Poll-itics: Majority Support Arizona's Immigration Law

By GottaLaff

Head-scratcher of the day week month year:

A slim majority of Americans support the new Arizona immigration law, 51% to 36%, according to a new New York Times/CBS News poll.

An overwhelming majority of respondents also believe the nation's immigration laws should undergo an extensive overhaul.

A Gallup poll last week found similar results.

Do the people who were polled understand what the law says? Have the people who were polled ever been stopped by the police because of the color of their skin... or what their shoes looked like? Do the people who were polled have relatives, living or dead, who came to America from another country?

An law requiring an education may be in order.

"Do I look illegal?"

By GottaLaff

My Twitter pal ZenShadow came up with a great idea. Please help out! I will be editing together as many videos as I receive, and all they are... are YOU.

Just point your cell cam, a Flip, or vidcam at yourself and say, "Do I look illegal?"

That's it.

Then send the file to Blunt at ThePoliticalCarnival dot net.

I'll do the rest.

I've already received some, including from Lizz Winstead and The Rude Pundit. Melissa Harris Lacewell, Rachel Maddow's wonderful "WillAtWork", and others have said they'll join in.

Once I post the Blunt webisode, I'll get it to the media.

Let's make a point together. It's one grassroots effort that only takes a second of your time.

Go!

VIDEO- Gov. Brewer: "Arizona has been under terrorist attacks" with "all of this illegal immigration"

By GottaLaff

So by equating immigrants with terrorists, Governor Brewer thinks she can justify racial profiling. Sadly, attitudes like this are not surprising, considering the profiling that has gone on since the 9/11 attacks.

I suppose she's also advising the authorities to keep a sharp eye out for white people, like, you know, Tim McVeigh:

Arizona Immigration Law: A GOP Game to Swipe the November Election

By GottaLaff

In my previous post, I made the point that the recent outbursts of racism were all about voter intimidation.

Greg Palast agrees, but he says it way better than I did:

What moved GOP Governor Jan Brewer to sign the Soviet-style show-me-your-papers law is the exploding number of legal Hispanics, US citizens all, who are daring to vote -- and daring to vote Democratic by more than two-to-one. Unless this demographic locomotive is halted, Arizona Republicans know their party will soon be electoral toast. Or, if you like, tortillas.

This is not unlike the Republican attitude toward unions.

Hey Greg Palast, tell us something we do not know about Jan Brewer:

Brewer, then Secretary of State, had organized a racially loaded purge of the voter rolls that would have made Katherine Harris blush. Beginning after the 2004 election, under Brewer's command, no less than 100,000 voters, overwhelming Hispanics, were blocked from registering to vote. In 2005, the first year of the Great Brown-Out, one in three Phoenix residents found their registration applications rejected. [...]

Did she turn over even one name to the feds for prosecution?

No, not one.

After over 100 complaints, and a 2 year investigation, the prosecutor, David Iglesias, couldn't find one voter fraud case. Of course, Karl Rove saw to it that he was fired.

But what’s wrong with requiring folks to prove they’re American if the want to vote and live in America? The answer: because the vast majority of perfectly legal voters and residents who lack ID sufficient for Ms. Brewer and Mr. Pearce are citizens of color, citizens of poverty.

According to a study by prof. Matt Barreto, of Washington State University, minority citizens are half as likely as whites to have the government ID. The numbers are dreadfully worse when income is factored in.

Leave it to Palast.

Please go read his entire piece here.

VIDEO- Reaction to signing of Arizona's new racial profiling law & who helped pass it

By GottaLaff

Reaction to signing of SB1070 Arizona:

Protesters who had camped out at the Arizona State Capitol for days in hopes of stopping what was billed as the toughest illegal law in the country reacted with boos and chants of "Shame on you" on Friday after the governor announced she was signing the legislation into law.

Welcome in the new era of the American Police State.

