Recall Effort Underway

On April 30, 2008, American Citizens United officially filed a recall petition with the City of Phoenix Clerk's Office to recall Mayor Phil Gordon. The group now has 120 days to collect the necessary signatures to force a recall election. A total of 23,751 valid signatures are required. Upon the City Clerk verifying the signatures, Mayor Phil Gordon may either step down as mayor or face a special recall election.

The petitions are back from the printer and efforts to obtain signatures are underway. Here is the schedule from the website:

Friday, May 9th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Saturday, May 10th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Saturday, May 10th from 8:00 am to Noon at Roadrunner Park located at 3502 E Cactus Rd. Look for us at the ramadas on the 36th street side of the street. (This location will be a reoccuring Saturday event). This volunteer circulator is willing to also go to your place of employment, church, home, etc. To make special arrangements to have a petition brought to your area, please call Brandy at 602-798-9205.

Saturday, May 10th from 9:00 am to Noon at the Acacia Library Branch located at 750 E Townley Ave (near Cave Creek Rd and Olive). Look for us outside the main entrance. You may pick up petitions here or just sign a petition.

Saturday, May 10th from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm at the Yucca Library Branch located at 5648 N 15th Ave. Look for us outside the main entrance. You may pick up petitions here or just sign a petition.

Sunday, May 11th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Sunday, May 11th from Noon to 3:00 pm at the Century Library Branch located at 1750 E Highland Ave. Look for us outside the main entrance. You may pick up petitions here or just sign a petition.

Sunday, May 11th from 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm at the Saguaro Library Branch located at 2808 N 46th St. Look for us outside the main entrance. You may pick up petitions here or just sign a petition.

Monday, May 12th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Tuesday, May 13th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Tuesday, May 13th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm outside Chase Field (various corners) for the Arizona Diamondbacks game.

Wednesday, May 14th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Wednesday, May 14th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm outside Chase Field (various corners) for the Arizona Diamondbacks game.

Thursday, May 15th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Thursday, May 15th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm outside Chase Field (various corners) for the Arizona Diamondbacks game.

Friday, May 16th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Friday, May 16th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm outside Chase Field (various corners) for the Arizona Diamondbacks game.

The Day Laborer Center located at 16801 N 25th St (Cave Creek and Bell Rd, turn east 1 block and turn right on the corner of 25th St). This will be an on going location Monday thru Saturday from 7:00 am to Noon.

FBI to Investigate Violence Against Military Recruiting Centers

The Move America Forward Daily File Blog is reporting on the news that the Department of Justice has asked the FBI to review the incidents of violence against military recruiting centers and recruiters themselves that are being committed by anti-war activists.

The Department of Justice acknowledged Move America Forward’s request for such action in a letter dated April 29, 2008 and sent to the pro-troop organization’s legal counsel. Excerpt from the Department of Justice letter follows:

This is in response to your letter to the Criminal Division dated April 3, 2008, on behalf of your client, Move America Forward, Inc., recounting a number of incidences of vandalism and other activities at military recruiting stations.”

This action is seen as a serious step forward in the fight against groups like Code Pink, World Can’t Wait, New SDS and other socialist and anarchist groups that have been actively conspiring to attack recruiting stations all over the country.

On March 14, 2008, Move America Forward published The Sedition Report which catalogued many of these attacks, drawing from sources such as police reports, news stories, numerous blogs (most noticeably MichelleMalkin.com), forums such as Free Republic and action reports from groups such as Gathering of Eagles, Blue Star Mothers of America and many others. The Sedition Report, copies of which were given to the FBI and members of Congress, should provide a road map which investigators can use to examine the conspiracy of anti-war radicals to conduct campaigns of violence ("counter-recruitment") against military recruiting centers and our military men and women who serve here on the home front.

These attacks coincide with the activities of Code Pink, which provided $600,000 for terrorists families in Fallujah, as well as organized visits to Syria, Cuba, Venezuela and other nations where American anti-war radicals met with and pledged support to dictators who conspire against America’s interests.

Just as many of the far-left groups from the 60s, such as the Weather Underground, Vietnam Vets Against War, and the Black Liberation Army had ties to communist sympathizers and organizers in other countries, Move America Forward suspects that once a full investigation of these groups is conducted they will find links to foreign dictators, terrorist organizations, or organizations that work to fund or funnel support to terrorist organizations.

- MAF Blogger Danny

County Attorney: Sheriff's Saturation Patrols Are Legal

This news definitely doesn't make Mayor Phil "I wannabe governor" Gordon very happy. the Associated Press reports (and the Arizona Republic probably won't mention):

Maricopa County's top prosecutor said Tuesday that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's recent high-profile crackdowns around the Valley are legal if his officers follow rules that prohibit racial profiling and unwarranted traffic stops.

