Looking at Seattle’s dailies from across the continent, I’m not really sure what’s in the news today.
It was windy! Or maybe it wasn’t. The Seattle P-I says 280,000 were left without power yesterday, but the Seattle Times says “tens of thousands.” I guess, mathematically, they both could be right. Also, one man was killed kite-surfing in 40 mile-per-hour winds. I’m sure somewhere else in the world a man was killed yesterday sticking a fork in a toaster, but I don’t see any headlines about that.
The War on Christmas seems to come earlier every year. Damn commercialism. Anyway, looks like those pussies at the Port of Seattle have decided to opt out of the annual multicultural debate by clear-cutting their Christmas trees and replacing them with a monoculture of snow dusted birch. Nothing like going out of your way to make all sides unhappy.
“I find the whole thing stupid,” attorney Harvey Grad told the Times. I agree.
Meanwhile, the state has announced it will add a nativity scene to the “Holiday Tree” and Chanukah menorah in the Capitol rotunda. I’m so confused.
Forgive and forget? Seattle City Council candidate Venus Velazquez asks voters to forgive her for her DUI:
“I guess all I can say right now is I hope and believe that voters will see this as a human mistake,” Velazquez said. “At some point you make a judgment call and, clearly, I made the wrong one because — legally — I was impaired. My own judgment of myself not being impaired didn’t match up with the legal definition.”
[…] “It’s for the voters to decide whether this mistake is enough to disqualify me from serving them,” Velazquez said. “So many times, in these situations, we’ve said, ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’ “
Will accepts her apology. Joel thinks voters should judge candidates on their ability to serve in office, not their ability to drive. I think she’s finally struck the exact right tone, but it may be a day too late to save her campaign. We’ll see.
Meanwhile, it looks like the state’s leading Republicans would likely accept Velazquez’s apology, what with Rep. Dave Reichert, Attorney General Rob McKenna, and non-candidate Dino Rossi all endorsing Jane Hague, months after her drunken swear-fest with the state patrol.
“Jane Hague… Leadership that works.” You know, when it’s not drinking. And driving.
Rossi also had some run-ins with alcohol. When he was 18, he and a friend got drunk on a bottle of vodka and then, with Rossi behind the wheel, crashed his Pontiac into a house and totaled the car. No one was injured, but Rossi was charged with drunken driving and underage drinking. The charge was later reduced and, instead of jail time, he had to go to a class and pay a fine.
“It’s one of those things that happens when you’re 18 and you know everything there is in the world to know,” Rossi said.
Yup, it’s just one of those things that happens when you know everything there is in the world to know.
Also in re the early appearance of the War on Christmas:
http://effinunsound.com/?p=527
I hope your left-wing nuts give Bush the same option that you are giving this young(maybe)women. Naw; you enjoy your hate to much to give him a pass on anything. Yep; two different standards depending on what party you belong to or support. Hypocrites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Velasquez case is another example of the shining legacy of ‘non-partisan’ leadership of Dan Satterberg, et al.
Velaquez wisely took up the leadership example of Republican Jane Hague and refused to take a blood alcohol test (which, if her statements are TRUE, she most likely would have passed).
Please excuse me for this hyperbole, but it does now appear that Velasquez seems to have passed another, more important, test, and is qualified to join the white women’s professional association of King County, public division.
Just what will Seattle, and Bellevue, voters be saying about their neighborhoods in November? Inquiring minds want to know…
BTW, anyone notice that Bill Gates, SR, gave $2,000 to Obama?
Now, that’s funny.
Venus Velasquez is not fit to take a leadership role. SHe’s had 11 other citations from the SPD and had all of the tickets “magically waived” which reeks of priviledge.
I’ve met VV on two occasions and I’m completely unimpressed. She’s snippy, arrogant and her personality edges on narcissism. So, after 11 citiations for “driving issues” she hauls off and ties one on with a staffer?
All around, poor judgment is what I’m picking up with regard to Ms. Velasquez and frankly, we need leaders who excercise poor judgement like we need a hole in the head.
