Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer's office sent out a press release late yesterday, along with a letter sent to Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry on June 5 in response to his 133-page document that outlines proposed changes the county wishes to make regarding elections procedures.

In an 11-page letter to Huckelberry, Brewer said most of the proposals in Huckelberry's Election Procedures and Security memo issued to the Pima County Board of Supervisors on April 3 is problematic. 

"Although some of your recommendations make sense, most are problematic, unnecessary and/or unjustifiable, and nearly all establish a protocol for Pima County that is vastly different from every other county," Brewer wrote. 

Making uniformity such a big deal seems kind of odd, since several counties use different electronic voting systems and most likely have other differences, such a ballots size, color and fonts, and such.

But before she gets into detail, Brewer has more paddling headed for Pima County, and isn't at all happy that the county implied her office lost the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) election tape filed by Pima County. 

"This is simply false," she wrote. "My office testified that this tape was sent back to Pima County via U.S. Certified Mail on November 27, 2006, along with hundreds of other programs that were returned to the other counties and local jurisdictions." 

"It is strange coincidence indeed that the only program reported lost was your RTA election program, which also happened to be at the center of some very serious allegations involving your election officials. I resent your attempt to blame my office for the convenient loss of this program by your staff. To reiterate, all other jurisdictions were mailed and received, their programs and there is not evidence to suggest my office lost your program." 

Ouch. Okay, Jan. Anyway, it's a good thing we knew what was coming. Besides the letter, a press release from Brewer's office did warn this was a "terse response to Pima County addressing her serious concerns about the county's recent election procedure report which was released this past April." 

In the letter, Brewer doesn't seem to be happy that the county is waiting to see what kind of reforms Brewer might have coming from her office, so she contines getting down and terse with a list of things she has done to bolster the security and integrity of our elections in Arizona--basically saying, look we're secure; nothing more needs to be done.

I don't know what Jim March and John Brakey have been doing up there in Maricopa County, but could the close proximity to her capital office be part of what is getting this gal on the defense? One of the items she notes is that her office has rigorously tested and certified voting equipment at state and federal levels, but I believe certification in Maricopa County is at issue for Brakey and March. 

Brewer goes on to shake a finger at the county for going to court  against releasing the databases and then releasing more than what was originally ordered by Judge Michael Miller. 

"It is no surprise that the court reversed itself in the post-judgment proceedings and ordered the release of this information given the actions by the board. 

"... (T)he Board's unilateral actions have placed all of our elections in jeopardy. I hope that the Board will make future decisions involving election security based on sound reason and judgment and not as a result of pressure from a handful of partisan rabble-rousers." 

"At this point I can't help but conclude that the Pima County Board of Supervisors never intended to seriously defend the county against this lawsuit." 

Man, Jan's mad. 

Brewer's press release ends with: 

"I must r-eemphasize the point I made in my earlier letter to you about the importance of following the existing physical security protocol for election equipment in your county to prevent any unauthorized person from having access to electronic voting equipment and ballots. The procedures in Arizona go above and beyond what is necessary to secure an election and it is for this reason that we have never had an election security breach in our state." 

I am waiting for a comment from Huckelberry and local election integrity activists.

When a lot of airlines are fighting for their lives, going bankrupt, canceling flights or charging to use the bathroom in flight -- here's a new kind of airline...

Derrie-Air charges passengers by weight. The more you weigh, the more you pay.

Their tag line is, "pack less, weigh less, pay less."

Last November, the Tucson Weekly interviewed UA psychologist Victor Shamas, who leads a weekly chanting circle held near the UA campus. Shamas recently sent us PR about WAVE1, which takes place on June 18 at 7 p.m.

The point of WAVE1 is to send a wave of love and joy around the world by coming together in June 18, 7 pm. in prayer, meditation, chanting, or surfing, and dedicating it to Earth and all of the creatures that live on this planet of ours.

According to the release:

June 18, 2008, is an auspicious date for WAVE1.  Besides being full moon and World Invocation Day, it also marks the Buddhist festival of Saka Dawa, during which the spiritual benefit of our virtuous actions is multiplied by a factor

of 100 million.  We can spread that benefit to everyone we love by including them in this powerful event.

