According to this report in the Telegraph:
Will this trigger an all-out economic war between the City of Los Angeles and the State of Arizona? How will the Governator of the State of California respond? What comes next? When will the cowboys stand down from their game of brinksmanship?
Los Angeles receives about 25 per cent of its power from Arizona, meaning a quarter of America's second largest city could be plunged into darkness. Politicians in the city voted last week to impose a boycott on Arizona which will affect about $8 million (£5.3 million) worth of contracts with the state. City officials will also stop travelling to Arizona.
In response an Arizona utility commissioner raised the prospect of the state's utility companies cutting Los Angeles off. In a letter to the city Arizona Corporation Commission member Gary Pierce said: "If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation.
"I am confident that Arizona's utilities would be happy to take those electrons off your hands.”
The electricity comes from coal-fired power plants in northern Arizona, a nuclear power plant outside Phoenix, and two hydroelectric plants on the Colorado River.
Within days after the Times Square bomber was arrested, Lieberman Preys on Voter Fears and Proposes Law to Preemptively Strip Citizenship from Terror Suspects. Demagoguery comes cheap and easy when the suspect is a failed terrorist who garners no sympathy (but is still entitled to all rights of due process as stated in the Constitution). How about poor and defenseless children? Shall we strip them of their rights too? This is the goal of Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce (R-Mesa) who wants to pass new legislation:
Let me make this perfectly clear: Citizenship is a right, not merely a privilege, and anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot, a bigot and a fascist. Lets just say I have a dog in this fight.
[Pearce], the author of Arizona’s immigration law, has been writing to some of his constituents about what he plans to accomplish next.
In e-mails obtained by CBS 5 News, Pearce said he intends to push for a bill that would enable Arizona to no longer grant citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants born on U.S. soil.
Pearce wrote in one e-mail: "I also intend to push for an Arizona bill that would refuse to accept or issue a birth certificate that recognizes citizenship to those born to illegal aliens, unless one parent is a citizen."
[Please note: Emails to and from Pearce that were originally posted on the Internet by CBS 5 News have been scrambled and are no longer readable]
One of the more remarkable e-mails sent to a list of supporters detailed his next steps. The e-mail, several pages long, includes articles critical of the 14th Amendment, which gives babies born on U.S. soil automatic citizenship.
In response, Pearce sent two e-mails to CBS 5 News that contain some of the reasoning he used to conclude that children of illegal immigrants should not be granted citizenship. He also said he's disappointed when people think he's mean spirited because he stands for America. Pearce said his new idea is not only legal but it's also constitutional.
Sometime early in the 20th Century, between the years 1900 and 1904, my great-grandfather went on sabbatical from his teaching post to spend a year in Amerika. My maternal grandmother was born in Philadelphia during the year of his sabbatical. Fourteen years later, she returned to Amerika as automatic citizen. Those ancestors who stayed in Europe perished in the Holocaust, including my great-grandfather. If it were not for the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, there is a chance I would not be here today writing this post.
I have heard these stories in the news, I believe that it was in the news portion of the Tom Joyner Morning Show. The nutjob in Arizona conceded the next day that he has no authority to shut of electricity to LA. Of course, that doesn't mean that he wouldn't if he could!
ReplyDeletePearce is an idiot. Arizona can't amend the U.S. Consitution. As you so astutely put it, ctizenship is a right under the Constitution. Arizona can't decline to give what it has never had the autority to bestow. States don't confer citizenship, that's done at the federal level. Pearce is the village idiot; I think that Arizona has more than its fair share. The man needs a kleeper or at least competent staff to stop him from sounding like the ignorant, mean spirited fool that he is.
I love your personal perspective on the immigration issue and you most certainly do have a dog in this fight. I am glad for that sabbatical; to never have met you would have indeed been a great loss.
Oh how quickly we forget that we are largely a country of people descended from non-citizens.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt Native Americans rightly perceived our fore-parents to be illegal aliens when first we presumed to arrive.
Sheria, thank you for your comment. It is so helpful having a great legal mind in our midst to puncture the arrogance of idiots in such a succinct way. The people who cook up these violations of constitutional law, ethics, and common decency bring dishonor to our ancestors who struggled to make this country fulfill a higher purpose.
ReplyDeleteOften I feel disheartened, even demoralized at times, by the mean-spirited hypocrisy that surrounds us. What remains unspoken: Our economy runs on an underclass of cheap labor, and the market for immigrant labor is driven by business interests that are always in search of people willing to work harder and cheaper. Then this same pool of cheap labor is turned into a scapegoat for our social problems, and there are always demagogues willing to exploit the angry discontents of civilization. I call this a classic example of victim blame, something our society does extraordinarily well.
Everyday, I remind myself: Progress in equality and human rights is fragile at best. There are liars in public places who believe their lies, and there are others who dissemble to disguise their real purpose. Sometimes I wonder whom to fear more. Bloggingdino calls them ‘ahistorical.’ Captain Fogg has another phrase: ‘Late Weimar.’ Whatever we call it, we tremble with the same fear.
Sheria, we love you!
Good point, Squid, my compatriot cephalopod. All this, of course, is easily rationalized under the guise of Manifest Destiny and revisionist history.
ReplyDeleteThis is what I mean: Deval Patrick: Republicans In DC 'Almost At The Level Of Sedition.' This captures my exact thoughts and feelings on what we have witnessed since the presidential election. Democracy, as I have known it through my adult life, is on life support ... maybe even terminal.
ReplyDelete"Will this trigger an all-out economic war between the City of Los Angeles and the State of Arizona?"
ReplyDeleteJust Keep this in mind: Gross domestic product (2008- last full year that I could find statistics for):
Arizona: $210,235,000
Los Angeles: $717,884,000
Yes, L.A. has an economy well over three times the size of Arizona's. How do you think that "economic war" will turn out?
I deleted this comment in 'Comment Moderation' because I didn't want to waste time on it. On second thought, perhaps it is useful to share this comment with everyone as a exemplar of denial and selective reading comprehension:
ReplyDeleteAnonymous has left a new comment on your post "AMERICAN JACKBOOTS ON THE MARCH":
I don't think Arizona was threatening to cut off LA - they were saying that if LA was to boycott the state, they should go all the way and not use their electricity either.
I know you like the story the other way, but that's the truth.
Posted by Anonymous to THE SWASH ZONE at 11:33 PM, May 25, 2010
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Next time, I'll spare my fellow Swash Zoners and use the 'Reject' button.
Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea it was this badly covered (but I certainly should have, shouldn't I?).
What a great blog.
May I blogroll you?
S
A British news source is covering this story, but not the MSM within these United States of Amerika?
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