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Drupalcon SF 2010: DrupalCon Mobile Site is Live
Hello everyone, if your wireless drops or if you do not have a laptop just use your smart phone. The mobile site has a useful interface to view the schedule by day and by track.
I am hosting a BOF in room 206 at 4:15pm today, Monday to present how we created the mobile version of the DrupalCon website. The mobile version will automatically load for all webkit based smart phones.
agileapproach.com: Using a settings page to change the number of results in a view
Hayworth’s Misleading Attack on Immigration
Martinez Attacks Denish Over ‘Waste’
Geithner’s GDP Whopper
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of July 20-July 26
Sunday Replay
Nevada Blame Game
Colorado PAC Attacks
Context Matters and Mailers Mislead
Whitman: Brown Is Plan-Free
Let’s Get to Work - On the Facts
ECON for the Simple
Find a Cost of Freedom
If You Can’t Convince Them, We Can Still Force Them
You Have Yet to Win
Tin Soldiers and Nixon is Still Coming, Longest Orgasm in History
Police, activists prepare days ahead of Ariz. law
PHOENIX — The sheriff of Arizona's most populous county is making room in a vast outdoor jail and determined to round up illegal immigrants to fill it. Police from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Grand Canyon are getting last-minute training. And protests and marches are planned throughout Phoenix.
Arizona's new immigration law takes effect Thursday, creating a potentially volatile mix of police, illegal immigrants and thousands of activists, many planning to show up without identification as a show of solidarity.
At least one group plans to block access to federal offices, daring officers to ask them their immigration status.
"Our message for that day is: 'Don't comply, don't buy,'" said activist Liz Hourican, whose group, CodePink, plans to block the driveway for immigration offices in downtown Phoenix.
As both sides prepare, a federal judge is deciding whether to step in and block the law. It requires officers enforcing other laws to check a person's immigration status if they suspect the person is in the country illegally. It also bans illegal immigrants from soliciting work in a public place.
Police across the state scrambled on Tuesday to train officers, including on how to avoid racial profiling, and plan for a potential influx of detainees.
The hardest-line approach is expected in the Phoenix area, where Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio plans his 17th crime and immigration sweep. He plans to hold the sweep, regardless of any ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton.
Arpaio, known for his tough stance against illegal immigration, plans to send about 200 deputies and volunteers out, looking for traffic violators, people wanted on criminal warrants and others. He's used that tactic before to arrest dozens of people, many of them illegal immigrants.
"We don't wait. We just do it," he said. "If there's a new law out, we're going to enforce it."
He said that the space he made in the complex of military surplus tents can handle 100 people, and that he will find room for more if necessary.
Elsewhere in the state, police officials said they didn't expect any dramatic events. They were busy wrapping up training sessions this week, with some agencies saying that untrained officers will not be allowed on the streets.
Many of the state's 15,000 police officers have been watching a DVD released this month that signs that might indicate a person is an illegal immigrant are speaking poor English, looking nervous or traveling in an overcrowded vehicle. It warned that race and ethnicity do not.
Some agencies added extra materials, including a test, a role-playing exercise or a question-and-answer session with prosecutors.
Critics of the law among police chiefs remain, saying that the law is so vague that no amount of training could eliminate potential confusion.
"Am I going to sit here and say I think every officer has a clear understanding of the law when they leave the training?" Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor said. "No, because I think the law is poorly constructed."
Arizona's law gives police two options to confirm whether a detainee is an illegal immigrant.
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to comment on preparations or the role federal authorities would play in enforcing the law, except to say ICE "focuses first on criminal aliens who pose a threat to our communities."
Arpaio vowed to arrest all illegal immigrants and make them spend time in his jail. Other police officials said they'd try to get the Border Patrol involved as often as possible to avoid the time and cost of booking the detainees into jail.
Prosecutors are also preparing for a potential influx of cases. They are reminding officers that they are required to explain the circumstances of the original stop, why they suspected the person was an illegal immigrant and any comments made by the suspect.
A march from the state Capitol is planned at 4:30 a.m., followed by a prayer service, a rally outside Arpaio's office and later that afternoon a concert outside a Maricopa County jail, according to the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
The protesters both from Arizona and elsewhere plan to show up without identification and hold peaceful rallies.
"It's defiance, to see if they want to come and arrest those people," said Pablo Alvarado, the executive director of the NDLON. "We dare them to come and ask."
Associated Press writer Jacques Billeaud contributed to this report.
Anti-war coffeehouse under financial pressure
KILLEEN, TX - The owners and organizers behind an anti-war coffeehouse near Fort Hood have been fighting against mounting financial pressure.
"Under the Hood" is a cafe for soldiers and their families to "gather, relax and speak freely about the wars and the military" says its website.
But that draw hasn't been earning them the donations in recent months to keep their doors open.
"Two months ago when we were looking at the books, it was clear that Under the Hood would not be around for too much longer if we did not start engaging a larger group of small donors, the big checks, the grant funding has just not been there," said Matthis Chiroux, coffeehouse organizer.
That same dip in checks received coincided with the current economic recession that has hit many non-profits especially tough.
Veterans in Killeen however voiced opinions that it has less to do with the recession, and more to do with the "hard sell" they face in a military town.
"Good. Good, I couldn't support that, if they're against the war, I'm against them," said Billy Reiken, a Vietnam veteran in response to their financial problems.
"We're not pro-war, we're pro-support," said Bob Brown, commander of the American Legion post in Killeen.
The possibility of closing became all too real two months ago when coffeehouse organizers realized they may not make it three more months.
With the help of a recent anti-war convention in Austin and also a protest held outside Fort Hood earlier this month, organizers saw more donations come in.
"We are good until the first of the year, December or so, and we have fundraising and people have offered fundraising for us, so we are hoping for the best," said Cindy Tomas, Under the Hood owner.
As far as its presence in Killeen and in proximity to Fort Hood, "It should be a hard sell for them to do anything around here," Rieken said.
Six House Dems stage 'sit-in' on Senate floor
Six House members crossed the Capitol to stage a "sit-in" in the Senate chamber to protest what they believe to be GOP obstruction of jobs legislation.
These House Democrats sat quietly in the back of the chamber and were approached by both Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and Republican Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah, who shook the hands of the upper chamber visitors.
Democratic Reps. Donna Edwards of Maryland, Carolyn Kilpatrick of Michigan, Danny Davis of Illinois, Ed Perlmutter of Colorado, Gwen Moore of Wisconsin and Jackie Speier of California seated themselves in the area from which Senate staffers ordinarily watch their bosses on the floor.
Nothing really came of the silent protest.
But it was the second planned trip from the House side of the Capitol to the Senate — with the first being last week — and this brief sojourn to the upper chamber drew the attention of reporters when Senate Press gallery staffers announced their presence on the floor.
The orchestrated "sit-in" was a modest illustration of House frustration over the dozens of major pieces of legislation that have cleared the lower chamber only to be stuck in legislative limbo in the Senate. In addition to a pending small-business jobs bill, the House has passed climate change legislation, campaign finance reform and a tax extenders package — all of which await Senate approval.
