The Phoenix Civic Center, built with the support of Councilman Barry Goldwater, was seen as an example of profligacy by hardcore right-wingers. This side of the center faces Central. Today most of the site is the Phoenix Art Museum.
It is tempting to see the likes of Diane Douglas, John Huppenthal, Tom Horne-y, "Better Call Sal" DiCiccio and the entire Kookocracy as a recent phenomenon in Arizona. It's certainly comforting to us natives.
Barry Goldwater wasn't raving mad, we will tell you (the "lobbing one into the men's room of the Kremlin" was a joke). He came to regret his early opposition to federal civil rights laws, and was instrumental in helping desegregate Phoenix's schools. He desegregated Goldwater's Department Store, as well as promoting minority managers. As a city councilman, Goldwater supported public improvements, including bonds for the 1950 Civic Center (and he backed every Phoenix bond measure thereafter). In the 1980s and 1990s, Arizona's new conservatives repudiated him.
The truth is that Arizona was always a conservative state, in a narrow definition of the term. But for decades most citizens understood it wouldn't have existed without enormous federal largesse. No wonder majorities voted for FDR all four times he stood for the presidency. Sen. Carl Hayden was a progressive and New Deal Democrat. His fellow Democratic Senator, Ernest McFarland was the father of the GI Bill.
But the Kookocracy has roots that reach back more than half a century in Phoenix, to a forgotten City Council election.
In 1961, the Charter Government Committee had ruled City Hall for 13 years, as Phoenix had grown from a small to a big city. Every two years it put up a slate of non-partisan candidates, known for their community work, and every two years the slate won.
Charter's philosophy was pro-growth pragmatic "businessmen's government" that also responded to the needs of an expanding city. It frowned on professional politicians who would become place-holders on Council. Charter especially supported a professional city manager, operating by the best practices laid down by such organizations as the National Municipal League.
As Phoenix did such things as accept federal funds for infrastructure, to alleviate poverty, and attempt to put a housing code in place, Council began to attract increasing opposition. A big part of it was from the John Birch Society, which had grown robust in the state with the influx of newcomers in the 1950s. What had been a solidly Democratic state began to turn competitive for Republicans.
The Birchers mounted a serious challenge to Charter in the 1961 elections. Led by the Rev. Aubrey Moore, the Stay American Committee (SAC) put up a slate of candidates. Their opposition to the housing code, combined with that of minorities who feared being evicted from their modest homes if they didn't meet code, caused Council to reverse course.
But this was only the beginning of SAC's grievances. To them, Charter's candidates were stooges of a one-world government conspiracy — if not outright communists. Public improvements were a threat to freedom. The National Municipal League was a stalking horse for totalitarianism. Schoolchildren collecting funds for UNICEF was a sign of the United Nation's designs on Phoenix. (I wish I was making all this up). Zoning was the first step toward Bolshevism.
Historian Philip VanderMeer points out that while SAC tried to portray itself as a local, grassroots organization, it was actually a national movement being run in several cities around the country. "Its conspiracy theories reflected the beliefs of the John Birch Society, to which at least several of its members belonged."
If you are looking for a proto-ALEC and "vast right-wing conspiracy," here it was. The John Birch Society included a number of wealthy businessmen. Fred Koch, father of Charles and David, was a founding member.
Charter won, not least because Goldwater himself denounced SAC and Eugene Pulliam's Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette campaigned vigorously against it. But the new (old) reactionary right had laid down its first marker.
Another came quickly, when Glendale Pontiac dealer Evan Mecham, heavily supported by the Birchers (and Mormons), ran against Carl Hayden in 1962.
Chief aide Roy Elson was so concerned about Arizona's changing population that he orchestrated a campaign to "reintroduce" Hayden to the state, according to historian Jack August. Hayden had represented Arizona since statehood. The effort was highlighted by Carl Hayden Day, where the 84-year-old senator was honored at the Westward Ho Hotel. President John F. Kennedy flew into Phoenix to attend.
Hayden ended up winning by nearly 55 percent. But the angry 45 percent that backed Mecham only grew.
To be sure, the city and state's fate were not sealed. Charter faced an even more formidable challenge two years later from a left-of-center slate of candidates. Arizona's Republican Party included such pragmatists as John J. Rhodes at the national level and Burton Barr in the state Legislature. The state was competitive as late as the early 2000s, and most of Phoenix today is a purple city and the heart of it is blue.
