http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/09/arizona.tough.sheriff/
Arizona sheriff under investigation for alleged abuse of power
Chuck Conder, CNN
July 9, 2010
Sheriff targeting political enemies?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Maricopa County sheriff is known for being tough on prisoners and illegal immigrants
Critics say Arpaio has launched bogus criminal probes against political opponents
Federal grand jury is looking into those allegations
Sheriff declines comment, but deputy chief says all of the investigations were justified
Phoenix, Arizona (CNN) -- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio calls himself "America's toughest sheriff." He is famous for creating a tent city jail in the Arizona desert; for providing pink underwear for inmates; for bragging that he spends more to feed his dog than a prisoner in his jail.
This year he has made national headlines for his tough enforcement of Arizona's anti-illegal immigration laws and for his vocal support for a controversial new immigration law that takes effect at the end of July.
But the 77-year-old lawman is himself the subject of serious allegations of abuse of power. Arpaio's critics say he has a long history of launching bogus criminal investigations against political opponents and anyone else who gets in his way.
This year a federal grand jury started looking into the allegations.
Former Maricopa County School Superintendent Sandra Dowling says what happened to her is a case in point.
Dowling says was locked in a political battle with some members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors over school district funds when the sheriff's SWAT team came in the dead of night to search her home. Dowling was charged with stealing money from a school for homeless students. There were 25 felony counts in all.
"Never could I have imagined what a nightmare was waiting ahead," Dowling said.
Arpaio promised to uncover massive public corruption -- "We are looking into all avenues of this investigation," he said -- and to win a speedy conviction.
From the start Dowling maintained her innocence: "I kept saying I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything."
It took three years, but finally a judge threw out all the felony counts against Dowling. She entered a guilty plea to a single misdemeanor charge. But she said her reputation had been shattered, her career destroyed, and she owed more than $100,000 in legal fees.
"I still don't think that everybody knows I was innocent," she said.
Dowling is not alone. Arpaio has launched -- either on his own or in conjunction with the county attorney -- high-profile criminal investigations against a who's who of Maricopa County politicians and officials. The list includes the mayor of Phoenix, a former police chief, two members of the board of supervisors, Superior Court judges, and even a former state attorney general.
The charges have included public corruption, misuse of taxpayers' dollars, bribery, rape and even child molestation. What all these investigations hold in common is that they were launched with great public fanfare, but rarely resulted in convictions. Among the investigations recounted in this report, the only conviction has been on the misdemeanor charge against Dowling.
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon calls the sheriff's long list of investigations a "reign of terror."
Gordon came under Arpaio's scrutiny, he says, after speaking out against the sheriff's neighborhood sweeps to round up illegal immigrants.
The mayor says he received a torrent of records requests from sheriff's investigators, and he was later told that he was under investigation on possible child molestation charges. Gordon says the sheriff "bragged that he was watching my office from his office with a telescope."
The sheriff's department confirmed that Gordon was investigated on child molestation accusations. In the end charges were never filed.
"He is a coward," said former Buckeye, Arizona, Police Chief Dan Saban. In 2004 Saban challenged Arpaio's bid for a fourth term in the sheriff's office. That was when the local news reported that Arpaio was investigating his rival on charges of rape.
It was a claim made by Sabin's foster mother. She claimed the rape occurred 30 years earlier, when Saban was only 15 years old. Saban says he was the victim, not the foster mother.
Once again charges were never filed. But Saban noted the sheriff alerted the media to the details of the sordid accusation. "They put out a media campaign against me," he said. "That I was the subject of a criminal probe."
It sounds familiar to County Supervisor Don Stapley. "They indicted me on 118 counts." he said, "none of which I'm guilty of."
Those 118 counts of public corruption against Stapley made big headlines before they were thrown out of court by a judge. Arpaio has refilled many of those charges and Stapley is still fighting to clear his name.
Arpaio turned down CNN requests for an interview, citing the federal grand jury investigation and a series of threatened lawsuits from these and other cases.
However, one of Arpaio's long-time assistants was eager to defend his boss.
Deputy Chief John MacIntyre says that in each and every case, the sheriff's investigations were fully justified. "Was there probable cause? There was a ton of probable cause," he said.
In the rape investigation of the sheriff's political rival, Saban, for example, MacIntyre says it was a case the sheriff had to investigate. "We didn't make up the mother's testimony," he said. "It came in here like a bombshell."
MacIntyre says it was just coincidence that the sheriff benefited when the story was leaked to the press.
Andrew Thomas is another Arpaio ally. He is the former Maricopa County attorney who participated in a number of Arpaio's high-profile cases. He is currently running for the Arizona attorney general's office.
He, too, defends Arpaio's investigations, saying, "The reality is these were legitimate cases that needed to be brought."
"It wasn't just brought up out of thin air, there was evidence to back up those cases," he said.
The sheriff's critics, he said, are "being portrayed as martyrs and I feel that's absolutely inaccurate."
Thomas paints a picture of Maricopa County as a pit of corruption that includes the judicial system, which he blames for his lack of convictions. "We had to go into courts where the judges were collaborating with the targets of the investigations," he said. "They were working together to thwart investigations (and) prosecutions."
