One the Arizona Immigration Law

Much of the ado about the Arizona Immigration Law seems to be coming from people who 1) haven’t read the bill, and 2) are willing to lie about what’s in it anyway. I’ve encountered numerous examples of people screaming across the internets about how the new law establishes a gestapo-state in which the police may demand your “papers” on sight, especially if you’re Hispanic. The US Attorney General, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, and even the President of the United States seem to fall into both categories, with the first two admitting to not having read the law, the third showing gross ignorance of what is in the law, and all three willing to claim that the law does things that it doesn’t.

So, Thomas Lifson at the American Thinker brings us this lovely commercial by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer slamming critics of the Arizona law:

The ad is far more than merely clever. It hits the Obama administration critics where they live – in their inflated image of their own intelligence.

It is clear that the Obama administration strategy is to sell a false narrative of the Arizona law as encouraging racial profiling. They seem to believe that most people will take their word for it because laws are supposed to be long, obscure, and impenetrable — like ObamaCare. However, Arizona’s law was not drafted by Nancy Pelosi’s minions, but by state aurhorities. It is short, and to the point in its forbidding of racial profiling.

Fortunately, some people have actually bothered to read the bill, included Fox News’ Megyn Kelly. Newsbusters comments on her findings:

Kelly: “And my legal opinion is, it is a little bit like the federal law, but if anything, it’s less problematic. Did you know that the Supreme Court already ruled a few years ago that under federal law, cops can pull you over for no reason and demand to see your immigration papers? For no reason. They don’t have to have reasonable suspicion.”

IUSB Vision also highlights the significant portion of Kelly’s trasncript, via Newsbusters.

Of course, the best person to explain what is actually in the law is probably the person who helped draft it: Kansas Secretary of State hopeful Kris Kobach.

The bottom line is this: the Arizona Law is based upon federal law. It does not make anything illegal that is not already illegal — it simply makes it illegal on a state level, so the state authorities can enforce laws that federal authorities aren’t. But critics of the law can’t be bothered to read the law and see what it says — probably because they’re not criticizing it based upon what it says.

Scott Roeder Receives Life Sentence

Life in prison. Possibility of parole after 50 years. Good riddance.

From the Kansas City Star:

After a day-long hearing, Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert late today handed down a “Hard 50” sentence, requring Roeder serve at least 50 years before he can be considered for parole.

Roeder, 52, of Kansas City, was found guilty of first-degree murder on Jan. 29 after testifying at his trial that he shot Tiller in the forehead on May 31 while Tiller was serving as an usher in his church. An unapologetic Roeder told jurors he did so to save the lives of unborn babies.

Texas Textbooks and School Social Studies Curricula

The Texas Board of Education has approved social studies curriculum changes put forth by conservative critics. The conservative push on the curriculum came partially as a result of efforts by a Hispanic groups to include more material on Hispanic figures and history in textbooks, as well as a perceived liberal bias in modern textbooks.

The New York Times covers the story:

Google, Kansas

With all due respect to the mayor of Topeka, good sir, you are an idiot.

Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten issued a proclamation on Monday stating that for the entire month of March, the capital city will be known as “Google, Kansas-The Capital City of Fiber Optics.”  It’s an effort to show Google that Topeka is interested in being a test city for the google fiber experiment.

Video at the link.

Self-Defense Issues in Kansas

Eugene Volokh brings up an interesting case in Kansas in which a man pulled a gun, ostensibly in self-defense, but was denied the chance to argue self-defense because he never actually fired the gun.

Kansas Senate Tells Feds to GTFO

From the AP in Topeka:

Kansas senators have sent the House a resolution urging the federal government to respect the state’s sovereignty.

The nonbinding measure cleared the Senate on Thursday on a vote of 33-7.

The resolution seeks to remind Congress and President Barack Obama to respect the state’s rights under the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

I think it’s fantastic that this sentiment was stated explicitly to the federal government, and that it had so much support in the Kansas Senate. I doubt it will do much good, though. Nobody cares about the 10th Amendment anymore.