And on behalf of my readers, I thank Sen. Pearce for that attitude. :)
Zelph at AZNetRoots found this post from BallotAccess.org about AZ's SB1158, a bill to compel presidential candidates will have to prove both their citizenship and their residency in the U.S. of 14 years before their names can be placed on the ballot. It's clearly directed at President Barack Obama (who was elected in spite of the debunked claims that his birth certificate is a forgery) though it could also serve to attack fellow Republican John McCain, who also twigged the Reps' lunatic fringe radar because he was born on a military base in Panama...and he isn't a fellow loon.
Now I wouldn't normally try to "steal the thunder" from Zelph's post (he's earned some for spotting this) but one of the comments on BallotAccess.org's post deserves comment itself -
It's a 3000+ word copy and paste special from Russell Pearce himself.
I call it a "copy and paste special" because of that 3000+ word comment, over 2600 of the words were copied and pasted articles from the Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigrant group masquerading as a neutral, "non-partisan" think tanks. (SourceWatch profile here)
You know, in spite of all the times that I have written so glowingly, Sen. Pearce has never taken the time to grace this blog with his brand of lazy but verbose nativist b.s.
...In more Pearce news, he has filed SB1170, a.k.a. the "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" Act.
That bill sets out some specific rules for parties in a justice court action who wish to seek a change of venue because they feel they cannot receive a fair trial in a particular court. Under current law (ARS 22-303), the defendant just has to file an affadavit to the effect that he cannot receive a fair trial in order to move the trial. Under Pearce's bill, a defendant would also need the affadavits of "two other credible persons of the county that they have good reason to believe, and do believe, that the party cannot have a fair and impartial trial before the justice..."
This could also be called the "Lester Pearce is sick of getting noticed for cause" bill.
"Noticed for cause" is court-speak for the change of venue motion, and Russell Pearce's brother Lester is known as one of the most "noticed" JPs in the system.
He tends to be rather umm... "set in his views" (hey, what else would you expect from a Pearce? :)) ), so much so that there is a possibly apocryphal story going around about him. And apocryphal or not, the story goes a long way to illustrate Lester Pearce's tendencies.
Apparently a while back, another judge (called a 'pro tem') was substituting for Lester Pearce on his bench in the North Mesa precinct. After a trial where the defendant was acquitted by the pro tem, the clerk who was working in the court turned to the pro tem turned to the substitute and advised him that they didn't know how to record that because they had never needed the code for acquittal before.
As I said, the story could be apocryphal (I mean not even a Pearce could convict every defendant without exception, right?? Right???????), but it totally jibes with what I've heard about his court.
Stay tuned...
...Jon Kyl is operating like he is not up for reelection next year, which, of course, he isn't.
From ABS-CBN News (Philippines) -
World War II veteran Celestino Almeda will turn 92 in June. He relies on a small scooter to move around. He has been living in a daughter’s house, but now that she’s about to marry, he and a grandson are hunting for a new home.
He insists on paying his way and is counting on the $15,000 lump sum payment to Filipino World War II veterans – that is, if US Congress votes to give it to him and about 16,000 of his aging comrades.
{snip}
In another Fox Channel program, Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, a critic of the stimulus bill, claimed "there are so many things you can make fun of in this bill."
"Let me just mention one, millions of dollars to World War II Filipino veterans in the Philippines. Now, that may be a good thing to spend money on, but not in a stimulus bill. It doesn’t stimulate anything," he said.
But Almeda pointed out the lump sum payment will not add a single cent to the $800 billion stimulus bill.
"They thought this money to be given to Filipino veterans is an allotment from the stimulus bill package. It is not. The intention of Senator Inouye is just to use the stimulus bill as a vehicle so the $198 million approved in the 110th Congress and known as the Filipino Veterans Compensation Fund would be released to us," he added.
Yup, Jon - go ahead and pick on poor, elderly veterans.
Because while *you* may not be on the ballot next year, plenty of other Rep senators will be.
Later!
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