I get a fair amount of criticism in the comment section for being critical of American Christianity. That's probably a little fair, although I would content, as a Christian, I have some right to be offended by the wild misuse of what I believe in. However, it would really help me out if culture warriors like the One Million Moms group (affiliated with the American Family Association) would stop embarking on stupid campaigns.

In a recent Archie comc book, a series I think most people have largely forgotten about, a character from Riverdale got married. What is upsetting the One Million Moms is that the character, Kevin Keller, is male and he married another man. Cue the outrage!

Unfortunately, children are now being exposed to same-sex marriage in a toy store. This is the last place a parent would expect to be confronted with questions from their children on topics that are too complicated for them to understand. Issues of this nature are being introduced too early and too soon, which is becoming extremely common and unnecessary.

A few notes...one, as a parent of two, I spend a significant amount of time in Toys R Us stores and I have no idea where they keep the comics, so the odds of some sort of confrontation is somewhat slim. The odds of a kid being bombarded with a million messages to have more crap purchased for them to make them feel content for another hour, those odds are quite high, but I guess no one cares about that sort of thing.

Second, the battle over whether homosexual relationships actually exist is over. If you disapprove of such things, your children will be forced to accept the reality of same-sex marriage at some point. Two men might be holding hands in the very same Toys R Us! These things actually happen regardless of your religious-based horror! Hard to believe, but it's true.

There's certainly a space as a parent to be concerned about the world your children will grow up to live in, but instead of freaking out about a comic book cover that reflects an actual positive part of our world (people in love) and maybe start caring about whether there will actually be schools to attend, opportunity to be had, air to breathe, water to drink, whatever. I'm pro-people being happy and I'd like for my children to be the same.

The CEO of Archie Comics responded quite appropriately:

As I’ve said before, Riverdale is a safe, welcoming place that does not judge anyone. It’s an idealized version of America that will hopefully become reality someday. We’re sorry the American Family Association/OneMillionMoms.com feels so negatively about our product, but they have every right to their opinion, just like we have the right to stand by ours. Kevin Keller will forever be a part of Riverdale, and he will live a happy, long life free of prejudice, hate and narrow-minded people.

Riverdale sounds like a great place to live, but I suspect it's not the sort of place that the Million Moms can deal with.

Sam - #715709 — 10 Years Old — Chow Mix — Male

Waiting and wishing — that’s how Sam passes his time these days. But this extremely easygoing gentleman never complains about anything and continues taking every opportunity to share his love with strangers. Surrendered due to sad family circumstances, Sam is now homeless but hopeful. An absolute sweetheart, Sam gets along great with big dogs, little dogs, cats and anyone willing to offer him a back scratch. His many friends describe him as “the world’s gentlest teddy bear” and rave about how fantastic he is to take on walks. If you could give this low-key and ever-appreciative sweetheart the comfortable retirement he deserves, please meet him soon at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona.

Come meet Sam! He's currently living at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, 3450 N. Kelvin Blvd. The Humane Society is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. The phone number is 327-6088.

Watch a video of Sam after the cut.

• Jim Nintzel
• Congressional candidate Steve Farley: "Congress needs to learn a thing or two from Tucson."

State Rep. Steve Farley became the fourth candidate in the race for Congressional District 2 today, beginning with a kick-off speech at the Tucson Botanical Gardens and continuing with a tour of the new congressional district that includes planned stops in Green Valley and Sierra Vista, as well as interviews on local radio talk shows.

Farley, who was first elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2006, called for more bipartisanship in Washington, D.C.

"Our nation's problems are too big for any one political party to solve," Farley said. "We need to come together to enact solutions that work for all our citizens."

Farley joins fellow state Rep. Matt Heinz and state Sen. Paula Aboud, as well as political newcomer Nomiki Konst, in the Democratic primary that will be settled on Aug. 28.

A fifth Democrat, Nan Stockholm Walden, is expected to announce her candidacy next week.

Congressional District 2 covers much of the same ground as the current Congressional District 8, where voters are now settling a special election in the wake of the resignation of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

The field in the Congressional District 8 special election was set earlier this week when nominating petitions were due. More details on that here and in this week's print edition of Tucson Weekly.

