“The oil spill in the Gulf is this nation’s largest natural disaster and stopping the leak and cleaning up the region is our top priority.  Congressman Barton’s statements this morning were wrong.  BP itself has acknowledged that responsibility for the economic damages lies with them and has offered an initial pledge of $20 billion dollars for that purpose.

“The families and businesspeople in the Gulf region want leadership, accountability and action from BP and the Administration.  It is unacceptable that, 59  days after this crisis began, no solution is forthcoming.  Simply put, the American people want all of our resources, time and focus to be directed toward stopping the spill and cleaning up the mess.”

As much as Republicans may want to believe that desecrating the environment in the name of commerce is God’s work, the explosion of a man made oil rig is not a “natural” disaster.

-AR

As has been discussed previously on this blog, no one can really can say what gives rise to a reasonable suspicion that a person is undocumented.  This lack of a non-racial basis for determining what raises reasonable suspicion renders the ban on racial profiling dead letter.  Without articulable standards, an officer has broad leeway to invent whatever reasons he chooses for finding a particular person suspicious, and as long as he avoids saying, “Well, doesn’t she Mexican to you?” it will be nearly impossible to prove that the ban on racial profiling has been violated.  The lack of articulable standards also means that enforcement of the law will be imprecise, and many people will be asked for papers who are American citizens or legal residents.  Because being Latino is a baseline requirement for suspicion of being undocumented in Arizona, whether we admit it or not and regardless of whatever other factors may or may not exist, this burden will be borne solely by the Latino community even if police officers act in good faith and do not target anyone solely for being Latino.

The “the bill doesn’t allow racial profiling because we say it doesn’t allow racial profiling” argument follows similar logic to the infamous John Yoo “what we’re doing isn’t torture because I’m telling you it isn’t torture, and in any case the United States doesn’t torture anyone ’cause that would be illegal” memos.  Given the racial dynamic to this issues, perhaps a better analogy would be the “separate but equal” fiction that American law recognized in the nine decades between the adoption of the 14th Amendment and Brown v. Board of Education.  Much like the Arizona bill’s “no racial profiling, honest” provision, the separate but equal doctrine lent segregation a sheen of neutrality that was completely detached from the reality of what motivated Jim Crow laws and how they were actually experienced.   Sure, blacks can’t go to white schools, but whites can’t go to black schools either, so who really gets to complain?  Fortunately, the Warren Court intervened in Brown, saying, in essence, “Jesus Christ, you fucking assholes!”

In full disclosure, I myself have not read the entirety of the Arizona’s immigration law.  Nor have I read the actual text of, for example, Mississippi’s pre-Brown school segregation laws.  I have no hesitation about condemning either.

-AR

Since then, I’ve found myself in some rather dubious company. Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi submitted a proposal to the UN calling for Switzerland to be eliminated as a country and divided between France, Germany, and Italy. (In another disturbing parallel between myself and Gaddafi, his Switzerland proposal is similar to my belief that the states of New Jersey and Connecticut serve no purpose, and should be divided between Pennsylvania and New York and New York and Massachusetts, respectively). Gaddafi then bolstered his credibility with a 90 minute non-sensical speech to the General Assembly.

And now, as referenced in the excellent Kate Harding piece linked to in a post below, Roman Polanski apologist Joan Z. Shore is calling for a boycott of Switzerland because of Polanski’s arrest. (Incidentally, while it was probably meant as nothing more than a stupid column gimmick, Shore’s discussion of her attitude towards Switzerland is an angle for criticism that Harding missed: Shore was willing to put up with Nazi complicity and denying women the right to vote, but arresting a convicted rapist crosses the line!)

In light of these unwanted allies, and some pleasant history with Switzerland on both sides of my family, I retract my hypothetical destruction of Switzerland.

-AR

This is a stunningly misguided move on the part of the Obama Administration. At a time when immigrants’ rights groups have documented the terrible abuses immigrant workers face in the hands of unscrupulous employers, the feds choose to investigate a garment employer that pays above industry standard and provides its employees with health benefits and stock options. Makes you wonder why American Apparel caught their wandering eye. Methinks either Napolitano & Co. are no fan of shiny hot pants, or they weren’t thrilled by the whole Legalize L.A. thing.

-AS

Anyway, thank you, Kate Harding. Your post about Tucker Max was also appreciated.

