José Crow

How Arizona's hunt for "aliens" will steal a tight Senate race
GregPalast.com  |  BallotBandits.org
Monday, October 8, 2012
An excerpt from Billionaires & Ballot Bandits by Greg Palast

“There is a massive effort underway to register illegal aliens in this country!”
– Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce

The Arizona Republican hunt for "aliens" from Uranus to the Rio Grande has led to the removal of over 200,000 citizens, overwhelmingly Latino, from the state's voter rolls.  There's more than an even chance that vote "suppression" - the polite word for racist, José Crow racial tactics - will result in the Democrats losing an open seat in the U.S. Senate where Democratic Hispanic Richard Carmona is pulling ahead of Republican Jeff Flake.

But I don't think Carmona wants to win with illegal alien votes.  After all, an alien voting has committed a crime - yet no one was arrested.  Why?  I flew out to Phoenix to investigate – and ended up in jail. That is, I visited the infamous tent prison of Sheriff Joe Arpaio who has led the alien hunt in his state.

But before I broke into Arpaio's prison, I called his political ally, Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, who sponsored one of the nation’s nastiest ID laws, Prop 200. It requires all new voting registrants to prove they are US citizens.

When I heard about all these illegal aliens wading the Rio Grande, I had to call Senator Pearce’s office.

“How many illegal aliens have actually been registered?” I asked.
Pearce’s PR flak told me, five million. All Democrats too.
FIVE MILLION? WOW!! Our investigations team flew to Arizona to look for these hordes of voters swimming the Rio Grande – just so they could vote for Obama.

We wanted Pearce to give us their names and addresses so we could bust a bunch and get a Pulitzer Prize. It should be easy: their names and addresses are on their felonious registration forms. I’d happily make a citizen’s arrest of each one, on camera. But Pearce ducked us, literally hiding from our cameras. Turns out, he didn’t have five million names. He didn’t have five. He didn’t have one.

His five million alien voters came from a Republican website that extrapolated from the number of Mexicans in a border town who refused jury service because they were not citizens. Not one, in fact, had registered to vote: they had registered to drive. They had obtained licenses as required by the law.

The illegal voters, “wetback” welfare moms, and alien job-thieves are just GOP website wet-dreams, but their mythic PR power helps the party’s electoral hacks chop away at voter rolls and civil rights with little more than a whimper from the Democrats.

There are only four proofs of citizenship in the USA:

1. If you have your original birth certificate. Good luck with that, especially among the Hispanic poor who had home births and little access to such records.

2. A US passport. (Not many of the clerks working at Wal-Mart look like they’d just come back from their ski vacation in the Alps.)

3. Naturalization papers. If you become a citizen, you have documents that say so. The problem is that most Hispanic families in Arizona were citizens of the USA before there was a USA. They are natural, not naturalized, citizens, and so don’t have the papers.

4. White skin. In Arizona, according to the US Justice Department, the cops accept that white skin is a proof of citizenship. Maricopa County (Phoenix) Sheriff Joe Arpaio is on trial for having his cops stop citizens of brownish hue, demanding their citizenship papers and tossing them in the hooskow when they don’t.

I tested the white-skin-is-citizenship rule myself. I went to visit Arpaio’s famous (infamous?) open-air prison in the desert. You can see the sign, ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE PROHIBITED FROM VISITING ANYONE IN THIS JAIL – SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO. What if he found out that Grandma Palast snuck in from Windsor, Canada!

Not to worry: the sheriff ’s crew was happy to escort me and my investigations chief, Badpenny, around Tent City, and the deportee-sniffing professionals never asked for her citizenship papers. She doesn’t have them because she’s not a citizen. But she did remember to bring her white skin.

But hunting for illegal aliens isn’t the point. Arizona Hispanics vote two-to-one Democratic and if they were all allowed to register, the Republican sheriff and the state GOP would be toast. Or, I should say, tortillas.

And it’s darn effective. So far, not one illegal alien has been caught voting – but one in three registrations in Phoenix have been rejected.

Olé, Señor Rove!

But you can't fool all of the voters all of the time.  On November 21, 2011, Russell Pearce was re-called and removed from office by the voters of Arizona.  Apparently, his José Crow tactics are alien to most citizens of the state.

Much of the work exposing Pearce and his racial trickery goes to Democracy for America.  We are proud to have DFA as an action group partner in the release of Billionaires & Ballot Bandits.

Go to BallotBandits.org for other Action Groups, the book, excerpts and the 7 Ways to Beat the Ballot Bandits free poster/leaflet download.

Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Armed Madhouse and Vultures' Picnic.

Last month Palast released his new book Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps, and instant NYT bestseller in its debut week.
 
Copyright © 2012 Greg Palast, All rights reserved.

The Supreme Court & Arizona Immigration

A common theme in news involving the Supreme Court and Obama lawyers is how woefully incompetent Team Obama appears.  This may be charitable at best: the Obama DOJ pretty much comes off as arrogant, dismissive of basic constitutional questions and ultimately spineless to take any principled stand even if they believed in any.  In short, the DOJ has become a perfect representation of Barack Obama.  That was the case in the Obamacare challenge, was the case in the Citizen's United case, and was the case in the recent Supreme Court battle over Arizona's immigration law.

An AP news story from June 25 had the title "High court rejects part of Arizona immigration law."  The story gets all the facts right: despite the extreme right-wing tilt of the court, the Supremes overwhelming rejected the reactionary law: "The court struck down these three major provisions: requiring all immigrants to obtain or carry immigration registration papers, making it a state criminal offense for an illegal immigrant to seek work or hold a job and allowing police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants without warrants."

Despite these rulings, one key part of the law was left in place: "that police must check the status of people stopped for various reasons who might appear to be in the U.S. illegally."  Prez Obama decried this provision being left intact, declaring in writing: "No American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion just because of what they look like."

That Obama presented his objection in writing rather than one of his supposedly awesome speeches should tell you something.  What was left out in the AP article: the reason didn't reject the "Show me your papers" provision as an in-your-face abuse of civil liberties is because the Obama DOJ never objected the law on this point.  In fact, many of the Supreme judges could barely conceal their disgust of the DOJ during arguments over this fact.  The reasons seem pretty obvious: the Obama political team felt that sticking up for the rights of Latinos would be an election loser.

The good news: though they didn't overturn the most offensive part of the law, the Court made it pretty clear that they would if anyone could present evidence to the court that the law has or could violate any person's basic constitutional liberties.  It's a shame that Team Obama weren't the ones who did it.

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/high-court-rejects-part-arizona-immigration-law-142916381.html

Supremes Sympathetic to Arizona Profiling Law

"Justices seem sympathetic to central part of Arizona law."  The headline suggests the Supreme Court has once again used a case to turn our political system farther to the right, in this case using a race-baiting anti-immigration law.  (And no doubt the Roberts regime deserves such cynical suspicions.)  But the real story here, as has often been the case during the Obama Administration, is how the executive branch has evaded a political fight against reactionary forces.  This latest example: rather than argue SB 1070 was racist not only in practical outcome but in design, they instead only argued it was unconstitutional due to states taking supposedly federal-only powers.  If you think I am making this up, here's the exchange during oral arguments between Chief Justice John Roberts and Solicitor General Donald Verrilli that says it all:

Roberts: Before you get into what the case is about, I’d like to clear up at the outset what it’s not about.  No part of your argument has to do with racial or ethnic profiling, does it?  I saw none of that in your brief.
Verrilli: That’s correct.
Roberts: Okay.  So this is not a case about ethnic profiling.
Verrilli: We’re not making any allegation about racial or ethnic profiling in this case.


By this logic, it would be okay for federal agents to demand papers from people proving they are US citizens (which is what AB 1070 is about.)  The problem, according to the Obama Administration, is who is doing it and not is what being done.

To her credit, Justice Sonia Sotomayor (the only Hispanic on the court) could barely conceal her disgust with the argument.  "You can see it is not selling very well.  Why don’t you try to come up with something else?”

