Arizona, at early stages of ethnic cleansing?
Posted on Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 10:49 PM
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The problem with opening a Pandora's box is that it's so hard to put the lid back on.
Just look at Arizona. Suspicion, fear and even outright hostility toward a hard working ethnic minority has resulted in SB 1070, setting the stage for an ugly clash in the desert that may ultimately decide who we are as a people for generations.
For many of us SB 1070 is little more than thinly-veiled legislated racism, and cynically misguided politics at its absolute worst.
As I have mentioned previously, the bill is being ardently supported and funded by hate-based white supremacist groups, who are fairly salivating at the prospect of a race war. There used to be a time when keeping that kind of company made even the most conservative question their own direction. Those days appear to be over.
One Phoenix police officer said this week that enforcing Arizona's new immigration law would make him feel like a Nazi. Paul Dobson, a 20 year veteran, said: 'I could stop a person and start interrogating them, even if I don't have reasonable suspicion. It's horrifying. It violates our calling to serve and protect.'
And now some critics of the bill are even describing SB 1070 as a form of ethnic cleansing. Hubristic at it sounds, there's no doubt that it actually does target a racial minority, and that bolsters their charge.
When U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton put on hold key provisions of the bill last month she received hundreds of death threats at her court offices within hours of her ruling. In fact, she was inundated. Shouldn't we be concerned about that?
Meanwhile on the ground in Arizona the effects of the law have already hit. Immigrant businesses like bread shops, restaurants, English language schools and clothing stores have closed down, turning thriving areas of Phoenix into ghost towns overnight as families are being torn apart.
It's estimated there are 500,000 undocumented immigrants in Arizona and that most of them are sending their kids to school, paying their taxes and pursuing their lives in the shadows. And it's no secret that these people were working at some of the hardest work there is. Yet local politicians talk as if they were trying to rob the state.
'The majority of undocumented immigrants, in my opinion, and I think in the opinion of law enforcement, is that they are not coming here to work. They are coming here and they’re bringing drugs. And they’re doing drop houses and they’re extorting people and they’re terrorizing the families. That is the truth.'
This is the view of the state’s own governor, Jan Brewer, who apparently think's she's living in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, rather than a state where crime has actually decreased. I wonder if Brewer also lives in fear of the Canadians invading Phoenix and forcing their public option health care on her too?
Let's face it there are millions of people in America who WANT to believe that there could be thousands of headless bodies out there in the Arizona desert, courtesy of the cartels. These are mostly the same people who lie awake at night fretting over the President's missing birth certificate. And Brewer and SB 1070 are playing their deepest anxieties like a baby grand piano.
Looking into the future, it's very hard to see any good coming from Arizona's fateful decision. Because SB 1070 is more a provocation than a policy. It's a gold plated invitation to a circular shoot-out. It poisons the air before the administration tackles the tough business of immigration reform. It invites a nation of immigrants to bash immigrants. It may be too late to step back, but it's not too late to take a stand against it.
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seanomelbourne | Aug 22, 2010, 08:20 PM EDT
When I was 18 I taught my father was the most ignorant man in the world. When I was 25 I was amazed how much he learned in 7 years. A Twainism I believe.
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Monsoonman | Aug 22, 2010, 12:49 PM EDT
It is the inevitable shift lad, when the populace wakes up and realizes it is they paying for all of the goodies now and it isn't just "somebody else". Kudos to you and your son, he must have been precocious and wise beyond his years to end up a conservative under your tutelage, they say that children do learn from their parents. For years I too was a liberal up until my 18th birthday when I got a dose of reality and became a libertarian. Some people just mature a bit faster than others, lad.
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seanomelbourne | Aug 21, 2010, 08:40 PM EDT
Hung parliament recount in progressed those dratted
right wingers might get into office. The party of the right in Australia is named "The Liberal Party"it is our GOP my (son is a member where did I go wrong???). The government is the "Australian labor party" I doubt if they will survive this close election.It appears that the greens may hold the balance of power in the senate.WE use the"proportional representation "system. Do you mean "vote early""vote often""and kick heads" absolutely we have similar democracy's but no chard's.
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Monsoonman | Aug 21, 2010, 06:05 PM EDT
Lad? You still busy voting over there in aussie land?
You must be voting the chicago way, early and often...Did your side win? Did the dead rise up out of their graves to vote just like they do in obamas home town? Jes askin and jes sayin.
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Monsoonman | Aug 20, 2010, 08:59 PM EDT
Compulsory voting me boy? That could be disastrous here in the US...I say let sleeping dogs lie. I would however make it compulsory to have an informed electorate...so many hrs. per week required to watch cspan, etc. Then let people decide if they want to cast a vote.....There should be some standards for voting at least a smidgeon of govt. knowledge at least. How about knowing the names of your representatives for a start?
