IMMIGRATION Brewing Discrimination Since Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signed SB-1070, the nation's harshest anti-immigration measure, into law, the White House has made clear that it disapproves of the measure. At a press conference after meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderón, President Obama said that he was concerned the new law would be "applied in a discriminatory fashion." For weeks, conservatives have taken up Brewer's crusade for a face-to-face conversation with Obama. Although Justice Department officials had been in touch with Arizona officials to voice their concerns over the law, Brewer bristled when the White House initially said that the President's schedule couldn't accommodate a personal sit-down. Yesterday, however, Brewer finally received her Oval Office meeting. The White House said the discussion was "good," and Brewer said it was "very, very cordial," underscoring the fact that the two came to very little agreement on immigration reform and the encounter didn't appear to change the relationship. Indeed, immediately after the meeting, Brewer continued to throw around misinformation about the law and conservatives continued to complain that Obama wasn't doing enough to reach out to their side.
DISTRACTIONS FROM REFORM: In a press conference after her White House visit, a reporter asked Brewer whether Obama "understands what's in your law." Brewer replied, "You know, he's a well-learned man and a lawyer. If he has read the law, I'm sure he understands the law." In response to a follow-up question about whether she believes "he's read the law," Brewer simply gave a smug smile and went to the next question. For weeks, conservatives have been trying to distract from the real problems with the law by insisting that the people who are criticizing it haven't read it. Brewer even created an ad featuring a singing frog puppet lamenting how not enough people have actually read the law, echoing a hollow GOP refrain during the health care debate to "read the bill." Brewer and other conservatives used the high-profile meeting as a stage for their continuing political theater. Fox News basically pretended the meeting didn't happen. Fox News host Megyn Kelly continued to gripe that Brewer "had to shame" Obama into seeing her. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee went after Obama for originally saying that he couldn't "squeeze" Brewer in, even though he hosted Sir Paul McCartney at the White House this week.
FRIVOLOUS GOP PANDERING TO THE RIGHT: Obama has repeatedly tried to find common ground with the right wing, only to have the other side continue its attacks. In late May, Obama announced that he would "deploy 1,200 National Guard troops and request an extra $500 million to secure the Mexican border" after meeting with Senate Republicans. Brewer responded, "Success will be determined by facts on the ground, not on the size of unfulfilled promises or rhetorical flurries." Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) -- who once supported comprehensive immigration reform but has since flip-flopped in an attempt to pander to the far right during his re-election campaign -- called it "way too small of a number." Republicans put on a show of political theater, with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) attaching an amendment to a $58.8 billion emergency supplemental bill that would have required $2.2 billion in unspent stimulus funds be poured into securing the border. Though the amendment failed, Republicans unanimously supported it. As the Wonk Room's Andrea Nill pointed out, "Before it was voted down, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) delivered a damning speech, chiding voices who claim to support 'jobs' and 'fiscal moderation' for 'throwing caution to the wind' by supporting a 'symbolic amendment.'" Other blatantly political GOP amendments -- that would do nothing to advance true immigration reform -- that failed were one by McCain to send 6,000 troops to the border and one by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) that would have expanded "the failed program Operation Streamline, throwing more money at a program that diverts crucial and limited federal judicial resources away from counter-drug and smuggling prosecutions."
A DISHONEST BROKER: Brewer has proved herself to be a dishonest broker, and she was met at the White House yesterday by hundreds of protesters opposed to SB-1070. Many of these people held "Shame on Arizona" signs and a large banner that read "We Want Comprehensive Reform, Not a Police State." Brewer has tried to downplay the effect of the boycott on her state, telling the Huffington Post yesterday, "At this point in time, I don't think we have felt any of that impact." However, businesses are painting a different picture. Since the passage of SB-1070, at least 23 events have been canceled, totaling a reported loss of between $6 and $10 million. As the Washington Post reported in mid-May, "The city risks losing as much as $90 million in hotel and convention business over the next five years because of the controversy, according to city estimates." Businesses along the U.S. border are also losing "key Mexican clients," according to the Downtown Merchants Association in Nogales, AZ. Over Memorial Day weekend, the Arizona Diamondbacks met large groups of protesters at both of its games in California. Additionally, when Brewer signed SB-1070, she said that her action was necessary because "drop houses, kidnappings and violence" were compromising Arizonans' "daily life." However, crime is actually down, showing that increased undocumented immigration doesn't lead to more crime, as many conservatives try to claim. According to the FBI, "while the nation's illegal-immigrant population doubled from 1994 to 2004, according to federal records...the violent-crime rate declined 35 percent." More specifically, crime rates in Arizona border towns have remained flat over the past decade, and crime is declining in those nationwide.