In retrospect, Team Obama's reasoning here shouldn't be too surprising.  Consistently, his DOJ has sanctioned the most repellant arguments made by the Bushistas.  In this case, they are arguing more for consolidation of power in the federal government than against racial injustice.  Such an argument conveniently sidesteps opposing a political scapegoating that appeals to the ugliest form of populism.

The good news here is if the Supreme Court sides with Arizona in its decision (which some believe the Supremes were hinting at in the tone of their questions) the battle over 1070 won't be over.  As the SJ Mercury notes: "Should the court uphold any part of the law, immigration groups are likely to challenge it based on an argument not before that court Wednesday -- that the law discriminates on the basis of race and ethnic background."  An argument, sadly, the Obama Adminstritation lacked the spine or sense of decency to present.

To read the original article:

http://www.mercurynews.com/census/ci_20482689/justices-seem-sympathetic-central-part-arizona-law

Backlash Against Right Wing

From LATimes.com:
Ohio voters overturned a controversial law that would have weakened public employee unions and Mississippians rejected an antiabortion "personhood" initiative in elections Tuesday that suggested at least a pause in the strong conservative Republican trend that swept Democrats from office in 2010.

In the marquee fight of the day, a successful push by organized labor resulted in the repeal of Ohio's new law that would have sharply curbed collective bargaining rights for 350,000 government workers. The restrictive labor measure had been passed by the Republican Legislature and signed by newly elected Republican Gov. John Kasich, who led the unsuccessful effort to defend the law...

In the Phoenix suburbs, state Senate President Russell Pearce, the architect of Arizona's contentious immigration law, was defeated by fellow Republican Jerry Lewis in the state's first recall election of a sitting lawmaker...

Mississippi voters firmly rejected Initiative 26, which would have effectively defined birth control methods like IUDs and the morning-after pill as murder...

Elections may signal a pause in conservative trend
Paul West
November 8, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-election-roundup-20111109,0,7591992.story

Where was the Pat Tillman Story on NFL Sunday?

Dave Zirin
Monday, September 12, 2011
http://www.thenation.com/blog/163328/where-was-pat-tillman-story-nfl-sunday

In 2004, President George W. Bush appeared on the Jumbotron at Arizona’s Sun Devil stadium to address the combat death of former NFL player turned Army Ranger, Pat Tillman. Bush said: “Pat Tillman loved the game of football. Yet, as much as Pat Tillman loved competing on the football field, he loved America even more… Courageous and humble, a loving husband and son, a devoted brother and a fierce defender of liberty. Pat Tillman will always be remembered.”

But Sunday--- while NFL teams around the country commemorated the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks---Pat’s name was only mentioned before the game in Arizona. In stadium after stadium, in pregame show after pregame show, as the NFL’s 9/11 commemoration strategy was rolled out with lockstep discipline, Tillman’s name was conspicuously absent. George W. Bush certainly got his moment in the spotlight, receiving a standing ovation by 70,000 fans at the Meadowlands. On other football fields, massive flags were unfurled, “official NFL/9/11 logos” were unveiled, soldiers were cheered, Reebok’s “We Will Never Forget” 9/11 gear was worn, and yet it was as if Pat Tillman had never existed.

The NFL’s media man, Brian McCarthy, vigorously contested this when we called for comment. “Yesterday was a day to remember to those who lost lives on 9/11...We did not single out any NFL player that had been in the military. We saluted all military members around the country and the world. Pat means so much to the NFL. We have funded the “Pat Tillman USO Center,” a USO center in his name in Afghanistan at Bagram [Airfield]. We also worked with his wife Marie on the creation of the NFL scholarship. The first thing you see in the NFL [New York] building is Pat’s jersey. He is very dear to the. NFL family. We salute him every day. If [you are] trying to create controversy there is none.”

I respectfully disagree. I don’t contest that Tillman’s jersey is in the NFL office, or that “he is honored every day.” But I think it’s worth asking why the NFL paid so little attention to Pat. It’s worth asking because the answer says a great deal. Pat Tillman is the only NFL player – or professional athlete – to die in the theater of war since September 11th, 2001. He walked away from millions of dollars to join the U.S. Army because of the way 9/11 shook his system. On 9/12/01, Tillman gave an interview where he said, “My great-grandfather was at Pearl Harbor and a lot of my family has gone and fought in wars, and I really haven’t done a damn thing.”

Twenty-two months after enlisting, Pat Tillman was dead. His memorial service was aired on national television. The Army awarded him a Silver Star for his “gallantry in action against an armed enemy.” They said Tillman's convoy had been ambushed in Afghanistan. They said Tillman charged up a hill to protect his men but was shot down by the Taliban. Responding to this heroic story, the NFL, as they are quick to mention, created statues and memorials in his honor.

Why didn’t we hear Tillman’s name on Sunday? It’s because the Pentagon’s official story, the very story the NFL initially embraced, is an awful lie. Tillman actually died in friendly fire, a fact that was criminally hidden from his family, his fans, and to the greater public. Tillman also began to turn against the war before his death, telling friends in the Rangers that he believed the war in Iraq was “illegal.” A voracious reader, he started reading anti-war authors in an attempt to wrap his head around how he had become the most famous solider in an endless conflict.

After the Bush administration finally revealed the truth, Tillman’s shocked family and friends did the only thing they could do: fight to find out the real facts of his death. They went public with the narrative of a Pat Tillman that was inconsistent with the Bush administration and NFL’s. They put forth a Pat Tillman that was an intensely iconoclastic atheist, turning against war.

The misrepresentation of Pat Tillman’s death speaks to the lies used to sell war, and to the way people’s rage and grief was exploited in the wake of 9/11. But thanks to the tireless work of his family, and the creators of the documentary The Tillman Story, his true story is now public knowledge. As Pat’s mother Mary said in The Tillman Story, “I think they just thought, if they spun the story and we found out ... we'd just keep it quiet because we wouldn't want to diminish ... his heroism or anything like that ... but, you know, nobody questions Pat's heroics. He was always heroic. What they said happened, didn't happen. They made up a story, and so you have to set the record straight.”

In one respect their effort saved Pat Tillman’s name this past Sunday. In the least it saved his family and friends the pain of knowing that Pat was being displayed in a way he would have found, in the words of fellow Ranger Jade Lane, as “criminal.” But the NFL’s exclusion of Tillman in their commemoration is a statement of its own. They could have discussed Tillman’s service in all its complicated, messy glory. They could have respected his sacrifice as well as his inner conflicts. They could have interviewed the eloquent and elegant Mary Tillman on all the pregame shows. The country could have learned not just about Pat Tillman, but that the former Commander in Chief being cheered at the Meadowlands had committed a felony in falsifying the facts of Tillman’s death. It’s an awful story, but it’s real. It's also far from finished. As The Tillman Story director Amir Bar-Lev said: “This is an unsolved mystery; nobody has ever really paid a price for what was done to the Tillmans. No one has taken accountability or made an admission for a deliberate attempt to conceal the truth. This story is not over yet.”

Dave Zirin is the author of “The John Carlos Story” (Haymarket) and just made the new documentary “Not Just a Game.” Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.

Why I'm Boycotting Tuesday's Arizona All-Star Game

Dave Zirin
http://bit.ly/pgr27z

Over the last year, civil rights organizations, politicians, sportswriters and baseball players have asked Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to move Tuesday's 2011 All-Star Game out of Arizona. He chose not to listen and now I choose not to watch. If I lived within a day's travel of Arizona, I'd be choosing to protest at the stadium gates. Ever since Arizona passed its darkly punitive racial profiling law SB 1070, thousands of people have pleaded with Selig to do the right thing and move the game. Baseball is 27.7% Latino. It's a sport dependent on Latin American talent from the baseball academies of the Dominican Republic to today's biggest stars, Albert Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez. Even more, Major League Baseball has prided itself – and marketed itself - on historically being more than just a game. Bud Selig, in particular, is a man, who publicly venerates the game's civil rights tradition. Jackie Robinson's number is retired and visible in every park and the great Roberto Clemente in death has become a true baseball saint. But Selig's inaction makes his tributes to the past look as hollow as Sammy Sosa's old bat.

