By PATRICK ALCATRAZ
Editor-In-Chief
PORT ISABEL, TX - On the third day, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio sicced his heavy-booted troops on a section of Phoenix known as home to a large number of Hispanics. By sundown, his blitzkrieg had arrested 89 individuals, with 61 of them deemed to be undocumented immigrants.
That same morning, the Wall Street Journal published a story saying the Arizona State Board of Education had sent out directives aimed at ridding school districts of teachers whose accent was not English enough, this after word also leaked that the state was wanting to end the Tucson Unified School District's popular Mexican-American studies department. According to the state superintendent, the program exhibits "ethnic chauvinism."
Worse yet was news that Arizona-based Peter Piper Pizza, a staple for kids and parents in the Rio Grande Valley, had declined to say it would oppose the state's anti-immigrant law, SB 1070. Also not wishing to go against Arizona were these popular entities, all with national followings: PF Chang's, Discount Tire Company, Best Western Motels, as well as the state's professional teams that include the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League, Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball and the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association.
Indeed, protests loom as the month ends and the long, hot summer begins. Already, a jillion people are expected to march in protest tomorrow in Los Angeles, where U.S. Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, both Democrats, have fired-off letters to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking him to fast-track a review of Arizona's new law.
Conversely, supporters of the law, many of them alerted of Strongman Sheriff Arpaio's raids lined the major thoroughfares heading into Phoenix's East Side, applauding the passing of law enforcement vehicles into the neighborhood and as they left with the arrestees in tow.
"We're a country at war," one of them told a local TV reporter, sounding too much like a foreigner in a foreign land and not like any would-be citizen at all concerned with the fact that Arizona remains part of a union. Yet, it is a war. It is a war being fought as if on a far-off asteroid, with proponents fully believing the state can do what it wishes when it wishes.
The backlash, however, will be something to see.
If this is a portrait of secession, then perhaps we should let it be. I'm pretty sure some neighboring state or country would invade Arizona and quickly bring it to its knees. Perhaps Texas Gov. Rick Perry is the man for that job. If you know Arizona's Anglo population, like I know it, well, many of them could be mistaken for coyotes. It's one jumpy, high-throated sodbuster after another out there.
Arizona has seceded. What the state now wants is acceptance into the world community. That failing, it will come back into the fold with its coyote tail between its legs, whimpering something or another about how perhaps everything had been a bad idea and the sole, brain-washing work of stupid Republicans. For the moment, it retains The Grand Canyon State as its moniker. But wait too long and some creative soul may change that to The Grand Asshole State. As residents of the world's freest country, we're good at humoring the worst in us. Anyone remember that manufactured cowboy town once known far & wide as Crawford, Texas?
Yeah, whatever became of that little ball of dust west of Waco?...
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4 comments:
A jillion sure seems like a lot of people for a protest.
My dear, Ms. Reynolds...it's been - what? - a guzzillion years since I last heard from you, my all-time favorite West Texas journalist. Indeed, jillion is something of an exaggeration. But, you know, Kiddoe, is it, really? The other day I was thinking of my evenings on Twin Buttes in San Angelo, about those nights when I dared to count the stars and someone next to me said there ahd to be a jillion stars up there. I said, "Well, now that's an exaggeration..." She said, after lowering her face to turn to look at the rock star next to her, "You're just too damned close to those people up there, aren't you?" And I said, "Who am I...to blow against the wind?" Trust all is good with you. I can still see you walking toward me in the newsroom and handing me an invitation to something or another. And how you got mad when I crumpled it and threw it in the trash can. I'm sure I've been a fool at least a trillion times. Trillion, perhaps more. Your lovely smile stays with me. What a time it was, eh?.. - Editor
I saw Jay Leno at Correspondent Dinner his best line was; “That was my favorite story (this year) Republicans and a Lesbian bondage club. It’s ironic, Republicans don’t want lesbian getting married but they do like watching them “tie the knot”. So I thought that was interesting.”
