Domestic Policy

Insects Are an Untapped Source of Food and Could Help End Hunger, According to U.N. Report

Eating bugs to solve world hunger? It might sound a little dramatic (can't we just, like, grow more crops or something?!), but a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations suggests just that. See also: - Five Freaky Fair Foods: Maggot Melt Sandwich, Deep-Fried Energ ... More >>

Jan Brewer's Bigoted Policy Denying Driver's Licenses to DREAMers in Federal Judge's Hands

Few public acts by Governor Jan Brewer have been so odious, so hateful and so obviously unfair as her executive order denying driver's licenses to those young men and women, brought here as children, who benefit from President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. See also: -Jan Brewer No ... More >>

Arizona Gun Nuts Rally at State Capitol in New Dennis Gilman Video

Gilman chats up the gun nuts, take one... Phoenix videographer Dennis Gilman covered the gun nut rally at the Arizona State Capitol this past Saturday, and caught some interesting footage of the local pro-2nd Amendment crowd, which seems mainly to have consisted of angry white dudes who're afraid t ... More >>

Arizona Medical-Marijuana Law Debated in Court; Judge Criticizes Wording of 2010 Law

Medical marijuana in Arizona faces an important court decision in a case that local prohibitionists see as a weak link in the voter-approved 2010 pot law. Arizona Republic reporter and rapid-fire Tweeter Yvonne Wingett-Sanchez has been filing live updates from the courtroom this afternoon. The hear ... More >>

Arizona Immigration Laws (and Joe Arpaio) Called Out by Cato Institute for Economic Woes

The Cato Institute -- a libertarian think-tank -- needed just seven words to sum up its report today on how Arizona's immigration laws are affecting business, and put those words right at the front of its analysis: "Arizona's immigration laws have hurt its economy."Not only that, but the Maricopa Co ... More >>

DREAM Act Lite: DHS Releases Deferred Action Forms for Undocumented Immigrants

See also President Obama Approves Version of the DREAM Act, Grants Immunity from Deportation for Certain Young Undocumented Immigrants See also DREAM Act Has Support From 73 Percent of Arizonans, According to Poll The Department of Homeland Security has released the forms undocumented immigrants br ... More >>

Federal Judge Upholds 20-Week Abortion Ban; Actually Cites Suspect Fetal-Pain Evidence

See also: ACLU Trying to Stop 20-Week Abortion Ban; Says "No Court Has Ever Upheld" Such a Law A federal judge ruled that the Arizona law banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy will be allowed to go into effect as scheduled on Thursday. The ACLU of Arizona and the Center for Reproductive Ri ... More >>

Kirk Adams Not Satisfied With Matt Salmon's Explanation of "Obamacare" Lobbying

See also: Congressional Candidate Matt Salmon Says Lobbyist Matt Salmon Never Lobbied for "Obamacare"Republican Congressman-turned-lobbyist-turned-congressional candidate Matt Salmon's explanation of doing lobbying work on "Obamacare" bills -- or not doing lobbying work on the bills -- isn't quite s ... More >>

SB 1070 Fuels a Movement of New Voters

SB 1070 Ruling: States Do Not Have Carte Blanche in Immigration Sphere

If right-wingers such as Arizona's clueless, incompetent Governor Jan Brewer had actually read today's U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Senate Bill 1070, they would not be so quick to issue press releases spinning the court's 5-3 ruling as a victory for xenophobes, or even for the idea of some sort ... More >>

DREAMers Score a Win with Obama's Immigration Initiative, But the War Is Far from Over

David Schweikert Also Offers a Bill to Block Obama Immigration Policy

Congressman David Schweikert, not to be outdone by his primary opponent, Congressman Ben Quayle, introduced his own bill to block the implementation of the Obama administration's new immigration policy.This move by Schweikert may seem familiar, since Quayle did just about the same thing yesterday to ... More >>

Obama Blocks DREAMers' Deportations, Outflanks GOP

Republicans are stumbling all over themselves to denounce President Barack Obama's executive action today to block the deportation of students who would benefit from the proposed DREAM Act. And in doing so, they're bumbling right into the trap the White House has laid for them. Obama's move, initial ... More >>