The Arizona Bar Association takes a different view. Its ethics committee is currently considering a case against Thomas for his role in Arpaio's investigations of public officials, the association said.
MacIntyre says it is up to the public to untangle the web of political intrigue surrounding Phoenix and its environs. "The electorate is going to have to say we don't want to do this anymore, and we will vote one or more people out," he said. "Right now the sheriff's polls indicate that the public still supports him rather overwhelmingly."
Whether the grand jury investigation or the threatened lawsuits bring change remains to be seen.
Mike Lacey, a newspaper editor who was once arrested after criticizing Arpaio, says the end is not yet in sight: "If you are a critic of the sheriff, or if you represent an opportunity for publicity, you become a target for this man."
Showing posts with label Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Show all posts
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Judge Napolitano: Immigration law will ‘bankrupt the Republican Party’
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0424/judge-napolitano-immigration-law-bankrupt-republican-party/
Judge Napolitano: Immigration law will ‘bankrupt the Republican Party’
Andrew McLemore
Saturday, April 24th, 2010
After Fox News analysts spent most of Friday defending Arizona's bill to target illegal immigrants, Judge Andrew Napolitano offered a different take on the controversial measure, Crooks and Liars reported.
When asked about Gov. Jan Brewer, Napolitano said her signing of the bill into law will have disastrous consequences:
Napolitano: She's gonna bankrupt the Republican Party and the state of Arizona. Look at what happened to the Republicans in California with the proposition --
Cavuto: What happens?
Napolitano: Ah, Hispanics -- who have a natural home in the Republican Party because they are socially conservative -- will flee in droves. She's also gonna bankrupt her state, because no insurance company will provide coverage for this. And for all the lawsuits that will happen -- for all the people that are wrongfully stopped -- her budget will be paying for it. Her budget will be paying the legal bills of the lawyers who sue on behalf of those that were stopped.
This will be a disaster for Arizona -- to say nothing of the fact that it's so unconstitutional that I predict a federal judge will prevent Arizona from enforcing it as soon as they attempt to do so. That will probably be tomorrow.
The new law, which will take effect in late July or early August, was cheered by many, including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose tough crackdowns have made him a hero in the anti-illegal immigration community. He said it gives him new authority to detain undocumented migrants who aren't accused of committing any other crimes.
"Now if we show they're illegal, we can actually arrest them and put them in our jails," Arpaio said.
Critics claim the bill will effectively encourage racial profiling. President Barack Obama branded it "misguided." Hispanic groups across the country tend to agree with Napolitano's assessment of the bill.
Immigrant advocates say the bill could worsen an already tenuous relationship between law enforcement and Hispanics in Arizona.
State Sen. Rebecca Rios, a Phoenix Democrat and fourth-generation Arizonan, said she's concerned about her 14-year-old son being harassed by police because of his brown skin, black hair and dark-brown eyes.
"I don't want my son or anyone else's son targeted simply because of their physical characteristics," Rios said. "There's no reason I should have to carry around any proof of citizenship, nor my son."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Judge Napolitano: Immigration law will ‘bankrupt the Republican Party’
Andrew McLemore
Saturday, April 24th, 2010
After Fox News analysts spent most of Friday defending Arizona's bill to target illegal immigrants, Judge Andrew Napolitano offered a different take on the controversial measure, Crooks and Liars reported.
When asked about Gov. Jan Brewer, Napolitano said her signing of the bill into law will have disastrous consequences:
Napolitano: She's gonna bankrupt the Republican Party and the state of Arizona. Look at what happened to the Republicans in California with the proposition --
Cavuto: What happens?
Napolitano: Ah, Hispanics -- who have a natural home in the Republican Party because they are socially conservative -- will flee in droves. She's also gonna bankrupt her state, because no insurance company will provide coverage for this. And for all the lawsuits that will happen -- for all the people that are wrongfully stopped -- her budget will be paying for it. Her budget will be paying the legal bills of the lawyers who sue on behalf of those that were stopped.
This will be a disaster for Arizona -- to say nothing of the fact that it's so unconstitutional that I predict a federal judge will prevent Arizona from enforcing it as soon as they attempt to do so. That will probably be tomorrow.
The new law, which will take effect in late July or early August, was cheered by many, including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose tough crackdowns have made him a hero in the anti-illegal immigration community. He said it gives him new authority to detain undocumented migrants who aren't accused of committing any other crimes.
"Now if we show they're illegal, we can actually arrest them and put them in our jails," Arpaio said.
Critics claim the bill will effectively encourage racial profiling. President Barack Obama branded it "misguided." Hispanic groups across the country tend to agree with Napolitano's assessment of the bill.
Immigrant advocates say the bill could worsen an already tenuous relationship between law enforcement and Hispanics in Arizona.
State Sen. Rebecca Rios, a Phoenix Democrat and fourth-generation Arizonan, said she's concerned about her 14-year-old son being harassed by police because of his brown skin, black hair and dark-brown eyes.
