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May 29, 2012

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Re: Arizona Commerce Authority, I'd say yes,it will hopefully be revealed someday as the boondoggle for AZ biz fat-cats that it is, but surely not by the current AZ Attorney General.

Is it just possible that some worldliness will penetrate the Gov's permafrost? Near as I can tell, the Kooks don't get out in the world much unless it is to attend political events and ALEC conferences with birds of their feather.

I understand she went to the Berlin Wall and signed her name with the word "Freedom." Yet she wants to build a wall along our border, not tear one down.

Great column, Jon.

Its about her run for US senator

Side note: replies to AZRebel and koreyel in the previous thread. I'm behind on time so will look at the current one tomorrow.

There are many MD helicopters in Europe, so many parts sales from here to there.

Maybe she'll bring a Kookoo clock factory back with her.

C'mon. "Brewer"...beer...Germany. It's not a great leap.

Nor is, Arizona...mein kampf.

Disagree on the German tourism. Now, take this from a first-generation German-American - Germans love Arizona, western kitsch, the Grand Canyon and Cruise America campers. They don't get that in Miami. At one point, there were Lufthansa flights to Sky Harbor from Frankfurt. Germans tend to arrive at other hubs, though, and drive their way into Arizona.

This does not mean Brewer's kook status is revoked, or that her trip is anything more than a junket!

Wandering Justin is absolutely correct about German tourism in Arizona. They LOVE the state & its heat; perhaps, even the state's kooks.

It is true that Germans have a love of the American West, going back to the novels of Karl May. But you have to get the direct flights. As for them loving Kookocracy, no. The Germans have direct experience of where extremism leads.

Jon I spoke with you briefly at the Biltmore book signing to let you know that I appreciated and look forward to your posts. You find the words and sense of comprehension for what is going on with the wing nuts that are controlling this state. Great column. Please keep them coming.

This is just a nice way for a bunch of republicans to get a free vacation to europe. Have a good time and declare the trip a success and you have a free vacation. Very simple really!

Ein Bier bitte.

You can count on no real transparency. Last year Brewer claimed the China mission cost the tax payers 24k. In realty ACA spent more than 40k alone on an outside contractor to plan and set up the trip. The Commerce Authority is now just an easy place to hide cost.

Brewer does not appear to generate much interest.

"The Commerce Authority is now just an easy place to hide cost."

Correction: ARIZONA is an easy place to hide cost. This is THE fundamental truth of Arizona. The costs can only be briefly hidden. The cloak unravels.

Since the mid 1800's the white supremacists have been siphoning the gold out of Arizona.

And that gold will be a huge factor in the race for president.

Great column. Mr. Talton wrote in part:

"Speaking of getting out, what about a "trade mission" to Mexico, Arizona's largest trade partner. Awkward."

Though it makes far more sense from the standpoint of economic trade, a trip to Mexico is not the same as a trip to Europe, is it? Brewer got to see the Eiffel Tower and the Brandenburg Gate at taxpayer expense, instead of inhaling the smog of Mexico City and enjoying tacos from a street vendor.

No doubt the little provincial governor was dazzled by the sights and the savoir-faire; and of course the Europeans are old hands at foreign diplomacy: they know how to charm while promising nothing of substance. With a multi-course meal at a three-star (Michelin) restaurant, and plenty of (good) wine at every stage, "success" is a state of mind.

http://www.lemeurice.com/restaurants-bars

My top 4 reasons:

1) She wants to chew Angela Merkel out on the tarmac and build her kook creds for another book deal.

2) She wants a German firearms maker to open a factory in AZ, arguing that we have plenty of cheap, non-unionized, Nazi-tattooed labor.

3) She is advocating for major German companies to locate their call centers in Phoenix. (Although, since every German she meets speaks better English than she does, I suspect she won't have much luck).

4) Germany is just an excuse. On the way back she is going to drop in on the Bahamas for a face lift.

Allow me to echo James Hannon's praise.

