Arizona - WTF?

[Sean]

So Arizona's been passing some fun new legislation these days. And by "fun", of course I mean "idiotic".

First up is SB 1024, the "birther"-appeasing bill that will require the Arizona Secretary of State to verify the citizenship of presidential candidates. Not surprisingly, this bill passed with exclusively Republican support. And while it's an idiotic bill, it did make for some over the so-called reasoning behind passing it.

And then of course there's the fancy new immigration bill, SB 1070, which requires law enforcement folks to demand proof of citizenship "where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States". Now, to justify "reasonable suspicion", but the bill assures us that "a law enforcement official or agency...may not solely consider race, color, or national origin in implementing the requirements of this subsection except to the extent allowed by the United States or Arizona constitution". Of course "solely" is a pretty key word in this stipulation. They can consider race, color and national origin as long as they've also considered, for example, the color of the person in question's shirt as well.

But these paper-thin restrictions are enough for people like the queen of morons herself, Sarah Palin, to declare "There is no ability or opportunity in there for the racial profiling. And shame on the lame stream media again for turning this into something that it is not." I'm not sure that Sarah has read this bill based on what she says, but hey - why expect her to be informed about anything at this point in the game, right? Anyway, I find it interesting that the same people who love to call Obama a "fascist" among other things are now the only ones in the country that are actually passing legislation that will literally have police on the streets reciting the fascist catch-phrase, "papers please..." And if they don't do their mandated job of asking for papers, then "a person who is a legal resident of this state may bring an action in superior court to challenge any official or agency...that adopts or implements a policy or practice that limits or restricts the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law."

Arizona is getting awfully scary.