Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Mata Ortiz Pottery Firing & After Thing


Beale Street Mata Ortiz Pottery Showing Presented by Bruce Carter/
Mata Ortiz Firing and after-thing hosted by Mikel Weisser

Mata Ortiz Pottery Demonstration and Sale


Mata Ortiz artists Lucy Mora and Lorenso Bugarini be demonstrating world famous Mata Ortiz pottery technique which rivals the best of Pueblo pottery produced anywhere. Pots are meticulously painted using a brush made of human hairs prior to firing. Followed at 5:00 pm by a "firing party" (off-site, weather permitting.)

Beale Street Gallery in Kingman, Arizona
418 E. Beale St., Kingman, Arizona 86401

Saturday 12:00pm until 4:00pm
http://www.facebook.com/events/457616534297079/


*
Firing and after-thing hosted by Mikel Weisser


As a follow-up to the Mata Ortiz pottery show at Beale Street Brews that afternoon, i will host Bruce Carter & guests in a traditional Mata Ortiz-style firing of the pottery in the firepit at The So-Hi Peacesign Themepark. Event open to public. After thing to follow. Bring refreshments and musical instruments to share.
First Attend This Thing in Kingman, then come to the After-Thing:

Saturday 5:30pm until 8:30pm

So-Hi Peace Sign Themepark 
4490 Sundown Drive Golden Valley, AZ 86413

December 22 at 12:00pm


This is all of course provided that the Mayans haven't gotten their calendar right after all--

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Current Comedy: Suffering Little Children


Back in the happier days when … Aye!) Fonzi was cool & B) fore it was “goodbye blue skies, hello gray,” the sitcom series “Happy Days” seemed seamlessly inventive and we could depend on the Cunninghams & clan to resolve each and every problem within 22 minutes thus keeping the world always seeming right, right? Simple and understandable. That is until that one episode when the whole gang went to Hawaii and Fonz jumped his surfboard over a shark. Then we all realized they weren’t simply simple, they were simply stupid. Nowadays you can’t even find that tripe in syndication on cable. It’s dead. The whole Happy horse crap has eaten itself. Like the way the GOP elephant keeps in-breeding itself into an epoch-ending mammoth extinction.
 This season as we watch the collective “conservative” character careen past contemptible and straight-aways into farcical and we once again endure these wingnuts boasting over the open pyre they’ve made of their once grand old party, it’s beginning to look a lot like it’s time to pop the cork on the whole thing and simply sing “Auld Lang Syne.” These guys won’t even make believable cartoon villains anymore, not after this one.
Tis the season to make folly as they say. Or so it seems for the GOP this yuletide. First off, there’s the whole McConnell filibustering himself business, which adds a whole Keystone Cop-ish flair to their work these days. Or the fact that it is supposed to be big news that SC Senator Jim De Mint sent in his resignation so he can go run the Heritage Foundation to collect more donations to advance conservative legislation. Or there’s that part where 25% of the GOP want their states to secede because Obama is crushing business meanwhile we’re experiencing the largest increase in corporate profits in history. But now, as outrageous as their everyday antics are, the GOP has now not only officially jumped the shark, but they audaciously twirled their mutual mustaches and tossed Tiny Tim’s crutch in the Barbie. & just in time for Christmas!
Now over the years, I have watched the GOP make some major bonehead moves, like that whole Bush thing, or the part about putting a billion dollars behind the idea that the majority of the American thinking-public would consider Romney remotely human. You guys crack me up.
But this whole Rick Santorum/Glenn Beck driven Agenda 21 fiasco the Right have been churning for the past several months has finally lead to the Republicans voting against our own handicapped public by voting down spreading the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) globally because so many GOP hate the UN that we are supposed to be afraid this treaty is secret proof the UN wants to kill our children. Of course, along with their track record on the sick, the young the poor and the elderly, I guess it makes sense.
That’s right, the treaty that establishes universal accommodations for the disabled and is modeled off of our own 1990 ADA is actually such a Republican freak-out that icky old Ricky Santorum came out of mothballs to come on stage and call for the GOP to torpedo the treaty by saying signing the treaty to enforce the ADA throughout the rest of the world would give the UN the power to euthanize US disabled kids. So keep it straight, if we are loyal Americans, we need to be OK with not caring about the lame and the weak, because if we do the bad guys will come over here and kill our kids. Thom Hartmann points out that following the successful Santorum drive for rejecting the treaty, Tricky Ricky turned right around and sent out his latest fundraising letter.
You know the most amazing irony of this whole thing is that the actual acronym for the treaty is CRPD, which equals “crippled,” right? These guys are picking the CRPD and imagine themselves heroes.  
Like with the mass shooting in Connecticut, even as parents around the country are still fearful of sending their kids back to school and kids around the county are even more tearful about going, TX GOP loudmouth Louis Gohmert is already shooting off his mouth all over the airwaves screaming that the injustice in this was that the principal hadn’t had an M-4 automatic assault weapon on hand; and FOX is shrieking that Obama’s a dictator for mentioning in his eulogy that we could do a better job of protecting our kids from gun violence. Of course, to give credit where its due, if Republicans had had their way these past few years the GOP dream of going back to the good old days that was so union-free could have come true and those kids would never have been in danger in those classrooms. Heck, by age 7 they all would have been shackled to machinery in sweatshops instead.
But you know what? America knows the GOP’s happier days weren’t yours and they certainly weren’t mine. This isn’t leadership, those guys aren’t heroes, they aren’t statesmen--they’re nothing more than bad actors. When they’ve gotten to the point of suffering the little children because their deaths interfere with the GOP’s pre-scheduled Obama-hating, it begins to look a lot like Republicans have taken leave of the census and all they are left with is cunning hams & the Klan.
Anyways, Happy Holly-Days to you & yours!
--mikel weisser writes from the left coast of AZ.

