CNN on Friday aired allegations that BP bused temporary workers into the Gulf Coast of Louisiana as a dog and pony show for President Obama’s visit to the area.

"Now, if true, some other words might apply, a sham, a crock, an insult to the people down here who need help, real help, not to mention an attempt, if the allegations are true, to BS local leaders, Gulf state governors and the President of the United States," said Anderson Cooper at the beginning of Friday’s program bearing his name.

The almost eight-minute segment included an interview with Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts who said, "Well, basically at about 7:30 this morning on school buses, a number of workers came in, approximately 300 to 400."

Oddly, Cooper never asked the Councilman, or anyone else involved in the segment, how BP got those school buses (video follows with commentary, full transcript at end of post, h/t NBer Gary Hall):

Early in the segment, Cooper said: 

A local resident Jerry Lafont (ph) says he saw the whole thing. He snapped a picture of the crews getting out of their hazmat suits and getting ready to leave. He tells us they came in Jefferson Parish school buses pretended — his words — pretended like they were working and as soon as the President left everything shut down. 

One of our staffers, who was also on the scene corroborates that. He says he has been on Grand Isle for the last three days and has never seen these crews before. Some told — some told, one of our photojournalists Chris Turner they were on a work release program.

When CNN’s Carol Costello asked whether they were there solely for the presidential visit, they told her they were under orders not to say and in fact they would get in trouble if they talked 

Houma Today also reported Friday that a witness saw the workers brought in on school buses:

One man, watching a crew of laborers brought on school buses by a BP subcontractor to clean the beach on the Gulf of Mexico side, said it was "amazing what a presidential visit can accomplish."

"I’ve been here a week and I haven’t seen anything like this," said the man, who refused to give his name.

Cooper also said early in the segment: 

The allegation is simple, and it’s stunning, that BP brought in workers to use as backdrops for the President’s visit to Grand Isle lending the impression of a large-scale cleanup. Then, when the President left, so did the workers. 

Yes, the allegation is INDEED simple, for it conveniently ignored one key issue: who from Jefferson Parish authorized BP to use its school buses?

Shouldn’t this have been a question Cooper asked the Councilman from that parish? Doesn’t it suggest that someone from this parish was actually involved in assisting BP bus in these workers?

If this is true, BP didn’t "BS local leaders" as Cooper suggested — they were involved. 

Taking this a step further, if the local government was part of what is being alleged as a scam, was this exclusively a local decision, or did somebody else direct this parish to assist BP with this "dog and pony show?"

Given this administration’s penchant for fabricating photo-ops — readers are reminded of White House officials handing out white lab coats to doctors present at a healthcare reform event with the President in the Rose Garden last October — as well as the allegation that these workers conveniently showed up just before Obama did and left just after he did, wouldn’t it have been good journalism to investigate this matter beyond just blaming it all on BP? 

After all, wasn’t the President, who announced yesterday that he was tripling the number of government officials working on the crisis, also served by the photo-op of a large number of people in hazmat suits cleaning the beach as he toured the area?

For some reason, this never crossed Cooper’s mind on Friday: 

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again from Louisiana, where efforts to stop the BP oil leak from gushing into the Gulf continue.

We’ll have the latest on that but we begin with the President’s visit and allegations tonight that BP faked it for President Obama and the cameras, putting on what one local lawmaker is calling a dog and pony show.

Now, if true, some other words might apply, a sham, a crock, an insult to the people down here who need help, real help, not to mention an attempt, if the allegations are true, to BS local leaders, Gulf state governors and the President of the United States.

The allegation is simple, and it’s stunning, that BP brought in workers to use as backdrops for the President’s visit to Grand Isle lending the impression of a large-scale cleanup. Then, when the President left, so did the workers.

A local resident Jerry Lafont (ph) says he saw the whole thing. He snapped a picture of the crews getting out of their hazmat suits and getting ready to leave. He tells us they came in Jefferson Parish school buses pretended — his words — pretended like they were working and as soon as the President left everything shut down.

