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Arizona Governor Vetoes Bill Making Gold, Silver Legal Tender

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Photo Credit: Reuters Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a measure on Thursday that would have made gold and silver legal tender in the state, saying the legislation could have resulted in lost tax revenue.

The Republican-controlled state legislature voted through the measure last month in a response to what backers said was a lack of confidence in the international monetary system.

The bill called for Arizona to make gold and silver coins and bullion legal tender beginning in mid-2014, joining existing U.S. currency issued by the federal government.

“While I believe the concern over a devalued dollar as a result of an unsustainable federal deficit is justified, I am unable to support this legislation,” Brewer, a Republican, said in an open letter to state Senate President Andy Biggs.

Brewer noted that the “administrative and fiscal burdens” for taxpayers and the revenue department “remain vague.” She also cited uncertainty over whether the legislation would have required the state to exempt transactions involving collectable coins and bills that were authorized by Congress and could be used as legal tender.

Read more from this story HERE.

Arizona Lawmakers Pass Bill Making Silver, Gold Legal Tender

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Photo Credit: Reuters The Arizona Senate on Tuesday approved a measure to make gold and silver legal currency in the state, in a response to what backers said was a lack of confidence in the international monetary system.

The legislation cleared the Republican-controlled Senate by an 18-10 vote after being approved by the state House earlier this month. It now goes to Republican Governor Jan Brewer, who has not indicated if she will sign it into law or veto it.

The bill calls for Arizona to make gold and silver coins and bullion legal tender beginning in mid-2014, joining existing U.S. currency issued by the federal government.

If signed into law, Arizona would become the second state in the nation to establish these precious metals as legal tender. Utah approved such legislation in 2011.

More than a dozen states have considered similar legislation in recent years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Read more from this story HERE.

Suspicious Package Containing Explosive Material sent to Arizona Sheriff Arpaio

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Photo Credit: AP

Arizona authorities say a package addressed to Sheriff Joe Arpaio would have exploded if opened, leading to serious injuries or death. Maricopa County Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan made the comment Friday at a news conference in Phoenix.

The package intercepted in Flagstaff late Thursday was addressed to Arpaio at his downtown Phoenix office. It had been left in a parcel locker in a rural part of Coconino County.

U.S. Postal Inspection Service spokesman Keith Moore said a courier brought it into the main Post Office in Flagstaff, and authorities used a water cannon to neutralize the package.

Arpaio, the self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in America,” said this isn’t the first time he’s been threatened. Arpaio is known nationally for his strict treatment of jail inmates and cracking down on illegal immigration.

“Of course you worry. I’m a victim, I’m a witness. When you convict people, the victim has to be somewhat concerned. I’m a little concerned about my family,” Arpaio said at the news conference. “I didn’t ask for all these threats.”

Read more from this story HERE.

US Rep Watches 60 Children Leave AZ School and Cross Border to Return to Their Mexican Homes

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Photo Credit: Rick Bowmer

During a tour of the Arizona-Mexico border Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz dispatched a series of tweets and pictures Wednesday highlighting lax security at the border.

According to Chaffetz, the “worst thing” he saw was young children leaving school and crossing the border back into Mexico to return home.

“Worst thing I’ve seen. 60 elementary age kids leave this school in Naco, AZ,” Chaffetz tweeted:

Worst thing I’ve seen. 60 elementary age kids leave this school in Naco, AZ twitter.com/jasoninthehous…
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) April 3, 2013

Then, unaccompanied, they cross the border to “home” in Mexico. No papers checked. Supervisor said it happens daily twitter.com/jasoninthehous…
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) April 3, 2013

Read more from this story HERE.

Arizona Could Soon Approve Gold, Silver As Legal Tender

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Photo Credit: digitalmoneyworld

Arizona could soon become the second U.S. state to recognize gold and silver as legal tender if the Arizona House approves SB 1439.

The bill has already won the approval of Arizona’s State Senate and the Arizona House Financial Institutions Committee which voted the legislation out of committee on a 4-2 vote Monday. The measure now goes to a vote of the Arizona House.

Thus far, only the State of Utah has officially recognized gold and silver as legal tender, (See: Gold, silver coins now officially legal tender in Utah) although the issue has been under consideration this year in four states including Arizona. The Arizona bill defines legal tender as a mode of paying debts and taxes.

The measure also states that any coin or bullion that has gold or silver content and is issued by the United States Government can be defined as legal tender. However, no one can be compelled to accept coin or bullion containing gold or silver. The measure would also mandate that coin or bullion containing gold or silver issued by the U.S. Government cannot be taxed as property since it is to be considered money.

Read more from this story HERE.

McCain Defends Immigration Plan To Angry Residents

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Arizona took center stage in the national immigration debate Tuesday as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano toured the state’s border with Mexico and Sen. John McCain defended his proposed immigration overhaul to an angry crowd in suburban Phoenix.

The presence of the top officials is the latest sign that Arizona will play a prominent role in the immigration debate as President Barack Obama looks to make it a signature issue of his second term.

Napolitano toured the border near Nogales with the highest-ranking official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the incoming chairman of the Senate’s homeland security committee and an Arizona congressman. Napolitano, Arizona’s former governor, said afterward that comprehensive immigration reform will strengthen the nation’s border against criminals and other threats.

Also Tuesday, McCain hosted two town hall meetings in Arizona, during which he defended his immigration plan to upset residents concerned about border security. A bipartisan group of senators — including Arizona Republicans McCain and Jeff Flake — want assurances on border security as Congress weighs what could be the biggest changes to immigration law in nearly 30 years. Arizona is the only state with both of its senators working on immigration reform in Congress, a sign of the state’s widely debated border security issues.

