Showing posts with label Joe Arpaio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe Arpaio. Show all posts

Saturday, December 17, 2016

T-rump stupid things



“An ‘extremely credible source has called my office and told me that Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a fraud”

Trump was determined to ‘expose’ President Obama’s birthplace back in 2012, and even claimed to have sent investigators to Hawaii in the hopes of proving Obama wasn’t born in the United States. Former, disgraced Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio has since charged this is true based on his completed investigation.


Sunday, November 13, 2016

Latino Chants of "¡Si se puede!" as Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio loses big


The Hispanic community of Arizona can rest easier after the decisive defeat of Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Tuesday's election, at least until January 20, 1917. I talked to one Latino as he finished grooming our yard, ready to ask him if he voted but he asked me first. I said, "Yes, did you?" His answer was a quick "Yes." I didn't ask him who he voted for but I'm betting as far as the Sheriff's race is concerned, it was probably Paul Penzone, Arpaio's opposition.

Don't know how my guy voted in the Presidential election either but Hispanics accounted for 11% of the total vote and favored Clinton by better than two to one. In 2008 Obama received 67% of the vote but the Latino turnout was only 9%. Once again this ethnic group did not step up to the plate. They also offered no help in the Arizona legislature where the stupid laws like the 2010 immigration bill that was eventually gutted.

I am more inclined to believe the white population of Arizona was finally fed up with Joe Arpaio, sick of the grandstanding to feed his ego, and at least $55 million in lawsuits against him and his department. And recently he was personally indicted on contempt of court charges he will have answer without his shield to back him up. Not sure what state's position will be on paying future legal bills. Knowing this state, anything is possible.

Hillary Clinton was supposed to ace the Hispanic vote but she barely held on to Obama's 2008 numbers. Either the Dems just aren't approaching the Latino community right, the latter just don't give a shit about their future, or it's all Hillary's fault. The future of the Democratic Party is significantly in question right now. Where are you Bernie?





Wednesday, May 6, 2015

STUPID ARIZONA (JOE ARPAIO) VOTERS


Arizona is the worst run state in the country. It treats its Hispanic population like crap, has the loosest gun laws in the U.S., extremely low educational standards and completely ignores its battered children, to name only a few flaws. The recent outgoing governor Jan Brewer was twice selected as America's lousiest in that job. And then there is Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In a recent Arizona Republic article it was reported that despite current federal contempt-of-court proceedings against him, delusional Arizona supporters continue sending money to his reelection campaign. $5.5 million in the last two years. Do they know something that we don't or are they just more of the stupid Arizona voters? I think it's the later.  At the time of this deluge of dollars the Sheriff is being held in contempt of court for ordering his deputies to harass Hispanics...just because they are Hispanic. He was ordered not to do this by a federal court.

There are 16 hate groups in Arizona as documented on this So. Poverty Law Center map. You have to wonder if one of those clusters might be the ones who are funneling so much money to the man known for persecuting Hispanics.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

How I am even MORE SURE now that Barack Obama has the lead for November

I did a post about this premise on October 2, based on the switch in preference from Mitt Romney to Barack Obama by a family member and friend.  I realize this isn’t scientific but their conversion did represent two individuals who were and still are hard-core conservatives.  I figure if the President has convinced two hard-liners like these two, then the undecideds will certainly be at least up for grabs.  But my new hypothesis is stronger and more methodical based on facts.

Arizona has been controlled by Republicans at least as long as I have lived here which is over 22 years.  Even when Democrat Janet Napolitano was Governor, she had to fight constantly with a GOP legislature that has grown steadily more conservative thanks to a strong Arizona Tea Party.  Today the state is under the complete control of 2 factions: The Tea Party and the National Rifle Assn. (NRA). 

Somehow, since Napolitano left, the legislature has turned into a bunch of fanatical conservative lunatics, and the state is stuck with a governor who doesn’t have the slightest clue about what she is doing.  The evidence of this is the ridicule Arizona takes from the national media on a regular basis.

Well, guess what?  A new Rocky Mountain poll shows that the Presidential race in Arizona is close: Barack Obama leading Mitt Romney 44% to 42%.  Now I am no political analyst but my gut tells me, based on the outlandish antics of the state’s Republican government, and a population that put them in office and up to this point seemed oblivious to what was going on in Arizona, the progressives have great momentum going in Arizona as well as nationwide.  There’s more.

