getting all geared up to write about how the President’s illegal authorization of domestic spying. I was ready to demonstrate that the radical theory of executive power authored by Bush’s Eichmannische lawyer, John Yoo, positing that the President’s authority in security and international affairs is essentially unlimited,Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1135461278999822762005-12-24T14:37:00.000-07:002005-12-24T15:01:57.620-07:00Michael: Lord of MisruleAncient tradition would have us choose from among us this day a Lord of Misrule, who would serve as a temporary king. His whim would be law, but at the end of this season of merriment, his throat would be slit as a sacrifice to God. Generally, such a king would rule either for the 20 days of Saturnalia, or for the 12 days of Christmas. I think the latter would be a more modern practice, with our Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1135312279966808152005-12-22T21:29:00.000-07:002005-12-22T21:31:19.986-07:00Michael: Moveon Ruffles Shachter Over CD8 NomninationsMoveOn.org sponsored a nomination contest when Kolbe announced his retirement. Asking for members to nominate their favored candidates, they narrowed the field to 4 candidates. Unfortunately, two of them - Tom Volgy and Mary Judge Ryan - have not announced, and may never announce, their candidacies. Two of them - Gabrielle Giffords and Jeff Latas - have. But at least two announced candidates - Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1135159364667408612005-12-21T03:02:00.000-07:002005-12-24T15:11:37.040-07:00Michael: new technology at the root of the NSA wiretap scandal?UPDATE: NYT Confirmed that the wiretaps were, in fact, a data mining operation.Does new technology explain the Bush Administration's perception that they could not submit to FISA oversight? There are good reasons to think that this might be the case.Primarily, one has to understand that we might not be talking about 'wiretaps' as commonly conceived where the NSA's secret program is concerned. Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1135147838785362122005-12-20T23:50:00.000-07:002005-12-21T00:09:13.160-07:00Michael: Cheney Proclaims President is KingI was willing to suspend judgement on the NSA domestic spying scandal (the stakes are just too great to go off half-cocked on this), but the Administration's tack on defending it's action - not by showing conformance to the law, but by claiming that the law cannot bind the President - has me questioning whether the Administration has a legal defense.Cheney said, "I believe in a strong, robust Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1135146124906647642005-12-20T23:22:00.000-07:002005-12-20T23:23:54.736-07:00Michael: Kitzmiller Triumphs Over IDKitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District was handed down today by the U.S. District Court, reinforcing the separation between church and state by disallowing a creationist ploy to have science classrooms endorse their religious views of the origin of life and man. The court rejected the 'Dover Disclaimer' which was to be read in preface to the teaching of evolution.I couldn't be happier Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1134989685184216542005-12-19T21:26:00.000-07:002005-12-19T21:35:51.503-07:00Michael: America Losing a soldier, Private Kyle Lawson, for no good reasonPrivate Kyle Lawson, stationed in Sierra Vista was beaten and threatened at knife-point by his fellow soldiers. What was his crime? Is he a Bin Laden sympathizer? A spy? A traitor? No. Private Lawson was outted at a party as a gay man.There is a terrible hypocrisy and waste of human potential underlying the "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy. I suppose it was the most expedient means to Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1134981894486547072005-12-19T01:44:00.000-07:002005-12-19T01:44:54.583-07:00Michael: Some call it jury tamperingAfter the Administration's blanket refusals to comment on ongoing investigations and litigation brought about by his Administration's thorough corruption, it is amazing to see the President say the following when asked by Brit Hume of Fox News about Tom DeLay:
HUME: Do you just — do you believe he's innocent?
BUSH: Do I? Yes, I do.
Talk about pissing in the jury pool. You think maybe some Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1134874484122911212005-12-17T19:54:00.000-07:002005-12-17T23:45:10.033-07:00Michael: Monitoring the HomelandI've been following the President's secret authorization of domestic spying by the NSA under National Security letters unauthorized by a FISA court. I think it is too early to tell whether there is a scandal here or not. It's best not to cry wolf unless your're sure that you're not just looking at a mangy dog.It is not clear, at least to me, how long these taps continued (the statute only Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1134721581551459532005-12-16T01:25:00.000-07:002006-01-04T16:23:05.333-07:00Michael: 4th Gen War, Al QaidaI just finished reading Marine Colonel T. X. Hammes latest book on the evolution of modern warfare, The Sling and the Stone. Col. Hammes wrote an article for the Marine Corps Gazette which is essentially a summary of his book. It lays out the thesis more completely and cogently than I could hope to here.In a nutshell, Hammes (along with many other eminent military theorists and professionals) Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1134718413248255222005-12-16T00:33:00.000-07:002005-12-16T04:15:57.580-07:00Michael: McCain kicks Bush/Cheney's brutal assesBush was forced to accept McCain's ban on torture under pressure from an unvetoable alliance McCain built in Congress. Bush didn't so much acquiesce as scream for mercy like a kid in a head-lock.Now, I think that McCain is a consummate politician, by which I mean he's a self-aggrandizing blowhard who talks a much better game than he deals, but I absolutely give the man his props for going to the Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1134639174574143882005-12-15T02:32:00.000-07:002005-12-15T02:35:30.740-07:00Michael: Lawmakers Demand Bush Protect Evangelizing ChaplainsA group of lawmakers, including AZ's Trent Franks, presented Bush with a petition of 150K signatures, demanding that Pentagon rules regarding military chaplains' duties not prevent evangelizing the troops.Though couched in terms of relgious freedom, these lawmakers are asking for the Pentagon take a hands-off approach to chaplains evangelizing for Chrisitian sects using their position. Chaplains Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1134637801376791932005-12-15T01:42:00.000-07:002005-12-15T02:15:44.240-07:00Michael: Tim Sultan to Sit it outJust in case anyone who was interested hadn't heard already, I'll make it official by putting it on a blog: Tim Sultan has decided not to run for Kolbe's open CD 8 seat. Making him perhaps the first, or even the only, Democratic activist in CD 8 to definitely rule himself out of the race. And making this news about a lack of news.Tim graciously announced at the Dec 13th LD 28 special meeting to Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1134533391544444462005-12-13T21:09:00.000-07:002005-12-13T21:09:51.640-07:00Michael: The LD 28 Senate SlateThe deed is done. Representatives Bradley and Downing were elected on the first ballot to the slate from which the Board of Supervisors will replace retiring Senator Giffords. Nobody was surprised.
Then things got interesting. Apparently Supervisor Sharon Bronson decided to throw her considerable weight behind her own candidate for the slate, a woman named Nixon who has apparently considerable Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514689.post-1134447172998634912005-12-12T21:12:00.000-07:002005-12-12T21:12:53.006-07:00Michael: Randy Graf in the CrosshairsRandy Graf will be holding a public townhall meeting at:
Wilmot Library, Tucson
Tues., December 13th, 6 P.M. to 7:30 P.M.
I can't make it, but I encourage others to show up and ask the Grafster some pointed questions. I'm also interested in whether you'll need an invitation from the GOP to get in (maybe Congressional candidates are now pretending like they're President... oh yeah, so's the 'Michael Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280801107264937519noreply@blogger.com0