Tucson Sammy

There has been ongoing controversy over filtering online pornography at the Pima County Public Library. It has become a campaign issue.

Ray Carroll has led the fight in favor of filtering pornographic material. Most of the other county supervisors demur, noting first amendment concerns, and the imperfection of filtering technology.

The concern, of course, is the inevitability of small children walking by the computer bank while young adult males are viewing, well, you can imagine…then again, maybe you can’t imagine.

This porn problem is really a symptom of the public library concept, a concept originally put forth by the great industrialist, Andrew Carnegie.

In the early 1900’s Carnegie turned his focus from steel and other concerns to philanthropy. He envisioned community facilities that were a combination of free libraries and community meeting places. He provided startup money while the local government committed to providing the real estate and ongoing expenses. This was the original “public/private partnership.” He started over three thousand of these facilities across the English-speaking world.

We all find Carnegie’s vision cool, and these public libraries have enriched countless communities. The problem is, that as government entities, they try to be all things to all the people in the community. There is a touch of arrogant paternalism in the original vision that continues today.

Were libraries private businesses that had to respond to the discipline of the markets, they would identify specific information markets, and succeed or fail by how well they served them. If you are funded directly by those you serve, you keep them happy. This is called the discipline of the market.

If your funding does not come directly from those you serve, then you do not see a problem with little kids watching an erotomaniac get all jacked up over an online video. You are all things to all people.

Imagine little Susie coming home and her mom asking, “What did you learn at the Library today?”

Susie says, I learned about trains and highways, and I learned how to spell “transportation”.

“That’s wonderful honey!” says mom.

Susie adds, “Mommy?”

“Yes dear,” replies mom.

“What’s an Asian MILF creampie?”

Interestingly, to my knowledge, no one is pushing for an adult section of the library. It might solve the problem, but then the library would admittedly become purveyors of porn, not simply the homogenized source of all information.

In the end, technology and the private sector will make public libraries irrelevant. Online libraries, computers, and electronic readers will bring the information to the citizen – the citizen will no longer have to go to the information.

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, Has his own vision. He’s sees the decline of the “dead tree world” of books. Last year he introduced the Kindle electronic reading device.

Among other things, the Kindle allows the reader to download books and periodicals directly to the device via the cell phone network. It is about the size of a trade paperback, and the screen does not glow. It uses “electronic ink” technology that looks like a printed page.

With this move, Bezos is making a down payment on the future of his book business, and keeping it on the cutting edge - good for him! More importantly, he is staying in the private sector, subjecting himself to market discipline – good for us!

It is hard to imagine Jeff Bezos being blasé about mixing together Dick and Jane stories with hardcore pornography. He is accountable to his customers in a very direct, dollars and cents way.

Hopefully, Jeff Bezos will stay a businessman and not become a philanthropist. We will all be better served in the long run.

Let us say that you vote very election. You consider it a civic duty. During this election cycle, you have been paying more attention, and want to become more involved by helping your favorite candidate financially.

Nice idea, but don’t bother because you can’t.

“Can’t what, send him a check?” you might ask.

“No,” I would reply, “you can’t help him.”

“How does that work?” you say.

Here’s how: say you want to give a hundred bucks to your guy in your local legislative district. Well, if he has met the arbitrary limit set by the state, the state will give a hundred bucks to each of the competing candidates, thereby neutralizing your help… you know, to make it fair.

“But my guy is not participating in Clean Elections!” you add.

“Yeah, that’s why he can raise the extra money, but his participating opponents get the match. Like it or not, everyone participates, though not everyone signs up,” I explain with a sigh.

At this point you shake your fist and scream, “What the heck is fair about denying me the ability to help my candidate!?!”

Welcome to the whacky world of “Arizona Clean Elections.” That’s right, the act that was designed to increase political participation, increase the number of candidates, and reduce the incumbent re-election rate, actually does none of those things. In fact, it often makes matters worse.

It is an atrociously bad law. Not only does it fail to fulfill the promises of its creators, it also removes an important tool with which the people influence their elected representatives.

There are three ways with which we, the people, do that – voting, campaign financing, and petitioning (letters, phone calls, etc.). The vote is clearly the most powerful. With it, we can “throw the bums out.” Campaign financing is next, it relates to the vote so it is right up there in significance. Once the critter is in there, we can communicate praise or displeasure, the old carrot and stick, which might spook him during and election year.