That's right Phil, despite your political posturing, Sheriff Joe is in the right. Now, about the racial profiling you participated in a number of years ago....

The Empire Strikes Back With Massive Attorneys' Fee Request in CityNorth Case

by Clint Bolick,

While the Goldwater Institute's legal challenge to the CityNorth subsidy moves to the Court of Appeals, one issue remains before the trial court that upheld the subsidy.

Not content merely to demand $97.4 million of taxpayer money, the developers now are seeking hundreds of thousands more for their attorneys' fees-from the Goldwater Institute.

The City is, too. Rather than using the same huge in-house legal department that negotiated the deal, the City hired a high-priced private firm to defend it. The total demand for fees and costs: $688,000-more than an entire year's budget for Goldwater's litigation center.

Courts almost never have awarded attorney fees against firms seeking to vindicate public rights. The reasons were articulated by Arizona Supreme Court Justice Stanley Feldman in the very same case, Wistuber v. Paradise Valley Unified School District, that all the parties agree sets the legal parameters for the Gift Clause under which the CityNorth case is litigated.

Such fees "would be contrary to public policy," the Court held, "because it would have a chilling effect on other parties who may wish to question the legitimacy of the actions of public officials. Where aggrieved citizens, in good-faith, seek a determination of the legitimacy of governmental actions, attorney's fees should not usually be awarded. Courts exist to hear such cases; we should encourage resolution of constitutional actions in court rather than on the streets."

The trial court decision is merely the first step in the legal process; many initial decisions, such as in the Bailey's Brake Service eminent domain case, are overturned on appeal. We hope the Court of Appeals will see it for what it is: a subsidy of a private business on terms unavailable to other businesses, and paid for by ordinary taxpayers.

Goldwater's litigation center is a vexation that government officials who stray beyond constitutional boundaries and special interests who seek their favors surely would like to remove. Try as they might, our response is simple: not a chance.

Clint Bolick is the director of the Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation at the Goldwater Institute

Watch this video

This video was apparently put together by a 15-year-old girl.

You need to watch it.

It is OK to cry when you do.

Prostitution and Day Labor

If a woman is standing near a busy street corner, attempts to make eye contact with drivers that are going by, flags down those that she can, get in the car and negotiates a cash payment for personal services -- one is probably right in suspecting that they are witnessing suspected prostitution.

Now, change the gender of the person on the corner from female to male, but keep the rest of the circumstances the same. We have a case of day labor that some people think should be constitutionally protected.

I have recommended, during a recent District meeting, that the Chandler Police Department should begin to arrest everyone attempting to flag down motorists along Arizona Avenue with suspected prostitution.

Book 'em!

More on Best of the Web

I mentioned a little while ago that I had been allowed to join the fine time of editors at Best of the Web (www.botw.org).

Here is their latest press release. Link

Here is Rob Jones take on the whole thing: Link -- do not share with small children or impressionable adults.

A Change In Editorial Policy

I believe there has been a significant change in the editorial policy at the Arizona Republic.

It has been quite hilarious watching the reporters and editorial writers do everything in their power to avoid mentioning the phrase "illegal alien". The paper seemed to refer "undocumented immigrants" instead.

Now, twice in the past week I've actually seen the words "illegal immigrant" as part of news stories -- and not in direct quotes, either.

Congratulations and welcome to the real world.

Gordon the tool

Watching Phoenix Mayor Gordon attempt to do verbal battle with Joe Arpaio makes me very thankful that Gordon is the Mayor of Phoenix and not of Chandler.

What a first class tool he has turned out to be.

Great Moments in Education

We've been here before.

A middle school student in Phoenix realized that he had brought a pocket knife to school in his backpack. Knives are specifically prohibited in school.

Said student tells a teacher about his mistake.

His reward?

A five day suspension.

The school's reasoning: they have a zero tolerance policy.

So what did they teach the student? Honesty invokes punishment, and if he had just kept his mouth shut and not mentioned his error, he would have escaped unscathed. Nice lesson.

When are we going to realize that zero tolerance policies are crutches that are used by milquetoast school administrators who lack the necessary IQ points required to evaluate a situation and make a reasoned decision.

Why do we entrust our children with these people?

The Big Mistake

My mailbox overflows with riches like this:


What a difference 60 years makes..!!!
President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq. Bush's mistake was in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII. It is not.

Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression but they still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders so it was the people's duty to back those leaders. Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not whether the war was going badly or not.

And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had : in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty. (Remember that concept?)

Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war. Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old, pitched in. Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort. Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining.

You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President. Interestingly enough, in those days there were no fat cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our resident. Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted.

Teachers in schools started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance and with prayers for our country and our troops!

Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies. A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or because they did not have air conditioning.

There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crackheads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.

No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve. He was wrong.

It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11 but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices.