I’m a democrat and honestly, Bruce Harrell would be a fine councilman (and no I don’t work for Bruce). Sorry, but she’s lost my vote and I’ve asked for my initial campaign contribution to her to be returned.
@2
Wait a second, so starting a war that gets hundreds of thousands of people killed and displaces millions from their homes, while strengthened rogue regimes and terror organizations is the equivalent of driving home after Happy Hour?
Get your head checked out.
What does that mean? Seriously, what the *heck* is he talking about?
@6: It means, “once a smartass, always a smartass.”
On Velasquez,
I don’t know if I could accept her apology. Because if what was described in the police report was true (speeding and weaving initially, then VV apparently taking a breath mint after her initial contact with the officer), then her story about “two drinks with dinner” and then waiting an hour or so afterwards before driving just doesn’t sound credible to me. If she really had only two glasses of wine with a meal, why the breath mint? It makes no sense to try to cover up your drinking that way in any case, but especially under the circumstances she attests to.
She has also commented “maybe I’m not the best driver in the world.” If by that she means that she regularly does 50 in a 30 zone and is unable to stay in her own lane, then perhaps she just should give up driving, after wine or not, for the safety of everyone.
But as apologies go, it was at least better than James’ Watson’s non-apology for his racist remarks, so I’ll give her that.
According to some of his Woodway High classmates, Rossi was a bit of a hippie in High School. Maybe this was the incident that caused him to flip over and join the Reagan Revolution.
I get the impression that a lot of Boomers became Born Again Christian conservatives, not out of a real change of philosophy, but because they hated who they were during the Viet Nam era. Perhapse Rossi is just a victim of the times?
Ben Stein abandons the alternative reality of the Publican World.
The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney: Ben Stein, Al Franken Senate Run, Liberal Talk Radio: “SP: I was recently reviewing Al Franken’s FEC filing for donations and expenditures. I must say I was a little surprised to find what I believe to be your name on the contributors list (if he was paying you, I’d applaud it). I’m a great admirer of your work from the American Spectator and the other media commentary you’ve provided over the years. But I always thought you were reasonably conservative in your orientation. So why in the world do you want to stick up poor Minnesotans (and the rest of the country) with a comedian who fancies himself a second coming of secular St. Wellstone? He’s going to be about as far left as one can be in polite company in this country. If you’re friends with the guy, I understand the motivation. But actions like these have consequences. Can’t you just shake his hand extra friendly-like at the next cocktail party and leave it at that?
BS: Al is a close friend and one of the smartest people I have ever met.”
Nuf said!
Goldy,
I did plenty of stuff in my late teens and early 20’s that were stupid and I bet you did too. Lets not judge Dino for something he did a long time ago. Let’s judge him for all the stupid things he’s done recently.
@11
I don’t think Rossi is old enough to have done anything during the Vietnam war era to feel embarrassed about, thus flipping parties later. He was likely in grade and middle school during the war. Not that I like him though.
“For 20 years Jane Hague has brought our values to government.” (from Hague campaign ad reproduced above)
How can you improve on that? Best blurb a Democrat ever wrote for a Republican candidate! (Or, did a self-destructive Republican write it?)
In further news from the front lines of the War Against Religious Nonconformity, a federal panel has recommended that a Saudi-funded D.C.-area Islamic religious school should be closed “until the State Department can ensure its textbooks don’t teach religious intolerance.”
According to USA Today, “The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom singled out the Saudi-supported Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Northern Virginia in a broader report that accused Saudi Arabia of promoting Muslim extremism and religious intolerance six years after the Sept. 11 attacks. ”
Well, okay, so far so good … until you start to take a closer look at what “information” this panel is basing its conclusions on — and who the panel is.
I. The “Evidence” Against the Saudi School
The USA Today article goes on,
“The commission report did not make specific criticisms of the school’s curriculum. Commission deputy director Tad Stahnke said the panel wrote to Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir, who is chairman of the academy’s board of directors, asking to see the school’s textbooks but got no answer. Stahnke said the commission did not try to contact ISA staff.
