Tucson Mayor Compares AZ Hate Bill To Whites-Only Lunch Counters Of 1950s

"Discrimination by private businesses led to some of the most noteworthy moments of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was targeted at the Montgomery Bus Lines, sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to move to the back of the bus. Civil rights activists who claimed white-only lunch counters as their own were subject to arrest, beatings and worse. I have spent a great deal of time in Mexico working to undo damage done by SB 1070 to our state’s ability to benefit from trade with one of the world’s emerging economies. I remember the fallout from Arizona’s long delay in passing a Martin Luther King Holiday. SB 1062 and HB 2153 are not only offensive, but if signed into law, will cause our state and our region significant economic harm. I ask our governor in the strongest possible terms to veto this legislation, and I urge Tucsonans to contact her with that request as well." -  Democratic Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, in an open letter to Arizonans.

Photo Of The Day

Posted to the Facebook page of Rocco's Little Chicago Pizzeria in Tucson. The restaurant has also posted this: "As a longtime employer and feeder of the gay community, Rocco's reserves the right to eject any State Senators we see fit to kick out. That is all." The photo has been shared over 2000 times and many commenters are vowing to patronize Rocco's.  (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

ARIZONA: Tucson Approves Civil Unions

Last night the Tucson City Council unanimously approved civil unions for same-sex couples.

No state law should be violated as long as the city does not include rights that are reserved for married couples, said City Attorney Mike Rankin. Since 2003, when the city established a domestic-partnership registry, it has had an increased number of domestic partnership applications. Councilman Paul Cunningham said that the ordinance is only a small success on the larger battle for complete marriage equality. “This is so important for the youth that are just finding out that they are gay or lesbian,” said Cunningham. “We’re only half way there.”

RELATED: In April the small Arizona town of Bisbee also approved civil unions, prompting warning letters from anti-gay state Attorney General Tom Horne and the right wing Center for Arizona Policy, the latter of which threatened to bankrupt Bisbee with a lawsuit.

Giffords Resigns To Full U.S. House

Giffords' resignation letter had to be read by an occasionally sobbing DNC head Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz. I watched this live this morning, you'll probably need a tissue.

Tucson Shooter Found Incompetent

Not very surprising.

Jared Loughner is incompetent to stand trial, a federal judge decided today. A psychologist and psychiatrist both found Loughner unable to help in his own defense or understand the proceedings. Doctors say he is schizophrenic. U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns said doctors report Loughner is unable to help with his defense because of his irrational distrust of lawyers. He doesn't understand the system and the role played by everyone, doctors said in their reports. Loughner doesn't think he can get a fair trial because of conspiracy, the judge was told by doctors.

Stand by for calls for Loughner's execution anyway.

Baja Arizona

NPR reports on the secessionist movement to split Arizona into two states, with the relatively liberal bastion of Tuscon and its surrounding area to become Baja Arizona, the 51st state.

Baja Arizona supporters say there's a serious side to their quest to create a new state. They say Arizona is headed in the wrong direction — cutting education and health care funding and hurting the state's reputation and business climate with laws like SB 1070. And they say Republicans in the Legislature are punishing Pima County for its opposition. The Legislature tried to deny money to Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik because he doesn't support SB 1070. It passed a law trying to change the way Tucson holds city elections, and another bill dictating how the city can bid public works projects. Republican state Rep. John Kavanagh helped pass many of those laws. He says the Legislature is doing what it thinks is right. "We pass laws based upon what we believe the people of Arizona want," he says. Kavanagh says the effort to split the state is just Democratic sour grapes.

Like all secessionist movements, Baja Arizona doesn't have the remotest chance of becoming a reality. But it's interesting to see the good guys behind one of these campaigns. That's a switch.

AZ Rep. Trent Franks (R) Opposes Bill Banning High-Capacity Gun Clips

"People have tried to politicize this and make everything except the killer responsible." Guns don't kill people...etc etc.

ARIZONA: Teabaggers Demand Recall Of Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik

Pima County, Arizona's Sheriff Clarence Dupnik became a media sensation when he blamed Tea Party and GOP rhetoric for creating the violent atmosphere that may have led to the Tucson massacre. So rather than engage a bit of self-reflection, the teabaggers are calling for his head.

Sheriff Dupnik, who has occupied his post since 1980, won re-election most recently in 2008 with just under 65 percent of the vote. He won't face voters again until 2012. Perhaps. Fed-up constituents may not have to wait. Arizona is one of 18 states with a broadly worded recall law for public officials. Here's the key provision in the Arizona Constitution, Article VIII, Part 1: "Every public officer in the state of Arizona, holding an elective office, either by election or appointment, is subject to recall from such office by the qualified electors of the electoral district from which candidates are elected to such office." If petitioners in Pima County collect 25 percent of the number of votes cast in the last election (about 90,000 would be needed) they can put Sheriff Dupnik on the ballot in a special recall election. In October 2003, California's voters ousted Gov. Gray Davis in a recall election - a far tougher task.

The Tucson Tea Party's campaign against Dupnik predates the Giffords tragedy and first began when he refused to enforce Arizona's racist immigration law.