But the seeds of Kookocracy had been planted. And they keep trying to win control of Phoenix City Council.
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My book, A Brief History of Phoenix, is available to buy or order at your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon.
Read more Phoenix history in Rogue's Phoenix 101 archive.
Stay American Committee (!!!): barbarians at the gates indeed. Truth is stranger than fiction as they say.
Posted by: Jerry McKenzie | May 18, 2015 at 05:19 PM
Rogue, that clarifies a lot. Thanks
Posted by: jmav | May 18, 2015 at 06:16 PM
The Reverend was laid to rest this January in MISSISSIPPI!
Posted by: cal Lash | May 18, 2015 at 06:49 PM
With all due respect Jon the four pols u mention at the beginning of this piece are nothing more than stooges of the real power currently running AZ. The not so overt Russell Pearce Jihadists are running the state. But not being the Teflon Dons like Russell was. Goals, destroy Phoenix and Tucson ambitions and keep the state "White",
and in the control of rural LDS POLS. And lacking building houses and commercial buildings, keep the bucks flowing to the faithful through ADOT projects. 202, 303 and cut a contract with the native Americans to bypass Phoenix. Well that's OK with me considering the I-10 through historical Phoenix. As we destroy the middle east, the cradle of the world, we concrete and asphalt the Great Sonoran Desert. What's left of it..
Posted by: cal Lash | May 19, 2015 at 12:02 AM
ADOT spokesman tell Arizona news casters that lawsuits will not stop (LDS) construction companies from pouring new unneeded freeway. The continued control of the state by FLDS KOOKS will continue to bleed the beast. Bleeding the Beast. A tactic now adopted by the no compromise Tea Party.
Posted by: cal Lash | May 19, 2015 at 01:02 AM
It's depressing to live here.
Posted by: Patricia | May 19, 2015 at 06:33 AM
cal, I'm not completely disagreeing on a state level. But how do you explain Utah? There the Saints are in almost complete control, yet it has a robust technology economy, great light rail and commuter rail, a revived downtown Salt Lake (and SLC is more diverse), etc.?
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | May 19, 2015 at 08:36 AM
Utah is easy, they have a long term perspective in the LDS leadership- planning for the next decades is nothing to them, and they like where they live.
In some ways, looking at the difference where LDS leaders run local government shows exactly the difference. Why does Mesa value education, and Sun City denigrate it? Living here versus retiring here. I used to live up in Cave Creek/Carefree, but I knew as soon as they built those large retirement communities around Tatum Ranch the school district would start collapsing, because that would be the end of voting for overrides to maintain top level schools.
Sure enough, in the ten years since we moved down into Phoenix, splat go the schools.
Cheap rich people don't make much of a society, and a large concentration of them is Galt's Gulch dry for civic pride and participation.
Outside of free parades.
Some of the most rabid far right folks came from the west and east coasts, and just hate taxes. So here they are- bringing their past hatreds here, and inflicting them on the rest of us.
Strip out the retirement communities, and Phoenix is in reality, a much smaller city. That city is what is experiencing growth, but too slow to take up all of the local graduates of higher education.
I really blame the big sort, plus the fact that people are resentful of places they came from for having higher taxes, so they fear that kind of transformation will take place here. That said, the political outcome here is more of what happens when your government starts failing from the inability to accomplish the minimum level of services.
The unease with which the LDS community is starting to view the hardcore rightwing tea party is about the only hope for real reform in Arizona. That fracture could easily spell the end of Republican dominance, and it will happen with the flick of switch as subtle influence is wielded from Salt Lake in countless stake meetings. The LDS church wants new converts in Latin America, and the Russell Pearce white power immigration train threatens their expansion strategy. That, more than anything else, explains how one of the most powerful politicians in Arizona was recalled and essentially destroyed.
The quiet power of the LDS church has been deployed in their construction of their new network of Temples, and their patience in overcoming any community objection is a lesson in long term exertion of will.
Now, I was talking with a young guy on the make in the stake about how things would change regarding gays and the LDS church, and he was skeptical (right after the California referendum fiasco), and sure enough, they have started calibrating a bigger tent to make their religion more mainstream. Kind of amazing how flexible their doctrine can become as revelations flow out of the ruling council in Salt Lake.