“Commissioner Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said he knew enough about ISA’s textbooks to be ‘very disturbed that this is going on within eyesight of the capital.’
“The report relies heavily on a 2006 analysis of Saudi textbooks that found inflammatory passages against Christians, Jews and Shiite Muslims. …
“Nail al-Jubeir, an embassy spokesman, said textbooks have been revised and that commissioners never visited the school to see them. He said ISA ‘does not teach intolerance,’ adding, ‘We have nothing to hide. We’ve told anyone who wants to take a look at them that they are welcome to do so.’ …
“Kim Bullock, a convert to Islam whose four children attend ISA, said … the teaching staff includes non-Muslims and that she’s detected no extremism in the curriculum. ‘They teach character, peace,’ she said. ‘Jihad is not taught.'”
Quoted under fair use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://news.aol.com/story/_a/c.....0000000001
Hmmm. Kind of looks like the government commission is jumping to conclusions based on hearsay, generalizations, and assumptions — and has no fucking idea what the school in question actually teaches.
II. What the Commission Is
According to Wikipedia,
” The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is a US government agency created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and the Congress. It is based in Washington, DC. The USCIRF makes recommendations to the US Department of State as to which countries it believes should be designated as a Country of Particular Concern for violations of religious freedom. The Secretary of State does not always follow the USCIRF recommendations.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.....us_Freedom
Hmmm. Looks to me like these guys don’t have any jurisdiction over schools in the UNITED STATES. Maybe the reason for that is because the U.S. Constitution doesn’t allow the government to regulate, or interfere with, private religious practices within the U.S. — ya think???
III. Who the Commissioners Are
If you dig a bit into the backgrounds of the Commission members, this is what you find:
“Richard D. Land … is the president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), the public policy entity of the Southern Baptist Convention …. He was the primary author of the Land letter, an open letter sent to President George W. Bush by leaders of the religious right in October 2002 which outlined a ‘just war’ argument in support of the subsequent military invasion of Iraq. In 2001, President Bush appointed Land to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a federal agency, where he continues to serve. … An article in Rolling Stone on Christian evangelicals trying to remake America in their own image described Land as Dominionists’ ‘direct line to the White House.’ Dr. Land is associated with the conservative right, and often speaks for the conservative position on news reports and as a guest on radio talkshows.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Land
Although not identified in the USA Today article, the commission’s chair is Michael Cromartie, who was appointed by Bush in July 2007, and is described by the Dallas News as,
” … Vice President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he directs the Evangelicals in Civic Life program and the Media and Religion program. Cromartie, who has served previously as Chair and Vice Chair of the Commission, is also a Senior Advisor to The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and a Senior Fellow with The Trinity Forum. President George W. Bush appointed him to the Commission.”
Quoted under fair use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://religion.beloblog.com/a.....ion_e.html
Hmmm. What we have here is a government body run by Bush appointees who are politically active hard-right evangelicals … guess how much religious tolerance there is on that panel? I’m just sayin’ …
Looks like a rush to judgment to me — the kind you expect from ignorant, know-nothing, self-righteous witch-hunters.
@4 “BTW, anyone notice that Bill Gates, SR, gave $2,000 to Obama? Now, that’s funny.”
You’re just now learning that Gates Sr. is NOT a Republican? This has been common knowledge among educated folks for many years.
I’m going to beg to differ. If a County Council member is hammered on the job, what’s the worst they can do? Get the specs wrong on yet another remodel of the courthouse?
POTUS has access 24×7 to that lovely little button he can press and turn two-thirds of humanity into radioactive vapor. Seems prudent to hold the dude to a pretty high standard.
Geov,
I don’t know if these roundups are to include national events not in the local news as well, if so you really should start paying attention to whats going on in the Senate in regards to the FISA bill.
The House version was not going to grant immunity for transgressions past where Verizon, AT&T and other major telcoms gave personal information over to the Bush Administration without warrants in exchange for lucrative federal contracts. The one major telcom that refused, Qwest, was vindictively punished by the Bush Administration including the fraudlent indictment of insider trading that sentenced the CEO to 6 years. His case is currently in appeal and is looking like it will be overturned due to a complete lack of a case, similar to what happened in Minnesota.
