Loneprotestor chronicles the rise and fall of Russell Pearce in 5 minutes.

This video is a tribute to the organizing skills of Randy Parraz and the grassroots Citizens for a Better Arizona, who spent the entire summer gathering over 18,000 signatures to force the recall election of Arizona state senate president Russell Pearce. Pearce’s claim to fame was as a sponsor of the ALEC-written SB 1070, the infamous “papers, please,” law requiring anyone stopped by police for any reason to produce proof of citizenship. Now that we’ve seen Pearce’s backside, guess who might be next?

Last week, Governor Jan Brewer called the Arizona Legislature into special session to make a one-word change in state law which would allow extension of unemployment benefits to the chronically unemployed in Arizona– at no cost to the state.

Legislators argued and grandstanded for two days and, in the end, changed nothing. As the Arizona Daily Star said, Legislators showed “indifference to struggling Arizonans.”

State lawmakers wrapped up their special session Monday and went home without making the one-word change needed to continue funding unemployment for people out of work for at least 79 weeks.

Extending long-term unemployment insurance for another 20 weeks is a no-brainer. It would have extended a safety net to thousands of Arizonans on the brink. It would have continued to inject $3.2 million of federal money into the economy each week. And it should have been easy to do. All lawmakers had to do was change the number “two” to “three” in a formula used to grant the 20-week extension.

Most importantly, it would have been the right and moral thing to do.

These are extraordinary times. The unemployment rate has dropped to 9.3 percent, which is roughly double what it was 10 years ago. While extending unemployment benefits by another 20 weeks would have helped 15,000 people stay afloat, cutting them off will affect an additional 30,000 people who will hit the 79-week mark later this year. So in essence, state lawmakers have ripped away the safety net for 45,000 jobless Arizonans. That’s roughly the size of the crowd at a UA football game. [Emphasis added.]

It’s sad but not surprising that Republicans did this. After all, Arizona right-wing ideologues are just following the lead of right-wing Congressional ideologues like our own Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl, who have voted against extending unemployment many times. And, all of them are more interested in handing out corporate welfare and tax breaks for the rich than helping citizens in need.

Lest we forget the names of the people who passed corporate welfare in the wink of an eye but denied a no-cost extension of unemployment benefits, the Arizona Democratic Party has provided the following list of names and the unemployment rates in their districts.

“Rather than help jobless Arizonans, they punished them. Rather than strengthening our economy, they sapped it of another $3 million a week,” said Andrei Cherny, Arizona Democratic Party chairman. “Weakening our economy and middle-class families is not what we deserve from our state legislators. Even Governor Brewer’s top political advisor agrees that voters in 2012 will remember this outrageous action from the out-of-touch Russell Pearce Republicans.”

These lawmakers should be held accountable for their actions. Here is a list of Republican lawmakers who voted not to extend unemployment benefits. We should fire them all.

AZGOP lawmakers and unemployment rates in their regions:

Legislative District 1
Sen. Steve Pierce
Rep. Andy Tobin
Rep. Karen Fann
Unemployment rate in
Prescott MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area): 9.5%

Legislative District 3
Sen. Ron Gould
Rep. Doris Goodale
Unemployment rate in
Lake Havasu-Kingman Mohave County MSA: 10.1%

Legislative District 4
Sen. Scott Bundgaard
Rep. Jack Harper
Rep. Judy Burges
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA 8.1%
Yavapai County: 9.5%
Glendale: 8.3%
Peoria: 5.7%
Yavapai County: 9.5%

Legislative District 5
Sen. Sylvia Allen
Rep. Chester Crandall
Rep. Brenda Barton
Unemployment rate in
Gila County: 10.2%
Graham County: 10.5%
Greenlee County: 9.1%
Holbrook: 8.0%
Pinetop-Lakeside: 8.2%
Show Low: 7.5%
Snowflake: 8.5%
Winslow: 7.1%

Legislative District 6
Sen. Lori Klein
Rep. Amanda Reeve
Rep. Carl Seel
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Phoenix: 9.4%

Legislative District 7
Sen. Nancy Barto
Rep. Heather Carter
Rep. David Burnell Smith
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Phoenix: 9.4%
Scottsdale: 6.0%

Legislative District 8
Sen. Michele Reagan
Rep. Michelle Ugenti
Rep. John Kavanagh
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Scottsdale: 6.0%
Carefree: 2.8%
Cave Creek: 3.7%
Fountain Hills: 4.0%

