Tonight is the MLB All Star game and there are major protests being held in Anaheim before the game. I've been involved from the beginning with many of the Latino and a lot of work has gone into putting all these ACTIONS together.

America's Voice:

Today is the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Anaheim, yet Arizona’s new immigration law is sending tremors through America’s favorite past-time. Two months after a coalition of major organizations, bloggers, and civil rights groups sent a formal letter to MLB commissioner Bud Selig, telling him it’s time to move the game out of Phoenix to protect the sport’s Latino players and fans who would be targeted under the Draconian new law, baseball fans from coast to coast have joined together in protest.

Bloggers like John Amato of Crooks and Liars and Maegan Ortiz of Vivir Latino have chronicled the mounting pressure to move. Sarah Spooner from Reform Immigration FOR America writes:

Players from both leagues will come together in Anaheim for an exhibition of sportsmanship and skill. But activists from CHIRLA and other organizations will also be in Anaheim, to show the world that baseball fans don’t want to see the sport tarnished. Next year’s game is planned to take place in Phoenix, AZ. Today an op-ed in the Washington Post laid out the case for why the 2011 game doesn’t belong in Arizona: Major League Baseball is scheduled to play its 2011 All-Star Game in Phoenix, where discrimination and racial profiling will effectively be sanctioned by SB1070, Arizona’s controversial new immigration law. Unless the league acts, next year our favorite all-stars could enter a hostile environment, and the families, friends and fans of a third of the players could be treated as second-class citizens because of their skin color or the way they speak….

What is happening in Arizona is a regression from the freedoms we hold dear and a violation of our civil rights and fundamental values. We are not asking Selig to weigh in on immigration policy; we are asking him to take a stand against bigotry and intolerance.

So what exactly has Selig said on the record? ESPN has the story: Just what Selig might do is unclear. The only time he has addressed the issue of whether he should move the game was May 13, after he emerged from an owners’ meeting about various topics. He referenced his sport’s record on civil rights.

But while Commissioner Selig has remained silent, his players are speaking up and taking a stand. MLB super stars Albert Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez have spoken out against the law. "I'm opposed to it,” Pujols remarked, “How are you going to tell me that, me being Hispanic, if you stop me and I don't have my ID, you're going to arrest me? That can't be.''

AP reports 2010 All Star pitcher Yovani Gallardo took an even bolder stance, declaring, "If the game is in Arizona, I will totally boycott."

The AP continues: A year before Phoenix is set to host baseball's big event, the state's new immigration law kept drawing the attention of major leaguers. Kansas City reliever Joakim Soria, who leads the majors with 25 saves, said he would support a Latino protest and stay away. Detroit closer Jose Valverde can see himself steering clear, too. "It's a really delicate issue," said Toronto outfielder Jose Bautista, who leads the majors with 24 home runs. "Hopefully, there are some changes in the law before then. We have to back up our Latin communities."

Baseball has a rich history of leading the way in the civil rights struggles of our time. Let’s hope this time is no exception – it’s time for Bud Selig to break the silence and move the game.

Bud Selig as usual remains mum on SB 1070 and instead of acting like a true commissioner to the game of baseball, he acts entirely for the benefit of the owners. Some Latino players are going to be afraid to speak out today against the hateful law which is understandable, but many have not remained silent. Good for Yovani Gallardo and Albert Pujols. This also sets up a big problem for Tony La Russa, the Tea Party King and his star first baseman, Albert Pujols. LaRussa went so far as to highly praise the Tea Party fanatics.

La Russa told reporters he encouraged the presence of different points of view, and said he believed the Tea Party's stances were "correct" on "a lot of things."

Albert spoke out and opposed the law so it could get interesting. Also, Albert will be a free agent soon. here's another great article at ESPN: Immigration law looms over 2011 game

Protest Activities planned in Anaheim for today:

All Star Game Action
July 13th
Schedule

12pm: Security Team – Meet at OC Labor Fed
1pm: Participants – Meet at OC Labor Fed∙
Address: 309 N. Rampart Street, Suite A, Orange, CA 92868∙
Parking available∙
Overview of action
2pm: Walk to Angel Stadium (about 2 blocks)
2:30pm: Arrive at Main Entrance of Stadium (inside parking lot)∙
2pm or 2:30pm: Stadium Parking gates open
3pm-6pm: Rally/Protest
5pm: All Star Game begins
7pm: Return to OC Labor Fed

It'll be peaceful, but fun so please get down there if you can.