Top Republicans like Gov. Jan Brewer and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio have basically alienated every voting Hispanic in the state.  There are 400,000 Latinos registered to vote and another 405,000 eligible but unregistered.  Democrats are hoping to get 300,000 of this number registered before November.  The Rocky Mountain poll reveals that 77% of these Hispanics are for Obama, 10% for Romney. 

It is estimated that 21.5 million Latinos will be eligible to vote nationwide in November, and if the 77% figure hold up, the President can almost be assured of 16.5 million potential votes.  But the question is, will Hispanics come out to vote?

And there’s even more.  Democrat Richard Carmona is running against Republican Rep. Jeff Flake for the Senate seat vacated by Jon Kyl.  Flake has been in Congress for six terms and was considered a shoo-in coming into the race but the poll found Carmona leading Flake by 4 points, 44% to 40%.  Carmona is Latino and the former Surgeon General under George W. Bush who, with large support from the President, doesn’t agree 100% with Obamacare.

But if the left can swing Arizona, which has formerly fought off all progressive candidates and issues, what does that mean on the national level?  It is generally accepted that to win the Presidential election, you must win Ohio.  According to Public Policy Polling, as of today Obama leads Romney by 5 points in Ohio, 51% to 46%.  There’s a new presidential debate coming up and Obama has promised to come out aggressive.  Right now, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Arizona.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Gov. Jan Brewer makes Arizona cops jobs impossible…and other asinine achievements

For the U.S. governor that, every time you hear something about her you think you have heard everything dim-witted, Jan Brewer crops up again upstaging herself with new idiocies.  Actually this isn’t old, rather a new break in a past blunder like the anti-immigration legislation SB-1070.  The Supreme Court struck down all but the part where law enforcement has to check the immigration status of individuals thought to be in the country illegally, while enforcing other laws.


Nazis also asked for your papers
However, while letting that clause stand, the Supreme Court made it “explicitly” clear that this kind of enforcement could lead to civil rights violations.  Putting myself in the position of a Phoenix police officer, I wondered how I would react to stopping a car with a mixture of Caucasian, plus legal and illegal immigrants.  I wouldn’t know who was what, so what would I do, check everyone to be safe?  I know the cops are trained for this, but so are the Hispanics to uncover abuses.

Temple University law professor Peter Spiro who has followed the legal battles on SB-1070 says, “Further litigation is imminent.”  What that means is that once judged the country’s worst governor, Jan Brewer, by forcing this law through the Supreme Court, has put the state of Arizona in the position of having to defend dozens, maybe even hundreds, of lawsuits.  Her position is bewildering since 73% of Arizonans support the Dream Act, according to a recent poll.

Video on Arizona "Show me your papers" law:

But there is even more Brewer baloney.  One of her appointees, Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Hatch, had the audacity to lecture a female victim of groping by a drunk police officer, “If you hadn’t been there that night {a bar}, none of this would have happened to you.”  

AZ Gov. Jan Brewer on the job
And yes, the Republican National Convention where some pathetic delegates treated Gov. Brewer and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio like rock stars.  The media even begged these losers for interviews and delegates asked for autographs.  The reaction to the Bobbsey Twins in Charlotte was a multitude of boos.

But doesn’t supporting an outright, self-avowed racist, again, sort of give Brewer the credentials of a racist herself?   Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, who is running for Congress in Arizona, said Middle Easterners look like Mexicans and she doesn’t want them in the country “legally or illegally.”  Saucedor Mercer is a Hispanic immigrant herself who gained citizenship in 1991.  Even following the above statement, Brewer reconfirmed her support for Saucedo Mercer.

In the latest example of loose Arizona gun laws supported and signed into law by Jan Brewer, Tucson police raided the home of Douglas Atwood busting him for having drugs and weapons.  In the house were 96 firearms including assault rifles, shotguns, handguns plus thousands of rounds of ammunition.  Oh by the way, Atwood is a federally-licensed weapons dealer.