Legislative District 9
Sen. Rick Murphy
Rep. Rick Gray
Rep. Debbie Lesko
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Glendale: 8.3%
Peoria: 5.7%
Sun City: 9.4%

Legislative District 10
Sen. Linda Gray
Rep. Jim Weiers
Rep. Kimberly Yee
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Phoenix: 9.4%
Glendale: 8.3%

Legislative District 11
Sen. Adam Driggs
Rep. Kate Brophy McGee
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Phoenix: 9.4%
Paradise Valley: 3.7%

Legislative District 12
Sen. John Nelson
Rep. Steve Montenegro
Rep. Jerry Weiers
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
El Mirage: 12.1%
Goodyear: 5.8%
Buckeye: 10.1%
Surprise: 10.0%
Litchfield Park: 7.4%
Glendale: 8.3%

Legislative District 18
Sen. Russell Pearce
Rep. Cecil Ash
Rep. Steve Court
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Mesa: 7.4%
Gilbert: 4.6%

Legislative District 19
Sen. Rich Crandall
Rep. Justin Pierce
Rep. Justin Olson
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Mesa: 7.4%
Gilbert: 4.6%

Legislative District 20
Sen. John McComish
Rep. Bob Robson
Rep. Jeff Dial
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Phoenix: 9.4%
Chandler: 6.2%
Tempe: 7.0%

Legislative District 21
Sen. Steve Yarbrough
Rep. Tom Forese
Rep. J.D. Mesnard
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Mesa: 7.4%
Gilbert: 4.6%
Chandler: 6.2%

Legislative District 22
Sen. Andy Biggs
Rep. Eddie Farnsworth
Rep. Steve Urie
Unemployment rate in
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA: 8.1%
Mesa: 7.4%
Gilbert: 4.6%

Legislative District 23
Sen. Steve Smith
Rep. John Fillmore
Rep. Frank Pratt
Unemployment rate in
Pinal County: 10.6%

Legislative District 24
Sen. Don Shooter
Rep. Russ Jones
Unemployment rate in
Yuma County: 25.3%

Legislative District 25
Sen. Gail Griffin
Rep. David Stevens
Rep. Peggy Judd
Unemployment rate in
Cochise County: 8.2%
Santa Cruz County: 14.7%
Pima County: 7.9%

Legislative District 26
Sen. Al Melvin
Rep. Terri Proud
Rep. Vic Williams
Unemployment rate in
Tucson MSA: 7.9%
Pima County: 7.9%
Oro Valley: 5.6%

Legislative District 30
Sen. Frank Antenori
Rep. Ted Vogt
Rep. David Gowan
Unemployment rate in
Tucson MSA: 7.9%
Cochise County: 8.2%
Pima County: 7.9%
Santa Cruz County: 14.7%

Source: AzDOA Office of Employment and Population Statistics – Special Unemployment Report 2010-2011

File this under the “so close but so far away” category.

Hundreds of volunteers from all over the state have been passing and signing petitions to recall Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, and it looked as if Citizens for a Better Arizona was going to pull this off.

Now Arizona Elections Director Amy Bjelland said she gave the recall organizers the wrong date– thus causing them to miss the real deadline for petitions– May 10, 2011 and not May 25, 2011.

I don’t know about you, but this smells like dirty tricks. I am outraged. If any politician deserves to be recalled, it’s Pearce. Bjelland should be fired, and this should be investigated by a federal elections fraud commission– not Attorney General Tom Horne, who obviously would have a conflict of interest.

From AZCentral.com…

Arizona’s elections director said she inadvertently gave an incorrect timetable to the organizers of a drive to recall controversial Senate President Russell Pearce, forcing a change in strategy in the historic recall effort.

Elections Director Amy Bjelland said she initially told recall organizer Randy Parraz that if he filed his signatures by May 25, there would be enough time to verify them and schedule a November election.

But Bjelland since has notified Parraz that Gov. Jan Brewer has 15 days to officially call an election if the signatures check out, not five. The difference of 10 days in the recall timetable means Citizens for a Better Arizona already has missed the actual deadline, May 10, to turn in the signatures for a November election and can only hope for a March 13, 2012, election.

People send me links to interesting articles all the time– hoping I will write about the issues– but I have a life beyond the TucsonCitizen.com and can’t write about everything. Here are several interesting stories you also may find worth reading.

