For those of you who haven't seen what turned into a hot catfight on Fox News over the Phelps funeral protests:

Check out the Westboro Baptist Church on Fox.

I wonder how you regain composure and carry on with a news program after an exchange like that.

If someone would have told me, say, 5 years ago, that I'd be sitting in a hotel room in Little Rock, Arkansas, doing something called a "blog entry" for an alternative newsweekly in Tucson, I would have chortled or something.

Well, looky where I am at, and what I am doing.

I am here for the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies annual convention, and I'll be keeping you abreast of some of what happens here.

Why should you care? Well, speakers include Bill Clinton and Wesley Clark, and a whole bunch of smart media types will be here trying to figure out what in the hell's in store for this crazy newspaper business.

Keep ya posted, in between the seminars, the speeches and the rampant drinking.

As further evidence of how completely hosed this country's drug policy is ... check out this article from the Houston Press, about a reporter's journey into cyberspace to get narcotics.

Karl Rove spent his evening at home punching up his impending apology speech. Naturally he felt some contrition for his malcompetent abuse of power in the case of Mrs. V. Plame—because he's not some sort of sociopath. Indeed, his transgressions haven't even proven to be indictable (and we all know you can indict a ham sandwich), but Rove will acknowledge missteps and ask the country to "move on" in the speech, scheduled for ne—er, wait—he just gave a speech, and it turns out that saying sorry is for suckers! There are veterans like John Kerry and John Murtha whose valor needs impugning:

"They may be with you for the first few bullets but they won't be there for the last tough battles."

Sure, it was in the context of a Republican fundraiser (itself in response to the New Hampshire phonejamming scandal), and this particular serving of red meat is looking more like carne seca every day (the best that the mastermind of the "GO with what works Party" can muster up, post-possibilty-of-indictment: "They're for higher taxes. We're for lower taxes. They're for more spending. We're for less spending.") But such remarks are nonetheless the work of a surpassing hubris the likes of which not seen since the powermad days of Lee Atwater. Especially when you consider that Rove was the recipient of three deferments.

Note to Karl: If you really want to bamboozle people even further, I suggest cribbing heavily from the following universally applicable apology:

Finally, I would like to apologize for spontaneously yelling the word "Savages!" after losing six thousand dollars on a roulette spin at the Choctaw Nation Casino and Sports Book. When I was growing up, the meaning of this word in our household closely approximated the Hawaiian "Aloha," and my use of it in the casino was meant to express "Until we meet again."

(This and more comedy gold minted sporadically at The Compleat Steve.)

Someone has painted what is probably best described as graffiti on some local buildings, namely the WorldCare building on Wilmot Road, south of Broadway Boulevard (does anyone remember when it was a Silo? Before there were Best Buys and Circuit Cities? Where has the time gone?), and an abandoned old car garage on Tucson Boulevard and 22nd Street. It's not your average graffiti—it looks a little like this:

Above is the one on the WorldCare building—the bats actually stretch across the whole east-facing wall. Wicked.

And this is the one (above) on the old garage. This is dark because it was night. Painted bats are scarier at night.

Are there any more of these that I don’t know about? Does anyone know who did these? I’m asking ‘cause I think it’s pretty cool. I’m all for rogue public art, especially rogue public art that makes that WorldCare building look nicer.

According to Inc. online:

Fred T. Franzia is the most controversial figure in the U.S. wine industry and also one of the most savvy. By moving in exactly the opposite direction of the industry elite, he has built Bronco Winery into the fourth largest wine company in the United States in case sales: Last year Bronco sold 20 million cases, or 240 million bottles, of wine, $400 million worth. His masterstroke is the cheapest of his dozens of wines—the famous Two Buck Chuck, the fastest-growing label in the history of the industry.

Here, it’s Three Cuck Chuck at Trader Joe’s and still quite the deal. Try the shiraz with a square of bittersweet chocolate for utter sensory decadence.

This is an interesting article as Franzia is no stranger to fiour-letter words, despises $100 bottles of wines and pled guilty to federal charges to defraud and paid a half-million dollar fine. 

Bloggish things are just getting started here at the Tucson Weekly. Elsewhere in the alt-weekly arena, the action is well under way, and it's definitely a mixed bag, both in subject and approach:

• Albuquerque Alibi
• Boston Phoenix
• Durham Independent
• Jackson Free Press
• Minneapolis/St. Paul CityPages
• The Stranger
• Vermont's Seven Days
• Washington CityPaper

There are more links to AAN-member blogs at AltWeeklies.com, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Web site Jimmy Boegle mentioned a couple of days ago.

It turns out I mostly gave up caffeine a couple of weeks ago, and I've been debating giving up all coffee—which I frickin' adore—even decaf, sometime down the line.

Now comes this news.

Well, crap. Now what do I do?

Gnarls Barkley has a "Crazy" costume department. (There are many YouTube links in the preceding sentence. Caveat spector.)

Ever since MoveOn.org made its way into my e-mail box, I have been signing petitions, calling elected officials, and occasionally donating money. They have elevated the status of power to the people. They keep politicians on their toes and they do it with simply earnest prose and understated grace.

Once again despicable politicians want to cut funds to NPR and PBS. Where would us Tucsonans be without the eloquent voice of KUAZ's Nelson Warnell reporting across the airwaves? NPR and PBS are akin to a clearing in the forest; they tell it like it is (watchdog journalism) which perhaps our government just doesn't want to hear.

Last year, 1 million people signed a petition to keep the funding for NPR and PBS. Today, they're asking once again for 1.5 million people to sign.

So sign it already, and tell your friends to sign too.