Sunnucks forgot to mention that the name "Gallego" is from a Spanish word for "Celtic." This little detail may be irrelevant, but does relevance really matter in this context?

Nice try, Thucididies, but this particular mantra has been repeated over and over again. At best, it is only part of the problem. This might be true for the trees in the lowlands such as mesquites, but the trees in the areas we are talking about are largely dependent on precipitation. For the most part, these soils are too shallow to retain a significant amount of water. Otherwise, these lands would have been cleared for intensive farming decades ago. Beyond this, Republicans have been complaining about the state of forest management for years without understanding the complexity of the problem. They blame "radical enviros" even though in some cases, sound management has been neglected because of opposition from ranchers and small business, or because of lack of funding. The problem is hardly a simple one, and is ill suited to be properly addressed on Twitter.

Cara Rene used to be a reporter. Aren't journalists supposed to be against censorship rather than being parties to it? Tom Prezelski

Say, Falcon9, I am unfamiliar with the initiatives out of ALEC which "provide jobs to low income African Americans." Could you please point these out? The much larger problem with ALEC is not their specific agenda, but that while legislators who are being wined and dined at these confabs, they are not in their districts talking to their constituents. This contributes to the continuing disconnect between what is debated at the legislature and the real issues faced by Arizonans. Of course, this is the whole point of the thing, isn't it? TOM PREZELSKI

Can CGIs vote? It may be up to the courts to decide...

Of course, this says nothing about the fact that the grave of one Hadj Ali, also known as Hi Jolly, the famous U.S. Army camel-driver of the 1850s, is in Quartzsite, where it is marked with a prominent pyramid-shaped monument. Historians say the might have been the first Muslim to live in the United States. Just imagine, this monument is a mere 2500 miles or so from Ground Zero. Every time I pass it, I feel it happening all over again. Tom Prezelski

A little perspective from the land south of the Gila: I like to refer to the Phoenix Metropolitan Area as "The Conurbation," which is a British term that describes an urban area formed from many cities which have simply grown into each other. I like the word because it is an apt description of what has happened in Maricopa County, but also because it sounds like something that a Calvinist would rail against as naughty. On my brother's blog, he calls it "The Valley of The Yakes," which is a term that came to his attention thanks to the popular 1980s Phoenix skate-punk band JFA. Of course, both of us are smug outsiders, observing the development of Maricopa County at a distance from the relative safety of Tucson. Mr. Talton has touched on an interesting aspect of sense of place in greater Phoenix. Beyond what he has discussed, one thing I have found interesting is what these names and how they are used reflects resident's sense of geography. My personal observation is that the terms "Arizona," "The Valley," and "Maricopa County" are largely interchangeable to the business community, political leadership, and media in the Phoenix area. In fairness, I think folks in Phoenix include the White Mountains, and perhaps even the Grand Canyon or Sedona when they say "Arizona," but not as discreet places with their own history, values, and identities, but as part of a recreational hinterland. Tucson and Southern Arizona seem not to figure into the discussion at all. This is how legislators can claim with a straight face that Pinal County borders Mexico. In contrast, we Tucsonans usually say "Tucson" when they are talking about our own metropolitan area, reserving "Arizona" to refer to the state as a whole. I noticed, for example, just a few weeks ago that the roller derby league organized in Phoenix is called "Arizona Roller Derby," as if they represent the whole state, while Tucson's league is more modestly called "Tucson Roller Derby." Something about being removed from the center of political and economic power in the state tends to give us a sense of perspective. Occasionally, a local organization will call itself "Southern Arizona..." which may well mean "Yes, our office is in Tucson, and everybody on our board is from Tucson, but if we are called out to Ajo or Nogales for some reason, it is certainly within our mission statement." In the same vein, a local arts organization who works almost entirely in Oro Valley and Marana has given itself the rather grandiose name of "Southern Arizona Arts and Culture Alliance" in an apparent effort to position itself better to receive grant money. Nevertheless, there is a real sense of region, whether that be "Greater Tucson," "Southern Arizona," or, more recently "Baja Arizona." The latter is a shorthand way of saying "We're not Phoenix." "Phoenix," by the way, is how we refer to the whole conurbation, including Mesa and Glendale. Maybe some folks might find this unfair. Heck, Chandler and Gilbert look the same to us from here. Dr. James Sell, one of my geography professors at the U of A, who now teaches at NAU, did most of his academic work on the subject of perceptions of place. The topic of names was a part of this. I remember him discussing Tucson's nickname of "The Old Pueblo" and how it has managed to survive for well over a century despite aggressive efforts by chamber of commerce types to replace it with something that they judge to be more forward thinking and marketable. Awkward and un-poetic monikers like "Sunshine Factory" and "Optics Valley" have entirely failed to catch on, which says a lot about who we are as a community and our business leadership's complete failure to understand this town. Tom Prezelski

