Fercryingoutloud folks, please, please, please stop using the word illegal to describe people. People engage in illegal activities. Behaviors are what are declared legal or illegal, not individual people. What a person does can be ruled to be illegal. But to characterize a person in his or her entirety as "illegal" is not only demeaning and disrespectful to all humanity; it shows an inability to speak coherently. A person is never declared illegal. One's personhood is not illegal. A person cannot be banned from the human species because he or she doesn't pass some sort of personhood test.
People may be working without the proper paperwork but they are not illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, and so on.
Maybe this distinction will be lost upon most Arizonans, we do have the worst educational system in the country. Maybe only the second worst. In any case, I wish we would stop thinking we have to be 48th in everything we do just because we were the 48th State.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
I love Arizona, but...
I love Arizona, but we are in the throes of violent oppression. My CODEPINK friends - who engaged in actions all over the U.S. and in war torn countries couldn't believe the overt and thuggish collusion between recruiters and police here. Basically they couldn't believe what routinely takes place here in Arizona, and in Tucson, a supposed liberal enclave in the Wild West.
But this isn't the old west. This is the new Germany. Goldwater, McCain, Brewer....
Clarence Manion was the conductor behind the orchestration of the slow, methodical "conservative movement" that began in the 50s and which we have seen coming to the forefront of the Republican Party in the last decade. The Manion Forum was the weekly sermon that fed the faithful for over two decades. Manion encouraged Goldwater to write The Conscience of a Conservative. Manion and Goldwater would both be horrified at the religious zealotry and the appeal to ignorance that has swept through the Republican Party in the last few years.
Arizona is an example of what happens to a state when States Rights and Corporate Greed meets the Mafia. You may think I'm joking, using hyperbole, but I'm not. I've touched on this trend a few times in past entries here, but I think lots of readers thought I was a bit of a conspiracy theorist. I'm not. I'm a well trained researcher and a well trained observer of human behavior. I understand how systems work. We must all take one step to the left and shift our gaze to the dawn. With those simple changes, will will shift society's trajectory, that is the best hope we have for altering the fascistic trends and neutering the thugs and bullies who are donning brown shirts for their leaders, the "conservative" trend setters.
Arizona is a testing ground for Right Wing tactics. Gerrymandering has given us districts that consolidate Phoenix voting power and divide and weaken Tucson's vote. Voter fraud, particularly under Jan Brewer ( was everywhere in Arizona:
The examples could go on for pages. What I'm saying here is that under the banner of States Rights Arizona has allowed itself to be taken over by a small group of thugs. Federal Laws are disdained and ignored; ;criminality has come to characterize elections. Selective law enforcement and abuse of power are routine and exemplified by Joe Arpaio.
The powers that be are dismantling what little is left of the education system in Arizona. In passing conversation in the last week with a reliable source passed on a quote from a current ABOR (Arizona Board of Regents) member, "What do we need all these educated people for?"
You should also remember that Las Vegas was planned here in Tucson by the Chicago Mafia at the old El Conquistador Hotel -- not so very far from where DeConcini offices are located, you remember him, don't you... one of the Keating 5 kerfuffle, along with John McCain that had something to do with Lincoln Savings and Loan, bribes, federal investigations and near seizures, bribes and campaign contributions. (Cindy McCain was a Keating business partner.)
Basically there is a ruling elite made up of Ranchers, Land Developers, and a few powerful corporations that want Arizona to become a feudal state where the serfs are kept in their place and hereditary rule by the wealthy reigns.
It is about time some Federal investigations take place at the heart of our state's corrupt political and governmental system. States Rights be damned, in a country where people have to move all over the place for employment, education and careers, we need a strong federal government to protect us from yehoos and carpet-baggers.
Oh, one more thing... be careful in Arizona when you speak out about any of this; have your papers in order and wear a Kevlar vest. Oh, and don't mention MLK Day and Super Bowl XXVII either.... or you might be deported.
But this isn't the old west. This is the new Germany. Goldwater, McCain, Brewer....
Clarence Manion was the conductor behind the orchestration of the slow, methodical "conservative movement" that began in the 50s and which we have seen coming to the forefront of the Republican Party in the last decade. The Manion Forum was the weekly sermon that fed the faithful for over two decades. Manion encouraged Goldwater to write The Conscience of a Conservative. Manion and Goldwater would both be horrified at the religious zealotry and the appeal to ignorance that has swept through the Republican Party in the last few years.
Arizona is an example of what happens to a state when States Rights and Corporate Greed meets the Mafia. You may think I'm joking, using hyperbole, but I'm not. I've touched on this trend a few times in past entries here, but I think lots of readers thought I was a bit of a conspiracy theorist. I'm not. I'm a well trained researcher and a well trained observer of human behavior. I understand how systems work. We must all take one step to the left and shift our gaze to the dawn. With those simple changes, will will shift society's trajectory, that is the best hope we have for altering the fascistic trends and neutering the thugs and bullies who are donning brown shirts for their leaders, the "conservative" trend setters.
Arizona is a testing ground for Right Wing tactics. Gerrymandering has given us districts that consolidate Phoenix voting power and divide and weaken Tucson's vote. Voter fraud, particularly under Jan Brewer ( was everywhere in Arizona:
The examples could go on for pages. What I'm saying here is that under the banner of States Rights Arizona has allowed itself to be taken over by a small group of thugs. Federal Laws are disdained and ignored; ;criminality has come to characterize elections. Selective law enforcement and abuse of power are routine and exemplified by Joe Arpaio.
The powers that be are dismantling what little is left of the education system in Arizona. In passing conversation in the last week with a reliable source passed on a quote from a current ABOR (Arizona Board of Regents) member, "What do we need all these educated people for?"
You should also remember that Las Vegas was planned here in Tucson by the Chicago Mafia at the old El Conquistador Hotel -- not so very far from where DeConcini offices are located, you remember him, don't you... one of the Keating 5 kerfuffle, along with John McCain that had something to do with Lincoln Savings and Loan, bribes, federal investigations and near seizures, bribes and campaign contributions. (Cindy McCain was a Keating business partner.)
Basically there is a ruling elite made up of Ranchers, Land Developers, and a few powerful corporations that want Arizona to become a feudal state where the serfs are kept in their place and hereditary rule by the wealthy reigns.
It is about time some Federal investigations take place at the heart of our state's corrupt political and governmental system. States Rights be damned, in a country where people have to move all over the place for employment, education and careers, we need a strong federal government to protect us from yehoos and carpet-baggers.
Oh, one more thing... be careful in Arizona when you speak out about any of this; have your papers in order and wear a Kevlar vest. Oh, and don't mention MLK Day and Super Bowl XXVII either.... or you might be deported.
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