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Thursday, October 18
The Secessionist Movement
by
SJ Reidhead
on Thu 18 Oct 2007 02:06 PM MDT
SECESSIONIST MOVEMENT
The American Secessionist Blog has not been updated in 6 months – but you need to know what it is.
Secessionist Net
First North American Secessionist Conference
Sedition Movements in the US
Middlebury Institute
STATE WIDE MOVEMENTS
Free South Carolina
Free Maine
Hawaii
North Carolina
Vermont
New Hampshire
Massachusetts
Alaska
New England Alliance
Some of the goals of a “Free South Carolina” are
“…*...decide
the abortion issue for ourselves. No longer would Federal courts be
able to lord over us. Most South Carolinians would probably like to see
the Federal court decision that gave us abortion overturned.
Regardless, it would be for us to decide, not some remote judge.
*...eliminate
affirmative-action entirely and root out the influences of
"poltical-correctness" and multiculturalism from our government and
society.
*...prevent
our soldiers from being sent to die overseas for United Nations
nation-building projects. Our soldiers would guard our national
territory and lend aid to our allies if invaded.
*...stop
illegal immigration and Third World immigration in general and
rigorously guard our borders. We could heavily fine or strip business
licenses from businesses and people that employ or house illegals….”
Another goal of a “Free South Carolina” is to remove Lindsey Graham from office.
SOUTHERN ACTIVISM
I
consider myself a ‘southerner’ having been born in Florida and having
grown up in South Carolina. Things like this give the South a bad
name. http://www.southernheritagepac.org/deck/deck.php
Note the League of the South
and their activity in defeating immigration reform. This isn’t about
immigration reform – it is about extremists who have figured out a way
to rattle ‘conservative’ cages, co-opt talk radio, and have their way
with the world.
Read the League of the South activity list.
The Abbeville Chapter of the League of the South advocates Secession.
CHRISTIAN EXODUS
According to a friend who lives in Oconee County, SC, you had better be aware of Christian Exodus and the problems it can cause.
NOT REPUBLICAN
“Pro” Southern is NOT Republican.
Contrary
to the hyped up extreme conservatives who now dominate talk radio and
defeated immigration reform, we are not dealing with a full deck. We
are dealing with a well-organized, NON REPUBLICAN, very vocal
minority. My worry is the fact if they can destroy immigration reform
I think we need to be afraid – very afraid – of what they will attempt
next.
How familiar are you with the “Southern Party”?
Christian Exodus is not Republican and is pro Ron Paul.
Missouri Bushwacker Blog
The Conservative Exodus Project
The Pledge
“We,
the undersigned, petition the Republican Party to support real
conservative candidates for the 2008 presidential nomination.
In
the belief that the Republican Party has become too liberal, we pledge,
unless a suitable candidate is selected for the GOP 2008 presidential
nomination, to stay home or vote third party (e.g. Constitution Party).
Returning
to its liberal roots, the GOP has recently become the party of big
business, neoliberal globalism, and unwise interventionism - not the
party of conservatism.
The
following presidential candidates are UNACCEPTABLE: John McCain,
Rudolph Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Sam Brownback, Mike
Huckabee, Chuck Hagel, Condoleezza Rice, et al. They all support the
third-world invasion of the United States.
Unless
a candidate is chosen who is tough on immigration (e.g. Ron Paul, Tom
Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, or another candidate yet to announce), we
shall have no choice but to vote third party.
We would like to stress these five points.
(1)
We oppose the third-world invasion of the United States, and reject
amnesty and any path to citizenship for illegals. We support
deportation, attrition, and massive reductions in legal immigration,
especially from the third world.
(2)
We oppose free trade, the support of which has become an ideological
suicide pact. Free trade is both destroying our economy and undermining
our sovereignty. Historically, conservatives have opposed free trade,
and they should, but many in the GOP have been "neoconned" on this
issue.
(3) We support a moral candidate, critical of secularism, who embodies the virtues of the Christian Western tradition.
(4)
We oppose the illegal neocon war in Iraq. The transformation of the
Middle East to liberal democracy is Jacobin, not conservative.
(5)
We wish to see big government reduced in size - in all three branches -
and for many offices and functions to be returned to the states, where
they Constitutionally belong.
Unless the above criteria are met, we pledge to stay home or vote third-party in 2008….”
WHICH LEADS US TO…
If Islamic terrorists now have advanced degrees, financial opportunity, and are the ‘right’ people for immigration -
We
are dealing with the voices of hate who have infiltrated an issue and
are manipulating it and conservatives within the GOP for their own
agenda. Unfortunately they are like the little kid who cried wolf once
too often. Illegal Mexican migrants have nothing – ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
– to do with TERROR. The problem is our anti-immigration minuteman
voices are promoting this very idea. We keep yelling “terror” where it
isn’t – and now that we need to yell “terror” and focus attention on
individuals who are:
LEGAL
WELL-EDUCATED
PROFESSIONAL
MIDDLE-EASTERN
NO CRIMINAL BACKGROUND
FAIRLY WELL OFF FINANCIALLY
"MODERATE ISLAMIC"
But
the little minutemen, et. al and all their adorable little friends have
cried ‘terror’ so much – is anyone now going to listen?
The
one portion of that now defeated immigration bill I opposed was the
emphasis on the following for guest workers: I am glad that I did.
LEGAL
WELL-EDUCATED
PROFESSIONAL
NO CRIMINAL BACKGROUND
FAIRLY WELL OFF FINANCIALLY
AND TO THE VOICE OF DOOM…
The GOP can’t win elections without moderates.