If you plan on participating send an e-mail to info@actonwisdom.com, so they can include you on the WAVE1 world map that tracks participants. For more information on WAVE1 go to http://www.wave1.org.

Interesting obits Tuesday in the morning daily and on Tucson Scene regarding the passing of Tony Giorgianni.

Sure, it's old news now, but while his restaurant Greasy Tony's is closed until Giorgianni's son decides what to do with this establishment close to my ... heart, I am putting out a plea now to save the SIGN!

For many of Tucson's old establishments, it is too late--some signs are busted up, and others are just gone--disappeared or dumped. As I began to think of old business signs, especially those that have historical relevance or a unique design that most new signs just don't have, I thought about Seattle's Museum of History and Industry.

When I first visited this museum many years ago, I was impressed that a community has gone out of its way to save almost every aspect of its history, including old business and neon signs.

Maybe it's just me, but shouldn't we have started saving these kinds of things awhile ago? Can't we start saving some now? Is someone out there keeping a bunch of these in their backyard not sure what to do with them?

After reading the obit, I recalled my first time at Greasy Tony's when I was in sixth-grade and my aunt treated me to a Trash Can. The husband and I also thought about that great classic, Revenge of the Nerds. It was filmed at the UA almost 25 years ago. Remember Booger wearing his Greasy Tony's T-shirt?

So I leave you with this: Don't you think the Loft should do a 25-year anniversary screening of this movie with its producer, Booger and those Nerds and Frat Boys as special guests?

Gustavo is too busy getting ready for the alt-weekly convention Nintzel mentioned earlier, so he didn't do a YouTube question this week.

However, we have a Savage Love extra for you instead!

First, thank you Dan, for the column and podcast. You have helped me immeasurably. If I could buy you drinks or chocolate or whatever, I would. And now some advice from me for Bi Bi Bridie and Right Handed Man: WORK THIS SHIT OUT NOW.

My fiancé and I had the signs of sexual incompatibilities before our engagement. And more cropped up during our engagement. We both thought things would improve and that we would relax and get better once the rings were on. Well, seven years, tons of counseling, one son, and one divorce later, I know this is not true. Things got worse, to the point of years of no sexual contact at all.

So, from someone who has been in your shoes, BBB and RHM, I say this: Listen to Dan! Talk about this now. Be honest now. And I can’t stress this part enough: Be totally, fucking, brutally honest about what you need/want/feel. Now is not the time to tell the other person what you think they want to hear. It will be difficult, but for God’s sake don’t get married with this on the table and unexamined. If you do, misery awaits; trust me.

And, if that seems too scary, get a counselor and do it in front of them. Having a support system in the room can help.

The Voice of Experience

•••

I just read your response to Right Handed Man (jerks it a lot instead of having sex with his fiancée) and wanted to chime in with my two cents. While I agree with your advice (open communication is almost always the correct action), I think you may have been a little harsh in your psychoanalysis of RHM as an insecure bag of slop. I don’t know the guy, maybe he does have insecurity issues, probably does, but there is at least one other possibility. I am recently divorced, and one of the issues the ex and I had was this same thing: I masturbated more than we had sex, and it bothered her (and me, I just didn’t realize it at first). After talking about it with her, I realized that I would rather masturbate than have sex with my beautiful wife because SHE had such control issues when it came to sex that it felt like a fucking performance review every time. There was a precise script that I was not to deviate from, or else she would be unable to come—and not just positions or specific foreplay, either.

As you might imagine, this kind of pressure and control made sex unappealing compared to my oh-so-undemanding hand. The initial approach to this issue by my ex was, “Why don’t you want sex more often? I thought men wanted sex all the time?” My defensive response to that approach sidetracked us from understanding the true underlying issues (mine and hers) for some time. Attacking RHM without allowing that he might not be 100 percent the problem could easily be counterproductive.

