Arizona losing two important protectors and leaders

I'll quote from today's AZ Daily Star artcle:

Grijalva, an outspoken critic of President Bush on land-use and environmental policy, has introduced several pieces of legislation to protect federal lands, including trying to stop uranium mining on a million acres near the Grand Canyon and to halt future mining claims in the Coronado National Forest.
And just Friday, Politico.com reported Grijalva was "emerging as a top contender" for the post, "according to sources close to the transition."

Raul Grijalva is the kind of Congressman who has the Bush Administration crooks seething mad. Grijalva has constantly spoken out against BushCo wrongs. And Napolitano has kept the right-wing moron dominated State Legislature from ruining Arizona again and again.

First it's Napolitano, for Homeland Security, and now it's Grijalva for Interior Secratary! We were so overjoyed here in So. AZ when Obama won. Big grins all over Tucson the next day. And it's nice that 2 of our best and brightest will most likely answer the call to serve the wider scene on the national level with the Obama administration. But they'll leave a gap behind, that is for sure.

They are throwing us to the wolves here man! At least Gabby Giffords beat that customer of Karl Rove Tim Bee.

Arizona is truly at risk because of the State Legislature, which is half-full of the kind of folks who'd arm every half-wit drunk in the state, allow guns on college campuses, and who feel we can waste the environment cuz it don't matter cuz Jesus is coming. ...and gonna sweep up all them straight-laced, god-fearing, right wing extremist morons, I guess.

Without Napolitano and champion Bush-fighter Raul Grijalva, the rest of us are even more vulnerable to the machinations of folks who think knowledge is a dangerous thing. These folks would gut our State University system and use our tax money to fatten the pockets of the rich. If they had their way dancing would be illegal, there'd be a law saying you have to go to their same church every Sunday, and the cops could stop you and check your citizenship, not to mention your pockets, all day long.

Augusta Rosemont mine looking really stupid

The Arizona Daily Star published this article about a recent acid spill at a nearby copper mine, and had the audacity to point out that the same kind of thing could happen at the Rosemont mine, if it is dug. Well, The Star, in its long article actually said more like opponents said this could happen. Weenie words. They don't report the fact that things like acid spills and other environmental devastation do happen at mines, they have to say Well critics say this kind of thing could happen. However, Kudos to the Star for at least having the guts to report the two ideas side by side in the same story- the acid spill, and the disgusting, greedy, destructive bad idea that is the Rosemont mine.

This is the headline the Star tacked onto the story:

Morenci acid spill riles Rosemont foes-
But company says proposed mine's plan has safeguards

... Well, it's just those damn foes that are riled, that's all. No sir, the Daily Star is not going to stand in the way of progress. Might rile the Tucson Chamber of Commerce. Wouldn't want to the local Republicans wetting their pants over things like facts being reported now, would we? Nope, legitimate concerns about environmental destruction and public safety don't belong in the paper unless preceded by "Critics say..."

I'm guessing some editor somewhere said "oh, all right you can report the spill and bring up the Rosemont issue, but you have to be sure to point out that it's the oppenents who are saying..."

Yes, the acid spill in Morenci really is the kind of thing we'll be seeing down Sonoita way, off the Eastern flanks of the 9300 ft. Santa Rita range. Things like always happen around mines. The Star could have published statistics, but didn't.

If...

But word is it's a done deal. Rosemont is advertising on public radio station KUAT-FM, leaving a poisonous taste in the mouths of Tucson area classical music fans, Rosemont Copper offered to pipe C.A.P. water for free to retirement city Green Valley- "hey, it's free-" if they support the mine, Rosemont Copper goes on and on about safe they will be, yadda yadda.

The Star reports the words of Lanie Levick, who is a senior research specialist in Watershed Management at the UA, at the end of the article, after veering off into a discussion of the fact that the copper company is planning a mine able withstand a 100-year flood, although we've seen far worse storms and floods frequently in the Tucson area in recent years. They end the story with the mindless words of a slick-ass automaton Rosemont Copper spokesperson.

"They can't be designing to 100-year standards for Rosemont in such a sensitive area," said Lainie Levick, a board member for Friends of the Scenic Santa Ritas, which opposes Rosemont. Levick, who was stranded in her far Northeast Side neighborhood for a day during the 2006 flooding, said she's concerned that a larger-than-100-year flood at Rosemont could cause its tailings dam to fail. Levick is a senior research specialist in watershed management at the University of Arizona.

Augusta's Howard replied: "We're trying to build to as high a standard as is appropriate at this time. We don't want to speculate from a climate change standpoint about what the standard might be. That's something that the federal government is looking at.

"It seems to be a valid goal to build towards the 100-year storm."

What a fucking dumb ass.

Our 11/08 Ride

Gmaps pdmtr. URL

BuschCo on the way out.

They are shooting off fireworks in my neighborhood. Don't let anyone tell you Arizona is a "red" state. Only thing red about this state, at least down here in Tucson, is the sunsets.