Liberals seek a “Brave New World”

A long-simmering movement by liberal stalwarts in southern Arizona to break away from the rest of the largely conservative state is at a boiling point as secession backers press to bring their longshot ambition to the forefront of Arizona politics.

A group of lawyers from the Democratic stronghold of Tucson and surrounding Pima County have launched a petition drive seeking support for a November 2012 ballot question on whether the 48th state should be divided in two.

The ultimate goal of the newly formed political action committee Start our State is to split Pima County off into what would become the nation’s 51st state, tentatively dubbed Baja Arizona.

Backers have until July 5 next year to collect the 48,000 signatures required to qualify for a spot on the ballot. If they succeed, it would mark only the first hurdle in a long, circuitous process that even the most determined of supporters readily acknowledge has little chance of bearing fruit.

“We at least need to get it on the ballot, as a nonbinding resolution, to ask the people of Pima County if they want to be a part of Arizona,” Tucson attorney Paul Eckerstrom, a former Pima County Democratic chairman who launched the campaign, told Reuters. “All the stars would have to align for this to happen, but it could conceivably happen by the fall of 2013.”

U.S. history is replete with efforts to carve one state from another — from the creation of Kentucky and Tennessee in the 1790s to more modern misfires like proposals to partition Long Island from New York or to split California in half.

The last successful intrastate secession movement was the formation of West Virginia during the Civil War.

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Coulter vs. Olbermann, again

1.) Pakistan is really upset about the whole Bin Laden thing, wink, wink — Pakistan has been complaining that the United States violated its sovereignty by killing Osama Bin Laden. As it turns out, this is part of the plan. According to The Guardian, the US and Pakistan made a secret agreement after 9/11 that if we found Bin Laden on Pakistani soil, he was all ours: “The deal was struck between the military leader General Pervez Musharraf and President George Bush after Bin Laden escaped US forces in the mountains of Tora Bora in late 2001, according to serving and retired Pakistani and US officials. Under its terms, Pakistan would allow US forces to conduct a unilateral raid inside Pakistan in search of Bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the al-Qaida No3. Afterwards, both sides agreed, Pakistan would vociferously protest the incursion.” So Pakistan saves face after Bin Laden loses his. Fair enough.

2.) Not All Muslims rush airplane cockpit — The rest of the Muslim world seems to be taking the Bin Laden thing as well as can be expected. But of course, there are always a few bad figs to spoil the whole bunch. The Associated Press reports: “The passengers sat stunned as they watched a man walk quickly toward the front of American Airlines Flight 1561 as it was descending toward San Francisco. He was screaming and then began pounding on the cockpit door… Within moments Sunday, a flight attendant tackled Rageh Almurisi. Authorities do not yet have a motive.” And what was Almursi screaming? To find out, you have to go all the way to the 9th paragraph: “Andrew Wai, another passenger, told KGO-TV on Monday that the wife of one of the men who took Almurisi down later said Almurisi was yelling ‘Allahu Akbar.’” Motive? What motive?

3.) Countdown until Olbermann fires back at Coulter — Saturday night was the Media Research Center Dishonors Awards, dedicated to “roasting the most outrageously biased liberal reporting.” And when it came time to make fun of Keith Olbermann, the name at the top of the list was Ann Coulter. As TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports, Coulter explained why she was there: “There are a number of reasons. First, of course, both Keith and I are girls. We also both went to college in Ithaca, N.Y. I went to the Ivy League Cornell School of Arts and Sciences, and Keith went to the Old McDonald’s School of Agriculture. I wouldn’t mention it except Keith is compulsively telling people saying he went to the Ivy League Cornell, desperate to have people think of him as a major egghead.” If you don’t follow @KeithOlbermann on Twitter, you should. It’s always fun to read his tweets after he’s been mocked in public by somebody whose opinion matters to him. And of course, be sure to check keitholbermann.com for all your Keith Olbermann news and information!

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Mandated Messages: The President and Homeland Security Coming to Your Cell Phone

Michelle O Invites Rapper to Join ‘In Your Face Club’

Michelle Obama declared on numerous occasions the White House would be “the people’s house” after her husband was elected. Whose people?

The First Lady invited the Chicago-born rapper “Common” (aka Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr.) to DC for a Wednesday evening poetry event. Common joins Mrs. Obama’s ‘in your face’ club which includes her “favorites” like singer Beyonce.

The 39-year old Grammy winning rapper/actor has been a member of the Obamas’ Trinity United Church of Christ for most of his life. Pastor Wright’s anti-white, anti-America sermons surely influenced the youngster’s linguistic prowess. Michelle must feel right at home with the avowed Christian Mr. Common.

