Arizona neo-Nazi murderer J. T. Ready was NRA member



J.T. Ready and pal Russell Pearce



Jason Todd ‘J.T.’ Ready was well known in Arizona as a confirmed racist and neo-Nazi who never missed the chance to demonize the Hispanic community, sometimes along with his pal, Russell Pearce.  See a list of my blog posts on Ready and Pearce here.  It was this past Wed., May 2, when Ready decided to end his career of terrorizing Latinos and shot five people including himself.  I have covered this man for the last three years and this was totally unexpected. 

There was Ready’s girlfriend, Lisa Lynn Mederos, 47, her daughter, Amber, 23, Jim Hiott, Amber’s fiancé, 24, and Amber’s daughter, 15 months.  There is total tragedy in the whole incident, which someone other than Ready should have seen coming, but the killing of a toddler makes it even more horrendous.  Another of Lisa Lynn’s daughters, Brittany Hazel Menderos, 19, was in a bedroom and heard the shootings and was first to discover the bodies. 

The Young Turks on Ready massacre:

For years J.T. Ready has conducted armed civilian patrols at the U.S. border with Mexico with the group he founded, U.S. Border Guard, and although saddened over the loss of their leader and his victims, say they will continue Ready’s work.  In the past, Ready has stated, “I firmly believe in having a minefield across the border.”  He added, “This is 100% effective.”  As a part of the Arizona militia scene he was known to take matters into his own hands.

Ready was a former Marine who started his militia activities after his bad conduct discharge from the service in 1996, preceded by two courts martial.  At one point he belonged to the National Socialist Movement which supports white supremacy.  In 2007 he marched in Omaha, Nebraska with a swastika banner with brown-shirted NSM members.  He was also a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corp. serving in their border project. 

In 2008, Ready became a Republican precinct captain in Mesa, AZ, further promoting his political career.  Republicans tried their best to get him removed from the position due to his extremist views but apparently Ready had deep support in the Arizona GOP that was able to help him survive.  There is probably another story in just who this was.  And he was currently a prospective candidate for Pinal County Sheriff, running as a Democrat.



J.T. Ready (2nd from right)
as neo-Nazi



Harry Hughes, regional director of the National Socialist Movement said Ready had left the organization two years ago but it is obvious that he left his imprint on the group from the following:  Ready said that only non-Jewish, white hetrosexuals should be American citizens.  Also, that all non-white people should leave the U.S.  Ready entered the news early when firing on a Hispanic man in 2006 with a BB gun while running for the Mesa, AZ City Council.

When police searched the house after the massacre, they found six 40 mm projectile grenades, which an Army surplus store manager said was not available in any store.  They had to be acquired on the black market.  Also found were two 55-gallon drums that the bomb squad said was no immediate danger.  And finally, authorities recovered 2 handguns and a shotgun.  It isn’t clear yet just what gun or guns Ready used on the victims and himself.



J.T. Ready protesting



And now to my headline signifying that J.T. Ready was a member of the National Rifle Assn. (NRA), which is true.  Back in 2010 I was doing several blog posts on Ready and Russell Pearce, the defrocked Arizona senator.  The comments, as usual, were vitriolic of me but in support of Pearce, even Ready, in his quest to rid Arizona of undocumented immigrants.  There is no compassion in that state for illegals, a stigma that remains until this day.

I have never minced words about J.T., and one of his supporters took me to task in a comment for berating him for his tactics.  It was posted on Facebook, where I had shared the post.  That same day, Ready posted another comment in reply to his supporter saying not to worry, it {me} was just sophomoric writing.  I couldn’t resist and headed over to Ready’s Facebook page and left him a message.  Ignoring his comment, I asked him point blank if he was a NRA member.

His exact reply was: “I am not current on my dues.  I hold numerous NRA instructor certificates.  You may see wahtwe(sic) do at:” and he directs you to this site.  Warning.  Page 13 has a gruesome picture.  But you can see from the pictures and captions, J.T. Ready was firmly against animal abuse.  Read more on the issue here, here, here and here.

