One year ago, an explosion shook the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig, killing 11 workers and releasing 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

As far as I'm concerned, nothing better was written about the tragedy than Tom Junod's piece in Esquire:

"We've had to turn the TV off," says Tracy Kleppinger, whose husband, Karl, was one of the eleven. "They show it all the time. They call it the fire that started the oil spill. But that's not what it is to me and my son and to the other wives and families. To us, it's the fire that killed our husbands. And that rig is not just a rig. That ocean is not just an ocean. It's the graveyard where Karl is buried."

It is their story. They are at the heart of it, just as all but one of the eleven men who died on the rig were at the heart of the rig, members of a drilling team charged with drilling a two-and-a-half-mile hole into the bottom of the ocean. And yet their story is not the story. The story that begins with the men does not end with them, because the story is like the spill itself: Nobody knows how far it will go and nobody knows its final political, financial, ecological, or spiritual cost.

Thanks, Hoover. I've only had terrible luck with your vacuums, but I appreciate that your corporate bigwigs are trying to keep All My Children on the air::

The first advertiser to step forth and protest ABC Daytime’s decision to dispatch with both All My Children and One Life to Live, Hoover announced on Monday that it was pulling its advertising from ABC as a whole effective this Friday. In fact, “We’re making every attempt to pull our spots from these programs sooner,” reads the message from Brian Kirkendall, Hoover’s VP of Marketing, posted to the company’s Facebook page.

In a nice, personal touch, Kirkendall shares that his wife and mother are “both passionate viewers of All My Children and One Life to Live, as are many of my colleagues here at Hoover.” As such, he says that Hoover is “as disappointed with this [double cancellation] news as you are.”

Beyond not showing ABC the money, Hoover has set up the email address [email protected]. The company will collect messages from soap fans and relay them to ABC through its own channels.

“We’re 150% committed to doing what matters most to you,” says Hoover’s rallying cry to soap fans, “so if there’s anything else we can do to help or you have any ideas, please email [us].”

The Arizona Legislature is making a big push to wrap up the session—and as far as we're concerned, the sooner the better. AZ Blue Meanie rounds up a lot of the legislative action that's still on the agenda here.

One more demonstration of how appalling this Legislature is: GOP lawmakers are saying they won't consider a one-line change to a law that would allow more federal dollars to go to out-of-work Arizonans:

Up to 20,000 Arizonans hoping for an extension of unemployment benefits are unlikely to get relief from the Legislature.

Republican leaders nearing adjournment of their regular session say there's little time left to consider legislation that would allow the benefits to continue through October, instead of their current end date in May.

Besides, some say, such an extension only encourages people to stay on the public dole.

The Arizona Republic also notes that Sen. Al Melvin, who represents the Catalina Foothills and Oro Valley, opposes the idea:

In the Senate, Commerce Committee chairman Al Melvin, R-Tucson, said it's a bad idea, even if there were ample time left in the legislative session.

"The shorter the period, the faster people go back to work," Melvin said.

Blog for Arizona's David Safier aptly describes Melvin:

What a heartless son of a bitch.

We mentioned in The Skinny last week that Sam Stone, spokesman for the Pima County Republican Party, dismissed the effort to recall Sheriff Clarence Dupnik as "a stunt and nothing more."

Now Trent Humphries of the Tucson Tea Party is calling Dan Baltes, the Salt Lake City man behind the recall, a "crook":

If there is anyone who has given money to Baltes, now would be a good time to go through the procedure to get your money back.

According to the well-documented site Conning Conservatives, Dan has a long history of scams and is doing pretty good business in Arizona.

[Tucson Tea Party Daily]

When is it OK to reduce the funding for border fencing and tech upgrades? When Republicans do it reduce federal spending. Talking Points Memo has details:

You might expect anti-immigration groups to be in an uproar over spending cuts contained in the recent budget deal, like a $226 million cut to Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure, and Technology or $97 million in cuts to IT modernization programs at Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In fact, the cuts have generated barely a peep from border hawks, who have given the GOP a free pass even after years of campaigning for increased resources.

According to Rosemary Jenks, director of government affairs for NumbersUSA, her group is not protesting any of the reductions in spending. Nor will any Republicans be penalized in their annual grades for voting for them.

"For an administration that's decided it's not a priority, it doesn't make sense to throw money at them," Jenks told TPM in an interview before Congress agreed to a final spending deal.

The final spending cuts were actually less severe than the Republicans' initial proposal, which would have included deeper cuts to CBP's border security and technology program and eliminated money for an increase of about 1,000 border agents.

[TPM]

While an online petition might be among the least effective methods of protest, it's still nice to see city councilman Steve Kozachik trying something to hold off the series of bills that went through the Legislature this year seeming to exist only to tell Pima County what to do. As of right now, there are 546 signers, but maybe you'll find something to connect to in Kozachik's open letter:

Ronald Reagan is quoted as having said this: “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

During this 50th Legislature of the State of Arizona, numerous bills have been drafted that are both preemptive of local decision making authority, and injurious to the right of self government upon which our Nation was founded.

