Normally my first day pit stop on the way to Santa Fe is Flagstaff but I felt good and marshaled on to Winslow so that I could stay in one of my favorite hotels, the La Posada. Got here early and all is well.
I had a couple minor epiphanies on the way out, being the kind of guy whose brain doesn't like to rest. And a couple of signs that, no Toto, we are definitely not in California any more. The first was when the sedan drove by with a bumper sticker that proclaimed "Give War a Chance" surely a sign that the sixties era is officially over.
I thought that a.m. radio was bad in California, but the second string hacks in the hinterlands are beyond description. I tuned in to a guy named Steve Malzburg, who was going off on both muslims and blacks, even opining that the only truly repressed class were white people. The hatred and bigotry is palpable and I went back to Arizona Cardinal football talk. As dumb as sports radio can be, it can give you a respite from the hate speech that is currently clogging up the airwaves.
Anyway, Arizona is ground zero with the right wing crazies and I kept my nose clean and my eye on the centerline and made tracks as fast as I could. But I started thinking. The conservatives are in a tizzy because the federal government is supposedly not doing its job regarding immigration and Arizona is now taking the law into its own hands.
But this problem didn't just start on our current president's watch, where was all the cacophony when his predecessor was in office? So when I got to the hotel I did a little research: deportations are at an all time high under this president, 279,035 removals so far in 2010 as opposed to 213,388 in 2007, the high water mark for the Bush administration. 287,868 last year. Note the nine month total this year.
Removals and returns by Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Fiscal Year / First 9 months total / Criminal / Non criminal
2005 / 141,837 / 61,266 / 80,571
2006 / 168,876 / 69,889 / 98,987
2007 / 213,388 / 76,301 / 137,087
2008 / 254,763 / 85,334 / 169,429
2009 / 287,868 / 99,997* / 187,871*
2010 / 279,035 / 136,714 / 142,321
* figures based on summary figures released by ICE which segregate criminal vs. non criminal
Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse Syracuse University
I called my stalwart Arizonan friend KJ and asked him about the discrepancy in attitudes and why so many Arizonans were bagging on Obama when things are actually getting better. Could there be some political opportunism afoot? His answer was simple, Obama is black.
I called my stalwart Arizonan friend KJ and asked him about the discrepancy in attitudes and why so many Arizonans were bagging on Obama when things are actually getting better. Could there be some political opportunism afoot? His answer was simple, Obama is black.
In other news from the Grand Canyon State, Judge Susan Bolton, who issued the ruling disallowing portions of SB 1070 is now getting death threats.
“It’s not unusual in a case like this where there’s a lot of issues involved and a lot of emotions involved when a decision is made that the judge gets some inappropriate communications,” said David Gonzales, the U.S. marshal for Arizona.
I will be out of here with any luck by noon tomorrow.
5 comments:
Remember there are no gun laws in Arizona. You don't need a permit to carry one and a concealed weapon is OK too.
Saw a TV show today that said alot of Mexican immigrants are leaving Arizona and going to New Mexico where there is no work, but the political climate is not so bizarre. In New Mexico illegal aliens can get a drivers license and are eligible for welfare. When asked what was the overburdened state government was going to do with the steady rise of undocumented Mexicans, one of the GOP party leaders in Santa Fe just said 'Good question"
So we can blast them?
Do you think that the people of Arizona are tired of having their border overrun with illegals at great cost to the state? Do you think that the vote of the people, overturned by a federal judge, with no solutions offered by the same federal government, the party responsible for enforcement, would lead to cynicism and maybe distrust of a disfunctional federal government?
This week Diane Feinstein said she received 90,000 emails on the health care bill and 85,000 were against it. Her response was " I can't believe so many people don't get it." Do you think that maybe the government is helping to create these "crazies" you refer to?
The typical response from the mindless left is that it must be racism. How about inept, corrupt leadership? Remember, all races elected Obama...the plunging poll numbers suggest elector's remorse, not racism.
Where was the Far Right a few years ago when, one of their fav presidents, Bush the Younger was:
1. Doubling the national debt. ( he's a piker compared to Ronald the Great ... he tripled the debt!!).
2. Getting us in to two wars, one of which was justified but poorly handled, the other was unjustified and caused us to take our eye off the first ball. Thousands of Americans were killed unnecessarily and tens of thousands severely wounded.
3. The Bush tax cuts added$ 2.3 trillion to our national debt and did very little to create jobs.
4. He handed Obama a $1.3 trillion deficit.
5. He handed Obama the worst economy we have had in 80 years.
I could go on... but... my blood is boiling!!
Who said anything good about the far right? Bush did a poor job. The point is that Obama is just as bad or worse. He has continued the war, sucked up to wall street, and instead of kick starting the economy, crushed it with debt and pessimism . How about incentives for small businesses, they are the backbone of our economy? This is a Chicago pol that is in over his head...hasn't a clue. If your boiling now, wait, they are just getting started.
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