One of our staffers, who was also on the scene corroborates that. He says he has been on Grand Isle for the last three days and has never seen these crews before. Some told — some told, one of our photojournalists Chris Turner they were on a work release program.

When CNN’s Carol Costello asked whether they were there solely for the presidential visit, they told her they were under orders not to say and in fact they would get in trouble if they talked. We asked BP to come on the program to respond, as frankly, as we have every single night we’ve been here. And in fact this morning they agreed to be on with us. We were very excited.

Then this evening despite repeated attempts to getting in touch the company stopped returning our phone calls, nothing. Since the afternoon news conference when CNN’s David Mattingly first brought up the allegations.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, David Mattingly from CNN. We got this from the Jefferson County Parish, an elected official there who says that as soon as the President left all but a dozen workers had — that were there that BP brought in this morning had left the beach.

He says that BP shipped in about 300 to 400 workers this morning about 7:30 a.m. And as soon as the President left all the workers left except for about a dozen.

Could you comment on that, what was BP trying to accomplish and what was going on there?

DOUG SUTTLES, BP CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Well, I think you should first recognize that I think as the President and Admiral Allen and many have said, we’ve moved in considerably more people to fight this battle on the locations where the oil is.

You should also recognize that these individuals are working out in the heat of the sun. These are long days. They start early in the morning, and they stop in the evening.

So the fact that they were leaving the location late in the afternoon is not unusual. It’s not associated with the President arriving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles there saying these were just normal workers going off shift. And again, we would have liked to have them on with us tonight to answer those questions. The invitation stands as always.

Now, if he knows something we don’t, we’re all ears. Joining me now is Jefferson Parish Councilman, Chris Roberts who is leveling the allegations against BP.

Councilman Roberts, all right, tell us what happened as far as you know.

CHRIS ROBERTS, COUNCILMAN, JEFFERSON PARISH, LOUISIANA: Well, basically at about 7:30 this morning on school buses, a number of workers came in, approximately 300 to 400. They were given t-shirts. They were given hazmat gear, shovels and rakes and positioned out on the beach to begin working. We have not seen that level or cavalry of people working on Grand Isle.

COOPER: You visited Grand Isle before.

ROBERTS: Absolutely, we’re virtually in Grand Isle every day. We visit on the beach. We go by boat. We go by helicopter tour.

COOPER: How many workers do they usually have on the beach?

ROBERTS: I would say probably about 20, max.

COOPER: Twenty workers.

ROBERTS: Correct, correct.

COOPER: And how many workers were on the beach when the President was there?

ROBERTS: 300 to 400, today.

COOPER: 300 to 400.

ROBERTS: Correct.

COOPER: So that is clearly a huge difference.

ROBERTS: Big difference and we don’t think it’s a coincidence that it was today.

COOPER: So when BP says, well, look, this was just a normal course of events and part of fact that, that look, we are deploying more resources, you don’t think this was just part of the normal deployment?

ROBERTS: I’ll tell you that we’re in this event well beyond a month now. Oil has been washing ashore in Grand Isle for almost two weeks. This is the first time that we’ve seen any level of troops that have been placed there as far as manpower to be able to clean up the beach, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it happened today.

They came in at 7:30. The President stayed until the mid-afternoon. Just about the time he left, the workers left. But we don’t blame the federal government here. I think it’s insulting to the federal government, to the state government and local government for BP to come in and try and pull off this dog and pony show which virtually led everyone to believe that they were on top of things, and they are not.

COOPER: There’s a lot of different moving pieces to this — to this whole operation, and the operation under water is one thing.

ROBERTS: Correct.

COOPER: And we’ll talk about that later tonight.

But have you been satisfied at the level of cleanup, the resources put to the cleanup by BP over the last few weeks, I mean, not just on your beach? We were down in Pass a Loutre —

ROBERTS: Sure.

COOPER: — with the governor a couple days ago and there was not a single person out there cleaning up those marshes.