"I don't want my son or anyone else's son targeted simply because of their physical characteristics," Rios said. "There's no reason I should have to carry around any proof of citizenship, nor my son."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Behind the Arizona Immigration Law
The new Arizona law to require all people to carry citizenship papers is part of a long-running program of the state GOP to disenfranchise Hispanic voters.
Governor Janet Brewer, until last year Arizona's Secretary of State, zealously directed a program to block over 100,000 voters from registering without a single case proven of a non-citizen attempting to vote.
The racially-loaded electoral blockade was fiercely promoted by State Senator Russell Pearce, sponsor of the new citizenship ID law.
According to BBC reporter Greg Palast, the Arizona GOP's blockade of voters is an ill-disguised program to systematically exclude legal voters, overwhelmingly Democrats.
Palast conducted the investigation for Rolling Stone Magazine and BBC Television.
See below for Palast's latest story on the Arizona Immigration law.
For media inquiries please contact Matt Pascarella at +1 (347) 321-4616 or +1 (212) 505-5566.
Kindest regards,
Matt
For release Monday 4/26/2010
Media:
Contact Matt Pascarella: +1 (347) 321-4616
Palast office: +1 (212) 505-5566
Behind the Arizona Immigration Law:
GOP Game to Swipe the November Election
Our investigation in Arizona discovered the real intent of the show-me-your-papers law.
by Greg Palast
for Truthout.org
[Phoenix, AZ] Don't be fooled. The way the media plays the story, it was a wave of racist, anti-immigrant hysteria that moved Arizona Republicans to pass a sick little law, signed last week, requiring every person in the state to carry papers proving they are US citizens.
I don't buy it. Anti-Hispanic hysteria has always been as much a part of Arizona as the Saguaro cactus and excessive air-conditioning.
What's new here is not the politicians' fear of a xenophobic "Teabag" uprising.
What moved GOP Governor Jan Brewer to sign the Soviet-style show-me-your-papers law is the exploding number of legal Hispanics, US citizens all, who are daring to vote -- and daring to vote Democratic by more than two-to-one. Unless this demographic locomotive is halted, Arizona Republicans know their party will soon be electoral toast. Or, if you like, tortillas.
In 2008, working for Rolling Stone with civil rights attorney Bobby Kennedy, our team flew to Arizona to investigate what smelled like an electoral pogrom against Chicano voters ... directed by one Jan Brewer.
Brewer, then Secretary of State, had organized a racially loaded purge of the voter rolls that would have made Katherine Harris blush. Beginning after the 2004 election, under Brewer's command, no less than 100,000 voters, overwhelming Hispanics, were blocked from registering to vote. In 2005, the first year of the Great Brown-Out, one in three Phoenix residents found their registration applications rejected.
That statistic caught my attention. Voting or registering to vote if you're not a citizen is a felony, a big-time jail-time crime. And arresting such criminal voters is easy: after all, they give their names and addresses.
So I asked Brewer's office, had she busted a single one of these thousands of allegedly illegal voters? Did she turn over even one name to the feds for prosecution?
No, not one.
Which raises the question: were these disenfranchised voters the criminal, non-citizens Brewer tagged them, or just not-quite-white voters given the José Crow treatment, entrapped in document-chase trickery?
The answer was provided by a federal prosecutor who was sent on a crazy hunt all over the Western
mesas looking for these illegal voters. "We took over 100 complaints, we investigated for almost 2 years, I didn’t find one prosecutable voter fraud case."
This prosecutor, David Iglesias, is a prosecutor no more. When he refused to fabricate charges of illegal voting among immigrants, his firing was personally ordered by the President of the United States, George W. Bush, under orders from his boss, Karl Rove.
Iglesias' jurisdiction was next door, in New Mexico, but he told me that Rove and the Republican chieftains were working nationwide to whip up anti-immigrant hysteria with public busts of illegal voters, even though there were none.
"They wanted some splashy pre-election indictments," Iglesias told me. The former prosecutor, himself a Republican, paid the price when he stood up to this vicious attack on citizenship.
But Secretary of State Brewer followed the Rove plan to a T. The weapon she used to slice the Arizona voter rolls was a 2004 law, known as "Prop 200," which required proof of citizenship to register. It is important to see the Republicans' latest legislative horror show, sanctioning cops to stop residents and prove citizenship, as just one more step in the party's desperate plan to impede Mexican-Americans from marching to the ballot box.
[By the way, no one elected Brewer. Weirdly, Barack Obama placed her in office last year when, for reasons known only to the Devil and Rahm Emanuel, the President appointed Arizona's Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano to his cabinet, which automatically moved Republican Brewer into the Governor's office.]
State Senator Russell Pearce, the Republican sponsor of the latest ID law, gave away his real intent, blocking the vote, when he said, "There is a massive effort under way to register illegal aliens in this country."
How many? Pearce's PR flak told me, five million. All Democrats, too. Again, I asked Pearce's office to give me their the names and addresses from their phony registration forms. I'd happily make a citizens arrest of each one, on camera. Pearce didn't have five million names. He didn't have five. He didn't have one.
