Author: Man Eegee

<img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7544/16042863767_e355bdc8d4_c.jpg" width="400"

Winter Sunrise, courtesy of the photography skills of Don Durito’s daughter

Watching hundreds of thousands of marchers calling for action on Climate Change last Sunday warmed the cockles of this activist’s heart. I was canvassing for the upcoming general election but my marching shoes were itching for the streets of New York.

The bobbleheads on the Sunday Morning News (ha!) Shows ignored the gathering because, let’s face it, money rules the ratings…and speaking of money, ALEC is going to have less of it after this week:

Facebook is set to become the latest tech company to end its support for a controversial rightwing lobby group that works against climate change legislation.

The social media company has been a funder of American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), which shapes legislation at state level across the US. But late on Tuesday the company confirmed to the Guardian it was quitting, following Google, which cut ties this week, and Microsoft, which left in August.

Yelp, the consumer review website, also said that quit Alec.

The Guardian

As a resident of ALEC’s petri dish – Arizona – I’m well-aquainted with their legislative shenanigans. Something recently changed, though – the boycotts called in response to SB1070 and HB2281 worked.

• Jan Brewer vetoed the anti-gay SB1062 after a number of Chamber of Commerce groups came out in opposition to it. The pressure even caused three of the bottom-feeder sponsors of the bill to call for a mulligan and withdrew their support.
• Ethnic Studies Ban masterminds John Huppenthal and Tom Horne both lost their primary races as incumbents for Superintendent of Public Instruction and Attorney General, respectively
• The state’s Chamber of Commerce and Phoenix-based AzRepublic(an) endorsed the Democratic candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction, David Garcia, for the general election.

Arizona’s example is that it will take a multi-front effort to rid the political system of ignorant, anti-science, anti-consumer influences such as ALEC.
The state Democratic candidate, Fred Duval, is even polling strong for the November matchup. Canvassing, phone-banking, putting pressure on the status-quo via their traditional allies in the business community, and activists refusing to let an issue go despite being ignored by the media – all of this is necessary to turn the tide.

What’s going on in your state?

Photo from olivia in the September FotoFlog

How many times can Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State, be wrong? Apparently the GOP is willing to give this clown another pass:

The state Supreme Court Thursday ordered him to strike Democrat Chad Taylor from the November ballot for U.S. Senate, ruling Taylor had complied with state law allowing a candidate to withdraw.

Just a few minutes later, Kobach — a Republican — said he’ll tell the Kansas Democratic party to pick a replacement by noon Sept. 26.

KansasCity.com

All of this in a bid to weasel incumbent Senator Pat Roberts in to another term.

The thing that amuses me the most, is just how many times Kris Kobach has had his extremist ALEC-incubated directives overturned. He is a well-known chupacabra in the migrant rights movement because of his involvement with the Hazelton, Pennsylvania outrage and SB1070 in Arizona. His efforts almost always end with egg all over the face of his allies.

The towns that passed nativist laws in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Texas and Nebraska, along with the state of Arizona, have spent millions of dollars to defend them in court, and almost every judicial decision so far has gone against them. One community, faced with skyrocketing legal costs, had to raise property taxes, and another was forced to cut personnel and special events and even outsource its library.

That was just the beginning. The four towns and one state examined in this report all saw a crisis in race relations as conflicts between Latino immigrants and mostly white natives escalated. Latinos reported being threatened, shot at, subjected to racial taunts and more. Police are having trouble getting cooperation from any in their Latino communities. Pro-immigrant activists have been threatened with notes that promise to “shed blood” to “take back” communities. The mayor of one town had his house vandalized after opposing a proposed law and was warned by federal agents to be careful; he ended up retiring after four terms in office. Angry protests and counter-protests, along with dangerously rising tensions, have rocked one town after another. In some communities, business districts have largely collapsed.

Southern Poverty Law Center

The modern GOP working toward a society that has drowned in Grover Norquist’s bathtub? Sounds about right.

November will show if Kansas has finally had enough of Kobach and his ideology’s losing strategy.

Jared Loughner would be proud:

A state lawmaker known for championing the rights of gun-owners pointed a loaded firearm at the chest of a reporter during a recent interview at the Capitol.

Republican Sen. Lori Klein was showing off her raspberry-pink handgun when she aimed it at a journalist who was interviewing her in the lounge just outside the Senate chambers.
According to the story that was published Sunday in the Arizona Republic, Klein’s .380 Ruger was loaded and did not have a safety to keep the gun from going off.

