Civil & Human Rights

So how’s that GOP rebranding working out?

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

New And ImprovedOn Sunday, the Arizona Republic for some reason felt compelled to publish a guest opinion (and video) by the disgraced and recalled former Senate President, Russell Pearce, writing on behalf of his anti-immigrant nativist hate group, BanAmnestyNow.com.

Pearce discloses a continuing working relationship with the anti-immigrant nativist hate group,  Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR), whose lawyer Kris Kobach wrote SB 1070 for Pearce.

Pearce also cites the widely discredited Heritage Foundation report (.pdf) released last week, which was drafted, in part, by Jason Richwine, who subscribes to the controversial "science" of hereditarianism and eugenics. Richwine was forced to resign from the Heritage Foundation on Friday, presumably after Russell Pearce submitted his guest opinion to the Republic.

Ol' Russel writes, Immigration tug-of-war: Reform effort is a sham:

The 3-year-old Senate Bill 1070, America’s toughest anti-illegal
immigration law, has had a dramatic impact on Arizona. We are a better
place.

* * *

According to information from the Federation of American Immigration
Reform, Arizonans pay $2.6 billion per year to educate, medicate and
incarcerate illegal aliens. According to the Heritage Foundation, the
billions we pay today are but one-third of our eventual tab a decade
from now if the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill becomes law.

* * *

However, despite the many advances we have made, the burdens of illegal
immigration still are too high. This is why I call upon my fellow
citizens to join me in opposing the latest amnesty/citizenship bill. The
group of eight U.S. senators’ legislation (including Arizona Sens. John
McCain and Jeff Flake) risks America’s financial and national security.
This bill is the epitome of everything that is wrong, backward and
corrupt in Washington.

Minnesota makes it a ‘baker’s dozen’ approving same-sex marriages

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

My home state of Minnesota just became the 12th state, plus the District of Columbia, to approve same-sex marriages . . . a "baker's dozen."

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports, In historic vote, Minnesota Senate approves same-sex marriage bill:

With deafening cheers and overwhelming emotion, the Minnesota Senate voted 37-30 to legalize same-sex marriage.

“Today, love wins,” said Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick.

The vote, on the heels of a vote last week in the House, brings to a
close a decade of debate over marriage that has echoed through the
Capitol, bringing thousands of friends and foes of gay marriage to its
marbled dome to express their deeply held feelings.

The measure next moves to Gov. Mark Dayton, who will welcome it with his signature in a celebratory ceremony at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the south steps of the Capitol.

Once it is signed, Minnesota will become the twelfth state to legalize same sex-marriage.
"It's historic and I can never be so proud of this body and of Minnesotans," said Sen. Jeff Hayden, DFL-Minneapolis.
On the Senate floor, Hayden said that his wife is white and noted that
just 50 years ago, his loving relationship would have been barred.

Will the Tucson City Council Throw the Bus Riders Under the Bus?

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Busriders318-sig-sm72by Pamela Powers Hannley

With pressure from developers and the budget, the Tucson City Council once again is considering decisions which would reduce– or at least hinder– bus transportation.

Today, Tuesday, May 7, at the City Council study session, Councilwoman Shirley Scott is expected to propose a $2 million cut to Sun Tran services. The Bus Riders Union has sent out an action alert for citizens who want to preserve bus transportation to come to the study session, which begins at 1:30 p.m. Here is a link to the agenda.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 8, City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich will meet with members of the Bus Riders Union regarding proposed redevelopment of the Ronstadt Transit Center (RTC) at 5:30 p.m. in the library room of the the Armory Park Center, 220 S. 5th Ave. This event is free and open to the public. Please attend if you want your voice heard. (You can also send comments to busriders@tucsonbusridersunion.com.) More details and results from the bus riders survey after the jump.

The City of Bisbee wins (sorta) on civil unions

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A couple of weeks ago, Attorney General Tom "banned for life by the SEC" Horne was threatening to sue the City of Bisbee over a newly enacted civil unions ordinance, at the prompting of Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP).

It looks like the Mullah will not get her lawsuit to call down hellfire on gay couples who want to make a public commitment to one another, and the City of Bisbee wins (sorta) on its civil unions ordinance. The city will just need to tweak its ordinance. Cities, AG strike deal on rights of partners:

Attorney General Tom Horne said Monday he won't challenge city ordinances, like the one passed in Bisbee, that detail the rights of those in civil unions.

Horne said there's nothing wrong with cities requiring hospitals to let partners visit or even those in registered unions getting family rates at the local swimming pool.

But he objected to a provision in the new Bisbee ordinance that mentioned seven specific rights, like community property and inheritance. Horne said that made it seem like those who register as partners get those rights despite specific state statutes reserving them to married couples.

Bisbee withdrew its new ordinance earlier this month after Horne threatened to sue the city.

After a closed-door meeting Monday with attorneys representing Bisbee and other cities, Horne acknowledged domestic partners do, in fact, have those rights. In fact, so does every other couple in Arizona, whether registered in a civil union or not.

U.S. Supreme Court rejects appeal of Alabama anti-immigrant law

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The ALEC model legislation for the anti-immigrant crusade of Kris Kobach, legal counsel with the Immigration Law Reform Institute, the legal arm of the anti-immigrant Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), and the author of Arizona's SB 1070, is losing in court. Federal courts have made it clear that federal law preempts the field in immigration law. Only federal gov't, not states, can enforce immigration laws, Supreme Court says:

The Supreme Court made it clear Monday that enforcing immigration laws is reserved for the federal government, not the states.

By
an 8-1 vote, the justices rejected a request from Alabama to revive
part of a 2011 law designed to drive out illegal immigrants. That year
saw a wave of new laws in Republican-controlled states where lawmakers
decried perceived federal inaction. Alabama's was deemed the toughest.

State officials said if federal authorities were not going to arrest illegal immigrants, their police would take on the task.

But
the Obama administration went to court to challenge these laws, arguing
that federal immigration policy trumped state efforts. The
administration said it was targeting criminals, gang members and
smugglers, not the millions of otherwise law-abiding but undocumented
immigrants who live and work in this country.

The administration
won a major victory last year when the Supreme Court struck down most of
Arizona's immigration enforcement law, known as SB 1070. In a 6-3
decision, the justices agreed that Washington, not the states, gets to
decide how to enforce the immigration laws. The opinion rejected the
idea that states could make immigration violations a crime under state
law.