While the most controversial parts of Arizona’s SB 1070 have been put on hold as legal issues are investigated, those who disagree with the bill remain strong in their solidarity; here in Charlotte, opponents of SB 1070 will go on to stage a protest today. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., Uptown’s Marshall Park will be hosting “AZ Doesn’t Speak for Me,” an event put together by a coalition called Charlotte United. Composed of members from groups like Action NC, Grassroots Leadership, Unity Group of Charlotte, Bonilla Community Services, American Friends Service Committee, Immigrant Solidarity Committee, and the Saint Peters Catholic Church Social Justice Committee.

The event was organized with the objective of raising awareness not only of SB 1070, but also of SJ 1349, a North Carolina copycat proposal that could be signed into law next year. The Department of Justice has already filed a suit against the law, and the members of Charlotte United hope it will be declared unconstitutional, thus preventing SJ 1349 from taking hold. Activist Roxana Bendezú told Spanish-language paper Mi Gente “Esta ley podría llegar a Carolina del Norte, lo cual traería consecuencias no sólo para los indocumentados sino también para personas legales, ciudadanos que debido a su aspecto podrían ser objeto de perfil racial. [Translation: This law could come to North Carolina, which would bring consequences not only for those without papers but also for people here legally, citizens whose appearance could make them the object of racial profiling.]

The evening will feature a mix of informational and artistic happenings. Local theater director Glen Hutchinson will present a play entitled "Lady Liberty Faces the Day," starring six amateur actors. Those who wish to attend are encouraged to wear white and bring a candle.

From Grist.org's Jonathan Hiskes:

Greenpeace U.K. shut down at least 30 BP stations in London on Tuesday in one of the more ballsy displays of civil disobedience against the energy giant. Activists fanned out to as many as 50 BP stations -- the exact number isn't clear -- and posted banners that said, "Closed: Moving beyond petroleum."

They also pulled safety switches that cut off fuel supplies at the stations -- and removed the switches so they couldn't be turned back on again.

British environmentalists have history of more rowdy civil disobedience than American greens, with the occasional exception of Appalachian mountain defenders. But with the effort to pass a U.S. climate and energy bill dying with a whimper last week, maybe it's time for American activists to take up more forceful tactics.

Read more, and watch a video from the protest, here.

Every time I hear someone say they're going to protest BP, I hear a follow up voice say something akin to, "But, it's not the local guy's fault. It's not the owner of your neighborhood station's fault. You'll hurt our local economy."

No, the giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico isn't the fault of the station owner down the street. But it is the fault of the company they chose to work with, the company whose logo is on everything at their station — from the pumps to the Styrofoam coffee cups. If they're upset about missing customers, perhaps they should look for a new franchiser or maybe even a different line of business.

And let's be real, you protest BP and support Hugo Chavez's Citgo. You can get pennies off a car wash! Or, you know, pick another gas station. They've all got public relations problems, but who cares because we need them like a crack addict needs their next hit.

Here's a list of the world's largest gas and oil companies. Notice anything? ALL of the biggest companies are foreign companies. All of them.

The real problem isn't about which gas station has the most politically correct gasoline, the real problem is about how much gas and oil we consume on a daily basis in our country.

The Grist.org author is right. Americans aren't as likely to destroy fuel pumps in protest. We're more likely to complain to each other while continuing on with our over-indulged lives like we're not part of the problem, like we don't contribute to it every single day of our lives.

You want to punch petroleum companies in the gut? Stop driving so much. Buy a vehicle that gets better gas mileage. Stop using so many plastic products. Recycle. Buy local, and take your own shopping bag. Stop complaining, take your blinders off and become part of the solution.

Learn more about alternatives to foreign oil:

Further reading: The New York Times' Thomas L. Friedman says, after touring the Gulf coast himself, he's not sure who's worse, the U.S. Senate or BP. Read his op-ed, "Want the good news first?," here.

Are you shocked to know some Catholic priests are gay? Yeah, me either. So, why is the Vatican shocked?

Read more about the expose that's got Rome humming. Here's a peek:

In the basement dining room of Le Mani In Pasta, a trattoria in central Rome, a young, glossy-eyed couple stare at each other across a table for two. They smile and blush over a private joke. There is no handholding or kissing, but they are clearly more than friends, even though they are both wearing dark shirts and the telltale white clerical collar.

