Well, Democrats Linda Lopez and Dave Bradley did their best to play along, but the segment isn't up to Daily Show standards, especially considering the wealth of material the Arizona Legislature generates. And what's with the establishing shot of Tucson?

We may not have the Buffy the Vampire Slayer sing-along to look forward to anymore, but Joss Whedon fans can get their fix Thursday night at The Loft Cinema, which will be hosting Can't Stop The Serenity 2009, a fundraiser for Equality Now! and the Women's Foundation of Southern Arizona.

Besides a showing of Whedon's space opera Serenity, the evening's entertainment will include Tucson's First Dr. Horrible sing-along and all sorts of other Joss-related fun.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, details are here.

It appears that Ward 6 Councilwoman Nina Trasoff has been hitting the fundraising trail. Trasoff, who had been trailing Republican opponent Steve Kozachik in the money chase, has closed the gap, according to campaign-finance reports filed last week.

Trasoff reported raising a total of $47,351 as of Sept. 8 and had $33,002 left in the bank.

Trasoff has also applied for matching funds under the city’s publicly funded campaign program. Once she qualifies, Trasoff will be eligible to have private contributions matched by taxpayers, but she’ll have to limit her spending to somewhere around $100,000. That means she’s just about done with fundraising.

Kozachik still holds a slight lead in the fundraising race, having brought in $51,990. Kozachik, who had $35,116 left in the bank, also applied for matching funds earlier this week.

It’s likely to take several weeks for auditors to confirm their eligibility for matching funds.

In Ward 3, Karin Uhlich had just under $52,000 and received $36,787

Glenn Beck makes up more bullshit.

ABC News tweets the news that Obama called Kanye West a "jackass" for his ass-clownish behavior at the VMA awards! And then reports that it was an off-the-record comment. Politico reports:

Now, an ABC spokesperson explains to POLITICO what happened:

In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion of those remarks that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview. This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again.

Wonder how far back this will set the health-care debate.

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reports that just 29 percent of Americans believe the media generally get the facts straight.

Note: An earlier version of this post reported that a new Pew Research Center poll showed that 92 percent of the public believe the media always get the facts straight.

The Pima County Interfaith Council formally announced that it would be opposing Prop 200, the Public Safety that cops, firefighters, developers and real-estate agents are pushing on the November ballot in the city of Tucson.

City officials say the initiative, which forces the city to hire more cops and firefighters, would cost at least $50 million when fully implemented. Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has warned that higher court costs will increase county property taxes.

Here's PCIC's release:

PCIC supports the sustainable implementation of Public Safety goals that will make our city safe, healthy, and hospitable for current and future residents. Proposition 200 is not the way to attain these goals. We reaffirm the vision of Public Safety that has guided Tucson for many years, a vision that includes crime prevention, quality education, workforce development, and community infrastructure programs and in addition to fully-equipped and fully-staffed police and fire departments.

If Proposition 200 passes, Tucsonans will face the prospects of a gutted city budget, vital agencies and departments drastically cut or eliminated, taxes raised, funding for prevention programs that help keep our city safe killed. The City would have to cut family friendly child and youth programs and seniors could be stranded by the elimination of Van Tran. It will claim money for everything from job training to waste and water management. It will have unpredictable ripple effects on

Planned Parenthood Arizona has filed suit over a new set of abortion restrictions passed by the Arizona Legislature earlier this year, which included specific instructions regarding what a physician has to tell women seeking abortions and specific criteria that a judge must consider before allowing a minor to have an abortion without parental consent, as well as a 24-hour waiting period before a woman can get an abortion.

Here's Planned Parenthood's release:

Planned Parenthood Arizona filed a lawsuit today challenging the constitutionality of several provisions in the omnibus anti-abortion law that threatens women’s access to health care in Arizona. The law was signed by Governor Jan Brewer in July of this year.

“Planned Parenthood Arizona is committed to ensuring women and families in this state have access to the comprehensive reproductive care they need,” said Bryan Howard, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona. “This law puts the health and well being of more than half of our state’s residents at risk by restricting women’s access to comprehensive care. We believe the regulations should not be put into place until the court rules on the legality of this onerous law.”

This law does nothing but creates barriers, increases cost, and denies access to services and providers

When Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed some portions of the GOP budget earlier this month, she said she wanted lawmakers to come back for a special session to fix elements of the spending plan. But we're hearing that Republicans, who are increasing frustrated with Brewer, are balking at coming back to fix anything before the next regular session begins in January.

The current budget shortfall is estimated to be in the neighborhood of a billion dollars by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.

The Earth Liberation Front has toppled two radio towers in the Seattle area. Reaction to the "vandalism" is predictably silly, with right-wingers saying, "Hang those damn hippies from the nearest still-standing radio tower!" and, wishy-washy left-wingers saying, "Oh, we all hate those horrible towers, but we condemn violence against radio towers."

If right-wing activists are the only ones crazy enough to be crazy, we're in trouble! Just be careful: Playing with fire can have unforeseen consequences, as I hope this cartoon illustrates...