Joe Arpaio

[Luke S]

Angry trolls should be banned.

-1 for your hate, Luke.

Agreed! I gave him a chance but now I don't understand why he is here.

Listen Lastlady, I don't know why people keep calling for me to be banned. I haven't insulted anyone, I haven't called anyone any names, I haven't engaged in any personal attacks, I haven't done any of that improper stuff that you aren't supposed to do on forums. Yeah I may have classical paleoconservative beliefs, but that's not something I should be banned for, is it?

You're not a paleoconservative. When such a philosophy was actually the mainstream, there were virtually no laws limiting immigration.

People want to ban you for being an Internet troll.

J'raxis, I know what a troll is. But that label doesn't apply to me in reality, it is just a convenient label for people like Ian to throw at me over and over in an effort to get me banned.

[Vitruvian]

If he were given an enema, Luke (like Jerry Falwell [approx. 9:30/9:33]) could be buried in a matchbox.

[Caleb]

what was going on with Hitchens' hair? Did he forget he was going on camara?

[Vitruvian]

what was going on with Hitchens' hair? Did he forget he was going on camara?

He was probably sauced as usual.

[Lloyd Danforth]

If he were given an enema, Luke (like Jerry Falwell [approx. 9:30/9:33]) could be buried in a matchbox.

This could be true, but there is no need for him to go on and on about possibly getting banned because we don't ban folks for their opinions no matter how stupid.

[lastlady]

If he were given an enema, Luke (like Jerry Falwell [approx. 9:30/9:33]) could be buried in a matchbox.

This could be true, but there is no need for him to go on and on about possibly getting banned because we don't ban folks for their opinions no matter how stupid.

I do recall a certain someone being banned for saying things people didn't like.

[Lloyd Danforth]

I remember only one person who I think made an unpleasant remark about someone who was sick.

[Kat Kanning]

She's talking about Rob, the one who threatened to shoot my husband.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Well.....see!.....that goes beyond just an opinion

[AntonLee]

She's talking about Rob, the one who threatened to shoot my husband.

this isn't the same NHArticle10 guy on the FTL forum?  The guy who thought everyone was CIA around him?

[dalebert]

this isn't the same NHArticle10 guy on the FTL forum?  The guy who thought everyone was CIA around him?

Yeah.

[Pat McCotter]

Did Luke write this article?

Sheriff saw future in rearview mirror
Sept. 15, 2008 11:00 PM
Fifteen years ago, a forward-looking politician named Joe Arpaio saw the future . . . in the rearview mirror.

One day in late 1993, Sheriff Arpaio announced that he would use deputies and posse members to surround Maricopa County with checkpoints and stop every single car coming into his jurisdiction in order to search it for drugs.

Sounds like a good way to catch illegal immigrants, doesn't it?

In those days, however, no one, including Arpaio, gave a hoot about illegal immigrants. Instead, the sheriff decided that he was going to make a pre-emptive strike against dope smugglers.

"I hope to have 1,000 people participate," Arpaio said. "I want to send a message really to drug traffickers to stay out of this county and go somewhere else."

The only thing standing in Arpaio's way was the U.S. Constitution, specifically the Fourth Amendment, which protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures. The county attorney at the time, Rick Romley, told Arpaio that his plan was illegal.

But that was then.

These days, we willingly submit to all manner of searches at airports. We allow the government to monitor personal communications. There are regular sobriety checkpoints that stop all traffic. And unlike 15 years ago, everybody is concerned about illegal immigration.

So, as a way of enforcing the new employer sanction's law, Arpaio has gone back to 1993. Only instead of surrounding the entire county, he surrounds a suspicious business. And instead of checking those who go in, he won't let anyone out until the identity and citizenship of everyone is checked. Arpaio's enforcement chief told me this is acceptable because businesses suspected of having hired illegal immigrants are considered to be "crime scenes."

Dan Pochoda, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, isn't so sure. "I can tell you that we will be taking an affirmative look at these raids," he said. "Casting a net and then sorting out which ones you arrest is counter to what's fundamental to our Constitution."

Apparently, Pochoda is one of those dreamy idealists who still believe that people in America are unwilling to give up the precious rights that their ancestors died for.

They are. I hear from them every day. "I'm so tired of people complaining about 'rights' being violated when it comes to illegals," a reader named Ted wrote in an e-mail. "As an American, I'd happily be inconvenienced for a few hours in my place of business or anywhere else while they rounded up people who shouldn't be here."

His sentiments are not unusual.

Arpaio's genius was his early recognition that people not only are willing to forfeit their rights, but they'll cheer you on while you take them.

Still, trying to round up illegal immigrants by raiding one small business at a time just won't cut it. Maybe the sheriff will widen the net, so to speak. For instance, why not surround every church in the county with a Spanish-language Sunday morning service? Or surround the State Fair on opening night? Or the parking lots at grocery stores and malls?

Sure, those pesky constitutionalists may whine about "probable cause." They'll say that if the Fourth Amendment is gutted, then so too might the amendment that protects free speech and the one giving us the right to bear arms.

But, hey, if that's what it takes to catch illegal immigrants . . .

It's like the sheriff said in 1993: "I'm still going to put my force out there. I'm still going to do everything I said I'm going to do."

[J’raxis 270145]

Did Luke write this article?

Sheriff saw future in rearview mirror
Sept. 15, 2008 11:00 PM

...

Maybe the sheriff will widen the net, so to speak. For instance, why not surround every church in the county with a Spanish-language Sunday morning service?

Sounds like a great idea. Maybe he can follow it up by doing the same to hospitals, nursing homes, and orphanages. The negative publicity for doing such a thing might be just enough to get rid of this lunatic.

[Pat McCotter]

Nah! He'll rate right up there alongside Sheriff Buford Pusser of McNairy County, TN.

[David]

Luke, if you can read the following and the whole story, in context, I would love to hear your comments.  The link and an excerpt from page 2 of the article.
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-09-11/news/was-juan-mendoza-farias-beaten-to-death-by-sheriff-joe-arpaio-s-guards/1

The MCSO has not only withheld evidence of suspicious deaths, its employees have tampered with evidence, according to the testimony of one former employee.

Charles Agster was a mildly retarded 33-year-old. His parents asked police to pick him up when he wouldn't leave a convenience store.

Agster died after eight jail guards roughed him up and slammed him into a restraint chair (In 2006, a jury awarded his family $9 million after a wrongful-death verdict.).

During the Agster trial, lawyers revealed that jail employees created a fake booking ID so they could alter the answers to Agster's intake questions.

Jail staff also changed records so they could claim Agster was suicidal, banging his head against the floor, and acting intoxicated. During the 2006 trial, it was revealed that those records had been created after Agster died.

Nurse Betty Lewis testified that she was instructed by jail healthcare staff to alter Agster's records — so that his death wouldn't look as suspicious.

As with the other deaths mentioned in this story, the guards involved in Agster's death were never disciplined by the sheriff — even after they were found liable for inmates' deaths.

"Eight of the eight detention officers were found liable. Zero were disciplined. Six have been promoted," Manning says.