Arizona's First Political Blog

E-mail Anonymous Mike at zonitics4-at-yahoo.com

By Anonymous Mike, pseudonymously.

 
Holy Week Continues....

I am sure Father John wouldn't agree with this, in fact he could probably organize an ecumenical beat-down on me for suggesting this.

However I must say it.

I must say that Easter doesn't conclude until at least the day after the blessed day when all the Easter candy goes 1/2 price. In fact, here's where my beatdown is going to come from, there is almost something spiritual about it. On Monday before I went in, I stopped by a Wal-Mart and joined 4 other people who were busy scooping up 25-cent Cadbury cream eggs. We all laughed as we discussed how much of the candy was going to make it home to the kids (none) and what happened to all the peeps (none available.) The best part was when one person left with their stash and called out "Same time, same place next year!"

Yeah baby.

If you're really gutsy you can try waiting another week for the prices to get to 75% off. Years ago at the old Smith's grocery at Alma School & Warner, three weeks after Easter they still had a shopping cart full of peeps at 10 cents a box. Man that was a find.
posted by Anonymous Mike at 8:54 PM

 
ASU and Obama

Hey ASU, just give the President an honorary degree. After all you gave some government minister from China one, why not President Obama?

There seems to be alot of confusion about the purported decision to not award an honorary degree. Was it because he was a sitting politician and ASU has a policy that prohibits such awards? Was it was because he hadn't yet completed his "body of work"? Was it just a bureaucratic snafu with the commencement people and the honorary degree people not on thee same page?

Okay here's some thoughts....

First, if you invite the President to give the commencement address and the commencement speaker usually gets an honorary degree, then not giving him one is insulting. Best to not have him speak in such role at all rather than snubbing our nation's head of state.

Second, honorary degrees are a racket ginned up by universities in order to derive some sort of implied pro quid pro or to bask in the reflected glory of the person. Like Hall of Fame elections, better to keep such moments too rare rather than too plentiful, I mean better that than say giving a degree to Robert Mugabe. ASU pursued the President for commencement speaker because it would derive benefit; my guess the President accepted because he's going to get his own political benefit from the trip, probably pitch immigration reform. I seriously doubt he came to visit Sparky the Sun Devil.

Third, take your pick whether he's not getting a degree because of his "body of work" or is it because he's a sitting politician but now would be a nice time to make an exception. In fact, it seems that there will be a reversal giving the perception that ASU is getting its arm twisted.

To top it, ASU will rename one of its major scholarship programs after the President because... why? He has no ties to the state or the university, in fact for all I can figure next month's speech will mark the first time he's been on campus. He also has no tie direct tie to the scholarship program or has no active yet initiative for higher education. So by all means let's start renaming things after him... how about Wells Fargo Arena?

Yep thanks to ASU what should have been a moment of pride for the state has instead turned into a farcical show of backpedaling, bungling, and kowtowing.

My predictions:

1) ASU will end up giving Obama a degree

2) In addition to the degree and the scholarship program, I expect ASU will also provide some sort of other trinkets.

3) ASU will throw some people under the bus , think of ASU Media Director Sharon Keeler as a burnt sacrifice of atonement.
posted by Anonymous Mike at 9:23 PM

 
Three Levels of Fame

There are 3 levels of fame when it comes to the Internet punditocracy (right-wing version)

First there are those like Hugh Hewitt, Mark Steyn, and William Kristol whose reach extend to all sorts of print and electronic media.

Then there are those bloggers who those forementioned people think highly of and thereby gain international recognition. Like Arizona's own ExUrbanleague

Then are those who are able to say that have drunk beer and eaten nachos with the those internationally famous bloggers who the likes of Mark Steyn, Hugh Hewitt, and William Kristol think highly of... that would be me.

Mom taught many life lessons but I don't think basking in the reflected glow of certain bloggers is one of them. You know what though? It's hard to find a more talented group of guys than the ExUrban boys and I know you cannot find a better group of people anywhere. So hats off to them for good work and if you haven't read their posts on pirates or on Vikings than why haven't you?
posted by Anonymous Mike at 8:28 AM

 
HOA, Arizona

After my post earlier this week regarding Arizona cities and Jack in The Box someone reminded me of similar behavior in the Valley of the Sun, or more specifically Mesa.