Selig clearly loves the symbolism of civil rights more than the sacrifice. The presence of the game will mean a financial windfall for the state as well as for Arizona Diamondback owner Ken Kendrick. Kendrick is a first-tier right wing money bundler who has let the state politicians behind SB 1070 use his owner’s box for fundraisers. The game will also mean a national spotlight for the vile Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County, our 21st century Bull Conner. Arpaio has been threatening to bring down his pink-clad chain gang to clean up outside the stadium.

Selig is not the only one backing down from the moment. The Major League Players Association issued a very strong statement last year against SB 1070 and hinted that a boycott might be in the cards, saying they would “consider additional measures to protect the interests of our members.” Earlier this week, after months of silence, Executive Director Michael Weiner, said “SB 1070 is not in effect and key portions of the law have been judged unlawful by the federal courts. Under all the circumstances, we have not asked players to refrain from participating in any All-Star activities.” To say SB 1070 “is not in effect” is sophistry. Only a section of SB 1070 has been judged unlawful: the extension of police powers to demand papers without cause. Other aspects are now on the books including stiffer penalties for “illegals” and giving citizens the right to sue any city that sets up safe havens for immigrants. In addition, State Governor Jan Brewer is currently appealing the pruning of SB 1070 directly to the US Supreme Court. Also, the law has spawned copycat legislation is states around the country. My own discussions with Arizona activists tells me that racial profiling has been rampant since the law passed, with Latinos, legal and illegal, in fear to call the police or the fire department, or even attend church. Even if you agree with the Michael Weiner, as he writes, that immigration matters “will not be resolved at Chase Field, nor on any baseball diamond” the MLBPA is being remarkably cavalier about its responsibility to “protect its members.”

As for the players, a massive number are bowing out of this year’s game. Is this because of SB 1070? We don’t know, but either way a weakened product will be on display Tuesday night. If the spotlight shifts to anyone on the field, it will be centered on Boston’s All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez who changed his position a year ago that he wouldn’t play if the game were in Arizona. There is a movement to have players like Gonzalez, sympathetic to the cause, to wear a ribbon or make some kind of statement. We will see if Adrian Gonzalez takes advantage of the spotlight.

But in the end, responsibility for this debacle rests with Selig. NFL owners, who no one would confuse with the NAACP, threatened to pull the 1993 Super Bowl out of Arizona if the state continued to refuse to recognize Martin Luther King’s birthday as a national holiday. The Now 20 years later, baseball’s commissioner does nothing. Yes, Bud Selig would undoubtedly have received an avalanche of criticism it he had moved the game. That’s what it means to actually sacrifice something for the sake of the civil rights he claims to hold so dear. Instead, his legacy will bear another blot, joining the steroid boom, the cancellation of the 1994 World Series, and the gouging of state economies with tax-payer funded stadiums. Now Bud Selig can always be remembered as the Seinfeld of sports commissioners: the man who did nothing; the man who, with the game on the line, kept his bat on his shoulder and took a called third strike.

Dave Zirin is the author of “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love” (Scribner) and just made the new documentary “Not Just a Game.” Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.

Carlos Santana is Booed

Santana is Booed for Using Baseball's Civil Rights Game to Speak Out for Civil Rights


E of S Nation - Please pass along the link!

In struggle and sports

Dave Zirin
http://bit.ly/iuVl66

Major League Baseball’s annual Civil Rights Game was poised to be a migraine-inducing exercise in Orwellian irony. Forget about the fact that Civil Rights was to be honored in Atlanta, where fans root for a team called the Braves and cheer in unison with the ubiquitous "tomahawk chop."

Forget about the fact that the Braves have been embroiled in controversy since pitching coach Roger McDowell aimed violent, homophobic threats at several fans. Forget that this is a team that has done events with Focus on the Family, an organization that is to Civil Rights what Newt Gingrich is to marital fidelity.

The reason Atlanta was such a brutally awkward setting for a Sunday Civil Rights setting, was because Friday saw the Governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal, sign HR 87, a law that shreds the Civil Rights of the state’s Latino population. Modeled after Arizona’s horrific and unconstitutional SB 1070, HR 87 authorizes state and local police the federal powers to demand immigration papers from people they suspect to be undocumented. Those without papers on request will find themselves behind bars. Civil rights hero, Atlanta’s John Lewis has spoken out forcefully against the legislation saying “This is a recipe for discrimination. We’ve come too far to return to the dark past."

But there was Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, celebrating civil rights in the Georgia, and chortling excitedly about the 2011 All-Star game in Arizona. In the hands of Selig, irony becomes arsenic. Thank God that Commisioner Selig was stupid enough to choose the Civil Rights Game to honor, among others, the great musician Carlos Santana. Santana was supposed to be the Latino stand-in, a smiling symbol of baseball’s diversity. And maybe, he would even play a song!

But Bud picked the wrong Latino. Carlos Santana took the microphone and said that he was representing all immigrants. Then Santana added, "The people of Arizona, and the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourselves." In a perfect display of Gov. Nathan Deal’s Georgia, the cheers quickly turned to boos. Yes, Carlos Santana was booed on Civil Rights Day in Atlanta for talking about Civil Rights.

Then in the press box, Santana held an impromptu press conference where he let loose with an improvised speech to rival one of his virtuoso guitar solos. He said, "This law is not correct. It's a cruel law, actually, This is about fear. Stop shucking and jiving. People are afraid we're going to steal your job. No we aren't. You're not going to change sheets and clean toilets. I would invite all Latin people to do nothing for about two weeks so you can see who really, really is running the economy. Who cleans the sheets? Who cleans the toilets? Who babysits? I am here to give voice to the invisible."

He went on to say, "Most people at this point they are either afraid to really say what needs to be said, this is the United States the land of the free. If people want the immigration law to keep passing in every state then everybody should get out and just leave the American Indians here. This is about Civil Rights."

Where was Bud Selig during all this drama? It seems that Selig slunk out of a stadium backdoor in the 5th inning. If there is one thing Bud has become an expert at, it’s ducking his head when the issues of immigration, civil rights, and Major League Baseball collide. If Selig really gave a damn about Civil Rights, he would heed the words of Carlos Santana. He would move the 2011 All-Star Game out of Arizona. He would recognize that the sport of Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente and Curt Flood has an obligation to stand for something more than just using their memory to cover up the injustices of the present. If Bud Selig cared about Civil Rights, he would above all else, have to develop something resembling a spine. But if Bud is altogether unfamiliar with the concept of courage, he received one hell of an object lesson from Carlos Santana.

Dave Zirin is the author of “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love” (Scribner) and just made the new documentary “Not Just a Game.” Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.

'Jetman' Yves Rossy takes wing over Grand Canyon--at 190 mph

Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/26765/jetman%20yves%20rossy%20takes%20wing%20over%20grand%20canyon--at%20190%20mph/

Yves "Jetman" Rossy has experienced a Grand Canyon tour as only someone who calls himself Jetman can: with a rocket-powered winged suit fastened to his back -- at speeds up to 190 mph.

The Swiss adventurer, who had already flown his "jet wing" over the Alps and across the English Channel, had intended to make his Grand Canyon thrill ride -- his first-ever U.S. flight -- Friday before a large media gathering. He postponed that excursion, though, because of delays in obtaining permission from the FAA.

Rossy explained to the Swissinfo news site that after the FAA gave its approval Friday, it was too late because he had not had time to practice and had become nervous in front of the large crowd. "This is a very challenging place," he said. "Big air currents, steep walls. Without training I don't want to take the risk of presenting something unprofessional."

Instead he made the eight-minute flight Saturday, after the FAA had granted him permission, before a small number of witnesses and his support team, which recorded the video and revealed the details Tuesday.

Rossy, an airline pilot who in 2004 became the first person to fly a jet-powered wing, launched from a helicopter 8,000 feet above the canyon floor and soared like Superman amid the canyon splendor. After the flight he deployed his parachute and floated like a giant black-and-yellow moth to sweet earth.