The horde of five million voters who swam the Rio Grande just to vote for Obama was calculated on a Republican website extrapolating from the number of Mexicans in a border town who refused jury service because they were not citizens. Not one, in fact, had registered to vote: they had registered to drive. They had obtained licenses as required by the law.
The illegal voters, "wetback" welfare moms, and alien job thieves are just GOP website wet-dreams, but their mythic PR power helps the party's electoral hacks chop away at voter rolls and civil rights with little more than a whimper from the Democrats.
Indeed, one reason, I discovered, that some Democrats are silent is that they are in on the game themselves. In New Mexico, Democratic Party bosses tossed away ballots of Pueblo Indians to cut native influence in party primaries.
But what's wrong with requiring folks to prove they're American if they want to vote and live in America? The answer: because the vast majority of perfectly legal voters and residents who lack ID sufficient for Ms. Brewer and Mr. Pearce are citizens of color, citizens of poverty.
According to a study by professor Matt Barreto of Washington State University, minority citizens are half as likely as whites to have government ID. The numbers are dreadfully worse when income is factored in.
Just outside Phoenix, without Brewer's or Pearce's help, I did locate one of these evil un-American voters, that is, someone who could not prove her citizenship: 100-year-old Shirley Preiss. Her US birth certificate was nowhere to be found as it never existed.
In Phoenix, I stopped in at the Maricopa County prison where Sheriff Joe Arpaio houses the captives of his campaign to stop illegal immigration. Arpaio, who under the new Arizona law will be empowered to choose his targets for citizenship testing, is already facing federal indictment for his racially-charged and legally suspect methods.
I admit, I was a little nervous, passing through the iron doors with a big sign, "NOTICE: ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE PROHIBITED FROM VISITING ANYONE IN THIS JAIL." I mean, Grandma Palast snuck into the USA via Windsor, Canada. We Palasts are illegal as they come, but Arpaio's sophisticated deportee-sniffer didn't stop this white boy from entering his sanctum.
But that's the point, isn't it? Not to stop non-citizens from entering Arizona -- after all, who else would care for the country club lawn? -- but to harass folks of the wrong color: Democratic blue.
Greg Palast has investigated the illegal disenfranchisement of voters for BBC Television, Rolling Stone (with Robert Kennedy Jr.), Harper's, The Nation and Truthout.org. Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy."
Governor Janet Brewer, until last year Arizona's Secretary of State, zealously directed a program to block over 100,000 voters from registering without a single case proven of a non-citizen attempting to vote.
The racially-loaded electoral blockade was fiercely promoted by State Senator Russell Pearce, sponsor of the new citizenship ID law.
According to BBC reporter Greg Palast, the Arizona GOP's blockade of voters is an ill-disguised program to systematically exclude legal voters, overwhelmingly Democrats.
Palast conducted the investigation for Rolling Stone Magazine and BBC Television.
See below for Palast's latest story on the Arizona Immigration law.
For media inquiries please contact Matt Pascarella at +1 (347) 321-4616 or +1 (212) 505-5566.
Kindest regards,
Matt
For release Monday 4/26/2010
Media:
Contact Matt Pascarella: +1 (347) 321-4616
Palast office: +1 (212) 505-5566
Behind the Arizona Immigration Law:
GOP Game to Swipe the November Election
Our investigation in Arizona discovered the real intent of the show-me-your-papers law.
by Greg Palast
for Truthout.org
[Phoenix, AZ] Don't be fooled. The way the media plays the story, it was a wave of racist, anti-immigrant hysteria that moved Arizona Republicans to pass a sick little law, signed last week, requiring every person in the state to carry papers proving they are US citizens.
I don't buy it. Anti-Hispanic hysteria has always been as much a part of Arizona as the Saguaro cactus and excessive air-conditioning.
What's new here is not the politicians' fear of a xenophobic "Teabag" uprising.
What moved GOP Governor Jan Brewer to sign the Soviet-style show-me-your-papers law is the exploding number of legal Hispanics, US citizens all, who are daring to vote -- and daring to vote Democratic by more than two-to-one. Unless this demographic locomotive is halted, Arizona Republicans know their party will soon be electoral toast. Or, if you like, tortillas.
In 2008, working for Rolling Stone with civil rights attorney Bobby Kennedy, our team flew to Arizona to investigate what smelled like an electoral pogrom against Chicano voters ... directed by one Jan Brewer.
Brewer, then Secretary of State, had organized a racially loaded purge of the voter rolls that would have made Katherine Harris blush. Beginning after the 2004 election, under Brewer's command, no less than 100,000 voters, overwhelming Hispanics, were blocked from registering to vote. In 2005, the first year of the Great Brown-Out, one in three Phoenix residents found their registration applications rejected.
That statistic caught my attention. Voting or registering to vote if you're not a citizen is a felony, a big-time jail-time crime. And arresting such criminal voters is easy: after all, they give their names and addresses.
So I asked Brewer's office, had she busted a single one of these thousands of allegedly illegal voters? Did she turn over even one name to the feds for prosecution?
No, not one.
