Arizona's Strategy for Attracting Tourism: Increase Hotel Taxes, Allow Concealed Weapons, and Racial Profiling

If increasing taxes on travelers and bad publicity from sweat lodge deaths or yogis fighting with rednecks isn't enough to hurt the hospitality industry in Arizona,  the safety of vacationing in the Yosemite Sam-like state is again called into question with the passage of Senate Bill 1070.

Unless the law is proven to be unconstitutional, police will have the right to stop you based on the color of your skin as you go into the Phoenix Convention Center or enter a Sedona spa.

Not even the Phoenix mayor, Phil Gordon can support the bill.  He writes today in the Washington Post, "Not In My State: Anti-Immigration Law Doesn't Reflect the Beliefs of People in My State."  And if that's not fantastic enough, consider these top stories before vacationing in Arizona.

1.  Sweat lodge deaths at Angel Valley Retreat Center, Sedona, AZ and subsequent arrest of new age guru, James Ray.

2.  The fight over a statue between Catholics and yogis at a retreat center Rolling Stone calls a cult.  Watch a video on the Verde Independent of "Mother Earth" being removed from her home in the Mago Peace Garden.

3. No permit needed in Arizona to carry a concealed weapon.  Maybe your tour guide will have a pistol on him in case an illegal Canadian shows up to carry your bags, clean your room, or park your car.