Dr. Richard Carmona, former surgeon general under GWB, is running as a Democrat to replace the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Jon Kyl.  The GOP, in their fight to retain the position, is trying to discredit the political credentials of the candidate.  But in the past Republicans, namely Jan Brewer and Kyl, tried their best to recruit him for office including Congress and the governor.


Someone with the right to
ask for our papers
And finally, Arizona did win the one exemption in the SB-1070 law to check immigrant papers, but the case has been made repeatedly that the fed’s challenges should have been over racial profiling.  The Supreme Court even commented that even after the papers portion of the law goes into effect, the door is till open to more Constitutional challenges.

I can just see the Phoenix cop now, with all of his or her training but still under severe pressure, asking for the papers of the wrong person at the wrong time.  It goes back to the racially-mixed occupants in the car, above, with so many decisions to be made on the spot.  Just one slip and here comes the feds with another lawsuit, this time over racial profiling.  And Arizonans have Jan Brewer to thank.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Arizona lunatics and other politicians

The time has come to examine the latest lunacies coming from the politics of the state of Arizona.  Especially if you live right in the middle of it and experience the madness on a daily, sometime hourly, basis.  We’ve had our share of scandals lately—actually they were in full force when I moved to the state over 20 years ago—but GOP state politicians and many others in the conservative culture continue on their merry way, completely oblivious.


Jan Brewer finger-pointing Pres. Obama
 Some of the most infamous in the last few decades were the Keating Five, AzScam and the alt-fuels fiasco.  I’ll let you look these up individually because it will provide some excellent local color into the state that is known for its wondrous Grand Canyon and beautiful deserts, along with neo-Nazi J.T. Ready who killed 4 in his family plus himself recently, another racist and illegal immigrant hater Russell Pearce, and a completely incompetent Gov. Jan Brewer.

That’s just for starters.  USA Today did documentation recently of the “streak of scandals,” as they put it, that continue in Arizona.  The key word here is “continue” because it is a sure-fire thing that it will only escalate in the future if we don’t get rid of the Republican radicals in this state, starting at the top with the governor.  And here’s the understatement of the year by the newspaper: “Arizona has never been known for squeaky-clean politics.”  WOW! 

The Arizona Tea Party favorite is the Obama birther issue, which now has support again from the wacko Donald Trump.  At the same time the state legislature is pushing a bill to require BC certification, not for Mitt Romney, but just for Barack Obama, as orchestrated by Sec. of State Ken Bennett.  Of course Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, demanding some of the limelight, even sent volunteers and one of his deputies to Hawaii for verification just for TPers.


AZ Sen. Lori Klein waving gun in reporter's face in Senate
Some guy in the Arizona Republic “letters” section recently said that if we progressives don’t like it here, go to California.  I moved to Arizona from that state, primarily due to L.A.’s gang war problems.  Little did I know that the gun culture here was designed to put more weapons on the street in the hands of anybody who wanted them.  I happen to love the state of Arizona and some time ago decided to be a part of the change that will rid the state of these fanatics.

Back to the scandals, Arpaio accused by the feds of discrimination against immigrants, as well as financial irregularities in his department.  Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu from Pinal County, accused of violations of the Hatch Act, and after outing as a gay, accused of threatening deportation of his Mexican boyfriend if he didn’t keep quiet.  Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and his deputy Lisa Aubuchon, were disbarred in April for ethical misconduct.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio rags on Obama birther issue:

Still just getting started.  Democratic State Rep.s Ben Arredondo and Richard Miranda took their turn in the barrel with the former indicted on federal charges of bribery, mail fraud, extortion and lying, while the latter quit the Legislature this year before pleading guilty to federal felony wire fraud and attempted tax evasion charges.  Historian Jack August says, "The decibel level of what's happened recently is unprecedented in the history of Arizona."

In 1988, the impeachment and removal from the governor’s office of Ed Mecham who violated campaign finance laws and was caught lending $80,000 of public money to a car dealership he owned and ran before becoming governor.  And there was the 1997 criminal trial conviction of Fife Symington who resigned as governor just before being impeached.  Former Sen. Dennis DeConcini, current Sen. John McCain were involved in the Charles Keating financial scandal.