In the Senate, Harry Reid is ignoring a hold request by Dodd and is promising to send to the floor a FISA bill that grants immunity to the telcoms for any violations regarding Privacy laws. Dodd and Obama are the only Presidential candidates to speak out in opposition and Dodd has vowed to filibuster the bill when it hits the floor. Considering Obama’s statements, I would not be surprised if Obama aids Dodd in maintaining the filibuster.
The truly and incredibly malefic nature of the immunity granted is the fact that the Bush Administration made these demands upon the telcoms prior to 9/11. They demanded and recieved telephone records from the telcoms 6 months prior to 9/11, when the Bush Administration was stubbornly oblivious to the danger terrorists were to the United States. To this day, they have ordered the telcoms to not turn over to Congress (even in a closed session) information on what the Bush Administration looked at and are stonewalling any inquiry by Congress.
@11 I wasn’t a hippie, but I can tell you that communal living sucks! Just imagine yourself sharing a 4-inch by 4-inch tunnel with a female rabbit and a dozen baby bunnies …
@14 Rossi, born in ’59, was 13 years old when the U.S. exitd from Vietnam in 1972. I doubt he understood what was going on in the ’60s.
@19 I agree that immunity provision is a sleeper issue. The media are downplaying it, but this ought to receive wider attention than it has, because:
1) These spying activities are unconstitutional and illegal, a fundamental invasion of our rights and a violation of federal laws in place;
2) Bush instigated unconstitutional, illegal, and secret domestic spying against American citizens before he had any interest in investigating or combatting terrorism, making this look like a hunt for political “enemies” of the same sort that got Nixon bounced from the White House;
3) The function of immunity clauses written into statutes is to protect tortfeasors from otherwise tenable lawsuits.
What this legislation would do is put the congressional seal of approval on illegal and tortious conduct … Democrats should have nothing to do with this bill. And, since they’re in the majority, this legislation OUGHT to go down in flames. If it doesn’t, there’s something seriously wrong WITHIN the Democratic Party that we need to attend to forthwith.
Press Persecution Is Alive And Well In Arizona
“Execs of Phoenix alternative paper arrested for reporting grand jury subpoenas
“By The Associated Press
“MESA, Ariz. — The leaders of an alternative newspaper chain were arrested after running a story about grand jury subpoenas they received seeking reporters’ notes and information on who visits their Phoenix weekly’s Web site.
“Michael Lacey, executive editor of Village Voice Media, and Jim Larkin, CEO of the Phoenix-based chain, were arrested at their homes Thursday, the same day their story was published in the Phoenix New Times, a free, weekly alternative paper.
“Capt. Paul Chagolla, a sheriff’s spokesman, said Lacey and Larkin were arrested on suspicion of violating grand jury secrecy and that the arrests came at the requests of the prosecutor. …
“The story, titled ‘Breathtaking Abuse of the Constitution,’ said Maricopa County authorities want every story New Times has written about Sheriff Joe Arpaio since Jan. 1, 2004, and all the notes, tapes and records of the reporters.
“The subpoenas also seek online profiles of anyone who read four specific articles about Arpaio and profiles of anyone who visited the paper’s Web site since Jan. 1, 2004. Also sought was information on what Web users did while on the site, the story said.
“Lacey told the East Valley Tribune that the New Times was fighting to quash the subpoenas, filed Aug. 24. ‘It is just without precedent,’ Lacey said. ‘This isn’t us overreacting.’ …
“Arpaio, a Republican first elected sheriff in 1992, calls himself ‘America’s toughest sheriff’ and has attracted nationwide publicity for steps such as requiring jail inmates to wear pink underwear and housing them in tents without air conditioning. Arpaio said he was not allowed to comment on the case, adding, ‘You do know that I’m a victim in this whole thing.'”
Quoted under fair use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....sts19.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: This is incredible … and incredibly unconstitutional. You expect to read about things like this in Stalinist Russia or Hitlerite Germany … and in Wingnut America, too, it seems.