"My first flight in the U.S. is sure to be one of the most memorable experiences in my life," he said in a news release. "Not only for the sheer beauty of the Grand Canyon but the honor to fly in sacred Native American lands. Thank you Mother Nature and the Hualapai Tribe for making my lifelong dreams come true."

The Hualapai tribe, which occupies the Grand Canyon West region in northern Arizona, agreed to allow the daredevil mission from its reservation west of Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona.

Fiesta Bowl Scandal

From the SF Chronicle:

The Fiesta Bowl will be investigated by the Bowl Championship Series after organizers for the Arizona game fired president and CEO John Junker on Tuesday for "an apparent scheme" to reimburse employees for political contributions and "an apparent conspiracy" to cover it up.

The reimbursements, according to an internal report released by the bowl, total at least $46,539. The BCS will investigate to "consider whether the Fiesta Bowl should remain a BCS bowl game."


The upshot: the Cotton Bowl, which is at the gigantic Cowboys Stadium and is backed by billionaire Dallas owner Jerry Jones, will likely replace the Fiesta Bowl as the fourth major bowl in 2014 when the current BCS contract expires...


BCS to investigate Fiesta Bowl
March 29, 2011
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/29/SPGM1IL349.DTL

Say it Loud on Opening Day

Baseball Must Move the All-Star Game from Arizona
Dave Zirin
http://www.thenation.com/blog/159060/say-it-loud-opening-day-baseball-must-move-all-star-game-arizona


At the risk of profound understatement, it’s been a difficult 2011 in the state of Arizona. Jared Loughner’s shooting spree that grievously injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six, including nine-year old Christina Green, was a national horror. The killings also focused global attention on Arizona’s toxic political culture. Gun-toting nativists, white supremacist state senators, anti-immigrant laws like the infamous SB 1070, and Gov. Jan Brewer spinning myths about “headless bodies” [1] on the Arizona/Mexico border, turned the state into a national punchline. After Loughner’s rampage, the punchline became a cautionary tale, and everyone from Gov. Brewer to Barack Obama called on the political fire breathers to give it a rest.

Unfortunately, Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce didn’t get the memo. Pearce, a man chummy with those who consider swastikas to be fashion accessories, returned this year with new legislation that would peel the paint off the Statue of Liberty. Pearce has proposed SB 1611 [2], which among other things would force schools to report students who cannot produce documents verifying their U.S. citizenship or legal residence. School adminstrators that refuse would be subject to prosecution. It's a law that would compel teachers and principals into becoming de facto INS agents. It's also a law that would be a brazen challenge to the US Constitution which protects the right of every child to attend a public school.

As Gabriel Chin, a University of Arizona Law professor said [3], "This is all aiming for Supreme Court test cases by doing something that is over the constitutional line. It's really alarming and astonishing that they would deliberately violate the Constitution in this way." Last Friday, there were walkouts at eight Phoenix area high schools, as students joined together to march on the state house and protest Pearce’s bill.

As the primordial ooze of Arizona’s politics comes to a boil yet again, the question must be posed anew to Major League Commissioner Bud Selig: Will the 2011 All-Star Game go ahead as planned in the state of Arizona? Will Selig ignore the latest from Russell Pearce, along with the thousands of petitioners, protesters, and players and reward a state with aspirations of apartheid with the Midsummer Classic?

By last year, Selig offered his position in a statement as bizarre as it was obtuse. Pressured for an answer, he said [4], “Apparently all the people around and in minority communities think we’re doing OK. That’s the issue, and that’s the answer. I told the clubs today: ‘Be proud of what we’ve done.’ They are. We should. And that’s our answer. We control our own fate, and we’ve done very well.” No one is quite sure what this means but the answer was still clear. Yes, as of last summer, he would be ignoring all concerns and the game would be played as planned in Arizona.

Selig chose to disregard the concerns of his own players, 27.7% of whom were born in Latin America, and the MLB Players’ Association. He wouldn’t comment on the fact that the biggest star in the game Albert Pujols, said of the recent Arizona legislation [5], "I'm opposed to it. How are you going to tell me that, me being Hispanic, if you stop me and I don't have my ID, you're going to arrest me? That can't be."

He didn’t care that 2010 All-Stars Adrian Gonzalez, Joakim Soria, Jose Valverde and Yvonni Gallardo have said that they wouldn’t play in the 2011 game if it goes ahead in Arizona as planned. [6] He shrugged his shoulders when World Series winning manager of the Chicago White Sox Ozzie Guillen, swore to uphold an All Star boycott. And Selig showed contempt for the thousands of petitioners, the fans who demonstrated in 20 major league cities last summer, and the former MLB executives all of whom have pleaded with him to “move the game.”

In 2011, since the horrific shootings, not to mention the latest legislation by Pearce, Selig hasn’t even deigned us with rambling incoherence. He’s been silent.

This has enraged those who built the protests last summer at the park. Enrique Morones, the former VP of Latino and Diversity marketing for the San Diego Padres and a protest organizer to move the game, said to me,

“As the temperature rises in Arizona and another nine-year-old girl is killed Christina Green, we remind Bud Selig that two years earlier a nine-year-old girl was murdered because of racial profiling, Brisenia Flores. She was murdered by Minuteman and Federation of American Immigration Reform activist Shawna Forde. Bud, once again we ask, move the game. How many deaths in Arizona do you need to be convinced that now is not the time or the place to have MLB All Star game in Arizona?"

Favianna Rodriguez, co-founder of the online advocacy group Presente.org [7] also spoke to this, saying to me, "The events in Arizona of recent months- the shooting in Tucson, the trial of Shawna Forde for the murder of 9 year-old Brisenia Flores, and the proposed legislation – are strong evidence for not having the 2011 All-Star Game in the dangerous and bigoted state of Arizona."

More and more people are saying that this cannot pass. Immigration activists around the country are planning in April to inaugurate the new season with Opening Day protests at parks across the country. I’ve spoken to those planning pickets, banner drops, and even more creative ways to welcome the National Pastime with a message to Bud Selig: "Will you or will you not move the damn game?" If he won’t answer the question, then clearly we’re not asking it loudly enough.

Dave Zirin is the author of “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love” (Scribner) and just made the new documentary “Not Just a Game.” Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.

Links:

[1] http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2010/0904/Jan-Brewer-corrects-the-record-on-headless-bodies-in-the-desert

[2] http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-hispanic-republicans/2011/02/22/national-hispanic-group-slams-pearces-omnibus-sb-1611-and-democratic-legislator-sinema-protests-at-capitol-today-at-1130-am/

[3] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/04/arizona-students-stage-walkout_n_831659.html

[4] http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/37139256/ns/sports-baseball/

[5] http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2010/07/california-groups-pressure-bud-selig-to-move-2011-all-star-game/1

[6] http://oneroyalway.com/royals-blog/writers-broadcasters-personalities-websites/joakim-soria-support-boycott-of-2011-all-star-game-in-arizona/

[7] http://presente.org/

The Grand Canyon Goes Egyptian

"Is there, within the Grand Canyon, an enigmatic system of tunnels that is evidence of an ancient Egyptian voyage to America? Is it all bogus? Or is the truth most likely somewhere in between?

On April 5, 1909, a front page story in the Arizona Gazette reported on an archaeological expedition in the heart of the Grand Canyon funded by the Smithsonian Institute, which had resulted in the discovery of Egyptian artefacts. April 5 is close to April 1 – but then not quite… so perhaps the story could be true?

Nothing since has been heard of this discovery. Today, over five million tourists visit the Grand Canyon each year. You would thus expect that if anything was hidden in the canyons, it would thus since long have been uncovered. However, most tourists only spend around 3 hours of time at the canyon, usually visiting the legendary South Rim view around mile 89, where most of the best and oldest tourist facilities are located. Furthermore, some have said that the entire discovery has since become the centre of a major cover-up, apparently in an effort to maintain the old status quo, which is that the ancient Egyptians never ventured outside of the tranquil waters of the river Nile."

