In troubled times politicians look to their base for support. So naturally the Republican Party chose God's waiting room as the site of its 2012 convention to nominate a presidential candidate. Arizona was in the running, but was passed over.

The hits keep coming for Arizona. New Mexico and California hate the Grand Canyon State. And yesterday the LA City Council voted to ban the majority of official travel to Arizona and a hold on contracts with companies there. [LAT]

Not only is Arizona's arrest-the-Latinos law authoritarian, incoherent, and possibly unconstitutional—it could ruin salads nationwide if it keeps workers away from Arizona's lettuce farms. Hiring Americans is "the absolute last resort," because Americans barely know what lettuce is.

The state already hates Mexicans and teachers with accents. But to really clean things up, yesterday a law was passed that bans schools from teaching "ethnic studies" and classes that encourage the overthrow of the US government. Really.

With so many ways to boycott the state for its new immigration law, Arizonans are worried that in the Phoenix area, businesses could lose $90 million over the next fives years from an image problem of "unprecedented proportions." [Arizona Republic]

Republican State Rep. Kim Meltzer thinks cops need more authority, especially when it comes to busting illegals in her state, so she's drafting a bill like Arizona's to clean Michigan up a little. [Detroit Free Press, pic]

Fox News have released a poll on the new immigration reforms. But it seems in order to get the headline 'Arizona Was Right to Take Action on Immigration' they carefully skewed their questioning.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is considering a challenge to Arizona's immigration bill.

The Phoenix Suns took the court for Wednesday night's game wearing "Los Suns" jerseys to "honor [Arizona's] Latino community" and "give the middle finger to racists" (I made up that second quote). Guess how Rush Limbaugh felt about it?

Grindhouse director Robert Rodriguez apparently put together an early trailer for star-studded Mexploitation film Machete as a "Cinco de Mayo message for Arizona," featuring the likes of Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, and Danny Trejo fighting violently to protect illegal immigrants from racist politicians.

In honor of Cinco De Mayo, and shitty new Arizona immigration laws, here's a just-released trailer for Machete, Robert Rodriguez's gory grindhouse pastiche about people who "fucked with the wrong Mexican." Probably NSFW, definitely fun. And eerily timely.

The city councils of Flagstaff and Tucson voted yesterday to sue the state over its new immigration law, worried that tourism will drop and costs for law enforcement will skyrocket. The mayor of Phoenix failed at a similar attempt. [AP]

The rallying cry for supporters of Arizona's new immigration bill has been the murder of rancher Robert Krentz at the hands of immigrants. But according to reports, the main suspect in the case is an American, not Mexican.

Don Black is a Florida-based white supremacist who is banned from the UK for inciting hatred. Arizona State Senate Majority leader Chuck Gray—a proponent of the recent immigration bill—follows him, and another white power feed, on Twitter.

Andrea Peyser's great-great-great grandparents, 1864: "Even our slave agrees: Slavery is okay!" Andrea Peyser, today: "Even my nanny agrees: Deport illegals!"

Arizona may have set a record for the most immediately unpopular law ever. The measure to force cops to ask brown-looking people for immigration papers was condemned by Obama. Now people are taking to the streets to show their displeasure.

Worry not, hispanic-looking people of Arizona. Your lawmakers may have passed a law that forces police to stop you and demand your papers. But Linda Ronstadt, Ricky Martin and Shakira are on your side. [AP]

Hey! Arizona still has good citizens left. Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik declared his refusal to comply with his state's ugly, xenophobic new law, calling it "humiliating" and "racist." Way to go, Dupnik! Too bad you will probably get sued.

The state's racist immigration bill has pissed off a lot of people, and some, like Al Sharpton, are calling for an economic boycott. But will it succeed in changing state law? It has before.

[A concerned Arizona citizen has a helpful message for police trying to deal with the state's controversial new law giving police sweeping powers to detain anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant. Image via early-onset-of-night]