Sarah Palin Appears On Fox News To Respond To "Political Finger-Pointing"

Sarah Palin on Sean Hannity tonight: "In a situation like we have just faced in these last eight days of being falsely accused of being an accessory to murder, I and others need make sure that we too are shedding light on truth so a lie cannot continue to live. If a lie does live, then of course your career is over and your reputation is thrashed and you will be ineffective in what we intend to do."

Teabaggers Claim Obama Commanded Applause At Tucson Memorial

Over the weekend reichwing and widely-read Tea Party bloggers began claiming that the reason we heard so much applause at the memorial for Tucson's shooting victims is because audience members were "commanded" to do so by the arena's Jumbotron, which, of course, was secretly being run by the Obama administration. In fact, the Jumbotron operator was live-captioning the event for hearing-impaired members of the audience. Parenthetical notations like "(applause)" and "(music)" are always used when such moments occur. The bloggers in question know this, but continue their shameless campaign.

Tucson Shooting Victim Arrested For Saying "You're Dead" To Guns Advocate

One of the victims in last Saturday's shooting in Tucson was arrested today after saying, "You're dead," to a man advocating for gun ownership. The arrest of Eric Fuller, 63, came at a taping of ABC's Town Hall, which was being moderated by Christiane Amanpour.

Toward the end of the taping, Amanpour brought up the issues of gun safety and mental health. As one member of the audience stood up and expressed his support for gun ownership, Fuller, seated near the front in an area reserved for victims and special guests, appeared increasingly frustrated and agitated. Fuller then swiveled in his chair, raised his camera and took a photo of the pro-gun speaker, muttering, "You're dead," according to Joel Tranter, who was sitting behind him. "I told him, 'You need to be respectful. You need to calm down,'" Tranter said. "He said, 'What'd you do, vote for this guy?'" As police officers approached to escort Fuller outside, he turned and shouted at the audience: "You whores!" The rest of the taping continued without incident and wrapped up about five minutes later. Outside, Fuller was arrested for making threats, said Capt. Byron Gwaltney of the Pima County Sheriff's Department.

According to a local Tucson television station, Fuller's comments were directed at Tuscon Tea Party founder Trent Humphries, who garnered some poor press of his own on Thursday when he blamed Rep. Gabrielle Giffords for not carrying a firearm to prevent her own shooting.

Cops Find Photos Of AZ Shooter Posing With Gun While Wearing Red G-String

Investigators today said that they've received a bizarre series of photos of mass murderer Jared Lee Loughner. The photos show Loughner wearing a red g-string with a Glock pistol next to his naked buttocks.

The photos were turned over to the police by Walgreens, where Mr. Loughner had taken the 35-mm film to be developed on Jan. 7, the day before the shooting. In some of the photos he is holding the gun near his crotch, and in others, presumably shot in a mirror, he is holding the gun next to his buttocks, the police said. It was not yet clear when the photos were taken. According to a detailed timeline released by the Pima County Sherriff’s Department on Friday, Mr. Loughner posted one of the photos and a bulletin saying, “Goodbye friends,” on MySpace early Saturday morning.

The Big Blue Horrible

Quote Of The Day - Trent Humphries

"It’s political gamesmanship. The real case is that she [Giffords] had no security whatsoever at this event. So if she lived under a constant fear of being targeted, if she lived under this constant fear of this rhetoric and hatred that was seething, why would she attend an event in full view of the public with no security whatsoever?" - Tucson Tea Party founder Trent Humphries, blaming Rep. Gabrielle Giffords for her own shooting.

GLAAD Angry About Westboro Radio Deal

The Westboro Baptist Church has agreed not to picket the funeral of the federal judge murdered in Saturday's massacre in Arizona. In return, a nationally syndicated radio show will give Westboro airtime to broadcast their repulsive message. GLAAD wants the deal called off.

This week Westboro has reacted to the tragedy in Tucson with messages like "God Sent the Shooter." Giving airtime to this malicious group is like negotiating with terrorists. Except in this case, Westboro is being incentivized by being provided with an outlet to broadcast their hate to thousands of others. While countless radio stations and media outlets around the country are properly paying tribute to the fallen and taking a serious look at the tragedy in Tucson, KXXT-AM and CFNY-FM have decided to renege on their responsibility as broadcasters by rewarding one of the most anti-American groups in the country. Make your voice heard. Tell KXXT-AM and CFNY-FM that rewarding hateful behavior doesn’t work and demand that they immediately rescind their offer of airtime to the Westboro Baptist Church.

Here's GLAAD's petition.

Rush Limbaugh's Tucson Billboard

Copyranter notes: "It's actually been there for quite some time. I know, because my girlfriend's mother lives in Tucson. It's of course via the radio station, not Limbaugh. Though, I'm sure he—or his "people"—had to approve it before it was erected."

(Via - Towleroad)

Olbermann Speaks To Daniel Hernandez

President Obama Speaks In Tucson

Obama's recognition of the heroes begins at 12:00.

LIVE VIDEO: Obama Speaks In Tucson

UPDATE: The event is concluded. I'll post video recaps as soon as they become available.

ARIZONA: Tucson Tea Party Says It Won't Change Its Campaign Rhetoric