ROBERTS: It’s gotten better I’ll tell you that. We had an incident last week where we had a number of boats that were positioned there that had the skimming devices. Oil was coming in from the Gulf of Mexico into Barataria Pass. Those boats weren’t moving. Our emergency management director went in and virtually commandeered the boats and positioned them to where they needed to be and got them to working. It’s gotten better since then.

The federal government has had meetings. They brought the Admiral down and they’ve met with the local leaders. The President had them assign someone directly to work with each parish and that seems to be working better.

I just think it’s a shame, that you know, BP in the midst of all that’s going on would try and seize the opportunity because of the President being here and the governors being here to try and make it look as though that they have what they need and have the people on the ground responding which is just not — not the case.

COOPER: So the question tomorrow is I guess will 300 to 400 workers show up?

ROBERTS: That’s a big question, that’s something that we’ve asked too.

COOPER: And even if — if it wasn’t going to happen previously, if this was a stunt, it would still —

ROBERTS: Oh they’re working tonight —

COOPER: — it would still be in BP’s best interest to get 300 to 400 workers to show up there tomorrow so that people don’t say —

ROBERTS: There is no question about it. And as you said earlier, when — when some of these workers were approached by our emergency management staff, they said that they were under strict orders not to talk to anyone.

COOPER: So these workers, it wasn’t even just workers not talking to reporters?

ROBERTS: Right. They were not talking to — to any of our emergency management officials. The sheriff’s office did manage to get one person to speak with them, and that individual said they were hired yesterday and told to report to a staging area at 7:30 this morning, so it just doesn’t add up.

COOPER: And the other thing that’s annoying about this, if it’s true, is that you’ve got a lot of fishermen who would like to be employed by BP going out and helping.

ROBERTS: There is no question.

COOPER: And they are — they’ve put their names in and they have taken courses, and they were sitting around waiting to be called to help in this effort.

ROBERTS: There is no question about it. When you look at this time of year, May through September is our time of year, particularly on Grand Isle, because you talk about the shrimping season opens May 1st and tourism goes on throughout this entire time. This is Memorial Day Weekend; this was usually the first big weekend, the big rodeo that had to be virtually cancelled, the fishing part of it this weekend.

And you’ve got a number of people that are sitting around that are virtually unemployed. So they are looking to come to work. They know the island and they know what needs to be done there. And instead of busing people in from the outside, you would think some of these people that you’ve been impacting —

COOPER: Right.

ROBERTS: — would be the ones you would —

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: And a lot of these fishermen who I’ve talked to, they said look I got a $5,000 check from BP.

ROBERTS: Right.

COOPER: But they would — I mean, given that this is prime shrimping season.

ROBERTS: They would rather work. They’d rather work.

COOPER: Right, they’d certainly rather work but also this is prime shrimping season. They would be making a heck of a lot more than $5,000 over the course of a month.

ROBERTS: No question.

COOPER: That they have been sitting around.

ROBERTS: And the thing for us is that we went through a very cold winter. And typically, when you talk about a Louisiana fishermen, their year happens between May —

COOPER: Right.

ROBERTS: — and the end of the summer.

So it takes being able to be successful during that time to survive all year long.

COOPER: Councilman, I appreciate you being with us.

ROBERTS: No. Thank you.

COOPER: Thank you very much. Good luck to your parish.

ROBERTS: Thank you.

COOPER: Chris Roberts thanks again.

Again, we tried to get BP to come on the program tonight, and we said this literally every night. The invitation remains. Only I’m not sure — they will be on lots of other people’s programs. I’m not sure why they won’t on this one. But I’d welcome them. And I won’t bite them or anything. I’ll be nice.

Let us know what you think. We just want some answers. The live chat is up and running at AC360.com.

*****Update: After some additional research, I have learned that any use of Jefferson Parish school buses would have to be cleared with the district’s transportation department. 