It is not clear just how close Ready’s ties with the NRA were.  His statement above is proof of membership, but apparently he couldn’t or wouldn’t pay his dues.  Over the years I have covered Ready, I cannot remember the National Rifle Assn. ever even questioning his activities.  So far I have seen no statement from the NRA on the issue.  Read more about this on Common Gunsense. 

Since Ready is or was a member of the NRA, and because he operated in a state (Arizona) where the organization has been successful in forcing the loosest gun laws in the country through a clueless Governor and state legislature, I think we are due the consideration of a statement on how this man was armored up to the hilt and allowed to wreak havoc that killed 4 innocent people including a toddler.

More on J.T. Ready tomorrow including his close association with former Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce who was booted from office.

J. T. Ready had support of top Arizona politician

J.T. Ready with assault rifle

It is reasonably agreed at this point that well-known Arizona racist and neo-Nazi J.T. Ready killed four people including a 15-month-old toddler in Gilbert, Arizona on May 2, and then took his own life.  He was outfitted with body armor, which in itself raises questions since he shouldn’t have expected much opposition from his gun attack from family members, certainly not the child.  In my post yesterday I described the specifics of the massacre, including Ready’s NRA membership.

J.T. Ready was an avowed white supremacist who had been followed by the Anti-Defamation League, according to its director of investigative research, Marc Pitcavage.  Ready is described on their website as an “anti-immigrant extremist dating back to 2004.  His biography even stated that he believed in “lawful deadly force” to protect the Mexican border, as well as restoring America to a “White, European homeland.” 

Ready’s national attention may very well have contributed to the force behind a recent study by Pew Research that confirmed that only 29 percent of Hispanics think it is more important to protect gun control, compared with 57 percent of whites.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil-rights organization in Alabama that keeps track of hate and extremist groups, documents Ready’s background on its website.  He actually started his political career in the 2000s at Mesa, AZ Community College.  It says that he received a bad-conduct discharge from the Marines having been court-martialed twice, once for larceny and going AWOL, once for conspiracy and assault.  There was also a criminal conviction is 1992.

The hacker group LulzSec posted secret FBI documents online with suspicions neo-Nazi groups were planting “fairly complex” explosives along smuggling routes, according to the Christian Science Monitor.  J.T. Ready was once quoted as saying, “I firmly believe in having a minefield across the border.”  He was also known for wanting to militarize the border and had patrolled there repeatedly with his own militia group, U.S. Border Guard.

But the following must be one of Ready’s most bizarre statements: “Arizona Statues allow the fielding of most weapons short of nuclear weapons and certain chemical weapons.  Therefore we are already in contact with brokers concerning a .50 cal semi-automatic rifle and a MBT– Main Battle Tank.”



Russell Pearce paling with J.T. Ready



Some friends said the man was “cruel and controlling” and one of his victims, his girlfriend Lisa Lynn Mederos, may not have known of his troubled past with women.  In 2009, a Scottsdale woman filed an order of protection against him; in 2003 a woman in Ready's apartment complex accused him of stalking, spying, frequently calling and trying to kiss her.  Some family members hated him and Ready called the toddler, Lilly, he killed “50 % ugly” because she was half-Latino.

    

J.T. Ready was sponsored as an elder in the Mormon Church by former Arizona state Senator Russell Pearce, who was dumped from his job recently by voters, but not until he had authored the state’s anti-immigration bill, SB-1070.  And when it comes to the relationship between Russell Pearce and Ready I must defer to Phoenix New Times writer Stephen Lemons, who publishes the blog, the Feathered Bastard, and his dogged coverage of the two.

In a May 2 article, Lemons said, “Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Ready was his relationship with ex-Senator Pearce, who helped him join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and groomed him, according to Ready, for a possible run for the legislature.”  Their affiliation later soured when Pearce distanced himself from Ready and actually renounced him in 2008.

Best Buds J.T. Ready with Russell Pearce

In Lemons article on May 3, he accuses Russell Pearce of lying “again,” with documentation that is a must read.  The two were so close, he said, that Pearce ordained Ready as an elder in the Mormon Church’s Melchizedek priesthood for adult men in the church.  But Pearce continues to deny the closeness of their relationship. 