Mohave County Democratic Elects New Leaders




The Mohave County Democratic Party held elections at their reorganizational meeting in Lake Havasu City on December 5th. The group elected Kingman resident and county District One party chair Joe Longoria to a two year term as chairman of the county party.  A recently returned Kingman native, Longoria was elected last month to the District One position and had served as the county point man for the Arizona Democratic Party’s Coordinated Campaign.  “I didn’t think that I would end up in this position, but we learned so much. Dems are going to go to the state house not facing a super-majority and our Congressional delegation is majority blue. We set up a lot of ground work, to move forward we will build from that.”  Joe will replace Ed Pyrzynski, also of Kingman.
Stepping down, due to family illness, after serving as an interim chair for much of the turbulent 2012 election season, Ed Pyrzynski, a former postman from Chicago was happy with the election. “The year started out rough, but things worked out. The Dem booth at the County Fair was impressive.  All of us made a difference.”
Rounding out the executive board, two-time state senatorial candidate, Beth Weisser was re-elected to her position as first vice chair and Peach Springs’ community leader Wanda Quesula was re-elected to be second vice-chair. After over a decade in the county leadership, Lake Havasu’s Kay Lilland announced her retirement as party treasurer and promised to stay in an active position to help train her replacement, Kingman’s Danny Baker. Acting county party secretary Mikel Weisser was elected to continue serving in that position. And, Bullhead City’s David Hamilton was re-elected Sergeant at Arms. 
The Democrats will be facing a major rebuilding year with not only the replacement of much of the party officers, but also the departure of the heads of all three county districts as well. In Lake Havasu’s District Three, in addition to the retirement of long-time county treasurer and Havasu organizer, Kay Lilland, district chair Dave Tunnell, another Havasu mainstay, is also stepping down citing illness in the family. Tunnell will be replaced by Joan McDermott. Both Tunnell and Lilland have a driving force in the Lake Havasu Democratic Party for years and both intend to remain active. Besides training the new county treasurer, Lilland will continue to be the leader of LHC’s Democratic Association of Havasu and Tunnell will take a role on the newly revamped finance committee.
In District Two serving the Bullhead area, acting chair Julie Piquette will continue officially in the role. Piquette replaced former chair Hillary Williams when she resigned to run for the newly created Mohave County District Five Supervisor position. In Kingman’s District One, long-time chair and county party office manager Mary McLaughlin is stepping down after eight years. Her son Patrick Gonzales also previously served as county chair.
In addition to electing Mohave County Party officers the group also approved the slate of delegates who will represent the county party at the state party’s quarterly meetings. Following a successful season of voter registration and increased precinct volunteers the county delegation is increasing from 14 to 20. From District One, the Kingman area, the delegates are:  Ed Pyrzynski, John Holland, Mert Glancy, Joan Johns, Wanda Quesula, Beth Weisser, Mikel Weisser, Patrick Gonzales, Mary McLaughlin, Susie Gestine, and Perry Wickerd of Dolan Springs. From District Two, the Bullhead City area, Marty & Patricia Coburn, Julie Piquette, Dave Hamilton, and Laureen Hayden. And from District Three, Lake Havasu, Joan McDermott, Kay Lilland & Dave Tunnel. The party also announced its list of newly appointed PCs, or precinct committee leaders: Paul Dean Young, Merrit Becket, Jacky Goode from LHC; and  Carol & Pete Voydanoff, Hilary Williams, Richard Krup, Iretha Badnar, Barb Grier from the Bullhead City area.

In addition to the election of officers, the party’s monthly meeting also served as the official kick-off for this year’s annual fundraiser, the Presidential Inaugural Ball. Event chair Dave Tunnell, working with is the lead on the committee, reported the essentials of the Inaugural Ball: It will be held Jan. 19th, $35, black tie optional. Dinner/Dance guest former Board of Regents Chair and recent leader of AZ’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention, Fred Duval. Tunnell’s survey  of LHC Dems suggests that there may be a true interest in such a celebration.” We are also hoping to be able to read a blurb from the Whitehouse thanking Mohave County Dems. The tickets are distributed to district chairs.
For more information Contact, Joe Longoria, county chair Mohave County Democratic Party, 620 E. Beale St., Suite 4 Kingman, AZ 86401, ph: 928-753-0006. Or visit the website at: mohaveweb@mohavedemocrats.org

Thursday, December 6, 2012

December Newsletter


Hello Everybody,
Another exciting month I tell you. Since the election we have been pressing for every idea we could develop,  which continued to advance the issues we tried to promote in the congressional campaign: social justice, economic fairness, celebratory diversity, Democrat cheerleading, GOP jeer-leading, bad rhymes, loud music, art & fun.  Larger than politics, I joined into this effort of the Democrats and launched my own personal campaign within it, to help our world get better, not just try to get votes. With your help and support we have accomplished some things I wanted to share. Right now, tonight as I type, I think we are doing just that, accomplishing some things, changing the world.
So first, to acknowledge the realities of politics in the Mohave County, as yet another election goes by and Dems only gather around 30-40% of the vote in this county, it became apparent to me that  it was not only me who could not win in the new AZ CD4 without Mohave County, no Democrat in the region could until we revitalize the party and change the overall culture. So, rather than wait for someone else to start working on it, since the election I have thrown myself into our local District One Party and Mohave County Central Committee. Towards that end I stepped up to fill a vacancy and, first, served as acting county/district one secretary and now, as of Dec. 5th , I have been elected by acclaim to both those positions. I also am thrilled to say my best friend and great inspiration Beth Weisser has been re-elected to her position as county party first vice-chair.
Mohave County Democratic Party: http://mohavedemocrats.org/
Next, while many Dems can trot out carloads of reasons we need to sound moderate and be gentle with the GOP around us, I feel those guys have been willfully impoverishing the country and wreaked untold suffering among the public and, more so, will only stop when confronted and if possible, as often as possible, be belittled in as comic a way as possible so the public will begin to see their policies for the jokes they are and stop falling for the all snake oil. So, with 2012 congressional campaign officially over I have re-activated my political humor column, Current Comedy (now in its 22nd year) Already there are two new columns available online at my own blog sites of course, The Left Coast of AZ (the renamed blog page from the original campaign blog) & the Current Comedy site (which recently celebrated its 5th year online). But even more, Current Comedy is also being featured on such national sites as Op-Ed News and Daily Kos and has returned at last to my hometown Kingman Daily Miner. Please visit KDM and post a comment.
From the Left Coast of AZ:  http://mikelweisser.blogspot.com/

On the issues of social justice, ethical economics and public health and safety, I have joined in the push for cannabis reform and pooled my efforts with a long-time Dolan Springs activist (who also happens to be my campaign assistant) Perry Wickerd, and LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) regional spokesperson, Jay Fleming, to promote MMJ (medical marijuana) awareness and reform. Our nation is coming to a new age and the legalization and regulation of social cannabis is the only way to win the drug war. Arizona’s fledgling MMJ laws, while a great move forward, are still draconian at best and filled with unnecessary obstacles for patients and unreasonable impediments for the commerce of this already robust and expanding industry. So far, since Jan Brewer finally allowed Prop 203 to take effect of sorts this past January, over $5,000,000 have been generated in state revenue despite the best efforts of Brewer and the GOP to cripple every aspect of the initiative. However, a dispensary license has approved for Dolan Springs, so the public there need to be informed of its impact on their society, their rights and responsibilities, and have some of the persistent myths of the drug war debunked. With that in mind, we have disorganized a Dolan Springs town hall meeting Thursday, Dec 13 5:30-7:00 at the Ranch Club in downtown Dolan Springs. Today news of that upcoming meeting was front and center on the local Kingman Daily Miner website and our efforts are just beginning. If you can attend this meeting, come and share your voice. The restaurant at the Ranch Club loves this idea so much they are holding a $5 pizza buffet for that night. While the meeting will be held to feed your head, if you come with the munchies you can also feed your belly for the cheap.
Lastly in our continuing efforts to promote art and diversity of culture, we are thrilled to announce we are resuming our collaboration for the 6th year with Kingman wunderkind, our resident rocket scientist Bruce Carter and the Mohave County Library to organize and host Kingman’s immensely popular book festival KABAM, (“Kingman-Area-Books-Are-Magic!”) In addition, also thanks to Bruce and his dear wife Frances,  our very own So-Hi Peacesign Themepark will be hosting a visiting artist Mata Ortiz pottery exhibit and demonstration Dec. 22nd late afternoon. Details on these two are TBA.
But hey, what an exciting month! Help us keep the activity going. Spread the word, The Mikel Weisser Campaign is making a difference today. Join us now and we will make an even bigger one tomorrow. Please understand, I know I don’t know what I am doing, but I am doing my very best at trying to figure it out as I get there. Thank you ALL for teaching me as I go. This campaign is about us making the changes we want to see: universal health care, a fully rounded, fully staffed, fully funded public education, an ethical economy, a social justice system where all are fairly treated and a vibrant arts community where expressions are championed and embraced. I think we can move this world in that direction.  Let’s try—
Thx again for everything, happiest of holidays. See ya next year!
Mikel



Sunday, December 2, 2012

Current Comedy: “If at First You Don’t Secede …”

What do you call someone who cheers and sneers when our country fails and works constantly against our successes? What about someone who schemes to starve our fellow Americans, gleefully engineers their impoverishment and homelessness, lie to their families and friends to get them to ignore their crimes and then joyfully demeans millions of others for being offended at their chicanery?