Thanks for writing this, Mike. I have to disagree about your assessment that the Phoenix Police's treatment of Bundgaard was due to some policy or lack of policy. I think that there is a lot of confusion about what legislative immunity is and the officer in question simply erred on the side of caution. I suspect that Phoenix has a policy that is similar if not identical to the one you describe for Tucson. Of course, police in Tucson might be similarly, if not even more, unfamiliar, with the policy, given that our legislators are largely at the capitol during the session and the issue rarely comes up. Leshy (1993) wrote that the courts had never weighed in on this issue, which is consistent with your own research. For my part, I remember that our legal counsel at the House advised us to simply quietly pay our traffic tickets. He told a story about a legislator, a Republican who you have heard of but shall remain nameless, who invoked his immunity at a traffic stop and was so obnoxious in the process that the officer ran to the media which led to an embarassing story the next day. Our counsel was also quick to let us know that nothing was there to stop law enforcement from sitting on a citation and simply waiting to serve it until after the end of the session. Similarly, there is nothing to stop, lets say, a DPS officer, from detaining an individual by the side of the road for, lets say, 15 or 20 minutes, while he verifies that the individual invoking Article 4, Section 6 is actually a member of the legislature, which seems to run counter to the purpose of this language in the Constitution. Not that this has ever happened to anyone I know. In short, this is invoked so infrequently and is so misunderstood that it was inevitable that an event like this would occur. It seems clear to us from this distance that the Senator should have been arrested, however, it might be less clear to a street-level police officer who has little guidance on such an unusual occurence.

Though I hate to defend the Star, there is a critical difference between the Dupnik recall and the Pearce recall with respect to Tucson. The Dupnik recall actually pertains to Tucson, while Pearce's does not. This is something important to remember. I think all of us have been offended by all the opposition to our sheriff that has been coming from outside of the community. Who our sheriff is, we say, is our business, and not a matter for discussion by the likes of Espresso Pundit and Bill O'Reilly. Don't you think that folks in Mesa can fairly argue something similar about Pearce? Recalls tend to fail for many reasons. The Alan Lang recall in 1994 was the last significant recall anyone can name. It was successful because it was well timed, well coordinated, and because his opposition was able to rally around a credible candidate to replace him. I do not see that happening here, largely because the opposition to Pearce seems to come almost entirely from outside his district, which tends to help Pearce by making his point for him. I am no big fan of the Star's somewhat fawning coverage of the Tea Party, which I suspect is motivated more by their fear of angry phone calls than partisan sympathy, but I think it is a mistake to assume that the perceived gap in coverage is due to some conspiracy to keep the brother down. Tom Prezelski

This is for Hupe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXsXej9FloA Tom Prezelski

Larry McMurtry is a part-time resident of Tucson who has many friends here. I think he actually took up, or at least considered taking up, full-time residence here during the 1990s when he had the bookstore on North Stone Avenue. His son James, a fairly successful musician, also spends a lot of time here. TOM PREZELSKI

Maybe I am mistaken about the mechanics of both the Senate's rules and how they are being carried out, but I understood that what is going on here is that these folks are holding up debate by threatening to filibuster, not actually filibustering. So, given this, couldn't you throw a wrench in this process by demanding that they take to the floor and speak, just like in the old days? Given the moral cowardice and general lack of intellectual agility of the most prominent Republican Senators, this might shut this chicanery down fairly quickly. Tom Prezelski

It seems ironic that someone whose avatar is a foreign flag would attack ethnic studies.

