Update: sad start for my blog, good day for AZ.

Corrective JUNK: Dang, one post in and I'm already having to withdraw outrage. Lesson learned for the future: research everything to death... hard to do when you're reading full original texts as research. Oh well, I'll get this figured out eventually.

Recently an amended version of SB1070, HB2162, has been signed into law (http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/49leg/2r/laws/0211.htm). This new bill corrects the "lawful contact" line to make it clear that questioning can only occur during an already legal stop. Also there's further language changes specifically intended to discourage racial profiling. Sounds like some very good fixes, that just might make this bill legal. Furthermore, AZ is one of the states where a driver's license is evidence of legality, which is good news. As someone who frequently forgets or loses his drivers license, I can understand how Latinos would still be discriminated against, but the discrimination is much less extreme. (Also, if you ARE someone who forgets your DL often, you probably know your DL number, and with another form of photo ID, say a debit card with photo on it, you're in the clear! Crisis averted.) I'd say the remaining inconvenience might be worth the $2.7B price tag. Sounds to me that unless this law leads to excessive enforcement of minor crimes (eg: J-walking, littering cig butts, etc.) for the purpose of having cause for questioning a persons legality, things should be ok. We'll see how enforcers choose to use this law. Though I standby my outrage at the original bill, my outrage has been quelled thanks to the amendment.

Thoughts? Is this enough of a fix? Is the left ready to rescind objections? How much more fair do you really expect federal corrections to be and still be effective? What does this still say about the willingness of the bills original supporters to sell out our civil rights?

Arizona: Individuals vs Americans

With so much going on, it's hard to decide where to start... luckily the news decided it for me. Today President Obama again condemned the Arizona Immigration Law Amendment - Senate Bill 1070. Unlike the health reform bill it's only 17 pages long, and changes are highlighted in blue for your convenience. I highly recommend you check it out: http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf

Factual Junk: Section 2b states that an officer of the law who makes lawful contact (unlawful would be like trespassing to apprehend without a warrant) with a person they believe is an illegal immigrant, must attempt to get verification of their immigration status. There has been some "confusion" from proponents of the law saying there has to be a previous infraction as well, such as a traffic violation. There is nothing like that in this section of the bill, only in Section 4e which only applies to the illegal smuggling of immigrants.

Opinionated Junk: [A relevant aside: I'm keeping this clearly labeled because I think News channels with opinion commentators should more clearly label their programming by removing the "NEWS" bit from their title/logo while that program is on.] The debate is NOT about whether illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the US. Both sides AGREE they should not be allowed, and there needs to be tighter regulations. There should be no finger pointing as to why it's a problem, because it's been a problem through several administrations. End of story, bi-partisan agreement. Hooray.

The debate is over civil rights and racial profiling.

Shocking revalation: As an INDIVIDUAL I believe in profiling, and I bet you do too. Hear me out. Do you think it's anyone's effective use of time to be stopping Granny Smith at the airport for additional screening? NO, there's no reason to think she's a terrorist, stop wasting time on her, and use it being more effective. What about Jihad Janes? If we could observe mosque activity, the way we observe online "chatter," then that risk goes way down too. So why are we all candidates for additional screening? For our nonsensical sense of fairness. Ok, still not convinced? How about this example a high school teacher of mine once gave me. Imagine the crime were not plane high jackings, but rather brutal anal rape and murder in dark alleys (yes, this is EXACTLY what my teacher said), and say the vast majority of these criminals were not Muslims, but rather short Asian men. You're walking home one night walking by a dark alley with a short Asian man sitting there. What do you do? Does your liberal civil rights side say, "Oh, don't be silly, there are billions of short Asian men out there, don't run or prep your pepper spray or you might offend him." He gets up and starts toward you, "Oh this is strange, but I must not judge, he might just ask me for change. Don't offend him." HELL... NO! You, the individual, starts walking as fast as your legs will carry you, because you're thinking, "Gee, there've been a lot of brutal anal rape murders in alleys like this one, and he looks a lot like all the other guys who are doing it. I'm gonna run like hell." And there's no shame in that. This is how busting drug dealers works (young men standing idley on corners), this is how busting prostitutes works (scantily clad women walking aimlessly on the streets). The international airport in Tel Aviv, Israel (super dangerous area) doesn't screen everybody, only "suspicious people". What's suspicious? It's at the discression of the screener *cough profiling*, and their system WORKS!

So, why do you (liberals) feel like an Unamerican bigot if you see a Muslim park a large white van with tinted windows and think, "terrorist maybe?"

Because, as AMERICANS we believe in equal rights and civil rights, we do not condone discrimination or profiling, it's one of the things our forefathers believed in, it's been redefined and fought for by great men and women before us, and it's what makes America great. As AMERICANS we have the individual right to run like hell if we feel endangered, but we CANNOT set up discriminatory laws or practices. And there's the rub.

So tell me this, why, when we're faced with the possibility of death and attack, do we maintain composure and remember who we are and where we come from, but somehow Arizona forgot this over elevated crime rates and a poor economy. "Patriots" are pushing for this bill to protect our "freedoms", and supposedly 2/3 of all Americans support this law that legalizes the discrimination of Latinos. Coincidence that the passage of this bill happens to coincide with the largest financial crisis in decades? The most convincing reason I've seen for cracking down on immigration is FAIR's (Federation for American Immigration Reform) statistic that illegal immigration in AZ alone costs them an additional $2.7B! I can't find info on whether this is true or not, but it doesn't matter for the point I'm making.

Again, as an INDIVIDUAL, yea it makes sense, get 'em out. As an AMERICAN, is that the price tag put on our values? We say, "I don't care if I die from preventable terrorist attacks, but $2.7B!?! Let's get to profiling!" The modern day "Patriots" are saying we need to do this to defend our country and our rights from illegal immigrants. I say the only American value they're defending is GREED.

Proposal: The thing I hate most about gripes is when there's only complaining and no proposed solutions. In this case it's fairly straight forward and unoriginal, but requires some patience :\ Let's do this legally at the federal level. We can keep better track of immigrants or make more stringent entrance regulations. Set up all drivers licenses to contain citizenship information, so when a person is stopped (for a good reason), it will become immediately obvious whether they are illegal or not. Also, crack down on employers; there are any number of ways (many of which are already being done) to crack down on illegal immigration. There is now sufficient pressure on Obama to make this the next item on his agenda (and it is obviously related to the economy), so thanks AZ for lighting that fire... while setting us back decades in civil rights. Let's see what happens.

Thanks for reading. Tomorrow's post likely to be on Anarchy in Thailand, so stick around.
~Yasu

haha oh man, the number of quotes that could be taken out of context in this thing are ridiculous! Good thing I'm not famous.