The abortion and “legitimate rape” controversy that was ignited by Missouri Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin has spilled over into Southern Arizona’s congressional races.

The Range looked at Akin’s comments and the related legislation that would have redefined “rape” as “forcible rape” in regards to the U.S. Senate race between Republican Congressman Jeff Flake and Democrat Richard Carmona here.

Congressional candidates are also speaking out on the issue. Republican Jonathan Paton, who is seeking a seat in the sprawling Congressional District 1, called on Akin to get out of the Senate race.

“The comments made by Todd Akin are extremely offensive toward victims of rape and sexual assault,” Paton said in a statement. “Akin’s comments are reprehensible and wrong and I completely condemn them. There is no defense for his words and Akin should apologize and step down as a candidate. If he has so little respect for women and victims of rape he is not fit to serve in the United State Senate.”

Paton, who is the favorite to win tomorrow's primary election, says he opposes legal abortion in nearly all instances, but makes an exception for women who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest or who could face health issues as a result of their pregnancy.

In his answers to a questionnaire from the Center for Arizona Policy, Paton did not support exception for rape or incest. But he says that was an error on the part of his campaign and he will be clarifying his position with the Christian conservative organization.

Fox Restaurant Concepts is holding a job fair from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., today, tomorrow and Wednesday (Aug. 27-29). It's going down at North, 2995 E. Skyline Drive.

Find a few more details here.

The voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Vin Scully, announced yesterday that he would return next year for his 64th season behind the microphone.

LA's KTLA Channel 5 had an anchor do a rundown of some of the accomplishments of the greatest sports announcer who has ever lived. And then this happened.

Leave it to Tucson immigration attorney Mo Goldman to present a slap of truth on Gov. Jan Brewer's executive order denying Arizona DREAMers drivers' licenses and more—a tarmac-finger-wag to Arizona's estimated 80,000 DREAMers.

Thanks, Mo:

Executive Disorder

Executive Disorder

Re-Affirming Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s Ignorance and
Botched “Gotcha” Moment Against the Federal Government

WHEREAS, a bully is defined as a person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker; and

WHEREAS, Jan Brewer is an ignorant bully, an embarrassment to humanity and, most likely, does not even know the meaning of “whereas”; and

WHEREAS, Jan Brewer continues to instill unnecessary fear into the minds of Arizona residents based on misinformation and lies; and

WHEREAS, the latest attempt to oppress undocumented immigrants will fail in the courts; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to Arizona Revised Statute 1-502(A)(7) an employment authorization document (EAD) is one of the many listed documents to demonstrate lawful presence in the United States to be eligible for state or local benefits; and

WHEREAS, Russell Pearce, another ignorant bully and embarrassment to humanity, wrote ARS 1-502(A)(7). Therefore, according to Mr. Pearce and the state of Arizona anyone with this form of identification has lawful presence in the United States and can qualify for a driver’s license; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has clearly stated that a person with deferred status will not accrue unlawful presence in the United States. Therefore, they have lawful presence by directive of the DHS Secretary; and

WHEREAS, Arizona Revised Statute 28-3153(D) states “Notwithstanding any other law, the department shall not issue to or renew a driver license or nonoperating identification license for a person who does not submit proof satisfactory to the department that the applicant's presence in the United States is authorized under federal law; and

WHEREAS, Jan Brewer’s mean spirited order will not only damage beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), but many others including victims of domestic violence who benefit under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA); and

WHEREAS, Jan Brewer has again embarrassed the state of Arizona through her arbitrary, capricious and abusive attempt at rulemaking.

NOW THEREFORE, it must be concluded that:

1. Jan enjoys bullying undocumented immigrants and students who want to better themselves and the United States;

2. Jan loves getting sued and wasting Arizona taxpayers dollars on defending lawsuits, rather than making more money for Arizona residents and taxpayers by issuing drivers licenses, benefitting the auto, insurance, education industries, amongst others;

3. Jan does not know the definition of whereas, arbitrary, capricious or lawful presence;

4. Jan will again lose this battle and, as a diversion, claim that there are headless bodies hiding somewhere at the Motor Vehicles Division office because of DREAMers.

If you want to find out what government officials and others through (recent) history think about medical marijuana, ProCon.org has done a lot of legwork for you.

The organization, a nonprofit that researches various relevant topics of the day and compiles reasonably objective assessments of the state of affairs, has a compilation of quotes under the topic: “Should marijuana be a medical option?” Personalities quoted include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (wants research; not for or against), Sen. John McCain (against it), Sanjay Gupta (Yes, the CNN guy. WTF? Against it), and former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders.

“The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS — or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed, marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day," Elders said.

Check out the info here.

Right before the press conference started at U.S. Congressman Raul Grijalva's campaign office yesterday afternoon, Grijalva primary opponent Amanda Aguirre's campaign sent out a statement regarding the Grijalva mailer paid for by the PAC Opportunity for All.

Aguirre accused the congressman of bullying:

Yesterday, the Grijalva campaign sent a press release blindly accusing former State Senator Amanda Aguirre of “finance irregularities.” The Grijalva campaign has issued repeated attacks and false accusations that constitute a pattern of bullying behavior. Grijalva’s most recent attempt to manipulate the media in his favor is a direct example of his underhanded bullying tactics.