-AS

And what do you think those lovely folks at the Warren Institute found? Gobs and gobs of racial profiling. Just gobs.

It turns out that when you, the federal government, let them, the Irving cops, call you 24 hours a day to complain about the Mexicans to screen for immigration status, Hispanics start committing a lot of low-level traffic violations. Well, either that, or the Irving police start arresting the heck out of Hispanics for misdemeanor crimes. You know, like crimes where they have lots of discretion choosing who to stop, arrest, and/or harass.

Meanwhile, the federal government can feel good knowing the program they promised would identify those really bad, public-safety-threatening types managed to actually flag some felons for immigration review. Huzzah! Unfortunately, that was only about 2 percent of the time. The other 98 percent of the time they were, you know, getting a real handle on the local broken-taillight problem in Irving.

-AS

A fair prosperity and a just society are within our vision and our grasp, and we do not have every answer. There are questions not yet asked, waiting for us in the recesses of the future. But of this much we can be certain because it is the lesson of all of our history: Together a President and the people can make a difference. I have found that faith still alive wherever I have traveled across this land. So let us reject the counsel of retreat and the call to reaction. Let us go forward in the knowledge that history only helps those who help themselves.

There will be setbacks and sacrifices in the years ahead; but I am convinced that we as a people are ready to give something back to our country in return for all it has given to us.

Let this be our commitment: Whatever sacrifices must be made will be shared and shared fairly. And let this be our confidence: At the end of our journey and always before us shines that ideal of liberty and justice for all.

In closing, let me say a few words to all those that I have met and to all those who have supported me at this convention and across the country. There were hard hours on our journey, and often we sailed against the wind. But always we kept our rudder true, and there were so many of you who stayed the course and shared our hope. You gave your help; but even more, you gave your hearts.

And because of you, this has been a happy campaign. You welcomed Joan, me, and our family into your homes and neighborhoods, your churches, your campuses, your union halls. And when I think back of all the miles and all the months and all the memories, I think of you. And I recall the poet’s words, and I say: “What golden friends I had.”

Among you, my golden friends across this land, I have listened and learned.

I have listened to Kenny Dubois, a glassblower in Charleston, West Virginia, who has ten children to support but has lost his job after 35 years, just three years short of qualifying for his pension.

I have listened to the Trachta family who farm in Iowa and who wonder whether they can pass the good life and the good earth on to their children.

I have listened to the grandmother in East Oakland who no longer has a phone to call her grandchildren because she gave it up to pay the rent on her small apartment.

I have listened to young workers out of work, to students without the tuition for college, and to families without the chance to own a home.

I have seen the closed factories and the stalled assembly lines of Anderson, Indiana and South Gate, California, and I have seen too many, far too many idle men and women desperate to work.

I have seen too many, far too many working families desperate to protect the value of their wages from the ravages of inflation.

Yet I have also sensed a yearning for a new hope among the people in every state where I have been.

And I have felt it in their handshakes, I saw it in their faces, and I shall never forget the mothers who carried children to our rallies.

I shall always remember the elderly who have lived in an America of high purpose and who believe that it can all happen again.

Tonight, in their name, I have come here to speak for them. And for their sake, I ask you to stand with them. On their behalf I ask you to restate and reaffirm the timeless truth of our Party. . .

And someday, long after this convention, long after the signs come down and the crowds stop cheering, and the bands stop playing, may it be said of our campaign that we kept the faith.

May it be said of our Party in 1980 that we found our faith again.

And may it be said of us, both in dark passages and in bright days, in the words of Tennyson that my brothers quoted and loved, and that have special meaning for me now:

“I am a part of all that I have met
Tho much is taken, much abides
That which we are, we are –
One equal temper of heroic hearts
Strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end.

For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.

So welcome. This is Lying to Make Friends, where all your blog-reading dreams come true. Since we are both law students, and law students are incredibly self-obsessed, the law and law school will likely be frequent topics.  More specifically, expect of a lot of mockery of law students even more self-important than we are. Unfortunately, in what will likely come to be seen as a hallmark of this blog in terms of organization and the initiative of its authors, we are launching it at a time when neither of us will actually be at law school for 8 months.

Basically, this is the most radical thing to hit the internet since someone figured out how to make an animated graphic  of a letter going into an envelope and then being whisked away to become the phrase “Email me!”

Enjoy.