HOW DOES THIS ALL TIE-IN
For over a year I have been saying the GOP is being manipulated, used and infiltrated by the forces of evil. Stormfront, the white supremacist, neo-nazi web forum is preaching just this.
Conservatives
who claim to be Republican are manipulating our public officials.
These “conservatives” have nothing to do with conservative and
everything to do with the KKK, and other adorable little warm and fuzzy hate groups. They
have co-opted public opinion for their agenda and are currently basking
in the glow of their victory. How far are good decent people going to
allow this to go.
Joe Arpaio Primer
by
SJ Reidhead
on Thu 18 Oct 2007 02:04 PM MDT
JOE ARPAIO IS AT IT AGAIN!
Arizona
is rich with outlaw-lawman history. Anyone who knows anything about me
knows about my love of Tombstone history and my research and books
about Wyatt Earp and Tombstone. Because of this I find the exploits of
"legendary" Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio very interesting. His
conservative admirers, who are legion, like to compare him with Wyatt
Earp. Unfortunately, after getting to know Sheriff Joe and his
keystone kops, one realizes there is a Tombstone analogy with Sheriff
Joe, but it isn't Wyatt Earp. Fact is, there's another famous (or
infamous) Tombstone and Cochise County lawman who is Sheriff Joe
personified - Cochise County Sheriff John Behan! In fact, if you know
anything about Tombstone during those wild and crazy days of the early
1880s, you will know that John Behan controlled a huge political,
legal, and publicity machine. He was corrupt, charming, loved the
press, and completely incompetent. Yep - that's Sheriff Joe Arpaio!
Want to know more, just watch both Tombstone & Wyatt Earp. You'll
soon get the picture.
Over
the years a few publications in Arizona have had the courage to take on
Joe Arpaio and expose the abject incompetence and the cruelty in the
way he has treated inmates and the way he has trampled the rights of
those who are incarcerated in Maricopa County. Also there is the
matter of nearly a million dollars in investment money Sheriff Joe
never bothered to disclose. Yep - just like John Behan.
The New Times reports
"...While
voters lapped up the sheriff's harsh approach to inmates in his jails —
from forcing them to wear pink underwear, to feeding them oxidized,
green bologna, to working them in chain gangs, to housing inmates in
tents — New Times writers pointed out that the cruelty and violence in
Arpaio's lockups prompted Amnesty International's first investigation
in America.
And
people continued to die under Arpaio's care. Crippled people, blind
people, people out of their minds. Local attorney Michael Manning has
collected nearly $20 million in damages from the county over inmates
killed in Arpaio's custody.
When Arpaio stood yet again for election in 2004, New Times' relationship with the sheriff was 12 years old.
Sheriff
Arpaio hid nearly $790,000 in cold hard cash in three real estate
investments that former New Times staff writer John Dougherty
discovered in July 2004, in the middle of a heated primary election.
Arpaio stashed an indeterminate amount of cash in another six parcels of commercial and residential real estate.
With more than a million dollars invested, how could there not be questions?
Columnist
Dougherty wondered how a public servant surviving on a $78,000
sheriff's salary and a government retirement check could afford such an
investment portfolio.
It
was not a pointless query. In 12 years overseeing (at the time) a $140
million law enforcement empire, Arpaio had never suffered a thorough
audit by the county.
Perhaps the sheriff inherited a fortune from a distant relative.
A paper trail that should have been public would have reassured voters.
But the normal public real estate records maintained by the government were not available when it came to Sheriff Arpaio.
He used an arcane statute meant to conceal home addresses of law enforcement officials to shield his investments...."
Now
Sheriff Joe has decided to abjectly trample the Constitution by running
rough-shod over the Phoenix New Times, their editors, reporters, and
ANYONE who has EVER linked to four specific articles about Sheriff Joe,
or even read the articles online. Yep - if you (and I) have even
clicked on those articles, they want the New Times's stored cookies.
They are going to investigate EVERYONE who has read those articles. I
suspect they are also going to start combing the internet for anyone
who blogs against America's favorite lawman. I don't know about you,
but this is absolutely terrifying and absolute chilling.
Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin write
"...This
newspaper and its editorial staff — both current and former — are the
targets of unprecedented grand jury subpoenas dated August 24. The
authorities are also using the grand jury subpoenas in an attempt to
research the identity, purchasing habits, and browsing proclivities of
our online readership.
It
is, we fear, the authorities' belief that what you are about to read
here is against the law to publish. But there are moments when civil
disobedience is merely the last option. We pray that our judgment is
free of arrogance.
These are the issues as we understand them.
In
a breathtaking abuse of the United States Constitution, Sheriff Joe
Arpaio, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, and their increasingly
unhinged cat's paw, special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik, used the grand
jury to subpoena "all documents related to articles and other content
published by Phoenix New Times newspaper in print and on the Phoenix
New Times website, regarding Sheriff Joe Arpaio from January 1, 2004 to
the present."
Every note, tape, and record from every story written about Sheriff Arpaio by every reporter over a period of years.
In
addition to the omnibus subpoena, which referred to our writer Stephen
Lemons directly, reporters John Dougherty and Paul Rubin were targeted
with individual subpoenas.
More
alarming still, Arpaio, Thomas, and Wilenchik subpoenaed detailed
information on anyone who has looked at the New Times Web site since
2004.
Every individual who looked at any story, review, listing, classified, or retail ad over a period of years...."
Why?
Several years ago Sheriff Joe's home address was printed at the bottom
of an opinion column on their web site, along with some fascinating
information about some commercial real estate Sheriff Joe was evidently
trying to hide from public view! The only way to handle this is to
just quote directly from the New Times.
