It would appear that 2010 is going to be the Year of the Idiot. The current controversy over Arizona’s new law concerning illegal aliens is downright idiotic. We induct into our Hall of Shame all those who propose this idiocy about the Arizona law. Proponents of the boycott continue to purposely and deliberately misrepresent the law by saying the law is profiling Mexicans. We say that this is deliberate because the law may be read any anyone, and numerous people have corrected these idiots. The ongoing list of idiots include the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Boston, Oakland, San Diego, St. Paul, Minn., West Hollywood, Fla., El Paso, and Boulder, Colo. In addition, the Denver Public Schools banned work-related travel to Arizona. One of the most idiotic acts was that of Assistant Superintendent Suzan Hebson in Highland Park, Illinois. She decided that the girls basketball team would not be allowed to attend a tournament in Arizona. The Highland Park High girls’ varsity basketball worked hard selling cookies to raise money to get to the Arizona tournament. The team won its first conference championship in 26 years that allows it to participate in the tournament. The girls are thus put in the middle of a political battle and pervert Assistant Superintendent (see Hall of Shame article on her). Miss Hebson said that the reason she canceled the trip was that the Arizona law is not aligned with our beliefs and values. Yet sending teams to China, which is anti-girl and has serious human rights issues, must be aligned with our beliefs and values. She was also worried whether or not the students will be safe. Safe? Sara Palin comments about the Highland Park decision: Many of these opponents have not even read the law. To read the actual law, view this PDF file. For a Summary of the law see the Fact Sheet. Byron York, Chief Political Correspondent for the Washington Examiner, lists the Top Ten Dumbest Things Said About the Arizona Immigration Law. Two of the stupidest comments were not surprisingly made by Cardinal Mahony and Seth Meyers.
1. The statute requires police officers to stop and question anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant. New York Times editorial 2. As the Arizona abomination makes clear, there is a desperate need for federal immigration action to stop the country from turning into a nation of vigilantes suspicious of anybody with dark skin. Dana Milbank, Washington Post 3. I can't imagine Arizonans now reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation. Cardinal Roger Mahony 4. This law creates a suspect class, based in part on ethnicity, considered guilty until they prove themselves innocent. It makes it harder for illegal immigrants to live without scrutiny but it also makes it harder for some American citizens to live without suspicion and humiliation. Americans are not accustomed to the command Your papers, please,' however politely delivered. The distinctly American response to such a request would be Go to hell,' and then See you in court.' Michael Gerson, Washington Post 5. In case the phrase lawful contact' makes it appear as if the police are authorized to act only if they observe an undocumented-looking person actually committing a crime, another section strips the statute of even that fig leaf of reassurance. A person is guilty of trespassing,' the law provides, by being present on any public or private land in this state' while lacking authorization to be in the United States a new crime of breathing while undocumented. Linda Greenhouse, New York Times (Greenhouse's trespassing allegation was based on an early version of the Arizona bill that was not the bill that became law. Her mistake was later removed from the Times site, but you can see original version here.) 6. Federal law treats illegal immigration as a civil violation; Arizona law criminalizes it by using the legally dubious mechanism of equating the mere presence of undocumented immigrants with trespassing. Washington Post editorial (This editorial makes the same mistake as Linda Greenhouse's trespassing column above.) 7. I am saddened today at the prospect of a young Hispanic immigrant in Arizona going to the grocery store and forgetting to bring her passport and immigration documents with her. I cannot be dispassionate about the fact that the very act of her being in the grocery store will soon be a crime in the state she lives in¦An immigrant who is charged with the crime of trespassing for simply being in a community without his papers on him is being told he is committing a crime by simply being. Bishop Desmond Tutu, Huffington Post (Tutu is perhaps relying on the erroneous information in the New York Times and Washington Post above.) 8. It harkens back to apartheid where all black people in South Africa were required to carry documents in order to move from one part of town to another. Cynthia Tucker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on ABC's This Week 9. You can imagine, if you are a Hispanic American in Arizona¦suddenly, if you don't have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you're going to be harassed. President Barack Obama 10. This week, Arizona signed the toughest illegal immigration law in the country which will allow police to demand identification papers from anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. I know there's some people in Arizona worried that Obama is acting like Hitler, but could we all agree that there's nothing more Nazi than saying Show me your papers?' There's never been a World War II movie that didn't include the line 'show me your papers.' It's their catchphrase. Every time someone says 'show me your papers,' Hitler's family gets a residual check. So heads up, Arizona; that's fascism. I know, I know, it's a dry fascism, but it's still fascism. Seth Myers, Saturday Night Live