Well, personally, back in my construction worker days I would have leaned towards the 14 letter phrase that translates loosely into proper English as copulating rectum, though probably, a more accurate single 7 letter word would be traitor. However, for the sake of this article, I will simply use the common 10 letter term for such people: Republican.
Of course, dear reader, do understand I realize that may appear an unduly harsh thing to say. Understand as well, I am painfully aware considering the hostile demeanor of many GOP rank & file that that kind of language is risky since I live in a community that is 70% GOP. And not your Orange County, Polo shirt wearing, white-whine Republicans; but the hardcore “hoist the rebel flag on the back of your pick-up, hate gays, dismiss minorities, pass no loitering laws, try to avoid paying your share of taxes for a functioning government at all costs, Obama’s a Kenyan & W was your hero”-type Republicans.
While we liberals in Mohave County may suffer from an excess of such Republicanism, we by no means have a lock on the market.   In the weeks following the election, predictably but pathetically, disgruntled GOP bought armaments of all sorts and in 40 different states went to the Whitehouse website itself to toss down the gauntlet and post their petitions to secede. That’s right, if Obama was going to be president, they would rather leave the nation. Or rather in some blind fantasy would rather their state’s non-existent but imagined untold wealth to give the evil Obama the weakening he deserves.
The irony here is that these folks, especially here in the red states where such attitudes prevail; seem to think secession would be to their advantage. But then since those red states contribute a minimal amount of tax revenue and require a maximum amount of government services, since they face the greatest amount social problems such as alcoholism, teen pregnancy, obesity,  and in-breeders named Bubba, the rest of the country will be better off without you.
It is also worth keeping in mind that given how intertwined state and federal resources and finances are, even with such stellar Tea Party governors like Texas’ Rick Perry and our own Jan Brewer, no actual red state governments have endorsed the idea of secession, only those states’ more desperate, pathetic racists.
Well, if at first you don’t secede, don’t let the door knob hit you in the behind on your way out the door. Still, playing the pouty little four year old isn’t going to fix the problems our country is facing. The majority of the economic woes Romney whined about were created by you guys. All that bleeding heart BS about your worries about the deficit? Well why did you make it in the first place? Obama came in with 11 trillion of debt from you guys and Bush. You knew you were borrowing 40% on the dollar instead of collecting taxes for a decade for phony wars, pork barrels by the bucket-load, and foolish tax cuts for the plutocrats, but that crap was OK because a Republican was doing it. But talk about money to fund schools, provide health care for the elderly, or rebuilding our roads and rails before yet another trainload of toxic chemicals derails into yet another river, and now it’s “no that stuff is too expensive, don’t understand money doesn’t grow on trees?” Please.
See? That’s why I oppose the conservative values agenda, and it’s not so much the R or the D behind the name, as the ideology in general. The GOP like to act all morally superior, until no one is watching. You want to talk about being responsible, talk about this: The government borrows 40% of all it spends because the GOP resist taxes, which means that we owe the money later anyway. You can’t run government without money, and you can’t run a society this complex or an economy this fragile without one; so who are they helping with this anti-tax BS? The public who at some point will still have to pay for the debt through future taxes anyway or the GOP’s banker friends who get the pay back either way guaranteed?
You can't cut away 40% of government spending without ravaging the government (the parts we all depend on) and the economy that depends on consumer spending to function no matter what the propagandists of the “job creators” try to tell you. You guys still falling for that rouse about government being nothing but waste and if we just cut this and just cut that, then everything will be better? Politicians on both sides of the aisle have been selling that canard and hacking away at social service funding for so long in most government agencies where cutting even  possible have already been slashed to the point our government is already on life support after 30 years of a concerted effort to drown it in the bathtub. Do the math.
 I suck at math & i can tell you it can't be done and shouldn't be done and there is no rational reason to wish it except for personal greed or other avarice. The federal government is a job creator no matter what lies GOP might spin, it creates 4 million jobs directly and tens of millions otherwise through contracts and employee spending on their lives.  And that’s just a fraction of the eighteen million local and state employees. More than twenty million people, 11% of all the jobs are government job.
 Real people, real services provided and real money spent in their communities and our common economy, and that isn't even talking about the folks who receive services through the government and the impact their lives have on the economy. All that costs money and GOP rail about taxes but they spend money at a faster rate than Dems. (Obama's spending V Reagan/Bush I or II? It's no contest.) So what are you going to do? Cut ALL federal jobs? That hardly dents the deficit, if that's what you’re concerned about? About all those food stamp moochers and unemployment deadbeats? Well that public aid goes DIRECTLY to living expenses for the poor and straight back into the economy in the form of their personal spending. They aren't Romney shipping the money to off shore accounts you know? Or did you think that far? Cut off all aid to the supposed 47% of losers who supposedly leech off of faultless sinless noble you? Kill off the population?
For the past 40 years Republicans have driven this country pretty much however they’ve wanted , which appears to have been straight into the ground. We followed their policies into the S&L crisis, into Iran-Contra, into Enron, into two should destroying wars and into gutting our public to give trillions to the banksters designed our disaster in the first place. And then wag your supposed holier than thou ness in our faces as if that trumped all other points?  What makes you think you appear trustworthy in any fashion in the first place. You guys are just the bullies that have been running the show. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it, or that America as a whole isn’t getting sick of it.
Here is a little story illustrating what I am talking about. According to Romney, Ryan and the rest of the Republican talking heads,  the purposes of government isn’t to ensure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, or provide defense for the public against predators foreign or domestic. No, for the GOP the purpose is accelerate the process of serving up the poor for the rich to eat them and demonizing and restricting all minorities who won’t vote conservative. Which, I guess, is all well and good if you are a member of the club.  Except like Fight Club, they aren’t supposed to admit these aims to the public. Flags, guns and Jesus are all the public should see.
So when Romney grumbled out loud in a post-election taped phone call about how the fabled 47% had let America down, he let the cat our of the bag that Republicans basically hate the public and see them only as prey. So, other GOP still hoping to bilk the public into thinking they might have souls, turned on him like they do everyone else. No honor among thieves I guess.
Finding that kind of crap hilarious, I shared an article about the sharks eating their own with the general Facebook public. Following the leaking of his post-election donor phone call, according to some reporters, Romney appeared to have become the most hated man in America. Next thing I know an area Republican, Mohave County District two Supervisor, Hildy Angius felt obliged to assert no matter how much I thought I hated Romney, she hated Obama 16 trillion times more, because, as is typical of GOP, she believes her opinions aren’t just more important than anyone else’s, but trillions of times more important.
It's that senseless sense of hyperbole and mock outrage the GOP typically employ that is part of the attitude i find offensive. If i actually hated Romney, which i don't, there would be no way any other single person could hate Obama 16 trillion times more. One person = one person. That’s a false sense of entitlement and elitism. Romney wasn't ever hate-able in himself. He was just a salesman, for other people's ideas. I battled the ideas. Why waste energy hating in the first place much less hating a figurehead. Like the song goes, "Republicans need a puppet and you fit/got their hands so far up your rear they call you Mitt."
No wonder folks like Romney and Boehner can so casually discuss destroying the education of a nation and call for the starvation and impoverishment of millions of poor, disabled, elderly, veterans, and/or unemployed. If those people aren’t GOP then they don’t matter. Even if they are GOP, if I can’t make money with or off of them, they don’t matter. They might as well not even exist. No matter what possible tragedy or agony they might be going through, it isn’t even equal to a trillionth of a Republican’s minor irritation. Typical Republican I guess. Maybe, if she’s lucky she’ll realize the error of her ways & her math. If not, maybe we’ll be lucky and she’ll want to secede like the rest of the Tea Party math deficients. So the people who actually love America can try to repair some of the messes they’ve made.
 --mikel weisser writes from the left coast of AZ.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