"...
have now erupted into a courtroom donnybrook against a backdrop of
illegal immigration disputes, Mexican drug cartels, the Minutemen,
political ambition, and turf disputes between prosecutors and the
judiciary.
And
given the diva-like drama that Arpaio attaches to even the mundane, you
can add to the grand jury tension the paranoia of a Keystone Kops
assassination "plot" against "America's toughest sheriff."
Behind these operatic and public developments, an ethical stain has spread over the secret proceedings of the grand jury.
Special prosecutor Wilenchik has sabotaged the integrity of the investigation.
Not
content with using the hidden power of sweeping grand jury subpoenas,
the government's lawyer attempted to get the ear of the sitting judge —
out of earshot of New Times' attorneys.
Special
prosecutor Wilenchik used a politically potent emissary in a
behind-the-curtain attempt to set up a meeting between the judge
overseeing the grand jury and Wilenchik.
In
a hastily called hearing October 11, the judge labeled Wilenchik's
attempt to set up an ex parte discussion "absolutely inappropriate."..."
But
- this is the worst of it. And, quite frankly, anyone who is an
admirer of Sheriff Joe should reconsider their admiration of him and
realize how absolutely chilling these developments are - if allowed to
stand. The implications for anyone who even reads the internet are
horrifying and reek of something that would happen in China, not the
US. Remember - this is going to the Grand Jury for an investigation.
Does this imply that someone like moi who is writing about Sheriff Joe
can be called to the same Grand Jury? Clearly it is an attempt to
squash any critical reporting and expose of Sheriff Joe, the
conservative favorite.
"...In
a grandiose insult to the Constitution, Arpaio, Thomas, and Wilenchik
used the grand jury to subpoena the online profiles of anyone who
viewed four specific articles on the sheriff.
The
pertinent section of the secret grand jury subpoena reads, in part:
"All internet web site information for the Phoenix New Times internet
site related to the web pages . . . [four specific articles on the
sheriff]. The information should include, but not be limited to: The
Internet Protocol addresses of any and all visitors to each page of . .
. [four specific articles on the sheriff]. . ."
Energized,
perhaps, by this mugging of Constitutional safeguards, Arpaio, Thomas,
and Wilenchik then shot the moon. The grand jury subpoena also demands
Web site profiles of anyone and everyone who visited New Times online
over the past two and a half years, not merely readers who viewed
articles on the sheriff.
The subpoena demands: "Any
and all documents containing a compilation of aggregate information
about the Phoenix New Times Web site created or prepared from January
1, 2004 to the present, including but not limited to :
A) which pages visitors access or visit on the Phoenix New Times website;
B) the total number of visitors to the Phoenix New Times website;
C)
information obtained from 'cookies,' including, but not limited to,
authentication, tracking, and maintaining specific information about
users (site preferences, contents of electronic shopping carts, etc.);
D) the Internet Protocol address of anyone that accesses the Phoenix New Times website from January 1, 2004 to the present;
E) the domain name of anyone that has accessed the Phoenix New Times website from January 1, 2004 to the present;
F) the website a user visited prior to coming to the Phoenix New Times website;
G) the date and time of a visit by a user to the Phoenix New Times website;
H)
the type of browser used by each visitor (Internet Explorer, Mozilla,
Netscape Navigator, Firefox, etc.) to the Phoenix New Times website; and
I) the type of operating system used by each visitor to the Phoenix New Times website."
Special prosecutor Wilenchik wants this information on each and every New Times reader online since 2004...."
The Phoenix New Times
"New
Times and two of its writers have sued Maricopa County and a special
deputy county attorney in U.S. District Court, asking the judge to
enjoin the defendants from violating the newspaper's constitutional
rights...."
The Feathered Bastard
(our favorite liberal site) has news that Sheriff Joe's co-horts, the
County Attorney, etc. are being investigated by the AZ State Bar.
"...And in an October 10 letter to the Arizona Republic, McAuliffe wrote that,
"These attacks appear to be transparent attempts to cow the judiciary
into rulings that are acceptable to the source of these attacks. The
prospect of having a decision vilified on the front page of your
newspaper cannot help but have a chilling effect on the ability of a
judge to evaluate independently the legal merits of an issue that has
been presented for decision.
"There
is a correct way to question a judge's actions, and that is through the
appellate courts or the Commission on Judicial Conduct, and not through
the media."
Are Thomas and Wilenchik on their way to being sanctioned somehow by
the State Bar? That would be an incredible development, but then it's
already incredible that the State Bar on its own would begin
investigating a sitting a County Attorney...."
For more information on why these two are being investigated, consult The Phoenix New Times.
Evidently they tried to 'get to' the Judge Baca and try to influence
how she ruled in the grand jury investigation of The Phoenix New Times.
"...The
Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct are unequivocal: "A lawyer shall
not communicate ex-parte with such a person (judge, juror, prospective
juror) during the proceeding . . ."
Were
it not for Judge Anna Baca's impeccable character, her willingness to
short-circuit the conversation with friend Carol Turoff at the same
time that she made a record of the approach, Wilenchik's brazen tactic
would never have surfaced.
And yet he remains the special prosecutor.
There
will be many questions about our decision to make public the secret
machinations of the special prosecutor armed with grand jury powers.
Consider
this: When the wife of a senior member of County Attorney Andrew
Thomas' management team feels free to contact the sitting judge, and
when the special prosecutor who initiated this idea of an ex-parte
meeting sees nothing wrong with conduct his own profession prohibits,
we feel compelled to shed light upon these remarkable proceedings.
