If the heat doesn't kill you...

Loads of great news for Arizonans this week, in addition to Arizona taking the honor for being the 3rd most dangerous state in the country (which I honestly think is pretty cool, keepin' the west wild and all that, we were only outranked by our neighbors New Mexico at #2, and Nevada at #1), the enemy of all that is good and kind, industrial capitalism, has really gone the distance to put Arizona's economy ahead of the people.

In line with the long history of such actions, groups of rich guys have been running shit in Arizona for as long as there has been an Arizona. The successful effort to change the AZ constitution to make us a right to work state was a good showing of their everlasting political muscle, most of the 22 states with such a law have it on the books as a statute, but not AZ, nope, it's in our constitution! It's beyond obvious they have increased their struggle against human freedom and welfare, after all, workers having no rights on the job wasn't enough, another drop in the bucket for these guys. So, what do you do when you're a millionaire who lives on the other side of the country, and have made your fortune by you and your buddies' companies destroying Arizona's unique bio-region and annihilating anything that resembles workers rights for your profit, then what?

You kill every one.

LOOKIN' GOOD: An Open Pit copper mine in Bisbee, Arizona

The Arizona Repub reported today on the devastating news that our state has leapfrogged the rest of the country in our toxic emissions:

Tens of millions of pounds of toxic chemicals were released into Arizona's air, water and land in 2005, a 15 percent jump from the previous year, according to a federal agency.

Toxic releases nationwide went up 3 percent during that time, according to new data from the Environmental Protection Agency. But as mining has grown in Arizona, so has the presence of toxics in the environment.

Mines and metal facilities were responsible for the majority of the 65.2 million pounds of toxics released in Arizona.

Copper mining has grown in Arizona as international demand for the metal has soared. The waste rock and ore left over from a mine often contain toxic metals.

The data come from the Toxics Release Inventory, a company-reported national database that details where and how toxic chemicals get into the environment.

While the seemingly unstoppable march of industrial development continues with it's toxic goosestep, there are those who fight to stop the total destruction of our state and fellow residents' lives. Just this past weekend a demonstration was held on the Chandler/Gila River community border against local scumlord Romic. Their operation is, according to their own website, a "world class hazardous waste management!", but it stinks of racism to this writer, as the Gila River indian community (it should be noted, by this I refer to the people, not the tribal government) has struggled for years to shut this and other polluters down in the Gila River area.

BURNIN' DEATH HERE: Romic's Gila River plant

GRACE (Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment), a grassroots Gila River organization, is calling for Romic to shut down for good after a toxic plume was discovered underneath the Romic plant contaminating nearby water, and after members of GRACE were allowed to inspect the Romic site, finding evidence of mishandling of the waste all over the facility. Over 70 people participated in the demonstration, from different tribes, as well as residents from across the valley concerned for our collective health.

It is this sort of collective action our state needs if we want to continue to brag about our sunsets and mountains, but ten or fifteen years from now, when it's too late for both our state and (sadly) the world, our tumor ridden asses will have no one to blame but ourselves.