On the topic of Republicans…

Republicans Plan To Pay Off The Deficit By Literally Selling America
Are more toll roads in our future? How else can Republicans pay for further tax cuts for the rich?

Freedom From Regulation?
New UA Freedom Center funded by Koch brothers. That doesn’t sound like freedom to me.

Fiesta Bowl Scandal Update: The Navy Sinks ‘King’ Russell Pearce
Can scandal and the recall bring down Russell Pearce? Let’s hope so!

On the topic of ending the wars…

We Got Osama bin Laden – Now Let’s Get Out of Afghanistan
Congressman Raul Grijalva says, “Bring the boys home.” I couldn’t agree more.

On the topic of Latino voting…

Digging into Latino voter trends
The Latino voting rate is 18% below that of the Anglo population.

National Tequila Party Tour Will Kick Off in Arizona
Tequila Party encourages Latinos to vote.

On the topic of healthcare…

Why healthcare costs so much in the U.S.
Myths and facts about the US healthcare non-system– nice graphics!

The myth of undocumented immigrants using American health care
Dr. Keven debunks a popular myth.

Birth Control And Sexual Attraction – The Wall Street Journal’s Breathtakingly Bad Reporting
Better Health blog slams the Wall Street Journal for sexist reporting. (WSJ sexist? Imagine that.)

And on the topic of TUSD…

Comprehensive Annual Audit Report for the year ending June 2010
Very long budget report for last fiscal year– good reading if you’re in insomniac.

TUSD’s Desegregation Funding Summary FY10-11
This is hard to read but still interesting. You can see salaries, program funding, and school funding. It’s difficult to parse out specifics because some categories are so vague.

TUSD’s Ethnic Studies Audit: Institute for Transformative Education
Tucson Independent Daily examines the TUSD Board report from May 3, 2011. This gives the budget for the Mexican American Studies’ summer institute and a bit about the speakers. It seems to me that the budget is incomplete, since it primarily focus on speaker fees and stipends for attendees and doesn’t include other standard conference costs (room fees, audio-visual, travel expenses, etc.) but who knows. I’m surprised the Star didn’t cover this. Yes, some consider this a right-wing blog, but I have not seen this material covered anywhere else.

Loretta Hunnicutt on Glenn Beck
OK– a little spooky– but you have to see what the right is saying in order to organize against them. If you bury your head in the sand and try to ignore them, they’ll kick you in the ass.

US Congressman Raul Grijalva penned a moderate Op-Ed on ethnic studies for Sunday’s Arizona Daily Star:

Political Fight over Ethnic Studies Should Never Have Been Ignited at All

In his commentary, he places the blame for the problems  facing TUSD squarely where it belongs– with the Arizona Legislature, Governor Jan Brewer, and Attorney General Tom Horne. He ends the piece with a call for public comment, fairness, and due process…

Thankfully, TUSD has avoided premature decisions about the fate of the program. We need to let the legal, administrative and public comment processes run their courses. All of us, whatever our background, share the American history and values of fairness, democracy and due process.

That’s what we need here, not more overheated rhetoric.

Ironically, two days before Grijalva’s piece appeared, I also called for continued free and open public dialogue and less “overheated rhetoric.”

Focusing so intensely on this one small program is clouding the bigger picture: Education in Arizona is in trouble, and public education nationwide is under attack. As long as were fighting and drawing lines in the sand, nothing will progress. We need full transparency, and we need a public forum where everyone’s voices can be heard– not just those who shout the loudest. We need to come together to fix this– or Tom Horne will fix it for us.

View from Pima Canyon (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

Late April in Baja Arizona… ahhh… the weather is gorgeous, the skies are blue, plants are springing back to life, and community events pack the weekends. If Baja Arizona has such an luscious environment and close-knit, eclectic community, why is it that the natives are often weary and depressed this time of year?

Why? Because by late April we have been pummeled by the Arizona Legislature for nearly four months.

With Russell Pearce as president of the Arizona Senate, 2011 has been a particularly rough year: corporate tax cuts, birther bills, guns-for-everyone-everywhere bills, anchor baby bills, everyone-should-be-a-border-patrol-agent bills, and a who-needs-education-or-healthcare-or-parks-when-you-got-prisons budget. Heavy sigh… (Wait a minute… did I miss something? Was there a jobs bill proposed this session?)

