Linda Bentley for Pulitzer Prize!
Don - all four articles today on the front page of my favorite newspaper are by Linda Bentley, who has once again shown that she is - by far - the best investigative reporter in Arizona.
Kudos, to you, too, for recognizing her talent and providing such a fine platform for it!
Michael I. Selzer, Ph.D. | Carefree
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Illegal immigration
Why is it okay for illegal immigrants to “not” be required to show identification for a traffic violation - or a more serious offense - but it’s not okay for me (or any other citizen of this country) to “not” be required to show identification for a traffic violation - or a more serious offense??
Why is it okay for illegal immigrants to go straight to the front of the line, before their fellow countrymen (who are going through the “legal” process of immigration, thus, depriving them or their moral and ethical right to become citizens of the United States), but it’s not okay for people to step in front of the line at a movie?
Why is it okay for illegal immigrants to obtain entitlements and benefits, illegally (stealing), at the grave expense of those citizens of this country – typically the poor and down trodden, and the overwhelming majority women and children (selective compassion is always convenient to further one’s own “hidden” agenda), but it’s not okay to rob a bank?
Double standards lead to the demands of preferential treatment (either from inferiority or superiority perspectives), and those who demand preferential treatment for one’s self or others - particularly when it’s race, color, or creed-based – are at their core, xenophobic, bigoted and racists.
The self-righteous, sanctimonious hypocrites thou doth protest too much.
Chad Connor | E-mail
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August 1, 2010
Mary Patrice Brown, Acting Counsel
Office of Professional Responsibility
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 3266
Washington, D.C. 20530
Re: Complaint against Mr. Eric H. Holder, Jr.
As a citizen of the United States of America, and a lawful resident of the state of Arizona, I am formally complaining against the Attorney General of the United States of America; Mr. Eric H. Holder, Jr. and for all intents and purposes, this letter shall serve as my formal complaint.
Mr. Holder has directed his office to willfully and deliberately obstruct Arizona State Law SB 1070. This action has placed the citizens of Arizona and all other citizens of the United States in great danger.
The plaintiff, the United States of America, by its U.S. Attorneys, brought civil action for declaratory and injunctive relief, and alleged as follows:
1. In the action, the United States seeks to declare invalid and preliminarily and permanently enjoin the enforcement of SB 1070, as amended and enacted by the state of Arizona. They claim SB 1070 is preempted by federal law and therefore violates the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.
2. They further claim the federal government has preeminent authority to regulate immigration matters by authority of the United States Constitution and numerous acts of Congress. These claims are made despite the fact that the Arizona Legislature enacted SB 1070 into state law with the full authority to do so.
The resulting injunction was brought with disregard to the dangers Arizona faces with open borders, compounded by the federal government’s nonfeasance with regard to adequate security along Arizona’s southern border with Mexico. The injunction granted by Honorable Judge Bolton on July 28, 2010 will accelerate the negative consequences on the state of Arizona brought about by unenforced illegal immigration policies.
Negligence, dereliction of duty and the injunction granted to the plaintiff has unnecessarily placed the state of Arizona in imminent danger. Furthermore, this exposure avails the people of Arizona to seek remedy by the powers granted in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 15 within the Constitution of the United States, granting that militias organized and armed by a state may act when the state has been invaded or is in imminent danger, because the federal government fails to act on a state’s request for assistance in protecting the state’s borders. This is clear under Article I, and plainly justified when the federal government has deliberately failed to protect Arizona against invasion as required by Article IV. I urge you to preempt this possibility by granting the following request:
I therefore demand that you investigate the actions of U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. regarding the injunction of S.B. 1070. I further request that you cause the immediate lifting of the stay of critical portions of SB 1070 granted on July 28, 2010.
Respectfully,
William B. Crawford | Scottsdale
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Dear Editor:
The coming election for Congressman John Shadegg's seat is an important one. There are a lot of candidates running. One is big with the gun crowd, one claims not to be a politician, one has a famous father, two are former Mayors of Paradise Valley and another claims the farthest right positions. There is a lot to think about, but the very best choice you can make is the one candidate who encompasses the best qualities of all the others: Jim Waring.
Jim Waring has been our district’s elected State Senator for the past 8 years. He won’t go to Washington knowing nothing about the system. He has a solid pro-life, pro-family, pro-second amendment, and fiscally conservative record. Dr. Waring is known as the hardest working elected official in Arizona. He is also known as honest, reliable and an incredibly decent person.
Doesn’t it make sense to vote for the one who isn’t selling the sizzle, but actually has the record and values you can trust? Vote for Jim Waring for Congress and do something good for all of us.
Dan and Kay Baxley | Cave Creek
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Clever job of doctoring photos?
Last Saturday's protest against SB 1070 was covered by the world's media. We were treated to scenes of a vociferous mob of flag-waving Hispanics (some were even legally in the USA!) anarchists, union members and committed communists. Some of the flags were American, but also there were Mexican and red hammer-and-sickle banners. Amazingly, the non-American flags are missing from the photos published in Sunday's issue of the Arizona [People's Democratic] Republic, Phoenix's moribund daily. I thought that this airbrushing tactic had disappeared with the fall of the USSR, but apparently I am mistaken.
Agenda, anyone?
J-P. A. Maldonado | Phoenix
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Life was not so complicated
By and large, “change” is a commendable thing, providing “change” somehow helps clarify the meaning of time honored meaning of words. Unfortunately, redefining (in some states, at least) “marriage” has resulted in changing the basic meaning of the term which has been the meaning since time immemorial – the union between and man and a woman.