Arizona Clean Elections removes direct constituent influence over campaign financing. That means that the candidate gets the money, the “mother’s milk of politics”, not by pleasing his constituents, but by pleasing the some state employed bureaucrat.

Look, I know that at this point, you figure the political game is rigged, and you want to forget about it and go back to playing Halo or Grand Theft Auto, but don’t. There is hope.

Clint Bollick, up there at the Goldwater Institute, has filed suit on behalf of an angry mob of candidates who are getting hosed by this thing. He’s arguing that preventing people from supporting their candidates interferes with their free speech rights.

Now here’s the best part: there is United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) case law that supports the claim! The case is Davis vs. F.E.C., you can look it up. It should be a slam-dunk for Clint.

“But why,” you ask, “if it doesn’t work and creates problems, don’t they just repeal the bad law?”

My friend, you have much to learn about politics. Remember, things are not always as they appear. Perhaps it never was about increased participation, more candidates, and all that crap. Maybe it has always been about control, about shifting power from the people to the state.

If that is the case, then it appears to be working just fine.

Isabel Garcia is in the news again. This time she participated in a rather vulgar display of fear and loathing during a protest against the presence of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio at the Borders Book Store right here in the Old Pueblo.

For those of you unfamiliar with Ms. Garcia, she is a co-chair of Coalicion de Derechos Humanos ( that’s “Human Rights Coalition” for you gringos), and when she’s not attending a protest, she heads up Pima County’s Legal Defender office. The Legal Defender is similar to the Public Defender, only separate… go figure.

Ms. Garcia is, of course, untouchable, and beyond criticism, but Jon Justice apparently did not get the memo.

I must take a moment to comment on Mr. Justice’s parents’ choice of “Jon” for his first name. How boring! They could have picked something clever like “Street”, “Cowboy”, or even “Owtfer.”

Anyway, Mr. Justice hosts a local radio talk show which he used to promote the ideas that Ms. Garcia should be fired from her County position, arrested for violated a string of laws, and sent to a psychiatrist.

This stuff can be read on the show blog for a good laugh. As with most absurd humor, it is the grain of truth contained therein that makes it work. The one redeeming aspect of this particular kerfuffle is its entertainment value.

So, what did Ms. Garcia do that made Mr. Justice see red? As I mentioned earlier, she attended the protest of Joe Arpaio where she cheered on the two children who beat an effigy of the good sheriff to pieces, then Ms. Garcia picked up the dismembered head, held it aloft, and paraded around the parking lot with it.

If you really want to laugh out loud (that would be LOL for you teenagers), read the postings at the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos website. Watch the video of the incident on YouTube, then read their description. They try to paint a picture resembling the scene in “Napoleon Dynamite” where the smiling blindfolded children swing at a piñata, in the image of Pedro’s opponent, hanging in a tree; but it really looked like the Rodney King beating with a cheering section, with kids instead of cops. Nice try guys!

My favorite part is where Ms. Garcia whines about threats to her job and free speech rights. She then launches a campaign that threatens Mr. Justice’s job, and the station for which he works. She says that the radio station proffers “hate speech”, and implores people to “demand accountability from those who would support hate media.” Yes, and the dismembered head was all warmth and fuzzy bunnies.

You can’t make this stuff up!

On the serious side, I like honest discourse, particularly with open-minded parties. That’s kinda how it works in free societies. If people can change their minds of their own accord through objective review, then everyone is happy and the truth often prevails. In less free societies, a more tyrannical approach of vilification and hatred toward those with whom one disagrees seems to carry the day.

Why do you suppose that Ms. Garcia chooses the tyrannical approach? It’s not as if there are no specific accusations of unethical and even criminal behavior against Joe Arpaio – everything from vindictive retaliations to suspicious jail deaths have been reported. Why does she not build a case? She’s a lawyer after all. I suspect that if she made a cogent argument for Arpaio’s removal, in the way that Mr. Justice made a case for her removal, there would be no fight. Perhaps he fight is what it is all about.

By the way (BTW), am I the only one who is bothered by the use of children in this mess, particularly in the role of ceremonial sheriff killers? I am really glad that the children were not old enough to be in AmeriCorps. Watching them beat the effigy in those brown shirts that they wear would not have been the least bit humorous.

