Arizona immigration bill takes Civil Rights in America two steps back

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," reads the inscription on the Statue of Liberty's pedestal. Too many, these words still ring true, not that immigration hasn't become a problem in America, especially considering there are an estimated 11 million illegal aliens currently residing within the U.S. boarder, but because its notion that America stands as a beacon of freedom for oppressed people from every corner of the world. However, lawmakers in Arizona squashed these immortal words and our country's belief that "all men are created equal," when they passed a bill this past week, allowing police officers the right to question anyone about their immigration status if they have reason to suspect they are in the country illegally, and makes it a state crime if they are.

The problem with the law is not that it is attempting to curb illegal immigration in a state that boasts more than 400,000 illegal aliens, but because its intentions are meant to curb illegal immigration by a specific group - Mexicans. Currently, 30 percent of Arizona's residents are Hispanic and boy are they furious about the prospect of being pulled over because of the color of their skin and asked to show their birth certificate. And can you really blame them? Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who had the opportunity to veto the bill, but instead singed it into law, when asked after signing the bill what exactly an illegal immigrant looks like, said she "didn't know." Which is precisely the problem. No one knows what an illegal immigrant looks like. But I think it's safe to say no white people will be getting pulled over and asked for their birth certificate after the law is enacted this summer. I think it is insane that the state of Arizona expects all Latinos to carry around birth certificates in order to prove their citizenship just because they are the wrong color. I mean what decade are we living in. I am just waiting for the next law that allows for all people of Latino decent to be locked-up in internment camps like the Japanese were during World War II. Or maybe we can set aside reservations or have separate drinking fountains for Latinos - whatever keeps them out of our perfect American lives.

Many of the proponents of the bill try to use crime and a lack of enforcement by federal government as the primary reason for the bill's passage. And yes the federal government does need to do more to stop illegal immigration, but how can you associate isolated cases of crime with someone's skin color. I mean most serial killers are white, does that mean we should hold such crimes against white people? And the same goes for saying all Mexicans, and illegal immigrants, are criminals because of a few bad apples.

While all of these issues are major concerns over the law, the big question for Arizonians has to be, is stopping illegal immigration as important as upholding the rights of millions of Lations who were born and live in the state. Is it worth having the majority of Americans view your state as one that upholds the same type of racial divide as the South did during the height of segregation? It used to seem funny to believe that such blatant racism could rear its ugly head in America in the modern world, but I guess we also thought McCarthyism could never happen again, until right-wing nuts like Michelle Bachman proved us wrong during the 2008 election.

The injustice of this new bill is already starting to rear its ugly head, after news reports have already surfaced telling the story of police officers pulling over Latino-Americans, asking them to provide a birth certificate because they didn't answer their questions correctly and were placed under arrest until they could prove their citizenship. Already seeing how law enforcement has begun to abuse the power the bill gives them before it even goes into effect, it is scary to think of all the corruption that will follow the new law. You can bet there will be cops taking pay-offs and using the color of people's skin to pull them over without cause.

The Obama Administration is already looking into whether or not such a bill is constitutional or not. But I say, who cares if it is unconstitutional, it is unAmerican. A number of state mayor's including the mayor of Phoenix have called for a repeal of the bill and leaders from across the country are calling for a boycott of Arizona, which could cost the state millions in convention and tourism. So while the fight over how to deal with immigration continues on, it will be the Latino-Americans who will have to deal with being reduced to second-class citizens in their own state and country - something no American in the year 2010 should have to endure.

UH-OH! Dem wins first federal election since passage of health care bill

Democrat Ted Deutch won a special election Tuesday, making him the winner of the first federal election since the passing of the historic health care bill, which Republicans hoped would be the Democrats waterloo in the 2010 elections.

"We've heard for months that tonight ... is a referendum on health care, it's a referendum on the (Obama) administration, it's a referendum on what direction this country is going," Deutch said following his victory. "Let me tell you something, what we learned today is that in Broward County and Palm Beach County, Florida, the Democratic Party is alive and well."