Down here in Baja Arizona, we have been repeatedly and unfairly targeted by the Arizona Legislature. I’ve lost track of all of the specifically anti-Tucson or anti-Pima County legislation that is winding its way through the rented halls of the Arizona Legislature. Some of the most egregious bills were sponsored by or promoted by one of our one Baja Arizona Senators– Frank “let’s-shoot-varmints-in-the-night” Antenori.

Now that Governor Jan Brewer has stood up to the Arizona Legislature and actually VETOED two of the crazier bills– guns near campuses and the birther bill– I’m hoping she’ll keep going. Governor, there are many more bills worthy of your veto pen!

Let’s make this easy and not confuse the situation with lots of numbers … Jan, honey, pretty please veto anything in these categories…trust me… you can do it!

1. Anything proposed by Antenori. This includes his bills to give Pima County infrastructure to the town of Marana and his plans to become king of Tucson by regulating how many employees the city can hire and which contracts go out for bid. (Last time I checked, Antenori didn’t hold any elected offices in our city or county government.)
2. Anything that is discriminatory against a group or individual. In addition to all of the anti-children, anti-sick people, and anti-immigrant legislation, this category would include all of the anti-Tucson and anti-Pima County legislation not proposed by our so-called Senator (see #1). It also would include Pearce’s obvious political ploy to give millions of dollars to Maricopa and Pinal Counties for border security but leaves out Pima County (which actually borders Mexico) because he doesn’t like our sheriff.
3. Anything that is none of the Legislature’s business.
   3a. The Legislature has no business sticking its nose into the management of University Medical Center, the University of Arizona College of Medicine, or the newly formed UA Healthcare (HB2067). Would you want Pearce or Antenori deciding who should get medical care and what care should be given? Oops… that’s right. Arizona’s Death Panels have been hard at work destroying healthcare in our state. Don’t let them take over one of out best hospitals! Doctors and professional healthcare administrators should run healthcare institutions– not wacky ideologues.
   3b. The Legislature has no business dictating the types of housing that can be built in Tucson. HB 2005 (AKA the Mini-Dorm Proliferation Act of 2011) states that when a municipality has issued a building permit for construction of a residential structure located within two miles of either a military base or a state-owned educational facility (such as the University of Arizona), then any use of the structure for residential purposes under one lease agreement by members of the U.S. Military or by faculty, employees or students of the educational facility is deemed to be in accordance with zoning regulations (regardless of how the area is really zoned). To make matters worse, the amendment is retroactive to Jan 1, 2010 OR the issuance of the permit, whichever came first. In other words, it would allow MINI-DORMS to be legal in R-1 and R-2 zoned areas! This bill is to be voted on soon by the Senate.
4. Anything that would cut jobs instead of creating jobs. OK… sorry, Jan, I tried to trick you on this one because NONE of the Legislation suggested by the majority party this session creates a single job but several pieces of legislation will actually increase unemployment– particularly the cuts to healthcare and education– or hurt workers.
5. Anything that is the responsibility of another branch of government. The Arizona Legislature has a particularly “all knowing” aura about it this year. Not only are they taking on tasks that belong to the federal government (like immigration and border security), they are taking on tasks that belong to the cities and counties (as mentioned above).

You’re the decider, Jan. Please?

Dear Readers, there are several things you can do to maybe influence the final votes of this legislative session. Here are links to contact information for Senate members and House members. Bug them!

You also can sign Councilman Steve Kozachik’s keep-your-stinkin’-hands-off Tucson petition. Go, Koz, thanks for standing up to your own party to protect the rights of Baja Arizona!

Randy Parraz, primary cheerleader for the Recall Russell Pearce campaign, updated the Progressive Caucus of the Arizona Democratic Party at their recent meeting in Tucson. The recall effort has exceeded the minimum number of signatures needed, but since some signatures are always rejected as invalid, they will use the next 40 or so days to collect as many signatures as possible.

If you would like to donate to the recall effort or volunteer to collect signatures in Mesa, check their website.

UPDATE on the Disappearing Video

Well, if you didn’t watch the attached video during the few short hours it was available on You Tube and the Citizen, you’re not going to watch it now.

Parraz contacted the amateur videographer who shot it and asked her to pull the video of his public speech at a public meeting. (The Arizona Democratic Party’s Statewide Committee Meeting and related caucus meetings are open to the press and any self-proclaimed Democrat. Several political bloggers and a reporter from the Arizona Republic were there.)