Governor Napolitano signed into law a bill that will allow government school students to boost their AIMS test scores with good grades. This brings us back to the world as it existed before the test was a gleam in Lisa Keegan’s eye.

We are now full circle because the original problem was artificially good grades, and social promotions. Those problems persist, and now that those grades trump, or “augment”, the AIMS test score. It seems that there is no longer any hope for government schools.

This sordid story goes back to 1995 when then State Schools Superintendent, Lisa Keegan, got the ball rolling on a high school graduation test. The hope was that, by setting statewide standards, a high school diploma would indicate that the student had a basic grasp of reading, writing, and mathematics. A year later, the Board of Education set the standards, and the Arizona legislature made passing the test a requirement for graduation.

So, the government education establishment rolled up its sleeves, stepped up to the plate, and made seeing that every senior could pass the test its main goal… right?

Well, not exactly. Though the requirement was to be phased-in over a five-year period, no serious attempt at compliance was made; rather, energy was spent fighting the test. The year that the requirement was to go into effect was pushed from 2001 to 2002, then to 2006. Pressure was put on Superintendent Tom Horne in 2003 to dump the test. He refused, but promised to water it down. It was in 2006 that two advocacy groups sued to remove the test as a graduation requirement, a Superior Court Judge in Maricopa County tossed it out. Now, with Governor Napolitano’s signature, the test scores can be inflated just like the grades; in fact, using the grades, and to the same ends.

The education establishment wins, the students loose. If that is not bad enough, think of the message the educator’s example sends to the students. Imagine a guy with a shiny suit, two-tone wing tips, and a pencil thin mustache with slicked back hair approaching your kid as he leaves school. He puts his arm around your kid, leans over, and says, “Hey kid, don’t worry about all that AIMS stuff. It don’t matter. Yeah, you’ll hear them say stuff like ‘accepting the challenge’ and ‘achievement’ and all that crap, but you know that stuff’s for chumps – they can’t touch us. Do they think they can make you learn? Think you gonna be an engineer or something? Just keep doing what you’re doing, those punks will cave.”

That is just what happened, the punks caved.

However, all is not lost. While the documents were on their way to the governor, George Sanchez of the Arizona Daily Star reported that, “Tucson’s BASIS Charter School is heralded as the top public school in the United States in the new issue of Newsweek magazine.”

Charter schools, if you do not already know, are privately owned schools which contract with the state board of education, and the local school districts, to provide education services. They charge no tuition, and are paid by the state per pupil – much like the government schools, but at a lower rate, and they have no freely provided infrastructure.

I will certainly admit that the populations at the charter and government schools are different. Clearly, the charter student parent is, generally speaking, more engaged than the government parent. After all, the charter parents concern themselves with their children’s education at least, while many mouth-breathing government parents are just glad that the kids are gone for the day, and someone feeds them lunch. Parental involvement is, by far, the most important factor in a child’s educational success.

Charter schools are considered “public” schools, though they more accurately described as “government contractors”. Government contractors have long been employed to do what the government itself just can’t seem to get done internally - usually because, from top to bottom, the employees know that “the punks will cave.”

By the way, passing AIMS is a requirement for graduation at charter schools. It’s part of the contract.

 

 Losing our AIMS - audio version: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Let me start by saying that San Tan Flat is in no way connected with Tortilla Flat. There are no tee shirts that say, “Where the Hell is San Tan Flat?” Although new to Arizona, San Tan Flat has enjoyed a level of publicity unknown to Tortilla Flat.

Our story begins with a father and son, Dale and Spencer Bell. Dale has operated successful restaurants in both South Dakota and Wyoming. He and his son, Spencer, opened their new venture in Pinal County, Arizona, on the flats next to the San Tan Mountains – hence the name.

After three years of jumping through hoops, they finally opened on 2005 with Pinal County’s blessing. Shortly thereafter, Pinal County began to harass them mercilessly. They made them remove one of their two signs, reduced their road access from four entrances to one, and they made them build a bigger parking lot. They also sent deputies out at night to measure decibel levels.

This sort of behavior usually indicates that some well-connected turgid member of the community wants him out of Dodge. In the older frontier times, they usually just sent the Sheriff around to tell him, “Be out of town by sundown.” These are less direct, less honest, weenie times.

