Oh, Rush Limbaugh, I'm just encouraging you, I realize, but someone has to mention the stupid stuff you're saying every day, right? Apparently, since Michelle Obama has encouraged people to consider what they're feeding their children and convinced Walmart to make their prepacked food healthier and lower the prices of fruit and vegetables, she can't ever eat ribs. Also, she's not fit to be a swimsuit model, so I guess she's a hypocrite. I have no idea.

[Wonkette]

Bob Walkup, who announced today that he won’t be seeking reelection to a fourth term, told The Range after his State of the City speech that he’ll miss being mayor of Tucson.

“It’s a great job,” Walkup said. “Contrary to what people think, the mayor has a lot of power for establishing the vision and the direction of the city and it takes patience and perseverance to pull everybody together.”

Walkup said that over the last 12 years, he feels he has “moved the city to a sustainable position where we can realize being a great city for the benefit of the quality of life for all of its citizens. That was the primary objective and I think I’ve done a good job of that.”

He said he won’t miss his critics.

“I can tell you the relentlessness of the assaults is wearing,” Walkup said. “Somebody is always going to object to a position in our political environment, so you have to prepare yourself. You have to move to where the majority of people want you to be and not being mesmerized by a skillful assault by a sub-minority.”

Ward 3 Councilwoman Karin Uhlich said she’ll miss working with the mayor.

“I’m sad about it,” said Uhlich. “He’s been very good work with.”

Ward 2 Councilman Paul Cunningham praised the mayor for his years of service.

“Despite roadblocks along the way, he’s been a soothing and positive presence,” Cunningham said.

I have no idea how getting rid of the Arizona Board of Regents for a board of trustees for each university saves money, although I guess it could be argued that it will create at least a few jobs, if only for each board.

The good news, however, is that Arizona universities are finally going to get on board the patriotism train:

16. For each classroom acquire United States flags that are manufactured in the United States and that are at least two feet by three feet and hardware to appropriately display the flags, acquire a legible copy of the United States Constitution and the bill of rights, display the flags in each classroom in accordance with title 4 of the United States Code and display a legible copy of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights adjacent to the flag.

Finally, college students will be forced to acknowledge they live in the United States of America.

KVOA:

The jury in the first-degree murder trial of border activist Shawna Forde decided that she will be put to death for the deaths of 9-year old Brisenia Flores and her father Raul Flores.

Forde was convicted last week on two counts of first degree murder in the 2009 home invasion where Flores and his daughter were killed.

Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup will announce today that he is not running for a fourth term.

Andrew Greenhill, the mayor's chief of staff, said that Walkup has accomplished many of his goals.

Jonathan Rothschild, a Democrat running for mayor this year, said Walkup was due at least some gratitude.

"The first thing we need to do is thank the mayor for his years of service to the community," he said.

He declined to grade Walkup's tenure. "It's about looking to the future," Rothschild said.

City Councilman Steve Kozachik—the only Republican on the City Council aside from Walkup—did not seem too sorry that Walkup was not going to run again.

"It's probably a good time," Kozachik said. "He's been here a while and has done his thing. It gives us a chance to turn a corner."

Check The Range for further updates.

So, a few weeks ago, I made a joke on The Range in a post about Utah passing a bill to establish an official firearm that Arizona hadn't gotten around to getting our own official gun. Well, it certainly didn't take long for our legislature to get to action on that front. Jobs, health care, and solvent schools can wait, apparently.

AN ACT

amending title 41, chapter 4.1, article 5, arizona revised statutes, by adding section 41-860.02; relating to state emblems.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Title 41, chapter 4.1, article 5, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 41-860.02, to read:

41-860.02. State firearm

The colt single action army revolver is the official state firearm.

The only question is whether we all get a free gun from this deal.

Glenn Greenwald from Salon puts the pieces together from the increasing strange story of Raymond Davis, imprisoned in Pakistan for shooting two Pakistanis, and how the New York Times apparently agreed to deceive their readers on behalf of the CIA:

Yesterday, as I noted earlier, The Guardian reported that Davis — despite Obama's description of him as "our diplomat in Pakistan" — actually works for the CIA, and further noted that Pakistani officials believe he worked with Blackwater. When reporting that, The Guardian noted that many American media outlets had learned of this fact but deliberately concealed it — because the U.S. Government told them to: "A number of US media outlets learned about Davis's CIA role but have kept it under wraps at the request of the Obama administration."

[...]

In other words, the NYT knew about Davis' work for the CIA (and Blackwater) but concealed it because the U.S. Government told it to. Now that The Guardian and other foreign papers reported it, the U.S. Government gave permission to the NYT to report this, so now that they have government license, they do so — only after it's already been reported by other newspapers which don't take orders from the U.S. Government.

It's one thing for a newspaper to withhold information because they believe its disclosure would endanger lives. But here, the U.S. Government has spent weeks making public statements that were misleading in the extreme — Obama's calling Davis "our diplomat in Pakistan" — while the NYT deliberately concealed facts undermining those government claims because government officials told them to do so. That's called being an active enabler of government propaganda. While working for the CIA doesn't preclude holding "diplomatic immunity," it's certainly relevant to the dispute between the two countries and the picture being painted by Obama officials. Moreover, since there is no declared war in Pakistan, this incident — as the NYT puts it today — "inadvertently pulled back the curtain on a web of covert American operations inside Pakistan, part of a secret war run by the C.I.A. " That alone makes Davis' work not just newsworthy, but crucial.

[Salon]

While it looks like the Oscars won't let Banksy wear a mask on stage if he wins the Best Documentary award on Sunday (which he should, because as I've mentioned before, Exit Through the Gift Shop is great), the upside is that he still came to Los Angeles and seems to be painting his way across town.

[Banksy]

So I hear the vegetarian food at the brand-new Tasteful Kitchen down at 722 N. Stone Ave. is out of this world. I also hear the owners occasionally hold events where a lengthy yoga session is followed by a multi-course meal fit for an herbivorous king and/or queen.

Hours are 5 to 9 p.m. most nights, and the place stays open until 10 p.m. on weekends. There’s a little bit more information here.