Politics, prisons and the AZ legislature's priorities.

From the political playbooks of Senators Ron Gould and Russ Pearce and Rep John Kavanagh: This is largely why our state spends so much more on our people's incarceration and detention than on children's education...

St Patrick's Day: Immigration Bill Teach-in at the Capitol.

I actually missed all the protests myself, today - the students and teachers at the capitol and the arrest of George Bush - so I got my fix down at ASU's Taylor Mall on 1st St. - that's looking North towards my place past Roosevelt.

A cop came by as I was wrapping it up - he was rolling around one of those silly motorized unicycle things they stand on (I'd fall down laughing if they actually chased me down in one - except that they'd probably shoot me for it. I think the cops who use their weapons the most tend to be the laziest). He took in my message, my camera, and my costume for a moment, admonished me to be sure to stay off of ASU property with a smile, and left me to carry on.

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No wonder we need to add another 5,000 state prison beds - they're for the teachers, nurses, and children who defy the state. This is what happens when you give the bad guys an inch in the AZ Legislature - they want it ALL for themselves and their kin at the expense of the rest of us. I just want to go into the Senate during the pledge of allegiance or prayer opening each session and scream at the top of my lungs : "What is wrong with you people?!!!"


But they'd just lock me up and order a Rule 11 Hearing on the grounds I might shoot someone (I'm not the crazy one, I can assure you. Nor do I own a gun). This legislature has gone insane and very few people seem to notice it these days - there are 26 anti-immigrant bills pending: Go to Border Action Network to read them and act. This post addresses only four of them. Where are the armies of resistance - did everyone just go back to their lives and hope the whole SB1070 thing would blow over soon?


If a different person screamed at the legislature every day, they'd have a much harder time burying me - I'd volunteer to be the first. Or we could be more discreet (and maybe live to fight another day)- we could each just go in quietly with a t-shirt that says: "FUCK AZ FASCISM!" that we prominently display to the Senate floor once inside...they'll quickly ban EVERYONE from committees and sessions to prevent anyone from expressing their disgust and outrage at their conduct.



My hopes for overthrowing the state government are no doubt unrealistic; this is Arizona, after all, not Libya, where people will fight and die for their freedom and rights while we stand impotently by, chastising the man murdering them. There's only a handful of people showing up to protest Pearce et al each day anymore - we're still probably outnumbered by the bad guys' lobbyists on the inside. Never mind that we've plunged deep into a moral abyss here at their direction.


The vast majority of these people do not represent me, I assure you. Mine are relatively cool, though, because I live among artists, anarchists, and other poor people. We kind of get it, as a community.


You know what this state would do if we took over the AZ Senate like people in other states are taking back their Houses? Brewer would make Gaddafi seem pretty tame in squashing a real rebellion here...which is maybe what people voting for those fascists need to see, up close: blood in the streets, before giving her power to constitute her own little army of white supremacists to call out on us...


They sure don't care about bodies in the desert, here - or the children in the schools, young parents dying without health care, or any of the rest of us, for that matter. It's the Me Party Senate of Russ Pearce.

I really hope Mesa recalls that mean SOB they empowered to lead this pack of mad lemmings they call Republicans in this state. Too bad Fountain Hills doesn't have enough of a collective political clue or heart to recall John Kavanagh - he must be working out okay for enough of them, though I know there sure are families suffering there. Just try to be a single parent or live on a teacher's salary there.


That guy doesn't think our taxes should be used to cover health insurance for "these people". He knows damn well the people he's condemned to die are taxpayers, too. No one does anything in Arizona without paying the state their sales taxes - they're shifting as much as possible off the rich that way, on to the poor, while making the middle class think that it's being bled dry by the shiftless bodies populating our AHCCCS rolls, and that the feds are into socialism (hardly!)...


That sales tax last year was passed by voters on the claim that it would help spare education and other cuts, by the way. Advocates for the poor were even begging us to do so in order to save their programs, despite the negative impact the tax itself would have on so many families already on the edge. Now look at where we're at: she's cutting our programs despite taking more money from us, and now she's trying to lower business taxes despite the budget crunch. (It's part of the plan to make the tax shift shuffle permanent.)