But Klein told the reporter, Richard Ruelas, that he didn’t need to worry because, “I just didn’t have my hand on the trigger.”

Arizona Guardian

Imagine if it was the other way around?

Earlier this week, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas announced to the world that he is an undocumented immigrant.

The full article is worth a read as it tells his story in a way that captures the complexity of the brokenness of the immigration system.  It’s honest in describing his struggle to understand why identity is so tied to citizenship by mainstream thinking (it shouldn’t be) as well as the help he’s received from mentors to maintain his secret.  Vargas then channels all of it to pushing the political debate to a more sane and just conversation.

But I am still an undocumented immigrant. And that means living a  different kind of reality. It means going about my day in fear of being  found out. It means rarely trusting people, even those closest to me,  with who I really am. It means keeping my family photos in a shoebox  rather than displaying them on shelves in my home, so friends don’t ask  about them. It means reluctantly, even painfully, doing things I know  are wrong and unlawful. And it has meant relying on a sort of  21st-century underground railroad of supporters, people who took an  interest in my future and took risks for me.

Last year I read about four students who walked from Miami to Washington  to lobby for the Dream Act, a nearly decade-old immigration bill that  would provide a path to legal permanent residency for young people who  have been educated in this country. At the risk of deportation — the  Obama administration has deported almost 800,000 people in the last two  years — they are speaking out. Their courage has inspired me.

NYTimes.com

The students mentioned were the walkers involved with the Trail of Dreams project:  Felipe Matos, Gaby Pacheco, Carlos Roa and Juan Rodriguez.  They, along with countless other DREAMers across the country, have spent the past few years dragging the political establishment kicking and screaming toward justice for migrant youth through passage of the D.R.E.A.M. Act, which stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors.

Watching and supporting the DREAMers in action has been a personal education for me as a migrant/human rights advocate because it has taught me the humbling lesson of privilege that I possess as a U.S.-born citizen.

When I started blogging in early 2005, there was little information (at least at the sites that I visited), with respect to the militarization of the U.S./Mexico border region and the racial profiling of Latinos.  I felt an obligation to share my experience as a mestizo who always conveniently got extra attention from law enforcement; plus it also allowed me to celebrate my indigenous culture that was & is under assault by a 21st Century Conquistador Mentality.

Last summer, the DREAMactivists began organizing a series of civil disobedience acts to raise the political stakes on lawmakers who deserved the heat.  Senator McCain, who has betrayed his former colleague and friend Senator Kennedy with lunacy, had his office taken over with a sit-in.  I attended the vigil outside of the Pima County Jail on the night of the students’ arrest but was able to drive four minutes back to my comfortable home and life after it was over.

The DREAMers don’t have that luxury; nor can they afford to wait for the political establishment to grudgingly toss them crumbs of justice.  

National migrant advocacy groups and allied lawmakers have resisted the leadership that the students have provided.  Rep. Luis Gutierrez called their tactics a waste of time as recently as last November, yet he is seen as their biggest advocate in the House.  On the Senate side, Majority Leader Harry Reid was pressured at Netroots Nation in 2010 by the scariest sight to any lawmaker afraid of a mustard seed-worth of political courage:  students in cap and gowns.

In the words of Matias Ramos, one of the silent protestors:

Yahaira, Lizbeth, Prerna and I understand the political gridlock that  causes not only the DREAM Act, but most legislative proposals to be  stuck in the current Congress. We have seen the obstructionism to all  parts of the agenda, and felt the heightened rhetoric against immigrants  seep into the national conversation. But regardless of all these  things, we wanted our silent presence to let Reid know that we expect  more from him at a time when the story of undocumented immigrants is so  often distorted.

The DREAM Act failed to pass in the lame duck session of Congress last winter despite the efforts of Senator Reid to push it through.  The President called it his “biggest disappointment” of the session; but for the DREAMers and their now most prominent face, Jose Antonio Vargas, a question remains:

Why the delay in relief while deportations increase?

Until that’s answered and resolved, migrant communities and their allies are right to call out lawmakers, regardless of party affiliation.  This about their lives & livelihood and it’s time for the Beltway to listen to their stories and ponder what it means to be American.