Canyonitis: Seeing evidence of ancient Egypt in the Grand Canyon
Philip Coppens
http://www.philipcoppens.com/egyptiancanyon.html

MK-Ultra in Arizona

"The preliminary profile of Mark Lee Loughner indicates that he may be a person going through genuine programming under MKULTRA by mind control methods and programming by on-the-ground MKULTRA agents designed to disorient the individual mind and turn the individual into a ‘Manchurian candidate’ type assassin."

AZ Congresswoman assassination scenario has MKULTRA profile, drug & space target
Alfred Lambremont Webre
January 8th, 2011
http://www.examiner.com/exopolitics-in-seattle/az-congresswoman-assassination-scenario-has-mkultra-profile-drug-space-target

Why the Boycott of Arizona Continues

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zack-de-la-rocha/why-the-boycott-of-arizon_b_761360.html
Zack de la Rocha and Salvador Reza
October 13, 2010
Why the Boycott of Arizona Continues

As the November general elections near, the international boycott of Arizona has become a central issue in several key elections, including the race for Arizona governor. This is not only because of the dramatic loss of revenue to the state from the cancellation of concerts, conferences, conventions, drop in tourism and cancellation of contracts, but also because Arizona ranks second to last in national poverty rankings according to a recently released Census report. Sound Strike supporters and opponents of SB 1070 break the eerie silence with massive protests and heated battle.

What Governor Brewer and detractors of the boycott fail to realize is that the Arizona boycott is not just about SB 1070. The simple truth is attacks on migrants in Arizona didn't start with SB 1070 and won't end with the partial injunction granted to the Obama administration. It is time to end all federally funded partnerships such as the 287(g) program, Secure Communities and other ICE policies designed to marginalize and repress immigrant families and communities. Many of these policies are in the hands of President Obama and Homeland Security Secretary, and Former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano; they can end the nightmare immediately. Until then, boycotters will continue to withhold tax revenue to racist and fear mongering state governments such as Arizona.

Boycotts have played integral roles in reversing discrimination all over the world. Where would we be today if the late great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and civil rights organizations in Birmingham, Alabama, had not called for a bus boycott in protest of racial discrimination? In fact, the Montgomery Bus boycott became a symbol of racial segregation, inequality, political disenfranchisement, and persecution of blacks in the South. Just like the Montgomery Bus boycott was about more than where blacks could sit on a bus, the Arizona boycott is about more than SB 1070.

The human impact of what is happening to immigrants and their families in Arizona calls into question the same moral and ethical imperatives that the civil rights movement did. Are we all equal before the law? To what extent can states and local law enforcement officers engage in human and civil rights violations against an ethnic group that has been completely vilified in the eyes of the white political majority?

The Arizona boycott is about the cruel and inhumane approach Arizona has taken and the cruel human impact that not only affects migrants, but brown-skinned communities in general. Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio has become the symbol of this persecution. He does this in calculated political moves to distract us from his poor law-enforcement record, federal investigation, strong allegations of civil and human rights abuse, and corruption. However, Arpaio's world may be crumbling as top deputies of his have been put on leave over allegations of pressuring officers to engage in cover ups and abuse of power. Another investigation is looking into alleged misuse of up to $80 million. Let's not forget the ongoing Department of Justice investigations on many fronts. Still, Arpaio maintains strong support among whites because he agitates them in shameful propaganda and lies about the negative impact of migrants in our communities.

Arpaio operates like a warlord whose indiscriminate abuse changes lives in seconds, particularly the children of migrant detainees. Maricopa County is a place where parents make pacts to look after one another's children in the event of detention. Sheriffs carry stuffed teddy bears and toys to calm the nerves of children whose parents are pried away from their arms by law. Arpaio does not hide his views. He has said on national TV it is an "honor" to be compared to the KKK and has called his "tent city" jails concentration camps. Arpaio's description is frighteningly appropriate. The tent cities can reach temperatures of 130 degrees, inmates are fed rotting 30 cent meals, have inadequate medical treatment, and denied the most basic rights such as sanitation, public defenders, mail and bail, if they are undocumented. Arpaio's cruelness reaches epic proportions when detained pregnant woman are forced to give birth handcuffed to gurneys.

Arpaio's goal is to break our spirits, to drive migrants out by attrition. But we resist and we fight back. We are not afraid. So long as there is a 287(g) agreement with local police; So long as the Federal Secure Communities program is in local jails; So long as federal programs are used to make Arizona a modern apartheid state empowering the governor and state legislature to violate civil and human rights. The resistance of organizations, artists, writers and governments will continue. The boycott of Arizona will not stop, and we will expand our struggle locally, nationally and internationally asking all peoples of conscience to join. La Lucha Sigue (The Struggle Continues).

Arizona sheriff under investigation for alleged abuse of power

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/09/arizona.tough.sheriff/

Arizona sheriff under investigation for alleged abuse of power
Chuck Conder, CNN
July 9, 2010

Sheriff targeting political enemies?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Maricopa County sheriff is known for being tough on prisoners and illegal immigrants
Critics say Arpaio has launched bogus criminal probes against political opponents
Federal grand jury is looking into those allegations
Sheriff declines comment, but deputy chief says all of the investigations were justified

Phoenix, Arizona (CNN) -- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio calls himself "America's toughest sheriff." He is famous for creating a tent city jail in the Arizona desert; for providing pink underwear for inmates; for bragging that he spends more to feed his dog than a prisoner in his jail.

This year he has made national headlines for his tough enforcement of Arizona's anti-illegal immigration laws and for his vocal support for a controversial new immigration law that takes effect at the end of July.

But the 77-year-old lawman is himself the subject of serious allegations of abuse of power. Arpaio's critics say he has a long history of launching bogus criminal investigations against political opponents and anyone else who gets in his way.

This year a federal grand jury started looking into the allegations.

Former Maricopa County School Superintendent Sandra Dowling says what happened to her is a case in point.

Dowling says was locked in a political battle with some members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors over school district funds when the sheriff's SWAT team came in the dead of night to search her home. Dowling was charged with stealing money from a school for homeless students. There were 25 felony counts in all.

"Never could I have imagined what a nightmare was waiting ahead," Dowling said.

Arpaio promised to uncover massive public corruption -- "We are looking into all avenues of this investigation," he said -- and to win a speedy conviction.

From the start Dowling maintained her innocence: "I kept saying I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything."

It took three years, but finally a judge threw out all the felony counts against Dowling. She entered a guilty plea to a single misdemeanor charge. But she said her reputation had been shattered, her career destroyed, and she owed more than $100,000 in legal fees.

"I still don't think that everybody knows I was innocent," she said.

Dowling is not alone. Arpaio has launched -- either on his own or in conjunction with the county attorney -- high-profile criminal investigations against a who's who of Maricopa County politicians and officials. The list includes the mayor of Phoenix, a former police chief, two members of the board of supervisors, Superior Court judges, and even a former state attorney general.

The charges have included public corruption, misuse of taxpayers' dollars, bribery, rape and even child molestation. What all these investigations hold in common is that they were launched with great public fanfare, but rarely resulted in convictions. Among the investigations recounted in this report, the only conviction has been on the misdemeanor charge against Dowling.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon calls the sheriff's long list of investigations a "reign of terror."

Gordon came under Arpaio's scrutiny, he says, after speaking out against the sheriff's neighborhood sweeps to round up illegal immigrants.

The mayor says he received a torrent of records requests from sheriff's investigators, and he was later told that he was under investigation on possible child molestation charges. Gordon says the sheriff "bragged that he was watching my office from his office with a telescope."

The sheriff's department confirmed that Gordon was investigated on child molestation accusations. In the end charges were never filed.

"He is a coward," said former Buckeye, Arizona, Police Chief Dan Saban. In 2004 Saban challenged Arpaio's bid for a fourth term in the sheriff's office. That was when the local news reported that Arpaio was investigating his rival on charges of rape.