It has been revealed ;-)
The LDS powerblock, much more than the Hispanics, will continue to sit in the swing seat of Arizona politics, and if they decide that the Dems are a better deal, woof, it shall be so. And then Arizona will be democratic, well, sort of democratic.
Oddly enough, I think the biggest wedge issue for the LDS community is education, because destroying the education system impoverishes the community, and they view themselves as the custodian of their communities.
Posted by: Concern Troll | May 19, 2015 at 09:35 AM
Jon, Concern Troll had it correct. Big difference in Utah LDS and Arizona ' s somewhat FLDS. Got it right about LDS expansion also. However in my opinion LDS is an Economic engine covered with a religious shep skin. And Utah could easily become more FLDS in the future. The AG there after prosecuting polygamist rapists has come out in favor of legislation legalizing polygomy. And The FLDS Kingston Family (see Mother Jones article) continues to be the USA ' S largest religious bleed the beast mafia. So as concern Troll points out the church here could move slightly left as could the Utah Council of 12 Apostles go hard right. It just takes a message from God to the Head prophet for the resererection of Joe Smith and 14 year old girls will be legally Prophet's Prey (SE book by Sam Brower).
Posted by: cal Lash | May 19, 2015 at 11:55 AM
And the Council of 12 is made up of really old white guys as is the problem with most religions. Old men are dangerous as they have little to lose except their stupid pride.
Posted by: cal Lash | May 19, 2015 at 12:01 PM
Let me be clear. I do not think LDS ism is the world's worst religion. It just happens to be more dominant in AZ. If I was forced to choose a religion and had decided not to kill my self, Mormonism would be at the top of my list.
But thst said.
"It's all bull shit and it's bad for you".
George Carlin
Posted by: cal Lash | May 19, 2015 at 12:10 PM
If it is this country's destiny to have a female President, I guess Lindsey Graham will do. At least, it will finally get her significant other, John McCain in the White House, as First Spouse.
Together they could start a war on every continent.
Posted by: Common cents | May 19, 2015 at 01:05 PM
I disagree with your comments about going more FLDS- I think the LDS church is willing to use gay marriage to get adult polygamy back on the table. That is, and will be a goal. The underage stuff is still considered to be anathema to the current ruling set in Salt Lake, because of the result of FLDS. That set of outcomes, complete with inbreeding depression quite frankly scares the old men, because it shows the sins of too much patriachal control (the Jeffs family dictatorship), plus they understand how without marriage, a lot of the polygamous families use the social welfare safety net to support their lifestyles.
Of all these issues, the one that finally forced permission to Shurtleff and Utah to move on FLDS was the genetic damage from inbreeding depression.
See this: http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/14/us-usa-mormons-genes-idUSN0727298120070614
Now, see what happens when you do intense cousin breeding after only 70 some years? Let alone the loss of intelligence and other health effects.
Say what you want about the folks in charge of LDS, but they are definitely smart, and they definitely have a much longer view than our local politicians.
That is the point I have trying to make, their long view means they will change what party they support based on which party does a better job of supporting their long range goals, and picayune things like the tea party independence and succession issues just don't count to them.
And they have the discipline to make their changes stick for a large portion of the population of this state.
Posted by: Concern Troll | May 19, 2015 at 03:03 PM
Concern Troll, I agree with you on all the above.
While They could turn stricter it wouldnot be good for the long term financial plan.
From my phone while tenfing to a relative at JC Lincoln.
Later.
Posted by: cal Lash | May 19, 2015 at 03:38 PM
Many eons ago I predicted on this blog that one day Russell Pearce would become an embarrassment that the church would have to deal with and they did.
Posted by: Cal Lash | May 19, 2015 at 07:43 PM
Rogue wrote:
"Historian Philip VanderMeer points out that while SAC tried to portray itself as a local, grassroots organization, it was actually a national movement being run in several cities around the country. "Its conspiracy theories reflected the beliefs of the John Birch Society, to which at least several of its members belonged." "
Who was it being run by? (Pointing out similarities to JBS beliefs and a small overlap in membership is not the same as asserting, much less documenting, organizational control by the JBS.). I just think this bone needs more meat on it.
Old newspaper reports indicate that a few years later the group (SAC) had its membership "reorganized" by another local Baptist minister, Rev. Wesley A. Darby.