Gov. Brewer: We cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime to the drugs to the kidnapping and the extortion and the be-headings...

Governor Jan Brewer and the John McCains of Arizona are pushing the most disgusting lies about border violence to justify their race hating immigration law. In republican circles, if you repeat a lie long enough they believe it to be fact. I mean, how can any poll of Americans consider President Obama to be a socialist? But, that's conservatism for you. Jan Brewer is doing her best to match Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle and Rand Paul in her effusive lying about illegal immigration violence.

Washington Monthly:

We talked a week ago about Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) trying to defend her anti-immigrant policies, prompting her to argue that immigrants entering the U.S. illegally are responsible for "beheadings." All available evidence suggests Brewer just made it up, and her office hasn't been able to substantiate the claim.

But Brewer seems to be leading a larger crusade among Arizona Republicans, making it seem as if their state is on the verge of immigrant-based anarchy, overrun with immigrant drug trafficking, kidnappings, and police shootings. The more the rest of the country hears about these nightmare scenarios, the more they're inclined to support measures like the odious Arizona immigration law.

Dana Milbank explained today, "Last year gave us death panels and granny killings, but compared with the nonsense justifying the immigration crackdown, the health-care debate was an evening at the Oxford Union Society."

Two months ago, the Arizona Republic published an exhaustive report that found that, according to statistics from the FBI and Arizona police agencies, crime in Arizona border towns has been "essentially flat for the past decade." For example, "In 2000, there were 23 rapes, robberies and murders in Nogales, Ariz. Last year, despite nearly a decade of population growth, there were 19 such crimes." The Pima County sheriff reported that "the border has never been more secure."

FBI statistics show violent crime rates in all of the border states are lower than they were a decade ago -- yet Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) reports that the violence is "the worst I have ever seen." President Obama justifiably asserted last week that "the southern border is more secure today than any time in the past 20 years," yet Rush Limbaugh judged the president to be "fit for the psycho ward" on the basis of that remark.

The "beheadings" lie was amusing in its hyperbole, but we're reaching a point at which nearly every claim made by Arizona Republicans and their allies is simply, demonstrably wrong. Violence from Mexican drug cartels is spreading north? There's no evidence of that. Phoenix, according to McCain, is the "No. 2 kidnapping capital of the world"? No, it's not. Most immigrants from Mexico are drug mules? That's wrong, too. Most law-enforcement shootings are at the hands of undocumented immigrants? Total bunk.

John McCain embarrassed himself during the general election when he sucked up to such right wing extremists as Pastor John Hagee. The very people that he once considered "lunatics" when he ran for president in 2000:

McCain, who had been courting the endorsement for over a year, said that he was “very honored by Pastor John Hagee’s endorsement.”

Demonstrating how wildly out of the American religious and political mainstream Hagee’s views are, McCain’s acceptance of Hagee’s endorsement was condemned today by conservative William Donohue, president of the Catholic League. Calling Hagee a “bigot,” Donahue said the right-wing pastor has waged “an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church” by “calling it ‘The Great Whore,’ an ‘apostate church,’ the ‘anti-Christ,’ and a ‘false cult system.’”

If a far right religious zealot like Bill Donohue was appalled, what does that say about John McCain? And why is he a weekly guest on all the Sunday Talk Shows? I predict the ex-maverick will be pushed into the Aztlan theory very soon. Maybe Brewer and McCain will appear at the next white supremacist rally put together by Barbara Coe.

TIME magazine has a piece up about Russell Pearce's new brainchild, trying to outlaw children born in America.

"Anchor babies" isn't a very endearing term, but in Arizona those are the words being used to tag children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants. While not new, the term is increasingly part of the local vernacular because the primary authors of the nation's toughest and most controversial immigration law are targeting these tots - the legal weights that anchor many undocumented aliens in the U.S. - for their next move.

