My Quest for Creation
By local author K.C. Rolek
398 pages
$19.99 paperback and $29.99 hardback
Xlibris.

Summary (per press release):

My Quest for Creation reveals that early in life, the author became curious about some of the great aspects of Catholic teaching which his entire family follows. After finding no clear answer to the question, "How did God become God," he started his pursuit for answers and truth as a youth. Since that time, Rolek went on to experience many unforgettable encounters with his family, dreams, and the spiritual world to name a few. Through this release, readers will learn the lessons he learned about the spiritual world, the physical universe and more. Each and every encounter is completely authentic and the stories are told according to facts and established verifications.

Author bio (per press release):

K.C. Rolek was born in Poland. He received his diploma from an architecture and building projection with a grade of A, and later learned many other interesting skills. His most cherished credential was his inheritance from his paternal side—a supernatural connection with nature. These genetically passed abilities are only adding to the huge number of already naturally obtained proficiencies from the celestial bodies and significant qualities like for instance: mysterious intellect and psychic perception, magic spirituality, healing, vision and clairvoyant abilities and influences.

If it’s going in at the former Burger City, which we've heard is the case, that would be sort of poetic. Monkey Burger was originally going to be the second Burger City, so a reversal of those roles rings with some kind of strange irony.

And take a look at this monstrosity that Monkey Burger has added to the menu. They call it “The Kitchen Sink,” for obvious reasons. Part of me says, “Wow, what a novel take on the hamburger,” while another part of me says, “Goddamn, how much is too much?”

Get the details here.

Our April 29 cover story, by Leo W. Banks, concerns the fallout from the murder of Cochise County rancher Robert Krentz by a killer who is believed to have fled into nearby Mexico.

From various sources, Banks received video of some of the other people coming across our border, namely backpacking drug-smugglers and truckloads of illegal immigrants. We've also got video of a Douglas-area break-in that was thwarted thanks to a Mace-spraying security system.

Also, if you missed the anti-SB 1070 rally last weekend, here's our highlight reel:

Chris Hillman is one of the headliners of this weekend's Tucson Folk Festival. You can read a full article about him in the April 29 edition. Here are some tidbits we did not have room for in the main story.

On the bass:
Chris Hillman first came to prominence in 1965 as the bass player for the Byrds. Originally a bluegrass mandolin player, he learned bass as he went. After the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, he played bass into the '70s, first in Stephen Stills’ band, Manassas, and later in the Souther Hillman Furay Band, before launching his solo career.

"That bass has got cobwebs on it in my closet," he said. "I played it about four years ago. Dwight Yoakam called me up to play on a tribute to Buck Owens, and it was going to be on the Academy of Country Music Awards TV show. Dwight said, 'I want you to play bass,' and I said, 'Oh boy, I haven't played bass in about 25 years.'

"So I pulled it out, and I hadn’t forgotten anything. We played a medley of Buck Owens songs with Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) on lead, and Brad Paisley on guitar. I really enjoyed playing bass, but I don’t have the opportunity that much any more. But right as we speak, it’s about 10 yards away in a closet with cobwebs on it."

On mentoring students and life-long learning:

"I have 3-4 students that I teach mandolin to. There’s a gentleman who lives a town over from me who used to be in the Tonight Show Orchestra with Doc Severinsen, and he played a lot of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin sessions. Bob Bain, he’s 84 years old, and I get guitar lessons from him. You're never too old to learn something new.

"I go over to Bob's house, and he's showing me jazz chords. On the other side of the coin, I'm teaching kids mandolin. It’s a natural thing. People took me under their wing, and I'm trying to do the same to the young ones coming up. Yet I'm still seeking out instruction."

Rasmussen provides new numbers on Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer in the wake of her signing of the immigration law that has captured the nation's attention:

Last week, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed an immigration law that launched a national debate. It has also at least temporarily helped her own chances of remaining Arizona’s governor.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state shows that 56% now approve of the way Brewer is performing her role as governor. Two weeks ago, just 40% offered their approval.

The new figure includes 22% who Strongly Approve of the governor’s performance. That’s up from five percent (5%) before Brewer signed the law that authorizes local police to stop and verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant.