Worked It Out

•••

I really hope that RHM is my ex-boyfriend; otherwise, there are at least two masturbating, noncommunicating egotists out there. He dreamed of a woman more passive than me, and it looks like he found her. What I want to know is why the fiancée isn’t writing in to you. I think your advice to RHM is spot on, but I’d like to add some advice for his fiancée: Break it off, move out, and move on. If this is the same guy (if you live in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, area) then I gotta tell you, there is a lot more going on than communication issues.

Blue-Balled Lady

•••

I’m engaged to a wonderful man, and wanted to offer a general response to all the engaged and want-to-be-engaged people in last week’s column. (Oh, and there’s a reason my man and I are engaged, and not married, and that’s because marriage isn’t something to rush into, especially if you have unresolved issues. Especially sexual issues.)

To RHM: You know what his girlfriend is probably doing while he’s in the other room jacking off? Jacking off. Couples that have been together a long time, and have work, volunteering, and other commitments don’t always want to jump into bed every night, and that’s okay. On the nights when partner feels frisky and the other doesn’t, they both need to be okay with being content with their right hand. And on nights when they’re both in the mood for a little self-love, masturbating with your partner is a great way to both get off, and still feel close.

To Bi Bi Bridie: Wow. You’re not ready to get married if your husband can’t accept that he’s marrying a bi woman, and that at some point, you’ll need an outlet besides lesbo porn. My fiancé and I are both bi, and early in the relationship we discussed that in depth. Our agreement? Bi dirty talk in bed, the occasional pegging for him, and a lot of oral sex for me. And if that’s not enough, we’ve both agreed that bringing someone else into the bedroom, with both partners there, is a reasonable outlet for both of us.

To Adam: I find it heartwarming, but misguided, that people think that the dickwads that run this country will give a shit if liberal heterosexual couples stop marrying—or at least enough of a shit to suddenly make gay marriage legal everywhere. So if you’re ready to get married, get married; But always remember you’re damn lucky to be able to do so, and let you voices be heard (on the internet, in letters to your congressmen, at uncomfortable Republican dinner parties). And if we still can’t secure the legal right to marry for everyone in this country, you can follow the plan that my fiancé and I plan to follow: We’re going to have several adorable children and teach them when they’re tots that some people love people of the same sex and that they have as much a right to get married as mommy and daddy. A future generation of pro–gay marriage voters will have more power than a handful of heteros refusing to go to the altar today.

Engaged Boston Babe

•••

In regards to your answer to Bi Bi Bridie, the engaged bisexual girl who misses the lesbian sex, I am in complete agreement with you, except for this: “his irrational ultimatums…”

To me this situation just seems to be one of basic sexual incompatibility. Asking that one’s future spouse remain faithful to you is not irrational; it’s something that many, many people consider a basic foundation for commitment or marriage. This guy isn’t comfortable with his wife having extramarital sex, regardless of gender. He wants monogamy; he doesn’t want to be cheated on. That doesn’t make him an irrational tyrant. It just makes him probably not the best long-term partner for someone who isn’t comfortable with long-term monogamy.

Another Perspective

•••

I’ve been reading your column for many years now. I consider you to be more enlightened than most of the populace, at least when it comes to human interaction. I frequently quote your advice even! So it felt like a kick in the nuts to see you make a wonderfully ignorant, flippant remark about schizophrenics and schizophrenia in your last column.

Do you remember when humor was the weapon used to justify persecuting homosexuals? Funny how mental illness is still fair game. It’s perfectly okay to make a joke about “schizos” and their “multiple personalities,” but the truth is, any mental illness can, and should be, treated no different than cancer, or HIV. I was diagnosed with schizophrenia nearly 10 years ago. I’m good looking, my IQ puts me in the top 10 percent, I’m successful, and I’d be glad to write your column for a week to prove I know the ins and outs of reality and human interaction just as well as any “normal” person. I don’t see or talk to God, I don’t cover my bedroom walls with tinfoil, I don’t feel like the CIA is spying on me, and I don’t start wars because God tells me to. Ninety-nine percent of schizophrenics are nonviolent, harm no one, and a huge portion do not live in a delusionary dream world. Most of us can function quite normally in society.

