Our April Exit Poll was: "Is the new healthcare bill a small step for social justice, or big one towards corporate totalitarianism?" We received the following two rather diametrically opposed responses:

Two Latino advocacy groups say they will challenge the constitutionality of Arizona's new immigration law, asserting it permits racial profiling. SB 1070 signed into law April 23 by Gov. Jan Brewer, permits police to question the immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants. Officials from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and the National Coalition of Latino Christian Clergy (CONLAMIC) contend the law will let police single out minorities for immigration inspections. Under the law, it is designated a crime to be in the country illegally and immigrants unable to verify their legal status can be arrested and jailed for six months and fined $2,500.

A federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on March 29 returned a five-count indictment against nine suspected members of the "Hutaree" militia group accused of plotting to kill police officers. The group members allegedly planned to kill Michigan law enforcement officers by, among other methods, making phony 911 calls and ambushing those who responded. The members then planned to attack the funeral processions of the fallen officers.

The Obama administration will halt new work on the $3 billion "virtual fence" planned for the Mexican border, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced March 16, diverting $50 million in planned economic stimulus funds for the project to other purposes. "Not only do we have an obligation to secure our borders, we have a responsibility to do so in the most cost-effective way possible," Napolitano said in a statement. "The system of sensors and cameras along the Southwest border known as SBInet has been plagued with cost overruns and missed deadlines."

The number of extremist groups in the United States exploded in 2009 as militias and other organizations steeped in anti-government conspiracy theories exploited populist anger across the country and infiltrated the mainstream, according to a report issued this week by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

The man who shot two police officers at the Pentagon March 4 was apparently a devoted follower of the 9-11 "Truth" movement. Police say John Patrick Bedell, 36, acted alone, but his apparent online postings indicate that he was a dedicated conspiracy theorist. His now-deleted Wikipedia user page said he wished to establish "the truth of events such as the 9-11 demolitions and institutions such as the coup regime of 1963 that maintains itself in power through the global drug trade, financial corruption, and murder, among other crimes."

The US House of Representatives on Feb. 25 approved a measure to extend expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act with no new privacy measures. Representatives voted 315-97 in favor of the measure, which would allow federal authorities to conduct "roving" wiretaps; to compel the production of business, medical, and library records; and to track so-called "lone wolf" suspects who are not affiliated with an organization or country, so long as they are not US citizens. The vote came just one day after the Senate approved the extension.

B'nai Brith Canada released its 2009 "Audit of Antisemitic Incidents" this week. The survey reported over 1,200 incidents last year, an 11% increase over 2008 and a five-fold increase over the last decade. In total, there were 884 reports of harassment, 348 cases of vandalism and 32 cases of violence—twice as many as 2008.