I wonder if the higher ups at the Republic are starting to regret their paper's over reaction to the Babeu story.

Journalists pride themselves--or at least used to pride themselves--on writing stories that were properly sourced and accurate.  Sure, guys like me will argue that many of the stories aren't accurate and that journalists use little tricks to manipulate readers, but journalists could at least claim that these are aberrations.  However, they threw all of that out the window in thei...

Last June I wrote a post about seeing State Senator Frank Antenori's book at Costco.  I don't recall seeing any other local coverage about the book.  That seems strange, considering that it's a very successful Iraq war memoire written by a local author.  I would think that the fact that Antenori is a State Senator and Congressional Candidate would make local papers even more interested in profiling his book.  After all, when Kyrsten Sinema wrote a book, she got plenty of attention.

Hmm,...

Lesson 1:  Henry A. Kissinger said "If it's going to come out eventually, better have it come out immediately."

Yes, you can run for office if you have an unusual past or lifestyle--but not its a secret.   You have to "pre-spin" your own story.  The best example of pre-spin is Pat Buchanan's 1992 Biography "Right from the Beginning" in which he explains that he would be a great President because of his youth spent as a binge drinker who wrecked cars and got into fights with police officer...

Local media types simply refuse to believe that the Obama administration would regulate "medical" marijuana, so when Governor Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne hesitated to implement the Arizona's law--citing the fact that it conflicts with federal law--the media elite went into full meltdown.

However there's one media outlet that understands the full extent of Obama's betrayal of the left and their media fellow travelers--check out this scathing piece from Rolling Stone.

The feds are busti...

It's been interesting to watch the media establishment defend the redistricting process.  When we boil it down, the congressional maps were drawn by one person at home over a weekend--just like the founders intended.

Folks have asked me whether the state has a legal remedy and have mentioned the Texas Redistricting case.  You will recall that the Supreme Court threw out a Texas map that had been approved by the lower courts.   How does that affect Arizona?  Well, in the short run, it wo...

Whenever I write stories highlighting the decline of the media industry, folks use the comment section speculate on how bad life will be when the newspapers are gone.  I usually respond by pointing out the unethical and deceptive tricks that newspaper reporters use in order to advance their agenda.

Yesterday, I pointed out the media had labeled Lori Klein's bill that prohibited teachers from cussing in the classroom as "censorship."  

Here's a great example where the Republic's Lauri Robert...

Gannett is offering another buyout. Jim Hopkins over at Gannett Watch has full coverage.    I thought this comment was especially interesting.

At The Arizona Republic, the buyout offer for 70 employees companywide turns out to be targeting 44 in the newsroom. Jim, how about a survey to find out what's happening at other properties? How many reporters and editors is Gannett going to lose? The 2008 buyouts took 800 years of experience out of the Republic newsroom. No count for this buyout as ye...

Check out this headline from this morning's Republic.

What type of evil have Republicans brought this time? Well, it turns out that Republicans don't think that teachers should be allowed to use the F word in the classroom.  The bill is narrowly tailored and follows restrictions that have already been approved by the Supreme Court....yet the bill is decried as "censorship".

It seems like everything is censorship. You don't think junior high kids should read books with graphic rape scenes?  Y...

The Washington Post has identified 16 Congressmen who used earmarks to benefit their family members.  Here's what the post discovered about Ed Pastor. 

Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz., is a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which has jurisdiction over the budget of the National Nuclear Security Administration. The Energy Department agency is tasked with securing the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile and preventing nuclear proliferation.

During the past six years, the congressma...

From the Business Journal.

Former ‘East Valley Tribune’ building to house DES offices

I've often argued that the Prop 105 "Voter Protection" act in unconstitutional.  By way of quick recap, the Federal Constitution has an obscure provision that guarantees that states have a "Republican form of Government".  No matter how much you like the sound of direct Democracy, that's not our system.  True, the courts have allowed the initiative process--but that process is in addition to the Legislative process. 

While the initiative process itself has been upheld, I don't believe that ...

Multiple sources tell me that Ben Quayle is planning to move to District 6 and run against Schweikert*.

So it’s looking like District 9 is going to be an open seat in a swing district—talk about a bloggers dream.  These things are difficult to predict, but here are my thoughts on the key players.

On the Democratic side, it’s going to be Schapira verses Sinema.  I was sitting next to Kyrsten on the set of Sunday Square Off when she said that she “loved Russell Pearce.”  In Democratic...

 Here's a paragraph from the Republic's latest Gabby Giffords update.  Can you find the obvious error?

She was elected to the state House in 2000 and ran for the state Senate in 2002 after the death of Tucson Sen. Andy Nichols, becoming at 32 the youngest state senator in Arizona history. She resigned from that position in December 2005 to run for the congressional seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Jim Kolbe, a Republican.

Youngest in history?  Give me a break.  Anyone who has any experie...

Check out this Wall Street Journal story.

Glendale, Ariz., is selling about $136 million in debt in the municipal-bond market this week, just days after Moody's Investors Service cut its bond rating because of the desert city's obligations to cover losses on a National Hockey League franchise.

I've been pointing out how badly the media botched their coverage of spillover Mexican violence by ignoring the underlying story and criticizing Brewer for her comments.  Now the national press is starting to take notice as well.  (This is  great example of how local blogs influence national stories.)

Eighteen months ago, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer was excoriated for warning of spillover from Mexico's war reaching our soil. Well, beheadings are becoming common now. Yet that war is still ignore...

Now that Gabby has said that she will resign Tuesday, we need to dust off the rules for Special Elections.  I don't remember the exact dates, but these things go fast--like 90 days. 

But that's not the focus of this post...the question is who wins and who loses.  Here are some random thoughts.  First, the resign to run law doesn't come into play.  Everyone interested in the office will be in the last year of his or her term.

Sitting Legislators can't raise money during session, but I'm not ...

Wow, this is huge.  And since it's being featured in the banner on Drudge, the entire planet knows about it.

The chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona is refusing to testify before Congress regarding Operation Fast and Furious, the federal gun-running scandal that sent U.S. weapons to Mexico.

Patrick J. Cunningham informed the House Oversight Committee late Thursday through his attorney that he will use the Fifth Amendment protection.

Cunningham was ordered W...

The fastest way to expose media bias is to compare how the papers cover identical events performed by two different people.   Governor Brewer just delivered her State of the State address and it was panned by the media.  Governor Napolitano delivered seven State of the State addresses...and was met with media adulation.  Check out the headlines and first couple paragraphs of the Arizona Republic's coverage of each speech.

Here's Brewer's speech from last week.

Brewer's address light on...

I've been  working on some "Best of/Worst of" posts and my award for Most Shameless Display of Media Herd Mentality goes to the mocking that the local media provided in response to Governor Brewer's discussion of headless bodies. 

You will recall that when Governor Brewer expressed concerns about the level of violence in Mexico and the possible spillover into the United States she mentioned "headless bodies in the desert".  Unfortunatly, she  misspoke and implied that some of the headless...

Here's Pima County Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Rogers' reaction to the TUSD Board's decision to scrap its ethnic studies program.