Which raises the question: were these disenfranchised voters the criminal, non-citizens Brewer tagged them, or just not-quite-white voters given the José Crow treatment, entrapped in document-chase trickery?
The answer was provided by a federal prosecutor who was sent on a crazy hunt all over the Western
mesas looking for these illegal voters. "We took over 100 complaints, we investigated for almost 2 years, I didn’t find one prosecutable voter fraud case."
This prosecutor, David Iglesias, is a prosecutor no more. When he refused to fabricate charges of illegal voting among immigrants, his firing was personally ordered by the President of the United States, George W. Bush, under orders from his boss, Karl Rove.
Iglesias' jurisdiction was next door, in New Mexico, but he told me that Rove and the Republican chieftains were working nationwide to whip up anti-immigrant hysteria with public busts of illegal voters, even though there were none.
"They wanted some splashy pre-election indictments," Iglesias told me. The former prosecutor, himself a Republican, paid the price when he stood up to this vicious attack on citizenship.
But Secretary of State Brewer followed the Rove plan to a T. The weapon she used to slice the Arizona voter rolls was a 2004 law, known as "Prop 200," which required proof of citizenship to register. It is important to see the Republicans' latest legislative horror show, sanctioning cops to stop residents and prove citizenship, as just one more step in the party's desperate plan to impede Mexican-Americans from marching to the ballot box.
[By the way, no one elected Brewer. Weirdly, Barack Obama placed her in office last year when, for reasons known only to the Devil and Rahm Emanuel, the President appointed Arizona's Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano to his cabinet, which automatically moved Republican Brewer into the Governor's office.]
State Senator Russell Pearce, the Republican sponsor of the latest ID law, gave away his real intent, blocking the vote, when he said, "There is a massive effort under way to register illegal aliens in this country."
How many? Pearce's PR flak told me, five million. All Democrats, too. Again, I asked Pearce's office to give me their the names and addresses from their phony registration forms. I'd happily make a citizens arrest of each one, on camera. Pearce didn't have five million names. He didn't have five. He didn't have one.
The horde of five million voters who swam the Rio Grande just to vote for Obama was calculated on a Republican website extrapolating from the number of Mexicans in a border town who refused jury service because they were not citizens. Not one, in fact, had registered to vote: they had registered to drive. They had obtained licenses as required by the law.
The illegal voters, "wetback" welfare moms, and alien job thieves are just GOP website wet-dreams, but their mythic PR power helps the party's electoral hacks chop away at voter rolls and civil rights with little more than a whimper from the Democrats.
Indeed, one reason, I discovered, that some Democrats are silent is that they are in on the game themselves. In New Mexico, Democratic Party bosses tossed away ballots of Pueblo Indians to cut native influence in party primaries.
But what's wrong with requiring folks to prove they're American if they want to vote and live in America? The answer: because the vast majority of perfectly legal voters and residents who lack ID sufficient for Ms. Brewer and Mr. Pearce are citizens of color, citizens of poverty.
According to a study by professor Matt Barreto of Washington State University, minority citizens are half as likely as whites to have government ID. The numbers are dreadfully worse when income is factored in.
Just outside Phoenix, without Brewer's or Pearce's help, I did locate one of these evil un-American voters, that is, someone who could not prove her citizenship: 100-year-old Shirley Preiss. Her US birth certificate was nowhere to be found as it never existed.
In Phoenix, I stopped in at the Maricopa County prison where Sheriff Joe Arpaio houses the captives of his campaign to stop illegal immigration. Arpaio, who under the new Arizona law will be empowered to choose his targets for citizenship testing, is already facing federal indictment for his racially-charged and legally suspect methods.
I admit, I was a little nervous, passing through the iron doors with a big sign, "NOTICE: ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE PROHIBITED FROM VISITING ANYONE IN THIS JAIL." I mean, Grandma Palast snuck into the USA via Windsor, Canada. We Palasts are illegal as they come, but Arpaio's sophisticated deportee-sniffer didn't stop this white boy from entering his sanctum.
But that's the point, isn't it? Not to stop non-citizens from entering Arizona -- after all, who else would care for the country club lawn? -- but to harass folks of the wrong color: Democratic blue.
Greg Palast has investigated the illegal disenfranchisement of voters for BBC Television, Rolling Stone (with Robert Kennedy Jr.), Harper's, The Nation and Truthout.org. Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy."
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thousands march against Arpaio in Phoenix
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2009/02/28/20090228arpaioupdate-ON.html
Thousands march against Arpaio in Phoenix
Feb. 28, 2009
The Arizona Republic
Omar Leon, 33, of Los Angeles and Cristina Medina, 22, of Tempe, march south on Central Avenue during a demonstration against Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Thousands of opponents of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's illegal-immigration policies held their "March to Stop the Hate" in downtown Phoenix on Saturday..
As of 1:30 p.m., the speeches were still being made at the march's destination, the federal building. According to initial reports, the march was peaceful, with no major incidents as of early Saturday afternoon.
Crowd estimates from organizers and law enforcement were not immediately available, but at least one estimate put it at about 3,000.
