Arizona Democratic Party chairman Andrei Cherny tweeted a not-so-subtle jab yesterday at the Arizona Family Project's "Friend of the Family" awards for including Scott Bundgaard, who reportedly physically fought with his girlfriend on the side of a Phoenix highway in February. He is set to be tried Monday on domestic violence charges.

The organization claims the awards recognize "State Legislators who have demonstrated, through their voting record and personal action, a strong commitment to strengthening Arizona's families and to promoting pro-family values and ideals." Conspicuously missing from the list: any Democratic congresspeople.

See the list here.

A few friends and I got a good laugh speculating how funny it would be to get pulled over by one of these. Then we watched a guy across the street get busted for smoking a joint in his car while this officer looked on. It turns out it's actually not very funny at all.

While I suppose it is a useful hint to turn your passed-out friends on their sides so they don't choke on their own vomit, it might be even more helpful to suggest to those same friends that there's a space somewhere between "drunk" and "on the verge of death" that might be better to occupy.

[Daily What]

The FCC chairman announced a plan yesterday to update the 911 emergency response system. The five-step plan, called Next Generation 911, would allow the system to receive text messages, voice calls, videos, photos and automatic location information.

More from an FCC press release:

What Is NG911 and Why Do We Need It?

· NG911 supports seamless, end-to-end IP-based communication of emergency-related voice, text, data, photos, and video between the public and public safety answering points (PSAPs). NG911 systems will continue to support the legacy 911 system on a transitional basis for as long as is necessary.

· The benefits of NG911 include:
- Increased public access: NG911 multi-media capabilities expand accessibility (e.g., to persons with disabilities) and give all consumers more calling options in emergencies.
- Enhanced information for first responders: PSAPs receiving text, data, photos, and videos can assess emergencies more quickly and respond more effectively.
- Increased reliability of NG911 networks: IP-based architecture provides more flexibility and resiliency than the legacy circuit-switched 911 system.

When we first interviewed former U.S. Senator and Regent Dennis DeConcini about the Arizona Board of Regents' search process for the UA's next president, he said the process would be a little different compared to past searches — the committee representation would be "smaller":

Based on DeConcini's past experience with searches, he says the final search committee will not be as large "as the case when Shelton was picked. That committee was over 30 people. A number of us would like to keep it smaller."

That previous committee included 36 people representing different constituencies—business, Native American, Latino, women, contractors who work with the UA and others. This time, instead, input will be sought via e-mail and smaller committee groups.

"We will reach out to all these entities, even though they are not going to be on the committee. We will start with the website and the e-mail. Tell us what you want. We will look at it, not trash it or delete it," he says.

On Aug. 5, ABOR announced the appointment of a 23-member search committee:

Regent Dennis DeConcini, co-chair; Regent Rick Myers, co-chair; Edith Auslander, former Regent; former Vice President and Senior Associate to the President, UA; James Allen, UA Student Body President; Melinda Burke, UA Alumni Association President and Executive Director;Dr. J.C. Mutchler, Associate Professor and History Program Director, UA South;Andy Groseta, President, Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association;Karl Eller, President & CEO, The Eller Company; UA Alumnus; Angela Gomez, President of the UA Staff Advisory Council Executive Board; Dr. Leslie Tolbert, Vice President for Research, Graduate Studies and Economic Development, UA; Gary Jones, President, Arizona Earth Works; Science Foundation Arizona Board Member;Dr. Ned Norris, Jr., Chairman, Tohono O’odham Nation;Glenn P. Howell, Pima Community College Athletics, Assistant Football Coach Strength and Conditioning;Dr. John Paul Jones III, Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UA; Governor Jan Brewer (Ex-Officio Member of ABOR);Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal (Ex-Officio Member of ABOR); Regent Ernest Calderón; Regent Mark Killian; Regent Bob McLendon; Regent LuAnn Leonard; Regent Anne Mariucci; Regent William Holmes; Regent Tyler Bowyer.

Not everyone is happy about this list of search committee members, and they aren't even pointing out the fact that the list includes Huppenthal, Brewer and few others. The Graduate and Professional Student Council at the UA wants to be included and feels it has some UA policy backing their request:

The Graduate and Professional Students at the University of Arizona take issue with the lack of adequate representation on the 23-member UA presidential search committee. We believe that this omission is unjustified and detrimental to the search process, in that it violates our traditional shared governance and leaves critical contributors to academic excellence without a voice.

The University of Arizona has a tradition of shared governance that acknowledges the value of faculty, staff and student input in the decision process. Both the Associated Students of the University of Arizona (ASUA) and the Graduate and Professional Student Council (GPSC) are named as groups recommended for consultation in administrative decisions [1]. The Faculty Senate and Shared Governance Review Committee have also specifically recommended that graduate and undergraduate student representatives be included in “the selection and review of administrators” [2].

