Arizona the most racist state in the Union! YES by 78% on Prop. 100 - No bail for illegal immigrants YES by 73% on Prop. 102 - No punitive damage for illegal immigrants in lawsuits YES by 74% on Prop. 103 - English as state's official language YES by 72% on Prop. 300 - Limit education services for illegal immigrants Source Arizona Republic Nov 8, 2006 "November 2006 Election" Prop. 100 - No bail for illegal immigrants YES 848,577 77.9 % NO 241,308 22.1 % Prop. 102 - No punitive damage for illegal immigrants in lawsuits YES 644,733 73.0 % NO 232,566 27.0 % Prop. 103 - English as state's official language YES 811,929 74.4 % NO 279,925 25.6 % Prop. 105 - Preserve 43,000 acres of state trust lands YES 299,847 28.8 % NO 741,151 71.2 % Prop. 106 - Preserve 694,000 acres of state trust lands YES 507,417 48.4 % NO 541,477 51.6 % Prop. 107 - Ban same-sex marriage YES 527,492 48.6 % NO 558,681 51.4 % Prop. 200 - $1 million lottery for voters YES 361,667 33.5 % NO 716,884 66.5 % Prop. 201 - Ban smoking in restaurants, bars YES 593,872 54.1 % NO 504,212 45.9 % Prop. 202 - Raise minimum wage YES 719,700 65.7 % NO 376,340 34.3 % Prop. 204 - Ban small cages for pigs, calves YES 667,002 61.5 % NO 418,237 38.5 % Prop. 206 - Ban smoking in restaurants, not bars YES 464,677 42.6 % NO 625,890 57.4 % Prop. 300 - Limit education services for illegal immigrants YES 772,294 71.7 % NO 305,097 28.3 %

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Agents with the U.S. Border Patrol have renewed optimism about installing permanent checkpoints on the Arizona-Mexico border now that Rep. Jim Kolbe is out of the picture.

Since 1999, Congress has withheld funding for permanent inspection stations in the agency's Tucson sector. Since 2002, the checkpoints in the sector have had to move at least every two weeks, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Kolbe opposes permanent checkpoints, arguing that they are ineffective because smugglers know where they are. But Kolbe is leaving office after 21 years in the U.S. House.

Now, the Arizona delegation's most experienced remaining member, Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, supports permanent checkpoints.

"Hopefully, we can get these permanent checkpoints and have an impact on what's coming from the border," Tucson sector spokesman Jess Rodriguez said, adding that permanent checkpoints allow agents to stop illegal immigrants more safely and efficiently.

There are 33 permanent checkpoints on highways along the border in Texas, New Mexico and California, but none in the Tucson sector, which operates six temporary checkpoints.

In June 2005, Kolbe and Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Kentucky, requested the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General investigate whether the Tucson sector was flouting federal law prohibiting them from using permanent checkpoints.

While the inspector general's report concluded that the Tucson sector was sidestepping the law, the report also found that the sector has been hampered by the absence of such checkpoints.

"A checkpoint is ineffective unless you can man it 24/7," Tucson sector chief Michael Nicely said in February. "I don't believe for a moment we can have the success we want to have here in Arizona without the permanent checkpoints."

The earliest permanent checkpoints in the Tucson sector could be installed would be fiscal year 2008. That's because permanent checkpoints are prohibited in appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2007, which began Oct. 1.

While Kyl said he will do his best to change the restrictions, he said it won't be his top priority.

Kolbe's replacement, Democrat Gabrielle Giffords, said she plans to support the restrictions on permanent checkpoints. Constituents in Santa Cruz and Cochise counties have complained about delays the checkpoints cause, she said.

The local chapter of the Border Patrol's union, the National Border Patrol Council, said a combination of permanent and roving checkpoints would be ideal.

But more importantly, agents want legislators to leave decisions to Border Patrol officials, said Mike Albon, spokesman for the council's Local 2544.

"The Border Patrol should run the Border Patrol - not some congressman whose constituents don't like to be stopped on the highways," he said.

i live in arizona, and i'm hispanic, and, since arizona is a part of the united states, i agree that english should be the official language of the state. which language is used doesn't make a person racist; however, the *type* of language used does.
though i was born and raised in arizona, the most racist places i've ever been to were in the midwest where individual cultures continue to become less integrated and more isolated from one another. i have worked non-profit for almost a decade, and i've never seen communities so cut off from one another than i did in my time spent in that part of the country. just as many other states in the union, arizona has hidden hate groups, and i've been privy to racism here myself (as well as in the midwest), but i feel much safer and accepted in a community that embraces cultural diversity than i do in a place where people consistently bully one another for being different, for being white, for being mexican, for being gay, etc.
by and large, the united states is in a very sad state of affairs on a social level. there is so much racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, heterosexism, and homophobia that it is shameful and embarrassing to know that this is the image we project to the international community. i hope our socialization will improve in the future, and i think embracing diversity is the only way for that to happen.
voting isn't always accurate and doesn't take into account people who may feel dejected or hopeless about their voting system. i have worked the polls, and, let me tell you, it is not pretty. they are sloppy, and it's very frightening to know, firsthand, how our polls are run.
dragoons, vigilantes, white supremacists, people who don't understand the special relationship the u.s. has with mexico, and people who think they are seeking out justice for their country are the people who vote for so-called racist legislation, but not me.

there was a disclaimer listed at the top of this post that said,

"Los Angeles IMC strives to provide both a grassroots media resource as well as a forum for people to contribute to a meaningful discussion about local issues. Please, when posting comments, be respectful of others and ignore those trying to interrupt or discourage meaningful discourse."

this is my local issue, los angeles. to those of you who do not reside in arizona, i would like you to please consider that phoenix doesn't make up the whole of arizona, and tucson is a socially progressive city. i was disappointed in the last election, but when you look at the red and blue, you don't generally find tucson in the red.

a shift in what is considered to be respectful is something i hope will occur in the next ten years, but my hopes are low. there is such an alfa-male perspective in the united states that requires domination in all areas of our lives as citizens, as women, as minorities, and it's quite sickening. once the dominant culture learns how to relinquish some of that privileged and provide a little more tact in dealing with other socioeconomic groups, then i think we will be able to see a palpable difference, but, until then, it will be an uphill struggle for cooperation and harmony on all sides.

As a Californian camping in Arizona, I noticed a few things.
First, the huge landowners own the infrastructure to the point that major state highways are built to accommodate the ranchers as in having them constructed to deny egress from the public road save for exits going into gate check points. This continues on until the national forests are reached.
Everyone wears a hat, it seems. Indoors.
Owners, or those driving new trucks, wear Black felt cowboy hats. 10 gal? Seems a bit small but I'm just a straw hat kind of cowboy.
Workers wear white and the native Americans live in a third class limbo under what appears to be crushing poverty, selling rugs, beads and anything else they can to scratch a living from their reservations.
But you sure as hell can say it's a beautiful land with a riot of cactus and desert vegetation in the spring, like a devil's tossed salad of rock and furious blossoming growth.
At least near Superior, in the national forests.

.....there's just something about the desert southwest that appeals to the soul.....it's clean.....and it's quiet....it has its own unique charm