MMJ Dispensary to Open in Dolan Springs, Town Hall Meeting Set


Hello Friends, Family and supporters around CD4,

One of the issues i addressed in my campaign was cannabis reform, both on the long range social justice issue of legalization, but more immediately to address the inherent problems, oversights, glitches, errors if you will, with our state's nascent medical marijuana regulations. One of the first places in Mohave County to be approved for a medical marijuana (MMJ) dispensary is in tiny Dolan Springs, a wide spread but sparsely populated desert community about 30 miles north of Kingman, the home-base of my tireless campaign assistant, Perry Wickerd. 

Due to decades of stigmatization and restricted access of information, many Arizonans are uninformed of their rights and the implications of having a MMJ dispensary in their community. Current AZ MMJ laws restrict general public information and advertising about dispensaries, so, in the public interest, in conjunction with Jay Fleming from the Mohave County LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), Perry has organized a town hall meeting. Please feel encouraged to attend if possible and share this information.

If my campaign was about anything, it was about informing the public that we have the power to shape our lives and our country if we will only begin taking action. I have pledged to continue working on the issues as best i can. In this case that means helping spread word of the great work LEAP & Perry Wickerd.
mikel 
Informational Open Forum for Residents of Mohave County

@ Castle Rock Ranch and Arena in downtown DOLAN SPRINGS (formerly known as the “Ranch Club”)

on December 13, 2012 from 5:30-7:00 PM

Featuring former Undercover Narcotics Investigator and Activist E. Jay Fleming of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition)

Castle Rock and LEAP are hosting a Town Hall Meeting for residents of Mohave County to learn about the laws and implications of the medical marijuana dispensary being approved for the Dolan Springs district. This is the first and only dispensary to be approved in Mohave County so far. Speaker Jay Fleming will present information followed by a question and answer session for residents.

Admission is free and the forum is open to all. In addition, a $5 pizza buffet will be available to anyone interested in refreshments.

For more information call Perry Wickerd at (928) 530-4737
For more info on LEAP: http://www.leap.cc/

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Celebrating the 5th Anniversary of My Online Blog

In during the Thanksgiving holidays of 2007 i decided to resume writing political commentary. I had written for years and stopped when both my mother-in-law and then my wife died in 2005. Taking the column back up and becoming politically active again was a great fork in my life, a crossroads that ultimately led to running for Congress and writing to you now.

Here is the 5th anniversary thank you column for Current Comedy.  Starting this month, columns will be cross-posted between the two sites. thank you and may you gave much thanks and have much to give thanks for.

***

Hello anybody who is still reading Current Comedy. Happy 5th anniversary! Happy Thanksgiving; I am thankful for you.

I so appreciate your attention and apologize for largely ignoring this blog for the past year while i ran for Congress in AZ's 1st election for the actual left coast of AZ, the newly created Congressional District 4, which includes almost all of the three river counties in AZ: Mohave, La Paz & Yuma (in addition to portions of Yavapai, Maricopa, Pinal & Gila Counties). It was a grand adventure and one i hope to repeat, but in the meantime, I am continuing my work of raising awareness of issues in westerrn AZ, promoting art and humor, and working with progressive groups and the AZ Democratic Party to advance the progressive agenda.

For me, the creation of CD4 has been an immense opportunity for Mohave County, and rural AZ in general, to be free from the stamp of PHX and the reign of Trent Franks. We can create our own imagery now and the rural AZ mentality isn't simply a matter of Bibles and bullets anymore. Tolerance and diversity are a redeeming strength in our country and a coming wave here in the "Mississippi of the West" as our state was affectionately known back in the day it took the entire federal gov't and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to stop our racist shenagans. Our future is tolerance and diversity. America is changing and whether they like it or not, Arizonans are leading the change. I am even in favor of tolerance of Bibles and bullets but not when one is used to force the other down my throat.

I should acknowledge the 2012 election cycle has changed my life and my vision profoundly and probably permanently. I see the wisdom of working to affect change throught he poltical process and am off and running. In an effort to resume having an impact while i await the actual 2014 election cycle i have resumed my opinion column and aim to re-establish the posting schedule i once followed that allowed the column to be published (well, posted anyway) regularly on numerous sites and thus affect opinion and thus change throughout America.

To any long-time readers still out there, I ask you to consider the time pressures of campaigning and forgive my ignoring this site. At the end of 2010, during the period i consider some of the best articles in this long running series, i was spending 8-12 per week on each single column. I know it didn't seem that way considering the typos i'd strewn about; but the point is there was no way to continue writing those kinds of articles and campaign for Congress ... or pretty much do anything other than teach, feed the chickens, occasionally kiss the wife and campaign, campaign, campaign.

Further, as soon as i announced in Jan. some of the papers stopped running my online column to not give me undue advantage. Not having those audiences made the prospect of investing the labor even less appealing. So, i further hope any of my regular readers had continued to follow our efforts change at the campaign website: www.mikelweisser.org
or at the campaign blog: http://www.mikelweisser.blogspot.com/

I have now adapted the campaign site to be a non-profit activist site and will continue to post updates and hopefully get to the point of being a nexus for Mohave/CD 4  activists. We are continuing to move forward and i have already begun creating public activism and events to advance the progressive cause, the same way this column once attempted to. So towards that end, and in celebration of the both Thanksgiving (my 2nd favorite holiday) and this 5th anniversary, I encourage everybody to re-read my first article:
http://yzurblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/current-comedy-112307-if-dems-really.html

Also, i ask you to be thankful. Be thankful the Romney vision did not capture America. Be thankful enough of America is wise enough to not follow lockstep in line with the dominant propaganda. Be thankful the people appear to have spoken and said they want more progress and less plutocrats. Be thankful you all know each other are out there working for the better. And be thankful America still has another chance.

So now we must take it--
--mikel weisser writes from the left coast of AZ

Friday, November 16, 2012

CORRECTION: What Money Can't Buy

Apologies dear readers and tip of the hat to eagle eye Eli Blake who noticed a data error in a longer earlier version of this column:


What Money Can’t Buy

As a recently defeated candidate for public office, few people may consider my advice sound, but here goes anyway. 