Perpetuating stereotypes about people who many times are misunderstood and ostracized does nothing but justify alienating them and making it acceptable to make them the brunt of jokes. I know it wasn’t intentional, Dan, but as I respect you, as I respect your intelligence and compassion, that means I need to hold you accountable.

Come on, Dan. You’re a hero to this skinny straight white boy, who happens to have a mental illness. Don’t be a Santorum.

Sincerely,

K. Graves

P.S. I don’t need a fucking acronym; I’m proud of who I am.

Our spies at the Secretary of State's office tell us that former state lawmaker John Kromko did indeed file his nominating petitions today.

We mention Kromko's campaign in this week's Skinny; for more on the races, check out this post from yesterday.

The Secretary of State's office is still compiling the list, but you can find out who's running for office here.

Since JB is off to reprazent TW at the big national Association of Alternatives Newsweeklies convention in Philly, I guess I'll mention that we've got a new issue just waiting for you to devour.

We'll link ya up to Ask a Mexican after we grill some burgers.

The Phoenix Mars Lander, under the control the UA Lunar and Planetary Lab, has been a busy little robot lab lately. Over the last few days, the robot arm has been working on its scooping technique, uncovering some white material which could be ice, could be salt, or could be some new freaky Martian cocaine. (OK, that last one is unlikely.) Meanwhile, the camera continues to snap photos amidst some minor technical difficulties.

The details from the latest release from the LPL:

Third Scoop is a Keeper for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander

Two practice rounds of digging and dumping the clumpy soil at the Martian arctic

site this week gave scientists and engineers gathered at The University of

Arizona confidence to begin using Phoenix's Robotic Arm to deliver soil samples

to instruments on the lander deck.

Those samples will not be collected before Thursday. Following Wednesday's

briefing on the mission, the Phoenix team learned that NASA's Odyssey orbiter,

which relays Phoenix data to and from Earth, had entered a "safe mode,"

preventing Wednesday's (or Sol 10) instructions from reaching the lander.

Instead, Phoenix will complete a sequence of commands that are already stored on

board. That sequence includes instructions for the lander to continue taking

images required to assemble a full-color 360-degree high-resolution panorama.

Odyssey mission managers are doing a check out of the orbiter to determine what

triggered the safe mode. During safe mode, the spacecraft turns off

non-essential operations and waits for instructions from Earth. In the

meantime, the Phoenix team has been directed to issue commands to the lander

and receive data through Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). While Phoenix has

been primarily utilizing Odyssey for relay services since MRO's UHF radio

unexpectedly powered off during a relay pass on Sol 2, the radio has been

exercised repeatedly over the past week and appears to be operating well.

The two practice digs have already enticed scientists about some bright material

in the soil just beneath the surface.

"Two scoops into the soil we see there's a white layer becoming visible in the

wall of the trench," said Carol Stoker of NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett

Field, Calif., a member of the Phoenix science team.

Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith said, "We've had an impassioned

discussion of whether that may be salts or ice or some other material even more

exotic."

Concentrations of salts can be indicators of formerly wet conditions. One goal

for the Phoenix mission is to determine whether the ice beneath the surface of

far-northern Mars ever thaws during long-term climate cycles.

The location chosen for the sample is adjacent to the hole dug by the two

practice scoops. The team plans to command the arm to deliver the sample to the

lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA), after it first receives images

to confirm that the scoop holds collected soil ready for delivery.

"The arm has been performing flawlessly," said Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu of NASA's

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, senior robotics engineer on the Phoenix Robotic Arm

team. The arm made daring, Tai Chi or Yoga-like moves to position the Robotic

Arm Camera to take pictures underneath the lander, and did its two test digs

"magnificently," he said.

Phoenix is the first mission to dig into Mars with a robotic arm since the

Viking landers in the 1970s.

"We have only dug to a depth of an inch or two, so we know there are challenges

ahead," Trebi-Ollennu added. "But we are confident that we'll get a good amount

of material to deliver to TEGA.?

