The family of the Iraqi shoe thrower shouldn't be the only group of people protesting the Iraqi journalist's sentence--especially since many on this side of the world thought, "Brilliant!" when they saw the image of those shoes flying toward Dubya on the news. I mean, even now, the shoe antagonist has inspired others to think of ways to use the shoes on their feet.

For example, what about a group heading up to Phoenix to throw some shoes at our Gov. and state legislators? What an image. Shoes cascading down on... well, what about our lovely Frank Antenori? Look in our morning daily coverage on the house's OK for abortion curbs. From good 'ol Frank, R-Nut Heads: We have "a duty to protect either our wives or our daughters from making decisions that may come back to haunt them further down the road in their lives."

Luckily, Frank has never met my mother (she can scare the plants off any Republican), or dozens of other women who do not need anyone's help in making decisions. I thought you Nut Heads were all about less government in our lives? If this is the case, then certainly we don't need state government intervening on our behalf ... and obviously, we need to throw some shoes.

The new Weekly is online! Feel free to comment on its contents here.

Coming in a few short weeks: The ability to comment on all of our stories individually!

Mary Jo Pitzl of the Arizona Republic reports that the House Ways and Means Committee has supported a bill that will let Pima County voters approve a tax to keep baseball alive. This seems like the equivalent of getting a walk to first base when when you're down by a half-dozen runs and already have two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

The sleepy forecast for this year’s city election already has people playing political parlor games for 2010.

The best one we’ve heard yet: Eight Democrats are considering a run for the two seats in midtown Tucson’s District 28 now held by Democrats Dave Bradley and Steve Farley. That’s even crazier than last year’s seven-way super-slam in the Democratic primary in Legislative District 29.

Farley, who just started his second term, plans to run for reelection. (And he wants you to know there’s no truth to those scurrilous rumors that he’s planning to move to Phoenix or Washington, D.C.)

But Bradley has hit his four-term limit, so he has to find something else to do next year. And that open seat is igniting fires in the bellies of a whole crew of Democrats.

Besides Farley, here’s the line-up of Democrats we’re hearing about:

• Ted Prezelski, the local blogger who finished fourth in a four-way Democratic primary for a LD28 House seat in 2006. (Prezelski’s brother, Tom, was knocked out of the House in the aforementioned 2008 seven-way super-slam in LD 29, but may be plotting his own political comeback in 2010.)

• Ted Downing, the UA professor who had a LD 28 House seat from 2002 to 2006, when he gave it up to make an ill-fated run for the Senate against fellow Democrat Paula Aboud.

• Bruce Wheeler, the feisty former Tucson City Council member who went out in a blaze of glory in a Democratic mayoral primary. Wheeler still has a taste for politics and may want to return to the Arizona Legislature, where he served when he was just a young pup way back in the 1970s.

• Tim Sultan, who lost a Democratic primary to pick a sacrificial lamb to lose to then-Congressman Jim Kolbe in 2004.

• Mohur Sidhwa, a former chair of LD28 who is now a vice-chair of the Arizona Democratic Party.

• Jim Sinex, a math teacher who is currently collecting signatures for a half-dozen or so initiatives designed to revamp city government.

• Jonathan Rothschild, a local attorney and treasurer for the Pima County Democratic Party.

Let the wild rumpus begin!

When McCain tells Fox he's not a fast Twitter ... I want to go ask Cindy her thoughts.

Sigh. It's a shame Democrat Gen. John Adams recently announced on Facebook that he's not up for campaigining against the Twitter Senator in 2010.

Because we do have a moral compass at Weekly World Central, and in the interest of equality, peace and justice, the next TW cover will feature Speedo men of Brazil. Look for it soon. We're certain those issues won't last on stands for long, and we look forward to hearing your response and telling you to get a life ... in Brazil!

Are you going to see Watchmen this weekend? Slate chimes in with a negative review and spoiler podcast, but I particularly like the visual of Woody Allen giving sci-fi a try.

OK, well, I don't really remember a lot about 1973. I know I was 6 years old and had just left my little Kindergarten class at Pio Decimo in South Tucson for the big city of Dallas, where my mom finished her degree.

I remember the furnished apartment we rented was covered in plaid and wood paneling. Folk Mass was really big in the Catholic Church at the time, along with priests wearing sandals, which was liberating in different ways. I even remember running to tell my mom that some hippies walked by our apartment window and gave me the peace sign while I was playing with my Barbie doll.

So when I found out a TV show was starting this season (Life on Mars, based on the British time-travel cop show) set in New York City in, yes, 1973, I watched it and was hooked. It was nice to watch Harvey Keitel, but I was particularly pleased to see Michael Imperioli from The Sopranos back on TV--this time with long shaggy hair and a thick handlebar mustache.

But the TV folks at ABC have canceled it and there are only 17 episodes left.

I've been knee-deep in nostalgia lately. No life? Middle age? But this 1973 visit was a great reminder of life before human resources in the workplace and cell phones, and life before CSI shows and forensics. Each episode was like talking to old newspaper folks about Compugraphics, waxers, and pica poles, but with a cool soundtrack.

Supposedly the creators are thinking about a new series called Ashes to Ashes, about a detective that goes back to the 1980s. Look, they didn't celebrate the country's Bicentennial in the 1980s, and they didn't have banana seats or TV variety shows. I'm not sure if I'd be ready to go back there since it doesn't seem that long ago.

I guess CNBC's Rick Santelli didn't learn anything from John McCain cancelling out on David Letterman. But of course, it gives us some Jon at his best.