Dale complied with all the harassing demands, until they turned their sights on his customers. They claimed it was illegal for them to dance to the music in the courtyard. They cited an ordinance from 1962 that required “dance halls, penny arcades, and bowling alleys” to be in fully enclosed structures. San Tan Flat is a restaurant bar. As Dale said to me, “I’ve never seen a penny arcade in my lifetime, I’ve never been able to put a penny in a machine and have it do anything, I don’t know how old you are, but I’m an old guy…this thing is pretty obsolete even in its language.” With the help of the Arizona chapter of the Institute for Justice, Dale went to court.

The Pinal County attorneys stated, at four separate times during the initial hearing, that the supervisors thought the outdoor stage at the Country Western Saloon and Steakhouse would be used for “mimes, puppet shows, poetry readings, and art displays.” Why, of course! Any cowboy worth his salt needs a little miming, and poetry read to him every now and again. Those dang Bell Boys deceived us!

Dale has determined that upstanding member of the community Pinal County Supervisor Sandy Smith is directing the attacks against him. It is her appointee, the Pinal County Sheriff, who sends his deputies out three times a night to test the decibel levels. So far, they have had no luck.

I asked Dale why Sandy Smith was trying to make his life miserable. He answered, “Why is she doing it? Possibly petty jealousy over the success of the business, possibly because we did not grovel, or kiss her butt, which is apparently what she was expecting us to do after we were open and permitted.” He had some other ideas that involved millionaire developers, but it’s all just speculation.

The silver lining to this dark cloud is that the longer it drags on, the more support the Bells get - from George Will, who wrote of their plight in his Washington Post column, to Dale and Spencer’s customers. Dale said of his customers, “They don’t say they like it, they say they love it!”

The significance of this case lies not so much in the fact that the petty commissars of Pinal County are being exposed; rather it verifies what we in the freedom movement have come to realize over the past few years.

Traditionally, it was government at the federal level that sent edicts from far away for the great unwashed, doing away with federalism, and exceeding its limited jurisdiction in a rather tyrannical way. It seemed to make sense that when people are reduced to numbers and formulas, they would be treated like them. Now we see those close to us, here at home, behaving in similar fashion. Whether they use eminent domain, civil forfeiture, or “Smart Growth” central planning, our locals have a lust to control people, and property that they do not own.

As the bizarre case of San Tan Flat exemplifies, it is not the remoteness of the power that is corrupting. It is the power itself.

 

 Bizarre Case of San Tan Flat [5:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Regardless of what you think of the global war on the Western World launched by Islamic fanatics, it is important that the West prevails. It is a matter of survival. There are many fronts, hot and cold. The European theater is mostly cold - if you don’t count the rioting around Paris. In the Pacific Theater, there are the Indonesian and Philippines fronts, hot and cold in turns. In the Middle East, there ar the Afghanistan, Israel, and Iraq fronts, all hot.

The enemies of the West have learned that the have not a prayer in a stand-up fight. The Arab states surrounding Israel launched conventional wars against her repeatedly, and failed every time. Then they learned, from the North Vietnamese communists, to frame it as a “human rights” struggle for the “Palestinians”. They would get plenty of support from western leftists, and the war would be won in the streets of America and Europe. The jihadis understand this too. After all, it worked for the Vietnamese, it is working against Israel, it should work for them. That is why they keep attacking. They see how the American left is undermining the military effort, and realize that it is just a matter of time before we cut and run.

Our military is the best in the world. We are winning in Iraq. Like Vietnam, we win every battle, but the war will be decided on the streets of America and Europe. Along with the jihadis, many in our military get it. That is why a group of Iraq veterans, who came home to witness a propaganda campaign against the American military, are fighting back at home with the sword of truth. They will not stand by while the battles are being won in Iraq, and th war is being lost at home.

They are now in the middle of a nationwide tour that will culminate in an appearance before the U.S. Congress on April 8, 2008. You can go to their web site to learn more: vetsforfreedon.org

I was able to interview a few of these decorated Iraq veterans when they were in Tucson. You can listen to the interviews by clicking the podcast buttons below. If you are a Vietnam Vet, you really should listen to the interview with David Bellavia; he has something important to say to you.

 

 Interview with Pete Hegseth, Vets for Freedom [8:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Interview with David Bellavia, Vets for Freedom [13:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download