Hey Mohave County Republican Party: Congratulations on your recent victory. I remember another victory you guys had back in 2004--an embattled president facing a challenge from a controversial politician out of Massachusetts, a divided nation. In the end, though, a decisive victory of more than three million votes and a re-elected president who took that margin and claimed it was a mandate. “I have earned some political capital and I aim to spend it!” George Bush then launched into a program that totally ignored the wishes of the half of the electorate to kowtow to his perpetually shrinking, but none the less, rabid base. Welcome to 2012, that rabid base of yours has shrunk nationally to below the 50% mark. Now, don’t you hope that Dems’ donkeys are more gracious than your sorry donkeys have been?

Don’t get me wrong. The Mohave County Republican Party can be indisputably proud of their accomplishments this round. We are clearly the reddest county in the state. You guys thunderously won virtually every local and state elective office and got Romney 70% of the vote. Only two states turned out such numbers, Wild West Wyoming and, small wonder, Romney loving Utah. In fact only ten states nationally went red by 60+%. Metro area counties like Maricopa and Pinal weren’t even greater than 60%. Four counties entirely refused your Tea Party and went over to the blue side. College counties Pima and Coconino both backed Obama. He took two-thirds of the Apache County vote and, a whopping 68% of Santa Cruz County.

So, Mohave County Republican Party, job well done. Now shut up and learn to listen before your party demographically goes the way of the Dixiecrats and other such red-meat eating dinosaurs.  A three million vote margin is a mandate. Your team just lost the presidency in more than half the states, lost seats in Congress in general, lost your supermajority in PHX, and lost more than half of the state’s Congressional seats.  AND, it’s the fifth time in the last six presidential elections that Dems earned more votes.  If ever a presidential election could have simply been bought, this surely should have been it. If ever there was a president who has been demonized, vilified, it has been Barack Obama. And it did no good.

Turns out the American public also does not actually honestly desire a massive repudiation of Obamacare. We actually honestly do care about caring about people. You know how the Right always say, “The law’s the law”?  Well, the law’s the law. The Affordable Care Act passed. It’s the law. Shut up about it. Get used to the ACA and stop wasting state money on losing litigation trying to battle a program that, while compromised, has more strengths than weaknesses.

Know what else? There is no rich man’s tax cut worth giving up my son’s education over, or my mother’s healthcare, just sayin’. No tax cut ever built a highway, taught a child, or stopped a criminal, just sayin’. Also Cannabis is going to legal someday. Women want birth control, not rapists’ babies, and same sex marriage won on the ballot. Face it: if you really have to worry about the sex in someone’s else marriage, that means you are not having enough of your own.

But seriously, while your numbers and sheer orneriness might give you guys the west side of the state home-team advantage for now, the politics of race and rights and money are slipping away from you. The angrier old white men get about losing their will to stem the tide of time, the more rapidly their dominance will slide. In California they even voted to raise their own taxes. Less than 30% of the public are still willing to register Republican. And you know what they say about Californians: they keep moving to Arizona.

--mikel weisser writes from the left coast of AZ and was a 2012 primary candidate for US House of Representatives

Monday, November 12, 2012

What Money Can’t Buy



As a recently defeated candidate for public office, few people may consider my advice sound, but here goes anyway.

Hey Mohave County Republican Party: Congratulations on your recent victory. It feels good to win, doesn’t it? I remember another victory you guys had back in 2004--an embattled president facing a challenge from a controversial politician out of Massachusetts, a divided nation, everything hanging on Ohio. In the end, though, a decisive victory with the majority of more than three million votes and a re-elected president who took that margin and claimed it was a mandate. “I have earned some political capital and I aim to spend it!” George Bush crowed and then launched into a program that totally ignored the wishes of the half of the electorate to kowtow to his perpetually shrinking, but none the less, rabid base.

Sure, you remember. We all do. Welcome to 2012, that rabid base of yours has shrunk nationally to below the 50% mark and as the song goes turnabout is fair play. Now, don’t you hope that Dems’ donkeys are more gracious than your sorry donkeys have been?

Don’t get me wrong. The Mohave County Republican Party can be indisputably proud of their accomplishment this round. We are clearly the reddest county in the state. You guys thunderously won virtually every local and state elective office and got Romney 70% of the vote. Only two states turned out such numbers, Wild West Wyoming and, small wonder, Romney loving Utah. In fact only ten states nationally went 60+%, more than half of AZ Counties did. The only AZ county even close were the immigrant haters down in Santa Cruz County, at 68%. Metro area counties like Maricopa and Pinal weren’t even greater than 60%. Pima went 51% Obama by 25,000 votes, which is approximately the same difference the other way as the Mohave County difference.

So, Mohave County Republican Party, job well done. Now here’s my advice:  we forgive you for being so incredibly deluded, now, rather than continuing to crow, it’s time to shut up and learn to listen before your party demographically goes the way of the Dixiecrats and other such red meat eating dinosaurs.  Look outside the Fox News “Romney by a Landslide” bubble. A three million vote margin is a mandate. Your team just lost the presidency in more than half the states, lost seats in Congress in general, lost your super-majority in PHX, and lost more than half of the state’s Congressional seats.

This wasn’t an error, no matter what joy juice Rush is currently snorting, it’s the fifth time in the last six presidential elections that Dems earned more votes. The GOP wants to claim they lost the election because of Hurricane Sandy. But the people in Tempe didn’t vote for Kyrsten Sinema because of CNN broadcast Obama-Christie man-hugs. Whether or not the purist conservative ideologues who claim to shape the party like it or not, the AZ GOP is based by base emotions, blatant greed and brute force. While that approach may win barroom brawls, it’s not what the public is looking for in governance.

It's not like you didn't try, though. If ever a presidential election could have simply been bought, this surely should have been an example. The GOP and the plutocrats poured over six billion into this election. If ever there was a president who has been demonized, vilified, painted as evil as imaginable, it has been Barack Obama. And it did no good.

Turns out asking the public to sacrifice their own best interests for someone else’s tax cut isn’t the sure fire winner it once was. No tax cut ever built a highway, taught a child, or stopped a criminal. There is no rich man’s tax cut worth giving up my son’s education over, or my mother’s healthcare, just sayin’.

Turns out the American public also does not actually honestly desire a massive repudiation of Obamacare. We actually honestly do care about caring about people. So, AZ GOP, it is time to get used to the ACA and stop wasting state money on losing litigation trying to battle a program that, while compromised, has more strengths than weaknesses. You know how the Right always complains that us lefty bleeding hearts should stop whining about undocumented immigrants? They say, “The law’s the law. What part of illegal don’t you understand?”  Well the law’s the law. The Affordable Care Act passed. It’s the law. Shut up about it. SB 1070 got gutted, stop whining. The law’s the law, right?

Know what else? Cannabis is going to legal someday. Get used to it. Women want birth control, not rapists’ babies, and same sex marriage won on the ballot. If you really have to worry about the sex in someone’s else marriage, that means you are not having enough of your own.