Along the march route, between 100 and 200 Arpaio supporters gathered at the Wells Fargo Tower. Many carried "We Support Sheriff Joe" signs, among others.
The event was being led by the National Day Laborers Organizing Network and El Puente Arizona, and feature Zach de la Rocha, former lead singer of Rage Against the Machine. De la Rocha arrived at about 10:30 a.m., just before the march began at Steele Indian School Park.
Organizers marched south on Central Avenue past the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. The route also passed Wells Fargo Tower - where Arpaio has his headquarters - and ended at the federal building on Washington Street.
Astrid Galvan and Jeffrey Javier contributed to this report.
Thousands march against Arpaio in Phoenix
Feb. 28, 2009
The Arizona Republic
Omar Leon, 33, of Los Angeles and Cristina Medina, 22, of Tempe, march south on Central Avenue during a demonstration against Sheriff Joe Arpaio.Thousands of opponents of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's illegal-immigration policies held their "March to Stop the Hate" in downtown Phoenix on Saturday..
As of 1:30 p.m., the speeches were still being made at the march's destination, the federal building. According to initial reports, the march was peaceful, with no major incidents as of early Saturday afternoon.
Crowd estimates from organizers and law enforcement were not immediately available, but at least one estimate put it at about 3,000.
Along the march route, between 100 and 200 Arpaio supporters gathered at the Wells Fargo Tower. Many carried "We Support Sheriff Joe" signs, among others.
The event was being led by the National Day Laborers Organizing Network and El Puente Arizona, and feature Zach de la Rocha, former lead singer of Rage Against the Machine. De la Rocha arrived at about 10:30 a.m., just before the march began at Steele Indian School Park.
Organizers marched south on Central Avenue past the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. The route also passed Wells Fargo Tower - where Arpaio has his headquarters - and ended at the federal building on Washington Street.
Astrid Galvan and Jeffrey Javier contributed to this report.
Friday, February 20, 2009
War On Drugs DVD Combo
http://infowars-shop.stores.yahoo.net/warondrugs.html
War On Drugs DVD Combo
Get three incredible DVDs covering the fraudulent War on Drugs.
In the first and second volumes of his powerful Never Get Busted DVD series, Former DEA Agent Barry Cooper reveals secret police tactics to help you protect your precious liberties while celebrated filmmaker Kevin Booth delves into the American Drug War to uncover the police state being constructed in the name of protecting the nations' children.
Regular price: $64.85
Sale price: $48.90
Never Get Busted Volume 1: Traffic Stops (DVD)
This DVD is truly a one-of-a-kind, never before seen, information packed tool which can help you save thousands in legal fees and stay out of jail!
Watch Real Footage of former DEA Agent Barry Cooper Making Marijuana Arrests, Learn Secret Drug Enforcement Tactics, Avoid Narcotics Profiling, Where Not to Hide Your Stash (Do Coffee Grounds Really Work?), How Police Cause Drug Dogs to False Alert, Search & Seizure Law Made Easy, How Police Can Tell When You’re Lying, 90 Minutes of One-On-One Training.
$19.95
Never Get Busted Volume 2: Never Get Raided (DVD)
This newly released film is the second in Barry Cooper's' series of controversial NeverGetBusted videos. The title, NeverGetRaided, describes the DVD perfectly. Part documentary and all instruction, NeverGetRaided promises to reveal all the latest drug enforcement tactics giving the viewer confidence in maintaining a cannabis culture lifestyle without ever being raided!
Alongside the cannabis friendly citizens, the non-smoker will enjoy the film as well because it interestingly catalogs secret police tactics and gives the audience an insider's view into what caused one of America's top drug cops to "switch sides."
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT Never Get Busted
"Cooper is a former narcotics officer once considered among the top cops in Texas, where more marijuana is seized each year than in any other state."
---USA Today
This hard hitting film contains 90 minutes of non-stop instruction taught in the same "shocking but polite" teaching style delivered in Barry's first film, Traffic Stops that recently gained world attention.
"Totally amazing. It's incredible watching Barry and Candi sneak into the marijuana field. Barry will need an agent soon to help him manage becoming one of today's top documentary film makers."
---Jim Grimes, Channel 33 Dallas,Texas
""The audience laughed, cheered, cried and cursed. It was amazing. More than I could've ever imagined. Truly an educational experience for whomever watches it."
--Mark Meisinger, Attorney At Law
MORE INFORMATION
Chapter 1: Guerrilla Growing Undetected
Barry teaches from the DEA training he received on how to spot marijuana fields from the air. He takes you on a helicopter ride over a genuine clandestine marijuana patch and then "creeps" you into the field while pointing out the grower's mistakes.
Chapter 2: Spotting Undercovers and Informants
Undercover officers and informants are perhaps the strongest and most dangerous tool used against American Citizens in the unjust War on Drugs. Barry points out only 28 officers have lost their lives in the War on Drugs in a ten year period (1996-2005) compared to millions of non-violent citizens who have lost their lives or have been placed in prisons to be raped or stabbed. Barry uses his experience as an undercover officer and interviews a seasoned drug dealer to teach you exactly how to detect these secret government agents.