Frankly, I don’t understand this suppression of free speech. Wearing my TucsonCitizen.com press pass, I was sitting next to Alison while she openly filmed Parraz and other speakers. Parraz could see that she was taping his presentation. (I also would have been filming– if I hadn’t forgotten to charge my camera batteries. Doh.)

Parraz claimed the speech included sensitive campaign information and should be pulled for that reason, but I don’t remember hearing anything really new in the speech. Yes, we can bring this guy down. We’re working hard, but we need more signatures! You can help! I thought it was a great speech– fiery, not too long– which is why I asked Alison for the link.

What is highly ironic about the disappearance of this video-taped campaign speech shot openly at a public meeting is that the anti-Pearce bloggers practice guerilla journalism against Pearce, Tom Horne, and other people they don’t like. They shove video cameras in the faces of politicians and aggressivley shout questions to provoke a reaction.  Would these bloggers ever pull a video because the subject didn’t like it? I don’t think so.

So, there are lessons learned all around. Alison now knows her rights as a citizen journalist; she had every right to shoot that video of a public speech in a public forum and publish it online.  Randy now knows that every time he makes a public speech in a public meeting he could be quoted or filmed or both. And I know to keep my camera batteries charged!

In signing Arizona’s devastatingly regressive Teapublican budget, Governor Jan Brewer chose to side with Legislative radicals– rather than the people, the business leaders, the healthcare professionals and hospitals, or the children of Arizona.

The most disturbing part of this whole exercise is her continuation of the BIG LIE that she is protecting education, as she promised to do when she duped Arizona voters into an additional sales tax in 2010 to protect education from the types of cuts she signed into law this week.

In recent weeks, business leaders warned Brewer and Legislative Teapublicans that continuing to cut education would further harm Arizona’s economic competitiveness. From the Arizona Daily Star…

“The bottom line is that I’ve been the crusader for education,” Brewer said after the meeting. “I’ve led the charge to protect education. And I’m continuing to try … to protect education as we move through this budget process.” [The Big Lie.]

The governor said, though, nothing Barrett [former CEO of Intel] or anyone said would cause her to back off her proposal to cut university funding, or to scale back another part of her budget which would pare state aid to community colleges by half.

“We are going to do the best job that we can with the dollars that we have to deliver the best education to everyone,” she said, from preschool through college. [The Big Lie, again.]

Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, also said he has no second thoughts about the deeper education spending cuts his chamber approved.

Now that the budget has been signed, the Governor is trying to apply as much lipstick to that pig as possible. From the Arizona Capitol Times…

Calling it a milestone on Arizona’s road to recovery, Gov. Jan Brewer signed a fiscal year 2012 budget that she said made painful – but necessary – cuts that would protect the state’s fiscal health for years to come.

Brewer acknowledged that many of the budget cuts will be difficult to implement, but said she had done as much as possible to protect priorities like education, public safety and safety-net programs for the vulnerable. [This, of course, is just BS.] She said the budget – Arizona’s first structurally balanced spending plan in several years – would reduce the size and scope of government, while helping the state keep future budgets balanced.

“If Arizona is to reclaim its standing as a national leader in economic growth, its state government must be cost-effective, efficient and fiscally stable,” Brewer wrote today in a letter to House Speaker Kirk Adams and Senate President Russell Pearce. “This budget plan puts the state on the right path in all three categories.” [Thus, totally ignoring what the business leaders told them.]

The budget included $183 million in K-12 education cuts, with $35 million backfilled by federal funds. Brewer acknowledged that the cuts were deeper she wanted … but said the majority of the cuts come from specific programs, such as vocational classes, instead of classroom spending.

“My goal was to avoid severely eroding base support for schools and core education programs. [Repeating another version of the Big Lie.] I believe this budget accomplishes that,” she wrote. [Emphasis added.]

More specifics from AZCentral.com…

Critics have charged the governor with reneging on her promise to protect education, even though they acknowledge Brewer’s proposals were less harmful than those of legislative Republicans.

The Arizona Education Network, a Tucson-based group of education advocates, said Brewer and the Legislature “have violated the public’s trust with these deep cuts.” [Duh. She lied to us.]

In addition to about $150 million in cuts to K-12, the budget reduces university funding by $198 million and takes $70 million from the community-college system.