Oddly, the national media didn't inform us of one little tiny insignificant detail: A Very Special Hate Group's contribution to making SB1070 a reality:

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC commends Governor Brewer and the Arizona state assembly for the passage of SB 1070 into law as one of the toughest new tools to fight illegal immigration in America.

"The people of America have spoken and in the case of Arizona and SB 1070 the system is working," said William Gheen of ALIPAC. "We want to thank all of the American activists working with us, who helped to bring this law into being." [...]

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC's supporters called Arizona lawmakers in support of SB 1070 and activists are now moving to encourage state legislators in all remaining states to file and pass similar versions of Arizona's SB 1070.

And who is ALIPAC? Here's a screen grab of their "mission statement" page (click on it to enlarge):


"All Europeans are illegal." Makes you wonder where the ALIPAC members' parents, grandparents, and great grandparents are from. Burbank?

[William Gheen, President & Spokesman of ALIPAC] serves as registered lobbyist in North Carolina for 2006 and 2007 and has helped pass several laws addressing illegal immigration while maintaining the national operations of ALIPAC.

Excerpts from their "platform":

We support a peaceful, non racist, rule of law approach to resolving illegal immigration.

America is a land of generous and caring people, but our hospitality and values are being strained and abused by those who are willing to break the law and take our jobs and our tax dollars.

America's illegal alien population will begin to shrink instead of grow if we support candidates that will reflect the will of the vast majority of American citizens.

FOUR POINT PLATFORM: "Simply enforce our existing immigration laws!"

1. Secure Our Borders 2. Crack down on employers that intentionally hire illegals 3. Remove incentives and rewards to illegals such as licenses, welfare, and other taxpayer benefits 4. Enforce our existing laws and deport illegal aliens when convicted of crimes or detected during routine law enforcement activities

Many ALIPAC supporters also believe

-- Congress should make English the official language of America!

-- State and Local police should help enforce immigration laws!

-- We firmly oppose any Guest Worker / Temporary Worker Program which is disguised AMNESTY legislation. -- Legal and law abiding Americans should not be subjected to privacy invading technologies or national ID.

See? They just want to "simply enforce our existing immigration laws!"

Racial profiling is alive and well in Arizona, and John Sidney McCain and J.D. Hayworth think that's just swell.

Governor Brewer says she wants "professional police standards." I'm sure those pulled over and asked for their papers because they're wearing the wrong shoes will find the officers highly professional and very respectful.

H/t: tiggrr1

Caught on VIDEO- Arizona Governor: Arizona's capitol "a hell hole."

By GottaLaff



Oy!

With polls showing her very unpopular among state lawmakers -- even among those in her own party -- Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) may have become more so when she was caught on tape at a Republican event last week calling Arizona's capitol "a hell hole."

Said Brewer: "It is a great relief, to say the least, to get out of that hell hole in Phoenix and be down here in Tucson."

There's that Republican patriotism raising its ugly head again.

Arizona Governor signs bills on guns, abortion

By GottaLaff

Some trade-off-- Napolitano leaves, and all hell breaks loose:

Gov. Jan Brewer on Monday signed into law tight new restrictions on access to abortion in Arizona, imposing a 24-hour waiting period on women seeking the procedure and requiring that minors first receive written, notarized consent from a parent or guardian.

The Republican governor also expanded the rights of gun owners by allowing those with a concealed-carry permit to take their firearms into establishments that serve alcohol, but she cited wildfire concerns in rejecting a proposal that would have legalized the sale of small fireworks in the state.

So if you're downing a few beers at the ol' watering hole, carrying deadly weapons "fireworks" is dandy, but sparklers? Ooo, watch out, they're a real threat. Yeah, that's logical.

For abortion opponents, Monday's bill signings were long-sought victories.

One by one, similar measures had appeared on then-Gov. Janet Napolitano's desk for six years. And, one by one, she vetoed them.

So, perhaps no group was more excited than social conservatives by Napolitano's resignation in January and the ascension to the Governor's Office of longtime abortion-foe Brewer. Their enthusiasm was palpable Monday.

H/t: Tiggrr1