As if it wasn’t shameless enough to rent the house next door to the Palins in Wasilla while he works on a Palin-exposing book, liberal author Joe McGinniss starred in a Saturday Washington Post report by David Weigel about how he’s a good neighbor, but he’s learned that Palin’s "ability to incite hatred." He might not want to ask for that cup of sugar:

McGinniss added that he had been a responsible neighbor, shooing off a pair of Minnesota tourists who stepped onto his property to take photos of the Palins’ home.

"Look, this is a pain in the ass for them," he said. "I understand that. If I were her, I’d be upset. I’d be annoyed. But I’d be an adult about it, and I would figure out, okay, how can we resolve this in a way that’s not going to make this into something that everybody gets obsessive about? By being here, I have learned things, and I’ve gotten an insight into her character, into her ability to incite hatred, that before I only knew about in the abstract."

Weigel and the Post placed this line at the end of the story, but the Politics section of their website is plugging it hard with a link to Weigel’s blog version of the story on Saturday: Palin’s new neighbor: She’s being ‘hysterical’:

EXCLUSIVE: Author Joe McGinniss says moving next door to Sarah Palin in Wasilla, Alaska, has given him fresh "insight into her character, into her ability to incite hatred, that before I only knew about in the abstract."

It certainly comes as no surprise that liberal media members hate big business, but the level to which New York Times columnist Bob Herbert attacked some of the nation’s largest employers on Saturday should concern everyone interested in preserving what’s left of the free market.

"[T]he biggest, most powerful companies do not have the best interests of the American people in mind when they are closing in on the kinds of profits that ancient kingdoms could only envy," wrote Herbert.

"Haven’t we just seen how the giant financial firms almost destroyed the American economy?" he then asked.

Sadly, the Times columnist was just getting warmed up:

Wasn’t it just a few weeks before this hideous Deepwater Horizon disaster that a devastating mine explosion in West Virginia – at a mine run by a company with its own hideous safety record – killed 29 coal miners and ripped the heart out of yet another hard-working local community?

The idea of relying on the assurances of these corporate predators that they are looking out for the safety of their workers and the health of surrounding communities and the environment is beyond absurd. [...]

The oil companies and other giant corporations have a stranglehold on American policies and behavior, and are choking off the prospects of a viable social and economic future for working people and their families.

Really? Is that what the millions of people that work for oil companies and other giant corporations think? How viable would their social and economic futures be if their employers were forced to cut payrolls as a result of excessive government regulation?

One of the marvelous aspects of liberalism, especially from media elites like Herbert, is how it allows you to arrogantly cut your nose off in public without the slightest understanding that you’re doing it to spite your own face.

Folks like Herbert will carp and whine about the high unemployment rate while they criticize corporate America for operating without sufficient restraint.

In their distorted economic view, companies will actually hire MORE people if the federal government has greater control over their day to day operations. 

Of course, the real goal is to eliminate big corporations entirely so that everyone EXCEPT THEMSELVES will eventually work for the government.

Unfortunately, the other thing they don’t understand is that without private employers and private employees, there wouldn’t be any tax revenues to pay those working in the public sector.

Try explaining THAT inconvenient truth to a liberal without losing your mind.

I dare you. 

Since February 2006, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann has used the signoff of his Countdown show almost nightly to mock President Bush by recounting the number of days have passed since the former President stood on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq. The speech, which President Bush delivered while a sign with the words "Mission Accomplished" could be seen in the background, has been referred to by Olbermann and other war critics as Bush’s "declaration of ‘Mission Accomplished.’" The signoff mocking Bush had continued even after the former President left office.

But as of this week, the MSNBC host has finally dropped his former signoff and instead recounts the number of days since the beginning of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The last time Olbermann signed off attacking President Bush was on Thursday, May 20: "That’s Countdown, for this, the 2,576 th day since the previous President declared "Mission Accomplished" I Iraq. I’m Keith Olbermann. Good night and good luck."

