So How Come

It's apparently necessary to have read all of SB 1070 to oppose it, but it was perfectly acceptable to oppose the Affordable Care Act without having read a single word?

News from British Columbia

Women coppersmiths, or Coppersmith women. Either way, the headline works.

Flash Opera!

Brindisi (The Drinking Song) from Act I of Verdi's La Traviata. The first performance is at the Central Market in Valencia, Spain, in 2009, then in 2010 at Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market. Philadelphia being the one US city with a large indoor central market and a cool opera company. (Get on the stick, DC!) Lyrics here.

Valencia:



Philadelphia:

Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon 2010

3:25:13, with a swim of 32:45. After working myself up into a lather, the swim was great, hope to do that again. The bike, not so much. The run was difficult, but when you round the Golden Gate on the return to start heading downhill, and there's La Bridge, the Bay, and you see Alcatraz and think to yourself, "Hey, we just swam that!" it's a pretty glorious day.

Pictures!

And yes, the swim start really is like this:

Welcome to Arizona!

I Do Not Think That Word Means What You Think It Means

The word is "recuse," which apparently means "excuse" or "take a powder on a controversial issue" as in this use of the term:

The new law is controversial even within Arizona. Its critics include the attorney general, Terry Goddard, a Democrat running for governor. Mr. Goddard called the law a “tragic mistake” that “does nothing to make us safer.”

Mr. Goddard, however, has the obligation to defend it in court as the state’s chief lawyer. He said he would probably recuse himself, and enlist Mr. Kobach for the defense, as he did in the case involving the 2007 law.

"Mr. Kobach" is a law professor at University of Missouri-Kansas City, and an author of SB 1070, and an Ashcroft guy who helped, in some small way, to prepare the U.S. Department of Justice for the Alberto Gonzales era. So we elect a Democrat as Attorney General so he can avoid representing the state in this case, and instead turn over the litigation to the guy the wingnuts would have picked if left to their own devices (but with public funds)? That certainly makes me delighted that elections have consequences.

UPDATE: More on Prof. Kobach here. After all, it's well known that it's illegal immigrants who put cars up on blocks in the front yard. Like the entire state of Alaska.