I fear that the winners will be whoever is the most ignorant. My friend in Mesa, who’s hooked on Reality TeeVee and thinks Sheriff Joe is going to save her from people who’ve never actually inconvenienced her, but might,is a sad story about Dumb White People.

… crime in that area has actually increased 58 percent since 2002.

And that’s not even including the activities of Joe and Co.

Didn’t expect them to run on their record, did you? They’re bringing what they’ve got.

In your guts, you know they’re nuts.

The actual fall in Arizona’s crime rate was repeated all over the MSM, no less, as the AZ legislature was considering SB1070. But what the state’s population had repeated to them over and over by the forces pushing the immigration law was that the law was necessary to address the “crime wave perpetrated by the flood of illegal aliens.” People hear what they want to hear and believe what they want to believe, facts be damned. Prejudice and bigotry are visceral reactions that are much more satisfying than logic and rationality.

So…if we spent a fortune to secure our border, the crime rate would skyrocket and the economy would collapse. Maybe Jeb Bush can implement this plan when he takes office in 2012.

Good morning, pups. It’s Collins and Kristof today. Ms. Collins gives us “The Bad News Bears,” in which she tells us that Bristol and Levi are engaged! Again! And the conviction that celebrity is as transferable as chicken pox is alive and well in Wasilla, Alaska. Mr. Kristof, in “Seduction, Slavery and Sex,” says a trio of best-selling Swedish novels, along with legislation, are shining a light on human trafficking and prostitution.

Here they are.

The coffee and tea are ready, the cold drinks are in the fridge, and I’ve got apple walnut muffins today. We’ve been getting torrential rains every day this week, and I found out yesterday that one of the women where I work was struck by lightning on her way to her car after work. She’s okay, except for an awful headache, but it does make one reconsider carrying an umbrella in a thunderstorm… The head of the trauma service considers them lightning rods. Have a great day.

What a farce this debate is…..

Punish the exploiter’s hiring people whom have immigrated here through ‘unlawful’ means.

Provide a method of helping the people here to either become citizen’s or return to a place of their choosing.

Maybe if we legalize drugs, that will end that crime wave coming over the border? too much good sense, I know.

Never tho’t of a lightning rod when I put up the umbrella. interesting.

If you have no case then you have to lie. The GOP needs constant outrage so they have to lie they need their Adrenaline fix in a sense lies do make them strong.

I hear both sides cling more strongly to their views when presented with other differing information.
I wonder if that study had taken into account they are used to being called wrong by experts, books, moral people, educated people, little kids why because they have a lousy track record of being right.
We have a good track record of being right on issues so why should we doubt ourselves unless we hear a very convincing argument?
I have no idea how you would model a study like that.

If there’s one thing the right-wing can do well it’s create a bunch of statements and loudly repeating them no matter how false.

Oh, and hey look an exception that proves the principals principles being screamed so loudly:

/nitpick

It’s all about the prophets.

Good morning all.

Facts? Never heard of them. Evidence? Never heard of it.

Belief in what you want to believe and to never be wrong or unlike us never have to bother learning facts or debating an argument must be heaven…to the lazy!

On another topic, Dick Cheney has no heart. But then, I guess that isn’t news.

You must read Salon too. I also found that claim inexplicable!

Fixed and goddammit that’s 1:30 in the morning Central grammar, so cut me some slack. ;)

O/T: Obama has appointed Liz Fowler, former executive at Wellpoint, to implement the Health Insurance Enrichment Law.

We create our own reality now…

I watched the segment on Rachel last night. It was really clear. Don’t know what the salon article sez, but as I understood the doc & plastic model he had, Cheney’s former heart no longer pumps but merely acts as a pass through for blood. He has a mechanical device that hooks into the ventricle and a battery op outside the body that replaces the ventricle’s former pumping role that passes the blood onto the rest of the body. As a consequence, he has no pulse, which is the most fascinating part of the story. He would have died without the insertion of the device. It can last for years, or he can have a heart transplant.

Interesting that, in a state that has starved its public school system to the point of malnutrition, where school principals have to clean their schools and cook the cafeteria food because they’ve laid off everyone else, where music, art, and sports have gone the way of the dodo bird, that Sheriff Joe is not held accountable for his abysmal record of crime prevention.