@23 I’ll re-quote this part because it deserves emphasis:
“The subpoenas also seek online profiles of anyone who read four specific articles about Arpaio and profiles of anyone who visited the paper’s Web site since Jan. 1, 2004. Also sought was information on what Web users did while on the site, the story said.”
This is prosecutorial overreach that, in my opinion, merits voter recall of the prosecutor. This prosecutor is a thug. Hopefully, Arizona has judges sensible enough to quash this totalitarian abuse of authority. I can’t imagine that any legislature, even a Republican one, ever gave any prosecutor or grand jury in America the power to investigate people for READING A WEB SITE.
I have to take a break now … some guys from Homeland Security are at my door wanting to question me about a reputedly subsersive Seattle political blog … I’m going to tell them I don’t know Stefan and don’t read his shitty little jihad blog.
erratum
subversive
Stock Market Plunges Over 350 Points Today
Looks like the Bush Economy is imploding.
http://hlrp.blogspot.com/2007/.....t-wmd.html
Here’s a video of Bush joking about WMD. I think the fact that he never had the opportunity to grieve for his little sister has warped his personality.
This is what the fuss is all about: http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7215847
“Stark, who’s in his 18th term representing the liberal East Bay near San Francisco, took to the floor to accuse Republicans of funding the Iraq war but not children’s health.
“You don’t have money to fund the war or children,” Stark declared. “But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.”
The Boner called for Stark to apologize for the remark, but Stark stands by it. Little bit of backbone for a change.
All hail Pete Stark. What is wrong with Republicans that makes them so sensitive to words? The thin-skinned pansies have taken political correctness to a new level. I would have thrown in that people are dying in Iraq for the amusement of not just Bush, but all in his administration who support the war.
Goldy,
Dredging up a 30 year old Rossi stories to distract from your drunk driving, women rapaing and choking local left wing politicians would be ironic if it weren’t so transparent.
Ooooh, Jane Hague drove drunk. So did the object of your lust who you are still voting for. And news flash asshole — she isn’t pleading guilty and she refused to take a breath test. Next I’m sure you’ll lecture us on how telling a cop to fuck off is so much worse…right? Except that you’re full of shit. You hate cops and all they stand for and applaud the granolas who populated the WTO conferece and spit on them.
Coupled with your speak no evil and see no evil approach to leftists choking and raping women you are a complete parady of yourself. The campaigns you associate yourself with most passionately end up as a stinking pile of crap.
David
There’s a big difference between Dino Rossi driving drunk 30 years ago and Venus Velazquez driving drunk Wed nite.
If Velazquz getting arrested Wed nite and having a speeding ticket 12? years ago is all she’s done, it’s not going to influence my vote.
However if #5 Liberal Dragon post about Velasquez’s having “11 other citations from the SPD and” having “all of the tickets ‘magically waived'”, is true, then I might have to reexamine the topic.
Rabbit has once again cluttered this topic with 11 gibberous posts
Also #30 has a valid point. If you want folks to vote D, you have to be consistent with both parties, otherwise you’re just a lackey like Rabbit
“You hate cops and all they stand for and applaud the granolas who populated the WTO conferece and spit on them.”
Man, these right wingers have become ultra frustrated!
Was horsesasshole trying to channel Dick Nixon there, or Spiro Agnew?
The party of the angry white middle aged white guys is devolving into a pathetic competition, in which each “movement conservative” is trying to out-bitter the other!
Just wait until next year!
asshole @ 30
You are really a piece of work. Republicans still, 38 years later, treat Chappaquiddick as fresh news. Of course, Whitewater was all about ancient history, and you fucks can’t quit talking about it even now. And, if you want to talk about inappropriate groping and drinking and whatever, well, your side has plenty of targets. More importantly, when did you suffer your head injury? Was it when your siblings used to toss you back and forth over the pavement? You have enough bitterness for 20 people. I’ll bet your mother took you to the pound when you were young and asked those good people to find a home for you.
