After getting responses from his first TV (which you can watch above), Republican Ron Asta says he's staying in the mayor's race. Here's the email from him:

I'm continuing my campaign for Mayor because Tucson needs leadership and debate now. Tucson's priorities need to be about jobs and developing an economy with a heartbeat, better police and fire response times, streets we can be proud of, and a balanced budget. Personally, I publicly aired my mistakes and tragedies and can now concentrate on the challenges we face as a community. I am also continuing my campaign for Mayor to embrace the positive spirit of citizens who told me to stay in the race—messsages like the one enclosed from a family who offered its prayers to Jennifer's family as well as mine.

For those of you wanting to keep score from the ad, our campaign received some 30 positive responses and approximately 40 new supporters came on board. The negative responses numbered a little over 100 and many of them were nasty. While useful to read, they are not useful to follow.

Can you imagine how terrible ASU will be when the budget cuts kick in? Will they even bother hiring teachers? Will the diplomas come with a coupon for a free Four Loko on the back? Why not just rename the campus "Girls Gone Wild University and Casino" and give up already?

[HT: Up on the Sun/Phoenix New Times]

The triumphant return of the Beastie Boys? Call backs to the "Fight For Your Right To Party" video? A ridiculous number of guest stars? Danny McBride? I might be ruined on all music videos ever after "Make Some Noise".

I'm glad Channel 12 in Phoenix is staying on top of this story, partially because I think Russell Pearce has gotten somewhat of a free pass from the bigger media outlets up there for awhile. Senator Pearce, now that the legislature is out of session, maybe you can get around to finding the canceled checks from when you paid the Fiesta Bowl for thousands of dollars of tickets to sporting events?

I'm actually a pretty big baseball fan, so I'm likely to head out to Kino Stadium a few times this year, but even baseball haters would likely buy a ticket to see dog-riding monkeys herding goats, right? Introducing Team Ghost Riders led by Tim Lepard.

Even better, I think the inspirational speeches are free:

[Daily What]

There's a lot to grumble about with the Time 100 - Blake Lively was great in The Town, but I think Mohamed Bouazizi's self martyrdom that kicked off the Tunisian revolution and the Arab Spring in general might have been slightly more globally influential - but still, the list is an interesting look at the world we live in.

Regardless, Barack Obama's blurb for Gabrielle Giffords' inclusion on the list is a nice tribute to someone who we all wish were on the list for different reasons:

The violence in Tucson earlier this year was made all the more shocking by the quintessentially American scene that it shattered: folks of different backgrounds yet part of the same community gathering to share their hopes and ask questions of their elected representative. To put it simply, they came to do the daily work of democracy.

Before that morning, Gabrielle Giffords may not have been a household name. But the reason she has long been admired by people of all political stripes is that she embodies the best of what public service should be: hard work and fair play, hope and resilience, a willingness to listen and a determination to do your best in a busy world. As hard a battle as Giffords, 40, now fights every day, she's got a strong partner in her husband Mark Kelly, who visits her daily while training to command the space shuttle Endeavour. And she's got the prayers of a nation rooting for her, a model of civility and courage and unity — a needed voice that cannot return soon enough.

Diary (2010) from Tim Hetherington on Vimeo.

Tim Hetherington, conflict photographer and Academy Award nominee for last year's Restrepo, was killed while on assignment in Libya yesterday, along with Chris Hondros, a photographer with Getty Images.

The New York Times photo blog, Lens, has an amazing retrospective of some of Hetherington's work:

To call Tim Hetherington a great photographer would be a mistake. That’s not how he saw it.

“If you are interested in mass communication, then you have to stop thinking of yourself as a photographer,” he told Michael Kamber in a revealing interview last year, as his documentary film “Restrepo” was about to open. “We live in a post-photographic world. If you are interested in photography, then you are interested in something — in terms of mass communication — that is past. I am interested in reaching as many people as possible.”

Mr. Hetherington and Chris Hondros were killed Wednesday in the besieged city of Misurata, Libya. Two other photographers working beside them — Guy Martin and Michael Christopher Brown — were injured.

While no career can be fairly assessed within hours of its end, there’s no question that Mr. Hetherington reached an enormous audience. He was a Vanity Fair staff member, a news photographer, a videographer, a documentary filmmaker (director, producer, cameraman), an artist, a writer and an author — among other occupations, including a turn as an investigator for the United Nations Security Council’s Liberia Sanctions Committee. Lydia Polgreen, who met Mr. Hetherington in 2005 when she was starting out as West Africa correspondent for The New York Times, said, “He was one of those rare photographers who was as much a reporter as any writer I knew.”

Yet his colleagues and friends could not help themselves on Wednesday from saying — first and foremost — that Mr. Hetherington was a great photographer.

From the BBC children's program Rastamouse, the smash hit "Ice Popp":

Gov. Jan Brewer deserves thanks for vetoing several bills this week, including the loony birther bill and legislation that would have allowed guns on campus.

It goes to show that Brewer is taking the public's opinion into account on some of the stuff that coming out of the Legislature—and so we're suggesting you call her up and ask her to veto SB 1322, which would force the cities of Tucson and Phoenix to take bids so that private companies can take over running nearly everything the city does, from the transportation department to the parks to Tucson Water.

The fact is: The city already farms out all kinds of business when appropriate: Private companies bid on road projects and Tucson Water takes bids from pipeline companies. But the overall transportation and water system should be managed by city employees, not private companies. This is privatization ad absurdum—and instead of some fantasy where private entrepreneurs take over our parks and turn them into paradise, it's more likely to create big expenses, miles of red tape and disastrous results. This will basically destroy the city as we now know it, which is the aim Sen. Frank Antenori, who sponsored it. (And that's not just us talking; Republican City Councilman Steve Kozachik has said the same thing.)

So call Gov. Brewer at 1-(800) 253-0883. (It's toll-free!) Or visit her Web page to leave a comment. Let her know you think it's a bad idea and you'd be grateful if she'd reject it.

If you enjoy cool music, wine and magic, head to The Hub tonight.

Tucson's monthly wine tasting and groove lounge, Saturnalia, is coming to The Hub in April.

On Wednesday April 20 we're at The Hub Restaurant and Ice Creamery, from 8 pm till 12. Again the cost is $5 for the wine tasting, no cover charge. The Hub is at 266 E. Congress in downtown Tucson. See www.hubdowntown.com for more info.

Saturnalia is a wine tasting with DJ'd music and a little bit of magic thrown in. The music is a mix of Latin groove jazz, exotica, downtempo electronica and other groovy sounds from around the planet. Magician Kenny Stewart might occasionally set aside the wine to break out a few magic moves.

Saturnalia is hosted by certified sommelier and magician Kenny Stewart and DJ Carl Hanni. Saturnalia moves to different locale around the Tucson area each month; the next one is tba.