In addition to the bright material seen where the arm collected test samples, a

layer of hard, light-toned substrate has been seen in images taken underneath

the lander by the Robotic Arm Camera.

"We think the lander is sitting on a layer of this white material that possibly

extends beyond, out into our work area," said Uwe Keller, Robotic Arm Camera

lead scientist from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research,

Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany.

Phoenix's telltale, which is part of the Canadian Space Agency's meteorological

package and the highest part of the lander, has proved to be very sensitive to

Martian winds, said Haraldur Gunnlaugsson of the University of Aarhus, Denmark,

which provided the device.

"A storm on Mars is a gentle hand movement on Earth," Gunnlaugsson said. Surface

Stereo Imager images of the telltale show a diurnal pattern to Martian winds.

Winds come from the south in the morning, blow in from the north by mid-day,

from the west in the afternoon, and again from the south by the end of the day.

Knowledge of wind direction and speed is important to prevent possible

contamination of samples during digging.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project

management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver.

International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University

of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark;

Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

PHOENIX MARS MISSION WEBLINKS:

http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu

http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix

Just got this in the mailbox:

U.S. REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS ENDORSES BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

TUCSON – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords released the following statement today about the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

Now that all primaries and caucuses have concluded, I am enthusiastically endorsing Senator Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

Since the outset of this historic race for the White House, I have been impressed by the intellect and patriotism of both Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama. They have demonstrated the passion and wisdom to move our nation towards a brighter future. I respect and admire both of them.

Every state has had a chance to vote and Barack Obama has emerged with more support. In becoming a delegate for him, I recognize his inspiring and thoughtful leadership that brought him to the finish line. I am proud to join Governor Janet Napolitano and millions of voters throughout the country in supporting Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. I agree with his policy priorities and his commitment to create a cooperative and bipartisan era in American politics. In states large and small, Barack Obama has shared his hope, optimism, and vision of what is possible. Americans from all walks of life see in him someone who can truly change our nation. I do as well.

It has been a spirited contest between two amazing individuals, engaging record numbers of citizens in our democracy. While ultimately not achieving the nomination, Hillary Clinton helped motivate this extraordinary level of participation. She is one of the most capable national leaders in America whose accomplishments on critical policy matters and advocacy for others have made our country a better place. Her dedication to public service is remarkable and her ongoing work will help us address the many challenges facing the United States and the world.

A thank you to Mr. Nintzel, and while I'm at it, an apology to the Pima County Board of Supervisors and our blog readers who I have mislead to believe (if they do indeed believe our blog entries) that under Arizona's public-meetings law the supes in executive session can vote in secret.

They can't. You are right, Nintz. 'Tis illegal. The only thing that might be different is what is reflected in the minutes to protect personnel information, etc.

So, after that self-kick-in-the-ass, I also want to let everyone know that the supes voted today, in open, to not appeal Judge Michael Miller's ruling that provides not just the Pima County Democrats, but all political parties, the remaining elections data base files. The vote was unanimous.

Election-integrity activist John Brakey was present, and toward the end of the meeting, he reached out to the supervisors (including a special thank you to Republican Supervisor Ann Day for getting on board) and county staff. Brakey asked the supes to work with him, Jim March and others interested in future Pima County elections, specifically regarding any new equipment or elections systems the county may purchase to replace its current Diebold machines. Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has already said he agrees with the activists about using regular-old scanners to scan individual ballots to post on the Internet as another step toward more election transparency, although the Secretary of State isn't so keen on the idea.

Brakey told the supes he and his colleagues believe it will only cost $111,000 to get this kind of system, rather than the $5 million discussed in the past. Brakey said the county needs to keep its existing Diebold machines and work with new scanners--since all involved know the problems and how to work with the Diebold system--rather than hetting new electronic elections equipment on the market. See the full report he presented to the supes here.

And speaking about elections and all that, slate.com had an interesting article posted last week worth sinking your election paranoid teeth into as Pima County gets through round one (final round?) of what the Slate writer might describe as election=fraud hysteria. Another Slate article posted last year gives another national perspective on election fraud, and just what those trusty (pesky) political parties are could be up to.