On Friday, Olbermann did not use the sign off because each Friday he ends the show by reading a short story from James Thurber, and deviates from his regular signoff, but on Monday, he had a new signoff referring to the oil spill, which he kept up through Thursday of this week:

#From Monday, May 24:

And that is Countdown for this, the 34th day since the Deep Water Horizon oil spill disaster began. I’m Keith Olbermann. Good night and good luck.

#From Tuesday, May 25:

That’s Countdown for this, the 35th day since the Deep Water Horizon oil disaster began. I’m Keith Olbermann. Good night and good luck.

#From Wednesday, May 26:

That’s Countdown for this, the 36th day since the Deep Water Horizon oil disaster began. I’m Keith Olbermann. Good night and good luck.

#From Wednesday, May 27:

That’s Countdown for this, the 37th day since the Deep Water Horizon oil spill began. I’m Keith Olbermann. Good night and good luck.

Over the past two years, yours truly has noted how the economy in Oklahoma has with very little media attention outperformed most of the rest of the nation. The Sooner State’s much lower unemployment rate, higher GDP growth, and higher personal income growth have "strangely" coincided with the passage of a strict illegal immigration law-enforcement measure in 2007.

Now there’s another significant news item out of Oklahoma that the establishment press has also virtually ignored. In November, voters there are going to decide whether to opt out of the statist health care legislation passed by Congress in March, also known as ObamaCare, by passing a state constitutional amendment.

Oklahoma is not alone. Two larger states will also have state constitutional opt-outs on the November ballot.

Rush Limbaugh brought the Oklahoma news to his listeners’ attention yesterday, and linked to this LifeSiteNews.com story. If that seems an odd choice, it’s because press coverage in general has been either curt, dismissive, or non-existent.

Here are key paragraphs from Peter J. Smith’s LifeSite report:

Oklahoma Voters May Nullify Fed Health Care Law in November

Voters in Oklahoma will be given a chance in November to decide whether they want to reject the core of the recently-enacted national health care reform, which includes taxpayer-funded abortion and requires individuals to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, thanks to a legislative action that bypassed the objections of pro-abortion Democrat Gov. Brad Henry.

The state’s House of Representatives approved Senate Joint Resolution 59 with a strong bipartisan majority of 88-9. SJR 59 allows citizens to vote up or down a state constitutional amendment that would prohibit “forced participation in a health care system,” and allow individuals to pay directly for health services and carry private health insurance.

The House had waited to act on the Senate resolution, in hopes of overriding the governor’s veto of a resolution that would have enacted the ban via statute. However, after the veto override attempt failed last week, the House enacted the version putting the question to voters.

Because the SJR 59 is a referendum question, the decision will bypass the governor and go directly to the people on the November 2 state ballot. The measure is based on American Legislative Exchange Council’s model Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act.

If enacted, Oklahoma will follow the lead of Virginia, Idaho, and Arizona in challenging President Barack Obama’s signature legislation on the basis of state law, but with a twist: the Virginia challenge to the health care bill is based on a state statute, while Oklahoma would up the ante with a constitutional amendment.

Voters in Florida and Arizona will also go to the polls in November to vote on constitutional amendments opting their states out of the national health care law.

The Associated Press’s coverage has been limited to a four-paragraph item that is not available in a search on "Oklahoma voters" (not in quotes), the first two words in the article, at its main site.

Despite the fact that an Oklahoma House resolution overrode Democratic Governor Brad Henry’s veto by 88-9, the Tulsa World’s Barbara Hoberock gave four of her report’s 13 paragraph to an opponent who argued that the "federal health-care reform law will provide access to health care for people in her district who do not have it." As has been pointed out frequently, everyone has "access" by law, even if they don’t have insurance.

At the Oklahoman, Michael McNutt’s more balanced report contained a quote from the governor’s spokesperson that goes to the heart of an inevitiable federal government challenge:

Paul Sund, Henry’s spokesman, said passage of SJR 59 "just sets the stage for yet another lawsuit against the state and more unnecessary legal fees for Oklahoma taxpayers.”

"No state has the authority to selectively ignore federal laws of its choosing, and any attempt to do so will be ruled unconstitutional by the courts,” Sund said.