Chapter 3: Selling Marijuana Safely (Cops are more dangerous than Dealers)
Discover a GUARANTEED method to sell marijuana and NeverGetRaided. The alcohol dealers do not have police invading their homes in the middle of the night and neither should pot dealers. Barry explains a method to use that even he could not bust! It really works.
Chapter 4: Growing Indoor Plants That Are Invisible To Law Enforcement
Are you currently growing your medicine indoors? Do you want to grow indoors but haven't because you don't want to get raided? Heat from lights are the grower's worst enemy so Barry teaches how to beat the heat by explaining FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red Radar.) Walk into an actual grow room and witness real police FLIR footage of an indoor grow operation. Not only does Barry teach how to confuse these heat imaging video cams but he also explains how to obtain grow equipment undetected. You will also learn how to spot police surveillance, tails and stakeouts and learn how to counter these efforts.
Chapter 5: Knock and Talks and K-9 Proofing.
Learn tips that GUARANTEE how to win 100% of the time when facing a police encounter at your door. Learn how to fool the dogs in case you didn't listen to Barry's advice and you get raided.
Chapter 6: A Message To DEA.
Barry pulls no punches when outlining an effective way to conduct search warrants without the violence. The DEA and other drug enforcement agencies will owe an answer after Barry exposes this non-violent method to seizing persons and property.
Chapter 7: Those Are Your Kids! Drugs Are Not Harming Them...The Police Are.
This "no holds bar" chapter challenges government propaganda programs such as D.A.R.E and encourages parents to take charge of their families by teaching the truth about drugs. In this chapter, Barry says what the "closet smoking parents" can't say...highly charged and controversial. Note: We currently have 1.5 million children missing one or both parents because of the Drug War.
$19.95
American Drug War DVD
Order This Incredible New Exposé Today!
Over 4 years, 4 festival wins – Sold out screenings from California to Manchester England.
Angered by the death of several family members from the "legal Drugs" of Alcohol, Tobacco and Pharmaceuticals - Texas filmmaker Kevin Booth delves into a world of deceit and corruption controlled by a drug dealing government who's only allegiance is to its corporate masters.
The official DVD contains over THREE HOURS of BONUS features. Including a sixty minute mini doc about Tommy Chong’s arrest. Sheriff Joe Arpaio serving rotten food to non-violent drug offenders. Mike Ruppert going into great detail about various CIA operations. Ricky Ross talking from a prison Pay Phone. And much much more making the DVD a must have especially if you have already seen the film.
This final version of the film features extensive sound mixing and post production for the SHOWTIME broadcast, and is the version we would like to have spread across the country and the world.
$24.95
Never Get Busted Again Combo
Regular price: $39.90
Sale price: $33.90
Alex Jones' terrifying new film End Game: Blueprint For Global Enslavement explores the history of eugenics and answers why the elite are so obsessed with thinning the human population. Order the DVD or Subscribe to prison planet.tv and watch the documentary in high quality online streaming format.
Now every order gets a free copy of the powerful Citizen's Rule Book!
War On Drugs DVD Combo
Get three incredible DVDs covering the fraudulent War on Drugs.
In the first and second volumes of his powerful Never Get Busted DVD series, Former DEA Agent Barry Cooper reveals secret police tactics to help you protect your precious liberties while celebrated filmmaker Kevin Booth delves into the American Drug War to uncover the police state being constructed in the name of protecting the nations' children.
Regular price: $64.85
Sale price: $48.90
Never Get Busted Volume 1: Traffic Stops (DVD)
This DVD is truly a one-of-a-kind, never before seen, information packed tool which can help you save thousands in legal fees and stay out of jail!Watch Real Footage of former DEA Agent Barry Cooper Making Marijuana Arrests, Learn Secret Drug Enforcement Tactics, Avoid Narcotics Profiling, Where Not to Hide Your Stash (Do Coffee Grounds Really Work?), How Police Cause Drug Dogs to False Alert, Search & Seizure Law Made Easy, How Police Can Tell When You’re Lying, 90 Minutes of One-On-One Training.
$19.95
Never Get Busted Volume 2: Never Get Raided (DVD)
This newly released film is the second in Barry Cooper's' series of controversial NeverGetBusted videos. The title, NeverGetRaided, describes the DVD perfectly. Part documentary and all instruction, NeverGetRaided promises to reveal all the latest drug enforcement tactics giving the viewer confidence in maintaining a cannabis culture lifestyle without ever being raided!Alongside the cannabis friendly citizens, the non-smoker will enjoy the film as well because it interestingly catalogs secret police tactics and gives the audience an insider's view into what caused one of America's top drug cops to "switch sides."
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT Never Get Busted
"Cooper is a former narcotics officer once considered among the top cops in Texas, where more marijuana is seized each year than in any other state."
---USA Today
This hard hitting film contains 90 minutes of non-stop instruction taught in the same "shocking but polite" teaching style delivered in Barry's first film, Traffic Stops that recently gained world attention.
"Totally amazing. It's incredible watching Barry and Candi sneak into the marijuana field. Barry will need an agent soon to help him manage becoming one of today's top documentary film makers."
