Besides planting a tree or giving up plastic bags today in honor of Earth Day, why not take in some art?

Head out to Dinnerware Artspace, 264 E. Congress from 5 to 8 p.m. to check out Carbon Neutral, an unjuried show, open to all, using found objects. It costs $5 for the artists reception, which includes a legume buffet using beans from Native Seeds/SEARCH, plus mixed green salad, wine, beer and some apple pie. You can't go wrong.

Here's a description of what you might see tonight from Dinnerware's David Aguirre:

In honor of Earth Day, April 22, 2009, we want you to create a special
something: a lamp maybe, or other artistic form, using objects that are
"within arms reach", whose lifespan seems almost depleted, but get
resurrected rather than purchase new objects.
Found objects find you. Objects meant for another use.
Fabric, shoes, furniture wood, lampshade, wheels, bike parts, etc.

"Carbon Neutral" is an exhibition of visually interesting, provocative work
by artist-tinkerers, mainstream artists, and creative persons, willing to
explore the art of Eco-renovation, or as Mat Bevel calls it, Available
Resource Technology.

Tuesday was election-integrity activist John Brakey's birthday, and while we hope he got a chance to spend it with his wife, children and grandchildren (who he is fond of talking about when he's not talking about election-integrity issues), I'm certain he wasn't thrilled with Attorney General Terry Goddard's announcement that day (at the press conference I attended) that nope, the AG's examination of the 2006 Regional Transportation Authority ballots has determined there was no flip, no fraud, no criminal activity—despite the evidence gathered (flimsy or circumstantial - depending on your POV) by activists including Pima County Democratic Party attorney Bill Risner.

However, Goddard did tip a hat to the activists by saying that without the information they provided to the AG's office—he never would have examined the ballots.

In this week's Skinny, we mention one good thing that's happened to Brakey this month: The trespassing charge from his arrest while observing an election audit on Sept. 6, 2008 was dismissed. Brakey told me he felt like a big weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and a good plateful of justice has been served.

See video below of the before and after with Justice of the Peace Jose Luis Castillo dismissing the charges:

I've got a few things to say about the RTA election fiasco that I'll get to soon, but first I'd like to post this odd letter that editor Jimmy Boegle and I got from political gadfly John Kromko back on Monday, April 13:

From: J. Kromko
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 8:53 AM
To: Jimmy Boegle; Jim Nintzel
Subject: penance

It's too soon to be certain.

But the way things are going with the ballots, it isn't too soon to
start talking about what penance would be appropriate for you two.

It may not be necessary, as I said, but just to be prepared.

What would you suggest would be fair?

So, John ... how does that shit taco taste?

In his latest "Ward II Weekly" e-mail bulletin, Ward 2 City Councilman Rodney Glassman says he was recently talking to Bob Bookman and the question of a new Tucson slogan came up. Rodney writes:

Bob had a great idea for a Tucson slogan and vision, but first we would like to hear yours! "Ithaca is Gorges" and people work to "Keep Tahoe Blue." The question is, what should Tucson's slogan be?

Keep Tucson Podunk.

After all the sound and fury over allegations that the 2006 Regional Transportation Authority election was rigged, Attorney General Terry Goddard announced today that a recount showed the sales-tax increase was, in fact, approved by voters.

This should put an end to all those allegations—based on what was, at best, flimsy evidence—that the county flipped the election. But it probably won’t.

Maricopa County election workers spent the better part of two weeks counting all the RTA ballots. However, before the count even began, election-integrity activists complained that chain-of-custody procedures weren’t followed when the ballots were taken to Maricopa County.

One final complaint, in a letter sent to Goddard by Pima County Democratic Party attorney Bill Risner, was that 19,000 ballots were possibly missing from the boxes. But earlier this week, activist John Brakey, after looking at six hours of video footage of the examination, determined the card stock used on the vote-by-mail ballots has a different thickness than that used on the regular ballots, which threw his back-of-a-napkin calculation off.

“I messed up,” Brakey told TW staff writer Mari Herreras. “I’m willing to take a hit for it.”

We'll have more in this week's Skinny and right here in The Range.

Attorney General Terry Goddard is having a press conference at 2:30 p.m. to report the result of the Regional Transportation Authority ballot investigation. We'll have details soon after.

In related news: John Brakey, one of the activists who has suggested the RTA count was rigged, called TW staff writer Mari Herreras today to let her know that contrary to earlier allegations, it appears that there are not thousands of RTA ballots missing.

Politico is reporting that Chris Simcox, founder of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, wants to challenge Sen. John McCain in the 2010 GOP primary:

Social conservatives tolerated John McCain as the party's nominee, but never trusted him, and he now appears to be facing a serious primary from the right in Arizona next year.

Chris Simcox, the founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and a prominent figure in the anti-immigration movement, will announcing tomorrow at an event on the Mexican border that he's resigned from the group to run in the 2010 Senate primary.

We're skeptical that "serious primary" is an accurate assessment.

We mentioned last week that Wilco is coming to town in June. To help prep us for the show, our friends at the Rialto Theatre are debuting their new movie projector with a Wilco concert film, Ashes of American Flags, on Thursday, April 30.

To get our Wilco fix early and to temporarily subside our anticipation, we will be screening the new film Ashes of American Flags , presenting Wilco live in concert during the 2008 tour. Culled from concerts in five quintessentially American venues - Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, Tipitina's in New Orleans, The Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. - the film captures the energy, poignancy and musicality of a Wilco concert and tour. Directed and produced by Brendan Canty and Christoph Green (Sunken Treasure, Burn to Shine).

Details here.

I've written before about our friends at CEDO (Centro Intercultural de Estudios de Desiertos y Oceanos, or Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans), a non-profit research station located in the community of Las Conchas in Rocky Point.

CEDO is now doing a lecture series about the Gulf of California. The next talk, about developing sustainable fisheries in the northern Gulf, is this Tuesday, April 21, at 6 p.m. at the UA Poetry Center, 1508 E. Helen St.

Here are the details, per CEDO:

Speakers: Dr. Richard Cudney-Bueno (UA, the Packard Foundation, CEDO), Alison Deming (UA) and Tad Pfister (UA)

From 2002 to 2004 commercial divers worked with Dr. Richard Cudney-Bueno, to increase productivity of their mollusk fisheries. They participated in

Meghan McCain, the daughter of Sen. John McCain, has harsh words for her own party:

Speaking to an affectionate crowd of Log Cabin Republicans on Saturday evening, Meghan McCain ridiculed the party her father headed this past election, declaring that "old school Republicans" were "scared shitless" of the changing landscape.

The Senator's daughter, who has quickly become something of an iconic figure in the gay conservative community since the end of the election, took repeated shots at the GOP for its antiquated mores.