It was a claim made by Sabin's foster mother. She claimed the rape occurred 30 years earlier, when Saban was only 15 years old. Saban says he was the victim, not the foster mother.

Once again charges were never filed. But Saban noted the sheriff alerted the media to the details of the sordid accusation. "They put out a media campaign against me," he said. "That I was the subject of a criminal probe."

It sounds familiar to County Supervisor Don Stapley. "They indicted me on 118 counts." he said, "none of which I'm guilty of."

Those 118 counts of public corruption against Stapley made big headlines before they were thrown out of court by a judge. Arpaio has refilled many of those charges and Stapley is still fighting to clear his name.

Arpaio turned down CNN requests for an interview, citing the federal grand jury investigation and a series of threatened lawsuits from these and other cases.

However, one of Arpaio's long-time assistants was eager to defend his boss.

Deputy Chief John MacIntyre says that in each and every case, the sheriff's investigations were fully justified. "Was there probable cause? There was a ton of probable cause," he said.

In the rape investigation of the sheriff's political rival, Saban, for example, MacIntyre says it was a case the sheriff had to investigate. "We didn't make up the mother's testimony," he said. "It came in here like a bombshell."

MacIntyre says it was just coincidence that the sheriff benefited when the story was leaked to the press.

Andrew Thomas is another Arpaio ally. He is the former Maricopa County attorney who participated in a number of Arpaio's high-profile cases. He is currently running for the Arizona attorney general's office.

He, too, defends Arpaio's investigations, saying, "The reality is these were legitimate cases that needed to be brought."

"It wasn't just brought up out of thin air, there was evidence to back up those cases," he said.

The sheriff's critics, he said, are "being portrayed as martyrs and I feel that's absolutely inaccurate."

Thomas paints a picture of Maricopa County as a pit of corruption that includes the judicial system, which he blames for his lack of convictions. "We had to go into courts where the judges were collaborating with the targets of the investigations," he said. "They were working together to thwart investigations (and) prosecutions."

The Arizona Bar Association takes a different view. Its ethics committee is currently considering a case against Thomas for his role in Arpaio's investigations of public officials, the association said.

MacIntyre says it is up to the public to untangle the web of political intrigue surrounding Phoenix and its environs. "The electorate is going to have to say we don't want to do this anymore, and we will vote one or more people out," he said. "Right now the sheriff's polls indicate that the public still supports him rather overwhelmingly."

Whether the grand jury investigation or the threatened lawsuits bring change remains to be seen.

Mike Lacey, a newspaper editor who was once arrested after criticizing Arpaio, says the end is not yet in sight: "If you are a critic of the sheriff, or if you represent an opportunity for publicity, you become a target for this man."

Farm workers: Take our jobs, please!

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/07/news/economy/farm_worker_jobs/index.htm

Farm workers: Take our jobs, please!
Most farm workers in the U.S. are illegal immigrants, but a union representing these workers has offered their jobs to Americans.
Aaron Smith, staff writer
July 10, 2010

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Facing growing anti-immigrant rhetoric, the United Farm Workers union is challenging Americans to take their labor-intensive, low-paying farm jobs.

As communities nationwide grapple with tenacious unemployment, migrant workers are often accused of stealing jobs from Americans. The union believes this accusation is without basis, and intends to demonstrate this with a newly-launched campaign called "Take Our Jobs."

"Farm workers do the work that most Americans are not willing to do," said union president Arturo Rodriguez in the announcement of the campaign.

At least half a million applicants are needed to replace the immigrant workforce, so the union has posted an online application for Americans who want to work on a farm.

Through its Web site, at www.takeourjobs.org, the union promises to connect applicants with farm jobs in their area.

Since June 24, at least 4,000 people have responded to the application, said Rodriguez. Some are serious responses and others are hate mail. "Only a few dozen have really followed through with the process," he said.

Most applicants quickly lose interest once the reality sinks in that these are back-breaking jobs in triple-digit temperatures that pay minimum wage, usually without benefits, according to the union. Some small farms are not required to pay minimum wage and in 15 states farms aren't required to offer workers' compensation.

Despite the dismal job market in the U.S., where the unemployment rate is 9.5% and 14.6 million people are out of work, there have been few takers.

"I think everybody in our society is pretty clear that the least desirable job in the U.S. is being a migrant farm worker," said Rob Williams, director of the Migrant Farm Worker Justice Project. "If someone said to me, 'Here's a hazardous job and there's no worker's compensation,' I'd say, 'No thanks, It's kind of a no-brainer."

The Department of Agriculture counts nearly one million farm workers in the United States. According to the Migrant Farm Worker Justice Project, 85% of farm workers are immigrants -- and up to 70% of them are illegal.

Rodriguez, the union president, said the campaign is meant to draw attention to the need for immigration reform, such as the so-called AgJobs bill currently held up in Congress. The bill would grant temporary legal status to immigrants, which would become permanent if they continue to work on farms for a specific period of time.

"If [members of Congress] can't do their job in passing the bill, then they should come work in the fields," he said.

Illegal workers are rich fodder for anti-immigration leaders such as Gov. Janice Brewer, R-Ariz., who told reporters in June that the "majority" of immigrants crossing the border from Mexico are smuggling drugs for cartels. The governor also signed into law requirements for state police to "determine the immigration status" of anyone under "reasonable suspicion" of being an illegal alien.

The Justice Department on Tuesday sued the state of Arizona to overturn its new immigration law.

The proponents for migrant farm workers insist that they help, not hinder, the U.S.

Williams said that if people who oppose immigration "got their wish and all the unauthorized people went home tomorrow, we would have a crisis. We wouldn't have anyone to pick the crops, milk the cows, or take care of the Christmas trees."

He added, "It may be the least desirable job, but it's the most important job for all of us, because we all eat."

Prescott, Arizona mural altered to lighten children's skin tone

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/prescott-arizona-mural-altered-lighten-chil

Prescott, Arizona mural altered to lighten children's skin tone
By karoli
Friday Jun 04, 2010

This mural is painted on the side of an elementary school in Prescott, Arizona. Recently completed, it features the faces of children who attend the school, but not everyone is pleased with the outcome.

Prescott City Councilman Steve Blair, who also has a daily radio show on Fox News-owned radio station KYCA-1490-AM wants the mural taken down completely. He claims it depicts an agenda, an indoctrination of public school children. Somehow I do not think this has much to do with indoctrination nor do I think he really cares much about public schools. Especially public schools with brown children in them.

Instead of removing it, the school principal asked the artists to lighten the faces of the children in the picture. This request follows harassment of those same artists by drive-by wingers flinging racial epithets at them while they were painting it. Welcome to Arizona.

Lighten the skin tone on the faces of the children in the picture, because we cannot have brown children representing the children of Prescott.

Hear that, Arizona? That's the sound of the term racist being slapped all over your state whether it's deserved or not. That's the sound of Rupert Murdoch bringing his peculiar brand of thought-cleansing to your backyards. Do not, under any circumstances, make brown children look beautiful without changing their skin color.

Via Wonkette:

And these children, for the past several months as this happy mural encouraging “green transportation” was being painted by local artists, have been treated to the city of Prescott’s finest citizens driving by and yelling “Nigger” and “Spic” at this school wall painted with pictures of the children who attend the school. And this has been encouraged by a city councilman, Steve Blair, who uses his local radio talk show to rile up these people and demand the mural be destroyed.

A few more gems from City Councilman Limbaugh wannabe Blair:

"I'm not a racist by any stretch of the imagination, but whenever people start talking about diversity, it's a word I can't stand." Daily Courier

"I will tell you depicting a black guy in the middle of that mural, based upon who's President of the United States today ..." Daily Courier

"To depict the biggest picture on the building as a Black person, I would have to ask the question: Why?" AZCentral.com

Of course, when Blair is directly accused of stirring up racial controversy, he cries innocence in the time-honored tradition of Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing loudmouths who immediately decry the accusation of racism while living it straight up for all to see.