Brewer's really got her priorities for The People straight - she'll dump $20,000/person per year to incarcerate drug and property offenders who we can't even keep safe inside, but she won't fund the schools adequately or support neighborhood programs that are key to protecting kids from being both victimized and criminalized in the first place. That's not a difficult connection to make - it would also be consistent with the trends towards evidence-based practice standards across the judiciary and in corrections. The people spending a billion dollars a year of our tax dollars on state prisons and extensive community surveillance aren't paying attention to outcomes of research or the consequences of the legislation they push on the public, though - they just twist data to justify pursuing their objectives. (which are apparently not really to prevent crime - just to punish it. Somehow that doesn't make me feel any safer knowing they're in charge).


As I said earlier: "What is wrong with you people?!!"


It's really quite disturbing that Kavanagh chairs the Appropriations Committee - the problem in our legislature won't be alleviated just by getting rid of Russ Pearce (though it's a good start). Who does he think "these people" are on AHCCCS, anyway? I've lived in Fountain Hills, and know a few good people there still: unless they do something about their elected representatives, they're hurting themselves and their kids, too.


AHCCCS patients aren't just our neighbors, they're OUR LOVED ONES - they're US - when we get leukemia, can't work, have to re-finance our homes and go bankrupt because the Republicans in Congress are determined to undo employer health care mandates. How can anyone raking in less than $250,000/year buy into what these people are up to?


You wouldn't know it by the Tea Partiers' promotions of their own entitlement and privilege while depriving others of any, but very few of the citizens of Fountain Hills can actually withstand that kind of economic devastation. Of course, our legislators and good sheriff needn't worry about that because they're pretty well taken care of. The rest of us need a safety net held by the entire community, though, when struck by disaster: no less so when that disaster is cancer or Hepatitis C than when it's an earthquake, tsunami, or hurricane. That's when people can be at their best.


It's a natural response for people to extend themselves when suffering is visible...if it hits home, particularly. My mom's whole town - Fountain Hills - has organized around helping her get to her chemo and radiation treatments in the next few weeks. Her illness hasn't burdened the people who love her - it's given us all a chance to give back, and makes us stop to take the time to be present in the day.


Why would Kavanagh want to discourage that impulse - it's what makes us better people. Compassion and generosity of that kind helps build stronger, more resilient, and less crime-ridden communities, too. Invest in more of that, instead of the vitriol that people like these guys spew, and we can start closing down the prisons and bringing people back home.


They are "our people", you know - like it or not. Many are, anyway - not the sociopaths who go out of their way to harm others, but the ordinary Americans who got convicted of breaking a law - not all those in prison are really guilty, you know. Similarly, not all the guilty are in prison - remember that. Some of them actually make the laws.


My mom's a retired teacher, by the way, who would have never turned in a child for being undocumented. This legislature will criminalize people like her if they can, and steal our health insurance and retirement benefits for their own pet projects - like suing the federal government (i.e. the American People - us TAXPAYERS you're so valiantly championing in our House and Senate buildings every day.)

So what about "Boycott Arizona!" does the rest of this country not understand, anyway? We could use your help out here, America. Especially you musicians and artists - what's the deal with coming to the Dodge in Phoenix, anyway: look at these people! If you think you're progressive and you're coming here to perform, you are selling our people OUT!


Get on with the Boycott, tell these people you're canceling conferences and vacations and performances here because our fascism is growing beyond SB1070 (give them an inch and they'll take your child here), and be serious about the damage you do! These legislators are criminalizing and killing people out here - don't you get it? You could be next, too - your state lawmakers may well be modeling your next laws after these below! Look at Georgia! (not surprisingly, they neglect and abuse their prisoners, too. ) Tell them you're supporting the workers of Wisconsin, instead of businesses here.

PLEASE SEND HELP!!!

And stay tuned to blogs like Fires Never Extinguished, O'odham Solidarity Across Borders , Censored News, Survival Solidarity, Resistance to SB1070, and Chaparral Respects No Borders for the stories from the resistance to this fascist beast in the Deep Southwest that you seldom ever Google. We don't just want reforms. We want revolution and a sane, decent world where people are taken care of when they get ill instead of being imprisoned for being no more than a nuisance.

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I know a lot of the folks going to this thing, but we didn't conspire about this post, and my promoting their event here isn't suggesting that anyone affiliated with Promise Arizona agrees to any of the above editorial. I take full responsibility for what I put up here...

