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05 Jul 2010 21:05

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Music: The “Sound Strike” Arizona boycott list gets a little more diverse

  • Also: Conor Oberst wrote a pretty killer letter. A few weeks back, we criticized the Rage Against the Machine-led boycott of the state of Arizona for having a fairly weak deck of cards. Now, it’s a little bit better, having added a number of A-list artists, including Nine Inch Nails, Pitbull (who is Cuban-American), Maroon 5 and Chris Rock. No Coldplay yet, but Maroon 5 is kind of a biggie. In other news, Oberst (he of Bright Eyes and Monsters of Folk) wrote a passionate open letter to powerful tour promoter Charlie Levy, with this key statement: “We cannot play on as if nothing is wrong.  This is not just about Arizona.  I am not just skipping a tour date.  This is not going to be easy for anyone.” Well-put. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

25 Jun 2010 22:20

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Politics: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer thinks illegal immigrants are drug mules

  • Well, we all know that the majority of the people that are coming to Arizona and trespassing are now becoming drug mules.
  • Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer • Saying the kind of thing that’s a weeeeeeeeeee bit controversial, but considering her record as governor, that wouldn’t be anything new. Brewer went even further, saying this: “So they are criminals. They’re breaking the law when they are trespassing and they’re criminals when they pack the marijuana and the drugs on their backs.” We offer the same advice to her that we have to Rand Paul in the past: Keep quiet or people might think you’re crazy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jun 2010 10:35

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U.S.: In Arizona, a huge wildfire is reaching disaster proportions

  • 5,000 number of acres the wildfire covers
  • 748+ number of properties affected by the fire
  • no not a single bit of the fire is contained source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Jun 2010 20:38

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Politics: Protip: If you’re Hillary Clinton, don’t discuss lawsuits in Ecuador

  • President Obama has spoken out against the law because he thinks that the federal government should be determining immigration policy. And the Justice Department, under his direction, will be bringing a lawsuit against the act.
  • Secretary of State Hillary Clinton • During a television interview in Ecuador where she was all like, hey, we’re going to sue Arizona because of this crazy immigration law. For what it’s worth, the Justice Department is still looking through evidence. Still, though, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is PISSED. “To learn of this lawsuit through an Ecuadorean interview with the Secretary of State is just outrageous,” she said. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jun 2010 17:19

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Politics: Arizona policeman: The immigration law is making our jobs harder

  • Ask any officer … You would not believe how many incidents go unreported … even though the law has not gone into effect.
  • Tucson police officer Martin Escobar • Regarding the immigration law that he has filed a lawsuit against with another officer. Escobar, who works in an area of Tucson that’s nearly half-Hispanic, says that there are no “race-neutral criteria” to decide who’s an immigrant and who isn’t. And that’s going to affect leads on crimes. “These are the people that are calling in something going on,” he says. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jun 2010 00:19

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Politics: More on the Arizona mural and racism: That radio host got fired

  • Here’s that mural. What do you think? Radio host and Prescott, Ariz. city council member Steve Blair, whose comments on this mural have sparked a growing controversy about race in Arizona, was fired by KYCA, the station where he was a host. Blair has more thoughts on the controversy, and he seems to stumble around the issue a bit – oh, it’s defacing a public building, it’s graffiti,  I don’t understand what it means, so on and so forth. Fact of matter: He’s going to become nationally-known for being the jerk who called out this mural for its diversity. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jun 2010 23:41

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Culture: Arizona school: Can you whiten up the black kid on this mural? (whoa)

  • We consistently, for two months, had people shouting racial slander from their cars. We had children painting with us, and here come these yells of (epithet for Blacks) and (epithet for Hispanics).
  • Prescott, Ariz. Downtown Mural Project director R.E. Wall • Regarding the ridiculous chain of events that led to the group lightening the skin of children depicted on a local elementary school’s mural. The mural, by the way, is trying to promote green transportation, and features pictures of KIDS AT THE SCHOOL. Wall says that he and others were depicted to racial slurs on a regular basis while painting the mural. While the school claimed it was only to fix shading, the controversy got so bad that a city councilman who hosts a radio show was trying to get the mural taken down. Real quote from Steve Blair: “To depict the biggest picture on the building as a Black person, I would have to ask the question: Why?” Holy crap. This is 2010. (Hat tip Carissa Wright) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

03 Jun 2010 20:41

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Politics: Well, it’s a start: Obama and Jan Brewer talk immigration

  • What Jan wants Brewer, who is up for reelection, is stressing strong immigration reform. “I want the border secured first. … [Back in 1996] amnesty was bestowed upon people but we never secured the borders.” She also claims an unsecure border is leading to higher crime – a claim not supported by statistics, by the way.
  • What Obama offered Despite this, the only promise the president gave her was that they would talk more. That’s a good starting point, though. “I am encouraged that there is going to be much better dialogue between the federal government and the state of Arizona now,” she said after their Oval Office meeting today. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jun 2010 20:38

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U.S.: Obama: “Oh, hey … Jan. Sorry about ripping your state so hard.”

  • The president’s got an Arizona governor-shaped guest coming this week. In case you forgot with the oil spill and Israel messing with flotillas, Arizona’s immigration law is still an annoyingly big deal. And Obama hasn’t been all that gracious about the law. So, as a way to pull out an olive branch, he’s bringing Gov. Jan Brewer to the Oval Office on Thursday. We know neither of them can wait. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 May 2010 11:45

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Politics: Eric Holder plans to nod his head through another meeting

As regular reader Tom Alday will rightly remind us, Eric Holder didn’t read Arizona’s 10-page immigration law. But he’s about to talk about it with a bunch of big-city police chiefs. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink
 
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