Someone should have asked Mr. Sund why we even bother having states if the federal government can pass any law it likes while imposing any mandates it pleases.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.

On her CNN Headline News show Thursday night, Joy Behar thought the "Obama’s Katrina" language from Republicans was odd, since the "Bush/Cheney administration" is responsible for both disasters. Steve Kornacki of Salon.com insisted "all of the insults, all of the criticisms that were hurled at the Bush right after Katrina, they are just dying to throw back at the Democrats."

Behar replied: "But isn’t this sort of like the same problem, the Bush/Cheney administration started it and now this poor guy has to mop it up. I mean, they deregulated the oil industry, right? And is it ever a good idea to deregulate such a huge corporation like that? That’s a bad idea."

Behar proclaimed that it bothered her that this could hurt Obama politically when he had nothing at all to do with it and deregulation was all Bush’s fault:

STEVE KORNACKI, SALON.COM: They are looking to say this is Obama’s Katrina, and the problem from Obama’s standpoint is too many people in this country embrace this basic attitude. We talk about, you know, looking to Daddy, too many people in this country embrace the attitude that when there’s a problem, any problem, anywhere in this country that gets all over CNN, all over MSNBC, they have to look to the President to solve it.

And so what — what’s Obama left to do? He`s left there to hold the press conference and everyone’s going to analyze the tone of his voice, and you know, whether he showed up there soon enough, and all these things that really don’t matter, everybody ends up looking to him for answers; ends up analyzing and it doesn`t really add up to anything.

BEHAR: Again, this though, could hurt him politically in the next election and it sort of bothers me that that will happen to him. Because, again, he’s just — who signed off on this — this lack of safety gadget that you were talking about? Who signed off on that?

ARI MELBER, THE NATION MAGAZINE: Well, most of that, yes, is a period of policies that were promulgated largely under the Bush administration and the Minerals Service and all of those things, and also Congress, where I do think both parties, definitely more Bush and more of the Republicans led to deregulation, but both parties in many instances did this.

We’ve been talking also in the news about whether you can get money back to help pay for this stuff and there’s a cap that Congress put in place. Both parties helped pass that. And now we’re saying, well maybe we should raise the cap.

But I do think it`s highly hypocritical of Republicans here to attack the government while they have been slowly dismantling the federal government`s budget and abilities to –

BEHAR: Right.

MELBER: — regulate.

BEHAR: And will the American voter buy that? What are they going to buy in November?

MELBER: I think –

BEHAR: And again in 2012? What`s going to happen?

MELBER: I think if you look at — with the mood out there, it is very angry. So there is disapproval of the corporate side of this on BP, but there’s also disapproval of the federal government’s role. So I think the fact that you have so much anger and the economic malaise means that people are less receptive to what is frankly a complicated argument for Obama to make. Which is, yes, we messed up a little bit, but also we need to fund the government to prevent this. Well, right there, I just spent two sentences and it doesn`t sound that convincing, although it’s true. So I think, if you look towards November, people are still angry and there’s an obviously an anti-incumbent sentiment.

BEHAR: Okay, but he’s fired this Birnbaum, Elizabeth Birnbaum, who is the head of the — what is it?

KORNACKI: Mineral –

BEHAR: Mineral Management Service.

KORNACKI: Yes.

BEHAR: He didn’t say ‘Heckuva job, Lizzy,’ though.

Another pro-illegal alien protest and, once again, the networks champion the cause. Four weeks after the broadcast network evening shows trumpeted May Day marches against Arizona’s effort to enforce federal law, another round of marches prompted ABC and NBC on Saturday night to push the left-wing cause.

“Day of outrage, anger on the streets of Phoenix and across this country tonight,” ABC anchor David Muir declared, pleading: “Will an army of protesters be heard?” Reporter Jeremy Hubbard began his story for World News: “In their most massive numbers yet, a deluge of adversaries rally and rail against what could soon be the law of the land in Arizona.”

