Blogging will be sporadic and maybe light over the next several days, because there's, like, a holiday and stuff. Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone.

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Also, if you want to be one of our Top Friends and/or be included on our photo page, send us a picture of you reading the Weekly. Even better, if you're traveling, send us a pic of you reading the Weekly at a landmark.

Spiffy, eh?

America Worst America West US Airways is in a bit of hot water after removing six Muslim imams from a plane to Phoenix because they dared to, um, pray.

That's all we know. If all the imams did was pray, then US Airways deserves all the criticism they can get.

And if the name Omar Shahin sounds familiar, there's a reason why: He's a former Tucsonan.

I've always liked the outspokenness of Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. His politics have been OK, too. But now he's proposing that the country reinstate the draft.

What in the fuck?

The Dems have not even taken power yet, and they're already trying to piss of the public and mess things up. What is he thinking? Well, here's what he told The Associated Press:

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said Sunday he sees his idea as a way to deter politicians from launching wars.

''There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm's way,'' Rangel said.

Rangel, a veteran of the Korean War who has unsuccessfully sponsored legislation on conscription in the past, has said the all-volunteer military disproportionately puts the burden of war on minorities and lower-income families.

His points may have validity, but good God, man. This is not going to play well. I can hear the complaints now: Those Democrats want to send me/my kid/my grandkid into the Army!

This is not good. Not good at all.

Whether you love or hate Michael Moore, he's not going away, and he's not going to shut up (which is what I particularly love about him).

In this op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times, Moore wants to offer an olive branch to conservative Republicans to reassure them that everything is going to be OK.

On Wednesday, the pro-family-as-long-as-they-fit-our-narrow-definition-of-family Center for Arizona policy conceded that their baby, Proposition 107, had indeed failed.

While the defeat of 107 is great news for equality, fairness and love all around, rest assured: the Center for Arizona Policy folks are not going away. The concession statement should be required reading for everyone involved, even tangentially, in the fight for equality, fairness and love.

Thankfully, downtown's La Placita won't be turning beige. The colorful palette was a bit jarring when it made its debut a few years ago, but it has grown on me, and, apparently, many other Tucsonans. Bourn Partners, which owns the complex, must have heard our collective groans when it announced earlier this year it planned to repaint the place. Reports at the time said they considered the garish colors weren't conducive to business. Maybe they've since realized La Placita didn't perform too well in its original beige, either. Since the location performs occasional duty as background for photos, I'll be interested in seeing how the new scheme works.

There's a little thing in journalism we like to call "full disclosure." Full disclosure mandates that before I tell you about one of the best live music shows in Tucson in the past six months, you know it occurred at a bar run by one of my good friends.

Normally, a posting in this space in the context of said disclosure loses credibility when I praise the tremendous turnaround and rise of The Hut as a live music venue. But for those of us who remember The Hut as a seedy outpost of canned reggae and shady characters that we scurried past on our way to hipper destinations, the transformation over the past year has been nothing short of amazing.

New management invested in a state-of-the-art PA system and slowly and steadily edged its way onto the Fourth Avenue music scene by featuring a wide variety of local and out-of-town musicians. Last night was a coming out party of sorts for The Hut, in front of a small but fortunate crowd treated to the rockin' Bolshevik Revolution that is The Red Elvises.

If you saw the swingingest and cheesiest band this side of the Caspian Sea recently at Plush, the Rockabilly Russians (and one dude from Minnesota) elevated their pajama-clad act with Chuck Berry (via Marty McFly) guitar riffs, the only four-person drum solo I've ever seen, near-perfect sound, singalong lyrics, an ICBM-sized bass guitar, and the slinkiest, sassiest female keyboard/accordion soloist to ever strut the stage in a gold cutaway mini-dress.

In a heavy Russian accent, bass player Oleg Bernov sang, "We gonna rock this joint until we sound like Pink Floyd." And rock they did, complete with a bar-length conga line and one of four encores featuring female volunteers (and one male) joining the band on stage to answer the musical call, "I Want To See You Belly Dance."

The only ironic homage to The Hut of old was the finale, when zebra-striped lead singer and guitarist Igor Yusov crooned, "Natasha's Playing Reggae."

But now I border on hyperbole. I'll let photos and video speak for themselves. The camera phone does not lie (although its audio leaves much to be desired). 

Videos

Four-person drum solo

Guitar, bass and keyboard jam

Rock until we sound like Pink Floyd

Photos  

As many of you know, I write the Police Dispatch column in every issue. I've noticed a similar story in a handful of reports coming from the Pima County Sheriff's Department during the past few weeks: parents who are unable to get unruly teenagers off computers, resulting in their kids taking an all-expense-paid trip to the Pima County Juvenile Detention Center. You can read about one of the latest cases in the Nov. 23 Police Dispatch.

Is so-called Internet/computer addiction a "fad illness," as one expert claims in this New York Times article, or is it something far more sinister? I don't know. But perhaps it's time for our nation's leaders, who love labeling every government campaign a "war," to declare combat on excessive computer usage. Otherwise, we may have to let meth addicts out of the clink to make room for World of Warcraft junkies.

RUDASILL ROAD AND LA CANADA DRIVE

OCT. 23, 5:54 P.M.

An officer of the court who was attempting to serve a civil summons in a hit-and-run case accused an elderly man of threatening him with a revolver, a Pima County Sheriff's Department report stated.

The process server said he knocked on the front door at the address where he was supposed to deliver the summons, and an elderly man stepped outside after trying to keep a herd of small dogs from escaping the home. As the server was talking to the man, he noticed the gentleman was holding what appeared to be an older-model revolver by the barrel.

The man told the server the person he was looking for no longer lived at that address. The server, however, said the Pima County Assessor's Office indicated the individual in question actually owned the residence. In response, the elderly man said the assessor's office was wrong, but refused to give his name.

The server alleged that the man kept passing the gun between his hands as he was talking to him, and then he noticed he was holding the revolver by its handle in his right hand and was pointing it at his chest. The man, whom the server said smelled strongly of alcohol, then allegedly issued a profanity-laced directive to leave the property.

Two deputies went to the residence after the process server phoned authorities from a nearby Albertsons. The elderly man at first refused to come outside or answer any questions, but then opened up when one of the deputies told him he just wanted to get his side of the story. According to the report, the man's breath reeked of alcohol.

The man told authorities that the process server had "given him a lot of shit" after he had told him the individual he was looking for didn't reside at that residence anymore. He claimed the server never identified himself as an officer of the court, but did admit to answering the door with a revolver.

The man reportedly told deputies he "always" answers the door with a weapon, because his home had been burglarized numerous times in the past. He eventually gave deputies his name but refused to part with his date of birth or phone number. He said any further communication would have to be channeled through his lawyer.

No arrests were made at the time of the report. The officer of the court was still attempting to identify the gun-toting man who had answered the door, to see if he was the one he was supposed to serve.