Bet those heinous welfare teachers will be placed under the sword of Damocles over test scores of their kids though and if even one of them drops a point they will be shown the door. Ah, priorities and scapegoating mixed with racism and xenophobia. Hate the Mexicans, punish the teachers, live in fear all the time. I smell Republicans!

Several people referred to that in comments yesterday. Didn’t see a full post on it, though. The depth of corruption.

LOL. Sorry, it’s one of the burdens I carry — a grammar gene that I can’t turn off.

Or as a colleague of mine has said, “My internal editor never sleeps.”

There’s a piece on both Orange and HuffPo by David Sirota on it.

I was at a conf on Monday, where AZ State Rep John Kavanagh & Univ of AZ Prof Andy Silverman debated AZ’s SB 1070. No links at this point.

To sum up, though, Kavanaugh basically stated whatever he felt like saying to back up the law saying how “necessary” it was and crowed about how “effective” it had been already bc allegedly all these barios in places like Phoenix are now “ghost towns” bc of the damned dirty illegals clearling out. Kavanaugh also defended Sheriff Arpaio (sp?) stating that Arpaio had never been convicted on any charges and anything the Sheriff did was “within the law.”

Yadda yadda. As to the ongoing lower crime stats, Kavanaugh stated that these were “twisted” by the media (he refrained – due to the audience – from calling “liberal media”) and that, while crime had dropped in the metropolitan areas” it had “radically” increased along the border. Of course, Kavanaugh gave no explanation for that, in particular, that the border crimes were caused by the drug cartels, not MX citizens looking for work.

One person in the audience (who claimed to have been in the PD in Ohio, plus a mayor of a small Ohio town) asked how AZ planned to pay for all the resources that go into arresting “all” of the illegals, such as prisons, the public defenders, the courts, etc. Kavanaugh waffled a LOT on this question; never really answered it except to babble something about how the AZ legislature would allocate money, as needed. The questioner then asked: but WHAT money?? AZ is bankrupt and you’re having difficulty paying for schools, etc. WHY are you prepared to pay lots of money detaining people who are working illegally?? Kavanaugh refused to answer.

I asked: why is AZ ONLY going after undocumented workers, when it’s a KNOWN fact that businesses – esp AG, the hospitality industry, and during the boom, the construction industry – knowingly and willingly hires undocumented workers in order to pay paltry wages, thus ensuring the mostly white business owners more profit?? Kavanaugh, predictably, waffled on that one as well, and then pooped the usual rhetoric about how the UNIONS were responsible for hiring undocumented workers in construction and the illegals were taking away jobs from legal citizens.

Worthless. Kavanaugh was sickenly smug. The moderator of this program was an AA, and I complimented him afterwards on exercising admirable restraint when Kavanaugh smugly commented about how there would be no racial profiling when people were stopped for routine traffic violations.

Kavanaugh was almost a chariacature of conservatism. So smug, so self-righeous, so indignant at these disgusting minorities making all of these problems for the lilly white real ‘murkins.

Prof Andy Silverman did a good job providing REAL info and stats, but Kavanaugh just blithely ignored the facts and continued to vomit out the fiction that he wanted us to buy. UGH.

Interesting and insightful. Conservatives got their stawman to blame. Now they have to own it by wasting money to pay for useless incarcerations. For shame!

Does that qualify the Tin Man to run for VP in 2012?

I’d vote for the Wizard of Oz as president, because as far as I can tell, most politicians are missing either heart, courage, or brains.

It’s AZ so remember who you’re dealin’ with.

Those bible thumpin’ gun toten’ white supremists Zonies elected Kyl and McCain who claim that you don’t need to pay for tax cuts for the rich – Just cut government spending and eliminate the social safety nets that’s all you need to do.

What did you expect from a state that wants to regress back to the 19th century, carry guns in bars and replace laws with the bible – A common sense approach to illegal immigration reform? PULLEEZE…

It’s my somewhat considered opinion that he who hires the most engaging or attractive spokesperson to deliver its message wins. Shouting helps, though. It connotes sincerity.

/SARCASM

I love that heading

Damn the facts, false analogies are what makes us strong!

It has been the way of this country and all it’s political parties for over 240 years