The SoapBoxers

I hate to spend a second month in a row talking about “immigration reform” in Arizona, but it is still a hot topic.  The currently passed bill is not what I am going to talk about today. On the near horizon Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, the man behind SB 1070 sometimes referreed to as “Mr. Ethnic Cleansing” is ready to unleash a fury of new proposals, many of which he has tried before that thankfully failed, but in the current climate that is the patients running the asylum of Arizona state politics they frighteningly will be likely to pass. One proposal will be to only allow Americans to marry Americans. Seeing as Pearce hates legal immigration just as much as he hates illegal immigrants I am supposing he means that only naturally born citizens will be allowed to marry natural born citizens. But even if it is just a restriction on allowing people not to marry someone who is a citizen of another country it is insane and unconstitutional. What is next Mr. Pearce? No race mixing? I guess Rand Paul may not be the only one wanting to revisit the Civil Rights Act after all.

Another proposal Pearce has already being debated titled Arizona SB 1097 that in general would require all schools in Arizona to count students who are in the country illegally or whose parents are in the country illegally. After doing so the school district would have to compile a report of the cost to taxpayers for their enrollment, expel the student and turn them and their families over to the proper officials. School districts that refuse to comply under this statue if it gets passed, then the state would be forced to withhold ALL funding the school district receives. I guess Pearce is willing to make sure every student suffers on his quest to rid Arizona of those pesky foreigners.

Education, or lack thereof in Pearce’s case, leads me to the next item that he could be bringing back on the agenda. In the past Pearce had proposed a law that would require all Arizona schools, K-12 and universities to disallow groups that as any part deal with ones ethnicity or race to be a member. Such as Black Business Leaders of Tomorrow or Native Americans United. The proposal Pearce says is to make sure that students are not indoctrinated by any anti- American teachings. What a crock of shit. From the company he keeps, American values for Pearce are expressed only by those with white skin. So I am guessing those types or groups would be excluded from any law made on this.

The mother of them all legislation Pearce is ready to bring to onslaught again is one that will be in direct conflict with the 14th amendment. This proposal would be to bar hospitals from issuing birth certificates to the children of illegal immigrants or as Pearce and his crowd refer to them as “Anchor Babies”. Pierce also takes things a step further stripping the citizenship granted in the past through being born to an illegal immigrant “If we are going to have an effect on the anchor baby racket, we need to target the mother” Pierce said. “Call it sexist, but that’s the way nature made it. Men don’t drop anchor babies, illegal alien mothers do.” However this type of law would be immediately stomped because it is clear as day unconstitutional.

The 14th amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” and that, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.”

You can say what you want about illegal immigrants having children and them being citizens, but until there actually is a change to it, there it is in plain black and white text unconstitutional. As far as making it retroactive is downright wrong as well as you create a whole secondary class of citizens that would be in the US illegally now and have no country they belong to. However I fully expect Sith Lord, I mean Senator John McCain, to fully back this legislation as the next cure all pill for immigration reform as he did with SB 1070 just to save his political life. But needless to say, thanks to the birthers, the tea party and Mr. Pearce and his long time supporters, SB 1070 is not the last thing you are going to be hearing out of Arizona for the foreseeable future. Mr. Pearce you are truly an American Idiot, if I can call you that of course as I have not seen your papers. May I have your papers please Mr. Pearce?

Earlier this week the Arizona Senate took a huge step back when it decided to pass a new tough immigration bill 17-11 along mainly party lines (Republican for, Democrat against). The bill make it illegal for illegal immigrants to not have paperwork on them proving they are in the country legally as well as requiring law enforcement to question the legal status of an individuals.

Now the first part of the law is kind of redundant and idiotic. An illegal immigrant is not going to have any proof they are in the county legally so making it a crime for them not to have the papers is kind of moronic – similar to the laws that make failure to pay taxes on illegal drugs a crime when there is no mechanism in place to pay the taxes.

The second part of the legislation is the more controversial and the part I will spend my time discussing here. Basically under the legislation, if and more than likely when the Governor of the state signs the bill into law, if you can’t prove you are a citizen on the spot, then you are just gonna have to go to jail while they sort it out. The Governor faces a primary challenge, so the logical thought is that if she does veto this she will kiss her political career in Arizona goodbye. Heck even John McCain who is trying to out teabag the teabaggers in Arizona to save his political career has come out in support of the legislation calling it a needed and useful tool for law enforcement in the state. A complete 180 from his recent as of the 2008 Presidential race on immigration reform.

Anyway, outside of a Social Security card and a Drivers License, I don’t know what I myself would have on me while driving at any given time. So I am guessing I should make sure to carry plenty of extra documentation on me next time I go to Arizona. Then again I am not the main objective of the law (which will focus on non-white people, primarily Hispanic individuals, legal or illegal) so I wouldn’t probably face much of a hassle, but then again that is what is wrong with the law in general. It requires law enforcement to question the legal status of everyone, but in reality the mood of the law as well as the probable enforcement is for one particular group of individuals.

Then again, what exactly will prove the legal status of someone on the spot, I said I wouldn’t probably expect someone to have more than their License and Social Security card on them, so that isn’t gonna be enough more than likely as I have said. Birth Certificate? I don’t carry mine around or really know anyone who does on a regular basis. Then again this is Arizona – where the legislature doesn’t believe in the accuracy of the President’s birth certificate. Why would I expect them to believe in the authenticity of mine? Immigration papers? A person whose family has been here for generations is not gonna have anything of the sort. Green Card? Once again that’s only gonna be useful if I were not a citizen but here legally. Student visa? same story as above.

You get the point? It is gonna be near impossible for someone to actually prove to the officer who already probably has prejudice against you that you are a legal citizen, so your time and civil rights are going to be trampled upon and racism rules the day.

I get that illegal immigration is a problem that needs to be solved, not only in Arizona but around the country as a whole. However blatant racism is not the way to “reform” the issue. I am guessing the next legislation they are going to propose is shoot first and prove innocence or guilt later, or maybe to post armed militia at the borders ready to shoot to kill those crossing the border.  Oh wait, it is Arizona they already do that, don’t they?

And now for the Bad Nuts of the Month (other than the Arizona Senate)

As always in no particular order, because a bad nut is a bad nut….

Bad Nut No. 1: Jacksonville, FL City Councilman Clay Yarborough

Yarborough’s questioning of prospective Human Rights Board members suggested that he was seeking members who would discriminate against gays and Muslims.  In later interviews, he also said that gays and Muslims should not be able to elected office – only Christians should be allowed to hold office. Just another dumb small-minded bigot, but on the deeper note of his bias and ignorance, I am guessing he means only people with a similar view of Christianity as him should hold office.

Bad Nut No. 2: Dr. Gregory Thompson, former Humansville, Missouri School Superintendent

In a recent opinion piece the former Public School official says amongst many other moronic notions and “facts” that you will go to hell if you don’t take your kids out of public schools.

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/1127513671.html

Bad Nut No. 3: Thomas Mitchell, Editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal

Had an editorial piece on it being time to repeal the 19th amendment, because “men are consistent and women are fickle and biased.” Full opinion piece from him is here.

http://www.lvrj.com/blogs/mitchell/Time_to_repeal_the_19th_Amendment.html