And make no mistake: Special prosecutor Wilenchik sees nothing wrong with what he did.
Judge Baca told the prosecutor that it was "absolutely inappropriate."
"With all due respect," argued Dennis Wilenchik, "it was absolutely appropriate."
It
is little wonder that special prosecutor Wilenchik found nothing
inappropriate about his ex parte contact with Judge Baca; his instinct
to engage in subversive tactics underscores his lack of professional
ethics.
On
October 3, precisely one week before Turoff phoned Judge Baca,
Wilenchik smeared Superior Court Judge Timothy Ryan in an orchestrated
campaign that is part of County Attorney Thomas' anti-illegal
immigration strategy...."
A
few weeks ago, Wilenchik went after Judge Timothy Ryan over his rulings
on the legality of some of Arizona's new anti-immigration laws and the
legality of some of Sheriff Joe's antics regarding 'racial profiling'
when it came to establishing standards that law enforcement must meet
when establishing the protocol of determining if a person is legal or
not.
"...This
summer, Arpaio's jail denied admittance to Ramon Delgadillo, who'd
worked 25 years as a court translator. Despite his extensive track
record, the Sheriff's Office demanded papers that proved he was a
naturalized citizen.
Although
Arpaio was forced to change jail policy, the confusion underscored the
need for coherent and reasonable guidelines while considering bail for
suspected illegal aliens.
Wilenchik
addressed the issue with such outlandish hostility that there were
immediate calls for complaints to be filed against him with the state
Bar.
Although
Wilenchik's role as hired gun was highlighted by his inability to
answer questions from Judge Ryan about the cases in dispute, he
nonetheless attacked the judge's questions as "self-serving."
Tellingly,
County Attorney Thomas, though unhappy with certain rulings and conduct
of Judge Ryan, neither appealed the decisions in question nor asked for
judicial review, which are the legal routes for redress.
Instead,
members of the news media were notified in advance that they should
attend a hearing in Judge Ryan's court. At the hearing, Wilenchik made
the incredible demand that Ryan step down from all cases.
Rather
than proceeding through normal legal channels, Wilenchik's ad hominem
attack marked the beginning of a three-day public assault on the courts
by Thomas, highlighted by the grandstanding demand that all 93 judges
in Maricopa County be replaced by out-of-county judges.
The
presiding judge of the county Superior Court, Barbara Mundell, denied
the motion, noting that "no facts to establish bias or prejudice of
any, and certainly not all of the 93 judges" was put into evidence.
Still pending, as we went to press, was the effort to remove Judge Ryan individually.
Lost
in Wilenchik and Thomas' tactics were the people involved in the cases.
As Judge Mundell noted, all the victims, witnesses, and defendants
would have suffered unnecessary hardships and delays under Wilenchik's
preposterous motion.
Of
course, the idea to strike Judge Ryan and his 92 colleagues in Superior
Court was pursued with little regard for legal victory but maximum
regard for publicity value. And the execution of this media ploy was
both heavy-handed and vicious, playing fast and loose with
anti-immigrant prejudices.
The
same kind of heavy-handed unscrupulousness by Wilenchik was reported by
New Times reporter Paul Rubin in the lawyer's recent defamation defense
of Sheriff Joe Arpaio ..."
A QUICK MINI RANT
Before
this is over, this whole issue could end up being one huge
Constutitional mess that ends up in the SCOTUS. I trust my readers will
grasp the absolutely chilling implications of what Sheriff Joe and his
associates are attempting to do. How long are conservatives going to
keep up their constant approval of this man? When are they going to
open their eyes and demand accountability? Just because there is a "R"
by a person's name doesn't give us license to ignore their faults. DID SIMCOX THREATEN ARPAIO?This
is just way too good to let go. Seems like Sheriff Joe (our very own
American version of the Sheriff of Nottingham) is now accusing
Minuteman leader Chris Simcox, among others, of plotting to kill him.
I am not kidding!
Seems like Sheriff Joe and Putkin have a heck of a lot in common:
1. They both think people are out to off ‘em
2. Both try to silence journalists who try to expose ‘em
3. They both try and take out their opposition
4. Both have their own version of prison camps
Yep
– lots in common! Sheriff Joe has decided that Chris Simcox and his
merry little minutemen, among others, including an immigration rights
activist, are trying to do him in, mostly for publicity. According to
the Phoenix New Times
“…The
MCSO brain trust actually believed Bermudez was helping the Minutemen
take out a hit on Joe through big-time narco gangsters! What was the
MCSO smokin'?!
Joe's handlers even hustled the lawman and spouse Ava out of their
abode, shuttlin' them from one fleabag hole to another. In the
Republic's story, Joe gripes about having to eat a Denny's hamburger
instead of his Easter ham. He almost sounds like some decrepit
dictator, like, say, Cuba's ancient commie leader, Fidel Castro, a
doddering figurehead not even in control of his own person.
"When I have to move out of my house," huffed Arpaio to the Republic,
"from one dumpy hotel room to another, I don't blame my staff. It's
their job to protect me."
Isn't Joe sentient enough to realize when his dunderheaded deputies
don't know their keisters from a groundhog hole? Jesus, if they'd tried
hidin' you in Tent City, Joe, would you have gone?
"He doesn't have it upstairs anymore," Bermudez observed to The Bird.