#30 — I see your point. Is it similar to the way wingnuts refer to Ted Kennedy’s 30+ year old driving mishap?
#30 — “parady” There’s no way you can attribute pulling that spelling boner on accidentally hitting a key in proximity to the ‘o’.
You are a blithering nincompoop!
33 Fuhgeddaboutit, PL. The wingfucks’ falling back to chanting their ancient mantras is merely an indication of their increasing desperation.
In case someone didn’t figure it out, my comment about holding the president to a high standard was in response to klake’s nonsensical whine in #2.
The curious thing about the latest persecution of the New Times in Phoenix (and this is merely the latest in a pattern that goes back a long time), is that the “authorities” seem more worried about whoever read the articles in question online than they are about the thousands of readers of the paper edition.
@33 and 35
Yes you are SO right…my existence is meaningless if I don’t have the approval of the lonely, underemployed assholes that populate this site. Poor me. I will have to somehow pick up the pieces of my life and move on.
26 Look for the Fed to announce another “surprise” rate reduction first thing Monday (if not over the weekend). They’ll just drown the continuing decrease in actual wealth represented by the securities market in a sea of inflation.
asshole @ 39
Exactly–for once, you have gotten it right. Your life, indeed, is meaningless if you do not gain the approval of those who are more knowledgeable and insightful than you, in other words, liberals.
@31 “speak no evil and see no evil approach to [rightists]”
Correct one typo and you’re there.
@39 “The curious thing about the latest persecution of the New Times in Phoenix (and this is merely the latest in a pattern that goes back a long time), is that the ‘authorities’ seem more worried about whoever read the articles in question online than they are about the thousands of readers of the paper edition.”
I suppose the wingers’ Next Big Thing will be installing video cameras at newspaper boxes to see who’s buying the subversive material.
@39 (continued) Probably because it’s easier to track IP addresses than trying to figure out who reads the print edition of a free newspaper that has no subscription lists.
What this country needs is an amendment to the Civil Rights Act that awards liquidated damages of $10,000 to every internet user, newspaper reader, or magazine reader whose name is handed over to an official in response to a subpoena because the official doesn’t like what the web site or newspaper or magazine published about him.
Because such a subpoena is unconstitutional and an abuse of authority, its issuance is an illegal act “under color of law,” and the liability would be personal to the official misusing his office in this fashion, and not a responsibility of the government entity or taxpayers to pay.
So, if the good prosecutor of Gestapo County, Arizona, subpoenas 100,000 web addresses because he doesn’t like what the alternative newspaper said about Sheriff Pink Jumpsuits, he would owe … um … $1 billion. I say take it out of his pay, and go after his personal assets too.
Meanwhile, I think pink jumpsuits are a great idea! I’d like to see every Republican in the country wearing one.
Here’s the link to the New Times web site. I encourage all my of fellow Horse’s Asses to post comments! The sheriff of Fascist County, Arizona wants IP addresses, so let’s not disappoint him! If we all pull together, we can give him THOUSANDS of IP addys to investigate! That might keep him busy and out of other mischief for a while.
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/
P.S., I get the impression a lot of people down there are really pissed at this yahoo-with-a-cereal-box-badge.
@40 Your existence is unconditionally meaningless.
45 Don’t forget tapping phone calls, Roger. In fact…the most recent revelation that the phone companies co-conspired with the Bush administration on illegal spying on United States citizens before 9/11 is perhaps the most damning piece of evidence that the whole thing was a setup from the get-go.
It’s rather curious that AT&T is rather quickly reconstituting itself as “the nation’s phone company” not under the banner of its original East Coast management, but rather as an extention of SBC, which is run by a bunch of good ol’ boys in Texas. Could it be that there was a deal made between these guys and, shall we say, friends high in government? Something like, “We’ll be more than happy to help you spy on Americans, if you’ll grease the skids to let us rebuild a telecommunications monopoly.”
39.
It is, we’re not, and you should.
@30: Two words for you, assshole:
Mark Foley.
