Coming: The story that keeps on giving

AZ Congress Watch links to two more angles on the Rick Renzi story today, one from Harper's and the other from Roll Call. At this rate the Congressman will soon need his own weekly supplement.

Letters: A spanking for the Elks, a cookie for the editors

Today's assorted mailbag brings us a nice bouquet of posies from a couple of recent immigrants fleeing commie-occupied San Bernardino, and a smackdown of Parker Anderson blaming the audience for not showing up at the Elks.

I've got that bone to pick with Parker as well, and if all goes well you'll see it in Read It Here pretty soon.

B1, Jackson: "The beauty of Prescott Pops Symphony"

Thanks for covering the Pops, Jerry. You're right about that rock.

Editorial: "Monogram's plan is worth consideration"

Walled enclaves good. More houses inevitable. Zombie say send more concrete.

A1: "Smoking ban unpopular at PV bars"

I'm so surprised. Nice little stroke in here for Brad Fain, though.

A1: "Police look for men who sped away in Jeep"

I expect there'll be a followup to this clunky police-report filing by Mirsada Buric, since it raises a few very pointed questions among those of us who remember the carnage left by a high-speed chase into Prescott from PV a few years ago and the official excitement about (and big money spent on) regional dispatch facilities. From a writing standpoint, the paper had all day to work on this one, it shouldn't read like it was dashed off in the five minutes before deadline.

O'Reilly: "Not sad to see Rosie leave 'The View'"

Bill looks into the mirror and anoints himself as an oracle. Carried more or less verbatim -- the odd exception being the Courier's deletion of 'Ms.' from his references to O'Donnell -- under the headline "Adieu, Rosie." If you're really bored, check out billoreilly.com for the columns that the Courier didn't carry, and speculate on why the editors find this one more interesting.

Happy Holiday

The first of May has a grand tradition as a holiday, going back millenia, due to its position more or less halfway between the solstice and equinox. Whether for you it's Beltane, Walpurgisnacht, International Workers Day, Labor Day or just plain May Day, live it up.

The US is characteristically odd one out on this because of the Red Scare, which moved our Labor Day to September, but it's still a sort-of-official day, as noted by The New York Times, "Law Day."

In keeping with tradition, President Bush has issued a proclamation inviting Americans today to “celebrate the Constitution and the laws that protect our rights and liberties.” It rings more than a little hollow, though, as he continues to trample on civil liberties in the war on terror, and stands by an attorney general who has politicized the Justice Department to a shocking degree.

The less committed a president is to the law, the more need there is for Law Day, which makes it a holiday whose time has come.