Joe Arpaio and Barack Obama Protested by Puente Moms and Their Children

Many would like to believe that even the most guileful and nefarious of individuals are capable of compassion, particularly toward the weakest among us.Sadly, human behavior argues otherwise. To rationalize away the sufferings of others is a fairly easy mental trick, and when the payoff fo ... More >>

Russell Pearce Apologist Linda Bentley's Denial of Guilt Over J.T. Ready

I've often said that in Arizona you don't have to be a swastika-carrying neo-Nazi to have the same or similar beliefs. Which is why the presence of neo-Nazis and other right-wing wackjobs in the midst of the immigration donnybrook here in Sand Land has caused little or no outrage. And yet, when ... More >>

Abortion Bully Trent Franks Wants to Tell People in Washington D.C. When They're Allowed to End a Pregnancy

​Fagala-phobic abortion bully Trent Franks today introduced a bill into Congress that, if it becomes law, would dictate when people in Washington D.C. are allowed to end a pregnancy.Franks, just to be clear, is a congressman from Arizona -- but that's not stopping him from playing morality cop in ... More >>

How Undocumented Immigrants Helped Change Phoenix's City Council Race

Arizona Legislators Still Want Guns on College Campuses

​Arizona state legislators have redrafted legislation that would allow guns on college campuses, despite Governor Jan Brewer's vetoing of a similar bill earlier this year.The new bill is just a modified version of the old bill, which Brewer felt was too vague. However, after vetoing it, the govern ... More >>

Barack Obama Using DREAM Act to Raise Campaign Dollars; Activists Upset By Exploitation of Issue

United We DreamObama's solicitation​A national coalition of DREAM Act student activists is furious over Barack Obama's latest fundraising letter soliciting re-election funds based on his "support" of the DREAM Act. United We Dream is circulating a petition calling on Obama to stop using the D ... More >>

Russell Pearce Denied by 9th Circuit on 1070; Judge Susan Bolton's Injunction Remains

Pearce and his nativist allies were served a defeat today by the Ninth CircuitState Senate President Russell Pearce, Governor Jan Brewer, and the forces of nativism here in Arizona and nationwide have suffered a crushing blow. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has today upheld District Court Judge ... More >>

Mohave County Probation Officer Fired for Supporting Marijuana Legalization

Image: Huffington PostJoe Miller, former Mohave County probation officer, was fired for publicly supporting marijuana legalization.​Right to free speech: Canceled.At least, it is for Joe Miller, a former Mohave County probation officer who believes that marijuana should be legalized.As the Huffing ... More >>

Richard Mellon Scaife's Cash Pays For Judicial Watch's Ideologically Motivated Lawsuits

Sidebar: Mexican Macroeconomics

Arizona Medical Marijuana Bill Still Too Close to Call

Andrew Myers of Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project addresses the crowd at Cooper'stown.​As we reported, more than 70 percent of precincts have delivered voting results -- and Proposition 203, Arizona's Medical Marijuana Initiative, is losing by a narrow margin. As this is being writte ... More >>

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, August 26, 2010

An SB 1070 Prediction: The Feds Will Come to the Rescue

U.S. Senate Candidate John Dougherty's Got a Plan for the War on Drugs: End it

​U.S. Senate candidate and former New Times columnist John Dougherty (pictured) discussed his plan for the infamous "War on Drugs" this morning at a debate near Yuma. Bottom line: End it. The "squares" have gotta love that."The War on Drugs has been an abject failure. We need to move it o ... More >>

Flee Circus

Plan your great escape at the Arizona Highways Travel Show

Governor Jan Brewer Won't Take Action on Immigration Bill Today; Will Unveil Border Security Plan Instead

​ Governor Jan Brewer announced this afternoon that she won't take any action today on a  contentious anti-illegal-immigrant bill. Instead, Brewer says she'll unveil a new border security plan at a news conference scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the Papago Park Military Reservation, ... More >>

"Joe the Plumber" Drops by State Capitol to Oppose Possible Sales-Tax Increase; When Asked Why He's Against it, "The Plumber" Dodges Question

www.inquisitr.com "Joe the Plumber" sealing his fate as a conservative icon by confronting then-presidential candidate Obama during the campaign. ​ Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as "Joe the Plumber," the conservative icon from the 2008 presidential election, paid a visit to the state ca ... More >>