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Anti-Immigration Bill Teach-In
Thursday, March 17 · 12:00pm - 3:00pm


Arizona State Capitol
(Wesley Bolin memorial across the street from the flagpole)
1700 West Washington St. / Phoenix, AZ


Promise Arizona


Promise Arizona We're organizing this teach in to ensure that members of our community understand the process and are equipped to with the knowledge needed to fight against these laws! *Please wear your PAZ t-shirts (or white t-shirts)

If you can't make it, call your senators and tell them to vote no on laws that will attack our families and economy!

English: 866-794-6052
...Spanish: 866-891-0358


· SB1611- “Immigration Omnibus” or the “Throwing Arizona Under-the-Bus” bill –Sponsored by Senator Russell Pearce, this bill is a 30-page, measure requiring business owners, police officers, apartment renters, school employees, and others to verify citizenship, notify immigration and in some cases, failure to do so could result in loss of licenses, certification or imprisonment.

· SB1308 and 1309 – “Eroding Children’s Futures and the Constitution” bills. Two bills introduced by Senator Ron Gould to create a new Arizona Citizenship that excludes children born to parents in the U.S. without immigration authorization. The bills are an attempt to ignite a national legal battle challenging the 14th amendment of the Constitution’s recognition of birthright citizenship.

· SB1405 –“Turning Health Providers into Health Deniers” bill. This bill introduced by Senator Steve Smith would require hospital employees to verify the citizenship of people seeking emergency and non-emergency medical attention and to notify immigration agents if someone cannot prove they are authorized to be in the U.S.
· SB 1407 - “Schools as Immigration Checkpoints” Requires the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to collect data from school districts on populations of students who are enrolled and who cannot prove lawful residence in the United States (U.S.) Schools who fail to comply would result in loss of funding.

Arizona's criminalization of kindness.

AZ State Capitol / Wes Bolin Plaza
Phoenix: February, 2011.

Yesterday the legislature found $5 million for "border security" in a non-border county while still maintaining that we don't have the $1.4 million necessary to restore AHCCCS transplant funding this year. Even the Arizona Republic is appalled - and that's saying a lot. People like Pearce and Kavanagh have been leading the citizens of this state to a collective spiritual death like pied pipers for too long; it's not the "criminal aliens" we have to fear - it's the home-grown terrorists we put into the legislature who endanger what is dear to us the most: our children. We are teaching them to justify cruelty to their fellow beings.


I can't comprehend the sheer brutality of the Arizona state legislature - when are the voters in this state going to wake up? Those people are hardly working in our people's best interests - if they're willing to kill Francisco Felix and coach Tiffany Tate because the chances we can save their lives don't make the expense worth it (according to Rep. John Kavanagh), they'll do the same to the rest of us when the time comes.

The dying are taxpayers too: AZ Families deserve AHCCCS.
AZ State Capitol / Wes Bolin Plaza
Phoenix: February, 2011.

The average citizen here may not be so ill-intended, but they're following their leaders like sheep these days - some with great enthusiasm, in fact - and it's having devastating consequences. The rest of the world is fighting for their freedom, while we're being ground down by more a oppressive government in Arizona at an alarming rate. The Tea Party is hardly about to protect us from tyrrany - they're not just innocent bystanders - they're among the chief perpetrators.


The claim "we can't afford it" when it comes to the People's needs holds no water in Arizona - the elite have effectively redirected resources from the poor to their own pockets through tax code changes and re-appropriations. There's plenty of money to expand the prison system, which we'll be needing to do soon since the state has one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the nation, and it's not getting better. Push even the best families to desperation and cancel their kids' or mother's health insurance, and you'll find economic crime go up for sure. Fortunately, the relationship between crime and poverty works the other way, too.


Apparently the AZ legislature doesn't know or care about how to reduce crime, though - the concept of evidence-based practice in the criminal justice profession has about 20 more years of catching up to do in Arizona, as we do in the areas of public health and mental health services out here (we're incarcerating ten mentally ill people for every one we hospitalize for their psychiatric symptoms - and when we do that they tend to be even further neglected and abused). This regressive, repressive state is more about social control and punishing the poor and deviant (that's me) than ever, in fact - they seem to seek vengeance and power throguh of their exercises of "justice", not community-building, healing for victims, or societal transformation.

AZ State Capitol / Wes Bolin Plaza
Phoenix: February, 2011.