When the AZGOP dropped SB1070 onto the heads of migrant and Latino communities, there were immediate calls for a boycott. Rep. Raúl Grijalva bravely joined the movement, putting his political future at risk but ultimately won his reelection in November 2010. Unfortunately, that election also saw a huge wave of conservatism sweep a veto-proof GOP supermajority into both the state House & Senate chambers. The agenda is now driven by the author of SB1070 himself, Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance), who was installed as Senate President in January.

When Pearce took the reins, he declared that Arizona would have the country’s first Tea Party Senate.

A blog from Pearce picked up by the Sonoran Alliance website is signed “Russell Pearce…Tea Party Senate President-Elect.” He said in the blog, “I consider this to be the Tea Party Senate and we intend to take back America one state at a time.” – AZCentral.com

That threat – and it is a threat – is becoming reality. Yesterday, the state’s Senate Appropriations Committee became the first in the nation to advance a repeal of birthright citizenship for a full vote.

After a rocky start, the birthright legislation finally received committee approval on Feb. 22, overcoming the initial hurdle before the full Senate can debate and vote on the measure that is stirring so much raw emotion and is solidifying Arizona’s reputation as ground zero in the struggle to confront illegal immigration.

By an 8-to-5 vote that hewed nearly along party lines, the Senate Appropriations Committee gave the green light to a two-bill proposal whose ultimate aim is to get the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit the issue of American citizenship, though critics question whether the judiciary would actually answer this exact issue and not dismiss the legislation on some other grounds. – AZ Capitol Times

Yesterday’s hearing was packed with a passionate audience on both sides. Interestingly enough, the Chamber spoke out against the bill because they fear an even worse backlash than the one from SB1070, proving that the boycott is working. There’s an opportunity to drive a wedge between them if an economic populist message starts entering the conversation as to why voters should reject the AZGOP’s extremist agenda.

“Russell Pearce’s vision for Arizona is killing jobs, etc etc” …because it’s clear that the moral argument falls on deaf ears in this state. Of course, it’s vital that it continues to be made strongly, and it will.

There’s really no end in sight to what these Tea Party bigots have planned for the state. From banning race-based abortions to saving the republic from the threat of healthcare for the poor, it’s no wonder that Baja Arizona is starting to organize a secession of its own.

When Jared Loughner opened fire in Tucson on January 8th at Rep. Gabrielle Gifford’s Congress on Your Corner event, headlines understandably filled with the story and images of 9 year old victim Christina-Taylor Green. Her innocence and civic pride were rallying points in President Obama’s speech to the nation in the days following the shooting, but I couldn’t help but think about another 9 year old who lost her life in southern Arizona.

Her name was Brisenia Flores.

In 2009, she begged for her life before getting killed under orders by one of the founding members of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corp, just one of the many hydra-heads of border vigilante groups that roam the border region of Arizona. Today, justice was served:

A Pima County jury convicted Shawna Forde today of two counts of first-degree murder in the May 30, 2009 deaths of Arivaca residents Raul Junior Flores and his 9-year-old daughter, Brisenia.

The jury also convicted Forde of attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Flores’ wife, Gina Gonzalez, as well as related aggravated assault and robbery counts.

Gonzalez started crying as soon as the first guilty verdict, the killing of her daughter, was read just before noon in a packed courtroom at Pima County Superior Court.

The jury deliberated for seven hours over two days. Jurors will now be asked if the death penalty ought to be considered.

AZStarnet.com

The connection to the Minutemen and other so-called border defense groups is important to this story because Shawna Forde is just one point of the vigilante net that stretches across Cochise, Pima and Santa Cruz counties. One of her compatriots, who goes by the pseudonym Laine Lawless, made her own headlines last month during Forde’s trial:

On Tuesday, Laine Lawless, who manages a web site called “Justice for Shawna Forde,” objected to being ordered from the courtroom but was ordered to leave.

On Wednesday morning, as Forde’s sister, Melanie Aranda, was being questioned on the stand, a woman in a black wig and wearing a black overcoat entered the courtroom and sat down behind detectives.

A detective turned around, realized it was Lawless, and got the attention of Deputy County Attorney Rick Unklesbay, who asked the court to stop proceedings.

The jury was led from the courtroom and Leonardo was informed of the situation.

“Ms. Lawless is standing here in some sort of disguise,” Unklesbay said.

Leonardo questioned Lawless as to why she was in apparent violation of his earlier order regarding witnesses.

Green Valley News

This piece of work is the founder of Border Guardians. You can use the Google for their site because I refuse to give their hate any traffic.