We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. It has been estimated that about one third - or over three hundred million - of all Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorist's cause. Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits.

So...we either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing.

America is not at war. The military is at war.
America is at the mall.

More gun stuff

And, I just had to mention that I amazed that an Avondale HOA now has armed security guards -- apparently in an attempt to thwart vandalism.

Meanwhile, administrators at a nearby elementary school that borders the HOA property are having the expected reaction -- and were last seen wildly flapping their arms and yelling "guns, guns, guns -- they've got guns."

Do we have a serious lack of judgement here? On both sides?

Assault Rifles on Campus

According to the Arizona Republic, plans are now in place to arm the campus police at ASU, U of A and NAU with assault rifles.

No, I'm not making this up. Assault rifles.

Police departments at Arizona's three universities plan to arm their officers with military-style assault rifles within the next year, officials said Tuesday.

The new rifles would give campus police officers long-range shooting capabilities, allowing them to hit targets at the end of long hallways or atop tall buildings, officials said.

Arizona State University will be the first of the three schools to use the weapons. Officers there will be trained to use the rifles in the next few months, said ASU police spokesman Cmdr. Jim Hardina.

Officers will undergo 40 hours of training before using the weapons.

"We don't want to just throw rifles out there," Hardina said.

Well, I'm really glad they are not going tho just throw the assault rifles out there.

Is this stupid, or what? I'm all in favor of gun rights, but this idea is really off base, and I'm willing to be that within the first year of implementation we have at least one ugly incident that involves those weapons.

The National Heroes Tour

On March 14, on the deck of the USS Midway in San Diego, The Vets for Freedom National Heroes Tour kicks off. The coast-to-coast bus tour, which runs 3/14-4/9, is the first “thank you” tour to the troops and to rally the country to complete the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The tour features American heroes, such as:

• Marcus Luttrell - Navy Cross recipient, sole survivor of a Navy SEAL's mission gone awry, and author of New York Times best-seller Lone Survivor about his miraculous escape and survival.

• David Bellavia - author of House to House(a memoir about house-to-house combat in Iraq), recipient of the Silver Star, and nominee for the Medal of Honor.

• Steve Russell - recipient of the Bronze Star medal with Valor Device for his actions in Iraq; Lieutenant Colonel Russell led the battalion responsible for the capture of Saddam Hussein.

• Sgt. Jeremiah Workman - recipient of the Navy Cross for heroism in rescuing wounded comrades while fighting off enemy insurgents during the Battle of Fallujah.

The tour stops in Phoenix on Monday, March 17. The bus will be pulling in to the Goldwater Institute for a media event at 8am followed by a Town Hall discussion at 10:00 a.m. about the importance of progress, conviction, commitment & completing the job in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The tour hits Tucson on Tuesday March 18, starting with a visit to the John Scott radio show on KVOI starting at 6:30 a.m., followed by an American Legion luncheon, and concluding with a Boy Scout Catalina Council Meeting at the Naval Operations Support Center on Wilmot Road at 7 p.m. A book signing will follow.

I encourage readers to turn out in support of this activity.

Don't hold your breath waiting or the local media to announce or cover this event.

2008 Democratic National Convention Agenda

Another goodie from my inbox:

Agenda for the 2008 Democrat National Convention (Just Released)

7:00 pm Opening flag burning
7:15 pm Pledge of Allegiance to the U.N. in Spanish
7:20 pm Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
7:25 pm Nonreligious prayer and worship with Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton
7:45 pm Ceremonial tree hugging
7:55 pm Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
8:00 pm How I Invented the Internet - Al Gore
8:15 pm Gay Wedding - Barney Frank presiding
8:35 pm Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
8:40 pm Our Troops are War Criminals - John Kerry
9.00 pm Saddam Memorial Rally - Cindy Sheehan and Susan Sarandon
11.00 pm Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
11:05 pm Collection for the Osama Bin Laden Kidney-transplant Fund - Barbara Streisand
11:15 pm Free the Freedom Fighters from Guantanamo Bay - Sean Penn
11:30 pm Oval Office Affairs - William Jefferson Clinton
11:45 pm Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
11:50 pm How George Bush Brought Down the World Trade Towers - Howard Dean & Rosie O'Donnell
12:15 am 'Truth in Broadcasting Award' - Presented to Dan Rather by Michael Moore
12:25 am Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
12:30 am Satellite address by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
12:45 am Nomination of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Nancy Pelosi
12:50 am Speech and toast by Hugo Chavez to the departure of the great satan George W. Bush
12:55 am Hillary proposes a toast to our 89 million new Democrat Mexican voters
1:00 am Ted Kennedy proposes a toast to the extinction of the Republican party.
1:05 am Coronation of Hillary Rodham Clinton
1:30 am Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
1:35 am Bill Clinton asks Ted Kennedy to drive Hillary home