MADNESS – AT 7:43 P.M. ET:  Los Angeles County goes nuts over the Arizona immigration law, but not over illegal immigrants.  From the L.A. Times:

By a 3-2 vote the board moves to suspend county-funded travel to the state, possibly terminate contracts with Arizona-based companies, and divest the county pension fund of Arizona state and municipal bonds. Residents attending the meeting spoke out on both sides of the issue.

After heated debate, Los Angeles County supervisors voted 3 to 2 Tuesday to boycott Arizona in response to the passage of its controversial illegal immigration law, a decision that came the same day the Los Angeles Unified School District condemned the law.

"This law simply goes too far," said Supervisor Gloria Molina, the primary sponsor of the county boycott. "A lot of people have pointed out that I am sworn as an L.A. County supervisor to uphold the Constitution. All I can say is that I believe that Arizona's law is unconstitutional."

In fact, the Arizona law was carefully crafted to uphold Constitutional provisions.

This is pure politics.  The very people behind the boycott have shown a notable lack of zeal in tackling the serious issue of illegal immigration.  And I'd imagine (speculation here) that their attitude toward crime in general could use some sprucing up.

Among the speakers against the boycott were family members of Jamiel Shaw II, a 17-year-old football player who was recruited by Stanford and Rutgers before he was shot to death in 2008. Pedro Espinoza, a member of the 18th Street gang who was in the U.S. illegally, has been charged with murder in the case. He had been released from jail a day before the shooting after serving time for another offense.

"I was coming here thinking what can I say to touch their hearts? But you don't have one," Tommie Shaw, Shaw's grandmother, told the supervisors.

No, but they have little calculators to figure up the votes they might gain by supporting this absurd boycott. 

Also, L.A. school officials are now being urged to teach about the Arizona law in a laughingly historical context:

The issue would, in essence, be dealt with in a manner similar to broadly accepted episodes of racial and cultural intolerance and abridgements of rights, such as the Jim Crow laws and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, said district spokesman Robert Alaniz.

Crazy.  I wasn't aware that the African-Americans affected by Jim Crow or the Japanese-Americans interned during World War II had broken any laws.  Illegal immigrants, are, by definition, lawbreakers.  There is no question that Hispanic-Americans still suffer discrimination and ridicule, but there are intelligent and respectful ways to deal with that ugliness without dragging these citizens down to the level of lawbreakers.

By the way, check out the picture in the linked L.A. Timnes story.  Isn't that woman wearing the traditional scarf associated with Arab radicalism?  I get the feeling this is just one part of a larger, disturbing movement.

June 2, 2010