Pages

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Hitler and the IPad!

What if Hitler were alive today. What would his reaction have been to Apple's IPad? Well thanks to Youtube we can now know exactly what he would say! Below are two videos that had me ROFL!


WARNING! The Fuhrer has a potty mouth!




Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Borderlands


Phoenix, Arizona has been at the frontlines of the "Border Battle" for quite some time, Salvador Reza has been in the trenches fighting for Latinos since before the proverbial first shot was fired. Reza came to this country in 1961 when he was a child, He is a U.S. Air Force veteran and a community organizer who believes that all immigrants who want to work should be welcomed with full labor rights.


Reza has been a strong critic against MCSO self-proclaimed "America's Toughest Sheriff" Joe Arpaio. In 2005, the Arizona state legislature passed a state law making it a felony, punishable by up to two years in jail, to smuggle illegal aliens across the border. While already a federal crime, Arizona's law, also known as the "Coyote law", made it legal for local police to enforce immigration law and also classified persons being smuggled as co-conspirators subject to penalties as laid out in the law.


Arpaio has been conducting "Crime Sweeps" mainly on heavily Latino populated areas. Creating controversy and outcry among the Latino community in Phoenix as well as across the nation. The Sheriff has been accused of violating civil rights.This should come as no surprise; many allegations have come to light in recent years accusing Joe Arpaio of civil rights violations in his jails and during the so called "Crime Sweeps." His practices have been criticized by organizations such as Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Arizona Ecumenical Council, the American Jewish Committee, and the Arizona chapter of the Anti-Defamation League. The editorial board of The New York Times called Arpaio "America's Worst Sheriff". The Rev. Al Sharpton recently said, "Arizona can be as equal as everyone else when it comes to civil rights.' That is, when Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio 'is out of town'."


Typical of Joe Arpaio when confronted with these allegations he has been defiant and at times arrogant. "Sheriff Joe" says that won't slow him down, that he'll drive people he calls "illegals" to the border himself if he has to, and in fact, it's time for a showdown. These allegations have prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct and investigations on the Sheriff and MCSO's practices during these "Crime Sweeps." Joe Arpaio calls the inquiry into his office as "Politically motivated."


Lawsuits brought against Arpaio by employees, former employees, inmates, and the families of dead inmates have cost the county millions and Arpaio has misled the public about the cost to taxpayers of lawsuits. For example, the case of Scott Norberg, who died in jail, Arpaio has frequently said the $8.25 million settlement cost the county nothing and was covered by insurance. What he does not say is that, at the time of the settlement, the county had a $1 million deductible. Because of these lawsuits, the deductible for the sheriff's office insurance coverage has increased from $1 million to $5 million per incident. With Arizona having one of the biggest state deficits in the country, how many more settlements can it afford?


It was announced last week that a Grand Jury is also looking at allegations of civil rights violations. Comments like the ones he made on Rick Sanchez's show on CNN won't help his case either. When asked by Rick Sanchez how did he know that someone he was about to arrest was here in the country illegally, he said, "It has to do with the clothes they are wearing, their speech." He went on to say that these factors are in the federal law he follows. Rick Sanchez asked the Assistant Secretary of ICE, John Morton, if in fact that the clothes and the speech of an individual is enough probable cause to arrest someone for suspicion of being in the country illegally. John Morton said, "Not for an immigration offense, no." (Joe Arpaio was stripped of the authority given to him by ICE under 287g on Oct. 15, 2009).


The Assistant Secretary went on to say that "At the end of the day I feel that the sweeps he conducts in Maricopa County aren't consistent with our priorities as an agency...namely to identify and remove serious criminal aliens from the streets of Arizona." When asked by Rick Sanchez what Arpaio was doing wrong, John Morton said "His sweeps are over-broad..."


Arpaio confirmed the Assistant Secretaries statements about his sweeps being "overbroad" by defying the Federal government and launched a "crime sweep" on a car wash in the city of Peoria. However it doesn't stop there. The arrogance has been contentious. Recently a MCSO officer was caught on tape taking confidential material right out of a defense attorney's desk in the middle of a hearing! Doesn't the constitution protect us against this very exact thing?! The answer is yes!


It is called LAWYER/CLIENT CONFIDENTIALITY.


The officer, Adam Stoddard was found in contempt of court and was ordered by a judge to hold a press conference to publicly apologize or go to jail. Joe Arpaio, not being able to resist the opportunity to make a statement, said, "I decide who holds press conferences and when they are held regarding this Sheriff's Office." The Officer did hold a press conference only to say that he was not apologizing. He spent Several weeks in "Jail." (All reports point to him not being in an actual cell.)
For these and many alleged civil rights violations, Salvador Reza is calling out to all that will support him to come to his "March for Human Rights" on January 16th 2010 at 9 am at Falcon Park in Phoenix.


For more info go to Puente's website www.puenteaz.org or call 602.314.5870 Celebrities such as Linda Ronstadt will be there to show their support. Also showing their support will be Dolores C. Huerta, the co-founder and First Vice President Emeritus of the United Farm Workers of America.


Will this be the end of Joe Arpaio? Many are hoping that it is. What do you think?