"Most of the stuff he puts out in the press, he's practiced and
memorized. One-on-one, when he's not guarded, he mumbles, he says
incoherent things, he introduces [MCSO flack] Paul Chagolla to me five
times in the space of 15 minutes."MCSO
investigators interrogated Bermudez in June about the alleged plot, but
Bermudez didn't learn 'til recently that the Sheriff's Office finally
had it figured for a crock.
That's why, when The Bird chatted with Bermudez in August about the
hubbub over that pic he circulated of Arpaio in Ku Klux Klan garb,
Bermudez said he believed he was going to be arrested…”
Seriously,
this isn’t the first time Arpaio has done the assissination thing,
keeping disabled and disturbed kid in jail for 4 years, even ignoring
the man’s request for an attorney. So,
this is nothing new. Inquiring minds in Phoenix and Maricopa are
asking if Sheriff Joe is losing it, or is this more of the same old
same old? Our new favorite liberal site The Feathered Bastard, has all the juicy details.
“…I’m
not knocking the grunts. I reckon they were just doing their jobs,
especially since the higher-ups so desperately wanted to believe this
javelina hockey. See, Elias Bermudez was supposed to be the go-between
in the caper, brokering a $3 million contract on Arpaio’s life, with
the Minutemen ponying up the dolo and the Meraz drug-running org using
a hit squad hired from the infamous (and some say mythical) Los Zetas
paramilitary group. Um, I think the first indication that this tale was
a big ol’ pantload would be Bermudez and the Minutemen holding hands….
…$330
is certainly a pittance in comparison to the $500K the MCSO reportedly
spent on the investigation. But that only adds insult to injury: MCSO
bigwigs fell for a penny-ante grifter’s verbal three-card Monte, and
they’re STILL falling for it. Chief Black, head of Arpaio’s special
ops, told the Rep, “We’re still investigating. We still don’t believe
it’s over…We still continue to believe the threat is out there.”
To
quote the Geico caveman, “What!?” In the MCSO report, the CI tells
them, at one point, that he’s been offered $10,000 by the drug
smugglers for his role as a translator, but refused receipt of the
payment. Then he turns right around and asks his MCSO handlers for
$100. Didn’t this make anyone a tad suspicious? What was the CI’s
motivation in all this? He doesn’t want to get paid $10K, but he needs
$100 for expenses? Puh-lease!... Joe’s “Selective Enforcement Unit,”
which seems like Joe’s personal Praetorian Guard, is suckered in by
these James Bond-ish daydreams where hit squads are studying shaky
surveillance video of Arpaio and divvying up their not-so-incognito
attire, like Jordache shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, Nike tennis shoes, etc.
The MCSO even does its research of the Los Zetas crime group on
Wikipedia! Wow. Now that’s really sad, people. Some of their other
info. on Los Zetas comes from the uber-right moonbatt site
WorldNetDaily; conservative fruitcake William Gheen’s ALIPAC site; and
wacko wing-nut Alex Jones’ PrisonPlanet.com. That’s right, you can rest
easy at night knowing that the MCSO gets info. from a man who believes
9/11 was an inside job and that world leaders worship Satan up in
Bohemian Grove. (That would be Jones, mind you.)
The
MCSO comes off as a deeply paranoid and delusional organization. As
well as just plain dangerous. It didn’t take much for them to try to
tie in Elias Bermudez into this “conspiracy to commit murder”
investigation. They even have a copy of that Arpaio-as-Klansman pic
Bermudez sent around a couple of months back. (See, "Grand Wizard
Arpaio," August 23, 2007). They definitely wanted to take him down.
You’d think the informant’s canards linking Bermudez to nativist
Minutemen would have caused an arched eyebrow, or two. But no. And
that’s where you come off believing that these Rosco P. Coletranes are
more menace than comedians. Like Reno 911 or Super Troopers, but with
the power to waste big taxpayer bucks and chase chimeras while real
criminals get away with murder. Be afraid, people. Be very afraid….”
Now
for the serious commentary on the subject: Seems like the Maricopa Co
Sheriff’s Office spent a half million dollars during the past 6 months
to protect Arpaio Chris Simcox and an immigration rights activist. Yep, you read this correct.
“The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spent an estimated $500,000 during the past six months protecting
Joe Arpaio from an assassination that supposedly was designed to cause
a furor in the United States over illegal immigration.The
convoluted plot, reported to police by a paid informant, purportedly
involved members of the Minutemen border group hiring a hit squad from
a Mexican drug cartel and using an outspoken immigrant-rights advocate
as their intermediary. Sheriff's
officials now acknowledge that virtually none of the information
supplied by the source panned out. According to the informant, Mexican
nationals were to be blamed for the killing, which was to be carried
out by members of Los Zetas, an enforcement arm of the smuggling
organizations comprised mostly of former Mexican police and soldiers.
The informant, claiming to be a translator for cartel leaders, said he witnessed a down payment of $1.5 million for the slaying.
In all, 88 employees have played a role in the investigation since it
began in mid-March. The Sheriff's Office racked up about 16,720 hours
of work on the case, plus nearly $82,000 in credit-card bills for gas,
meals, airfare and motel rooms, including those for Sheriff Arpaio. Detectives
staked out border crossings, hid Arpaio in hotel rooms and chased leads
from Connecticut to the Arizona-Mexico border. People
identified by the informant said they had never heard of the plot. The
president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps was incredulous at the
idea his group would have been involved….