Currently, Arizona Atty. General Tom Horne is under investigation by the Justice Dept. “for alleged illegal coordination with an independent third-party group during his 2010 election campaign.”  You would think the man running for the state’s highest legal post would know the law.  Bruce Merrill, a veteran pollster and professor emeritus at Arizona State U. said: "Outside of Arizona, we certainly do have this image of instability and a kind of weirdness." 

And although the scandal-mongering has been going on for decades, has the recent gang of incompetent conservative fanatics raised the bar?  Yes, says former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, a Republican, who says that, “concerns about public corruption are greater today than at any time during his career.”  That’s another conservative speaking, although you wouldn’t put him in the same category as the wingnuts running the state today.

On top of everything else comes the Fiesta Bowl scandal that was directly related to Arizona state politicians.  In 2010 it was discovered that bowl CEO John Junker spent $4 million since 2000 to curry favor from BCS bigwigs and elected officials, guys like former State Senator Russell Pearce who was recalled from office for his fanatical views and other shenanigans.  Junker was fired and there now seems to be a return to normalcy in Arizona’s biggest sporting event.

There’s more which you can see in the USA Today article.  A Southern California psychologist and assistant professor of management and organization at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, Jen Overbeck, commented:

“People appear to be more willing to commit ethical transgressions if they feel that it is in service of some higher purpose.  I'm not saying that they have good intentions. It's just how people justify to themselves what the rest of us see as some pretty heinous unethical actions."

The question here is how do the people of Arizona justify returning these people to office year after year, as well as electing new clones just like them?  If ever a progressive sweep was necessary it is in the Arizona November elections.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Will Arizona be the pulse of the Hispanic vote in November?

I raise this question because Arizona is the center of immigration reform on the state level with its first nationwide anti-immigration bill SB-1070 that is still before the U.S. Supreme Court.  Arizona v. United States was argued April 25, 2012, and the question presented was whether federal immigration laws preclude Arizona’s efforts at cooperative law enforcement and preempt the four provisions of S.B. 1070.  The high Court is expected to give its decision in June.

Arizona Federal Judge Susan Bolton blocked the most contested provisions of SB-1070 in July of 2010, shortly after the law was passed.  That is what sent the Arizona gang of autocrats gyrating to the Supremes.  There are no other officials in other states throughout the U.S. more vocal than those from Arizona, with their challenge to Judge Bolton’s decision as the centerpiece.  What the Supremes decide will have a definitive effect on Latinos in Arizona and across the country.

The villains in this whole fiasco are easily identifiable and are at the source of many of Arizona’s many problems.  These three, along with a state Republican legislature that is clearly on another planet, can also be credited for most of the ridicule that is regularly thrown at the state.  The terrible three are Gov. Jan Brewer, former state senator Russell Pearce, and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  Together they resemble a very untalented Three Stooges.

Jan Brewer is laughable as perhaps the most incompetent governor to ever serve a state in this country.  Brewer is detested by most Hispanics for signing SB-1070.  Russell Pearce, the main supporter of SB-1070, was voted out as a state senator, primarily by Latinos because of racist and other extremist views.  Joe Arpaio has endeared himself to Hispanics with his regular sweeps that pick up illegals—and even legal citizens—for minor offenses of the law for ID.

NY Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer on Hispanic vote:
There are 1.8 million Latinos in Arizona in 525,000 households, just under 30 percent of the total population, with an average age of almost 26.  59 percent of this group is making more than $35,000 a year which puts them in a formidable position to determine the outcome of Arizona elections.  If they can be convinced to come to the polls.  But even some of the legal immigrants are scared to come to the polls because of the threats of Brewer, Pearce and Arpaio.

The fact that the Dream Act is still important to Hispanics is a recent protest in Phoenix, and it wasn’t against Republicans but aimed at democrats for not doing enough.  This only emphasizes what many Latino advocates have been saying of late.  It will make little difference if you get this group enthused over the November election if their concerns aren’t turned into priorities by both parties.  President Obama promised to overhaul immigration in 2008 and hasn’t fulfilled.