Krysten Sinema, former Arizona state senator, sponsored a 2007 event in the legislature on extremism in the immigration movement.

Lemons asked Sinema if it was possible that Pearce could not be aware of that seminar.  She answered, "I find that very hard to believe,” she told me in 2008. "The entire Legislature was invited to the event. The whole thing was videotaped, and you can watch it on our archive. And I reported it on the floor [of the state House]."  Pearce has been charged regularly by Democrats, the media, even fellow Republicans of misstating facts to make his points.

Video of Russell Pearce endorsing J.T. Ready

There’s more.  The Arizona regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, Bill Straus, says that he informed Pearce of Ready’s extremist activities as far back as 2006.  Once again, Pearce blatantly disputes the fact that the two had close ties.  He even told Lemons in 2007 at a roast of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio that he really didn’t think J.T. was a “Bad guy.”  When lemons questioned their on-going friendship, Pearce replied he didn’t hang out with Ready.

The “Bird” as the author refers to himself, quickly reminded the ex-senator that he observed him working side-by-side, arm-in-arm at a rally and had the photos to prove it.  Pearce replied, “I don’t push people away.”  This was in December of 2007 after being warned by Straus, also following Ready’s public outing as a white supremacist.  I urge you to read Stephen Lemons full account of the issue of Pearce’s lies in the above May 3 link.

So it is clear that defrocked Senator Russell Pearce was buddies with J.T. Ready until the extremist no longer served his needs, at which time he dumped him and tried to cover up the past with lies that have been confirmed as just that over and over.  It is ludicrous that Russell Pearce still has the unquestioned support of many of his fellow Republicans and has the arrogance to run for the Arizona Senate in the same general area that has already thrown him out of office.

Only in Arizona.

2 confirmed racists, one a neo-Nazi, run for high Arizona offices

It’s not enough that the valley of the Sun has its “affected” Gov. Jan Brewer, but now there are two other nutcases, one of them recently forced out of office, that aspire to help run the great state of Arizona.  And it is a great state.  Former Governor Carl Hayden once said, "I built this state. Don't let the GOP destroy it!”  Unfortunately, this statement turned into factual intuition on the part of the author.



Russell Pearce recall



Former state senator Russell Pearce, who is a Mormon and the first Arizona legislator ever recalled (last November), has been elected to the top Arizona GOP Party post of 1st Vice Chairman.  In the face of those folks who unanimously voted to oust Pearce from office, state Republicans decided he was fit to be in the party’s No. 2 leadership role, according to spokesman Shane Wikfors.  On Saturday, Wikfors commented, "I will tell you that the two biggest generators of applause at today's meeting was Russell and Sheriff Joe (Arpaio),"  Pathetic.

Democratic Party chairman Andrei Cherny said, "Arizona has moved past the divisive and corrosive politics of Russell Pearce -- but the Republican Party hasn't," sealing the fact that this pack of fruitcakes does not learn from experience.  There was a movie back in 1948 named The Snake Pit, which portrayed a woman who finds herself in an insane asylum.  I remember scenes from the film as a teenager at the time that depicted patients completely out of touch with reality constantly babbling incoherently.

Following is a must-see Russell Pearce video:

Bingo!  The GOP dominated Arizona state legislature.  These vipers have proceeded to pass laws and practice a type of political suicide that has made the state laughable, placing it at the top of the ‘Who do we ridicule today’ list.  The state’s five Republican congressmen attended the meeting, apparently placing their sign of approval on Pearce’s appointment. 

Russell Pearce was fired from Arizona Motor Vehicles in 1999 for allowing subordinates to tamper with a woman’s driving record.  In 1980 Pearce’s wife Luanne accused him of beating her and said she wanted a divorce.  His two sons have been accused of domestic violence, one, Josh, who allegedly fractured his daughter’s skull and sports a Nazi eagle tattoo on his neck/chest.  Sounds like the perfect Mormon family.