The full text of Farley's remarks is after the jump.

This sounds like a very strange comic, including a scene Eric describes as Conan having a wet dream in the ocean. Barbarians certainly have changed.

That's it. Right when David Hasslehoff shows up at the one minute mark of the trailer for Piranha 3-DD (the sequel to the film our Bob Grimm called "too good, and beautifully disgusting, to be ignored"), there's officially no turning back from our certain cultural and sociological doom. Hopefully this bit of media will be preserved so other future civilizations can understand what brought on our doom.

Don't mind me, I'll just be hiding under my desk, caressing my iPhone and calling it "precious" while simultaneously cursing our giant solar enemy:

The Earth has a roughly 12 percent chance of experiencing an enormous megaflare erupting from the sun in the next decade. This event could potentially cause trillions of dollars’ worth of damage and take up to a decade to recover from.

Such an extreme event is considered to be relatively rare. The last gigantic solar storm, known as the Carrington Event, occurred more than 150 years ago and was the most powerful such event in recorded history....

Auroras may be beautiful, but the charged particles can wreak havoc on electrical systems. At the time of the Carrington Event, telegraph stations caught on fire, their networks experienced major outages and magnetic observatories recorded disturbances in the Earth’s field that were literally off the scale....

During a geomagnetic storm in 1989, for instance, Canada’s Hydro-Quebec power grid collapsed within 90 seconds, leaving millions without power for up to nine hours.

The potential collateral damage in the U.S. of a Carrington-type solar storm might be between $1 trillion and $2 trillion in the first year alone, with full recovery taking an estimated four to 10 years, according to a 2008 report from the National Research Council.

[Wired]

Perhaps you find yourself confused by seeing February 29th on the calendar. Personally as a devout Protestant, I don't trust the Gregorian calendar due to its origins as a papal decree, but for the rest of you that care about such things, here is a helpful video explaining the whole extra day escapade.

• Photo by Martha of The Contained Gardener
• Potted Petunias and Kale at Pastiche

A few thoughts concerning your potted gardens as we roll into March:

1. You want your winter flowers to make it until May. Be sure to apply a water soluble fertilizer every two weeks so that you are keeping them well fed.

2. Be prepared for a March freeze. Average date of the last frost is March 15. Therefore:
~ Do not prune back plants until the danger of frost is over.
~ Do not plant frost tender annuals even though they may be in the nurseries. This includes Marigolds!
They will look sad if the nighttime temperatures fall below 40 and if we have a freeze, they will be history!

If you want to receive my weather alerts, sign up for our gardening e-news!

For more information on potted gardens in the desert, visit The Contained Gardener. Have a question? Email Marylee

Romney's beating Santorum, which is what most pundits will take away from the Arizona Presidential Preference Primary tonight, but the real news is the success Tucson Weekly endorsed Project White House candidate Sarah Gonzales is having so far. Currently, with 244 of 722 precincts reporting, she already has 1,095 votes, putting her in sixth place, behind Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, Paul, and Rick Perry. However, she's within striking distance of Perry, who currently has 1,418 votes.

Our Green Party endorsement has been less helpful, as Richard Grayson has 18 votes, trailing leader Jill Stein, who has 202.

More to come as the evening unfolds.

This morning the Tucson Weekly requested the Tucson Police Department report on the Friday, Feb. 24, incident between state Rep. Daniel Patterson and his ex-girlfriend and ex-campaign manager, Georgette Escobar, but was told by a public-records clerk that the report was not available, because the case was assigned to a TPD detective for further investigation.

Yesterday, we interviewed Escobar and Patterson regarding what happened that day. Escobar claims that Tucson Parks and Recreation employees witnessed Patterson and Escobar get into a fight. Escobar said Patterson allegedly grabbed her roughly, pulled her fingers back to remove them from her dog's collar, and pulled the dog out of her car by the collar.

Patterson told the Weekly that he was the one attacked.

Although that report isn't yet available, the Weekly requested a list of all TPD-responded incidents or 911 calls in 2011 and the past two months made from the property owned by Patterson, located north off Santa Rita Park just east of Fourth Avenue, where he lived until recently with Escobar.