Another Hispanic concern is education, according to a poll from the American Federation for Children and the Hispanic Council for Reform and Education Options.  58 percent of Latinos in five battleground states want more on what the candidates will do, compared to 49 percent overall.  This parallels interests from African-Americans in the past because they wanted better educational standards for their children.  Jobs, the economy and federal deficit are also ranked high.

The NPR article above estimates that 22 million Latinos will be eligible to vote in November, with a potential voter turnout of up to 12 million.  This is a 26 percent increase over 2008 and would be a new record.  However, on Univision, the Velasquez Institute predicts that national Latino turnout this fall will be no higher than 10.5 million votes cast.  What makes all this important is the fact that President Obama was the first to win the office without the white vote majority.

Arizona is now a hub for protest for a pro-Hispanic ‘super PAC’ aimed at Mitt Romney.  At a fundraiser in Palm Beach, FL, Romney acknowledged the possibility of losing the Latino vote.  He said, “If its {Dems. momentum} not turned around, it spells doom for us.”  In the Los Angeles Times, a new national poll, conducted for NBC News, the Wall Street Journal and Telemundo, showed him trailing the president 61% to 27% among Latinos.

The liberal super PAC began airing TV spots in Arizona on May 24, where the strategy is to characterize Mitt Romney in the same light as two of the most “reviled” politicians in the Hispanic community: Gov. Jan Brewer and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  Brewer endorsed Romney just before Arizona’s February primary, Arpaio stayed neutral having endorsed Rick Perry who quit the race.  The ad runs several weeks in English and Spanish.

Arizona is clearly evolving from red to purple with the Latino population reacting to SB-1070 and the sweeps of illegals by Sheriff Arpaio.  That’s the best sign progressives have seen in Arizona for years but the question is whether they take full advantage of the situation.  There are non-Hispanic white and black populations that must also speak out in November.  They are there.  But apparently not as passionate as conservatives.  This needs to change now.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Gun nuts claim gun control advocates espouse an American Holocaust

This charge comes from a site called Front Porch Politics who says they believe in America.  Maybe, but as it turns out in this post and others like it, it appears to me that they believe in a dark America shaded by radical conservative causes.  As an example, another recent post was, “Barack Obama’s Lawyer Admits Birth Certificate is forged.”  I Googled the title and came up primarily with a bunch of wacko sites that appear to have little credibility.  Sites like TeaPartyTribune.com.

The blame for this accusation goes to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) and its Exec. Dir. Josh Horwitz who is quoted as saying: “The concept of a ‘monopoly on force’ might sound foreign or even frightening to Americans that take great pride in our revolutionary beginnings, but it is the fundamental organizing principle of any political entity, including the United States.”  What could anyone find wrong with that with even a minimum trust in government?

But the Front Porch fanatics do by calling Horwitz’s statement “foreign” and “frightening,” then proceeding to rewrite the Revolutionary War to show why every individual in America should be allowed to own and carry a gun, anywhere they want, and with absolutely no training whatsoever.  With the gun worshippers it always comes down to that.  Don’t you brain dead people understand that we are no longer fighting for our freedom.  Like the Civil War, it’s over.

However, the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) has managed to embed in these peoples’ minds the fact that we are once again fighting the U.S. Government in a 21st Century reenactment of the Revolutionary War.  We aren’t.  As an example, FP compares Josh Horwitz’s citing of Max Weber, a German political economist and sociologist as an example of extreme right politics because of Weber having been associated with Karl Marx.  So has Barack Obama which is also absurd.

If you want to see who Max Weber was, see it here on Wikipedia.  According to Wikipedia, Weber is often cited, with Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx as one of the three principal architects of modern social science.  The gun craze phenomena can certainly be considered an integral part of modern social science.  Horwitz is focused on his belief that if the Constitution is working, and we must admit it is except when we consider Congress, peaceful means should be used.


Arizona immigration sweeps

Horwitz’s opinion was in answer to a tweet that asked the question: “So govt rounding up citizens based on relig/ethnic id would not warrant armd resistance if courts bless as constitutional”  They do this every day in Arizona, at least pertaining to Hispanics, and so far I don’t see the gun lobby’s militia coming to their defense.  FP, quoting an Examiner.com writer by the name of Kurt Hofmann, would have Latinos in Arizona take up arms to fight their battle.