JT Ready 2nd from right

But an even better story is Russell Pearce chum, racist and neo-Nazi J.T. Ready running for Arizona’s Pinal County Sheriff…as a Democrat.  Once a registered Republican, Ready’s answer to why he switched was, "It's the party of Jim Crow, [late U.S. Senator and one-time KKK member] Robert Byrd, and [late Alabama Governor and one-time segregationist] George Wallace.  Exemplary company.  I once asked Ready if he was a member of the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) and he replied he was but behind on his dues.

However, it is Stephen Lemons Feathered Bastard column in the Phoenix New Times that captures the essence of J.T. Ready.  He supports legalizing marijuana and has referred to Adolph Hitler as a "great white civil rights leader."  He once was a member of the National Socialist Movement (NSM) and still marches with them.  As a one-time close buddy of Russell Pearce, Ready is known for his armed patrol in the Arizona desert looking for illegal immigrants.  His committee chairman is NSM member Harry Hughes, another neo-Nazi racist.



Dept of Justice boots Arpaio



And it wouldn’t be right not to give a nod to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is up for reelection in November.  When you talk about racism along with anti-immigration policies, Sheriff Joe ranks right up there at the top.  The U.S. Dept. of Justice has charged the Sheriff with human-rights violations and the Phoenix Human Relations Committee has just unanimously voted to ask Arpaio to step down. 

This basically completes the inner circle of Arizona’s notoriously best known bigots in politics.

Militia fanatics still a real threat to this country

Just over a week ago, a leader of an Alaska militia group and one of his peons were judged guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, also having weapons in a plot to kill government officials and law enforcement officers, according to the Chicago Tribune.  Prosecutors indicated that this was yet another example of anti-government action by these radical groups in the last few years.  I did a post on this fanaticism back in May, receiving several scathing comments.

Norm Olson, well-known
Alaska militiaman

I just Googled “U.S. militia groups 2012” and found a startling number of warnings by major news sources that the trend is still very much alive and growing.  Headlines like, “Hate groups, citizen militias surge in U.S.” and “Anti-government ‘sovereign movement’ on the rise in U.S.,” as an example.  The scary part is that in the comments from my last post on this issue, most of those responding thought this militia nonsense was perfectly OK.

There is a site that lists militias by state, here, if you are interested.  As you will see they are situated throughout the country and, God forbid, a scenario where these wackos got organized across state lines and started making trouble as a national force.  This is not fantasy, it is probability that is well substantiated by the actions of those in the above Alaska incident and when blueprinted out could include the potential attempt to take over the U.S. government by these lunatics.

Perhaps one of the most recent examples of a militia threat that could come to fruition was Arizona’s own J.T. Ready who was known as a neo-Nazi, member of the National Socialist Movement (NSM), and founder and head of the U.S. Border Guard, an Arizona militia.  Although Ready focused his hate primarily on illegal immigrants, his racist tendencies could have boiled over into other pursuits. 

On May 2, J.T. Ready killed four family members, including an infant, before turning the gun on himself.  It is this kind of mentality that we are dealing with in radical militias and what makes them so dangerous to our country.   

And while still on Arizona, the legislature recently voted down a state-sanctioned militia bill designed to set up an organization that would support other private militia groups that patrol the U.S./Mexico border.  Jack Foote, a high profile Arizona border-militia leader from Cottonwood, worked with the legislature in writing the legislation.  Foote said, “"We have now washed our hands of our state's Legislature.  Now we are going to do things our own way."

J.T. Ready with
assault weapon

Spoken like a true Arizonan.  This is what Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and ousted state Senator Russell Pearce attempted with the anti-immigration law, SB-1070 that the Supreme Court recently gutted except for one portion.  This defeat could revive action on the state militia bill and cause more conflict between Arizona and the federal government.  Critics of a border militia say it is “extremist in nature.”  The bill would have established a 300-member armed guard on the border.

An excellent review of militia actions in the U.S. is covered in the New Trajectory Blog that starts in 2012 and dates back to 1983.  Once again, the activity is neatly apportioned throughout the country, giving rise to my admonition that we must be on the lookout for some kind of nationalization by these fruitcakes.  This potential, combined with the incessant drive by the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) to loosen gun laws is a powder keg ready to blow.