Immigration activists and elected officials say it’s only natural for Arizona to continue to take the forefront in the national conversation on immigration after years of internal debate on the topic.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Abandons the Border

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Along the Arizona/Mexican border, dozens of heavily armed spotters man look out points on mountain peaks commanding the shimmering, parched landscape below. They usually man these posts for two weeks at a time, taking provisions with them to last the entire 14 days. They are equipped with night vision technology, powerful binoculars and high tech communications able to keep them in touch with command centers miles away.

But these aren’t US military personnel or law enforcement, they are soldiers of powerful Mexican drug cartels, who own these crossing points where vast amounts of drugs and human traffickers stream into the United States. These spotters are on the look out for the US border patrol who is tasked with keeping these invaders out. Hamstrung by the vast areas of desolate country they have to patrol, as well as having to respect environmentally sensitive areas which the cartels could care less about, our forces are out manned and outgunned.

Like the Cohen Brothers movie, “No country for old men,” the undercurrent of this landscape is harsh, lawless and violent. It is ruled by brutal men, who do not hesitate to resort to violence in order to protect their investment in drugs and human trafficking. Headless bodies and rape trees tell the tale of how brutal this place can be.

Mule trains of human and drug traffickers on foot, some carrying burlap sacks filled with drugs, walk into the United States under the watchful eyes of the spotters high above them. Once they reach a staging area, they change clothes so they look more American and discard what they had been wearing. They also discard the burlap bags as they transfer the drugs to vehicles. These smuggling corridors are littered with abandoned vehicles,plastic bottles, cans, clothing, shoes, food, black plastic bags, and empty burlap sacks.

You would think, that at the very least, the EPA would be enthusiastically suing the cartels for despoiling the desert environment…as enthusiastically as they sue and harass our own US corporations and industries.

We are having a war waged against us on our southern border. This war is filling our country with dangerous illegal drugs and swamping us with undocumented illegal immigrants who are overloading our social services.

A border state trampled and drowned by illegal and criminal invaders, Arizona was dealt a severe blow a few months ago by the Obama administration. They were told not to call Dept of Homeland Security for help with their immigration enforcement problem because Homeland security wasn’t going to answer.

Evidently President Obama was in a snit when the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a controversial provision requiring police to check the immigration status of people they detain and suspect to be in the country illegally. So President Obama decided to circumvent the intent of the ruling by another executive order and withdrew federal immigration enforcement help and cooperation from Arizona.

Even Justice Scalia wrote a scathing indictment against the Obama administrations intimidation of Arizona’s efforts to protects its borders when he penned: ” Arizona contradicts federal law by enforcing applications of the Immigration Act that the President declines to enforce boggles the mind.”

President Obama’s decision to suspend laws on immigration and harass the State of Arizona for trying to protect its citizens from a criminal invasion, is indeed mind boggling.

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Ed Farnan’s articles are also carried in:

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Judge: Police May Begin Enforcing Ariz. Immigration Law

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A judge has ruled that police in Arizona can immediately start enforcing the most contentious section of the state’s immigration law, marking the first time officers can carry out a requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, question the immigration status of those suspected of being in the country illegally.

The decision on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton is the latest milestone in a two-year legal battle over the requirement. It culminated in a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that upheld the provision on the grounds that it doesn’t conflict with federal law.

Opponents who call the requirement the “show me your papers” provision responded to the Supreme Court decision by asking Bolton to block the requirement on different grounds, arguing that it would lead to systematic racial profiling and unreasonably long detentions of Latinos if it’s enforced.

Other less controversial parts of the law have been in effect since July 2010, such as minor changes to the state’s 2005 immigrant smuggling law and a ban on state and local government agencies from restricting the enforcement of federal immigration law. But those provisions have gotten little, if any, use since they were put into effect.

Arizona’s law was passed in 2010 amid voter frustration with the state’s role as the busiest illegal entry point into the country. Five states — Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah — have adopted variations on Arizona’s law.

Read more from this story HERE.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio sees an ally in Mitt Romney

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Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told Arizona delegates at a luncheon Thursday that he’s confident Mitt Romney would work with Arizona to increase border enforcement—something he said President Barack Obama has failed to do.

“Something has to be done, and I’m very well convinced that Mitt Romney, when he gets to the White House, will look at the problem,” he said. “I fully believe that he’s not just talking. I’m convinced that in the first year at the White House, he will bring this issue up.”

Gov. Jan Brewer was also present but did not speak at the luncheon that took place at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo. At least five protesters attempted to make their way into the event, which was in connection to the Republican National Convention, but were asked to leave.

The Sheriff , Brewer and other Republicans from Arizona have long criticized Obama, saying the president has failed to secure the United States-Mexico border. Their criticism comes even after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has repeatedly said that the border has never been more secure.

Though Arpaio endorsed Rick Perry for president over Romney, the Sheriff said he still supports Romney’s stance on immigration, saying it is in line with his. They both favor ramping up enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border, implementing an employment verification system and they are both against in-state tuition for undocumented youth.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Pastor Defies Border Patrol Checkpoint, Evades Arrest

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If you’ve driven to San Diego or Los Angeles, you’ve no doubt encountered Border Patrol checkpoints on the highways.

Most people just answer the agents’ questions and they’re on their way.

Not one valley man.  He openly defies them and refuses to answer their questions — and he’s caught the tense encounters on tape.

Steven Anderson is a Tempe preacher who also travels to California for his other business.  He says all but once, Border Patrol agents have let him through checkpoints, even though he refuses to comply with their requests.

Anderson sets up a camera in his car for when he travels between Arizona and California.  He presses record only when he comes to a Border Patrol checkpoint along Interstate 8 to capture what he calls an overreach of government.


Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit:  CBP Photography