Tuesday Night Music 4 26 11

It's a hard thing, in our cocksure world of yapping mouths and talking heads, to realize that our perceptions of people are often only gleaned from the briefest, most incomplete of studies. Harder still to recognize when someone you don't have much in common with does the right thing for the right reasons.

Whoever thought I'd thank Arizona Governor Jan Brewer for anything, other than giving the anti-immigrant hoot-n-holler types a flag to rally 'round, the better to know who they were?

But I got proven wrong this last week -- big time. I was positive that the dreaded Arizona Birther Bill, after being passed, was going to get a big old "JAN" right across its bow.

I also wondered when the next time someone from Arizona would be able to run for President, given that the state stopped producing forms acceptable to the Bill, itself, not that long ago.

But Governor Brewer vetoed it. And she didn't just do it quietly, either.

"As a former Secretary of State (sic), I do not support designating one person as the gatekeeper to the ballot for a candidate, which could lead to arbitrary or politically-motivated decisions," Brewer wrote in her veto message to House Speaker Kirk Adams.

"In addition, I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for President (sic) of the greatest and most powerful nation on earth to submit their "early baptismal or circumcision certificates" among other records to the Arizona Secretary of State. This is a bridge too far,"

Indeed.

Arizona's lawmakers had a chance to overturn the veto, in the dying hours of that session. They decided they'd rather name the Colt Revolver the state's official firearm. I guess they wanted to go out with a bang?

(Sorry)

Of course, reactions from the peanut gallery was swift and predictable. Orly shat herself with the righteous indignation that only the terminally wrong and questionable of ethics can muster. (Bernadette Arnold? Really?)

Others were less kind, and Orly's web page has been a non-stop, one-stop shopping location for any and all conspiracy theories regarding Brewer's non-existent flip-flop.

Me? I'm just glad that this person, with whom I thought I'd never see eye-to-eye, had the decency (however fleeting) to do the right thing. And it WAS the right thing, clearly.

We are reminded that sometimes even the people we think we are not going to agree with us are secret allies in the eternal game of compromise. Without them, we go nowhere fast.

But it's Tuesday night, and that means music. This song's been ratting 'round my head for a few days, which means it's time to share. "Pure Morning" by Placebo. "A friend in need's a friend indeed."