CORPORATE MALFEASANCE -- BP FORCED CLEAN-UP WORKERS TO SIGN CONTRACT FORBIDDING THEM TO TALK WITH MEDIA: In recent weeks, journalists from CBS News, Mother Jones, the New York Daily News, and other media outlets have been reporting that BP has blocked them from photographing the dead animals and environmental degradation on the Gulf Coast as a result of the company's oil spill. BP and the U.S. Coast Guard, however, have maintained that there are no restrictions on coverage. While the Coast Guard might not have any prohibitions now, BP sure tried. Powering a Nation, a student journalism initiative sponsored by the Carnegie and Knight Foundations, has obtained a contract BP made with local boat operators helping with the clean-up sign that explicitly barred them from talking to the media. "The contract included a clause prohibiting them and their deckhands from making 'news releases, marketing presentation, or any other public statements' while working on the clean-up," Powering a Nation explained. The clause was eventually dropped because of a lawsuit, but the original contract has had a chilling effect on many fishermen, who remain nervous about talking to journalists. "Ultimately, BP is not directly limiting media contact," Powering a Nation reported, "but the contract added more uncertainty on top of what the fishermen are already experiencing." Recently, a BP contractor frustrated with the oil company's cover-up surreptitiously escorted a New York Daily News crew around some of the affected sites, allowing them to observe a shore "littered with tarred marine life, some dead and others struggling under a thick coating of crud." "There is a lot of cover-up for BP," said the contractor. "They specifically informed us that they don't want these pictures of the dead animals. They know the ocean will wipe away most of the evidence."
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A new employment report released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics announces that that 431,000 job were created last month. The unemployment rate edged down to 9.7 percent. However, total private employment increased by a less-than-forecast 41,000 jobs. Defense Secretary Robert Gates "ordered the military and the Pentagon's civilian bureaucracy to find tens of billions of dollars in annual savings to pay for war-fighting operations." "His goal is $7 billion in spending cuts and efficiencies for 2012, growing to $37 billion annually by 2016," making it one of the most ambitious and "sweeping" cost cutting plans proposed by any modern defense secretary. The Obama administration "has significantly expanded a largely secret U.S. war against al-Qaeda and other radical groups" outside of Afghanistan and Iraq. Special Operations forces have grown in number and budget since the Bush administration and are deployed in 75 countries, compared to 60 last year. Obama has allowed "things that the previous administration did not," one official said. Former First Lady Laura Bush said today that she doesn't think President Obama should be blamed for the continuing oil disaster in the Gulf region. "I think they're doing everything they can," she said, adding that it cannot be one person's responsibility to solve the problem. "There's always a lot of finger-pointing in something like this," she said. "The Obama administration has sent a $69 million bill to BP for the U.S. government's efforts to help deal with the energy company's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico," CNNMoney reports. The bill "accounts for 75 percent of what BP owes to date, and the company has until July 1 to pay the full amount."
Though Republicans are seizing on the Gulf oil crisis to attack President Obama, their "embrace of offshore oil drilling and their skepticism of 'big' government may hamper the party's efforts to gain politically" from Obama's handling of the disaster. "They're kind of stuck because they're the party of 'Drill, Baby, Drill,'" David Lanoue, head of the political science department of the University of Alabama, told Bloomberg News. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "alerted Senate committee chairmen" yesterday that he plans to act on comprehensive energy legislation in July. He asked them to include ideas that would deal with the Gulf oil spill, writing in a letter, "Among the actions I think we need to explore are ensuring that the oil companies are held accountable for their actions and the damages." Myanmar has reportedly acquired components for a nuclear weapons program, including technology for uranium enrichment and long-range missiles, according to a defector from the nation's Army. "The purpose is they really want a bomb. That is their main objective," said defector Sai Thein Win. And finally: Bill Clinton is a namesake. Journalist Laura Ling, who was imprisoned in North Korea for five months before Clinton helped win her freedom, has paid homage to the former President by giving "her new daughter his name. Sort of. Ling and husband, Iain Clayton, welcomed Li Jefferson Clayton into the world Wednesday evening." Jefferson is Clinton's middle name.
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"[T]he civil rights movement...has been co-opted by progressives."
-- Fox News' Glenn Beck, 6/03/10
VERSUS
"This is a moment, quite honestly, that I think we reclaim the civil rights movement."
-- Beck, 5/26/10
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