Of what did this reorganization consist? What if any differences in the group's positions existed before and after? Why was a reorganization necessary, and on whose instigation and authority did it take place?
Why was the Baptist church (or a section of it) chosen as the face of this group? Was this in imitation of reform minded church leaders involved in civic politics?
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 19, 2015 at 09:21 PM
Interesting suggestion by Concern Troll that the LDS could potentially be a swing vote in Arizona politics. But as appealing as it is, does any evidence of LDS support of Democratic Party candidates exist?
In Utah all of the state's executive offices are held by Republicans (Gov & Lt Gov, Treasurer, Atty Gen). Republicans hold more than 80 percent of the seats in both branches of the state legislature. Both U.S. Senators and all four U.S. Representatives are Republican. The last Democratic presidential candidate to receive the state's electoral college votes was LBJ.
If I were going to believe in LDS as a swing vote it would have to be between two versions of Republican politics: mainstream and Tea Party. What was their role in getting rid of Russell Pearce?
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 19, 2015 at 10:16 PM
From "LDS Living" on the downfall of Russell Pearce:
"Immigration was a factor in his defeat — in large part because the Mormon Church decided that it should be."
http://www.ldsliving.com/story/66621-mormons-oust-mormon-why-russell-pearce-lost
Its actually reprinted from the Washington Post but the fact that this LDS periodical chose to carry it with the title used seems significant to me.
But note who the LDS candidate was: a Republican charter school owner. Given the political demographics of that district they could scarcely have supported a Democrat as an opposition candidate, but I don't see any evidence they would have wanted to anyway.
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 19, 2015 at 10:29 PM
Re Salt Lake City's downtown revitalization:
" The early Mormon pioneers, who originally settled in Salt Lake City, adopted a form of consecration whereby crops grown and products produced were divided among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in local congregations. This enabled new settlers to have the food and products they needed after they made the rigorous journey to Salt Lake City. This exchange was eventually organized into what would become Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI)."
"... Starting in the 1960s, revitalization efforts began, spearheaded by the LDS Church, who had always considered downtown their home. During the '60s, they built the ZCMI Center Mall on a full city block of land that had previously housed the ZCMI department store, preserving the historic storefront. The Church also leased land to a developer to build Crossroads Mall."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Salt_Lake_City
Now, the article makes several points clear. First, Mormons have a long history of collectivism, even if it is insular and self-directed. They even named the ZCMI Center Mall after the mercantile co-op. Second, they have an interest in preserving their own history. This too is insular: note that the Amussen Jewelry building, which was the city's oldest and most architecturally significant building, was torn down to build the mall.
This leads us to another theme of SLC downtown revitalization: build malls at the expense of storefront businesses; not just the one mall, but several.
So it seems that historic preservation tended to depend on whether church history was at stake or not. And I'm not sure whether the revitalization model used is really one that meets the standard of Rogue Columnist.
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 19, 2015 at 10:59 PM
I have friends that work and live in downtown Salt Lake. They contend the air pollution is worse than in Phoenix.
Despite King James bible scripture many religious folks treat the earth like a soiled diaper. Use and toss it in the garbage Maybe because there is no need to care about the earth when your destined to go to heaven. Maybe even have your own heaven and god like powers.
Nature willing the Javelinas will not munch on my plants tonite and in the morn I will watch the birds and rabbits eat together at a table I prepare for them each day.
Posted by: cal Lash | May 19, 2015 at 11:27 PM
Re Utah's commuter and light rail systems:
The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is based on 1969 state legislation that gave local communities the legal authority to construct public transit funded on a portion of local sales taxes, with county approval. So, despite a state charter it is locally funded and controlled, and started when several towns banded together to create bus service connecting them.
The county commission opposed a lousy quarter-cent sales tax increase for light rail (TRAX). It went forward because UTA leadership was gung-ho and because Uncle Sam ponied up the dough.
UTA had what might generously be termed seed money: savings that it used to buy part of the line's right of way from Union Pacific Railroad. Then, it got a $250 million grant from the federal government that paid 80 percent of the light rail construction costs. The fact that Salt Lake City was to host the Olympics probably helped secure a grant of this size and expedited the delivery of funds and other resources.
http://www.rideuta.com/news/2014/12/road-to-rail/
Funding details are tough to come by. The Wiki entry for UTA contains only one cagey, single-sentence paragraph in a long article:
"A great deal of UTA's funding and fiscal stability comes from permanent taxation, specifically a portion of the local sales tax when authorized by a specific county."