Buoyed by recent public opinion polls suggesting they're on the right track with illegal immigration, Arizona Republicans will likely introduce legislation this fall that would deny birth certificates to children born in Arizona - and thus American citizens according to the U.S. Constitution - to parents who are not legal U.S. citizens. The law largely is the brainchild of state Sen. Russell Pearce, a Republican whose suburban district, Mesa, is considered the conservative bastion of the Phoenix political scene. He is a leading architect of the Arizona law that sparked outrage throughout the country: Senate Bill 1070, which allows law enforcement officers to ask about someone's immigration status during a traffic stop, detainment or arrest if reasonable suspicion exists - things like poor English skills, acting nervous or avoiding eye contact during a traffic stop. (See the battle for Arizona: will a border crackdown work?) But the likely new bill is for the kids. While SB 1070 essentially requires of-age migrants to have the proper citizenship paperwork, the potential "anchor baby" bill blocks the next generation from ever being able to obtain it. The idea is to make the citizenship process so difficult that illegal immigrants pull up the "anchor" and leave.

Back on May 25th, David N. posted on this when Pearce went on Bill O'Reilly and admitted this is what he had in store as his next volley as he continues his attacks on the non-whites of America.

O'Reilly, of course, is not much help: He counters Pearce by observing that this is "federal law" -- though that is hardly the half of it, since this particular principle, of birthright citizenship, is embedded in the Constitution and is indeed a proud part of America's heritage as a nation of immigrants.

Pearce wants to claim that this only refers to people with "legal domicile" in the U.S. -- even though the words appear nowhere in the Constitution.

He complains that the concept of "illegal immigration" hadn't been conceived when the 14th Amendment was written -- which is true enough, but irrelevant to whether it remains in force. Indeed, a much stronger argument can be made that the nakedly racist/eugenicist/Nativist Immigration Act of 1924 -- which first created "illegal immigration" -- was grossly unconstitutional because it clearly violated the 14th Amendment.

Moreover, it's irrelevant because the law has always been interpreted to mean that, when a newborn is accorded automatic birthright citizenship based on birth on American soil, its status is generally unaffected by the legal status or citizenship of that individual's mother or father. This was true both before and after 1924...read on

I think Pearce knows that this will be struck down in the Supreme Court even with the right wing fringe running the place because it's firmly embedded in our Constitution and Scalia and his clones are supposed to be Originalists, right? You must understand something about movement conservatives. They pick fights not because they know they can win it in the end, losing is just as acceptable when it comes to immigration and the culture wars because *"backlash politics" is all about playing the victim. They get to stir the pot, create some outrage, make tons of cash and get themselves elected over issues that they never can win at. Remember creationism vs evolution? They knew that it would never pass with the scientific community, but as Thomas Frank puts it, they don't care. They can hold their noses high and attack the "elites" over and over again making the case that those snobby, latte sipping Frenchmen think they know better than all of the red blooded-red state Americans because they believe they are smarter than us.

Backlash Politics:

The backlash narrative is more powerful than mere facts, and according to this central mythology conservatives are always hardworking patriots who love their country and are persecuted for it, while liberals, who are either high-born weaklings or eggheads hypnotized by some fancy idea, are always ready to sell their nation out at a moment’s notice.7

Checking the box score, in the Major League Props: Hall & Oates hit a grand slam as they joined in on the "Sound Strike," tour, errr, I mean 'cancel tour' of musicians standing in solidarity and vocalizing their feelings against Kris Kobach's Arizona hate bill.

The Arizona Diamondbacks announced that Daryl Hall and John Oates have canceled their post-game concert at Chase Field that had been scheduled to follow a game against the Dodgers on July 2.

Hall and Oates issued the following statement:

"In addition to our personal convictions, we are standing in solidarity with the music community in our boycott of performing in Arizona at this time. We would like to emphasize that this has nothing to do with the management of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have been professional and cooperative throughout our dealings with them. This is our response to a very specific action of the state."

Since both of us have backgrounds in the music industry, Howie Klein and I have been trying to persuade artists not to perform in Arizona since SB1070 was passed. Zack de la Rocha is really a hero here.

Howie has much more:

Other artists who have joined suit include Cypress Hill, Pitbull, Rage Against the Machine, Kanye West, Sonic Youth, Carlos Santana, Willie Nelson, Joe Satriani, Tenacious D, Shakira, Massive Attack and Hall & Oates (who were supposed to play at a July 2nd Diamondbacks game). Rage's Zack de la Rocha was organized an Arizona sound strike.

“Fans of our music, our stories, our films and our words can be pulled over and harassed every day because they are brown or black, or for the way they speak, or for the music they listen to,” de la Rocha said. “People who are poor like some of us used to be could be forced to live in a constant state of fear while just doing what they can to find work and survive. This law opens the door for them to be shaked down, or even worse, detained and deported while just trying to travel home from school, from home to work, or when they just roll out with their friends.”