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seanomelbourne | Aug 20, 2010, 07:24 PM EDT
We seem to have some similarities in our background Mman,some people start out poor or fall on hard times
and don't make it back.Some people are stuck in a poverty mind trap I think education is the key. I do acknowledge that a certain percentage of the population wrought the system(as thy do here in Aus). How Do we not punish deserving recipients of help and castigate the bludgers?. I do not know who ADM are but if you are talking of corporate welfare that is more obscene. Is it true that 90% of your farm subsidies go to large corporations.If so would these subsidies (in a strange way)help corporations buy out small family farms. I suppose "he who has the best lobbyist wins". Off to vote FED election here today,voting is compulsory (63 buck fine)
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Monsoonman | Aug 20, 2010, 11:33 AM EDT
Oh no Sean, my mantra is "there but for the Grace of G*d". I have been through those times before meself and have had help temporarily until I got on my feet, I know what it's like and that's why there is a safety net...But the safety net has grown into a permanent institution for those who live off of the system. Some "homless" i talk about are the drug addled/alcohol fueled ones who are by choice on the streets. Who get taxpayer money to live their lifestyle and have been harnessed by the democrat party for their votes c/o ACORN and other innocuous sounding non profits. It is a racket Sean baby and has been turned into an industry that spawned the likes of obama & co....Sorry Lad, but that is the truth and when you come here for a golf game i will give you a tour....The areas are a bit north of Pebble Beach....We can also talk about corporate entitlements too while you are here, like the ones ADM and others like it get.
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seanomelbourne | Aug 20, 2010, 10:21 AM EDT
I did say my knowledge of ACORN was limited thank you for filling in the gaps. You still did not answer my question on your "homeless bums" comment. Maybe you recanted and whispered to yourself "there but for the grace of God go I".
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Monsoonman | Aug 20, 2010, 10:11 AM EDT
Sean me boy, federal and state prosecutors have convicted many officials of ACORN across the U.S. for campaign law violations. Congress withheld money from them as it became publicly known that ACORN was a criminal organization working at the behest of the seiu and democrat party. ACORN sued to get those funds restored and last month the high court sided with congresses right to take funds away from ACORN. When you live here and knw the facts Sean you realize that wherever ACORN set up shop, voter manipulation and fraud followed all at the expense of the US taxpayer....
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IrishAndProud | Aug 19, 2010, 09:01 PM EDT
And I am happy to report that 22 additional U.S. states are now considering legislation similar to Arizona's. So, exactly as predicted, this unelected court usurping the people's will (and the U.S. government concurring instead of enforcing the laws like they're supposed to) has only had the OPPOSITE effect: rather than cowing and intimidating other states from following suite (and exactly what kind of government does that?), it's only lit a fire nationwide that they cannot stop. States from Florida, Alabama and Colorado, to hard-core Democrat states like Rhode Island and Michigan are following Arizona's lead...and it will be flatly funny watching the feds try to bully, threaten and stomp them all out (and wring themselves into a pretzel like a game of Twister, in the process). They cannot spread themselves thin enough, in that many different places, to keep their jackboot on the people's necks, that much. This is awesome!
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seanomelbourne | Aug 19, 2010, 08:16 PM EDT
Mman! I have pondered over your comments on "homeless bums". And I am disappointed. To categorize all homeless as bums is disingenuous to say the least.
There are a myriad of reasons why people are homeless,Just to mention a few,loss of income/family/mental illness and the usual suspects drug and alcohol abusers.And your claim they should be disenfranchised how undemocratic. This has always been a right wing tenet as they do not wish to empower certain groups which include the poor. I have a limited knowledge of ACORN,am i correct in saying that no charges were brought against them for election violations. Most information I have gathered on ACORN is gleaned from FOX (hardly an unbiased source of info).I am sure you will thank FOX"S boss for donating one million dollars to the GOP Murdoch is your man. Disappointed Moonsoonman.
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2BorNot2B | Aug 18, 2010, 02:15 PM EDT
Why should it be the obligation of the US government to solve the economic problems of Mexico whose own people do not have the ambition or COURAGE to solve, by revolting against their own corrupt government; or those problems of the mexican government that is only too glad to pawn them off on the US people. Because it is WE the people who pay for them! -- Illegal mexicans want to be here, enjoying the benefits this land provides, yet not at all intersted on assimilating, learning the language or being loyal to this country that provides what their own refuses to. Yet, they want to remain loyal to that other country, waving its flag and shouting mexican slogans at any chance they get... The US owes them NOTHING! They should have come in like the rest of us, struggling through the maze of laws and legal demands, earning their way into the American dream, and not act like all they need from us is jobs and a living their own government by stealing and pocketing for the use and high living of the ruling class whatever taxes it extracts. -- How do I know? I lived in that country for some 15 years.
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Monsoonman | Aug 18, 2010, 09:46 AM EDT
But I will salute ACORN and other taxpayer supported arms of the democrat party for executing their takeover by registering to vote all of the homeless, deceased, make believes, illegal aliens and bringing them to the polls or filling out their absentee ballots for election day. This ensures we keep the entitlement class robust and strong by keeping entrenched politicians nice and safe, all at our expense...brilliant Machiavellian plan, executed perfectly.
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seanomelbourne | Aug 18, 2010, 02:05 AM EDT
I do not demonise the U.S.A. I actually believe it's good place to be. Maybe you deliberately missed the point i made (typical) just to play a game of oneupmanship. You need to oscal both eyes.
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