The importance of graduate student involvement is clearly recognized by ongoing searches at other top universities. For example, the recently completed University of Washington (a UA peer) search was conducted by a 17-member committee that included graduate and undergraduate representatives.

Post baccalaureate students provide the foundation for UA's tradition of research excellent. Our population is integral to the UA’s status as a Research I university. We all have a common vested interest in the continued prowess of the UA as a top research institution that can attract competitive and productive graduate students and retain world-class faculty. Administrators, faculty and graduate students all play vital roles in achieving this goal, but this is not reflected in the structure of the search committee. Law and Medical students are also fundamental to the UA mission yet not represented on the search committee.

We urge the Arizona Board of Regents to reconsider the stakeholder role of graduate and professional students in the search process and grant the GPSC’s request for a representative.

1. http://nca2010.arizona.edu/documents/Criterion%202%20Future/MOU-SharedGovernance.pdf

2. http://facultygovernance.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/Plan%20to%20Extend%20Shared%20Governance.pdf

This is why I am telling you about one of the greatest things I've discovered covering the food beat here at the Tucson Weekly: The weekly meat sale at the UA Meat Sciences Department at 4181 N. Campbell Road. The entrance is actually on Roger Road; follow the "Meat Sale Today" signs.

At this sale you will find meat. Lots of meat. Meat for humans. Meat for dogs. Ground meat. You will be surrounded by well-fed meat-lovers carrying boxes of steaks. Students in labcoats will help you make selections. You will sample homemade beef-jerky sticks and be a happier person because of it.

One of the guys working last Friday said the animals are all raised on a farm near Flagstaff, and that everything is butchered and prepared on site at the school. Also: Meat nerds are awesome, and it is truly a pleasure conversing with them about their craft.

The Collegiate Cattlegrowers Association website is still under construction, but I've been promised it will be up before long. For the time being, the hours for the sale are 3 to 5 p.m., every Friday, but those hours are extended from 3 to 7 p.m. when school is back in session.

How often do you think before you leave to go to a TUSD governing board meeting, "Hey, I better bring my knife, cause you never know if there's going to be a potluck or turkey dinner?"

Probably not that often, unless you're a guy named John White, who has spoken at previous school board meetings, and Tuesday night was no different. He even signed in as Juan Blanco, something he thinks is kind of funny and just loves confusing the board when he introduces himself.

According to reports, before White ever got into the board room, before he was ever called up during call to audience, he tried to bring a knife into the building.

Perhaps before he left his house he thought, "I'm going to talk tonight at the school board meeting about killing and blood and how those damn Chicanos want war. I better bring a knife with me to illustrate my point."

Now, I guess, if they are sticking to orders that go back to the contentious May 3 meeting, the security folks must have been told, "Look, we're just interested in chains and anyone who looks Mexican that either has a speech written out in their hands or just looks suspicious." Evidently, the security folks took the knife, but let White right into the 1010 building, even after he reportedly first refused to give the knife to the security folks.

If the knife was reported to the board, it isn't noted during the meeting. As White began to speak, he spewed a diatribe of violence on"La Raza" calling for a civil war and killing people, saying things like "blood will flow and white flags will mean nothing." He even flipped off the board.

The problem with all this, besides the knife, is that when he was over his time, when it was noted by board member Judy Burns that he was not just over time, but out of line and breaking board policy, president Mark Stegeman allowed him to continue to have the floor. It wasn't difficult for some in the audience to compare the scene to the May 3 meeting when about seven members of the community were arrested for speaking out in support of Mexican American Studies — none brought knives, many brought notes and signs.

The fact that he was allowed in even after his knife was confiscated, and then allowed to speak, despite breaking rules that others in the past were arrested for (and despite attempting to bring in a weapon) is troubling.

Three Sonorans' David Morales was there and put together a video to show what happened and compared it to what's happened at past meetings. I'd also check out his latest blog post here.

Public hearings on four private, for-profit prisons continue tonight. The Arizona Department of Corrections is moving forward on four facilities. Corrections Corporations of America wants to build two prisons in Eloy; GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut) wants to build a prison in Goodyear; LaSalle/Southwest Corrections wants to build a facility in Winslow; Management and Training Corporation and GEO Group each want to build places in San Luis; and Management Training Group wants to build another in Coolidge.

The next public hearing is in Winslow, tonight, 6-8 pm at the Winslow High School Performing Arts Center, 600 E. Cherry St. The San Luis public hearing includes both proposals and it will be Tuesday, Aug., 6-10 pm at the San Luis City Council Chambers, 1090 East Union St. The last hearing is Thursday, Aug. 18th, 6-8 pm at the Coolidge City Council Chambers, 911 S. Arizona Blvd.