The old adage that one apple can spoil the whole barrel is true when it comes to this kind of organization.  As many of my comments indicated on the former post, there are good militia members out there and I won’t necessarily argue with that.  But the good can be led by a stronger bad, and that is the problem.  A border Arizona rancher who has accepted help from militias said, “Some people can join and have their own agendas.  That gets kind of frightening.”  An understatement.

Arizona government…the epitome of how not to run a state

If you think your state has problems, just look at the charade of participants, below, that make up the Republican governor’s office and GOP controlled legislature in my home state of Arizona.  This is a great state and doesn’t deserve the ridicule it receives from the antics of these wingnuts.  It is both laughable and tragic, but makes some of the best non-fiction reading in politics today. 



Jan Brewer finger wagging



The epitome of epitomes, Arizona Gov. Jan brewer wagging her finger in the face of President Obama just minutes after he had deplaned in Mesa, Arizona.  Within days a local music teacher, Leonard Clark, filed papers with Sec. of State Ken Bennett to recall Brewer.  In his words: “The whole finger wagging incident crystallized it.  She is embarrassing our state.”  A lot of Arizonans agree.  See the “Brewer Doesn’t Speak for Me” site. 

The Daily Beast concurs with Harry Reid (below) that this airport tarmac incident was “emblematic of the Arizona GOP’s increasing extremism, and it may be turning off voters.  But that’s not all.  The state GOP created a T-shirt with the encounter image on it with the phrase under it “Just one more year!”  Aside from being tacky, it is in complete bad taste, extending the disrespect pseudo Gov. Brewer showed the President, but indicative of Republican taste in Arizona.

Arizona will be forever known in the sports world as the place where one of the most prestigious annual college sports events, the Fiesta Bowl, was almost brought to its knees by a corrupt chief executive.  This wasn’t an underling to blame; it’s the top guy, the one who can be credited for much of the bowl’s success.  John Junker was caught with his hand in the political donation cookie jar. 

Junker was charged with reimbursing staff members with bowl money for making contributions to local and state candidates who helped the bowl to obtain financial subsidies.  This is illegal.  Gary Husk, bowl lobbyist and Junker associate, is also being investigated.  Current and former Fiesta Bowl employees have alleged that Husk was involved in the scheme with Junker.  The Fiesta Bowl has since recovered from the fiasco under new management.

National Democrats led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid say the GOP is now controlled by extremists like Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.  The Gov. is linked with other zealots like former Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce, who was the sponsor of the state’s anti-immigration bill, and who was recalled from his Senate seat, the first time ever. 

He is joined by Kris Kobach, current Kansas Sec. of State and fierce anti-immigration critic, who actually wrote the Arizona law SB-1070 with the American Legislative Exchange Counsil (ALEC).  Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain, failed 2008 presidential candidate, says nobody pays any attention to Reid, whom he characterized as not “totally rational.”  This from a man who chose Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.



Russell Pearce with J.T. Ready



So what does former State Sen. Russell Pearce do when they boot him out of the Senate?  He goes on talk radio, of course.  Pearce is known for his hateful and racist ways, having befriended fellow racist J.T. Ready, who is also a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi.  Stephen Lemons of The Phoenix New Times described Pearce’s show as xenophobic, self-adulation, and delusional in the host’s “radio cafeteria of hate.”  Lemons actually tuned into one of the shows.

Expecting the worst and getting it, it was Pearce at his best ranting and raving over illegal immigration, completely demonizing Latinos.  His phone guest was former Congressman Tom Tancredo from Colorado who described the struggle against immigration as “a matter of the survival of Western Civilization.”  Lemons commented on the two as engaging “in an aural love-fest better left for a room at a Best Western.”  Pearce plans to run again for the Senate in November.



Sheriff "Joe" Arpaio



Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the baddest in the West, has a volunteer posse that he constantly raves over.  Some carry guns, and can even make arrest under the supervision of a regular deputy, but can also be former criminals themselves.  A local TV station, KPHO, investigated the posse and found arrests for assault, drug possession, domestic violence, sex crimes against children, disorderly conduct, impersonating an officer and more.  Most are still on the posse.