Arizona’s anti-immigration mess is tragic, but at least so far they have elected to take the peaceful way.  And that is in spite of the Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s and Russell Pearce’s who alone could provoke a revolution.  FP states that we have a “sacred” duty to check our government; there goes that biblical connection again.  We do and if we don’t like what it does, we vote to change things.  That’s where the Constitution works and if you don’t like it, change it. 

And of course no article about guns could be complete without waving the 2nd amendment in our faces.  FP says, “we possess a Second Amendment for a reason and it isn’t for hunting. It is for self preservation, for the protection of life and property and to keep tyrants in check.”  The last time I looked, we had a police department and the U.S. military to do that.  And where I come from they do it very well.

But here is a Front Porch statement that is alarming: “When they step outside of their bounds we must hold them accountable.  This is not that we take up arms against them every time they violate the Constitution. On most occasions, we simply seek to do it peacefully at the ballot box.”  It almost sounds like the initiation speech for a group of militants bent on overthrowing the U.S. Government.  Probably not but they bear watching.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

America’s toughest Sheriff Arizona’s Joe Arpaio…not so tough anymore?

Joe Arpaio: The people elected me
For two decades one of the biggest foes of illegal immigrants in the Grand Canyon State may be ending his law enforcement career with a whimper.  Along with his best buddy, former State Sen. Russell Pearce, he could also be voted out of office in November.  Pearce was dumped due to his radical views on immigration, and the same issue could be Arpaio’s undoing.  But the Sheriff is taking his regular arrogant stand indicating the people put him in office.

That arrogance could easily be shoved down his throat in the 2012 election if the “people” decide they are fed up with him too.  But Randy Parraz, the community activist responsible for getting rid of Pearce says, “The groundswell of people coming out protesting, we haven’t seen.  Anywhere else with this kind of stuff, he wouldn’t survive.  So true!  In Arizona they love their conservatives who, for the most part can do no harm.  But they did finally get fed up with Russell Pearce.

Arpaio will do anything for publicity.  Along with his immigration sweeps, he recently appointed a special volunteer cold-case posse to investigate Barack Obama’s birth certificate…AGAIN.  The Sheriff then reported that they had found probable cause to believe that the long-form birth certificate released by the White House last April was a computer-generated forgery.  Randy Parraz commented, “He retaliates against his critics.”


Sheriff Arpaio's Tent city

The group Citizens for a Better Arizona has been working against Sheriff Joe for some time now and recently asked former high-ranking officials from the state and local level about their impressions of Arpaio.  They are former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley and former Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.  They came up with the following assessment:

“The men say their goal was to remove the politics and talk facts. They see those facts as years of the sheriff's abuse of power that have caused the state and city of Phoenix time and money and hurt its reputation.”  The $ figure is $300 million.  The damage to Arizona’s reputation is well known from the ridicule it has taken nation-wide.

Arpaio’s supporters have continued toppling since Russell Pearce. 

The latest is former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas who was disbarred April 10, “…for engaging in unethical conduct to intimidate and smear his and Arpaio’s political adversaries.”  A salon article reports that “…a three-member Arizona state Supreme Court disciplinary panel supporting the disbarment ruling also concluded there was ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that Thomas had violated federal civil rights laws.”


Arpaio and Andrew Thomas

The Salon piece continues, “While Thomas, a Republican, has not been criminally charged, the opinion made it crystal clear that his unethical and allegedly illegal conduct was the result of his ‘unholy collaboration’ with Arpaio, also a Republican, to use their law enforcement powers to retaliate against critics.” This is powerful stuff for the Sheriff’s November opponents to take to the election but still may not convince some of his fanatical followers
 
However, there’s more.  Salon continues, “The Supreme Court panel’s opinion stated that evidence indicated Arpaio had conspired with Thomas and Aubuchon to file the charges against the judge and two supervisors.”  Lisa Aubuchon is a former assistant prosecutor for Thomas who was also disbarred.  Still not enough?  Well, former Governor and current Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has also withdrawn her support.

