Arizona Legislature

While most of the recent sports news centered around the Raiders hiring a new coach and the Winter Olympics, another story stood out in my mind: The cruel and sick way some Arizona State fans treated Steve Kerr. It is totally disgusting and inexcusable. If this is the kind of youth our country is raising nowadays, we're in trouble. Instead of impeaching Governor Meachem, maybe the Arizona legislature should be impeaching the Arizona State student body. KENNETH L. ZIMMERMAN Cypress

Mary Beth Ginter never once voted for President George W. Bush, but she read aloud from his 2001 inaugural address with distinct enthusiasm here Saturday. "America has never been united by blood birth or soil," she said into the microphone on the concrete plaza at Pima Community College. "We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens.... And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.

I saw my first Lakers game as a boy, when my late father took me to watch the team play the Cincinnati Royals at the old Sports Arena. I was hooked for life, and though I have an indefensibly immoderate fondness for nearly all sports, the Lakers remain, for me, a team apart. At least they were. I can't bring myself to root against the Lakers in their current playoff series with the Phoenix Suns, but neither can I support them — unless the club formally repudiates Coach Phil Jackson's endorsement of Arizona's mean-spirited new anti-immigrant law. Jackson's support for the Arizona statute, which can only be enforced through impermissible racial profiling of Latinos, came to light on the eve of Monday's first game in the series.

Wedge issues are the rhetorical enablers of the bitterly partisan politics that have disfigured our national conversation in recent years. They're the controversial questions on which significant numbers of voters hold views that admit no compromise or nuanced disagreement. Candidates raise them to divide their constituents and to morally discredit their opponents. Abortion is a classic wedge issue, but of declining electoral utility, since roughly equal numbers of voters hold strong views on both sides of the matter.

I was pleased to read Bettijane Levine's article about the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet ("Our Life of Prayer," Nov. 22). Levine did a great job portraying this rare group of women, as did Wally Skalij's beautiful, impressionistic photo that accompanied the article. The article led me to reminisce about Sister Clare Dunn, a member of this religious order who served as a state legislator in Arizona in the 1970s. I had the honor of attending a class on social justice from Sister Clare at that time, and her influence has stayed with me through the years.

The Oakland Athletics put catcher Kurt Suzuki on the 15-day disabled list Friday because of a strained muscle in his side, and optioned outfielder Matt Carson to triple A. Suzuki was put on the disabled list retroactive to April 24. Left-hander Trevor Cahill was added to the roster to start against the Blue Jays on Friday, in place of left-hander Brett Anderson (elbow), and catcher Josh Donaldson's contract was purchased from triple A. Pitcher Joey Devine (right elbow)

Mary Beth Ginter never once voted for President George W. Bush, but she read aloud from his 2001 inaugural address with distinct enthusiasm here Saturday. "America has never been united by blood birth or soil," she said into the microphone on the concrete plaza at Pima Community College. "We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens.... And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.

As healthcare reform legislation advances in Congress, more state lawmakers are looking for ways to limit its effects on their constituents. At the front of the pack is the Arizona Legislature, which agreed to put a constitutional amendment on next year's ballot that would provide three new rights to its citizenry: to obtain coverage from a private insurer, to buy healthcare services with their own funds directly from doctors and hospitals, and to...

Wedge issues are the rhetorical enablers of the bitterly partisan politics that have disfigured our national conversation in recent years. They're the controversial questions on which significant numbers of voters hold views that admit no compromise or nuanced disagreement. Candidates raise them to divide their constituents and to morally discredit their opponents. Abortion is a classic wedge issue, but of declining electoral utility, since roughly equal numbers of voters hold strong views on both sides of the matter.

The Phoenix Suns will wear "Los Suns" on their jerseys in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals on Wednesday night, owner Robert Sarver said, "to honor our Latino community and the diversity of our league, the state of Arizona, and our nation." The decision to wear the jerseys on the Cinco de Mayo holiday stems from a law passed by the Arizona Legislature and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer that has drawn widespread criticism from Latino organizations and civil rights groups that say it could lead to racial profiling of Latinos.

I saw my first Lakers game as a boy, when my late father took me to watch the team play the Cincinnati Royals at the old Sports Arena. I was hooked for life, and though I have an indefensibly immoderate fondness for nearly all sports, the Lakers remain, for me, a team apart. At least they were. I can't bring myself to root against the Lakers in their current playoff series with the Phoenix Suns, but neither can I support them — unless the club formally repudiates Coach Phil Jackson's endorsement of Arizona's mean-spirited new anti-immigrant law. Jackson's support for the Arizona statute, which can only be enforced through impermissible racial profiling of Latinos, came to light on the eve of Monday's first game in the series.

The Phoenix Suns will wear "Los Suns" on their jerseys in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals on Wednesday night, owner Robert Sarver said, "to honor our Latino community and the diversity of our league, the state of Arizona, and our nation." The decision to wear the jerseys on the Cinco de Mayo holiday stems from a law passed by the Arizona Legislature and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer that has drawn widespread criticism from Latino organizations and civil rights groups that say it could lead to racial profiling of Latinos.

The Oakland Athletics put catcher Kurt Suzuki on the 15-day disabled list Friday because of a strained muscle in his side, and optioned outfielder Matt Carson to triple A. Suzuki was put on the disabled list retroactive to April 24. Left-hander Trevor Cahill was added to the roster to start against the Blue Jays on Friday, in place of left-hander Brett Anderson (elbow), and catcher Josh Donaldson's contract was purchased from triple A. Pitcher Joey Devine (right elbow)

As healthcare reform legislation advances in Congress, more state lawmakers are looking for ways to limit its effects on their constituents. At the front of the pack is the Arizona Legislature, which agreed to put a constitutional amendment on next year's ballot that would provide three new rights to its citizenry: to obtain coverage from a private insurer, to buy healthcare services with their own funds directly from doctors and hospitals, and to...

I was pleased to read Bettijane Levine's article about the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet ("Our Life of Prayer," Nov. 22). Levine did a great job portraying this rare group of women, as did Wally Skalij's beautiful, impressionistic photo that accompanied the article. The article led me to reminisce about Sister Clare Dunn, a member of this religious order who served as a state legislator in Arizona in the 1970s. I had the honor of attending a class on social justice from Sister Clare at that time, and her influence has stayed with me through the years.

While most of the recent sports news centered around the Raiders hiring a new coach and the Winter Olympics, another story stood out in my mind: The cruel and sick way some Arizona State fans treated Steve Kerr. It is totally disgusting and inexcusable. If this is the kind of youth our country is raising nowadays, we're in trouble. Instead of impeaching Governor Meachem, maybe the Arizona legislature should be impeaching the Arizona State student body. KENNETH L. ZIMMERMAN Cypress

It's more than a little ironic that the same Arizona Legislature that spearheaded a ruthless, racially charged campaign against illegal immigrants also banned K-12 ethnic studies classes on the grounds that they promote hatred and division. Who knew Arizona's Republican majority, as expert as it is at hyperbole and invective, was so committed to fostering healthy race relations in the Grand Canyon State? Last month, after a court fight against the ban, the governing board of the Tucson Unified School District pulled the plug on its Mexican American studies program, which teachers say was designed to help middle school and high school students navigate in a complex, multiethnic world.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney, playing on the 22nd anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., criticized Arizona for not having a state holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader. The Arizona Legislature passed a bill in September for a King Day, but opponents gathered enough signatures to stall the holiday until after a referendum in November. "I thought that was really dumb," McCartney said at a news conference.