But seriously, while your numbers and sheer orneriness might give you guys the west side of the state home-team advantage for now, the politics of race and rights and money are slipping away from you. America has just had our first true post-racial election, the angrier old white men get about losing their will to stem the tide of time, the more rapidly their time of dominance will slide. In California they even voted to raise their own taxes. Less than 30% of the public is even willing to register Republican. And you know what they say about Californians: they keep moving to Arizona.
--mikel weisser writes from the left coast of AZ

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

CD 4 Recount Results to Take Another Week, While Weisser Sweats It Out



Monday Sept. 10th, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett announced the completed results from the Aug. 28th primaries in all but one race: Congressional District 4’s Democratic primary between poet-teacher-activist Mikel Weisser from Mohave County and former Congressional aide Johnnie Robinson of Pinal County. With more than 20,000 votes cast in the primary the difference is less than one tenth of one percent, a mere 19 votes.
Weisser laughed and shook his head, while talking to reporters and wandering about the downtown capitol complex following the announcement. “Nineteen votes. I could tell you 20 reasons I should have had those 19 votes, or two dozen things I should-a, would-a, could-a done different. But it isn’t a time for going back and beating myself up. Win, lose, or draw, now we’ve got to stay fired up and get going, spreading the message that we have to turn away from the failed economic policies of the GOP. That’s why I started running in the first place and why I’m still here.”
Weisser was on hand in the crowded seventh floor Secretary of State boardroom for Bennett’s announcement. A junior high social studies teacher with a dozen years in the classroom, Weisser claims the experience has been one large civics lesson for his students as well as for himself. “I want to get every morsel of knowledge I can from this experience so I can take that knowledge back to my seventh graders at White Cliffs Middle School. Kids love my class because they know I’m not just talking about growing up to try to change the world, I am actually living it.”
Among other lessons Weisser has experienced thanks to his congressional run, Mikel and his wife, LD 5 state senate candidate, Beth Weisser, spent last week in Charlotte, North Carolina with the Arizona delegation to the Democratic National Convention. “It was way better than Disneyland! Beth was the delegate, I was the arm-candy.” Weisser exclaimed. Throughout the week the Weissers attended conferences and caucuses throughout the day and the convention by night. An honored guest of the AZ delegation, he sat with the delegation each night and enthusiastically cheered on speeches by Democratic luminaries such as Luis Gutierrez, Cory Booker, Duval Patrick, Sandra Fluke and Brian Schweitzer. “I’m still studying transcripts of those speeches. They are amazing. I wish all Americans could watch the video of Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm. That woman’s speech is so evocative, so physical you can watch it with the sound off and still be moved to tears.”
When asked about the reasons for the close vote, the usually comic Weisser turns serious. “I’m afraid the biggest problem was, in the age of Citizens United and unlimited corporate political spending, both my opponent and I ran cash poor campaigns, which means low information campaigns. For example, I spent most of my campaign time last month hand painting and placing about 170 double sided signs around this seven county district. It seems like quite an accomplishment until you realize this district is the size of the state of Illinois. Then my 170 signs seem more like a drop in the ocean.”
“Couple that with low information voters and I imagine there were thousands of voters who hadn’t heard of either of us before they walked into that voting booth on the 28th. I mean look at the result. You could expect the same results from flipping a coin 20,000 times. I imagine some voters made their choice in exactly that way. ‘Let’s see here. Got this one guy, I can’t even pronounce his name and this other guy, Robinson. Sounds All-American enough for me.’”
In the end voting patterns reflected the two candidates’ spheres of influence across the giant district. With Weisser already on the radar as a writer, educator, activist, and entertainer in Mohave and Yavapai Counties, he won handily there. With Robinson, a resident of San Tan Valley and son of a Pinal County political family, it came as no surprise; Robinson did well in the southern end of the district.
State election laws call for a recount in races under 25,000 votes if the difference is less than 50 votes. The final results were Weisser 10,166 votes, Robinson 10,185 votes. Meanwhile Republicans cast more than 78,000 votes in their primary, so whoever wins will face a steep uphill battle against Paul Gosar, in a race that has been widely labeled “quixotic.” “I believe the official term of art is ‘sacrificial lamb,” Weisser laughs.
Though the unofficial election results had been collected earlier in the week, the Secretary of State’s office notified the seven county offices in the congressional district that a recount was called for on Friday Sept. 7th, following the official county by county canvass that morning. A mandatory recalibration of the voting and vote tabulating machinery is required and an inventory of all election supplies and equipment is required in preparation of the recount. Already these preparations have had an impact on the final outcome. According to Pinal County elections officer Steve Kizer, when the Pinal County elections office began inventorying their election supplies, they discovered more than 40 ballots which had been misplaced and sat uncounted, including 6 in the CD Democratic primary. Unfortunately for Weisser and Robinson the six were split evenly, three for Weisser, three for Robinson. “It’s yet another comic detail in this ongoing outlandish saga,” Weisser quips. “It’s like the trials of Job.”
Following the mandatory recalibration and inventories, each county will begin their individual recounts. Some, such as Pinal, will begin their count on Tuesday, Sept 11th. Maricopa County will conduct theirs on Wednesday the 12th and some like Yuma County won’t even get started until Thursday. The counties will present their final reports on the morning of Monday Sept. 17 and the state is hoping to certify the election that afternoon. The ballots need to be finalized by the 22nd so they can be shipped to overseas and military voters in time for the Nov. 6th election.
###
For more info contact:
Mikel Weisser
4490 Sundown Drive
So-Hi, AZ 86413
928-234-5633

Friday, August 24, 2012

On Being "Quixotic"

In a recent editorial Pete Aleshire of the Payson Roundup called me Quixotic and said i was tilting at windmills to challenge the Gosar Gould Big Red Machine. I tapped out a rebuttal but i don't know if or when it will run so--

First I would like to thank Pete Aleshire for writing an article about our Democratic primary for US House and spending a line or two to establishing who I am as a person and a candidate, instead of taking the all too common approach papers take of merely mentioning how much money we’ve raised as if that were a reflection of our character. I for one am quite sick of politicians whose relationship with the public is solely about the money. If we stop caring about working of, by, and for the people and only chase their dollars, then the republic is no more and our country’s fate awaits the auction block.
Next I would also like to thank Mr. Aleshire for referring to me as “quixotic.” Famed photojournalist, Jerry Nelson, from the website JourneyAmerica also uses that term while writing about my efforts and I take it as accomplishment. “Don Quixote” is the nickname of my favorite political character of all time, Jefferson Smith, from the movie Mr.Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939), a film about someone who, like me, has been thrust into politics and takes on seemingly impossible odds to battle a corrupt system. I have watched it dozens of times and use it in classes when teaching legislative process. Smith is brave, devoted, fearless, tireless, and wishes the best for everyone. He works to make the America he’d learned about as a boy; and even more, believes it is our life’s most important work to make the America we’re always told to dream of. This is the way I have lived my life every day since I climbed out of a plumber’s ditch at age 30 and started back to college.
I must say, it is a sad, sad time in our country, when a person who works to make an America that cares for all its citizens andrespects all humanity is dismissed as dreaming an impossible dream. As Smith rails at the film’s climax, “If you want me to tell these kids that all this America stuff I’ve been filling your heads with is just a bunch of hooey because some rich guys need some graft, then you’ve got another think coming!”
America is not supposed to be a country that casually cuts schools and social services so we can be sure the plutocrats get their tax cuts. America is not supposed to be a country that shoves 36 kids in a classroom designed for 18 to save money. America is not supposed to be a country where we shame, demonize,marginalize and imprison our poorest people, or one that looks at each immigrant as a terrorist because of the color of their skin or the words they choose to pray to their idea of god. America is supposed to work for all Americans.  America is supposed to care.I do care. I would hate to have to believe that makes me a hopeless dreamer.
Lastly, I would like to correct a small factual error in the article concerning my educational background. I earned a BA in English from Sangamon State University in 1992 and an MA in literary criticism  from the University of Illinois at Springfield in 1999 and then moved to AZ and earned a Masters in Secondary Education from NAU in 2005.Speaking of which, revitalizing and fully funding education is also a priority. As for private prisons, I work to reverse the entire trend of privatization of government services, which increases our costs and diminishes quality of essential services when unscrupulous businessmen cut corners and defraud the public to increase their profits. As I say it is a sad time in America when the goal of working to improve the lives of Americans is considered as hopeless as tilting windmills.