Embedded in the Declaration of Independence is the foundational principle "Governments are instituted among (people), deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." That consent is best insured when decisions are made at the level of government closest to those being impacted.

This Legislative session has seen preemptive bills related to fiscal issues, firearms, hiring practices, procurement policies, and more. We have also seen this Legislature object to Federal intrusion into perceived States Rights in areas of Immigration Reform, and suggest the creation of a State level panel that would sit in judgment over each piece of Federal Legislation for its impact on 10th Amendment Rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

The philosophical inconsistency is striking.

We join together in signing this petition which is being presented to the Arizona State Legislature, not based on party affiliation, but based on the long established principles embedded in our founding documents; that governmental overreach is inconsistent with the consent of the governed, local decisions must be governed locally.

1. We call on this Legislature to remove from its agenda all remaining bills that preempt local decision making authority.

2. Reverse any decisions that impede the ability of local governments to independently govern their communities.

I invite you as taxpayers, and voters in Arizona, to join me in standing up for the independent and unquestionable rights of our local governments to decide what is right for our communities.

The Tucson Padres lost another extra-inning heartbreaker at Kino Stadium last night, despite making comebacks in the ninth and 11th innings. The Padres' Tim Hagerty has details:

The Tucson Padres and Salt Lake Bees played their fourth extra inning game against each other this season on Monday, and Salt Lake won 7-5 in 12 innings. The Padres had impressive two—out comebacks in both the ninth and eleventh innings, but went down in order in the bottom of the twelfth after Salt Lake’s two runs in the top of the inning.

Down by one in the ninth inning with two outs and nobody on base, Jesus Guzman hit a double into the right field corner, and scored one batter later on Anthony Rizzo’s single. Salt Lake scored in the top of the eleventh on a Jeff Baisley RBI double, and again Tucson matched the run, scoring on a Guzman RBI single, his fourth hit of the night. The Bees two runs on the twelfth came as a result of RBI singles by Cole Armstrong and Alexi Amarista.

Logan Forsythe got into the game for the Padres, playing in his first game since Friday after a sore shoulder. Forsythe went 1-for-3 and has now recorded a hit in all nine games he’s played in. Rizzo was 3-for-5 with an RBI and now has a batting average of exactly .400.

The current homestand continues through Thursday, which happens to be buck-beer night. Details here.

The Berger Performing Arts Center raised $6,000 from about 200 spectators at its benefit concert on April 16, bringing the center that much closer to keeping a piano in its halls, says Brandon Howell, manager of the performing arts center.

The money will go toward the $35,000 needed for the center to buy a piano to replace its 7 1/2-foot grand piano, which is being reclaimed by Yamaha and Hachenberg and Sons.

Loaned to the performing arts center, on the campus of the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind, the piano was originally offered as an artist-placement piano to further Yamaha's name and reputation with performers and spectators at the Berger Performing Arts Center, says Paul Calvin, general manager of the keyboard division of Yamaha.

Yamaha has taken and replaced two other pianos at the center over the last 13 years without charge—but if the center wants to keep a piano at its location, it must now come up with the discounted price of $35,000 to either buy the grand piano back or purchase a similar one. The center's current piano has a retail value of about $65,000, says Mark Hachenberg, owner of Hachenberg and Sons, the local distributor of the piano.

Although the money raised through the benefit concert is only a small fraction of what's needed, Howell says the concert has generated interest among the community and possible private donors.

The center will begin contacting potential donors and exploring additional avenues of revenue this week.

"It was successful," Howell says of the concert. "It really was our jumping-off point."

Howell says he received notice from Yamaha in January that the company would be reclaiming the performing arts center's piano and selling it, due to financial issues as a result of the national economy.

While Yamaha originally gave Berger officials until April to come up with the money for the piano, the company extended its deadline, then told Howell last week that it would not reclaim the piano until the center had raised the necessary funds.

While Yamaha's indefinite deadline extention takes a load of stress off, Howell says he is not sure how long it will take to raise the $35,000 needed.

"I would love to say it will be in one or two months, but it's hard to tell at this point," he says. "We want it to happen sooner rather than later."

A new Japanese restaurant specializing in sushi and hibachi dining has opened at 5435 S. Calle Santa Cruz, Suite 185, right next to the Harkins Theater.

I haven’t had a chance to make it over to Tucson’s first Hana Tokyo location yet, but the pictures on its Facebook page are making me crave fish and sake bombs.

There’s more information over here.

It won't be around until much later this year, but the combination of Michael Mann, David Milch, Dustin Hoffman, and the stories of degenerate gamblers at the horse track is enough to sell me on any show, so I might have to cave and cough up the cash for a HBO subscription just to watch Luck. See you later, $12 a month.