Douglas Clark is a posse member as well as constable who rolled a county vehicle at 91 mph in a 45 mph zone, used his siren while not on a call, and used the red/blue lights installed on his personal vehicle to look for his wife’s lost item on the road.  He also detained a driver and passenger at gunpoint who had backed into his car when he was off duty.  The posse does not receive a salary but is covered under county insurance.

There’s more, much, much, more on Arizona that I will cover at a later date to keep you laughing and wondering.  I am also interested in the shenanigans going on in your particular state so please use the “comments” to tell me about it.  Sorry, but no anonymous entries, just use an online name.

Arizona mock Gov. Jan Brewer takes racism back to pre-1964

It was July 2, 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation. 



AZ Gov. Jan Brewer



It was bad enough that a troubled, less-than-capable head of state Jan Brewer greeted the President of the United States to Arizona with a finger-wagging in his face in an attempt to dominate him.  That was more than adequate to prompt charges of bigotry against the leader of a state known for its racists and an intolerant conservative legislature that, along with much of the state’s population, also hates Hispanics.

Now Brewer is not the greenest saguaro in the desert but Politico thinks she has ignited a “firestorm” around the potential of race becoming an issue in the 2012 election.  And there is no state better than Arizona to coddle this movement with known racist, bigot and recalled state Senator Russell Pearce and his buddy J.T. Ready, another racist and also a neo-Nazi, to fan the flames.  However, jaundiced Jan didn’t stop with her finger in the face of Barack Obama.

Following the incident and on Fox News and various other media outlets, she offered up several versions of the incident.  She accused Obama of being “thin skinned,” and said that she felt threatened by his attitude.  Harry Shelton, Sr. VP for the NAACP commented: “What were you afraid he would do, steal your purse?”  Although there are those who support her in Arizona, she and other state politicians like her continue to bring unbridled ridicule to the state.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson pointed out that we are celebrating the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War but are seeing an awakening of the States’ Rights movement of the 1940s, that fought the federal government because of its opposition to federally mandated racial desegregation.  I grew up during that movement and experienced several Dixiecrat Party political rallies in Tennessee that opposed integration.  The party was formed in 1948 and dissolved in 1948.    

PoliticusUSA says the fact that we have a black President doesn’t indicate any progress toward race equality.  Further, “The racism in America is not limited to hatred of African-Americans, and the past year’s negative rhetoric against immigrants, the poor, and Muslims has been a display of white supremacy that has permeated the general population and many of our politicians.” 

In other words, the feeling of superiority over others knows no bounds when they are different than we are.

PoliticusUSA also said, “Conservatives’ attacks on ACORN, NAACP, and the Southern Poverty Law Center were not for their activism or defense of civil rights, but an attack on African Americans.”  Their concern is rooted in the fact that blacks, Hispanics and other minorities will eventually organize and use their voting power to oust the conservative bigots and make equal rights mean what the Constitution originally intended.

If you want a demonstration of Arizona racism, you must see the following Russell Pearce and J.T. Ready video:



Politico reports, “An AP-Ipsos poll taken just before the 2008 election showed that Obama’s support would have been as much as 6 percentage points higher had he been white.”  Because of the concerns over the economy, this “racial bias” will be played down in 2012.  Although the racial effects were there in 2008, they didn’t decide the election, according to Tammy Frisby, a research fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution.



Getting along



If you must have your specific illustration of racism against Barack Obama, Politico says it is “visceral,” providing the following example: “That was true in 2008 — when a handful of rabid Obama haters sent out emails that included crude caricatures of Obama as a Muslim, a monkey, Buckwheat or worse.

Mary Frances Berry, former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, thinks we should focus on how the President handled the tarmac finger wagging and ignore Jan Brewer’s motives.  Obama characterized the moment as “no big deal” and moved on from there.  Unfortunately, Arizona, and much of the rest of the nation, isn’t able to do the same.

Arizona can thank National Football League for Martin Luther King holiday

Russell Pearce, JT Ready

Racism is still rampant in Arizona evidenced by the anti-immigration law SB-1070 passed in 2010 by deposed State Sen. Russell Pearce.  The state finally got rid of the likes of him, surrounded by his buddy J.T. Ready, racist and neo-Nazi from Pearce’s hometown of Mesa, AZ.  Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a Pearce supporter, has his own problems with racial discrimination from his raids on towns in his county for the sole purpose of harassing Hispanics.