--mikel weisser is a candidate for US House for AZ CD4 and writes from the left coast of AZ

Monday, August 20, 2012

Traditional Style Bio Info for Upcoming Wikipedia Entry

Jim Dotzler of Prescott, who had edited the Wikipedia page for the AZ CD-04 race has offered to put together a Wikipedia bio for me. Here's the background i sent him. Hopefully this will start more speculation than it settles, lol.


Mikel Louis Weisser (born February 7, 1959) is a poet, teacher, activist/entertainer and currently candidate for  U.S. Representative for Arizona's 4th congressional district. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Early life, education, and teaching career
Originally named Michael Louis Frazier, Weisser was born in Beaumont, Texas, and raised in Raymondville, Texas, the son of Patsy Anne (née Perrodin) and Jackie Oren Frazier. After divorcing Frazier, when Mikel was an infant, Patsy supported herself as a nightclub singer until she remarried to Roger Eugene “Bud” Weisser, who adopted Michael. His step- grandparents were immigrants from Sweden and Germany and his maternal grandparents were from East Texas. His maternal grandfather was of Cajun descent. His mother was a nightclub singer. His stepfather was an electrician who moved the family to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and ran a mechanical construction business.
 A former teen runaway, Weisser attended Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas, majoring in communications and theater. Weisser was part of the 1978 PASS, Pan American Summer Stock theater company with a supporting role in the musical Boys From Syracuse. He dropped out following a house fire and briefly served in the US Navy, though he left after only four months with an honorable discharge.  While in the Navy, Weisser’s first name was inadvertently misspelled as “Mikel,” a change Weisser never corrected.
 Reconciling with the mother of his son, Samuel, Weisser worked various construction/manual labor jobs in South Texas and eventually earning a journeyman’s plumbing license working for his stepfather’s company, Portal Electric. After moving from South Texas to Springfield, IL in 1987, Weisser soon returned to college and earned BA in Literature in 1992 from Sangamon State University paying his way with scholarships, grants, and by working as a carnie. He graduated with High honors and a GPA of 3.91. While working as a program coordinator at a homeless shelter, he continued on to earn an MA in literary criticism in 1999 though the university changed its name to University of IL at Springfield. Weisser represented UIS at a trio of national graduate student literary conferences when four of Weisser's papers were presented on Hemingway, Shelley, John Irving and Depression Era Crime Films. His thesis was on postmodernism and literary allusion.
After spending a year working as substitute teacher and freelance journalist, Weisser moved to Bullhead City to teach social studies. Weisser earned a Master in Secondary Education from Northern Arizona University in 2005. His thesis was on using social studies to teach writing and vice versa. He has presented papers on reading enrichment. Weisser has been a member of National Middle School Association and the Arizona Education Association. He spoke to the Peace and Social Justice Caucus at the 2012 National Education Association convention in Washington DC. Currently he teaches social studies in Kingman, Arizona. Weisser lives in the hillside community of So-Hi, where he moved with his second wife Beth in 2007, following the suicide of Lisa on Dec. 3 2005.
 Writing and Artistic Career

Though Weisser began writing as a teen, and he continued writing all along, his” writing career” did not begin until his 30th birthday, when Weisser self-published his first book, a collection of short fiction, Stories for the TV Generations in 1989.  In 1991, Weisser edited the Sangamon State University's anthology of student writing, The Alchemist's Review. Weisser also self-published two later collections of short fiction, Gossip (1990) and Sampler Pack (1992), which included a short section of poetry.  Weisser began performing poetry and self published a collection of poetry the following year, Songs of Assonance & Experymence [sic](1993). Later self-publications include A Simple Calendar (2000), Verb*I*Age (2004), and Leaving the Empire (2010). In 2006, he also edited and released his late wife’s haiku collection, Little Girl Lost.
Following the publishing Stories for the TV Generations, Weisser began writing for SSU’s college paper and Springfield underground newspapers, The Alternative (1990-1992) and The Chronicle of Unlimited Possibilities (1992-1997) where he created his ongoing political humor series “News for the TV Generations,” which would later be renamed “Current Comedy.” In addition to the political series, Weisser’s freelance journalism would appear in various Springfield publications including Illinois Times and Springfield Magazine. Though he moved to Arizona in 2000, he continued to publish in Illinois publications until his wife’s death in 2005. He resumed his political column in 2007 and created the website, Current Comedy (http://yzurblog.blogspot.com/), following his remarriage in 2007. The column has been posted on Op-Ed News, Dissident Voice, AZ Central, and Daily Kos, among other national sites, in addition to locally in the Mohave Daily News and Kingman Daily Miner.  In 2012, Weisser suspended his political column to focus on his candidacy (See Below).
In 1993 and 2000 Weisser won Springfield poetry slams before moving to Arizona in late 2000. After teaching a poetry class in 2004, he began hosting local poetry readings in Bullhead City and Kingman and joined NORAZ Poets ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NORAZ_Poets).  Starting in 2009, Weisser began competing in the AZ poetry slam circuit and has performed in several prestigious locations around the country including The World Stage and Beyond Baroque in L.A., The Beat Museum in San Francisco and The Green Mill in Chicago.
Though he did not take up the guitar until in his 40s, starting in 2006 Weisser also began a sporadic musical career and released a self-published album of original music, Quarter Blues (2008) of vocals & acoustic guitar. As a visual artist, Weisser had early art shows while attending Pan American University, but did not avidly resume art until moving to Springfield. There, Weisser incorporated set design, performance poetry and theatrical monologues, found objects, and traditional art forms to create basement “theme parks” that were profiled twice by the university public access channel. Upon moving to So-Hi, Weisser began adopting the couple’s two acre property into an outdoor peacesign theme park, with hundreds of peacesigns, including some large enough to be seen via Google Earth. Weisser’s peacesign themepark has been profiled in both Kingman’s Weekly Standard and Prescott’s Daily Courier, and was the subject of a multi-media outdoor art show of painting and sculpture in Prescott’s McCormick Art District in 2009 and two short videos.

