Wisconsin politician argues that Arizona is not a border state during immigration deb
 

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/stor...storyid=119527

NBC) -- A county supervisor from Milwaukee, Wisconsin is facing criticism over her remarks on Arizona's new immigration law.

County Supervisor Peggy West apparently got a little confused about where Arizona was on the map while pushing a measure to boycott the state.

"If this was Texas, which is a state that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this saying that they had a major issue with undocumented people flooding the borders, I would have to look twice at this. But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border," West said.

Bless her heart.

I guess my home 90 miles from the border is "a ways removed" ..

I guess geography isn't a required subject anymore

So where exactly did she think AZ was?

I bet she also thinks New Mexico is part of Mexico, not the United States.

She has been quite the joke around here.

This speaks volumes.

Enough of a joke to be bounced out of office next election? One would hope so.

Oh Lord...

Maybe she thought the Mexican border only lined up with Texas and California.... and then NM and AZ rest on that...

It greatly bugs me when people don't know where the states (especially ones like AZ) are located...

I could see that, and I admit to having to stop and picture a map sometimes, but you'd think that you would check that before you make a public statement.

Maybe she thought it was Alabama :p

Well shoot, some people don't even know Michigan is shaped like a mitten.. so what do you expect??

Hey, it's a mitten AND a scarf. I have a bunch of friends who are "Yoopers" as I think it's spelled.

Well i'm within 10 minutes of a couple of bridges....so i'd say 90 miles is "a ways removed." lol

But AZ as a whole? Yeaaaaaaah right. I will admit though, when I was younger, I didn't know AZ was a border state.

Lol---I'm not holding my breath. My understanding is that the people in her district really love her, while people in other districts...not so much. I also believe she's only halfway through her current term and this seems like something that will be laughed at until another politician says something else ridiculous, and then it will be relatively insignificant.

Me too! Or unable to find the USA on a world map, where major world conflicts are, and where Washington D.C. is located.

I've also had several "discussions" regarding the statehood of Washington D.C. The sad part is, people will only admit to their mistake when I show them their error on a map! :)

Are they really not teaching this stuff anymore? In fifth grade we had to learn all the states and their capitals. On our test, we were given a blank US map and had to fill in the names of all of the states & their capitals plus Washington D.C. We even got points taken away for incorrect spelling. We had to do the same thing in middle school in world history for Europe, and be able to know where certain countries were in South America, Africa, Asia, and knowing that Australia is both a country & a continent.

That is probably true! :)

I like games like this: http://www.travelpod.com/traveler-iq

Or the ones where you have to place the states on an utterly empty map. That's actually harder than you think...

I had been looking for that game for awhile. Thanks.

Great game.

No problem :D there are a ton of variations out there but that's a good'un

It's not a scarf, it's a rabbit.

That doesn't make any sense. A mitten and a rabbit? How silly.

Not at all as the U.P. Somewhat resembles a rabbit. I've never heard the scarf reference before.

http://povertycorner.files.wordpress...bbitmitten.jpg

Heh, it's what I learned growing up. No idea how common it is to learn one vs the other.

Oh yeah, I learned states and capitals early on.

In ninth grade, we had to learn every US state and Canadian province plus every country in the world. The class was called Global Studies. By the end of the course I knew almost every country in the world without fail.

It made me angry when this one girl confused China with Russia. I mean, of all countries... and it wasn't like this was the beginning of the Asian unit either...

I still know where every state is, but it's not like I'm perfect. I slip up every once in a while with all of the square states of the West :P


Also, I learned Michigan as the mitten (LP) and the UP lol. None of my teachers never knew how to interpret it... And I grew up in MI.

Yep, they never taught the fudgies anything about a scarf or a rabbit... There was the mitten and there was the UP.

My mother INSISTED that we knew that Washington DC included part of Virginia (Alexandria & I think Arlington) prior to "the late unpleasantness". Her eldest brother traveled a lot for work, so I got a puzzle of the United States, and of the World. I was expected to know each capital, the state's main industry, and major cities, and trust me, he quizzed me on them. The last time I saw him, he asked me tons of geography questions, then why his step-granddaughter didn't know them. I told him it was because I am Carmen SanDiego! He was so pleased...

hahahahahahahaha