The law-- SB 1070-- takes “racial profiling... to a whole new low,” the singer went on. “When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, they arrested her. As a result, people got together and said we are not going to ride the bus until they change the law... What if we got together, signed a collective letter saying, ‘We're not going to ride the bus,’ saying we are not going to comply. We are not going to play in Arizona.”

I'm not pushing for a strike against the Diamondbacks players, but Jerry Colangelo and their ownership has been complicit in helping pass SB 1070 and have been big-time Republican shills.

Thus is refreshing news.

Justice Department officials told Arizona's attorney general and aides to the governor Friday that the federal government has serious reservations about the state's new immigration law. They responded that a lawsuit against the state isn't the answer.

"I told them we need solutions from Washington, not more lawsuits," said Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat.

The Justice Department initiated separate meetings by phone and face-to-face in Phoenix with Goddard and aides to Republican Gov. Jan Brewer to reach out to Arizona's leaders and elicit information from state officials regarding the Obama administration's concerns about the new law.

The strong message that the Justice Department representatives delivered at the private meetings – first with Goddard, then with Brewer's staff – left little doubt that the Obama administration is prepared to go to court if necessary in a bid to block the new law, which takes effect July 29.

Goddard said he noted that five privately filed lawsuits already are pending in federal court to challenge the law.

"Every possible argument is being briefed," said Goddard, who is running unopposed for his party's nomination for the governor's race.

Brewer, who is seeking re-election, later said in a statement that her legal team told the Justice Department officials that the law would be "vigorously defended all the way to the United States Supreme Court if necessary."

The department officials, Brewer said, "were advised that I believe the federal government should use its legal resources to fight illegal immigration, not the state of Arizona."

Maybe Orrin Hatch can come up with a Kris Kobach Amendment and send a person or persons to jail for up to six months if they are instrumental in passing state legislation that allows racial profiling.
Anyway, even the WSJ admits that the Arizona law is unconstitutional.
Is Arizona’s new immigration law constitutional?

We hit the question briefly on Friday in this post, and the initial answer to the question seemed to be no, that in passing an immigration law, Arizona was improperly stepping into the domain of the federal government.

The NYT’s John Schwartz on Wednesday takes a deeper look at the question. His finding: that, yes, the law probably — though not definitely — runs violates preemption principles, and is therefore unconstitutional.

“The law is clearly pre-empted by federal law under Supreme Court precedents,” said UC Irvine’s Erwin Chemerinsky.

For decades, the role of controlling immigration and enforcing immigration laws has fallen to the federal government, not the states. And the law will likely fail on those grounds, said Chemerinsky.

Everyone is speaking out against Arizona's SB 1070, but Baseball Commissioner Selig and MLB have been mum, like decaying carcasses stuffed away in the Tomb of Bud.

Janet Murguia is the President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza and she wrote an op-ed which appeared on ESPN. She's calling out Bud Selig to take a meaningful stand against racial profiling in Arizona.

When a host of individuals and organizations called for Major League Baseball's 2011 All-Star Game to be moved from Phoenix in protest of Arizona's new racial profiling law, MLB commissioner Bud Selig flubbed his response.

Petitioned by a United States senator, a member of the House of Representatives, and dozens of civil rights, labor, pro-immigrant, and Latino groups, including my organization, the National Council of La Raza, Selig sidestepped the issue and instead talked about baseball's record on diversity. Whether he was being overly defensive, tried to change the subject, didn't understand the question, or was just plain nonresponsive, Selig's refusal to answer a direct question on the issue is a deep disappointment to Latino baseball fans and the Latino community throughout the nation.

To clear things up for Mr. Selig, the call for moving the All-Star game is not an attack on Major League Baseball or some kind of threat. Proponents of the move are instead urging MLB to stand up for its players, its front office personnel and its fans who have been singled out and targeted for abuse and harassment by the state of Arizona thanks to its new law, SB 1070, which allows police to stop anyone they "reasonably suspect" of being undocumented. What is happening in Arizona is not a debate over how to best deal with a broken immigration system; it is a violation of our civil rights and our most fundamental values as Americans.

The Major League Baseball Players Association understands that. That's why it quickly issued a statement in opposition to SB 1070. Padres first baseman and perennial All-Star Adrian Gonzalez and White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen have already said they will not play in Phoenix next year.

