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H/t High Barnett. Sign a petition asking Obama to challenge Arizona’s new law, SB1070, which legalizes racial profiling to find undocumented people.
OF COURSE IT IS! Long-time bigoted Kansas politician Kris Kobach took his racism across state lines to help craft the controversial Arizona anti-immigrant law, SB1070. TOTAL SURPRISE.
Kobach, an Oxford and Yale-educated lawyer, has been bumping around politics for a few years, yet to get a real (strangle) hold on my fair homeland of Kansas, but not for lack of trying. As a matter of fact, he is running for Kansas Secretary of State right now, which I’m sure in no way affected his decision to get involved in this Arizona immigration hooey. To wit: “Kobach said he didn’t believe his involvement in creation of the law would have any impact on running for secretary of state.” Allow me to register my skepticism.
Kobach has an interesting and extensive history in anti-immigrant litigation, specifically, on the losing side. See for yourself. He also has ties to FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform), a white-supremacist, anti-immigrant hate group whom he has worked for in the past.
“There are some things that states can do and some that states can’t do, but this law threads the needle perfectly,” Kobach has said. Whatever that means.
He’s also said he’s doing this because, “I believe in the cause.”
I don’t doubt that a minute.
UPDATE 5/1/10: Kris Kobach shares his totally reasonable, non-bigoted thoughts with the New York Times.
UPDATE #2 5/3/10:
Republican secretary of state candidate Kris Kobach not only helped write Arizona’s new immigration law, but he has been working for $300 per hour to train law enforcement officers there on procedures in arresting suspected illegal immigrants.
Kobach, an attorney, was hired as an immigration expert to help the Maricopa County sheriff’s office in immigration enforcement activities and policy. The contract, signed in October, calls for a minimum payment to Kobach of $1,500 per month, plus expenses and travel.
A quarter of Americans are having trouble finding medical care and/or paying their rents and mortgages. 70% have had job- or finance-related problems in the last year. Of workers, a quarter expect to take a forced pay cut this year, and another quarter expect to lose their jobs within a year. 85% of Americans are having trouble finding jobs in their community. 44% of American workers are long term unemployed.
Or so says the Pew Research Center report, “A Year or More: The High Cost of Long-Term Unemployment”.
An interesting article about these numbers: Collapse of the Standard of Living in the USA.
Kansas State Rep Lance Kinzer (et al)’s weird anti-abortion bill has been vetoed by governor Mark Parkinson. HALLELUJAH!
The bill would have eliminated threats to mental health as an acceptable reason to obtain a late-term abortion and forced doctors to hand over medical details about women receiving late-term abortion to politicians. Another part of “pro-life” attempts at chipping away women’s medical rights and bodily autonomy.
On a different note, how come every article about stupid anti-abortion antics has to include 1.) a quote from someone representing a wacko pro-life agency and 2.) someone from Planned Parenthood? Well, I guess Missouri is changing the standards, since the article under discussion was printed in the redoubtable bastion of unbiased journalism, the Kansas City Star, it only contains quotes from the Kansans for Life wacko and from the pro-life politician, Kinzer. Bleh.
UPDATE 5/5/10: On the second try, the Kansas Legislature overrode the veto. On to the Senate…
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