American Friends Services Committee has been organizing carpools to each hearing and getting the information out there that private prisons, well, just aren't the best choice despite the fact that Gov. Jan Brewer and company are all about privatization.

Besides getting in touch with AFSC about carpooling, which you can do here, a must read website that offers some of the most comprehensive information on Arizona's private prison industry is Cell-Out Arizona, a Tucson Citizen blog the AFSC maintains and includes detailed investigations the group has done lately and over the years on issues surrounding private prison corporations.

The latest is on the growing connections between the governor's office and the private prison industry that you can read here.

From Cell-Out:

But Brewer is hardly the only powerful politician in Arizona with ties to this influential industry. A Cell-Out Arizona investigation has revealed that John Kavanagh (R-8), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, has accepted numerous campaign contributions from lobbyists and others associated with Geo Group, the nation’s second largest private prison company and one of the bidders for a contract to build and manage 5,000 new prison beds in Arizona.

Now we know why Kavanagh is such a staunch supporter of private prisons. He appeared last week on Phoenix Channel 8’s public affairs program, Horizon, debating the issue with Rep. Cecil Ash.

In the 2010 election cycle, Kavanagh accepted at least 6 donations from lobbyists associated with Geo Group. According to Beau Hodai’s investigation for In These Times ...

AFSC's Caroline Isaacs will be on All Things Political with Steve Leal today at 12 Noon on 1330 AM The Jolt. Yes, I'll be joining them to discuss how the public hearings are going and why this growing industry is a disaster. You'll learn something.

The Range learned yesterday that City Councilwoman Regina Romero returned a campaign contribution of more than $400 to her reelection campaign from Mark Stegeman, president of the Tucson Unified School District governing board.

Romero faced criticism from Mexican American Studies advocates who questioned the contribution and told the councilwoman that if she supported Mexican American Studies classes in TUSD, that the contribution from the board's most contentious figure on the issue needed to be returned.

The Range is working on getting a copy of the letter to post. The letter was posted on Romero's reelection Facebook page.

The letter, dated Aug. 9, starts with:

Thank you for your donation to my campaign. While I appreciate your support, I strongly disagree with your position on the Mexican American Studies program within the Tucson Unified School District and for that reason I am returning your donation. I want to send a message to fellow Democrats and the public that allowing the dismantling of the Mexican American Studies program is an unacceptable affront to democratic core values.

The letter ends:

It is my opinion that your efforts to rework the MAS program and the department are misguided and do a disservice to the students benefiting from these classes. The significance of this program and its impact on our youth is too great to ignore or diminish by efforts to modify the courses. I will be encouraging my fellow Democrats and the public to make their voice heard on this issue and take a stand in support of Mexican American Studies at TUSD, and I hope you will consider doing the same.

There's been a lot of talk about Michele Bachmann's photo on the cover of this week's Newsweek, whether she's being set up to look crazy or daft, however, the real conversation should probably be surrounding Ryan Lizza's feature on the congresswoman in next week's New Yorker. Talking about whether she looks crazy confuses the real issue: whether her ideas are just plain dangerous:

While looking over Bachmann’s State Senate campaign Web site, I stumbled upon a list of book recommendations. The third book on the list, which appeared just before the Declaration of Independence and George Washington’s Farewell Address, is a 1997 biography of Robert E. Lee by J. Steven Wilkins.

Wilkins is the leading proponent of the theory that the South was an orthodox Christian nation unjustly attacked by the godless North. This revisionist take on the Civil War, known as the “theological war” thesis, had little resonance outside a small group of Southern historians until the mid-twentieth century, when Rushdoony and others began to popularize it in evangelical circles. In the book, Wilkins condemns “the radical abolitionists of New England” and writes that “most southerners strove to treat their slaves with respect and provide them with a sufficiency of goods for a comfortable, though—by modern standards—spare existence.”

African slaves brought to America, he argues, were essentially lucky: “Africa, like any other pagan country, was permeated by the cruelty and barbarism typical of unbelieving cultures.” Echoing Eidsmoe, Wilkins also approvingly cites Lee’s insistence that abolition could not come until “the sanctifying effects of Christianity” had time “to work in the black race and fit its people for freedom.”

In his chapter on race relations in the antebellum South, Wilkins writes:

Slavery, as it operated in the pervasively Christian society which was the old South, was not an adversarial relationship founded upon racial animosity. In fact, it bred on the whole, not contempt, but, over time, mutual respect. This produced a mutual esteem of the sort that always results when men give themselves to a common cause. The credit for this startling reality must go to the Christian faith. . . . The unity and companionship that existed between the races in the South prior to the war was the fruit of a common faith.

For several years, the book, which Bachmann’s campaign declined to discuss with me, was listed on her Web site, under the heading “Michele’s Must Read List.”

I doubt Bachmann would give a straight answer, but someone in the national media needs to ask her whether Wilkins' book is still a "must read".