The average citizen here may not be so ill-intended, but they're following their leaders like sheep these days - some with great enthusiasm, in fact - and it's having devastating consequences. The rest of the world is fighting for their freedom, while we're being ground down by more a oppressive government in Arizona at an alarming rate. The Tea Party is hardly about to protect us from tyrrany - they're not just innocent bystanders - they're among the chief perpetrators.


Don't underestimate the power of racism, xenophobia, and fear to drive policy and funding priorities in this soul-sick place. All aid to people who can't provide documentation of their state-legitimized presence in Arizona is being criminalized at a rapid pace by Russ Pearce's Me Party Senate: from educators to health care providers to ordinary citizens, we're all expected to turn our Latino neighbors in as suspects for the police to clear before we extend a hand.


AZ State Capitol / Wes Bolin Plaza
Phoenix: March, 2011.


I can only imagine what a delightful bunch of kids Arizona's voting public is raising to lead us into the future. If you're a person of color here and in dire straits (or even just doing your job) look for Sheriff Joe's goons to come your way - and hope they don't mistakenly arrest you - or beat or kill you once you're taken prisoner. Give me an "anchor baby" from Mexico over a self-interested sociopath descended from Anglo immigrants any day - at least those children and their parents would have the courage to stop at the side of the road and help my family if we were in trouble...and they don't tend to grow up to be Nazis.

AZ State Senator Russell Pearce's son, Joshua, in a mugshot.
That's a neo-Nazi tattoo he sports...is it any wonder?

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Arizona Senate Committee Wastes Time and Resources on Misguided Legislation
Wednesday, February 23 2011 14:03 Legislators target all Arizonans with six sweeping measures instead of addressing state’s real problems

Phoenix, Arizona--Yesterday, the Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee passed sweeping legislation to put federal immigration enforcement photo6in the hands of K-12 schools, community colleges, universities, hospitals, motor vehicles, police, landlords, and business owners. The 12-hour hearing where the six related bills were discussed was packed with community organizations, health professionals, business leaders, faith leaders and others who voiced their strong opposition to the bills.

The bills were passed despite more than 20,000 emails sent to Appropriations Committee members from Arizonans outraged at these widespread attacks on our state in the four days leading up to the hearing.

The bills passed yesterday by the Committee include:

SB1611-- “Immigration Omnibus” or the “Throwing Arizona Under-the-Bus” bill –Sponsored by Senator Russell Pearce, this bill is a 30-page, measure requiring business owners, police officers, apartment renters, school employees, and others to verify citizenship, notify immigration and in some cases, failure to do so could result in loss of licenses, certification or imprisonment.

SB1308 and 1309 – “Eroding Children’s Futures and the Constitution” bills. Two bills introduced by Senator Ron Gould to create a new Arizona Citizenship that excludes children born to parents in the U.S. without immigration authorization. The bills are an attempt to ignite a national legal battle challenging the 14th amendment of the Constitution’s recognition of birthright citizenship.

SB1407 and 1141 – “Schools as Immigration Checkpoints” bills. Two bills introduced by Senator Steve Smith that would require K-12 schools to report on the immigration status of their students. Failure to comply would result in loss of funding.

SB1405 –“Turning Health Providers into Health Deniers” bill. This bill introduced by Senator Steve Smith would require hospital employees to verify the citizenship of people seeking emergency and non-emergency medical attention and to notify immigration agents if someone cannot prove they are authorized to be in the U.S.

The following is a statement from Border Action Network’s Executive Director, Jennifer Allen regarding yesterday’s passage of these sweeping measures:

“Despite the many legislators who campaigned against big government on their election soap boxes, the Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee approved six bills yesterday that would result in big government prying eyes in hospitals, schools, community colleges, universities, motor vehicles, housing, and businesses.

These bills would negatively impact all Arizonans who drive or buy cars, rent apartments, hire employees, attend elementary school or community college, give birth, or get sick and seek medical attention. It’s ludicrous to think that if you want to share an apartment with a roommate or go to the hospital to give birth, you would have to prove your citizenship, but under these bills, such would be our state’s reality.

As Arizona’s $2 billion deficit continues to grow, the Committee responsible for appropriating our funds has approved increasing the cost burden on hospitals, schools, motor vehicles, cities and counties, and on business owners. These bills are a waste of our time, our money and our resources, and it’s time for our legislators to focus on making Arizona strong, and to implement the real solutions for our state and our children’s futures: health care, jobs, education and public safety.