Here are some highlights of the Sheriff Himmler’s administrative policies:
– Chain gangs for male, female, and juvenile inmates
– “all non-legal INCOMING mail … to a prisoner … must be on a pre-stamped postcard. … In addition, the policy restricts the color of ink that can be used; and requires that the return address be printed or written rather than being placed on an adhesive label.”
– “broadcasting 24-hour, live streaming images of pre-trial detainees … in the booking areas or holding cells of the jail … includ[ing] female detainees … using the toilet ….
– “The Sheriff contracted with a now-defunct company, Crime.com, to advertise a videotape for sale on the web site, ‘A Day In the Life of Sheriff Arpaio.’ He also conducted staged cell searches of the women’s cell, and placed the images on the web site as a slide show … these images demonstrated … sexual harassment of female detainees … pat-searched in front of the glass window covering the men’s holding cell. (Note: Court orders have been issued enjoining the Sheriff from operating the video cameras and awarding damages to the inmates who sued.)
– “lawsuits [have been] filed against the sheriff’s office by family members of inmates who died in jail custody and in highspeed pursuits involving deputies … cost[ing] Maricopa County more than $13.7 million in settlement claims. By mid-year 2007 more than $50 million in claims had been filed against the sheriffs office and Maricopa County …”
– “One major controversy includes the 1996 death of inmate Scott Norberg while he was in custody … detention officers shocked Norberg more than 20 times with a stun-gun, including on his testicles. According to an investigation by Amnesty International, Norberg was already handcuffed and face down when officers dragged him from his cell and placed him in a restraint chair with a towel covering his face. … The cause of his death, according to the Maricopa County medical examiner, was due to ‘positional asphyxia’. Sheriff Arpaio investigated and subsequently cleared County detention officers of any criminal wrongdoing. Norberg’s parents filed a lawsuit against Joe Arpaio and his office. The lawsuit was settled for $8.25 million … following a highly contentious legal battle. Despite vowing to never settle, the case quickly closed after it was disclosed the Sheriff’s office had destroyed key evidence in the case.”
– “Brian Crenshaw was a blind inmate allegedly beaten into a coma by guards working under Arpaio. Crenshaw suffered injuries that included a perforated intestine and a broken neck. He later died at a local hospital. When asked about the incident, Arpaio insisted, ‘The man fell off a bunk.'”
– “James Saville was arrested in 1999 for attempting to murder Joe Arpaio. A jury decided that officers from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department had entrapped Saville and found him not guilty.”
– Illegal immigrants detained in Arpaio’s jail are required to sing “God Bless America” and “The Star Spangled Banner.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J....._criticism
49, 50 I see in today’s news that Comcast is blocking its internet subscribers from some web sites.
Hey everybody — don’t forget to go to the New Times web site so Sheriff Himmler can subpoena your IP address! Save an inmate’s life, keep the sheriff busy figuring out where you live!
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com /
I’m kind of surprised the Arizona Attorney General hasn’t stepped in. Maybe their AG is a Republican. That would explain why this idiot is allowed to do what he does.
… Now, I’m not insinuating Dan Satterberg would run the King County Prosecutor’s Office the way Republicans run law enforcement in Maricopa County, Arizona. After all, this isn’t Arizona; King County is part of the United States. I’m not even suggesting Satterberg would use his office to do favors for Republican candidates, or look the other way at election crimes committed by scumbags like Lori Sotelo and Jane Balogh. All I’m sayin’ is he’s a Republican …
Man, I’m gettin’ that guilt-by-association technique DOWN!!! I learned it from the wingers. They’re experts at it.
Yes Roger, I’m tapping your phones and your computer right now. Karl Rove and I sit back and chortle about your online purchases…and AT&T enables the whole enterprise.
And you people wonder why you can’t even stop the war after winning congress….go figure.
@59 Could you do me a favor and call the all-powerful Karl Rove and ask him to close these damn italics? Thanx.
Test.
Looks like we’re stuck with them until Goldy fixes it.
