Arizona lawmakers this week launched a website to raise $50 million for a fence along the state's Mexican border designed to keep out illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. "Arizona once again has to do the job the federal government isn't," said state Sen. Steve Smith, a first-term Republican who sponsored the legislation. The site, Build the Border Fence, had brought in $80,000 as of Thursday, after just two days. Is this a creative solution to a pressing problem, or a politically charged publicity stunt?
Conservatives are turning Arizona into a laughingstock: What this "nearly bankrupt state" really needs is a creative way to pay for education and health care, says Estelle Gonzales Walgreen at Hispanically Speaking News. What we got instead: More proof that the "prehistoric and insensitive" Republican legislature has its priorities mixed up. Thank goodness there's not a fence around the whole state — "businesses and sane people can continue to flee."
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