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Deutch defeated Republican Ed Lynch, 62 percent to 35 percent. Lynch attempted to make the election a referendum on health care, but failed to convince the more than 234,000 Democrats in the state's 19th congressional district to vote against Deutch.

It's tough to say whether or not this election had anything to do with the passage of the health care bill, considering the district is largely Democratic. However, it was a substantial victory which tells me that health care certainly did not hurt Deutch's chances and may have even helped him among Independents, who were beginning to question if the party could legislate.

Tea Bag candidate for NY Gov. in hot water over racist and pornographic emails

Carl Paladino, the Tea Bag backed candidate for New York governor, is fitting right in with his nutty right-wing supporters after emails featuring racist images, porn and bestiality that the multi-millionaire developer had forwarded to his friends, associates and co-workers were published on the blog WNYmedia.net earlier today.

The emails include a video entitled "Obama Inaugeration Rehersal," which features African Tribesman dancing; an email with the subject line "Proof the Irish discovered Africa" containing a video of monkeys Riverdancing; and a video of a woman having sex with a horse.

I guess it's no surprise that the Tea Baggers are a bunch of ignorant, racist bastards but I did not know they also enjoyed bestiality. I would, however, be more surprised if one of these dumb shit's actually knew what a term like say, "socialism" means, than to find out they get kicks out of being penetrated in every orface of his/her body by giant, horse cock, but maybe that is just me. I guess I am missing something when it comes to the Tea Baggers. Their talking points basically include the idea of returning the country to what our founding fathers had intended, yet when you ask Tea Bag supporters or even leaders for that matter what they believe the founding fathers had intended they don't even have a clue as to what the founding fathers stood for - just what they want people to think the founding fathers wanted, in conjunction with their values. They tout capitalism and speak of socialism as if it is was the same thing as a communist dictatorship, yet they don't even realize that the founding father of all founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, despised the idea of capitalism, and even thought it to be un-American. But never mind the facts, it's not what the Tea Baggers want you to believe, and since they know the founding fathers so well, they will tell the American people how they thought, and in turn how they should think. When people exploit figures like Jesus and our nation's founding fathers, what they are trying to do is solidify their argument by associating themselves, and beliefes, with god-like figures. It's kind of like saying "I studied political science so I know that this bill is bad for the American people." But in reality it only means that you studied political science, not that you know whether the bill is good or bad.

It is true that Jefferson was a proponent of revolutions, and I too am a person who believes revolutions are needed to uphold a strong democracy. I also believe I took part in one when I worked on Barack Obama's campaign. Now that was a revolution and revolt against the right-wing powers at be, who had raped the American people of their rights and liberties for eight years. And they will do it again, if the Americans who are on the fence in regard to the Obama administration, or easily manipulated by fear, buy into this movement that is nothing more than a right-wing reaction to a liberal president, which has happend to almost every Democratic president since FDR.

The good news is Paladino, even before these controversial emails were released, had no chance at winning the governor seat in New York, even with the mess that Paterson has created for Democrats. The last time these horse fuckers tried to get a candidate nominated they lost a seat to the Democrats in a congressional district that Republicans had owned for more than 100 years.

But if you're a Tea Bagger who is reading this don't concern yourself with Paladino's problems because he has already blamed the emails on the Democrats, which I believe is rule #1 in the Tea Bag handbook, "If all else fails, blame it on the Democrats."

Here is a brief rundown of the emails courtesy of Huffington Post:

- Ahead of Obama's swearing-in ceremony, Paladino sent around a video entitled "Obama Inauguration Rehearsal." The video shows an African tribesman dancing, and is apparently popular among white supremacists.
- An email with the subject line "Proof the Irish discovered Africa" containing a video of monkeys that appear to be doing a Riverdance-style jig.
- A video of a naked woman sent from a government email account.

Paladino's spokesman has since released this statement:

Carl Paladino has forwarded close friends hundreds of email messages he received. Many of these emails he received were off color, some were politically incorrect, few represented his own opinion, and almost none of them were worth remembering.