So, it looks to me that part of the answer is strong, progressive transit authority leadership; part is federal largesse; and part is old state legislation giving progressive local governments the ability to take matters into their own hands using local sales taxes as a revenue source.
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 20, 2015 at 12:04 AM
P.S. When I said that "it" went forward, I meant the light rail (TRAX), not the quarter cent sales tax (which was voted down).
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 20, 2015 at 12:08 AM
That post got messed up by the text editor somehow. Second try:
My personal experience of javelinas is that they are big, unpredictable creatures that can be skittish or bold, and are somewhat unpredictable. I once had a troop of javelinas come through a wash where I was bedded down, and in response to movements and the tossing of handfuls of dirt and pebbles, they just stood there, with one particularly aggressive specimen glaring weirdly at me. He eventually came over and tried taking bites out of the tarp I was sitting on, just a foot or two away from me (it was green). They eventually left.
Some javelinas weight hundreds of pounds but they are also fast over short distances. Just getting rammed by one could injure or break a leg.
I have plenty of experience with coyotes but they always kept their distance with the exception of a pup who was rolling on his back a few feet away, when I woke up one morning, looking not too different from a dog giving himself the pleasure of a back scratch.
I once woke up to find a rattlesnake coiled right behind my head. He just uncoiled himself and left when I sat up. Another time I was partially woken by some noise but still half asleep: hearing that noise through the fog of sleep I foolishly wondered who had turned the sprinklers on. There were no sprinklers in the desert of course. The hissing sound came from an angry rattler. I don't know if it came from a malformed rattle or some other organ but that's what it sounded like: the steady spray of lawn sprinklers. It was highly aggressive and without further ado actually came for me.
The only weapons practicable against a rattlesnake were large rocks. Your aim has to be good because they're one mass of muscle and you have to crush their heads. They take a lot of killing.
Once I woke up to see a dark, oddly shaped figure loping along at a short distance. It was a quadruped but reminded me more of a bear than a dog. It was too dark to see and this thing was pitch black, but it was oddly shaped, with funny rolls in places like you might see on a fancily coiffed exotic dog. It sat down briefly then went on. It was being followed at about fifty paces by a coyote. I swear the coyote had a worried look on his face. There were no bears around those parts, and no other likely possibilities for a critter of the size of a large dog, unless it was a large dog. Didn't move like a dog though, and the silhouette wasn't right either.
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 20, 2015 at 12:56 AM
Emil, I know javelina look big when they're getting in your face, but they top out around seventy pounds, if that. Your mystery critter could've been a bear, especially if you were on the northeastern edge of the Phoenix metro area; the Mazatzal range has one of the highest concentrations of black bear in the world. Lots of berries on the east slope. The coyote would've definitely followed a bear if it thought there was a kill involved, that would be textbook coyote behavior.
Posted by: Pat | May 20, 2015 at 02:07 AM
Pat, I found this on the Internet:
"Javelina appear to be larger than they really are, but in actuality, they only weigh 35-55 pounds dressed-out."
I've never weighed one. I based my "hundreds of pounds" remark solely on the size (height, length and especially girth) of the biggest ones I've seen. Obviously that perception was way off and an ignorance of javelina internal body structure is to blame for what is apparently a common delusion.
I still wouldn't want to be rammed by one charging, and even less so if I were old with brittle bones. They're weird creatures and while not malign in most cases I don't trust them, especially if suddenly confronted at close quarters; and interfering with their feeding is probably not the best way to win their affections. Regular interactions increase the odds of an unusually aggressive encounter, and populations living on the edge of municipal areas may have lost the natural "respect" for two legged creatures.
As for the bear theory, there you're unequivocally mistaken. I repeat: there were no wild bears anywhere near where I had my sighting of whatever it was. The only conventional possibility would be a large breed of dog, elaborately groomed (the kind of cut I would call "topiary"), with hip dysplasia to make it walk funny. Except it wasn't just the hind legs, it was a peculiarly lumbering, pivoting motion of the whole body. Not an injured movement either. And it was deep black, all over. I could make out the coyote in the ambient light, partly because it passed closer, but also because it was much lighter.