Arizona is tired of Grijalva’s intimidation tactics and threats, of which there is a long history, and tired of Grijalva bully his colleagues and constituents via leveraging the political power of his congressional position.

Sen. Aguirre responded, “This is typical desperation politics on the part of Grijalva. My campaign has never coordinated with an independent political committee nor on any independent expenditures.” Aguirre continued, “It is no surprise others feel unhappy with Grijalva. There are several groups of people extremely frustrated with him and his boycott of Arizona. In fact, Arizona has seen an increase in the number of groups that are displeased with Grijalva.”

Sen. Aguirre added, “This is merely another distraction ploy from Grijalva, again, to avoid facing the important issues that he has failed to address."

At the press conference, Grijalva said the information they discovered onOpportunity for All, was gathered from the PAC's statement of organization filed by Carlos Sierra using the address 5717 Upper Valley Road in El Paso, Texas. A google search by Grijalva's campaign shows the PAC's address, which they claim is an empty El Paso lot.

Sierra, according to Grijalva, is a former John McCain staffer, and they are currently investigating if the mailer violates Federal Election Commission rules. Here's a post from the Center for Public Integrity that explains the world of PACs and elections:

If you're anything like me, in your heart of hearts, you've been crying out to watch a locally based and filmed webseries, aimed at those of us who love not only vampires, but wizards.

Well folks, we can take off our wizard robes and false fangs to rejoice. I present to you Wizard Hunters: The Series:

The series is produced by local husband-and-wife team Antonio Villagomez and Cori DiSimone, who constitute Uphill Pictures, a local company that's made a bit of a name for themselves in filming and editing commercials for local companies.

But now, they appear to have jumped right into telling the story of the long-standing war between magical beings and blood-sucking undead.

Follow the series at YouTube and Facebook.

Zombie fans, if you're going to be shuffling around out late tonight, make sure to swing by Mama's Hawaiian Bar-B-Que at 850 E. Speedway to help fund this year's Zombie Walk.

The lurching crowd of the undead plans to take over the streets this year on October 13, during that month's 2nd Saturdays event.

According to the Tucson Zombie Walk website, 20% of purchases from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. tonight will help fund this year's prowl — just make sure to mention the Zombie Walk at the register.

[Zombies Take Over Mama's Hawaiian Bar-B-Que - Facebook]

There's a press conference today at 1:30 p.m. at U.S. Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva's campaign headquarters, 657 W. St. Mary's Road to discuss a third party campaign mailer sent out in support of Amanda Aguiirre, a Yuma Democrat, challenging Grijalva in the primary.

Weekly World Central talked briefly with Lucy Aguirre this morning. Aguirre's daughter, working as her campaign manager, is the media contact. She told us a statement from the Aguirre campaign will be out soon.

Press release from the Grijalva campaign:

For Immediate Release
August 24, 2012

Tucson, Ariz. — Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva will hold a press conference on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at his Tucson campaign headquarters at 657 W. St. Mary's Rd. to discuss potentially serious campaign finance irregularities by third party actors on behalf of Grijalva opponent Amanda Aguirre. An attack piece organized by a former McCain staffer is being mailed to Southern Arizona voters endorsing Aguirre — a potential violation of anti-coordination rules — and attacking Grijalva using standard Republican talking points. The address given by the "Opportunity for All Committee," which does not identify its funding sources in the mailer, shows up as an empty lot on street records. Aguirre has not denounced the mailer or responded with any statement about the need for clean elections and campaign finance transparency. Copies of the relevant records will be available at the press conference.

A steady drizzle continued over the medical marijuana parade in recent days, when the federal government threatened and/or sued a few dozen MMJ storefronts in California and Washington.

In the Central District of California, which covers the Los Angeles metro area, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed three lawsuits seeking property forfeiture and sent letters to folks associated with 66 MMJ storefronts in Anaheim and La Habra. Not only were the shops illegal under federal law, but under state law, according to a news release. "While these marijuana stores purport to be ‘medical marijuana dispensaries’ operating pursuant to California law, and claim to be distributing marijuana for medical purposes, such distribution is not a recognized exception to the [federal] Controlled Substances Act," the U.S. said in the lawsuits. The current round of threats brings to almost 300 the number of close-or-we-will-fuck-you-in-the-ass letters sent to operators in the Central District in the past 10 months. Ouch.

Then on Thursday in the kinder, gentler Western District of Washington, the Drug Enforcement Admistration sent letters to 23 "dispensaries" that are operating near schools, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Druken's office. "We all work hard to create a safe zone for kids in school. There is a reason that both federal and state laws prohibit sales of marijuana in school zones. We need to enforce one message for our students: drugs have no place in or near our schools,” Durken said. Ouch again, a little. I am down with keeping drugs away from kids, mmmkay?

If this all seems a bit depressing, please remember that it seems momentum is behind the MMJ community across the nation. The train is moving too fast for the federal government to stop it. Thank you, Western District of Washington, where federal officials seem to be reasonable and, well, kind. California U.S. attorneys, please take note of your esteemed colleagues in Washington. Meanwhile, I guess we will all just keep marching along in the MMJ parade under our umbrellas.