Back during the Krispy Kreme craze, the local franchisee wanted to open a store in Mesa, I believe out by Power Road or Red Mountain area. Krispy Kreme has a fairly unique color scheme which is almost tacky but it works for them because they serve... donuts. Well if I remember correctly the City of Mesa wouldn't let them put the color scheme the franchisee wanted, not enough earth tone.

If you live in the Phoenix metro area for any length you notice two things about the buildings. First there is no lack of earth tone in the color of buildings, in fact you can drive for miles and not see anything but browns and tans. Second while it is a fine place to live, the words "Mesa" and "upscale community" aren't often used in the same sentence. Why Mesa felt it needed to act as an HOA in terms of colors of retail establishment seems like a poor use of public resources and an intrusion of private property.

Moving on to another fine example of Mesa and intrusions on private property....

On the southwest corner of Main and Country Club, across the street from a more famous business, there now stands a coffee shop. However a few years back that building used to be a Winchell's donut shop. Now I don't know what it is with the City of Mesa and donut shops, but apparently this donut shop ran afoul of the City because of the amount of signage in the windows. To the surprise of the average citizen, not only did Mesa have an ordinance which restricted the amount of window space that could be covered with commercial signage but they actually had inspectors on the street who would measure the signage in windows. Well Winchell's had too high of a percentage of its windows with signage, thought to be honest it might have been stuff painted on the windows, and rather than dying of public embarrassment Mesa pressed its case.

Nice to know that at a time when many of its agencies were struggling for funds, Mesa found the funds to enforce window signage in donut shops.

I am sure there are plenty of other examples and in more cities than just Mesa but that sort of gives you a flavor. Somebody once said along that a government that had the power to give you everything you wanted had enough power to take away everything you had. I guess a corollary to that is that a government that had both the will and resources to function as a HOA is a government that has gotten too big for its britches. Something to consider with all the government budget cutting going on.

Oh and the famous business on the other side of Main Street from Winchell's? That would be Bailey's Brake Shop.
posted by Anonymous Mike at 8:42 PM

 
The Guns of Binghamton

From CNN.Com, Police Defend Response to Mass Shootings:

Authorities defended the timeliness of police response to Friday's massacre at an upstate New York immigration services center as funerals were set to begin Sunday for two of the 13 slain.

"No decisions by the police had any bearing on who died," Broome County District Attorney Jerry Mollen told reporters Sunday.

The first officers arrived at the American Civic Association about three minutes after the first emergency calls were made Friday, according to a timeline by the Binghamton Police Department.

Officers did not enter the building for about 40 minutes, police said.

"No one was shot after police arrival, and none of the people who had been shot could have been saved, even if the police had walked in the door within [the] first minute," Mollen said. "The injuries were that severe."

I am sure (or hope) there will be a full investigation as to the 40 minutes delay but the question that quickly comes to mind is how did the police know without entering the building that none of the people who had been shot could have been saved? From the media accounts I have read, there was no police presence, no officers or equipment, inside the building until the SWAT team entered after those 40 minutes. So how were they so sure without the ability to eyeball the victims?

Everytime there is one of these shootings, there are the inevitable calls for furthering restricting private control of firearms (yes there is the 2nd Amendment but there are ways around that.) These calls are predicated on the assumptions that not only is it better for law enforcement agencies to have these weapons than private individuals, but that those enforcement agencies are able to protect us and willing to put their lives on the line to do so.

The reason why you still see people, more than 7 years after the fact, wearing "FDNY" hats and shirts is because on that September day all of those New York firemen looked up and saw their death in those burning buildings and went in anyway.

I hope, really hope, that the Broome County DA was right but I still don't how they came to that conclusion until it was too late.
posted by Anonymous Mike at 8:33 PM

 
Catching Up on Sports

Various things from the sports world that happened during my 2 -week "furlough"....

