Mexican Institute of Sound.-El Jefe by MexicanInstituteofSound

From the forthcoming album Politico, here is the new single from Tucson aficionados Mexican Insititute of Sound, "El Jefe".

The song is a lot of fun, like nearly everything MIS frontman Camilo Lara does, so you should listen to it.

Coming up with mean things to say people on the internet can be a challenge, so thankfully someone has taken some of the work out of the process. If you've ever waded into the comment section below any popular YouTube video, you know that society is crumbling right at those virtual outposts, so where better to pull something nasty to say semi-anonymously online? Adrian Holovaty developed an intended-to-be-humorous online script that pulls insults from YouTube comments via keyword searches, and while it only works approximately 50% of the time (nothing comes up for the search term "Antenori", believe it or not), typing in semi-random words and phrases does provide at least minutes of entertainment. "You had your toes stepped on by hoes." Zing!

Born on October 25, 1934 in Mobile, Alabama, there aren't many people more closely entwined with Tucson's musical history as bluesman Sam Taylor. As a minor tribute to the man's birthday, here are two performances from Art Fein's Poker Party, a Los Angeles public access show (the one below also features Taylor's son Bobby, who died in 1997).

Below the cut, an article on Sam Taylor by Michael Metzger from our 1995 TAMMIES issue.

This might be surprising news to anyone who associates MTV with alternating marathons of Jersey Shore and 16 and Pregnant episodes, but they actually create some compelling television with their True Life series. On Saturday, Nov. 5, the series takes a look at Occupy Wall Street focusing on “three young people who get swept up in the political movement that has quickly grown into a global phenomenon.” Should be interesting, at very least.

In other Occupy news, a former member of boy band 98 Degrees was arrested at the protest in Cincinnati. Seems sort of like news, at very least.

Thank you, Herman Cain (and campaign manager Mark Block), for your injection of straight up weirdness into the race for the Republican nomination. Hang in there until the 40 second mark. I promise it's worth it.

The Democratic National Committee is airing an ad against GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney here in Arizona. The New York Times reports:

The Democratic National Committee will on Tuesday begin its biggest sustained advertising campaign against a Republican presidential candidate so far this year, with a spot attacking Mitt Romney in the state of Arizona, traditionally Republican territory that President Obama’s advisers hope to bring into their victory column next year.

Running for six days on local stations and cable news, the commercial seizeson comments made by Mr. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, last week to the editorial board of the Las Vegas Review-Journal about the rash of foreclosures that have been particularly acute in the West: “Don’t try to stop the foreclosure process, let it run its course and hit the bottom,” he said.

NYT's The Caucus also notes:

The video does not include Mr. Romney’s full commentary on foreclosures. Speaking to the newspaper’s editorial board last Monday, he had gone on to say that after allowing the process to “hit bottom’’ the government should “allow investors to buy up homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up, and let it turn around and come back up.”

DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse comments via email:

Mitt Romney has callously taken the position that homeowners who have been cheated, scammed or simply lost value in their homes as a result of Wall Street’s risky bets should be allowed to "hit rock bottom." Romney’s position is appalling, but not unexpected from a former financial executive who wants to let Wall Street—the same guys whose recklessness crashed the housing market and our economy —write its own rules, even if it means hanging the middle-class out to dry. It is irresponsible, but not surprising coming from someone who made a fortune firing workers and sending their jobs overseas. And what else can we expect from someone who said that "corporations are people" or called tax relief of $1,500 for a typical middle class family "little Band Aids."

While President Obama is fighting to create jobs and adopt policies that give underwater homeowners a chance to refinance and stay in their homes, Mitt Romney believes families who work hard and play by the rules should be kicked out of their homes so bankers can get rich. Mitt Romney’s vision of the American Dream would be a nightmare for America’s homeowners and it would have a devastating impact for the Arizona economy and families in a state which ranks third in the country in the rate of foreclosures.

• Dan Gibson's terrible screencap from the 4 pm broadcast on KOLD.

He's been off the air since a strange incident in early September, but Chuck George is back on air tonight, according to Dave Hatfield at Inside Tucson Business:

KOLD News 13 chief meteorologist Chuck George is back on the air today (Oct. 24) following a leave of absence since he was unable to finish the 10 p.m. news on Sept. 6.

He first appeared doing a promotional weather announcement about 3:30 p.m. and then appearing on the stations' 4 p.m. newscast.
Click here to find out more!

"It worked out well, we actually had a change in weather today," said Debbie Bush, general manager. She declined to discuss the details of George's absence but said it was good to have him back on the air.

The Independent Redistricting Commission is meeting in Tucson tonight as part of the statewide series of public hearings on the proposed congressional and legislative maps for the next decade.

Yeah, we know it sounds boring—but the politics surrounding the IRC continue to be explosive. In the most recent developments, Republican state lawmakers have begun having hearings on the maps via a Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting. This is a partisan effort; GOP leaders who set up the committee did not consult with Democratic leaders about which members of the minority party should be appointed to the new committee, so the Democrats who got appointed decided to sit out the process. On the one hand, that means that Democrats don’t get to counter GOP arguments; on the other, they’re not giving bipartisan cover to the effort.

Blogger Steve Muratore, who has covered the IRC more extensively than any other media in the state, got tossed out of Friday’s committee hearing for mouthing the word “bullshit” to state Sen. Andy Biggs.

GOP lawmakers say the hearings are just an effort to allow lawmakers to weigh on redistricting and is not a step toward removing any member of the IRC, although state Sen. Andy Biggs has told the Associated Press that he expects a full special session on redistricting, perhaps as soon as next week.

Whether that would involve any effort to boot members of the IRC, who are fighting with Attorney General Tom Horne over the open-meeting law, remains to be seen.

Removing members of the IRC requires a two-third majority of the Arizona Senate, which Republicans currently hold. Gov. Jan Brewer recently used the “magic words” that could lead to an impeachment effort.

State Sen. Frank Antenori, who is exploring a congressional run, says he doesn't think the Legislature will go so far as to try to remove members of the IRC.

“I think it’s too late,” Antenori says. “I don’t think it’s worth doing right now.”

It's still anyone's guess where the actual boundaries of the Congressional districts will end up in 2012, but Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu formed an exploratory committee today to run in what is theoretically going to be District 4, making up much of what is currently District 2, represented currently by Trent Franks who will likely find himself in District 8. This is all very confusing to me.

His opening salvo in the race for Congress is below the cut.

[Corrected, because I mixed up the current and unlikely future congressional districts.]

Hat tip to Rum, Romanism and Rebellion for pointing out a delightful exchange on Twitter between State Representative Ruben Gallego and State Senator Frank Antenori on Thursday:

@RubenGallego: If you know of anyone that is lookin for seasonal employment, please have them come to my job fair.

@FrankAntenori: Ruben, Don't forget to use e-verify!

@RubenGallego: thanks for the tip. You should apply for a job since Gabby will stop you from having a job as a congressman.

@FrankAntenori: I look forward to her announcing she's seeking re-election. When's the press conference?

@RubenGallego: coincidentally same day you drop out.

@FrankAntenori: Well I guess we'll just have to see if the hype and bluster rings true.

Way to go, Frank. I can't even say how much I'm looking forward to your campaign.