I wonder when all this will stop. I am waiting for the animal rights protesters to enter the fray to claim “old dog Tray” is the bosom buddy (is that a fitting term to use?) of his pit bull owner and should be permitted to marry him. Since we have entered the Mad Hatter world where “words mean exactly what I choose them to mean, neither more nor less,” the transition should not be too difficult.
Years ago, when I was a federal prosecutor, the FBI handed me a case involving a rather unorthodox gentleman who was having an affair with his neighbor’s horse. I was never forced to try this case because the defendant moved to Alaska or Siberia, or somewhere. The FBI reported that, in any event, the “victim” was “in stable condition.”
Life was not so complicated in those days.
Ralph G. Smith | Cave Creek
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Do as I say ...
Dear Mr. Obama,
Regarding your statement on distributing wealth to those in need. I would like to stand in that line behind your wife. Let me know when she is finished with her summer vacation in Spain at a 5 star hotel with 40 of her closest friends at $2,500 per night per room for 60 rooms. I should like to be the one that benefits when she (finally) decides to adhere to the great wisdom impose on us to distribute out wealth to those less fortunate.
libens bona,
Thomas Loranger | Scottsdale
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California same sex marriage ruling on Prop 8
The family is a unique institution demanding universal protection. Our society is entitled to a proclamation of each person’s right to live in a traditional family without it being substituted by or confused with other forms or different institutions. Instead we have activist judges with a proclivity to elitist social engineering, making decisions that are purely and simply, experimental.
Not long ago New York’s highest court turned back a broad attempt by gay and lesbian couples across the state to win the right to marry and raise children. The majority decision, written by Judge Robert S. Smith, found that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples was based on rational social goals, primarily the protection and welfare of children. He further stated that “children benefit from being raised by two natural parents, a mother and a father, rather than by gay or lesbian couples.”
Same-sex marriage will make it impossible to deny any of a number of conceivable forms of sexually bonded groups – regardless of how unstable they might be and how harmful they might be to children. Is this path one we really wish to traverse?
With respectful and cordial best wishes, I remain,
Sincerely yours,
Paul Kokoski
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Mosque at ground zero
The powers that be in New York, in an effort to be politically correct, will allow the building of a huge mosque and Moslem center at Ground Zero. The Moslem imam has used our bill of rights which guarantees freedom of religion to hoodwink the system. The truth of the matter lies in understanding the modus operandi of the Moslem mind. They deal in abstractions and symbols. The mosque will represent the triumph of Islam over the capitalistic infidels, much like Phoenix rising in triumph out of the ashes. It will forever be a blot on the escutcheon of America and a constant reminder of that terrible day in September. New York is a large city with 5 large boroughs and lots of available space to build the mosque. Why must it be at the site of such a terrible disaster? It is to be a constant reminder of their triumph. We have not prevented the construction of mosques in spite of the fact that Moslem countries do not allow the construction of temples or churches in their country, but we should draw the line at a mosque being built over the ashes of 4,000 innocent victims of radical Islam.
Frank J. Laudonio, M.D. | Scottsdale
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The Gardens at Carefree Town Center
I am writing you again on how shoddy "The Gardens at Carefree Town Center' now look. They always looked beautiful before the council eliminated the position of Jeanette Summers. Now one sees dead plants, plants that need to be trimmed and plants that have been butchered by someone who does not know what they are doing. It is a shame to see what has happened to the Gardens. I was told it was a cost cutting measure, but the cost of replacing all the dead plants, cleaning up the dead plant material lying around on the ground and trying to save what is left of the gardens will far outweigh the money the town saved.
The Gardens never looked this bad when Jeanette was here.
Pete Filiatrault aka "The Ghost"
"Friends of Agua Caliente" Roy Drachman Agua Caliente Park
Co Founder & Treasurer | Tucson
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Not council’s finest hour
The Town of Cave Creek’s Council meeting on Monday, Aug. 2 was a donnybrook – and it shouldn’t have been.
Agenda item 6 was a request for a General Plan Amendment. When considering a GPA, the owner of the property is immaterial. The property’s ultimate use is irrelevant. It’s a question of land use. There seemed to be only two council members who understood the fundamentals of the process for considering such a request.
Council members focused questions on the owner’s background and intended use of the property. Even council was swept up in the irrelevancy, responding to questions of a private agreement between property owners and whether an SUP was required. And from this misguided line of questioning the discussion degenerated into backbiting and personal attacks on fellow council members.
The voters of Cave Creek expect council members to execute their responsibility with professionalism and knowledge of the issues. I suggest the mayor take a couple of council members out back of town hall for a remedial lesson in good governance.
This was not council’s finest hour.
Reg Monachino | Cave Creek
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Contact ads
The governments of developing countries are increasingly forbidding professional prostitution, but simultaneously they are furthering the free prostitution of our daughters by pushing them to try sex as from school age, by providing them with preservatives and contraceptives and by making the purchase of the “day after “ abortion pill and abortion very easy. Is it by chance more worthy to offer oneself free of charge to one’s fellow student or one’s colleague at work? Money does not change the fact. Although some are successful with the business of selling their bodies, others show themselves half naked in the street, their clothes not differing from those of the prostitutes who seek clients having shed most of their garments and who charge for their services.
Eva N. Ferraz | Barcelona, Spain
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