Le Templar Hawks Gun Rights for the Goldwater Institute, and Why I Just Purchased My First Minuteman Missile

I'm not pointing it at you, I'm brandishing. I've always dreamed of riding a nuclear payload right into enemy territory a la Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove (whatever "enemy territory" is these days), and I'm a step closer due to the efforts of former East Valley Tribune columnist Le Temp ... More >>

John McCain Calls Massachusetts Senate Election a "Wake-Up Call" for Politicians in Washington

​Arizona Senator John McCain is looking at last night's Massachusetts Senate election as the "wake-up" call that could change how business is done in the nation's capitol. "Last night, a shot was fired around this nation ... saying no more business as usual in Washington, D.C.,"&nbs ... More >>

Emil Pulsifer's Intriguing Essay on the Subject of Immigration

If Emil's right on immigration, it may all come down to oil... Regular readers of the Feathered Bastard blog are familiar with the trenchant, and often amusing observations of regular commenter Emil Pulsifer. So you will be interested in Pulsifer's recent, thought-provoking guest column for Jo ... More >>

Denver University's "Architecture for Immigration Reform" and the Possibility for Compromise

Why the nativists hate America: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."After a year of debate and study amongst its 20 panel members, the University of Denver's Strategic Issues Program released a final report today titled "Architecture for Immigration Reform ... More >>

Obama Mafia Asks Governor if She Supports Jon Kyl and Wants to Kiss Stimulus Money Goodbye

    www.mrrl.org Has Obama taken the role of Don Corleone? In Corleone fashion, top Obama officials made Arizona Governor Jan Brewer an offer she shouldn't refuse. They want her to back the President's stimulas plan, and if she doesn't and agrees with Senator Jon Kyl,&n ... More >>

White House Delays Immigration Powwow (Again), and Why U.S. Hispanics Need to Raise Some Hell

Wanna snag the administration's attention? Borrow a page from the (peaceful) protesters in Iran. So I've just thumbed through a passel of recent White House statements and releases, looking for something about that big immigration meetup that President Barack Obama was ... More >>

Lawsuit Filed to Protect "Adorable" Arizona Songbird Threatened by Imported Beetles

U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection ServiceSalt Cedar Leaf BeetleThe Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Audobon Society filed a lawsuit in federal court today in an effort to protect the southwestern willow flycatcher bird from imported salt cedar leaf beetles.The leaf-eating beetles w ... More >>

Shirt Happens

Artist wears her heart on her plaster sleeve

Eight Year Old St. Johns Boy Is Poster Kid for Gun Laws

If there's anything the tragedy in St. Johns should teach you, it's that if you plan to spank your eight year old 1,000 times, you may not want to show him how to shoot a rifle. Either that, or you might want to consider the option of a "time out" for the little bugger.Sure, sure, no one deserves to ... More >>

Police State: How the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency Turned All Local Authorities Into La Migra

Trent Franks Criticizes Sheriff Arpaio's Enforcement Priorities

Update: Napolitano yanks Arpaio's immigration funding

The Bermudez Triangle

The immigrant rights movement needs Elias Bermudez, only there's a problem: A lot of his own people don't trust him

Dueling Mormons

Marshal Jeff Flake goes toe-to-toe with Russell Pearce, and a former New Times staffer's popped for armed robbery

Pardon Me

It's no fun being an illegal alien

The "T" Word

State leaders can't stomach the truth -- Arizonans need to be taxed more, and right away!

An Endowed Chair

Senator John McCain's push for campaign-finance reform has helped make him a presidential contender. Donations from special interests that appear before his Senate Commerce Committee haven't hurt, either

Jingo All the Way

Outside groups leading the anti-immigration campaign in Arizona are trying to distance themselves from their own bigoted pasts.

Stern und Drang

The King of All Media exposes his Private Parts

The Health-Care Mirage

GOP boosters say Arizona's medical system for the poor should be a model for national health-care reform. But three federal investigations question whether Arizona's system is any less expensive than traditional Medicaid plans.