"Personally, I think it's pathetic," he says. "You have changed the ambience of that building to excite some kind of diversity power struggle that doesn't exist in Prescott, Arizona. And I'm ashamed of that." - AZCentral.com

Blair isn't just a radio personality who leads off the talkfest there at KYCA-AM. He's a city councilman. He actually has a say in what can and cannot be done in the city of Prescott. His show leads straight into Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh's radio show.

And so the mural artists will probably lighten the skin of the actual children who are depicted in that mural. Children who actually attend the actual school with the wall where that mural is painted. Children who are making a positive statement about ecology, the environment, and living 'green'. Children who are being taught a lifestyle that might actually free us from the bondage of oil.

It makes that "family values" part of the right-wing mantra seem so trite, doesn't it?

AZ Sticker

http://presente.org/sticker/az/

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New Reason to Protest the Arizona D-backs: House Bill 2281

http://www.thenation.com/blog/new-reason-protest-arizona-d-backs-house-bill-2281

New Reason to Protest the Arizona D-backs: House Bill 2281
Dave Zirin
May 12, 2010

Protests against Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks are planned for this Saturday at Turner Field in Atlanta and next Monday in Miami when the D-backs play the Florida Marlins. Both demonstrations are aimed at Arizona's anti immigrant Senate Bill 1070 and both look like they will draw serious numbers. In Atlanta, at a demo called Atlantans to MLB Commissioner: “Pull the 2011 All Star Game from Arizona; Don’t Play Ball with the State of Hate!” nearly 100 people have confirmed that they will attend.

As Phil Aliff, an Iraq war vet and protest organizer said to me, "We are protesting at the Diamondbacks game in order to send a clear message to Major League Baseball, the state of Arizona, and legislatures across the country that racial profiling and scapegoating is unacceptable. Everywhere the Diamondbacks go, we should demand that Major League Baseball pull the all-star game out of Arizona in order to hit the state where it really hurts... their wallet."

In Miami, the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), the South Florida Jobs with Justice, SEIU Florida, UNITE HERE Local 355, the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami, and South Florida AFL-CIO are all on board.

The protests matter because they allow people to nationalize an issue that far transcends the state of Arizona. They also shine a light on Diamondbacks CEO Ken Kendrick who while he says through his public relations people that he opposes the bill, continues to support and promote politicians who wear SB 1070 as a badge of honor.

Now we have another reason to isolate, expose, and protest Ken Kendrick, the Diamondbacks, and the state of Arizona. Gov Jan Brewer just signed into law a bill that should curl the toes of anyone with a thread of anti-racist conscience. Thanks to HB 2281, the Tucson school district’s academically successful ethnic studies program has been outlawed. Brewer made this move hours after United Nations Human Rights Commission formally opposed the bill on the basis that any ethnic group has the inherent right to learn their own history.

The Tucson ethnic studies program, which serves 1,500 primarily Mexican students, is an interdisciplinary curriculum that focuses on contributions made by Mexican Americans, African Americans and Native Americans in literature, history, and science. Destroying the program has long been a pet project of State schools chief Tom Horne who in the words of the Associated Press, “believes the Tucson school district's Mexican-American studies program teaches Latino students that they are oppressed by white people." Well, if students didn't believe it before, they would be forgiven for believing it now. Ironically, Horne's crusade was inspired when a Tucson guest speaker, United Farm Workers leader Dolores Huerta, said in a classroom in 2006 that “Republicans hate Mexicans.” Hard to see how this bill will disavow any students from agreeing with this assessment. Horne is running for state attorney general and he clearly sees wedge politics as a path to promotion.

The bill's chief promoter in the State Senate is Russell Pearce, who in addition to being the sponsor of SB 1070, has gotten in hot water for hugging Neo-Nazis on camera and forwarding emails from white supremacist websites. Pearce said on the Senate floor, "History is one thing. Misinformation, hateful speech, sedition is not appropriate with my tax dollars." No, but ordering police to stop people without just-cause and having the state monitor classrooms for "sedition" is in his twisted mind, appropriate use of public money.

The bill is equally twisted. HB 2281 bill specifically forbids classes that,

"1 - Promote the overthrow of the United States government.

2 - Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.

3 - Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.

4 - Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."

The first two points are dime-store fear mongering. There is zero evidence that "revolution" was being taught in Tucson public schools and the idea that a child learning about their ethnic heritage “promotes resentment" is another right wing canard. It's the last two points that expose the real goals of this bill: HB 2281 proponents don’t want a growing Mexican population seeing the benefits - as every ethnic group in the history of the United States has done - of finding a common political interest. Political bottom feeders like Tom Horne, intellectual lightweights like Jan Brewer, and stone-cold racists like Russell Pearce worship at the altar of ignorance and want the students of Tucson to do the same. But through both SB 1070 and HB 2281, they are actually giving all of us quite the political science lesson. They are teaching the nation that none of this is about immigration, crime, or "enforcing federal law." It's really about, as right-wing radio hero Michael Savage thunders, "Borders, language, and culture."

As a friend of mine, who is a prominent sports radio producer (who happens to be white) said to me, "If anyone doesn't think this is about race and the anger towards immigrations isn't about race, they are living in an alternate universe. This is about people being afraid that the Mayberry country they were sold is changing and they don't like it."

If Ken Kendrick truly believes that SB 1070 is bad law, if he objects to HB 2281, he needs stop funding the very politicians who promote it. Until then, we should protest the D-backs at every opportunity. The times demand nothing less.

“This is Beyond Sports”

http://edgeofsports.com/2010-05-11-531/index.html
“This is Beyond Sports”
Chuck D on the fight in Arizona
By Dave Zirin
5-11-10

Chuck D. The Hard Rhymer. The man on the mic for the most politically explosive hip-hop group in history, Public Enemy. With albums like “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,” “Fear of a Black Planet,” and anthems like “Fight the Power” and “Bring the Noise” along with the breathtaking production of the Bomb Squad, PE created a standard of politics and art. Perhaps their most controversial track was “By the Time I Get to Arizona” (1991) about seeking revenge against Arizona political officials for refusing to recognize Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday [Lyrics include: 'Cause my money's spent on The goddamn rent/Neither party is mine not the Jackass or the elephant.] Today, in the wake of Arizona’s draconian anti-immigration Senate Bill 1070, “By the Time I Get to Arizona” has been remixed and revived by DJ Spooky. Chuck D also recorded his own track several months before the bill was passed called “Tear Down That Wall.” I spoke to Chuck about the music and the nexus between immigration politics and sports.

DZ: Why did you choose to record “Tear Down this Wall?”

Chuck D: I had done "Tear Down this Wall" four or five months ago because I heard a professor who works with my wife here on the West Coast speak in a speech about the multi-billion dollar dividing wall between the U.S. and Mexico, so, therefore, I based "Tear Down that Wall" on the policy of the United States border patrol in the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. I just wanted to put a twist of irony on it saying if Ronald Reagan back in 1988 had told Mr. Gorbachev to tear down that wall separating the world from countries of capitalism and communism, we have a billion dollar wall right here in our hemisphere that exists that needs to have a bunch of questions raised. Questions like: “What the Hell?” I wrote the song about five months ago and I did it coincidently, with all that’s brewing in the state of Arizona. Immigration laws and racial profiling is happening right here and I think the border situation, not only with the U.S. and Mexico but the U.S. and Canada, on both sides is just out of control. It's crazy.

DZ: You did "Tear Down This Wall," we have the DJ Spooky remix of "By the Time I Get to Arizona," and with your wife, Dr. Gaye Theresa Johnson, you wrote a syndicated column on SB 1070. What’s the response been to you being so out front on this issue?

