Short Attention Span Musing

The work week was hectic this week and cut into posting time, so here are brief thoughts on some stuff that came up this week..

...Sen. Jack Harper (R-Surprise!) is a gift to snarky writers.

From AZCentral.com -

There was fresh debate on Friday about a controversial letter written to Arizona voters by Republican State Sen. Jack Harper. A church organization weighed-in on Harper's letter, calling it "unthinkable." Harper defended the blunt language of the letter, saying it was a necessary reality check to Arizonans.

{snip}

Harper said he believes members of churches should increase their charity donations to make up for bad economic times.

"If they want to reach people for the values they believe in, reach people in the name of Christ, it's time for them to step up and show generosity to the church," Harper said.

Jack, Jack, Jack - you want to run statewide next year and yet you are picking on churches, perhaps the one group of voters that might be reliably on your side if you make it to the general election?


...Now Sheriff Joe Arpaio is complaining that the federal investigations of him and MCSO are politically motivated.

From the Washington Post -

The lawyers representing a controversial Arizona sheriff who is under investigation for his treatment of Latino residents accused officials in the Justice and Homeland Security departments yesterday of political motivations in pursuing probes against their client.

{snip}

[Attorney for Arpaio Robert] Driscoll wrote in his letter, referring to the sheriff's office, "When one law enforcement agency becomes subject to three federal investigations in a matter of weeks immediately after a shift of political control in Washington, it is difficult not to speculate that politics played a role in the decision or that policy differences related to hot-button topics such as local law enforcement's vigorous enforcement of immigration related crimes are being litigated through enforcement actions."

Well, if anyone should know of politically-motivated investigations, it's our resident expert on the topic.


...The Republican blogosphere is all aflutter over word that Governor Jan Brewer plans a PR campaign to build support for her budget plan. They're worried that she might be "going after" Republican legislators.

Given that this is the first "governor-like" thing that she has done since she ascended to the office, maybe they're just now learning that the governor's job description does *not* include the line "acts as a lackey of the legislature."


...As expected, the lege passed and Brewer signed into law the proposal to give corporations $5 million in tax breaks and ensure Steve Yarbrough's income at the same time.

My only question is if it fact turns out that Yarbrough's STO has violated the IRS' rules governing 501c3 organizations, does the fact that the Governor called a special session solely to funnel money to Yarbrough and his organization mean that she is an accessory to any of the violations? What about the people who officially sponsored the bills (Rep. Rick Murphy, Sens. Thayer Verschoor, Sylvia Allen, Bob Burns, Chuck Gray, Jack Harper, and John Huppenthal)?

OK, probably not. Elected officials have a way of writing laws in ways that protect themselves (witness this one), but in a just world...

Later...