The Young Turks on Sheriff Arpaio:
One of the worst accusations against Arpaio is his department’s handling of more than 400 sex-crimes cases.  The New York Times reports, “His deputies failed to investigate or conducted only the sketchiest of inquiries into hundreds of sex crimes between 2005 and 2007, investigations by Arizona law enforcement agencies have shown. Many of those cases involved molested children.”  Arpaio responded, “If there were any victims, I apologize to those victims.”  “If”???  

Also important and certainly not forgotten is the demise and ultimate firing of the Sheriff’s longtime chief deputy David Hendershott who was a part of Arpaio’s campaign finance scandal which is yet another federal criminal investigation.  Arpaio is also being investigated by the feds for civil rights violations.  According to the Overthrow Arpaio movement, “Hundreds of current sheriff's office employees have expressed a vote of no confidence in Sheriff Arpaio.”

But there is one thing sheriff Joe Arpaio should be commended for and that is his devotion to helping animals through his no-kill shelter MASH, the old Maricopa County First Avenue Jail converted to an animal shelter which is air conditioned.  It has been confirmed that the deputies’ care of these misplaced pets is great.  But is that enough to get America’s toughest Sheriff reelected?  The “people” will decide in November.

Friday, March 30, 2012

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:

Thursday, March 22, 2012

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.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Arizona’s hiatus on illegal immigration offers respite for Hispanic voters

In Arizona there is ongoing fear by undocumented immigrants to speak up or participate in the general population because of the racist attitudes of many of the state’s residents.  Not to mention bigots like former state Sen. Russell Pearce, author of anti-immigration bill SB-1070, and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  This even spills over into the legal immigrant community that isn’t quite sure they are actually safe in a state known for its intolerances.

But the New York Times says that illegal immigration is on the “back burner” in Arizona and that is a good sign to help turn out the Latino vote in the November election.  Russell Pearce was thrown out of office in disgrace and now the feds are stepping up their investigation of practices in Arpaio’s office.  At the same time, Pinal County Sheriff, also a staunch foe of illegal immigration, has been outed as being gay and his lover has filed a million-dollar lawsuit against him.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer slapped a bigot’s label on Mitt Romney just by endorsing him recently since she ranks right up there with Pearce and Arpaio in Jim Crowism.  And it is pretty significant that all the GOP primary candidates have stayed away from the immigration issue, although it is quite clear that Republicans are anti-illegal immigrants.  Most of them just don’t have the guts to admit it since it will certainly cost them votes.

Political consultant Chip Scutari said: “Many of the voters who support 1070 also support an earned path to citizenship.  I think border issues are in the mix. But because there’s been such a quagmire, it’s lost some of its sex appeal.”  This bothers the anti-immigration group—the economy and jobs are in the forefront now—but they think this will change when illegals start crossing the border again looking for work.



Many pro-immigrationists are convinced the GOP has done irreparable damage in the Hispanic community, which will translate into record voter registration for Latinos in November, most of which will probably vote for Barack Obama.  And although Arizona hasn’t yet suffered the disastrous effects Alabama’s anti-immigration law had on that state—crops are rotting in the fields—the Sunshine State has made budget cuts that have significantly affected residents.

I did an article for Phoenix Examiner.com last December that looked at the issue from the standpoint of how Arizona could have a positive impact on the Hispanic vote in November.  With all the opposition, the Latino voting-age population has jumped from 455,000 nine years ago to 845,000 today, 19 percent of the state’s population eligible to vote.  One recent show of force was indicated by Latino firefighter Daniel Valenzuela beating a white businesswoman for a spot on the Phoenix City Council.
Democrats are hoping to register approximately 300,000 new Hispanics to vote prior to November 2012.  Add to that the 455,000 already registered and you have a potentially formidable force.  If they can be convinced to vote.  Colorado may be a forewarning of what is to come.  The state was able to sign up 225,000 new Hispanics who voted in the 2008 election turning the state from red to blue, thanks to the alienation of former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo.

Then closer to home, Within 6 months of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signing anti-immigration law SB-1070 in 2010, 43,000 new Latinos were registered to vote in Colorado.  As the sayings go, ‘the monkey is on your back’ or, ‘you’ve got the ball, now run with it.’  The question is which way will the Latinos run, whether many of them will run at all, and just how much Arizona’s results will jolt the rest of the country.

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