Jim Hightower, the hell-raisin' columnist who appears in TW every week, is coming to Tucson to help launch a local chapter of Progressive Democrats of Arizona. He'll be appearing with Congressman Raul Grijalva at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 21, at the Tucson YWCA, 525 N. Bonita (Just south of St. Mary's Road, a half-mile west of I-10).

Details here.

More on other events around the state after the jump.

The two birthright citizenship bills (SB1308 and SB1309) and the hospitals/immigration checkpoints bill (SB1405) may have failed to gain committee approval the last two weeks (getting pulled from each agenda they were on before the committees voted on them), however, Russell Pearce, Ron Gould, and the rest of the nativists in the lege haven't given up.

Not by a long shot.

While most Senate committees have completed their work on Senate bills for the session and aren't meeting next week (once the House passes some bills and sends them over to the Senate, committee meetings will start up again), Appropriations will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in SHR109 to consider those three bills, as well as SB1519, a measure from Sens. Andy Biggs and Ron Gould that would end Medicaid (AHCCCS) in Arizona.

Yes, there's a proposal to end Medicaid in Arizona altogether—and say goodbye to all those federal matching funds that keep the health-care system afloat for everyone in the state.

R.I.P., Jason McCann (as played by Justin Bieber):

[Popdust]

I was at a conference last week, and I missed my deadline, for which I am deeply sorry. Here's what you missed because I wasn't here to tell you about it.

- The Grammys. Nothing very interesting happened. Apparently the Avett Brothers shared the stage with Mumford & Sons and an obscure songwriter known as Bob Dylan, and that was supposedly great. Then Arcade Fire won Album of the Year, and a lot of people got really angry because they'd never heard of Arcade Fire.

The Tucson World of Warcraft Card Game group meets every Sunday afternoon at Amazing Discoveries.

Their fun doesn't end along with the card games, however.

Tucson WOW does a lot for charity. In December, as a group of 25 players, they participated in a can drive for local shelters. The group raised over 580 cans in total. They've also made clothing donations to an organization called OpenDoor.

"Tucson WOW isn’t just a community group of geeks that just play cards; it’s a family," says Krisitin Ashworth, a member of the group. "We help each other as much as we can, we host family dinners and we are always looking for new people to join our family."

Tucson WOW currently has more than 20 members who range in age from 12 to over 30. If you are interested in joining, Ashworth says that they're always glad to teach the game or lend a deck.

The group meets at Amazing Discoveries, 2928 E. Broadway Blvd., on Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.

An honored guest is putting into town next week, but instead of tea and crumpets, we might need to break out the handkerchiefs and chastity belts.

• Photo Ryn Gargulinski
• Consider yourself warned: Tiger's coming to town.

Tiger Woods is coming to Marana.

Woods’ website schedule says he’ll be attending the Accenture Match Play Championships at Marana’s Ritz-Carlton Golf Club. The tournament runs from Feb. 23 to 27.

Although his reputation nose-dived from a top-notch golfer to a first-class cheater, Woods still fuels the general public with much fascination, much in the same way we can’t stop staring at car wreck or a big, fat zit.

Expect traffic delays.

Even people who are not fans of golf have come to appreciate Woods for his public displays. Seeing him in action can provide hours of entertainment since we never know what he’ll come up with next.

One of his most recent antics was spitting on the 12th green during the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Here’s where our handkerchiefs come into play.

The act of hurling a wad of spit onto a pristine green during a public tournament not only horrified at least one sportscaster, but also merited Woods a monetary fine. The European Tour slapped him with the fine for breaching the tour’s code of ethics.

As if Woods would know about ethics. His more notorious claim to fame, of course, is the 120 women with whom he allegedly cheated while married to Elin Nordegren.

"Lotus Flower", from Radiohead's new album King of Limbs, available now.

The “jobs bill” Gov. Jan Brewer and Republican legislators hustled through a hastily called special session this week is grossly irresponsible.

The only truly indispensible duty the Arizona Legislature has is to enact an honestly balanced budget each year. The last time the Legislature did that was 2007. Since then, the Legislature has employed constitutionally suspect borrowing and fundamentally dishonest accounting to get from year to year.

There is not any proposed or even plausible scenario in which it gets back to an honestly balanced budget at any time in the future. Not in one year, not in three years, not in five years, not in ten years.

The state currently has a structural deficit — the difference between ongoing revenues and spending — of $3 billion. Yet the “jobs bill” would cost the state more than $500 million annually when fully implemented.

The argument is made that this is necessary to get the state’s economy going. In some cases, cutting taxes even when government revenues are hurting is responsible and appropriate. This is not one of those cases.

There's more:

Moreover, in this environment, the “jobs bill” won’t work.

Uncertainty is the enemy of investment. No one is going to be enticed by the promise of future tax cuts when state finances are in such disarray. There are other shoes inevitably to be dropped, in terms of other tax increases or program cuts. Until those shoes drop, the investment climate in Arizona is fraught with uncertainty.

The state’s economy would perform better with the lower corporate income tax rate and lower business property taxes the “jobs bill” phase in. But the existing state tax structure is already compatible with robust economic growth. That’s been the case. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the Phoenix metro area ranked fourth in the nation for job creation in 2010. So, it appears to still be the case.

There is nothing in Arizona’s competitive position, properly analyzed, that justifies, in these extreme circumstances, making stabilizing state finances tougher rather than easier.

And there is plenty in the “jobs bill” to worry about beyond its effect on state finances.

Talking Points Memo highlights a clip of Arizona Congressman (and U.S. Senate candidate) Jeff Flake denouncing the birthers:

On CNN's American Morning, Flake responded to a poll that found that 51% of likely Republican primary voters don't believe President Obama was born in the U.S. Only 28% of people who say they were voting in the primary believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States, while 28 % say they were unsure.

"Well, I have a hard time believing that poll," Flake said. "I think that most people understand and accept the reality. The reality is that, yes, he was born in the United States."

Flake thinks the questioning of the president's citizenship needs to be put to rest.

"Barack Obama is a citizen of the country. We ought to get off this kick. There are plenty of differences we have with the president between Republicans and Democrats than to spend time on something like this."

Hat tip: AZ Blue Meanie