…According
to the informant, two Minutemen leaders met with the administrator for
a Mexican narcotics ring. The informant told sheriff's deputies that
the Minutemen wanted Arpaio killed to "rally more support for their
cause, which is to secure the U.S.-Mexican border and stop illegal
immigration." They
purportedly agreed on a price of $3 million in cash, with an advance
payment of $1.5 million. The informant said Elias Bermudez, a Phoenix
immigrant-rights advocate and talk-radio host, served as an
intermediary in the plot. Bermudez said he never heard of the plot
until he was contacted by investigators…."It's pure fabrication,"
Bermudez said. "I told them I had no reason to have the demise of the
sheriff. . . . The idea of me and the Minutemen trying to hire someone
to do this is outlandish."
Chris
Simcox, president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, expressed
bewilderment when told of the informant's story. "Wow, that's quite a
rich plot," he said. "Look, Joe Arpaio is like a hero to us as
Minutemen. Why would we want to go against the toughest sheriff in the
country?"…”
HE HAS SERIOUS OPPOSITION, TOO
“...Today, Daniels
has been forced to live in a hospital cell in complete isolation. His
only visitors are medical staff. Sheriff's deputies have taken away his
television, his radio, his phone and his computer. He's under 24-hour
surveillance. The light in his room is never turned off, even at night.
His only contact with the outside world is a pay phone….”
The
punch line? Well, it seems as though Robert Daniels’ was
misdiagnosed. Had Sheriff Joe allowed the man to receive normal
medical attention and humane treatment, this would have been avoided.
The problem is the Constitution doesn’t matter to Sheriff Joe. Neither
does humane treatment of prisoners. This isn't a conservative issue or
a liberal issue. It is an issue about competency and outright human
decency. If Arpaio did not know how badly this man was being treated,
then he should start cleaning house and get rid of the people who were
responsible for this abject disaster.
I
love it when Joe Arapio looks bad. Sorry, but that’s my opinion. This
time he’s literally lost a high profile inmate, Robert Daniels, who
absconded to Russia to get away from the long arm of the High Sheriff
and get treatment for TB. Or – another mis-diagnosed case? The more
you think about this case the worse it looks. What Arpaio allowed to
be done to this man either through abject incompetence or complete lack
of concern is deplorable and should be considered actionable.
Blogger News Network
“…Robert
Daniels the 27, year old tuberculosis patient held for months in a room
draped to block out the sun and denied appropriate treatment by sheriff
Joe Arpaio. Untill mounting National media pressure forced county
health officials to allow travel for medical treatment in Colorado has
fled to Russia, unable to “take the abuse” any more, his lawyer
reported.
Declared
by Maricopa county Arizona health officials to be suffering from a
deadly drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis Sheriff Arpaio placed him
in solitary confinement in a Maricopa county jail ward in August 2006…Daniels
who faced becoming one of many in a long list of inmates who die while
in the Sheriff’s custody. Avoided a lingering death when the national
media attention focused on an Atlanta lawyer suffering a similar
condition….Fearing
the potential of losing another multimillion dollar lawsuit related to
the sheriffs ongoing pattern of human rights violations. The county
over the sheriffs objection permitted Daniels to travel under armed
guard to Colorado for medical treatment.
The Sheriff in interviews after ward expressed the attitude that
somehow Daniels was responsible for the negative national publicity and
vowed to find a reason to place the Russian born American back in his
jail.
…
It is also reliably reported by Doctors in Colorado who treated Daniels
that Arizona county medical authorities misdiagnosed Daniels to begin
with and he in fact did not suffer from the deadly type of T.B which
the sheriff claimed justified his solitary confinement.
Had the sheriff simply allowed medical staff at the county hospital to
give Daniels appropriate medical care he might still have both lungs….”
From the AZ Central
“…"Robert
is helpless," she said. "And he's at the mercy of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
He needs as much support as possible, and the ACLU is supplying that
support."
Arpaio said Daniels must abide by security measures. "I run a safe
jail, and he's going to be treated like anyone else," he said.
Daniels, who holds dual United States and Russian citizenship, moved to
Arizona in January 2006 after contracting extreme multi-drug-resistant
(XDR) TB. Daniels,
who spent his teen years in Scottsdale, said he returned to the U.S. in
search of work and a college education. Months later, he became
severely ill and was placed in a county sanitarium for indigent TB
patients.
Dr. Maricela Moffitt, a county physician, has testified that Daniels
willfully failed to take his medications, decreasing the likelihood
that last-chance drugs would cure his deadly disease. Moreover, Moffitt
said, Daniels endangered others by going out in public and entertaining
visitors without wearing a mask. Arpaio said his office is reviewing possible criminal charges against Daniels.
Daniels has insisted that he did not understand the contagiousness or
gravity of his condition, in part because TB patients in Russia do not
wear masks. Daniels also has said he missed taking medications a few
times because he overslept, not intentionally.
In August, a Maricopa County Superior Court commissioner ordered
Daniels placed under involuntary quarantine. The jail ward at Maricopa
Medical Center is considered the only Valley facility equipped for such
confinement. According to court records, Daniels has spent much of his time in custody without a phone, TV, radio, shower or hot water. Earlier
this week, Daniels said he was told that his TB bacteria may be
developing resistance to all antibiotics, and a portion of his lungs
might require surgical removal. He said he was advised to write letters
to his child in Moscow so the boy would have communication before his
father's death.
Cosme described Daniels as extremely depressed and fragile due to
isolation and stress. She said the ACLU will soon file motions seeking
an expedited hearing and an injunction to immediately improve Daniels'
treatment….”
Unacceptable treatment.
Democracy Now
“…FORMER
MARICOPA COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER WORKER: He says he cries a lot, says
he's very depressed. You have to understand that he is in what, for all
practical purposes, is in solitary confinement. He is in a room in the
hospital that, number one, has no hot water, has no privacy, has no
natural lights. The windows are blocked.