You can say the same about Tea Party, they say they respect the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence but they do not mind passing laws, through weak Governors who only care about getting reelected on the backs of undocumented workers, that will not pass Constitution muster, just like Arizona’s House Bill 2779 from two years ago, keep passing them Arizona and the rest of us will continue to challenged them and you will fail in a court of law (and yes we will boycott you). Their phony patriotism is sickening, they are just racists going by another name. We all know you are just itching to put a sheet on their head? Let’s face it the Republicans had eight years to deal with health care, immigration, climate change and financial oversight and governance and they failed. It appears that the Republican Party is only good at starting wars (two in eight years, with fat contracts to friends of Cheney/Bush) but not at winning wars as seen by the continuing line of body bags that keep coming home. The Republicans party will continue turned inward to their old fashion obstructionist party (and their Confederacy appreciation roots) because they continue to allow a small portions (but very loud portion) of their party of “birthers, baggers and blowhards” to rule their party. I will admit that this fringe is very good at playing “Follow the Leader” by listening to their dullard leaders, Beck, Hedgecock, Hannity, O’Reilly, Rush, Savage, Sarah Bailin, Orly Taitz, Victoria Jackson, Michele Bachmann and the rest of the Blowhards and acting as ill programmed robots (they have already acted against doctors that perform abortions). The Birthers and the Tea party crowd think they can scare, intimidate and force others to go along with them by comments like “This time we came unarmed”, let me tell you something not all ex-military join the fringe militia crazies who don’t pay taxes and run around with face paint in the parks playing commando, the majority are mature and understand that the world is more complicated and grey than the black and white that these simpleton make it out to be and that my friend is the point. The world is complicated and people like Hamilton, Lincoln, and Roosevelt believed that we should use government a little to increase social mobility, now it’s about dancing around the claim of government is the problem. The sainted Reagan passed the biggest tax increase in American history and as a result federal employment increased, but facts are lost when mired in mysticism and superstition. For a party that gave us Abraham Lincoln, it is tragic that the ranks are filled with too many empty suits and the crazy Birthers who have not learned that the way our courts work is that you get a competent lawyer, verifiable facts and present them to a judge, if the facts are real and not half baked internet lies, then, and only then, do you proceed to trial. The Birthers seem to be having a problem with their so called “facts”. Let’s face it no one will take the Birthers seriously until they win a case, but until then, you will continue to appear dumb, crazy or racist, or maybe all three. I heard that Orly Taitz now wants to investigate the “Republican 2009 Summer of Love” list: Assemblyman, Michael D. Duvall (CA), Senator John Ensign (NV), Senator Paul Stanley (TN), Governor Mark Stanford (SC), Board of Ed Chair, and Kristin Maguire AKA Bridget Keeney (SC), she wants to re-establish a family values party, that’s like saying that the Catholic Church cares about the welling being of children in their care, too late for that.
I do read your blog sometime find it funny on occasion disturbing on others. As an immigrant to this country, came here in 1996, I might be in good position to comment on recent Arizona Immigration law. My biggest problem is the widespread use of 'anti-immigration' slogan by media. This is completely wrong; the new law is 'anti-ILLEGAL immigration' and this is a major difference. I came to this country following standard LEGAL immigration procedure, I went to school here paying full out of state tuition fee, I got my green card in the last year of university, while my wife worked two jobs to support family. I have a problem with people coming to this country illegally and having great sense of entitlement to free or subsidized health care, education, housing, etc. perhaps this country could afford wretched financial excesses in the past but right now we are leaving on borrowed money and no longer can afford this. And if the mass media love illegal immigration so much perhaps they can impose voluntary 'illegal immigration tax' to help alleviating expenses? I consider myself independent when it comes to politics; majority of our politicians are corrupted, do whatever it takes to get reelected. I support separation of church and state and making constitution once again superior law of USA
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