Very confused
Are the idiots of this page justifying thier hypocracy and situational values with Mark Foley. The R’s demanded he step down. Jefferson of New Orleans still remains. R’s don’t hand down values because they think thier perfect, they state them because they think people should try to behave in an orderly way. You people on this page don’t think anything other than your rabbid ideologue and which makes you different than right wingers who think Bill’s the devil or the crazy New Mexicans who think aliens are among them. You sit around lashing out unfounded facts from conspiracy theory websites because your bored. Your life has no meaning and your hoping the world is as crazy as you are so you can justify your confusion and failures. Are there any voices of reason on this page?
PS Rabbit, I don’t know what drugs your on or how many cups of coffee you drink but the desperation and mania in your comments are worrying me. No body cares about your views, the gov’t isn’t out to get you and the economy has highs and lows and eventually too this shall pass. I want you to take it easy, get some sleep and maybe try to put out your ciggarett and go for a jog.
Lets all take a real hard look at ourselves on this Drunk Driving issue. Has everyone that is trash talking Velazquez really never done anything wrong? Maybe you just didn’t get caught and that in your mind makes you better than Hague or Velazquez or McIver. Well you are wrong, if that is what you think. The main issue here is that we have a whole slew of council members or wanna-be council members that are making mistakes that they should have made when they were 18. This is more a lesson on how these alleged alcohol abusers make judgment calls. I remember way back in elementary school that it would take one hour to have one drink processed through a persons system. This of course is all based on your body weight, but in general the rule holds true. Then in drivers ed we all should have seen what happened to people who were in accidents cause by drivers under the influence. I remember never wanting that to be me in those cars on either side. These all should have been a basis of basic decision making.
Now I’m no saint by any stretch of the imagination. I have done things that are wrong and I have learned from my mistakes. I would hope though that by the time that anyone would run for office on any level they would not go out and drink and then decide to drive. That is a lesson they should have learned a long time ago. Do I think these people should be crucified on a public level. No, I don’t. Do I want them to represent me on any council whatsoever… No, I don’t. It’s not the mistake by itself that was made that leads me to this decision. It’s that they used “alleged” poor judgment WHILE RUNNING FOR OFFICE. Make your mistakes on your own time, but not while you are trying to represent me.
chris, chris…
I got a speeding ticket once. But never got pulled over, refused the breathalizyer, refused to hang up the phone (3x) and then never also got a ride home from the cops…
She’s unfit for duty. Why not accept that other guy, i don’t even know what he stands for but he is likely no worse than left leaning moderate…..so why not take the clean candidate
Yup, it’s just one of those things that happens when you know everything there is in the world to know.
So Goldy, you’ll be crashing your car in a DUI offense soon too then?
RR @ 55
I dialed into that website. Excellent suggestion from a hare brain. I got one thing to say to Homeland Security: Bring it on.
hey venus pleading not guilty…
wow, despite taking responsibility (so what is she responsible for if she did nothing wrong?)
and she blew .11 or so on the field alcohol test
and failed the observation test..
hic..
Venus is well, sadly, gone delusional and she’s clearly demonstrating that she’s all about Venus, rather than taking the high road and withdrawing from the race.
Venus would serve us all best by taking a break, dealing with her crap and running for office when she’s fully capable of making decisions in the best interest of the city rather than her own ego.
She’s not fit for office, and while I’m nto fully sold on Bruce Harrell, he clearly has his stuff together and he’d make a fine councilperson.
I wonder if Venus’ attorney husband is going to be able to get her DUI charge dismissed as well. I wound’t be surprised.
Conclusion: Vote for Bruce Harrell!
He’s the right person for this job at the right time–now.
http://www.electbruceharrell.com
Aw no. Please tell me you are joking in attempting to make a political issue over Dino Rossi allegedly getting drunk and crashing his car at age 18. You are making this up…right?
Perhaps not. This is the kind of dirty stuff that lefties do over and over because their communist ideas don’t warm the tummies of most sane people.
Should we alert the authorities about all the “Drinking Liberally” events every Tuesday night. Fair is fair, isn’t it?. I’m sure more than a few participants drive home with several pints under their belts. Or do all of you ride the bus and take cabs? Perhaps we will find out.