The first report was filed Feb. 16, when Patterson called TPD and filed a missing-person report, claiming Escobar was missing, along with "their" dog. He also said that she had taken four guns belonging to him — a Glock handgun, a shotgun, a semi-automatic rifle, and another rifle. Patterson told the officer that he left Tucson on Monday, Feb. 13, to work at the state Legislature in Phoenix and returned home on Thursday, Feb. 16.

Patterson said when he entered the house, he found jewelry scattered in his bedroom and other household items scattered throughout the house before he discovered the four firearms were missing. He said he remained in contact while in Phoenix with Escobar that week, but that day, she didn't respond to his calls or texts. Patterson told the officer that he noticed a change in Escobar's behavior toward him, and that she had accused him of seeing someone else.

Patterson also said he did not wish to prosecute regarding the missing guns valued at $2,200 total.

The next day, on Feb. 17, Patterson called TPD to report he had heard from Escobar, and that she "is fine and not in any danger," and was staying with family in Casa Grande.

The officer called Escobar, and heard back from her on Feb. 18. Escobar identified herself as Patterson's fiancee and said that she was staying with her cousins, and that she took the guns to "make sure his ex-wife couldn't make any allegations."

The officer recorded each conversation, and the Weekly has requested a copy of the recordings.

The next report is dated Friday, Feb. 24, and involves a 911 hangup report made that morning.

Next report was filed Saturday, Feb. 25. Officer responded to a "preserve the peace" call near Patterson's home. There, he talked to Escobar, who told the officer she was trying to serve a protection order on Patterson, that she had lived with him for eight months, that he grows marijuana at the house — and has had 20 plants growing under lights. She also reportedly said he has a sawed off shotgun and other guns in his safe. She told the cop that she is a convicted felon and wanted the guns removed and the marijuana plants.

A different officer went to Patterson's home, but the front gate was locked, and Patterson did not respond.

Escobar insisted Patterson was home, and that he "always plays games with the cops." She showed police bruises on her arm, and an officer photographed the bruises. The police advised her to contact a "service agency," and she left to stay with friends.

The officer did note that in an earlier call to the house on Feb. 24, that Escobar said there were no weapons in the house, and no marijuana plants were seen at that time.

The last report, thus far, was filed last night. The Weekly heard from a source that four cop cars were at Patterson's house, and that there was a fight between Escobar and Patterson taking place in the yard. The Weekly drove by, but by then, the front gate was closed, and only one cop car was parked in front. However, on Fourth Avenue, there were three cop cars, and Escobar standing near her car with one officer.

In the report, the officer said he was responding to a suspicious-person incident and checked in with a neighbor, listed as a witness, who pointed to the open gate that leads to Patterson's house. The officer said Patterson was on his cell phone and was speaking with his attorney when he pointed toward the rear of his house at Escobar. The officer described Escobar as cooperative, and he accompanied her off the property. She told the officer about the court order—and that she wanted her dog.

After they walked off the property, Patterson then closed and locked the gate. Patterson told TPD communications that his attorney told him not to speak to police at the scene. "Officer did not attempt nor were invited back into the fenced yard ..." the report said. The cop took Escobar to her car, which was parked on Fourth Avenue and showed him the court order.

The neighbor/witness told the officer that he heard yelling in the back of his house, and came outside and spoke to Escobar, who asked him for help to get her dog from the fenced yard. He told her he couldn't help; then Escobar reportedly said she would just get some "C4 and blow the neighborhood up." Then, evidently, he said Escobar figured out how to get over the fence and on the property.

When the gate opened, Escobar was reportedly standing with the dog, and Patterson was on the phone inside the yard. Then the dog got loose, and he saw Escobar and Patterson chasing after the dog, eventually catching the pooch. There, they continued to have a verbal argument until police arrived. The witness said he "saw nothing physical, and he did not feel threatened."

No arrests were made. Patterson was not interviewed and there were no complainants on Escobar's threats to blow up the neighborhood.

She told the cops she would not come back to the house or neighborhood, and that "she would just get a new dog." Her concern was for items that belong to her in the house. Then she left.