Business owners, faith leaders, law enforcement, health care workers, school and university employees and everyday community members are speaking out and pushing back, and we will continue to put pressure on the legislature every step of the way until these bills are defeated. Only then can Arizonans be proud to have leaders that actually lead our state.”

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Border Action Network formed in 1999 and works with immigrant and border communities in Arizona to ensure that our rights are respected, our human dignity upheld and that our communities are safe and healthy places to live. We are a membership-based organization that combines grassroots community organizing, leadership development, policy advocacy and litigation.

Hitting Home: International Women's Day.

"Thank you Neuro ICU: We Heart Mom."


This was the thank you that I left on the sidewalk last night at Scottsdale Healthcare's campus on Osborn, where my mother is being treated for an extremely aggressive form of brain cancer. We thought she may have had one or more stroke last month because she suddenly lost her vision in her left eye and began falling a lot, but the CT scan in the ER at the time barely even showed the shadow that consumed her right occipital lobe within just weeks; Mom was diagnosed with a sinus infection and put on antibiotics instead of being sent for an MRI.


Had she not fallen and incurred a new head injury last week, Mom's tumor may not have been discovered in time to do surgery. It has yet to be seen whether or not the surgery was in time to save her life or prevent her from prolonged misery. Because this particular cancer is so devastatingly quick to kill, they're starting her on both radiation and chemo even though they removed all visible traces. I guess no matter how good your surveillance, people and equipment are, by the time you see it again it's generally too late. This is what killed Ted Kennedy.


Some folks may be wondering why I'm still running around protesting and chalking the town while my mom may well be dying - I think I'm just trying to hold on to normal life as best I can through this; I'm afraid that if I put it down I may not be able to pick it up again for a long time. Besides, Mom isn't dying - she's fighting for her life. One of the reasons is so she can continue to be a part of mine. That means I need to keep living it.


My art and politics are a part of me, anyway, not activities I do in my free time. I won't be able to maintain my same level of activism, though - or prisoner support. My mail is flowing again, and I'm back up to my neck in letters from people in trouble. I'll write a post begging the community for more help on that count soon - after which, my blogs may well fall silent for awhile. If you try to contact me from here on out with little initial success, just be persistent. I've got my hands full now, but I'm not planning on going anywhere; I'll still help if I can do so, however this turns out. Mom would want me to.


In the meantime, if you have any good energy to send into the universe for Mom and the people treating her, please do. She's not only a primary source of my own social conscience and fire, but she's generously supported my unpopular causes over the years, even when she barely had enough to live on herself. She's the person that my prisoner friends ought to be thanking and praying for the most today - she helps keep me going when I risk succumbing to both poverty and despair, so that I in turn can be there for them. She is who makes most of my work possible. She saved my life, in fact.


So, below is my gift to my Woman of the Year, Jean Boatman. She's a retired teacher from Fountain Hills, and a member of the current school board there. She's actually a registered Republican and has been an officer of the Mayflower Society (yes, I'm a Pilgrim) - but don't let that fool you. She's really an insurgent liberal and lives somewhat vicariously through my radical politics (which the people who love and respect her know already, so her "cover" isn't really blown). Please think good things for us - and do something pro-active to stand up for collective bargaining, public education, and health care rights this week.

Finally, I hope it dawns on Mom's community as they learn of her extraordinary medical needs that if the Republican and Tea Parties had their way right now, she would have been left to die like those AHCCCS transplant patients - and all the other Medicaid patients the state wants to cut off of medical care (but is more than willing to shell out $20,000+/year to imprison). Mom's life would be no less worth saving if she had no health insurance than it is now. Why is anyone else's?


Send that message to the the chair of the Az House Death Panels - also known as the Appropriations Committee - if you're a friend of my mom's. He's the man that Fountain Hills chose to represent their interests: John Kavanagh. Since most teachers are struggling to survive out there - and a lot of kids are hurting, too - I'd say he's doing a lousy job of representing anyone but the rich in that town.


He can be reached at:


John Kavanagh
AZ House of Representatives
1700 W. Washington
Room 114
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Phone Number: (602) 926-5170
Fax Number: (602) 417-3108 jkavanagh@azleg.gov

"Give my Taxes to AHCCCS: Health care is a human right."

"Give my taxes to AHCCCS: Health care is a human right!"
Get well card for Mom/1st Amendment lesson for AZ students.
Arizona State Capitol/Wes Bolin Plaza.
PHOENIX (March, 2011)