Re: Proposition 111. Runoff elections for Governor were dumped in the 1990s following our state's brief failed experiment in requiring "50 plus 1." I suspect that the language dealing with it in this proposition was simply Legislative Council's sincere attempt use this opportunity to address an oversight (and a potentially troublesome one) from those days. At any rate, it is not central to the issue Proposition 111 seeks to address. Of course, there are a number of very good reasons why this one should be rejected, not the least of which is the unnecessarily complicated method it proposes for the nomination and election of the Lieutenant Governor, which has been discussed elewhere.

Mike, I will not be attending your party. I will be on the streets knocking on doors to help get out the vote for the election on Tuesday. I'll be at Congressman Grijalva's campaign headquarters at 9 AM ready to work. I understand that Congressman Giffords and General Goddard will also be working the neighborhoods tomorrow. There are even a few legislative seats we can turn, Cage in LD 26 and Cammenisch in LD 30, for instance, if we just push hard enough in the coming days. I don't mean to be a ninny, but it seems that giving our Democratic ticket a few hours of our time is going to be infinitely more productive to our cause than watching TV in a bar. Tom Prezelski

Please forgive me if I am hijacking the thread by asking this, but has anybody publically asked Margaret Garcia Dugan why she has stopped using the name "Garcia?" All through the "Republicans Hate Latinos" Wars of 2006-2009, she seemed to want everyone to know her maiden name and the fact that she was a Mexican-American. Now that she is running for the Republican nomination, for Superintendent, this seems to be a lot less important. I think it might be interesting to hear her take on this. Tom Prezelski

Once again, the Star exhibits its dual personality on SB1070. Yes, they have criticized it in print, but they have also disparaged all 1070 opponents as clueless, stupid, radical, bad for the community or otherwise misguided. Meanwhile, they have praised the champions of 1070 such as Paul Babeu and Russell Pearce as shrewd politicians. Even the dooshbag who owns Brooklyn Pizza was praised for caving into pressure from irate bigots who would probably never venture into his shop. Face it, the Star supports 1070. They may say that they do not, but by failing to criticize the bigotry and crassness which made it possible, they are helping keep it alive. I understand that the Star may be under supreme pressure from its advertisers to do what it can to make sure that Jan Brewer is re-elected and the status quo is maintained in spite of the damage this does to human rights, the economic future of this state, and to their own integrity, but they seem to have hucked the pretense of balance a long time ago. I am sure that this posting will get me another irate and unhinged (or is that "rabid") email from Joe Burchell telling me that, as a non-journalist, I have no right to criticize his reporters. Tom Prezelski

I would be surprised if Al Melvin actually does much "going door to door," unless he is very careful about what doors he knocks on. I never had the dubious honor to serve in the legislature with him, but I appeared with him at a non-partisan get-out-the-vote candidate event at the University Main Gate in 2006. I introduced myself to him out of courtesy, but he looked right past me and ignored me completely. In fairness, treating liberals and Mexicans with high-handed contempt is not considered rude in his culture, so I let it pass. When he spoke to the students, he delivered a litany of empty talking points about "Reagan Conservatism" and other platitudes in an almost robotic monotone. It was clear to me that he was not connecting with anybody, but it was clear that he did not notice or care. I cannot imagine how someone who comes off as so rude and arrogant in person could possibly walk a precinct without angering the voters he meets. It is possible, I suppose, that he had some sort of epiphany between 2006 and 2008 and tried his best to be a nicer guy and to treat strangers with some respect, but this is certainly not consistent with his behavior in the legislature. I suspect that, like most Maricopa County right-wingers, he is very selective about what voters he contacts and puts a lot of reliance on mail, robo-calls, banking on low turnout in the primary and the short memories of the relatively rootless and transient population in his district. Melvin is clearly a guy who has a big problem not only with people who disagree with him, but also the idea that people disagree with him. He considers them deserving only of rudeness and contempt. His entire public life testifies to this. Tom Prezelski