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 20, 2015 at 03:05 AM
Not sure what explains Utah's exemplary tech sector (silicon slopes). I do note that the state makes several hundred million dollars in venture capital available to entrepreneurs, apparently not directly like betting on horses, but indirectly through state funding of venture capital firms. Not exactly sure how that works either but it isn't chump change.
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 20, 2015 at 03:17 AM
Emil, I don't know where you were, so I likely am mistaken. Hard to say what the coyote was up to, but you can bet it was some kind of opportunistic venture.
Posted by: Pat | May 20, 2015 at 04:24 AM
Emil,
What were you smoking?
Posted by: Ramjet | May 20, 2015 at 06:07 AM
A varmint gun with .410 shells will nicely dispatch a rattler.
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | May 20, 2015 at 08:31 AM
I just love reading the AZRepublic in the morning. So, when the Gov took office, he fired the guy running the Department of Weights and Measures to stop the Department from doing a sting during the SuperBowl against Uber and Lyft, and stopped all enforcement of current laws. He had already taken a donation into his transition fund from Lyft BEFORE TAKING OFFICE- and then supported legislation making Uber and Lyft legal- while protecting them from enforcement of existing law. Nice.
Then I turn to Benson and see him savaging Hillary Clinton for less egregious behavior, and sit there in wide wonder.
When you can read about corruption in the newspaper, and spot it right out in the open, well I guess we are really done as a country.
Graft and Corruption, nothing like our new Tammany Hall- the Goldwater Institute!!!
I guess it is obvious that the rule of law is dead, and we now are a banana republic with a winning army and nukes.
Posted by: Concern Troll | May 20, 2015 at 10:36 AM
First Nixon now Goldwater: rational assessment of actual deeds; not so bat shit crazy after all.
Fred Koch: A Bircher? Really? Looked it up and sure enough a founding member. A chemical engineer into this sort of thing? How could that happen? Well as it turns out he had some up-close-and-personal experience. From Wiki: “Between 1929 and 1932 Winkler-Koch "trained Bolshevik engineers[13] and helped Stalin’s regime set up fifteen modern oil refineries" in the Soviet Union. "Over time, however, Stalin brutally purged several of Koch’s Soviet colleagues. Koch was deeply affected by the experience, and regretted his collaboration.”
John Birch Society: From Wiki, membership peaked in early 60’s at somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000. Unless membership was very concentrated, it’s hard to see how they could be decisive in any race.
Dixiecrats and Federal Pork: I was initially put off by RC’s statement “The truth is that Arizona was always a conservative state, in a narrow definition of the term.” But then, the Deep South was solidly Demo at the time. I we did and do have a fondness for pork – of certain cuts. We’re all for military bases, water-ways, flood control, NASA facilities, highways, etc. We want your money – but not your ideas; and certainly not your nanny-statism. I might add that a 60’s era Dixicrat would line up well to the right of the current GOP on most issues.
A gratuitous recycle but – the tone of the article is that conservatives have lurched to the right in recent times. My view is that conservatives have moved slowly to the left. But the left has moved way left of where they used to be. In doing so, have left a lot of the party behind. Fortunately, only two years left of Obama’s party killing reign. Surly someone going to step forward for the Dems to nominate instead of HRC.
Posted by: wkg_in_bham | May 20, 2015 at 11:33 AM
Concern Troll don't forget the University Board member that the Gov hired away before he became a problem.
The W & M agency is a long story and I'm in the hinterland on my phone. Historically the Agency is rather a toothless joke. The folks I have previously mentioned along with lots of other business folks that believe government rules are evil have been trying to rid the state of W & M since Fife Symington was Governor. When I have a chance I'll develop the story more.
Posted by: cal Lash | May 20, 2015 at 12:44 PM
cal, I'm not completely disagreeing on a state level. But how do you explain Utah? There the Saints are in almost complete control, yet it has a robust technology economy, great light rail and commuter rail, a revived downtown Salt Lake (and SLC is more diverse), etc.?
AZ is a colony for Utah. The Mormon Homeland deserves all the goodies and the rest of us to pay for it and get a dysfunctional gub'mint to boot because our friendly Mormon neighbors and political operatives do not work for AZ but for the church.
Emil, I think you saw a chupacabra!
