Honoring Our Veterans (Parade route included)

Veterans Day parade: 11:00 AM – 2 PM today

The annual VA Veterans Day Parade will kick off this morning at 11 A.M.. This year’s parade theme is “Home of the Free, Because of the Brave,” honoring veterans who have fought in the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, also referred to as the Global War on Terror.

The parade is one of the nation’s premier Veterans Day parades, with more than 200,000 people expected to attend. The Phoenix-based commemoration is one of the largest such events in the nation and has been designated as a Regional Site for celebrating the holiday.

It will feature approximately 100 entries, including historic military vehicles; numerous Veterans Service Organizations, marching units, color guards, canine and equestrian units, floats, giant helium balloons and bands.

This year’s Celebrity Grand Marshall is Dave Pratt, well-known local radio personality, entertainer, author and community supporter.

Phoenix Veterans Day Parade route:

The Parade runs northbound from the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center, beginning at Seventh Street and Montecito, turning westbound on Camelback Road, then northbound on Central Avenue to Bethany Home Road, where it will conclude at North Phoenix Baptist Church.

The Phoenix VA Health Care System’s Veterans Day Parade began in 1997 with 50 entries and approximately 10,000 spectators. The Parade is designed to commemorate and honor our veterans and to educate Americans about the service and sacrifices our veterans have made to protect our freedoms.

For additional information, including the listing of Grand Marshals, check here.  A photo display of participants and floats from the 2008 parade and events can be seen here.

SRP: “Never say never” on outsourcing AZ jobs

Salt River Project (SRP), the utility monopoly with a voracious appetite for corporate excesses, and negligible appreciation of its ratepayers, has decided against outsourcing Arizona tech jobs to foreign nationals. For now.

Disingenuous responses from the utility’s Assistant General Manager Barbara Hoffnagle included this gem, “There were cost savings (with outsourcing), but not as high as anticipated,” she said of the bids from Accenture Ltd. of Ireland and Infosys Technologies Ltd. of India.

The public outcries of “Foul!” obviously didn’t merit her attention.

Unable to resist rubbing a bit of that famous Salt River salt in the wound caused by SRP‘s foreign overtures, Hoffnagle said outsourcing could be an option when the economy rebounds and the up-front costs are not such a critical issue. “Never say never,” she said. All that was missing was a all-knowing wink and crossed fingers held behind her back.

But don’t think Arizona Public Service is any better. It has also interviewed several outsourcing companies this year, researching the benefits of having computer-programming jobs done “offshore.”

We get it. Arizona’s taxpayers are good enough to foot the bill for these mega-buck companies, but not good enough to hire.

The daily’s Business section carries the report here.

Hizzoner yanks self-serving springboard scheme

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, likely getting a whiff of the negative reaction to a ballot proposal intended to merge staggered city elections, while extending his own term and those of the City Council by two years, has backed off the scheme.

The motivation was to give him a springboard to another office without the two year sit-it-out delay, which can keep politicians out of the limelight while waiting for the office they desire to pursue to become available.

Gordon calculatingly configured this as a cost saving measure for the taxpaying citizens. “The intent was never to make this about me; it was to make this about the city,” Gordon unconvincingly declared.

Term limits will drive Gordon out of office in January 2012. But under the proposal, Gordon and council members Maria Baier, Claude Mattox, Michael Nowakowski and Thelda Williams would have had their terms extended by two years, to January 2014, according to a report in the daily.

Former Mayor Skip Rimsza, whom Gordon served as chief-of-staff, called the proposal “perfectly silly.” When Gordon told him about the initiative, Rimsza said he urged the mayor to drop the idea — advice Gordon initially ignored.

“You have elections for a reason: to hold elected officials’ feet to the fire once every four years,” Rimsza said. “Every elected official tends to want to stay in office forever, but term limits were put in place to make sure you don’t develop cronyism amongst elected officials and the people they are doing business with.”

Gordon admitted he knew of the plan for several months and that the Phoenix Election Consolidation Committee had pursued it “with my concurrence.”

In plain English that means that Gordon’s “supporters” had his full agreement to ram this outrageous plan though. We can only assume the phones must have been ringing fast and furiously enough to get him to rethink the self-serving and grandiose strategy.

Obama the Omnipotent ready “to rule”

And we thought U. S. Presidents presided over a representative Republic

Valerie Jarrett, a co-chair of Barack Obama’s transition team, appeared on Meet the Press yesterday and used an interesting turn of phrase to describe Barack Obama’s activities after he is officially sworn in as President of the Untied States on January 20, 2009.

Jarrett told Tom Brokaw that Obama will be ready to “rule on day one”

This concept reflects the dread many people have regarding the Obamessiah administration.

Jarrett told Tom Brokaw that “given the daunting challenges that we face, it’s important that President-elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one.”

 Watch this stunning video.

The Republic bids JNo a warm adieu

Looks like the newly mum Guv is poised to put an egg in her shoe and beat it

In an editorial titled, She’s earned it, the daily newspaper gives Gov. Janet Napolitano a friendly shove out the door, as they praise her worthiness for a cabinet position in the new Obama administration.

It won’t be the first time we’ve had an Arizona Governor leave without a backward glance.

