Comments

1
Looks like their hyper-conservative laissez-faire state is crumbling
2
She must have lousy advisors if they couldn't figure all of this out before she signed the bill.

They all should be fired or recalled or impeached.
3
She also killed the state employees' one year old benefits program for domestic partners saying that "God put her in this job."

Go fuck yourself, Jan.
4
I know someone who's moving to Tucson in a couple months, and she was already worried about finding a job before this.

Oops. Bad timing.

Oh, schadenfreude.
5
Oh please. If we had the same issues with Canadians we would do the same thing. OH WAIT that's right WE ALREADY DO. They can't cross a vast border without documentation. Arizona is not a hot little shithole either. Comments like this are expected from teabaggers, but are increasingly common among erudites as well.
6
A boycott is superfluous. It will soon be very obvious that a significant portion of Arizona's economy is built on the back of illegal immigrants.
Enjoy your crash, crazy conservatives. I'm sure you'll find a way to blame it on someone else.
7
As travelers make alternate plans for conventions or vacations or whatever, it sends more tourism to non-Arizona states, of which there are 49. Which is an excellent recession fighter, for non-Arizonans. Not so much for Arizona but the needs of the many, you know what they say...

So thanks, Arizona! Way to take one for the team!
8
I was thinking about stopping in Winslow AZ and The Grand Canyon on my stately summer train ride between LA and Chicago, but I think I shall have to ride by. Albequrque and Santa Fe are looking much more attractive to me.
9
There are plenty of normal, non-racist, non-hyper-conservative, caring human beings here in AZ. I actually consider myself one. And it's that part of the population of AZ that is equally outraged about this as the rest of the country- but our state gov doesn't give a shit. The best solution that thoughtful, progressive people have come up with is to boycott the state? seriously? I don't understand how that is doing anything other than making shit out of lemons.

10
But you know I started thinking about this tourism thing. It's just a little ironic to see the Stranger cheering or instigating tourism and convention boycotts of Arizona, or Itawamba, Mississippi, or South Carolina, and so on and so forth. Whatever state has offended the Stranger's sensibilities this time.

And then here at home the Stranger takes a completely defiant attitude when you mention the loss of tourism and convention business due to our somewhat out of whack panhandling situation. Because then, well those out-of-towners can go screw themselves if they're too big of fraidy cats to deal with how it is in the big city! We don't need their money! If we lose our jobs we can pay our rent with self-righteousness!

Sorry to hijack your thread, Mr. Savage. But the damage is done and can't undo it now. Say, what's your stance on this panhandler situation, anyway, Dan Savage? You're usually so outspoken.
11
@9: I used to live in a shitty backward state, too.

I used to.
12
@3 Saying god put you into a job can be an excuse for anything. Since this is the internet I want to get all Godwin's law up in this bitch.

God put Hitler in power, so by the fundies flawless logic God wants Jews dead. See how that works?
13
@10: I made an observation, E, I didn't back or launch or instigate or even wholeheartedly endorse this boycott. And we never called for boycotts of South Carolina or Mississippi. Talking about bad shit that's going down in a particular state is not the same thing as calling for a boycott. (Did back a call for on on Utah after Prop 8, though—one that seemed to produce results, as the Mormon Church, which runs the state, pushed through a gay rights bill to blunt charges of bigotry.)

And I'm pro-panhandler.
14
If Greg Palast is right, the law only has to stand until November for the governor to get what she wants.

http://www.gregpalast.com/behind-the-ari…
15
@9 The point of this boycott is twofold. The boycott will not only put pressure on AZ to repeal this law but it will bring money into states where people are more like minded. If you as a person or a business want to make sure your money goes to supporting non-racist areas you can do that.

Of course this is not as simple as AZ being a racist state and others states being racism free. There is collateral damage in any boycott but it is a fairly good tactic to use. It supports allies while starving enemies.
16
@11: aren't ALL state governments shitty and backward? I mean, that is what we're talking about, right?
17
I love how elenchos is still freaking out over nothing. Meanwhile, most cruise ships EVAR this year. Hooray.

I wonder how many of those folks are people that decided to cancel their AZ trip and go on an Alaskan Cruise instead? 2? 3? Maybe 4?
18
And a boycott of Arizona worked once before--the state refused to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday (hmmm...) until a boycott was organized and convention business fell.
19
@3 I love the God put me in this job line. I swear, I thought some guy who goes by POTUS put her in that job by taking away the evil Napolitano.

I noticed the Gubner was reading from a teleprompter after she signed that law. Does that make her un-American and a socialist? I think it does, and I for one would like to see her birth certificate.

Goodbye AZ, we hardly knew ye.
20
I still can't tell if we're smearing the citizens or the governor in this thread, but it all does feel pretty broad. I suppose we who live in AZ should know better than to live in a state where other people are assholes.