Posted by: Jerry McKenzie | May 20, 2015 at 01:10 PM
In the early 1500's a Spaniard walked up to an Indian, (pre-Arizonan) and asked, "where's the gold"?
The Indian, (Pre-casino), said "right over that hill".
And yet, you wonder, When was the birth of crazy??
Posted by: Ruben Perez | May 20, 2015 at 05:26 PM
Ruben put on 2001 and you will have your answer.
Then go see new Maf Max movie to see how the future of pug shit fuel is doing and where the water from the Colorado went. The big mountain looks like it could be in Utah.
Posted by: cal lash | May 20, 2015 at 06:12 PM
i love spell cirrect. that was Mad Not Maf and Pig not pug.
Posted by: cal Lash | May 20, 2015 at 06:14 PM
Cal, you were birthed in Iowa. We pre-factor in you spelling.
We know you were talking about maf max with a fountain in Utah filled with pug shit.
Posted by: Ruben Perez | May 20, 2015 at 07:03 PM
Who is more conservative, Nixon or Ted Cruz?
Which of the following Nixon policies and proposals (some enacted, some not) would succeed in today's Republican presidential primary atmosphere:
Wage and price controls
Creation of the Environmental Protection Agency
Universal healthcare (very similar to Obamacare)
Government run national daycare
Guaranteed national minimum income
Ended dollar convertibility into gold
First major federal affirmative action program (Philadelphia Plan)
Supported and lobbied for the Equal Rights Amendment
For that matter, how successful would Nixon's proposal for a national minimum income carried out through direct redistribution of income be for a Democratic Party candidate today?
Why is it obvious to everyone except wkg that, with the exception of a few social issues, both the Democratic and Republican parties have moved to the right since Nixon's day?
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/07/nixons-guaranteed-minimum-income.html?m=1
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 20, 2015 at 07:20 PM
Emil, ( the javelina expert. Just kidding. You don't know jack shit about Javelinas, but hey, nice try.)
There is only one factor you need to know about Ted Cruz.
I have approximately a dozen Cubans in my family. I love them dearly. Unconditionally. I will stand by them through thick and thin.
All Cubans. All, all, all of them are BAT SHIT crazy. I love them. Pardon my French, they are fucking nuts. None of them can ever, ever, ever, ever be in charge of the launch codes for nuclear missiles.
So, for now, you and wkg , Find something else to argue about which the rest of us could care less about what you two think.
Posted by: Ruben Perez | May 20, 2015 at 08:24 PM
P.S.
Wkg. A brief explanation for the backhanded slap I delivered to you.
I have a real soft spot in my heart for
Birmingham, AL. I have many friends and associates there. I've spent months and months visiting there. I would move there in a heartbeat.
The average Birminghamite has 500 percent more class, dignity and kindness than the average Arizona caveman. You've just had more time to evolve.
The only reason for my slap is because a person cannot know a place via Wikipedia. You gotta be here.
I enjoy your observations. They are cute, but usually wrong. Not your fault entirely. You have be here in az to feel the ignorance in the air.
Anyway, thank you for the generous hospitality your fellow citizens have shown me over the last 25 years.
Posted by: Ruben Perez | May 20, 2015 at 09:04 PM
Ruben, thanks for appointing yourself spokesman for "everyone else". Or should I say "the people"? Wasn't there another Cuban with that habit? He smoked cigars too. You're not a lawyer are you?
* * *
Frankly, I'm not sure when Fred Koch's anticommunism dates from, or its reasons. He first personally traveled to the USSR in 1930. He fulfilled a four year contract despite the alleged purges of his Soviet engineering counterparts, to the tune of half a million dollar in profits (about seven million in today's dollars). Chump change by current Koch Industries standards but it gave him that crucially needed capital to expand his business into an empire.
In 1956 he's one of seven "self made men" flying from Wichita to the Soviet Union, supposedly for the purpose of explaining to the Soviet people how capitalism really works. (Hint: get a totalitarian government to grant you a monopoly development contract. Get rich off the backs of exploited peasants. Return decades later, calling yourself "self made" and explaining how capitalism made you rich and it can do the same thing for anyone willing to apply a little elbow grease.)
Whatever the real purpose of his trip -- and I don't think anyone with a personal and intimate knowledge of Soviet era Communism could travel there in 1956 expecting to change the system with a speech on capitalism -- it evidently didn't pan out. Maybe he went there expecting to make business inroads after Stalin died?