This is neither unusual nor unprecedented. The NCAA does not allow postseason events -- such as the wildly popular Final Four -- in states that fly the Confederate flag. The NFL tangled with Arizona in the early 1990s over its refusal to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day and pulled the 1993 Super Bowl from Tempe. Those organizations took such steps in defense of their players and all other African-Americans involved in the NCAA and NFL, showing what they stood for at their core despite the fact that there was no direct threat to their safety. SB 1070 is a direct threat, and that argues for Selig and MLB to take action both to protect their players and personnel and to preserve the integrity of the game.

Quibbles aside, Latinos in baseball are considerably better off today than when Selig took over as commissioner. But that is minor league ball compared to this decision. Make the right play, commissioner. Move the game.

Bud Selig is using the "Best of Interests" of baseball clause to force the Texas Rangers "lenders" to sell the team to a group led by Nolan Ryan and he's threatening to virtually take the team over to do it.

Last month he cited his “best interest” powers to outsiders — lenders to the Texas Rangers — in a letter telling them he expected them to accept the estimated $575 million bid for the team by a group led by Nolan Ryan, the Hall of Fame pitcher and team president, and Chuck Greenberg.

In essence, he said he could invalidate the liens that the lenders hold on the team to put the Greenberg group in place. Gabe Feldman, director of the sports law program at Tulane University, said Selig was testing the breadth of his vague powers. “He’s saying to lenders, ‘If you don’t agree to the sale, I’ll take over the team, and my gaining control will impact you,’ ” he said. He added, “It’s consistent with the views of commissioners and leagues that they get to decide who their owners will be.”

But lenders have their own view: some think that Selig is using his powers to abrogate their loans and damage their bottom lines. So they spurned Selig’s power play — and await his next salvo.

These lenders have turned into angry creditors. Hicks Sports Group, the holding company for the Rangers and the Dallas Stars of the N.H.L., defaulted on $525 million in loans in March 2009. Lenders have received no interest payments since and think that two bidders would pay more than the Greenberg group.

If Selig were to break the stalemate to permit new bidding, the lenders insisted they would receive more from the proceeds after the Rangers’ owner, Thomas O. Hicks, took his cut. If those higher offers did not materialize, Andrew Herenstein, the managing principal of the lead lender, Monarch Alternative Capital, said he was prepared to close the deal with Greenberg.

But, until then, Herenstein wrote in a letter to owners this week, “the lenders are not willing to allow a sale of the team to the Greenberg group at a price below fair market value.”

In 1994, Bud Selig had a different view of "Best Interests,"which has always been to protect it from outside issues like gambling to ensure the sports' legitimacy.

In 1994, as the acting commissioner, Bud Selig wrote a commentary in The New York Times in which he declared that the “best interests” powers were inherently narrow and created to ensure the integrity of the game. “The notion of an almighty commissioner directing the business of baseball is incorrect,” he wrote.

Selig’s legal thinking has evolved, and his interpretation of “best interests” has expanded.

How does forcing the sale to Nolan Ryan's group fall under the umbrella of MLB's best interests? It doesn't and if he cared that much about the game he would take action to help the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have been seriously damaged by an ongoing divorce that has forced the team to dramatically cut their payroll and made them a laughing stock.

If he's going to use the "Best Interests of Major League Baseball" clause here, then why won't he use the same argument to protect his players from the hateful Arizona immigration law, which is beginning to unravel for him as we speak?

Bud Selig bobbed and weaved. He zigged and zagged. But he never really answered the question when asked about calls to move next year's All-Star Game from Phoenix's Chase Field because of Arizona's new immigration law.

The Major League Baseball commissioner, speaking to reporters Thursday after an owners meeting at- MLB's Park Ave. offices, offered a lengthy and spirited defense of his sport's minority hiring record and its role in sparking the civil rights movement. But he refused to say if he will heed demands to relocate the Midsummer Classic.

"We've done well. And we'll continue to do well. And I'm proud of what we've done socially, and I'll continue to be proud of it," Selig said. "That's the issue, and that's the answer."

We know why. He's waiting it out like he does everything else. He waited out steroids until it couldn't be covered up any longer which cast a shroud of illegitimacy on the the "sacred records" that the sport holds so dear. Well, we'll see how that works out for him.

More to come...