Jay Cutler. For background on the schmuck check out his Wikipedia page but let me try and bottom-line it for you. Cutler wanted out because he felt dissed by management for trying to trade him. In his favor, he's a 3-year professional QB who threw for more than 4,000 yards last year and went to his first Pro Bowl. You would also think from the press coverage of this story that he's the second coming of Marino or Elway.

The truth is he played last year for a pass happy coach and for a team that had such a lousy defense that it had to score in bunches just to stay competitive. In fact is you look at his game log, you see that his performance was far from stellar during the last part of the year when his team nosedived. Good player? Yes but right now he's accomplished as much in his career, with his 17-20 lifetime record, as Scott Mitchell. Scott who? Exactly.... enjoy your new life in that aerial juggernaut known as the Chicago pass offense.

Other news....

I know things are bad in Michigan and Michigan State had a good run and all but by half-time of last night's NCAA championship game I was sick of hearing about how everyone in Michigan was being taken on a magical carpet ride away from their troubles. I know sportscasters look for angles they can beat into the ground, but that was a little much. Win or lose, you still wake up to tomorrow.

Finally and somewhat related....

When I watch sports, I am taking a break from the world. Sports, even on the level of high school baseball, provides for great competition and story lines but overall it's not the real world. The game ends, we go home or turn off the TV, and the world is the same as we left it. The world would be an easier place to understand if there was a rule book, you enemies wore uniforms, and somebody kept score but reality is messier than that.

Sports provides a diversion, an escape. So when sportscasters and writers, who making their very living by describing this diversion we call sports, try to bring real world events into their commentary in order to push a pet political position I have to object. If I wanted reality, I would stick to the front section of the paper. If you the sportswriter could write on weighty social issues, you would be writing for that front section. No instead you are consigned to write about grown men making millions playing the same game as my kids. Bless your hearts, I love what you guys do but please leave issues like the Binghamton shootings alone. You hear me Peter King?

My 2 cents about Mr. King's opinion that the shootings demonstrate that there are too many guns on the streets? I have a feeling that some of the people trapped in that building wished there was at least one more gun in the world and in their hands.
posted by Anonymous Mike at 6:24 PM

 
War Against The Clown

The average citizen has limited, if any, contact with their city government. Outside of library, park, or the emergency services it's pretty mysterious. So if you are not involved in a crime in some way, have your house on fire, or need a copy of "My Pet Goat" city government is just some distant thing that tends to hold their elections at wacky times.

That is until you want to to do something crazy... like build on your property or open a business. Then you enter some strange some circle of Hell. Coyote Blog has a number of posts on the subject, from what it takes to serve coffee to remodeling his pool.

Then there is Jack in The Box

Now not all go for the power of Jack, but the food has helped me meet my business travel budget and I like the ads. Years ago when I lived in Chandler, the local franchise at the corner of Chandler & Arizona Avenue won a special place in my heart for resisting the power of city-backed developers.

Then I read this:

Those flat-roofed, chunky Jack in the Box restaurants built in Valley downtowns during the 1960s and '70s have been thorns in the side of urban redevelopment since disco balls went out of style...

... Phoenix and Mesa forced the chain's downtown spots to rebuild and move or leave.

Municipal officials have complained that Jack in the Box restaurants that went up when hippies were groovy don't fit in with modern multi-story clusters of upscale condos, shops and restaurants.

I think that's sweet that private businesses, ones that apparently are doing well enough to remain in business since "disco balls", have been forced out of their prime locations because local city officials want to replace them with visions of Richard Florida's new urbanism. So it's not enough to jump government hurdles to start a business, but then you have to remain in the good graces of local bureaucrats to stay in business. Note the article doesn't say the Jack in the Box restaurants had health or business problems, they were simply tacky and in the way.

Then lo and behold guess which Jack franchisee is causing problems again...

The 30-year-old Jack in the Box in downtown Chandler was supposed to be demolished and moved years ago after city planners decided in 2000 that a restaurant represented by a huge white head with a pointed nose and party hat "does not meet the intent of 'dining' within the City Center District designation."

May I never get on the wrong side of a city government's intent.

Darn city officials, probably all milkshake hating extremists
posted by Anonymous Mike at 7:02 PM