It’s my belief and one shared by the SPLC that the fallout from the Flores murders is what caused the fracturing of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corp into several smaller vigilante groups – a network that has many ties to current Senate President & SB1070 author Russell Pearce. JT Ready anyone?

The fever has not broken in Arizona, yet, but with today’s Guilty verdict we’re one step closer to greater justice for those of us who are disproportionately affected by a broken immigration system. Please help me and many other Latino/Latina bloggers tell Brisenia Flores’ story. It’s our hope that this nine year old girl can have the same effect on the nation as Christina-Taylor Green, reminding us of our shared humanity, and bring about a more level-headed discussion to resolve the complicated issues that face us all.

Gracias.

Breaking News out of Tucson:

U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva’s congressional office is closed this afternoon as police respond to a suspicious piece of mail.

An envelope arrived with swastikas drawn on the outside and a white powdery substance on the inside, said Adam Sarvana, Grijalva’s spokesman.

The office is on lockdown as police investigate. Those outside the office are not allowed in, and the workers and constituents inside are not allowed to leave until police clear the scene, Sarvana said.

Preliminary health checks show those in the office are OK, but further testing is needed because the substance has not been identified, Sarvana said.

linkage

I’ve had enough.

I had enough years ago when I started covering immigration and border-related issues online. Too many trips to the mechanic to fix my outrage-meter and, still, the haters find new ways to send me to new levels of disgust.

Raul Grijalva is my Congressman, and I am proud of him. He has showed courage through this onslaught of hate that was once confined to extremist vigilante groups like American Patrol, National Alliance, the Minutemen, etc. (I refuse to link to them, use the Google) Now, the Arizona Republican Party has adopted their agenda and rhetoric wholesale.

Ruth McClung, Grijalva’s opponent in this election scrubbed endorsements from her website this week after a spotlight was thrown on this type of language:

El temblando racista de (the quiverying racist of) Tucson, Sr. Grijalva, must be defeated at all costs….

He believes in, sponsors and promotes “La Raza” (the Mexican race) while we conservatives value all races equally. We have heard his silly racist name calling for decades now and it is time the electorate of the 7th Congressional District of Arizona tells him to shut up, go to Mexico City and cash in his race card where it may bring him five centavos.

“Go back to Mexico” – the Congressman was the recipient of the oldest arrow in the bow from ignorant haters. It’s one that many of us who have tierra-colored skin have had to bear verbally and symbolically through hate-legislation like SB1070 and HB2281.

This midterm election in Arizona is the front lines of a culture war being waged on indigenous communities. There will be no enthusiasm gap among Arizona Latinos this time around, because several SB1070 culprits are on the ballot: Tom Horne for Attorney General, John Huppenthal for Superintendent of Public Instruction and, of course, Jan Brewer.

Much work is being done on the ground to get out the vote between now and election day. Groups like Promise Arizona, Mi Familia Vota, Voto Latino and others are calling, canvassing and making arrangements to provide transportation to polling sites. It will take all of us, working together, to put the brakes on the AZGOP’s extremist agenda that promises to get worse in January.

Will you stand with us and fight back?

California:

Since Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown won their parties’ nominations in June, tens of millions of dollars have been spent trying to break the statistical tie that’s gripped the race for months.

Whitman, in particular, has blanketed the state in radio and TV ads touting her corporate experience and depicting Brown as a failed career politician. Brown hasn’t spent anything on advertising yet, but his union allies have aired commercials attacking Whitman as the heartless former CEO of the online auction firm eBay.

With the general election season now at its halfway point, 10 weeks from the primary and 10 until the Nov. 2 vote, the campaigns remain stuck where they started – tied in every public opinion poll.

Arizona:

With four days and counting before the primary, Democrats vying to become the next State Superintendent of Public Education find themselves in a tough spot: get their message out so voters will understand the difference between them and their Republican counterparts.

The two Democrats, Penny Kotterman and Jason Williams, are battling each other to win their party’s nomination. Both candidates hope their extensive classroom experience will convince voters to end 16 years of Republican control.

Idaho

While Idaho’s unemployment rate didn’t budge from 8.8 percent from June to July, the fortunes of workers in different parts of the state varied.

The five-county Boise region and the Treasure Valley saw jobless rates drop from 9.7 to 9.3 percent, the labor force grew and the unemployed dropped by more than 1,000.

Unemployment rates rose in 28 counties, according to the Idaho Department of Labor.

What else is happening in the West?