We're not surprised the political establishment feels threatened by Carl's drive the take Albany back for taxpayers. Our campaign won't be wading through the details of what is just another liberal Democrat blog smear. It figures that members of the Party who brought us record taxes, record spending and record debt would want to change the topic from reform to having sex with horses and S&M parlors.

Obama, Medvedev sign nuclear arms reduction treaty

Since the end of the Cold War, Americans and Russians have by and large not had to worry about the threat of a nuclear attack between the two superpowers. Now the two nations presidents, President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, have signed a major nuclear arms control treaty that will further reduce nuclear stockpiles and launchers for both nations as the two work towards a world free of the "bomb."

"This day demonstrates the determination of the United States and Russia - the two nations that hold over 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons - to pursue responsible global leadership," Obama said after the signing.

The two presidents met in Prague today to sign the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty - known as START - that builds on the previous agreement that expired in December. There had been a halt in talks over the new treaty, after Russian leaders became disgruntled when President Obama announced intentions to build a missile-defense system in Eastern Europe - specifically angered by news that Romania had agreed to let the U.S. build missile interceptors within their boarders.

But after a year of negotiations, the two sides reached an agreement that marks what President Obama called an effort to "reset" the U.S. relationship with Russia.

The new treaty limits both nations to 1,550 nuclear warheads within seven years. There are also limits on launchers and it creates a "verification regime" that includes on-site inspections, data exchanges and notifications. The treaty, however, does not "contain any constraints on testing, development or deployment of current or planned U.S. missile defense programs or current or planned United States long-range conventional strike capabilities."

"It significantly reduces missiles and launchers," Obama said of the new 10-year treaty. "It puts in place a strong and effective verification regime. And it maintains the flexibility that we need to protect and advance our national security, and to guarantee our unwavering commitment to the security of our allies."

"This agreement enhances strategic ability and, at the same time, allows us to rise to a higher level of cooperation between Russia and the United States," Medvedev said.

The signing of the treaty comes just days after President Obama announced a new plan to limit the conditions under which the U.S. would use nuclear weapons. His decision is a dramatic shift from his predecessors view of how to use nuclear weapons and also intends to revamp our use of the weapon to deal with a new era in which terrorist organizations are a bigger threat than traditional powers. The new policy makes it so the U.S. will explicitly commit to not use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear nations that are in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, even if they attack the U.S. with biological or chemical weapons. There will, however, be an exception for such nations as Iran and North Korea that have violated or ignored the treaty.

The new policies to reduce nuclear weapon stockpiles and redirect how we will use such weapons in the future, is part of President Obama's vision to rid the world of nuclear arms. While the president has struggled to pass many of his domestic policies and gain the trust of the white, working class voter since taking office, it is obvious that his skills on the world's stage are much stronger than had been argued by his Republican competitor during the 2008 election. Of course, maybe it just took a president that would open his ears and mind to reach out and work with the rest of the world leaders to ensure a more peaceful world.

March yields first significant job growth in three years

For the first time in three years, the American economy added a significant number of jobs since the Great Recession started, adding an estimated 162,000 jobs according to the Labor Department.

While many will view last months job growth as a step in the right direction, the unemployment rate stayed steady at 9.7 percent for the third month in a row. Economists have warned that the labor recovery will be slow.

Of the 162,000 jobs created last month, 123,000 were created in the private sector, while 48,000 positions were generated by the Census Bureau. The government also revised previous job numbers from January and February, saying the economy created 14,000 jobs in January instead of the losing 26,000 as originally reported. And in February, it shaved job loses from 28,0000 to 14,0000.

Since the beginning of the year, the economy added an average 54,000 jobs in the first quarter, which is a significant turnaround from losses averaging 752,700 jobs per month in the first quarter of 2009.

While it remains to be seen if these kind of numbers can continue to rise, it should be a positive sign to Americans that the economy is beginning to bounce back, especially considering that the Dow Jones gained 4.1 percent, its best first quarter performance since 1999. If the economy does continue to grow, even at a slow rate, it will be interesting to see how Tea Baggers spin this as being bad for the country - if anyone can make job growth look bad, or at least make themselves believe it is bad for the country, it is certainly the nuts on the right.