Political Career
Weisser’s career as a political activist began in 1979 when local farm workers in Raymondville launched an onion strike. Weisser’s moment of conversion was caught on film and later included in Hart Perry’s 2003 documentary, Valley of Tears, on the history of the racial tensions in Raymondville. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymondville,_Texas). After moving to Springfield, Weisser became a volunteer and later the manager of the local activist food co-op, King Harvest Food Co-op, which also became a recycling center under Weisser’s management. In addition to his ongoing recycling efforts, Weisser was also an outspoken critic on racial and military issues, organizing and participating in protests in both Illinois and Arizona. In 2007, Weisser joined a national anti-war protest in Washington DC where he began his continuing association with the international women’s peace organization, Code Pink. (He would later be the musical entertainment for AZ appearances of Code Pink leaders Cindy Sheehan and Medea Benjamin.)
In 2008, Weisser coverage of the Dennis Kucinich led House Judiciary Committee hearings on possible impeachment of George W Bush drew national attention and his articles on immigration, LGBT Rights and the Tea Party were widely reposted. In Arizona, Weisser has also been involved with anti SB-1070 protests and the LGBT movement. Though a straight male, he serves as the Mohave County Regional Adviser on LGBT issues for the state Democratic Party. In October of 2011, Weisser became the leader and “disorganizer” of the Kingman Occupy movement and was elected to represent Arizona at the 99% Delegation’s Continental Congress 2.0 held in Philadelphia on the 4th of July at Independence Hall. Weisser read part of the public proclamation and chaired the committee on Immigration. http://www.the99declaration.org/
2012 Election
After working to advance Democratic causes in the 2000 election, Weisser began volunteering with the Democratic Party in 2004. In 2010, he served as the field coordinator for his wife, Beth’s, campaign for state senate for AZ 3rd legislative district, running against incumbent Ron Gould. That year he also began working as an elected PC and state party delegate. Following the January 2012 announcement of new Congressional districts, Weisser launched a campaign for the newly formed 4th district when no traditional candidates emerged. Weisser’s populist grassroots campaign has not focused on raising money, but on confronting Republican leadership. His slogan, “Tell the Right They’re Wrong!”, handmade approach to campaigning, hard-edged progressive rhetoric and high energy public political appearances, which often incorporate both poetry and music, have excited supporters and infuriated his opposition around the district. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDp1ZvXarBM
 Currently Weisser is in a contested primary. His opponent is Johnnie Robinson from Florence, AZ. The primary election is Tuesday, August 28, 2012.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Weisser for US Congress July 2012 Newsletter


The “Ask for Money” Portion
My, it has been a long time since I sent out a letter to everyone, hasn’t it? To those of you who thought I had dropped off the face of the earth, or out of the campaign, rest assured, I have never been busier. In fact I have been so busy with SO many things, I let our communications slide this past month. My apologies. Thx for your continuing support.
 Those of you expecting that this letter would be an “ask,” a fundraising instrument were entirely correct. I know you are wondering why you should do it. Here’s why: Our campaign is bringing life back the Democratic Party in Western Arizona at a time when we need it more than ever. Talk to Yavapai County chair, Lindsey Bell, Mohave chair Ed Pyrzynski, or Chris Tilley out in Payson. When I come to talk, people get excited.  As I’ve traveled the state cheerleading and aiding local candidates, talking tough and taking on the opposition, Democrats around the district are coming out to events, rising to their feet, running for office, putting up signs and being excited again about believing in Democracy once more. That is what you are investing in when you contribute to my campaign.
As the campaign prepares for our final month before the primary, we are need to finish strong, to continue making those public appearances and cheering on the home team. Even more importantly, we hope to use this final month of campaigning to build into the following week when our campaign will join thousands of other hard charging Democrats at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina to prepare to mount our best possible battle against the GOP nominees.
But there’s more to it than this. Though I am not greatly worried about my primary, the GOP are and they are already starting their attacks against me. Last week in Salome at a Chamber of Commerce candidate forum, GOP state senate candidate, Dr. Kelli Ward and state representative candidate Ronny Borrelli, led an elephant parade of GOP bullies who used their time at the mic to call for my firing as a teacher because as Ward phrased it, I had espoused “Democratic Talking Points.” Ward and Borrelli used these words as applause lines and the audience cheered them on. To be absolutely sure about what this means: to Ward and Borrelli, to the rank and file GOP, simply being a Democrat or even talking about Democratic ideas is all it takes for someone to want you silenced and have your life ruined. Throw in last week’s hate-mail that was so intense the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office is forwarding the case onto the FBI and we are no longer dealing with a mere fashion choice of red v blue. America is engaged in a culture war and the other side is collecting bullets.
While it is a bit unnerving to see GOP candidates running on a platform of calling for my firing, this is actually an unfortunate though necessary phase in the process of challenging the rightwing dominance here in CD-04. The harder they work to demonize our campaign, the more the public will get a chance to see how awful we already know they are. This month will see candidate forums across the district and similar battles. Without your help the GOP attack dogs will go unchallenged and their poison will be the only voices heard by the voters. With your help, we can afford to fight back.

The “More Like a Regular Newsletter” Portion
So, that’s what’s ahead. But just where have I been for the whole last month? Well, I have been from coast to coast, to our nation’s capitol, the cradle of the Revolution, and to the birthplace of Liberty. Translation? After an unexpected overnight lay-over in Boston (by way of Long Beach & NYC), the month opened with the National Education Association convention in Washington DC and the 99% Delegation’s Continental Congress 2.0 which coincided with the Occupy National Gathering in Philadelphia. I spoke to the Arizona delegation and the Peace and Social Justice Caucus at the NEA convention. That same week in Philly, I chaired the committee on and wrote the section about immigration at the 99% convention in addition to authoring the passage on media monopolies. I was one of the speakers at our public petition for redress of grievances at Independence Hall in front of the monument to the First Amendment and am still on the continuing committee on education. Earlier in the week I led 100s of Veterans for Peace, Occupy protesters and police in riot gear in singing “This Land is Your Land” at that same spot.
Later after returning to DC, we dropped in at the Democratic Party National headquarters and caught a meeting with western regional director, Andrew O’Leary. Next came the most important part of trip when we stopped in Central Illinois to visit my little nine month old grandson for two days before leaping back onto the campaign trail. Since returning, we have appeared in Dolan Springs, Payson, Cottonwood, Prescott, Phoenix PDA, Bullhead City, Wikieup, Tempe, Salome, and Seligman. I glad-handed it up at the AZ Capitol Times candidate event, appeared twice on Phoenix talk radio and been interviewed twice on DC shows and once on a show from NYC, telling the world that Arizona has Democrats worth cheering for.
In addition to paying for all those travels, many of you have noticed we are beginning to hand create and post signs around the district.  Signs are posted in So-Hi, Kingman, Dolan Springs, Whitman, Wickenburg, Wickieup, Aguila, Salome, Cottonwood, Payson, Ponderosa Park, Prescott, Circle City, Chino Valley, Paulden, Bullhead City & Fort Mohave. The fans in Phoenix are rocking them as well even though it's out of the district, just for the Indy cred. So far, we have 86 signs, mostly double-sided, but aim to create and post 150 prior to the primary.
Gas, signage, truth talking with that special touch of smart-ass? It’s true I am a hard driving man with a noble goal and all the spheroids one man can carry, but I can only do so much alone. $10 bucks buys 10 signs worth of paint, $30 a round-trip to Dolan Springs, BHC or LHC., $60 for PHX, Prescott, Payson, or Yuma. $100 keeps me in business cards. Your good will keeps me going. How far is up to you. If you feel this campaign is making a difference, I ask you to contribute now.
Either way, I hope you continue to work your hardest to make this difference. I promise you all I will.
Mikel
Mikel Weisser for US Congress

Mikel Weisser
4490 Sundown Drive
So-Hi, AZ 86413
928-234-5633

Democracy for America:
99% Declaration:
Act Blue:

Campaign Updates:
Talk Show Appearance (7/8/12)
Candidate Forum (6/20/12)
Audio:
Phone-in Talk Show Guest Appearance:
Interviews:

Video:

Political Humor Archive:
On My Opponent, Paul Gosar:
Positions:
Rebuttals:
LGBT Issues:
Immigration:
Tea Party Rebuttal:

Spoken Word (profile):
Spoken Word (performances)

Coverage:

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