He has no visitation. He can make calls, but who can afford to accept
their collect calls? At 4:00, they turn the telephone on. He doesn't
really have magazines. If he does, it's rare. He doesn't have TV. He
does not have a radio. So all he has is the quietness of the room and
then the nurses coming in when they bring him his medicine.
He cannot take a shower. There are no showers right now. There are no
showers on the floor. But he has not had a shower since January. So he
gets nothing for personal hygiene other than a basin of water and some,
you know, washcloths. So he's unable to shampoo his hair, because the
faucet in a detention unit is very small, and, of course, with no warm
water in there, he can't shampoo anyway….”
NOTE:
I don’t like Joe Arapio. I think he is an incompetent bully. That
said, I am going to try an attempt to be ‘fair and balanced. I think
the best way, once I get into his re-election campaign, is to turn it
over to the Sonoran Alliance and let them defend him. Red State Arizona
The
Feathered Bastard, rapidly becoming one of our favorite liberal spots,
loves to take on Sheriff Joe. Don Saban has recently announced he will
be running against Sheriff Joe this year. The Feathered Bastard has a juicy interview with Rick Romley about Saban, the last election, and more failings of Sheriff Joe.
“…Is Arpaio bad for public safety?
I
don’t think he’s the right person for the sheriff’s office. I’ve had my
personal disagreements with him. Well, "professional disagreements" is
a better term. The [Scott] Norberg case and so forth. I think it would
serve our community very well for there to be a change in office.Note: Norberg was an MCSO inmate who died in custody. His family sued and eventually scored an $8.25 million settlement.] Was the way Saban was trashed in ’04 by Arpaio’s side a factor in your endorsement?
Quite honestly, I was aware of it. I didn’t know the intimate details.
Being trashed though is just one of the considerations I put into my
decision-making process. I’ve seen quite a bit of that out of the
sheriff’s office in the past. Whenever there’s an opponent against Joe
Arpaio, Joe gets mad. Joe Arpaio’s very angry and if you look at all
his press conferences and releases, he’s mad anytime anybody says
something [about him]. He’s taken it out personally, whether it was the
Norberg family where they lost a son, calling him a drug addict, almost
like he deserved to die. He seemed to me to be very cavalier about it.
And there are other times where that occurred. Although it was a
factor, it wasn’t a primary factor….”
ARAPIO = THE COWARD OF THE COUNTY?“The
Bird” a muckraking columnist in Phoenix has found some interesting
connections between Joe Arapo, a man I consider one of the most evil,
vile in the country and Rusty Childress. It isn’t much, but I’ve
learned after researching the white supremacist anti-immigration ties
of these people, is the fact that where there’s smoke, there’s either
marijuana or fire. (did you hear the one about his drug lab sting)tThe Phoenix New Times “…That's
a mild comment considering Arpaio's recent anti-Hispanic activities,
like the racist MCSO "hotline" that's been set up for reporting illegal
immigrants. Also, Arpaio continues to collar the undocumented for the
crime of "conspiring" to smuggle themselves into the country. And Joe's
promised to pop any illegals who have the temerity to show up to visit
loved ones locked in his gulags.
Heretofore,
this tweeter's just figured Joe for a cruel, power-mad asshole. But
more and more, he's been pandering to the nativist crowd, including a
recent appearance at one of the regular Thursday-night prejudice
powwows at Rusty Childress' Kia dealership, wherein members of United
for a Sovereign America do everything but don white robes, burn
crosses, and, uh, you know, lynch some beaners.
Oddly,
at the Childress meeting Arpaio attended, Joe mentioned that he felt
some compassion for illegals, but this sentiment garnered scorn from
the Childress chowderheads, as was reported previously in The Bird
("Arpaio, Compassionate?," August 16). Deep down, Arpaio's an
equal-opportunity sadist, but his doings of late have nudged him over
to bigot Russell Pearce's camp….”
THE
BIRD reports that Arpaio has a vendetta history of trying to ‘get’
anyone who goes against him. Recently someone photo-shopped a photo of
Arpaio in KKK garb. His majesty was not amused.
“…Bermudez
confessed that he's afraid Joe's thugs will soon arrest him on
trumped-up charges, perhaps unrelated to the Klan pic, and that he has
hired an attorney in case this occurs.
"My
information is that for some reason or other, the sheriff feels that I
might be part of a conspiracy to take his life," he said.
As
wild as it sounds, it would not be the first time Apraio's pulled such
a stunt. Anyone remember James Saville, the poor schmuck whom reporter
John Dougherty wrote about in New Times ("The Plot to Assassinate
Arpaio," August 5, 1999)? The sheriff's office unsuccessfully attempted
to entrap an 18-year-old parolee in a fake bomb plot. Four years later,
a jury acquitted Saville, who turned down a plea deal while waiting for
his day in court.
And
Saville was a guy who'd never done anything to incur Joe's wrath,
unlike Bermudez. The whole thing's beginning to smell like a ploy to
conveniently hobble one of the Sheriff's most persistent critics.
V FOR VENDETTA
The
Bird feels for Bermudez because there but for the grace of that great
winged deity in the sky goes this ink-slingin' egret. Recently, as
regular readers of The Bird's bloggin' buddy, Feathered Bastard, know,
Arpaio flack Paul Chagolla insinuated that this jocular jaybird may be
jailed should he ever stop by in person to pick up copies of requested
public docs….”
Arpaio
is the darling of the conservative news and of FOX, where his
heavy-handed and unethical if not downright illegal ploys are ignored.