Russell Pearce, Sheriff Arpaio



The people of Arizona must agree with this dogma because they elected Arpaio Sheriff in 1992 and he is still in office.  Pearce was elected to the Arizona legislature in 2000 and served there eleven years before he was recalled in November of 2011.  They both come from solid Arizona roots dating back to 1987 when Gov. Evan Mecham rescinded the former Governor Bruce Babbitt’s decision to honor Martin Luther King with an Arizona holiday.

That was almost 25 years ago but the Rev. Warren H. Stewart still remembers the struggle that eventually ended up with a MLK holiday in Arizona.  Stewart, a prominent Phoenix pastor who was the face of the movement then, says the state legislature viewed King as a Black hero but also as an agitator.  In those days African-Americans represented only 3 percent of the population.  But in 1990 voters went to the polls to decide whether or not King should have his holiday.  The proposition failed and Stewart felt he had done all he could.

Below is a must see video of Evan Mecham racism and other stupidity:



But then the football hit the fan.  By now Arizona had a reputation for being a racial battleground.  The state was boycotted by well know musicians and national conventions decided to take their business elsewhere.  However, it was the cancellation by the NFL of the 1993 Super Bowl scheduled to be played in Sun Devil stadium that broke the racists’ backs.  The game was moved to Pasadena, California. 

Rev. Stewart set things in motion again but didn’t like the idea that the change of the state’s attitude was due almost entirely to the loss of the Super Bowl.  Stewart took his dilemma to apartheid activist Leon Howard Sullivan who lived in Scottsdale and who said the Reverend had piqued the consciences of the business community, followed by his admonition to take their money because it was for a good cause. 

Stewart did and ran a campaign resulting in MLK Day being approved by a vote in 1992.  Arizona was the only state that had to put this holiday to a vote after a 1986 decision by President Ronald Reagan naming it as a national holiday.  On the first King Holiday in January of 1993, 19,000 Arizonans celebrated, joined by civil-rights activist Rosa Parks and musician Stevie Wonder.  Phoenix won the Super Bowl for 1996.

Rev. Stewart still believed the King Holiday was only a symbol and much still needed to be done for Arizona to move “from symbol to substance” in the treatment of all races and ethnicities.  Just recently he said that after 20 years this still has not happened.  He mentioned the anti-immigration bill SB-1070 and said the incivility of politics today is turning Martin Luther King’s dream into a nightmare. 

My gut tells me that if Arizona doesn’t wake up soon from this horrible dream and get rid of those in state government that harbor those prejudices, there won’t be enough advertising possible to draw tourists and new business back to the state.

Arizona can’t seem to expunge its resident bigot…recalled Sen. Russell Pearce

Russell Pearce recalled

With much fanfare, but still with the support of Arizona Gov. Jan Pearce and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, State Sen. Russell Pearce was drummed out of office by voters in his hometown of Mesa in November of 2011. Huff Post reported that it could end Pearce’s political career, but that reporter obviously doesn’t really know this fruitcake. The man does not have the grey matter to realize what a low-life he, being advised by other crackpots like himself.


It was a disgrace to the man, to his family and to the people of Arizona. This was the latest addition to the long list of incidents that have brought the great state of Arizona to its knees recently with ridicule it does not deserve. Add to that Joe Arpaio’s latest escapade into President Obama’s birth certificate issue, followed by Jan Brewer’s tacky and tasteless finger-wagging episode, also with the President, and you can understand why Arizona is the laughing stock of the U.S.






J.T. Ready with Russell Pearce

 But it is Russell Pearce that has most helped Arizona assume the reputation of a racist and bigoted state through his long time suppression of illegal immigrants, culminating in the anti-immigrant legislation, SB-1070. Pearce’s prejudiced views are well known, fostered in part by his past association and friendship with known racist and neo-Nazi J.T. Ready. In another example:


Pearce sent an email to supporters once that included a white nationalist declaration, accusing the media of pushing the view, quote, “a world in which every voice proclaims the equality of the races, the inerrant nature of the Jewish, quote, ‘Holocaust‘ tale, the wickedness of attempting to halt the flood of nonwhite aliens pouring across the borders.”