On NBC, Telemundo’s Janet Rodriguez also presented the subject through the prism of those against the popular law: “Critics say the law unfairly targets Hispanics who make up about a third of the state’s population. Recent college grad Martin Moreno worries about racial profiling” while another protester claimed “this law violates our fundamental principles of human dignity,” before Rodriguez featured a woman holding a sign from ANSWER LA, the far-left/communist-affiliated group. Rodriguez, however, described her simply as “from Long Beach.” The woman smeared as “racists” the majority of Americans who support the law.

From May 1, “Nets Celebrate May Day Pro-Illegal Immigrant Protests, Barely Mention Shot Deputy,” began:

“Angry backlash from coast to coast,” ABC’s David Muir teased Saturday’s World News, “huge rallies across this country tonight against that new controversial immigration law.” On CBS, Jeff Glor teased: “May Day Message. Immigrant right groups rally from coast to coast against Arizona’s controversial new law.”

The story on the Saturday, May 29 NBC Nightly News, transcript provided by the MRC’s Brad Wilmouth:

LESTER HOLT: Back here at home tonight, tens of thousands of people on both sides of the debate over illegal immigration are taking to the streets in Arizona where a tough new law is scheduled to go into effect on July 29th. Janet Rodriguez of our sister network Telemundo has been covering the rallies, and joins us tonight from Phoenix.

JANET RODRIGUEZ: Heading toward the state capital, a five-mile stretch of protesters, an estimated 30,000 marched through the streets of downtown Phoenix with dozens of police officers standing by.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: We march because we recognize we are not marching with criminals.

RODRIGUEZ: The law, signed by Republican Governor Jan Brewer, and due to go into effect in late July, requires state and local police officers to check the status of people they believe are in the country illegally. Critics say the law unfairly targets Hispanics who make up about a third of the state’s population. Recent college grad Martin Moreno worries about racial profiling.

MARTIN MORENO: It’s not fair that people have to live in a state and feel afraid of the police, afraid of their local government.

RODRIGUEZ: Peter Morales came all the way from Boston.
                
PETER MORALES: This law violates our fundamental principles of human dignity.

RODRIGUEZ: Susan Doane from Long Beach.

SUSAN DOANE: People don’t support this law. That is a minority of racists that does support this law.

RODRIGUEZ: Among the sea of signs calls for President Obama to take the lead in the immigration debate, and live up to his promise for immigration overhaul.

STATE REP. BEN MIRANDA (D-AZ): This President promised immigration reform this year, and he has not delivered. The end result is going to be a cost to his legacy.
    
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Being a Nazi is un-American. Don’t you know that?

RODRIGUEZ: J.T. Rady was a lone voice in this crowd, supporting the law, on face, by the number of protesters.

J.T. RADY, PROTESTER: We’re taking a stand against this that numbers don’t matter. It doesn’t matter how many that they bring against us, we’re still going to stand up against it.

RODRIGUEZ: And, Lester, supporters of the bill who will be holding their own rally later on today, say SB-1070 is critical and is long overdue and is critical to securing Arizona’s border.

* WARNING: OFF-TOPIC*
Tomorrow is my daughter’s big day!! Her Bat Mitzvah — the big Jewish coming-of-age ceremony — which it seems we’ve been planning forever.  I’m not sure who’s most nervous around here. (Even the cat’s been kind of jumpy.)
In accordance with Jewish tradition, my going-on-13-year-old will be up on the pulpit with the rabbi, [...]

Everyone will suffer from a headache every now and again. Whether it’s poor diet, or lack of sunlight, or too much sunlight, or hormonal imbalance, or a loud environment, or any other number of factors, headaches happen. Most of us can just pop a couple of aspirin and move on.
But other folks aren’t so [...]

I had the misfortune of developing rheumatoid arthritis as a youngster. By the time I was eight I was seeing doctors twice a week, by the time I was eleven I had my first surgery, and by the time I was thirteen I was on a daily battery of drugs and physical therapy to combat [...]