December 17, 2014
Issue 1560
Arpaio glorifies pit bull that chewed 5-year-old; public aids Phoenix boy
2014 -- the year fast food became military weapons
OBSERVER STAFF P H O E N I X -- If you’ve seen the media circus surrounding Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s campaign to save Mickey the pit bull and make the dog a video star (all for political gain, of course), here’s the rest of the story. Mickey is the dog who earlier this year clamped his jaws on the head of the 5-year-old son of a Central American Continued on pge 5
Inside Senate’s new environment chief says Streisand behind climate-change hoax Page 4
The harm and shame of negative labeling Page 3
It’s time to let states pay for their own anti-marijuana enforcement Page 5
You can contribute to TIHAN $200 or $400, and get that same amount back on your Arizona tax return! Page 6
We’ll all be bragging about our ‘selfie stick’ Page 16
Indigestion on page 5
Driver license ban could be ending when you read this
SAGA sees resurgence after incorporation
PHOENIX -- Gov. Jan Brewer’s ban on issuing Arizona driver’s licenses to people brought to this country as immigrants could be ending any day now after losing a series of court decisions. A federal appeals court earlier this year ordered an end to Brewer’s executive order, and after a lot of wasted time and taxpayer money, immigrants granted deferred action by the Obama administration were expected to start getting driver’s licenses as early as this week. A Brewer spokesman said the state is asking the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay while its appeal is pending, but a spokeswoman for the ACLU of Arizona said the ACLU believes it’s “very unlikely” that the Supreme Court would issue such a stay. Other non-citizens who are in the state legally had not been prevented from getting driver’s licenses, but when someone reminded Brewer that she couldn’t single out one group, she did expand the ban to include some groups that previously were licensed. The appeals court ordered Brewer to stop ignoring federal documents stating that the immigrants are here legally, as provided by the U.S. Constitution.
OBSERVER STAFF Effective Nov. 17, the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance became incorporated as a nonprofit organization. It had most recently operated out of Wingspan prior to Wingspan’s closing. According to board vice president Abigail Jensen, SAGA’s board decided to incorporate in order to create a formal structure that would be legally recognized and enable SAGA to seek funding via grants and donations, which, in turn, would enable the organization to expand its programming. The good news is that even in the face of instability Continued on page 7
There ain’t enough lube out there to make us enjoy the new spending bill recent years, Republicans called the shots. They shot everything from environmental funding (cut for the fifth straight year) to safety regulations for long-haul truckers (who can now go back to being on the road 82 hours a week instead of 70).
By R.D. Smith GUEST COLUMNIST You’re probably still hearing bad things about the government funding plan approved Sunday by Congress.
Question: How bad is it? Answer: No one knows yet, but it’s worse than you could have imagined. As has been the case in
The fact that the GOP consistently leads the “Democratic” Senate around by the nose has prompted many writers to ask how we’ll know the difference after the Republicans take it over next month. Hell, if you have to ask the Continued on page 13