Chuck D: Well the response is the usual, but I make it a habit not to look at any blogs, because I think the font of a computer gives as much credence to ignorance as it does to somebody who makes sense. So I try not to read those responses, because anybody can respond quickly. Back when people had to write letters it took an effort, especially if someone didn't have decent penmanship and handwriting. I try not to look at the responses. I try to do the right thing. I tell you this much, there is a rap contingent, a hip-hop contingent from Phoenix, who did a remake of "By the Time I Get to Arizona." I think that needs to be recognized because these are young people. The song is about eight minutes long. There's about 12 MCs on it, and they are putting it down. They are talking about how ridiculous this law is. They are speaking out against it and they are putting all the facts on the table, and they need to be acknowledged and highlighted. There is a stereotype about young people and young MCs [being apolitical]. They break it.

DZ: It’s remarkable how the original “By the Time I Get to Arizona” has been resurrected from the early 90's now that the struggle has picked up. Did you hear former NBA player Chris Webber before the Suns/Spurs game say, "Its like PE said ‘By the Time I get to Arizona.’”?

Chuck D: [laughs] My Dad told me about that, You know Chris Webber is the man. I wasn't tuned into TNT at that particular time.

DZ: He said more than that. He said, “Public Enemy said it a long time ago. ‘By the Time I Get to Arizona.’ I’m not surprised. They didn’t even want there to be a Martin Luther King Day when John McCain was in [office.]. So if you follow history you know that this is part of Arizona politics.’” So he brought it all together with Public Enemy at the center of it.

Chuck D: Unfortunately when it comes to culture, the speed of technology and news today makes things out of sight, out of mind. While these situations [the MLK fight and the immigration fights] are different, the politics of both things stay around like a stain.... Once again Arizona has put themselves into this mix. I don't know what the hell was on Gov. Jan Brewer’s mind or what contingent is behind her, but, you know, to make a decision like this and to be told to ignore the people who have been in this area on this earth the longest period of time. It just kind of resonates with me as being crazy.

DZ: Do you support an athletic or artistic boycott of Arizona until this gets settled?

Chuck D: Dave, you know I do. Artists and musicians can say we’re going to play Texas, El Paso, New Mexico, Albuquerque, and we gotta play L.A. But we’ll skip Phoenix, Flagstaff, Tucson and the like. But you know what this is really a challenge for: that’s Major League Baseball. You’ve got nearly a third of the players that are Latino. If they don’t stand up to this bill, they will actually be validating the divide amongst Latinos [between documented and undocumented immigrants]. At the same time they’ll also be lining themselves right into the stereotype of what an athlete is if they don’t speak out: a high priced slave that doesn’t say anything. And to me it’s beyond just boycotting the All-Star game. What are those Latino players on the Diamondbacks going to do? What are the players going to say who go into Arizona to play against the Diamondbacks? What are they going to say and what are they going to do? Major League Baseball has to step up. The NBA has very few players of Latino descent and [the Suns] are saying something. But Major League Baseball, if they don’t say anything, it’s crazy. The owners, the team, the league, and especially the players, whether they come from the Dominican Republic, whether they come from Venezuela, whether they come from Puerto Rico, they better step up. If they don’t step up, the music industry, at least from my area, we’re going to clown them. For us to speak out against this law, and basketball stepping up, and Major League Baseball not stepping up at all?! Come on now, give me a break. And I know a lot of the cats they live in the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico or whatever, there’s like a trillion years difference between them and their high salaries and the average people living in the streets. They might build themselves a castle with a militia to protect them, but this is the time to unite yourself with the people and at least live in the legacy that [Major League Hall of Famer] Roberto Clemente set of uniting people just to protect against the nonsense that the other side can come up with. They need to know that it’s going to spread if they don’t come up and say something about it.

DZ: Any final thoughts? Perhaps about Major League Baseball pulling the All Star Game out of Phoenix?

Chuck D: At the end of the day man, sports is really not that important compared to people living their everyday lives. Say you have a Major League player, and he happens to play for another team, or he happens to play for the Diamondbacks and he gets pulled over because people think he’s an illegal immigrant. Then all of a sudden that’s when the “ish” finally hits the fan? Come on. This is beyond sports. We want athletes to speak up because they have advantages. They have everyday coverage. They’re covered by a person that has a mic and a camera in their face, and this is the time to step up. Major League Baseball pulling the All-Star game out of Arizona should be the least of it.

Dave Zirin is the author of the forthcoming “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love” (Scribner) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.

How Diamondbacks Owner Ken Kendrick Continues to Support SB 1070

The Ugly Truth: How Diamondbacks Owner Ken Kendrick Continues to Support SB 1070 Dave Zirin | May 10, 2010

"If you are upset with Arizona's immigrant laws, please don’t take it out on Major League Baseball! Sports and politics do not mix!" With a near military discipline, this had been the message pushed by much of the sports media in conjunction with the Arizona Republican party. The aim has been to head-off any notion of boycotting the Arizona Diamondbacks or calling for the 2011 All Star game to be removed from their home at Chase Field in Phoenix. Governor Jan Brewer was given a page on espn.com to say that boycott campaigns aimed at sports are "inappropriate and misguided." Diamondbacks executive Derrek Hall parroted the governor, calling protesters "misguided" because "the organization doesn't take political positions."

Team owner and Republican Party bankroller Ken Kendrick was shaken enough to release a statement saying that he personally "opposes" the bill.

There is one problem with this public relations fusillade: it's based on a fundamental lie. Ken Kendrick is showing through his actions that he not only supports this bill, he is using his position as Diamondback team owner to do it.

On May 20th, the Nation has learned, Ken Kendrick is holding a private fundraiser inside his owners box at Chase Field for SB 1070 supporter State Senator Jonathan Paton. The fundraiser will be taking place during the D-backs game against the San Francisco Giants. Paton is attempting to make the leap from the state house to the US Congress, and he is depending upon the deep pockets of Kendrick to make it happen.

Leave aside for a moment the ethical and perhaps legal ramifications that Ken Kendrick is using a stadium built with $250 million in public dollars to raise money for his pet candidates. The fact is that while Kendrick publicly distances himself from the bill, he is using the home of the supposedly "apolitical" Diamondbacks organization as a fund raising center for SB 1070 supporting politicians. As Paton says on his campaign website, "We need to secure the border, and we need to secure it now. That's why I voted for SB 1070, and that's why I urge the governor to sign it."

Jim Nintzel reported in the Tucson Weekly, "boasting that he voted for it [SB 1070] before he resigned from the state Senate to [run for congress]…..Paton said that complaints about racial profiling have been overblown."

Paton has also received full-throated support from the author of SB 1070, State Senator Russell Pearce. In an open letter, Pearce wrote glowingly of Paton, “I have served with Senator Jonathan Paton for the last five years in the Legislature. During that time he has voted for every single anti-illegal immigration bill I have sponsored...He has done this despite pressure from the open borders crowd...He opposes amnesty or any path to citizenship for those illegally in the United States...I am proud to have worked with him and know him to be a solid patriot. I believe he will make a great Congressman for Southern Arizona, a Congressman we can all be proud of."

Pearce himself has been under national scrutiny recently because of his disturbingly casual connections to white supremacist organizations. As Rachel Maddow highlighted on her show, Pearce has been photographed hugging Neo-Nazi leader J.T. Ready. He also received unwanted attention by forwarding online articles written by the Nazi organization the National Alliance.

Jonathan Paton trumpets the support he receives from Russell Pearce. This is who Jonathan Paton is. This is who Ken Kendrick is using his publicly-funded stadium to support.

Favianna Rodriguez, co-founder of Presente.org, and leader of the All Star Game boycott campaign MoveTheGame.org said to me, "Latinos and their allies across the country are targeting Major League Baseball to show that laws like SB 1070 will have dire economic consequences. Mr. Kendrick's continued support of the politicians behind SB 1070 will only further inspire that movement."

There is only one conclusion. The Arizona Diamondbacks should continue to be boycotted and protested until Ken Kendrick stops supporting these politicians and using his publicly funded stadium to do so. The All Star game should be moved, and anyone who says that sports and politics don't mix, should first aim that cliche in the direction of the Arizona Diamondbacks owner's box. Keep the protests going. Keep calling to have the All Star game moved. Any other strategy would truly be "misguided."

Dave Zirin is the author of the forthcoming “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love” (Scribner) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.