Sheriff Joe Arpaio

 This would be the man that wants to become a state legislator again, and to confound his critics, there are RP supporters all over the state. The Red Mountain (AZ) Tea Party is one instance, and Joe Arpaio’s never-ending loyalty is another. In Arpaio’s case, he’s just hanging on to the shirttails of Pearce to assure himself of at least those votes when he runs again in November. Arpaio is being investigated by the feds for a number of offenses.


Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times has been on Pearce’s coattails for some time now exposing the corrupt politician for the shameless individual he is. Lemons caught Pearce, a Mormon, in an outright lie in reference to the Mormon Church’s attitude toward his anti-immigration bill. He said the church “green-lighted” his SB-1070 bill. “I got hold of the church headquarters in Salt Lake,” he claimed, “And they said they absolutely do not oppose what Arizona is doing.”


Lemons tried several sources and came up with the same conclusion as far as the Mormon Church was concerned, according to a spokesperson: "We have made our position on immigration clear. The church believes that an enforcement-only approach is inadequate." The reporter then pressed the church on several related comments on the matter by Pearce and received the following answer from Eric Hawkins:


"The church's position on immigration is principle-based and applies universally. Any position adopted by individual politicians or members is theirs alone and does not indicate the endorsement of the church." He continued, "I know of no communication with Russell Pearce.”



And I would be remiss if I didn’t relate another illustration of just how crude Russell Pearce can be, and on national TV. It’s the RP “crushed scrotum” story that occurred during a recent event in Phoenix where GOP hopeful, Rick Santorum, gave the keynote address. It had to do with a wife’s comment over how her husband’s “scrotum” was now “wired together” and working. She meant “sternum” but as Stephen Lemons reported, there were few laughs. Pathetic!

See famous Russell Pearce "crushed scrotum" joke below:

Tea Party can’t seem to shake racist image

Last May Brendan Steinhauser, campaign dir. for FreedomWorks, an organization that coordinates Tea Party activists, said: "We don't want the worst elements to take this over,” referring to racist that have popped up regularly throughout the Tea Party.  But without a central organization, there isn’t much to control this conglomeration of crackpots. There have been incidents of derision against Barack Obama with observers who say the president's skin color is a powerful reason behind the movement's existence.  Pathetic.

 

And then John White reared his ugly head in Arizona.  DA Morales did an excellent expose in the Tucson Citizen titled: “Profiles of the Tucsonright-wing: fearful Christian men with guns who are ready to kill.”  This is a must-read for any person who thinks these Tea Party nuts are just harmless political fanatics.  This is posted on Facebook for all to see but Morales has capsuled the most bigoted and erratic statements in his articles.

 

Things like, “Democrats are a cancer and you do not cure cancer you cut it out and kill it.”  In another post he says the Gabby Giffords shooting was only a training exercise put on by the Dept. of Homeland Security.  Another, “…If you vote Democrat, then you voted for hell.”  And then there is his neo-Nazi friend Harry Hughes who also hangs out with J.T. Ready who is of the same ilk.  John White is a dedicated Tea Party member who not only is a racist and neo-Nazi, but who also condones killing democrats.

 

There are more quotes from White.  “A civil war is near, a cleansing…perhaps an ethnic cleansing?  You are not taking a life…you are saving a nation.”  This is pretty heavy stuff when you consider that these maniacs can arm themselves to the hilt in the state of Arizona with some of the loosest gun laws in the nation.  There is a picture of Harry Hughes with his neo-Nazi friends, all of which look like they are holding AK47-like weapons.

 
According to Gallup and Pew Research Cos., Americans’ views of the TeaParty are at the “lowest ever.”  Gallup notes that in a drop from a support level of 30% to 25% in recent months, more Americans hold intensely negative feelings toward the movement.  Based on this one must assume that the U.S. public must be light years smarter than the morons in Congress that constantly cow tow to TPers.  More pathetic.