If it wasn't enough that the powers that be decided we couldn't have our Four Loko, now Tom Horne and 17 other state attorney generals have petitioned Pabst to take Blast, the flavored version of Colt 45 off the market.

With an alcohol content of 12 percent in a 23.5-ounce container, and a recommendation to enjoy it cold, the stuff is like a "binge in a can," the AGs say. Shotgunning one of these babies could deliver nearly five times that of a normal serving of alcohol, according to the letter.

While other beers contain less alcohol, (especially if you're in that state just north of Arizona where a good portion of the population wears special undies,) some contain between 6 and 7 percent go-juice. While high-octane beer gets promoted in newspaper reviews, the flavored Blast by Colt 45 is treated like heroin by the AGs.

The campaign smells like nothing more than a grab for attention at the expense of Pabst, which has amped up its marketing in the past year.

You know what promotes binge drinking? Idiots who enjoy drinking lots of booze until they black out. You know what will happen if Blast gets knocked off the market? Binge drinkers will go back to drinking fifths of vodka straight from the bottle. Ridiculous.

[Phoenix New Times]

In the Knoxville News Sentinel, on Wednesday, April 20, the Tennessee Senate committee approved a bill that makes it illegal for teachers to discuss homosexuality in K-8 classrooms.

Oh, but it's OK to talk about heterosexuality:

As introduced, the bill would have put into law a declaration that it is illegal to discuss any sexual behavior other than heterosexuality prior to the ninth grade.

But when it came before the Senate Education Committee, Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, contended current law already prohibits such instruction by deeming it a misdemeanor to teach any sex education that is not part of the "family life curriculum" adopted by the state Board of Education.

Tracy proposed an amendment to rewrite Campfield's bill to require the Board of Education to study the issue and determine whether any teaching about homosexuality is occurring and, if so, recommend what should be done about it.

Campfield contends homosexuality is being discussed in classrooms. Spokesmen for the Board of Education and the state Department of Education told the committee they are unaware of any such activity.

The Tracy amendment passed over Campfield's objections.

But then Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, proposed to change the Tracy amendment. The revision declares that, after its study to be completed by Feb. 1 of next year, the Board of Education "shall adopt" - as part of the family life curriculum - a ban on discussion of homosexuality in the same language used in Campfield's bill.

That amendment was adopted, too, and the revised bill was then approved 6-3 and sent to the Senate floor. All no votes came from Democrats.

In honor of Tax Day, the Immigration Policy Center posted a reminder that often gets ignored in the illegal immigration debate, especially those who accuse illegal immigrants of mooching off the system from public schools to hospitals.

Using a methodology from the nonpartisan Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and information from the Pew Hispanic Center figures on each state's illegal immigration population using numbers from the 2010 Census, the ITEP came up with an estimate on state-specific tax payments.

Yes, immigrants pay taxes, too:

There were an estimated 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. as of 2010. Pew has also estimated the unauthorized population for each state. Pew has found that unauthorized immigrants are likely to be less educated than native-born U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, and they tend to work in low-wage jobs. Thus the average family income of the unauthorized population is lower than the average family income for U.S. citizens or legal immigrants. The average income of a household headed by an unauthorized immigrant is estimated to be $36,000; 10 percent of which goes towards remittances to family members in countries of origin.

According to the report, Arizona is in the top 10 of state receiving the most revenue from households headed by illegal immigrants. In 2010, Arizona's illegal immigrants paid $38 million in personal income taxes $45 million in property taxes and $348 million in sales taxes:

Sales tax is automatic, so it is assumed that unauthorized residents would pay sales tax at similar rates to U.S. citizens and legal immigrants with similar income levels.

Similar to sales tax, property taxes are hard to avoid, and unauthorized immigrants are assumed to pay the same property taxes as others with the same income level. ITEP assumes that most unauthorized immigrants are renters, and only calculates the taxes paid by renters.

Income tax contributions by the unauthorized population are less comparable to other populations because many unauthorized immigrants work “off the books” and income taxes are not automatically withheld from their paychecks. ITEP conservatively estimates that 50 percent of unauthorized immigrants are paying income taxes.

This is disappointing to me on several levels. Am I not really a winner when those windows pop up? Is owning an unicorn less than the wondrous experience I dream it to be?

I don't really understand Earth Day at all, but this classic clip from Da Ali G Show with Christine Todd Whitman makes the event seem fresh and relevant, at least:

Astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is going to be in the international spotlight when he pilots the space shuttle Endeavour, scheduled to launch next Friday.

Kelly tells Katie Couric that Giffords wants to get back to Tucson and back to the job:

A week from today, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is scheduled to be there when her husband, Mark Kelly, launches into space aboard the Endeavour Space Shuttle.

Giffords is recovering after being shot in the head in January.

Kelly talked to "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric about what his wife wants, going forward.

Kelly told Couric, "One thing she frequently comes back to is, you know, going back to work. Going back to her office. And - you know, how important it is for her to serve her constituents. She talks about that all the time. Going back to Tucson. I mean, she wants to get back to Tucson. She wants to get back to her district. She wants to get back to Washington."

[CBS News]

I can’t wait to put “quinoa” over a triple-word-score space on the new Scrabble: Cooking Edition. The twist is that players get bonus points for laying down food-related words and names of celebrity chefs.