Rogue Columnist has certainly changed the way I view the news. A few years ago I wouldn't have paid much attention to a brief Business section blurb about Warren Buffett's recent address to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, though the latter is arguably the nation's most prestigious stock. Here's what Buffett had to say about railroads (Berkshire owns BNSF Railway), a subject near and dear to Mr. Talton's heart:

"Economics are on our side, because we can move a ton of products 500 miles on a gallon of diesel.… In terms of congestion and emissions, railroads are all advantage. Some $3.9 billion will be spent this year to expand and improve railroad infrastructure, and the country will be better off."

This, from a fellow who says "Thanks, but no thanks" to Apple and Google:

"We steer clear of companies where we don't have a reasonable idea about how the industry will develop within five to 10 years. Consider Apple and Google: Both are extraordinary companies. They may well be worth a lot more 10 years from now, but we would not want to own them -- or bet against them."

http://www.usatoday.com/USCP/PNI/Business/2012-05-27-PNIbiz-sun-market05272012Republic1BusinessMktPNIBrd_ST_U.htm

This seems to say a lot about the future of rail. Calling it an "all-in wager on the economic future of the United States", Berkshire bought the entire stock of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation, the parent company of BNSF Railway, the largest acquisition in Berkshire Hathaway history.

http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/NOV0309.pdf

Berkshire Hathaway has been around for 44 years. Buffett has a long-term investment philosophy based on fundamentals that does not always please the speculators. That said, it seems to have served the company well: Berkshire stock returned 76 percent from 2000 through 2009 versus the S&P 500's negative 24 percent. Going back to 1977, Berkshire has returned annual gains of 27.7% versus 8.8% for the S&P 500.

http://www.gurufocus.com/news/80400/warren-buffett-and-berkshire-hathaway-have-a-great-decade

Please pardon the digression.

BNSF - Big, Noisy, Slow, F@(!in' Railway

Smokey Dhoo-doo

Normally it is not smart to text from a Stupid Urban Vehicle (SUV), but in the above case, since you were embedded in freeway gridlock with car-skank watering your eyes, your uninspired blat should be forgiven, at least from the public safety point of view...

One more thing:

Haven't the kooks in AZ passed (or tried to pass) some sort of internet ordinance banning free speech in regards to profanity next to their holy names? Aye. And isn't it wonderful that they have played their thin-skin cards so noisily? Aye.

Which is all to suggest that the new national intellectual sport should be the creative insulting of AZ Republicans. Sharpen your word-swords ladies and gentleman -- and when they next expose their rectums (like clockwork)-- plunge it in to the hilt.

Right on Koreyel
More of that good singing

I totally disagree about German Tourists- they land en masse in Las Vegas and populate quite a bit of the tourist destinations of Northern Az- I used to cater to them extensively when I worked up in Williams. Route 66 is big in Germany, along with cowboys and indians. Las Vegas is a far better flight coming in from overseas than Phoenix- this place is too far south for the Grand Canyon and Glitter Gulch.

Phoenix is the problem with your tourist cred- it just has almost no pull for summer vacations. Winter time it fights with much shorter jaunts to Miami and the Islands from Europe.

Face it, you can't move the Canyon South, and the blue hairs don't want Vegas here, which means we are pretty blah.

As for the young hip Snotsdale crowd, they are just here for the cheap LA vibe.

I flew the direct Lufthansa flight, and coming back here through the laughable SkyHarbor customs setup was a Royal Pain in the You know What! I had some items that they would not allow me through the terminal with (pre9/11), and to get my bags I literally had to corner the poor manager (in German) to get him to finish getting 10 people's bags across to the counters. After a very long flight, finding our airport stupidity was not high on my list of ever doing it again.

It is one dang long haul to Europe from Phoenix, and you can't supplement the scrawny business stuff with enough tourists to matter.

We have a giant airport, but we don't have real trade.

PS- My Dad's cousins always had relatives fly in to Vegas, and met up with them.

"Citizen AllenM" can you pls email me. Thank you. ref. "Egbert and Yogini Christie"

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