At any rate, not long after that boondoggle he has anticommunist ants in his pants; not coincidentally because he says a Jewish Communist named Livshitz told him that the main goal of Communist subversives is to use the civil rights movement to lead a Negro revolution in the South to establish a rump Communist state.
Yeah, that's credible.
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 20, 2015 at 09:06 PM
Never mind Ruben, wkg: he's just hot blooded. Little Ricky damaged his bongos and Lucy couldn't do a lot of 'splainin' because she got into the Vitameatavegamin pretty heavily the night before.
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 20, 2015 at 09:18 PM
"Anyway, thank you for the generous hospitality your fellow citizens have shown me over the last 25 years."
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryce_Hospital
Hey, I didn't write this:
"All Cubans. All, all, all of them are BAT SHIT crazy."
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 20, 2015 at 09:31 PM
You may be correct about the hot blooded part. Heredity I would imagine. Kind of goes along with not tolerating blog bullies.
Posted by: Ruben Perez | May 20, 2015 at 09:33 PM
Yeah, like the kind of "blog bully" that tells me to shut up because I wrote something about Ted Cruz and Republican politics not to his liking. Thanks for sharing. Now if you're done being a hypocrite, put away your flick knife. Seriously: go back and review your comment to me that started all this. See how it began with a provocative personal remark and ended with a dismissive attempt to muzzle me on behalf of "the rest of us".
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 20, 2015 at 10:02 PM
Emil, Ruben and I R going for coffee soon. Would U care to join us? I can bring you a Cubano from Fidel's personal stock. Comes in a Che wrapper. And i will keep Ruben calm. But I did see him once rip a commode out of the floor. He was upset as he learned his relatives had been scaled by White men.
WKGINBHAM the world has not moved right or left but sunk to a despicable low.
Posted by: cal Lash | May 20, 2015 at 10:25 PM
Amazing collection of stuff seized in the Bin Laden compound raid. The sudden declassification is entirely coincidental: nothing to do with Seymour Hersh's claims, because as we all know the government has a rigid, time consuming declassification review process, and nothing is ever expedited for political purposes.
The list confirms the banality of evil: though I'm a little puzzled by some of the items and the seeming interests they portray. Some of the more surprising revelations include:
A beta videotape format collection of Rowdy Roddy Piper's professional wrestling matches; an autographed Wayne's World guitar (actually a Planet Hollywood reproduction, but the fool seems to have purchased it as an original in an online auction for an exorbitant amount); a three thousand piece jigsaw puzzle featuring (when assembled) the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center; a series of contentious emails exchanged with actor/director Kevin Costner, in which Bin Laden adopted the alias Marlon Brando, criticizing Dances With Wolves as "pretentious claptrap whose overriding purpose was as a star vehicle for yet another fading Hollywood pretty-boy"; a diary confessing his secret abhorrence of smurfs (the color blue evidently associated by him with the evil spirits of Islam known as djinn); querulous correspondence with his dry cleaner, whom he accuses of using cheap chemicals to cut costs ("I am forever having headaches when wearing the laundry you return"); and the actual, mummified head of Vic Damone severed in a helicopter accident during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie. (DNA tests confirm its authenticity, though it is unknown how it could have made its way to Pakistan.)
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 21, 2015 at 05:51 AM
Sorry, I meant Vic Morrow. I should have remembered that inasmuch as I used to really enjoy some of the black & white episodes of the television series Combat! that he once starred in. Vic Damone may have played Mel on Alice, though I can't swear to it.
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | May 21, 2015 at 06:04 AM
Yep, I was a big Combat! fan. Also liked it that Morrow's character carried a Thompson submachine gun, as opposed to those clunky M-1s.
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | May 21, 2015 at 08:36 AM
I would not put it past Yale's Skull and Bones society to sell Vic Morrow's head (it does seem bin Laden knew a few members of that cult). Costner should be sent to Gitmo and the truth gotten out of him.
Posted by: Jerry McKenzie | May 21, 2015 at 09:18 AM
In an earlier Phoenix 101, you mentioned Central Methodist Church previous location was at Central and Fillmore. That was incorrect. The prior location was at Central and Pierce St., where the Phoenix Market is presently located.
Posted by: Bill Gary | May 22, 2015 at 05:27 AM