For residents of Rome, the sight of courting priests is hardly an anomaly. The phenomenon is a well-known secret here, and one that was largely ignored until last weekend, when the Italian weekly magazine Panorama published a shocking exposé called “Le Notti Brave Dei Preti Gay,” or “Good Nights Out for Gay Priests.” Investigative journalist Carmelo Abbate spent 20 days undercover posing as the boyfriend of a man who ran in gay clerical circles, secretly videotaping the sexual escapades of three Rome-based priests. Abbate caught the priests on hidden camera dirty dancing at private parties and engaging in sex acts with male escorts on church property.

He also caught them emerging from dark bedrooms in time to celebrate mass. In one postcoital scene, “Father Carlo” parades around seminaked, wearing only his clerical vestments. Abbate’s “date” even had sex with one of the priests to corroborate the story. “This is not about homosexuality,” Abbate, who is not gay, told NEWSWEEK. “This is about private vices and public virtues. This is about serious hypocrisy in the Catholic Church.”

Read the rest of this Newsweek article, by Barbie Nadeau, here.

Here's a two-year-old video from CNN about a gay priest propositioning someone in St. Peter's Square. But, yeah, sure: The Vatican has no idea some of their priests are gay.

Forbes magazine sure does like to rank things, doesn't it? This week they've created a list of the top cities for working moms, and Charlotte's number 48 (out of 50)! Woo hoo.

Wait. That's not good. How is it our city's tops for business but not tops for the women who work for those businesses? Surely our city's business leaders will read this and make amends. (Stop laughing.)

The only two cities we ranked above the Queen City are Las Vegas and Memphis. Meanwhile, we're below Birmingham, Atlanta, Louisville, Baltimore ... and 43 others. That's pretty sad. We barely outpaced stripper-ville. Stripper-ville, ya'll. We can do better than this.

Read more about how the cities were chosen from the Charlotte Business Journal.

Everyone knows that our country’s immigration system is in shambles. Documented immigrants often spend years in a legal limbo, while those without papers live a life on the margins. The fear of deportation is stronger than ever in today’s anti-immigrant climate. Several states, notably Arizona, have dealt with illegal immigration on their own terms, as year after year the federal government has looked the other way. As immigrants have been rounded up and placed in holding centers while they await legal proceedings, the conditions at these centers have been called into question.

Now, a closer look inside detention centers reveals yet another failure on the federal government’s part; the report "Deportation by Default," issued Sunday by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, “documents cases of non-citizens who could not understand questions, were delusional, couldn't tell the date or time, and didn't understand the concept of deportation,” according to an article in The Charlotte Observer.  The article goes on to say:

Thousands of mentally disabled immigrants are entangled in deportation proceedings each year with little or no legal help, leaving them distraught, defenseless and detained as their fates are decided.

Shortcomings outlined by the two groups include no right to appointed counsel, inflexible detention policies, insufficient guidance for judges on handling people with mental disabilities, and inadequately coordinated services to aid detainees while in custody.”

Though the vast majority of cases involve non-citizens, Human Rights Watch said some U.S. citizens with mental disabilities have ended up in ICE custody and even have been deported because they were unable to present their claims effectively.

In the most recent such case cited in the report, Mark Lyttle - a North Carolina native diagnosed with bipolar disorder and developmental disabilities - was deported to Mexico in 2008, even though he spoke no Spanish.

In the 2009 fiscal year, nearly 392,000 cases were processed in U.S. immigration courts - and Mehta said a conservative estimate is that 15 percent involved people with mental disabilities.

"The federal government knows about this problem," said Ahilan Arulanantham, director of immigrant rights at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. "But we haven't seen actual implemented steps to make any change to improve the system for dealing with it."

Cases of citizens and residents with mental disabilities who were not properly medicated or informed are detailed in the report. These findings should cause outrage in any American; if most people can barely understand what the  immigration policy is from one state to another, how are those with mental handicaps supposed to know what's going on? The lack of action on the federal level leaves much to be desired, and plenty to be ashamed of.