Isn't the idea of a boycott a bit like picking on the kid at school whose parents are super conservative and won't let the kid watch goonies?
21
AZ is like Mississippi with money.
22
Who'll want to go to Arizona anyway? It seems that the point of this law is to make it difficult/impossible to work in Arizona if you aren't white, because illegals take away jobs. There aren't that many white people who want to clean hotel rooms or cook in tiny restaurants or pick produce for minimum wage (or less). If I travel, I like nice accommodations, and I don't think that will happen in Arizona any time soon.
23
The Stranger has called for tourism boycotts though, haven't they? In some places. I believe the record will show that the paper has very often been pro-tourism-boycott. When it suits you.
24
You got it all wrong. We need to support the Arizona Gov. I propose we pass a state law here that says that any vehicle coming into our state with Arizona plates will be stopped and the passengers jailed if they cannot come up with papers proving their citizenship. Of course we deplore racial profiling, so we will demand that EVERY occupant come up with their papers, no matter their skin hue or ethnicity.
25
@23: because they should advocate boycotts when it doesn't suit them, just to be fair and balanced?
26
@16: Uh, no that's basically the opposite of what I'm talking about. Some states are shittier and more backward than others. Some states try to ban abortion in essentially every election cycle. Some states stop posting any Adopt-A-Highway signs at all because an LGBT organization adopted one. Some states pass resolutions through their legislature claiming that global warming may have astrological causes.

My current state isn't that kind of shitty and backward.
27
Elenchos is a shit-ass!
28
@17, what I find illuminating about his "concern" is that he is more worried about tourist $$ and potential costs to the businesses bottom line than he is to state implemented threats to civil and human rights.
29
How to be a Republican:

1) Ignore real issues and play up ones that will rile up white bigots (i.e. their base.)
2) Pass laws to address these issues that will make things worse, but give the illusion that White People have Power.
3) When called out on your actions, play the victim card.
30
@8: Atta girl!
31
@26: I think the fact that decent people leave 'shitty backward' states behind might help make those places shitty-er and backward-er.

I guess we should all move to Portland and let the rest of the country go to shit.
32
The Wicked Witch of the SouthWest...

This is another perfect example of why we have a clause in our constitution separating church and state- unfortunately it is a provision that prevents government intrusion into the religious freedoms of Americans- but not the other way around...
33
You know, I've always wanted to go to Arizona.

Except now I won't.
34
@9: Nah, a boycott is just one idea. We'll also probably sue the shit out of the state to enjoin the law from ever being enforced.

Or, failing that, to at least test its constitutionality. You know, take a page from the Rob McKenna playbook. Every law's constitutionality must be tested after all... right?
35
Boycotts can work when they have a high profile. It's one thing to refuse to recognize Dr. King; I'm not sure enough people (specifically businesses and tourists) will get worked up enough over this. After all, the anti-Amendment 2 boycott didn't result in much here in Colorado, other than losing a few conventions and having "Frasier" be set in Seattle rather than Denver. But we'll see.
36
Ironically, U-Haul (headquartered in Arizona) will probably stand to benefit from this boycott as many pissed-off unemployable brown people and fed-up progressive white people will be moving out of the state soon.
37
@#35 (who keeps posting that same idiotic statement on every SLOG Post regarding boycotting AZ)

Hey Doofus- short memory have we? http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/4…

Your discouraging ain't gonna work...
38
* Boycott Utah News Intern Aaron Pickus
*Fuck you, Utah—we’re going to big, blue Colorado. Dan Savage
*Scratch Florida off your list of possible vacation options. Dan Savage
*Etc

The point is that Seattle doesn't need tourist dollars. Convention money? Convention money is for… I don't know… what are those non-Seattle people called? Fly-overs? Wal-Mart shoppers? The uncool? Whatever. Seattle is too good for tourist and convention dollars. We have Amazon, right? We have Starbucks. We make money the old fashioned way.

I guess those rubes aren't smart like us. If they were smart they'd say we can keep our tourist dollars, but apparently we can fool them into caring about useless baubles like gainful employment while Seattle only cares about what really matters.

Fuck, I don't know. I know Seattle residents who have lost their jobs because tourist dollars went elsewhere. I think it sucks to lose your job because the city doesn't care what tourists and conventioneers think.
39
@31: So the state gets shittier. More people keep leaving. Aaaaand...

I don't understand, has Arizona closed its state borders or something? Are you not allowed to leave? Are you being held hostage?
40
With the intention to boycott or not, I don't think most tourists want to expose themselves to extra police hassle and possible jail time while on vacation. I am sure it will cut down on international convention bookings.
41
Hee, hee.......shithole. I visited Tucson last year for a long weekend to visit a friend who had, for some reason, moved there. The first words out of my mouth as we drove away from the airport were, "Jesus, what a shithole!" 110 degrees every day. 90 degrees every night. Nothing was green. Just miles and miles of concrete and asphalt and sand. They do have plenty of Wal-Marts though. Never again! They can have Arizona.
42
@41: Actually, the less urbanized, more deserty areas are really beautiful. (I've been down there a few times to visit friends.) Too bad about those few assbags who want to hassle Latinos.

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