[Andrei] Cherny, [chair] of the [Arizona] Democratic Party, said that the budget decimates Arizona education and that Democrats will remind voters of that in next year’s elections.

The budget also cuts $50 million from the Department of Economic Security, which provides the state’s safety-net programs, and $53 million from the Department of Health Services.

The budget reduces funds that have kept the state’s parks system on life support; advocates say the cuts mean some parks will have to close.

Arizona’s attack on education reminded me of the classic Pink Floyd video above. The famous “We don’t need no education” line is about 2 minutes. Do Pearce, Brewer, and, of course, Attorney General Tom Horne want Arizona students to march in lock step like the uniformed zombies envisioned by Pink Floyd? You betcha. Citizens who are stupid, poor, and sick are easier to control and more willing to work for pennies.

What they failed to mention in any of the above articles is that cutting funding from healthcare and education means cutting good-paying jobs in the private and public sectors. This is truly government against the people– less education for our children, less healthcare for the poor and the unemployed, fewer jobs, higher unemployment.

When will this downward spiral end?

Citizens for a Better Arizona is sponsoring a Recall Pearce canvas operation in Mesa on Saturday, March 5. Tucson activists– including Tucson’s Chapter of Progressive Democrats of America– are organizing local activists to go to Mesa for this event.

Only 17,000 people in Pearce’s Mesa district voted for him, and now he’s the most powerful man in Arizona. It’s time for the other ~99% of Arizonans to say he does not represent us.

For more information, check out this facebook link.

PDA is organizing a van and carpooling for this event. Contact Salomon Baldenegro Jr. at sbaldenegro@gmail.com for further details and/or if you can offer a ride or would like a ride.

On Friday, February 25, Derechos Humanos is sponsoring a demonstration to protest Arizona Emperor Russell Pearce’s omnibus SB1611 (nicknamed SB1070 on steroids) and other recent racist laws passed or considered by the Arizona Legislature. The protest will be held at 4 p.m. at the state building in downtown Tucson (corner of Congress and Granada).

SB1611 is so far-reaching that it forces citizens and institutions at multiple levels of society to become immigration officers. Radio, newspaper, and citizen journalists have decried SB1611 because it will force schools, universities, hospitals, and even homeschooling moms to verify citizenship of the people to whom they provide services. It also includes strict penalties for non-compliance; for a complete list, check this link.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union:

“This bill is miles beyond SB1070 in terms of its potential to roll back the rights and fundamental freedoms of both citizens and non-citizens alike,” said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona. “It demonstrates the lack of leadership, lack of priorities and complete lack of understanding by some Arizona lawmakers of what it really means to uphold the Constitution of the United States and Arizona.”

In addition to 1611, the Arizona Legislature has passed or is considering several other racist laws:

1225– targets forgery of documents used to rent, purchase or lease a dwelling in order to prevent drop houses that could hold undocumented people, but the law could be used to entrap and penalize innocent people who are knowingly or unknowingly helping friends who are not citizens.

SB1308– one of the so-called “anchor baby” laws which would change who is eligible to receive citizenship and a US birth certificate and regulate how the new Arizona birth certificates will work with US birth certificates (which would still recognize the 14th amendment).

SB1309– another “anchor baby” law which would dictate who is eligible to receive “Arizona citizenship.”

SB1405– restricts who can receive hospital services in Arizona and mandates that hospital personnel verify citizenship and call immigration– rather than provide services– when they discover an undocumented patient.

SB1509– increases the penalty for making false statements under oath.

Of course, this is far from a complete list of crazy and unnecessary bills being considered by the Arizona Legislature this session.

Ironically, in just a few weeks, the Teapublican candidates who campaigned on smaller government and more freedom have proposed more than 600!!!! pieces of new legislation that do nothing to solve the state’s problems or give Arizonans more freedom. If anything– except for loosening gun laws even further– the new bills restrict the freedom of Arizonans. For the most part these bills are:  pro-gun, anti-women’s rights, anti-anyone-who-is-not-straight-and-white, anti-poor-and-sick people, pro-fetus-but-anti-children, anti-education, anti-federal government, anti-municipal government, and my personal favorite…authorization of half-a-billion in corporate welfare. Groan…

So, if you are fed up with Emperor Pearce’s shenanigans, come out tomorrow with a sign denouncing your favorite piece of Legislative nonsense and bring a friend!