Some fans didn’t appreciate the Phoenix Suns wearing “Los Suns” jerseys during the NBA playoff game Wednesday night — which the team did in part to protest Arizona’s new anti-immigration law. But star guard Steve Nash (in photo) thought it was “fantastic.” He said the immigration law was “very misguided” and “to the detriment of our society and our civil liberties.” Though some fans said the team should play basketball, not politics, Nash said: “it’s really important for us to stand up for things we believe in.”
As he detailed his objections to Arizona’s new ID-check law, columnist Clarence Page noted that the Arizona House recently cast official doubt on a particular kind of ID — Barack Obama’s birth certificate. The immigrant ID check bill “is the goofiest legislation since the Arizona House days earlier voted to require all presidential candidates to provide their birth certificates before they can have access to the Arizona ballot,” Page wrote. “This thoroughly useless legislation obviously sprang out of the goofy ‘birther’ movement, a persistent cult of moon dancers who refuse to acknowledge the validity of Barack Obama’s birth certificate. What can you do with people who won’t believe the documents of a documented worker?”
Though 54 percent of the public approves of how President Obama is handling his job, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, the public is evenly divided on his handling of specific issues. The same percentages of people approved as disapproved of Obama’s work on the economy, health care and financial regulation, according to the poll. Obama scored highest on the situation in Afghanistan, with 56 percent approval, and lowest on the federal budget deficit, with 55 percent disapproval.
Obama rated higher than Republicans in Congress, though the gap has closed during the past year. Those surveyed trust Obama more than Republicans on the economy (49 to 38 percent), regulating the financial industry (52 to 35 percent), the federal deficit (45 to 41 percent) and health care reform (49 to 39 percent). As for Obama’s political views, 39 percent they were too liberal, 5 percent said too conservative, and 53 percent said they were about right.
Layoffs at school districts across the state are starting to mount, despite claims from anti-tax groups that districts have plenty of cash in reserves. In addition to the 117 positions cut recently by the Wichita school district, the Topeka district decided last week to lay off 16 teachers, Manhattan isn’t renewing contracts for 27 teachers, Emporia cut 16 positions, and Lawrence didn’t renew contracts for 43 teachers, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
