Arizona's adamant racists

The situation here in Arizona is beyond crazy.

The racial-profiling law SB 1070, approved by our state's Neanderthal Republican majority, is now familiar news to people all across this country and beyond.

SB 1070 was written by Kris Kobach, a lawyer from the Federation for American Immigration Reform. (By the way, Kobach is also a "birther.") FAIR was founded in 1979 by white supremacist John Tanton, who is still a member of its board of directors. (Tanton is the founder and/or funder of at least a dozen anti-immigrant organizations.) Here are some of Tanton's racist statements:

* “To govern is to populate. Will the present majority peaceably hand over its political power to a group that is simply more fertile? As whites see their power and control over their lives declining, will they simply go quietly into the night or will there be an explosion?”

* Tanton in 1986: "Is apartheid in Southern California's future? The demographic picture in South Africa now is startlingly similar to what we'll see in California in 2030. In Southern Africa, a White minority owns the property, has the best jobs and education, has the political power, and speaks one language. A non-White majority has poor education, jobs and income, owns little property, is on its way to political power and speaks a different language."

* In this one, he used fake Latin: "Can homo contraceptivus compete with homo progenitiva if borders aren't controlled? Or is advice to limit one's family simply advice to move over and let someone else with greater reproductive powers occupy the space?"

* In 1997, he said that America would soon be overrun by immigrants coming to America "defecating and creating garbage and looking for jobs."

* That same year he compared immigrants to bacteria:: "In the bacteriology lab, we have culture plates. You put a bug in there and it starts growing and gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And it grows until it finally fills the whole plate. And it crashes and dies."

The state senator who has fiercely led the charge for SB 1070 is Russell Pearce, a wildly outspoken racist who has unloaded a continuous stream of lies.

Lawsuits against SB 1070 are already flying, even one by Tucson police officer Martin Escobar. Our Pima County sheriff Clarence Dupnik has called the law "racist," "disgusting," "unnecessary" and "crap." On May 1, 7,000 of us marched downtown to decry it; 50,000 marched in Los Angeles. It was the same story from Seattle to Washington, D.C.

But the Phoenix xenophobes remain adamant. They won't bend until they see the money go.

The Boycott Arizona movement is already on a roll.