The bounce in the polls is also evident in new numbers on the November election. If Brewer is the Republican nominee, she would get 48% of the vote while her likely Democratic opponent, State Attorney General Terry Goddard, would attract 40%. Two weeks ago, it was Brewer 44% and Goddard 40%. Goddard is an outspoken opponent of the new law.

As with all poll bounces, it remains to be seen whether this is a temporary spike

Public Policy Polling has released a new survey in the Arizona Senate race. The numbers are not good for Sen. John McCain:

John McCain has had a Charlie Crist like drop in his approval numbers over the last six months, seeing double digit declines in his popularity with Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. As a result a majority of Arizona voters now disapprove of his job performance.

55% of voters disapprove of McCain to just 34% who give him good marks. When PPP polled Arizona in September he was at a positive 48/42 approval spread, so he's dropped 27 points on the margin since that time. McCain's biggest fall in popularity has come with Republicans as he's been more aggressively challenged from the right by J.D. Hayworth. Where 65% gave him good marks last fall now just 48% do, a 17 point decline. He's also gone down 13 points with independents (from 41% to 28%) and 11 points with Democrats (from 32% to 21%.)

McCain has tried to shed his 'maverick' image in order to survive the Republican primary and

I snapped the photo above while zipping through the outskirts of Mexico City where millions of poor souls live in "homes" like this one. Locally, they're known as "parachutes," because their ramshackle accretions appear to have fallen from the sky. These people live mainly on money sent home from the USA, usually from relatives working here illegally.

This past weekend, I drove my father down to Tombstone and Bisbee for the first time. Visiting from suburban Pennsylvania, he was amused at the "no firearms" bills posted on the windows of shops, restaurants and (hilariously) at least one shooting range. He was intrigued by the homemade Minutemen signs, their silver-hearted coyotes proclaiming some sort of vigilance. He was surprised by the impromptu Border Patrol checkpoint, and its seeming futility when the agent simply whisked our white faces right on by. But mostly, he was astounded at the breadth of the dangerous Arizona landscape that Mexicans are willing to cross to get here.

"You mean they walk through here? All this way? Through the desert?"

"Yes," I said, pointing out the hovering helicopter in the distance.

"Wow." He gazed at the rough terrain with a serious expression for some miles, before adding, "Anyone who does that can stay here as far as I'm concerned."

Nate Silver dissects the Rasmussen poll showing that 70 percent of Arizonans favor the immigration measure signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer last week:

But Rasmussen's portrayal of the law is very gentle. There's no mention of the provisions that liberals and civil libertarians find most odious: that the law would charge legal immigrants with trespassing for failure to carry documentation papers (although — note — this is already required under federal law); that it would give law enforcement officers new powers of detention (rather than mere "verification"); that it would allow officers, without a warrant, to arrest people who they suspected might be guilty of offenses that could lead to deportation, and that it would prohibit certain types of work-for-hire involving moving vehicles.

The Rasmussen poll says that 60 percent of Americans (and 70 percent of Arizonans) favor the new law, but how would those numbers change if people were read a longer or more complete description of the measure? Since there's been no other polling on the subject, we have no idea. It wouldn't shock me if the law indeed proved to be popular, especially in Arizona, if a fuller description were read. (Liberals, who uniformly seem to think that the law will be unpopular with certain key demographic groups, are a bit too sanguine about this). But this poll is so simplistic as to provide very little informational value.

• Cholla buds!

Pima County Parks and Recreation used to offer classes on harvesting cholla buds, but a spokeswoman says budget cuts forced them to ax the programs this year. That’s a shame. We attended one of the classes taught by famed ethnobotanist Martha Burgess last year, and it was incredible.

Still, there are resources to help you harvest your very own supply of this delicious desert food. There’s this awesome article we found online, and here’s a slideshow of the whole process as performed by a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, whose members have eaten this and other desert foods for millennia. Oh, and here's a recipe for cholla bud salad courtesy of none other than the luxurious Canyon Ranch.

You can also buy the dried version from Tohono O'odham Community Action for $20 a pound. But we suggest harvesting your own. We did last weekend, and the resulting stir-fry was delicious.