In June, Seeing Red AZ wrote about this very issue and reminded newcomers to the state about another Democrat Governor, Raul Castro, who jumped ship for a cushier job in the 1970’s.

This time the stakes are higher. When Castro left for his gig in Argentina, his successor was the well-known and affable fellow Democrat, Wesley Bolin. Unforeseen circumstances made his tenure a brief one and yet another Democrat governor slipped comfortably into his seat.

In 2008, the bridesmaid waiting in the wings is none other than the accomplished Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer, sporting a list of political credentials a mile long. Although Brewer is a dream come true for Republicans, she is also a good bet for the people of the state, longing for reasonable leadership from a knowledgeable, yet down-to-earth, woman.

Napolitano’s roots here are not deep. She was born in New York, raised in Pennsylvania and New Mexico and educated in California and Virginia.  Arizona conveniently provided her with credentials on her path to the Potomac.

We join the Republic in hoping Janet takes the earliest stage outta Dodge. Frankly, we’ve had enough.

The daily endorses Shadegg in CD3

The daily concludes its editorial praise with these words: Shadegg is a throwback: A conservative lawmaker who acts like one. If the GOP had more like him, it wouldn’t be in the mess it is right now..

The Republic strongly supports John Shadegg for Congress in District 3

GOP Congressman John Shadegg runs from a majority Republican district and has never had a viable challenge mounted against him, although liberal Democrat Bob Lord has been able to amass an impressive bundle of cash for this foray to try to take down the seven-term congressman.

Our money is on John Shadegg.

Read the entire editorial here.

Everyone pales in comparison to Palin

Stunning figures released this morning

According to the latest Rasmussen Reports polling data released this morning, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of American voters. More favorably, in fact, than either Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama — each heading their respective party’s ticket for the presidential bid.

The Palin pick has also improved perceptions of John McCain. A week ago, just before he introduced his running mate, just 42% of Republicans had a Very Favorable opinion of their party’s nominee. That figure jumped to 54% by this morning.

Significantly, among unaffiliated voters, favorable opinions of McCain have increased by eleven percentage points in a week – from 54% before the Palin announcement to 65% today.

Read the entire report here.

The Arizona Right Report Sundays, 8 – 9 PM

                                                    

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Tonight’s Lineup:  News and events important to Arizona conservative voters.

Special Guest: Chairman Randy Pullen, Arizona Republican Party.

Catch Chairman Pullen’s comments on the race for the White House. We will also look at the Arizona congressional and legislature races.

Visit PAChyderm Coalition for the Legislative Report Card. Does your Republican Arizona Legislator routinely vote in accord with the Republican Platform?

Visit AZ Grassroots for voter solutions to mass illegal immigration.

 

Now we have our answer

Appealing to Republican base no longer a GOP priority

“Appealing to Independents and disenfranchised Democrats is even more important than ever,” says Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain, during a strategy briefing.

“The GOP brand troubles have created a larger group of Independent voters that we need to appeal to this election cycle than normal. No longer can a Republican candidate win by just running up the score with our base. We need to reach out to Independents and disaffected Democrats because they now represent the the largest portion of swing voters and the greatest electoral bloc up for grabs.”

The campaign’s election strategy PowerPoint, published on the McCain website, reveals that the campaign has accepted a remarkable fact: McCain and his advisers have lumped Arizona among what it is considering “swing states.”

Excelling at farce

The Arizona Republic editorializes about Cave Creek’s illegal laborers

The newspaper has outdone itself. Each time the editorial board takes on the issue of illegals, the arguments become as absurd as the paper’s inability to use the words “illegal aliens” to describe the people over whom the contentiousness grows.

Today we get the regurgitation of a piece from Cave Creek’s Thursday edition. No doubt it is as distasteful as day’s old cold pabulum as it was in its original serving.

The town of Cave Creek is editorially admonished to Drop the day labor issue.

This past week, Federal District Judge Roslyn Moore Silver, a Clinton appointee, sided with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) in blocking the town of Cave Creek from enforcing an ordinance aimed at preventing day laborers from congregating on the town streets to solicit work.

Seeing Red AZ covered her ruling, in which she said the free speech rights of the illegal workers were being impinged.

Under the guise of giving limited support to HB 2412, legislation sponsored by Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Dist.8) making it illegal to disrupt vehicle or pedestrian traffic, today’s editorial declares the Cave Creek Town Council would be “wasting money” to appeal the judge’s decision.

The Republic continues with “Whether day laborers constitute a ‘significant problem’ is a matter for debate. The are simply people seeking to put food on their tables through an employment situation that offers them no protection. In this nation’s past, such initiative was commended. The problem with the Cave Creek law,” the editorial continues, “was that it treated people seeking work as villains. The judge was right to knock it down.”

These words clearly define the agenda of the left. Nowhere is there even an acknowledgment of the lawlessness involved in being in this country in the first place. Nor do they speak to the issue of the continued crime of using documents stolen from American citizens to further their lives in the United States.

Rep. John Kavanagh is a welcome voice in the legislative chambers and his bill is worthy of consideration. However, the people of Cave Creek, tired of the assault by those in this country illegally, have every right to appeal the overreaching decision of a liberal judge with a lifetime appointment.