If news agencies profile him to his disadvantage or expose the many
problems with the MCSO he threatens them. He has had reporters
arrested. No tactic is too petty or over-the-top. And, he keeps on getting away with it. “…Arresting
a journo doin' his job sounds insane. But so does the number Joe's
machine pulled on once and future sheriff's candidate Dan Saban,
detailed in New Times scribe Paul Rubin's cover story ("Boob's Tube,"
January 25, 2007). Saban was seen as a viable threat to Arpaio during
the 2004 Republican primary, so Arpaio and his henchmen, such as
three-ton boot-licker David Hendershott, tried to hang a screwy,
decades-old rape claim on Saban, currently Buckeye's police chief.
Saban's
lawsuit against Arpaio over the matter began in Superior Court on
August 20. Whichever way it goes, it should serve as proof of the
vindictiveness and meanness Arpaio and his cronies continue to display
toward anybody or any entity refusing to bow down to them.
The
sheriff's spitefulness was further highlighted with the determination
of the MCSO not to send press releases to the tiny West Valley View,
even after being bitch-slapped by two courts! Cost to the public
coffers? Oh, an estimated $100K.
Arpaio's
regime regularly forces Maricopa County's taxpayers to foot the legal
bill for unnecessary injuries and deaths that occur in its facilities,
sometimes to the tune of millions a pop. But the MCSO doesn't care,
even when the taxpayer's tab is a direct result of something really
pathetic, like removing a newspaper (the WVV) from its e-mail list….”
“…While
the incidents listed above are bad enough, they don't get at the more
serious problems during Arpaio's 12-year reign. Inmates continue to be
killed and maimed in Arpaio's county dungeons, ranked as among the
worst in the world by Amnesty International. About 9,000 people are
stuffed into the county's jails, which were built to hold a maximum of
5,000 inmates.
Increasingly
paranoid, Arpaio routinely uses his police powers to illegally
investigate political opponents and silence any employee and, in some
cases, any private citizen, who dares to criticize his office.
At
the same time, Arpaio refuses to comply with Arizona's public records
law, flagrantly ignoring my requests for routine records concerning the
financial operations of the jail. My demand for the financial documents
relating to the jail commissary comes on the heels of my discovery that
Arpaio has invested an inordinately large amount of cash ($800,000) in
three commercial real estate ventures. His spokeswoman insists that
nothing is amiss here, but Arpaio refuses to divulge the details of
these transactions….”
His
goon squad burned down a house as they went to serve warrants on people
who were, granted, criminals. But the warrants were for minor crimes.
You don’t burn down a house for that reason.
“…"They
shot the dog in the face with a fire extinguisher when he tried to come
out of the fire," says Trisha Golden, Gabrial's younger sister, who
helped raise the dog and was outside the burning home calling for it to
come out. She did not live at the house, but hung out there frequently,
she says. She heard about the fire and came immediately. "He turned and
ran back into the master bedroom and burned [to death]."
Delfino
says he asked one of the SWAT officers what happened to Dre and was
told that the dog had been "neutralized" with the fire extinguisher. He
asked the officer if the dog had attacked anybody, and the cop said no.
As
smoke filled the house and Kush's efforts to save the dog failed, he
finally fled from the burning home and was immediately thrown to the
ground and his hands and feet were cuffed by four SWAT officers.
Meanwhile, Trisha Golden continued frantically to call for Dre to flee the house.
"We were like screaming for Dre, and [a deputy] turned around and said, `Why don't you shut the fuck up?!'" Trisha Golden says.
I
couldn't reach Eric Kush or Gabrial Golden for comment. But Kush, a
biking and skateboarding enthusiast, told KTVK-TV Channel 3 that
sheriff's deputies thought it was hilarious that his dog had burned to
death in the fire.
"As
they're hog-tying me, they have the nerve and the audacity to laugh at
me and say, `Did you hear that dog screaming upstairs?'" Kush told
Channel 3. "I don't know how they have the audacity and the heart to
say something like that."
Eric
Kush is not an intimidating fellow. He's about five-feet-six-inches
tall and weighs about 125 pounds. There was no indication he had taken
anybody hostage or was endangering the neighborhood.
In fact, neighbors say he is a friendly and easygoing guy. His only legal blemish was the outstanding misdemeanor warrant.
If
MCSO truly believed they were facing a madman armed to the teeth with
armor-piercing bullets that would cut through the flimsy chicken-wire
and stucco walls of homes in the neighborhood, they didn't have the
sense to alert neighbors to get the hell out of Dodge….”
Arpaio
did not have jurisdiction over the region where they unleashed the
flames of hell. It was a City matter. And, Arpaio did not have the
decency to even contact the police to give them a head’s up.
“…As fire spread throughout the house and engulfed the dog, the SWAT team soon had another crisis erupt.
The
armored personnel carrier was pulled back from the house as the fire
raged. But a deputy apparently failed to set the brakes on the heavy
vehicle and it began rolling down a hill and smashed into a parked car.
The
combat vehicle caused at least $4,000 damage to Julie Madrigal's car.
The 44-year-old mother and her 9-year-old daughter had already been
terrified by the tear gas assault as they fled from their car and ran
into their house. At least Madrigal and her daughter weren't in the
path of the carrier as it careened down the hill.
"I
heard three shots as we were running in," Madrigal says. "I thought,
`Oh my God. They are shooting at us.' I didn't know what was going on."
Madrigal
says she watched the house burst into flames and moments later was
shocked to see the "tank" roll down the road toward her car….”
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