Allowing the use of chef’s names is a clear violation of the rule prohibiting the use of proper nouns, but who cares?

This is quite possibly the only board game I’ve considered buying in more than a decade, and I see some serious Scrabble-athons on the horizon.

The Utah man behind the effort to recall Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik is apparently withdrawing his petition after being accused of falsely using his brother’s identity and forging his brother's signature on the application for recall.

Kevin Elliott, brother of Dan Elliott—aka, Dan Baltes, the man who filed the petition—said he plans to file charges with the Pima County Attorney’s Office after being notified by me that his name was listed as the treasurer for the recall organization paperwork filled with Pima County.

“My signature is on that piece of paper?” said Kevin Elliott. “ That bastard forged my name. That’s all fabricated bullshit right there.”

Kevin Elliott, a bail bondsman from Boise, Idaho, wants Pima County to know that he is not surprised about his brother's apparent dishonesty.

“I hope the cops find him before I do,” said Kevin Elliott. “I’m not joking when I say that.”

Kevin Elliott said his brother was a “bleeding-heart liberal” working as a paralegal for a Denver chapter of the American Civil Liberities Union after being released from the Idaho Department of Corrections for a near-decade-long stint between the '80s and '90s, including convictions for grand theft, forgery and check fraud—and the victims were Baltes' parents.

After confronting his brother about the forged signature via e-mail, Kevin Elliott said Baltes replied via e-mail that he would ask Pima County to withdraw the petition and disband the committee—once his electricity comes back on.

Earlier this week, Dan Baltes was accused by the Greater Phoenix Tea Party of running a scam known as the “Main Attraction,” where he promises a big name speaker—in this case, Glenn Beck—in exchange for VIP tickets costing $350 per person, but never delivers.

Baltes was also cited on Fox News on April 12 as the main figure in the recall effort of the Democratic Wisconsin state senators who left amid a budget vote last February.

He is also running an online 527 political group campaign in support of South Florida Congressman Allen West’s bid for president in 2012.

However, West has no intention to run for president in 2012, according to Jonathan Blyth, chief of staff for West.

Formed in Oakland, California, Fishtank Ensemble are a band with influences and origins from around the world, playing music that probably could be described as "gypsy folk and jazz" but also has aspects of Japanese, flamenco and other ethnic sounds from everywhere. In the end, what anyone hearing their music notices is just how talented they are and how their music reflects the multicultural feel of our society in general.

"Samurai Over Serbia":

Fishtank Ensemble perform on Saturday at Plaza Palomino (2900 N. Swan) at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $23 at the door.

[Note from Dan Gibson: Alex Budish is a senior at the University of Arizona. Who better to check out the first Thirsty Thursday and review it from a drinking perspective, right?]

What an awesome city we live in. There’s great people, amazing weather, the Tucson Padres, and, oh yeah, their $1 beers. On Thursday, the Padres had the first of their nine “Thirsty Thursday” nights at Tucson Electric Park, and it was definitely worth checking out.

That’s right folks, just $1 got you a smooth 12-ounce plastic cup of that sweet, sweet nectar you all love, Budweiser or Bud Light. A difficult decision for sure, but most were going for the Bud Light (it is beach season, after all).

Not your taste? No problem. For just $1 more you can get yourself 12 ounces of “premium beers.” Those include: 90 Shilling Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Hefeweizen, or Tucson Blonde.

With all these amazing prices on so many good beers, what more could be better? Getting to watch some great Triple-A baseball with your friends. The most expensive ticket is $10.50, and being the baller-on-a-budget I am, I began thinking, is it all about the beer? Let’s take a look at some of the other items for sale at the Padres game.

For $33, a young man or woman can purchase a fitted cap ... but wait, that’s 33 beers. You can get a T-shirt for $17, but that’s eight premium beers, and a Bud Light. If you like pompoms, those can be yours for just $5 ... or you can get five more beers.

All right, that’s a little bit extreme. The pompoms are actually really cool, as are the hats and shirts. I must say the overall experience was truly special. It’s a great feeling to be able to enjoy a ball game with your friends. Perhaps the best quote I heard all night was, “Baseball and alcohol, the two go hand in hand,” said David Blattman, a senior at the University of Arizona. Maybe he was right, for the youthful spirit that drives Tucson.

Can $1 beers revitalize the game of baseball this city has loved in the past?

So that brings us to perhaps the last question of the article. (I’ve asked so many after all). Why should the citizens of Tucson, and maybe more importantly, the students at the UA, care about going to a Thirsty Thursday event at a minor-league baseball game?

It’s a question that can really only be answered by going to the game and seeing it for yourself, but let me try and paint the best picture I can for you. Regardless of the crowd, the air is always filled with excitement and fun, that, and the booming voice of Homer Simpson echoing, “Mmmm, beer.” Maybe it’s just my nostalgia kicking in, but as a graduating senior from the UA, just taking a minute and skipping the bars one day a week, and enjoying a classic American pastime with your friends is exactly the type of thing everyone needs to really get the full experience of Tucson.

A Thirsty Thursday at the Padres game isn’t just a chance to get some cheap beers with your friends, but it could be the best way to get those summer vibes rolling.

Oh, and Jack-in-the-Box gives free tacos our every time the Padres win, so you can eat for free after spending all you money on beer, and a cab home.