Presidential candidate Kip Dean lays out his presidential platform:

I. I will work to get the everyday citizen involved in the political process. I think that voting turn-out is at a critical low and the public is not involved in our political process. This has led to a stagnate government and an ownership of our great nation by corporations and Wall Street. Getting folks involved with the process is the major tenant of my platform.

2. I will ensure that a retirement with dignity is the right and expectation of every single American, starting with pension reform, expanding saving incentives and preventing the privatization of social security. This is not a government handout. Employees place money into the trust, so does the employer and so does the government. The only problem that social security has is that the trust has been robbed to pay off other debts. Americans want social security to stay the same. I realize that Americans rely on more than just Social Security for a secure and dignified retirement. I will continue to fight for genuine pension reform that protects employees’ financial security from future Enron-style abuse.

Here's Cesar's biography, from his Web site:

Cesar Cisneros, a native-born Texan, believes in hard work and getting things done NOW! Growing up in a hard working family, Cisneros learned the value of a hard day's work. Cesar is one of twelve children from Facundo and Quirina Cisneros. His father was born in Mexico and his mother was born in Texas. His family was migrant workers. Cesar is married. He and his wife have 7 children and have several grandchildren. Cesar has been self-employed for over 30 years. Cesar is now a truck driver, drives 48 states. He has driven over 1.3 million miles across America. He and his wife own Cisneros Trucking Company, Inc. Cesar is a Mormon, an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

And here is some of what he plans to do if elected:

MNDR, which is more or less one person named Amanda Warner, has a new song called "#1 in Heaven", which is sadly not a cover of a similarly titled Sparks song, but is still quite good, if you enjoy female-sung dance pop.

Republican candidate Ron Zack has kept mastered the art of keeping his presidential platform simple:

1) I promise to run my campaign and my presidency with total honesty, openness and transparency.

2) My main purpose in running is to enrich myself and some of my friends, legally through through collateral benefits of the office, and to have the opportunity for unlimited travel with members of my extended family.

A new self-serve frozen-yogurt shop called Josie's is opening in half of the space that used to be Pizza Plus #1 at 914 E. Speedway Blvd.

According to this website the only sweetener the chain store uses is "pure crystalline fructose," which sounds like a controlled substance but is actually a natural substance that's sweeter than table sugar. This allows Josie's to use less sweetener by volume, which ostensibly reduces the calorie count a bit.

Next door, in the other half of what was once Pizza Plus #1, the new sushi joint Now Rollin' is moving in. The concept there is that you choose the ingredients and they roll it up sushi-style. More on that over here.

Tucson attorney Richard Martinez, who represents students and teachers in an ongoing federal lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the state's anti-Mexican American Studies law, debated state Superintendent John Huppenthal this morning on Democracy Now!

Huppethal does what we've come to expect (other than lie) — throw around tea baggery words like Marxist, but his best line yet could be "La Raza was short hand for all the controversy associated with these classes," trying to defend his anti-Mexican campaign when he ran for superintendent of public instruction — which always helps get those extra votes. Or what about comparing Mein Kampf to the books used in the Mexican American Studies classroom.

The last time Martinez took on Arizona tea baggery was his outstanding debate last year with state Attorney General Tom "I Marched with Martin Luther King, Jr." Horne, who led the fight against Mexican-Americans when he began his campaign to get the legislature to pass a law that would lead exactly where we are right now. The video below is from Tucsonan Daniel Buckley:

While I do believe that SOPA and PIPA are terrible bills threatening the very internet we enjoy today, I also understand that the need for information doesn't just stop just because Wikipedia is down in protest today (Katie Notopoulos is collecting the tweets of panicked college students wondering how they're going to write their papers, the sheer volume of which is causing me to worry about our country's future).

So, as a public service, I will be happy to answer any knowledge-based question that you might have ordinarily gone to Wikipedia for. Just ask in the comments. Keep in mind, I won't actually be doing any research in the answering process, but I have appeared on two game shows in the past, so I think I know a little bit.

Also, if you'd like to contact your Congresspersons to tell them to leave the internet alone, the widget below makes the process super easy.

Local concert promoter Jonathan Holden, who brought blues, roots, Americana and other acts to Tucson for decades, has passed away at the age of 60.

Our own Linda Ray wrote about Holden for No Depression:

The Tucson roots music community is shaken this evening by the sudden and unexpected death of long-time Tucson music promoter Jonathan Holden from a pulmonary aneurism. He was 60.

Holden's Rhythm & Roots Concert Series has for 13 years provided artists and fans of the blues, folk, singer-songwriter, and world music genres with their only reliable home in Tucson. Shows currently scheduled are expected to continue, both in the outdoor space at Plaza Palomino, and in the indoor space he opened last year in Suite 147 of the plaza, in order to be able to continue the series year 'round. Recently, Holden had extended the series to include the much larger, downtown venue, the historic Fox Theatre, where he had booked Taj Mahal for May 24.

Upcoming shows such as Fred Eaglesmith, Sons of the Pioneers and Johnny Rawls reveal the range of his own taste, and that of the fans he served, uniquely, in Tucson.

I knew Holden from my time working in record stores like Hear's and Zia and although I didn't really know him outside of the stores and seeing him at shows, he was always exceptionally kind and worked tirelessly to bring musicians he believed in to town. The Rhythm & Roots website mentions that shows will go on, which seems like the best tribute to what he did for this town musically. For more information about a planned public memorial, keep an eye on a page set up on the R&R site.

The fabric of our society is crumbling as we watch, and no one seemed willing to step in and tackle the real problem we face as Americans, until Louisana's Caddo Parish District 3 Commissioner Michael Williams made a bold, possibly unpopular, move to preserve our nation's dignity:

Khiry Tisdem, of Shreveport, has no problem going out in his "Family Guy" Stewie pajama pants.

"I wear my (pajama) pants anywhere," Tisdem said. "I'm an American, and I can wear my clothes anywhere I want. I'm a grown man. I pay my own bills, so I can wear my clothes the way I want. I don't know why it's an issue."

Caddo Parish District 3 Commission Michael Williams said it was an incident at a local Walmart that offended him and some elderly customers that spurred him to push for an ordinance that would prohibit wearing pajama pants in public.

"I saw a group of young men wearing pajama pants and house shoes," he said. "At the part where there should have been underwear," his private parts were showing through the fabric.

• C. Elliott
• Mitzi Cowell & the Valients, Jan. 14, 2012

Mitzi Cowell & the Valients performed as part of Second Saturdays Downtown, Jan. 14, 2012.