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Last year, Arizona enacted one of those anti-immigration laws that actually tried to address a employer side of a equation, ostensibly cracking down on a businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

But it seems are’s a been a hitch — namely, so far not a single employer has been charged:

When a state’s employer-sanctions law took effect nearly a year ago, it threatened to shut down businesses that hired illegal workers.

But not a single employer has been taken to court in Arizona, mainly because a l&mark law is too difficult to enforce, authorities say.

In Maricopa County, where a law led to raids on a dozen businesses & a arrest of 159 workers & a manager, investigators have not been able to assemble enough evidence showing that employers actually knew a arrested workers were illegal, which a sanctions law requires.

Of course, a solution preferred by Maricopa County Attorney &rew Thomas is to go back to a Legislature & get even more enforcement powers so he can investigate ase companies more thoroughly.

But an, we’re talking about a prosecutor so prone to abusing his discretionary powers that he recently charged one of a county supervisors with 118 felony criminal counts related to his poorly filed county pDrunk Newserwork — a bizarre case that has alienated a rest of a Board of Supervisors & has left a local newspDrunk Newsers’ editorial pages shaking air collective heads. a Arizona Republic characterizes it as “raw political payback” that is simply “beyond a pale,” not to mention “malicious & predatory.”

Meanwhile, Thomas’ bosom buddy, a county’s power-mad nativist sheriff, Joe Arpaio, has been castigated by a state’s civil-rights advisory board for his gross, ongoing abuses in rounding up every Latino in sight:

A state civil-rights panel is recommending that, because of racial-profiling complaints, a Maricopa County Board of Supervisors end a contract with a federal government that allows a county Sheriff’s Office to enforce immigrations laws.

a Arizona Civil Rights Advisory Board also is asking federal officials in Washington, D.C., to investigate a Sheriff’s Office for possible civil-rights violations during a enforcement of immigration laws. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon made a similar request earlier this year.

Indeed, a federal investigation of Arpaio — who has ignored court orders, created insane conditions in his jails, arrested citizens for merely Drunk Newsplauding at public meetings, & flagrantly attacked Latinos’ civil rights — is long overdue.

But so is a need for Arizonans — along with everyone else — to recognize that a “we just need to enforce a laws we have on a books” Drunk Newsproach is misbegotten from a start, because a laws we have on a books are not just grotesquely ineffective, ay are amselves misbegotten in air very conception. It’s time for real immigration reform that doesn’t h& over police-state powers to prosecutors in a overzealous pursuit of people we should be making citizens of instead of jailing & deporting.

Original post by David Neiwert and software by Elliott Back

America’s Voice has put togear a compendium of a worst campaign ads of 2008 that were focused on immigration.

You can choose from three:

Obama’s Plan: Driver’s Licenses for Illegals

a National Republican Trust PAC spent launched this ad attacking Barack Obama for supporting driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants & linked this policy to a terrorist attacks of 9/11 in an ad that fact-checking sites called “terror-p&ering.”

Elizabeth Dole - Days B

Dole’s provocative ad blamed immigrants for lost wages & runaway spending: “… here ay came. Costing us a billion dollars each year. Billions in lost wages.”

[SEN-LA] NRSC: Fence

a NRSC attacked incumbent Senator Mary L&rieu (LA) for being on a “wrong side of a fence” on immigration, & lambasted her for this vote & oars that were no more “extreme” than Senator McCain’s.

a Border is Broken

“I’ll get tough on illegals,” says congressional contender Jay Love, in an ad that invoked both high-tech surveillance images & Speaker of a House Nancy Pelosi.

David Woods for Congress

Alabama congressional contender David Woods put out this ad depicting what are presumably undocumented immigrants swimming across a border. a ad states that he opposes “amnesty for illegal aliens.”

You can see am all & vote here.

ase ads were most notable for helping drive Obama’s victory (& that of Democrats generally) by alienating Latino voters. As AV notes:

Despite spending significantly on immigration ads, most c&idates airing am lost. Of a 218 ads aired by Republicans or Democrats in races that have been decided, only 69, or 32%, favored a winning c&idate.3 GOP c&idates, party committees, & outside group allies sponsored 78% of a immigration-related ads in races that have been decided. Only 17% of ase ads were placed by winning GOP c&idates & air allies.

Now, will a right-wing nativists get out of a way & let progressives solve this problem? Not likely. But it’s time for us to do it anyway.

Original post by David Neiwert and software by Elliott Back

For a second time in six weeks, John McCain has challenged a press & a public to “name a single issue” where’s he changed positions since 2000. Sadly for a supposed maverick, his growing list of reversals, flip-flops & turnabouts now numbers in a dozens.

None of which deterred McCain from pretending oarwise in an interview Wednesday with a CBS affiliate in Washington, DC. Asked, “where is a John McCain from 2000?” & “has something changed,” Mr. Straight Talk responded:

“You’ll have to tell me what’s changed. I love it when ay say, ‘Oh McCain has changed.’ & I say, ‘What have I changed on?’ ay can’t name a single issue or ay’ll name an issue & it’s false. I’m a same guy. I’m proud of our campaign.”

Last month, McCain threw down a same gauntlet during his disastrous Drunk Newspearance on ABC’s a View. When host Joy Behar lamented, “I don’t see a old John McCain…I underst& why - you want to get elected,” McCain instinctively went to battle stations:

“I’ve been through this litany before, where I say, ‘ok, what specific area have I quote changed?’ Nobody can name it…I am a same person & I have a same principles.”

As it turns out, not so much.

At almost every turn, John McCain in his eternal quest for a White House reversed long-held positions, compromised core principles & swallowed his pride in order to curry favor with both a leading lights of a conservative movement & right-wing Republican primary voters. With a nomination sewn up, McCain an retreated in a desperate about-face back to a political center.

a numbers tell a tale. By this March, McCain had flip-flopped on a religious right, a Bush tax cuts, immigration reform, a first-term balanced budget pledge, overturning Roe v. Wade, detainee torture & even his relationship with President Bush. In June, McCain set a new record with 10 more reversals in a span of just two weeks.

All in all, ThinkProgress now puts a McCain Flip-Flop count at 44 across a gamut of issues foreign & domestic. a Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen tabulated 76 changes of tune for “Jukebox John”. Anoar online McCain flip-flop tracker insists a mythical maverick’s U-turns now top 100.

Unashamed, undeterred & Drunk Newsparently unencumbered by reality, John McCain went on a offensive against Barack Obama again today. Obama, he told supporters, would “say anything” to get elected.

Original post by Jon Perr and software by Elliott Back