These lyrics to “Rich Man vs. Poor Man” could have been written after hearing a Sunday homily: (profanity alert)

But the white man didn’t care, shit he didn’t have to wear it (uh ha)

He scratched that pad he got from his parents, with his tight ass

He would of been poor white trash, but anyway

Everyday the blackman would ask for some spare change

But Adam, the white man would stare strange

So the black man got fed up

cause wasn’t nobody feedin’ him and feedin’ him

And took red by his neck and started beatin’ him and beatin’ him

And this one offers a taste of the misogynist Common entitled “The Bitch In Yoo”

I’m a have ta wreck a Ho’shea

I heard a ho say you her favorite rapper

(So what) so I had to slap her, ugn

And violate you, a Muslim drinking brew

Your nigga ain’t no Mack 10, he’s a 22

I seen you, you ain’t say shit in ATL

A year ago, you wasn’t talking shit about the West

Guess you knew you’re shit was done plus the one got you cable

Hoo Bangin, you ain’t banging shit but the table

in the Circle Mad, ain’t got no choice but to fight

Ain’t none of y’all muthafuckas got a chance on the mic

Pretty sick stuff, but that didn’t stop Michelle O from enlisting his help in leading rap workshops with area schoolchildren before the evening performance. Why should we be surprised at any of the First Lady’s antics? Her husband keeps Safe Schools Czar radical homosexual Kevin Jennings at the helm in the Department of Education.

Does Michelle really want school children and her own daughters Mahlia and Sasha to listen to rappers who abuse and denigrate women through their choice of language? What is she thinking? This is not child advocacy, this is child endangerment.

Sex and violence themes especially towards women permeate the rap genre culture. Nevertheless, Common is peddling his poetry at the White House and the “people’s house” has become the “my people” hangout.

A hijacking dry run?

As details emerge about the incident on an American Airlines flight to San Francisco, it looks increasingly like a dry run.

The term “dry run” goes back to Prohibition. Moonshiners paid drivers to made practice runs during the day to identify landmarks and spot escape routes without carrying any untaxed corn liquor. Sadly today we have Islamic hijackers practicing “dry runs” in commercial aircraft flying over the United States.

From SFGATE, the San Francisco Chronicle’s online newspaper:

Rageh Almurisi of Vallejo, who carried a California identification card and a Yemeni passport, was wrestled to the floor of the Boeing 737 near the end of the four-hour flight Sunday night. The suspect had no known ties to terrorism.

The incident began at about 8:30 p.m. when American Airlines Flight 1561, was about a half-hour from landing at San Francisco International Airport.

Almurisi emerged from a bathroom in the back of the plane and “walked briskly” toward the front, where he began yelling unintelligibly and pounding on the cockpit door.

“He was walking very fast all the way up to the front,” said Angelina Marty, 35, of San Francisco, a passenger on the plane.. He was screaming something, and the lady in the row across from me who had spoken Arabic said, ‘That’s Arabic,’ and she had translated it and said it was roughly, ‘God is great.’ ”

A female flight attendant asked Almurisi to return to his seat, but he refused. A male flight attendant and several passengers — including a retired Secret Service agent, a retired San Mateo police officer and an off-duty American Airlines pilot – helped wrestle Almurisi to the floor.

Almurisi was placed in plastic handcuffs. Before getting on board the San Francisco-bound flight, Almurisi had flown into Chicago on a separate American Airlines flight from LaGuardia Airport in New York, Smith said.

Yemen is home to one of the most active branches of al Qaeda.

There were a couple of disturbing items in this dry run. First, this was a single “dry runner” who was most likely timing the walk from the rear lavatory and the noting response from the aircrew, while shouting “Allahu Akbar.” We also know that other dry runs have had up to 13 possible hijackers on a single flight. Was this a dry run of the initial diversion, where the real action may start in the rear of the aircraft, where aircrews are often located?

Second, this dry run was so blatant, so unsubtle, that you have to wonder if this incident itself was a diversion from other airline or routes. Or conversely, because this was so blatant, will the authorities continue to give special significance to these particular circumstances? That’s a tough call by the Homeland Security either way.

We need to be vigilant as air passengers. The false sense of security, the Kabuki theater of the absurd, what we call the TSA screening process is simply a joke. Able bodied American men and women who fly must be mentally prepared to sacrifice our bodies and our lives, if required, against these terrorists. When we board a plane we must make that very conscious decision. Did Osama Bin Laden leave instructions following his death for vengeful strikes against one or more of the 26,000 commercial flighs that crisscross US airspace each day? We must be ready, not as terrorized individuals as the enemy would have us be, but as a strong-minded, clear thinking, poised citizenry.

Rogue Arizona: No More Waiting for the Feds; AZ Going With Online Donations and Prison Labor to Build Border Fence

“The Star Spangled Banner” 4th Verse