---Jim Grimes, Channel 33 Dallas,Texas
""The audience laughed, cheered, cried and cursed. It was amazing. More than I could've ever imagined. Truly an educational experience for whomever watches it."
--Mark Meisinger, Attorney At Law
MORE INFORMATION
Chapter 1: Guerrilla Growing Undetected
Barry teaches from the DEA training he received on how to spot marijuana fields from the air. He takes you on a helicopter ride over a genuine clandestine marijuana patch and then "creeps" you into the field while pointing out the grower's mistakes.
Chapter 2: Spotting Undercovers and Informants
Undercover officers and informants are perhaps the strongest and most dangerous tool used against American Citizens in the unjust War on Drugs. Barry points out only 28 officers have lost their lives in the War on Drugs in a ten year period (1996-2005) compared to millions of non-violent citizens who have lost their lives or have been placed in prisons to be raped or stabbed. Barry uses his experience as an undercover officer and interviews a seasoned drug dealer to teach you exactly how to detect these secret government agents.
Chapter 3: Selling Marijuana Safely (Cops are more dangerous than Dealers)
Discover a GUARANTEED method to sell marijuana and NeverGetRaided. The alcohol dealers do not have police invading their homes in the middle of the night and neither should pot dealers. Barry explains a method to use that even he could not bust! It really works.
Chapter 4: Growing Indoor Plants That Are Invisible To Law Enforcement
Are you currently growing your medicine indoors? Do you want to grow indoors but haven't because you don't want to get raided? Heat from lights are the grower's worst enemy so Barry teaches how to beat the heat by explaining FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red Radar.) Walk into an actual grow room and witness real police FLIR footage of an indoor grow operation. Not only does Barry teach how to confuse these heat imaging video cams but he also explains how to obtain grow equipment undetected. You will also learn how to spot police surveillance, tails and stakeouts and learn how to counter these efforts.
Chapter 5: Knock and Talks and K-9 Proofing.
Learn tips that GUARANTEE how to win 100% of the time when facing a police encounter at your door. Learn how to fool the dogs in case you didn't listen to Barry's advice and you get raided.
Chapter 6: A Message To DEA.
Barry pulls no punches when outlining an effective way to conduct search warrants without the violence. The DEA and other drug enforcement agencies will owe an answer after Barry exposes this non-violent method to seizing persons and property.
Chapter 7: Those Are Your Kids! Drugs Are Not Harming Them...The Police Are.
This "no holds bar" chapter challenges government propaganda programs such as D.A.R.E and encourages parents to take charge of their families by teaching the truth about drugs. In this chapter, Barry says what the "closet smoking parents" can't say...highly charged and controversial. Note: We currently have 1.5 million children missing one or both parents because of the Drug War.
$19.95
American Drug War DVD
Order This Incredible New Expos̩ Today!Over 4 years, 4 festival wins РSold out screenings from California to Manchester England.
Angered by the death of several family members from the "legal Drugs" of Alcohol, Tobacco and Pharmaceuticals - Texas filmmaker Kevin Booth delves into a world of deceit and corruption controlled by a drug dealing government who's only allegiance is to its corporate masters.
The official DVD contains over THREE HOURS of BONUS features. Including a sixty minute mini doc about Tommy Chong’s arrest. Sheriff Joe Arpaio serving rotten food to non-violent drug offenders. Mike Ruppert going into great detail about various CIA operations. Ricky Ross talking from a prison Pay Phone. And much much more making the DVD a must have especially if you have already seen the film.
This final version of the film features extensive sound mixing and post production for the SHOWTIME broadcast, and is the version we would like to have spread across the country and the world.
$24.95
Never Get Busted Again Combo
Regular price: $39.90
Sale price: $33.90
Alex Jones' terrifying new film End Game: Blueprint For Global Enslavement explores the history of eugenics and answers why the elite are so obsessed with thinning the human population. Order the DVD or Subscribe to prison planet.tv and watch the documentary in high quality online streaming format.
Now every order gets a free copy of the powerful Citizen's Rule Book! Thursday, August 30, 2007
DMX's Arizona Home Raided
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1567865/20070824/dmx.jhtml
Aug 24 2007
DMX's Arizona Home Raided; A Dozen Pit Bulls Removed From Residence
Police also discovered weapons cache; no charges have been filed against rapper.
By Chris Harris, with additional reporting by James Montgomery and Stephen Totilo
Deputies with the Maricopa County sheriff's office raided the Cave Creek, Arizona, home of rapper DMX on Friday morning (August 24), and according to a police spokesperson, 12 pit bulls were removed from the residence, all in bad condition. Police would not get into specifics but did say the animals are being tended to by veterinarians.
At this point, DMX (real name: Earl Simmons) has not been officially charged with any crime, but police are still investigating. DMX was not at his home at the time of the raid, during which police also discovered a large cache of weapons. Police do not believe the rapper is in Arizona but would like to question him as part of their investigation.
A tipster notified police more than a week ago that dogs were being kept in inhumane conditions at the rapper's property, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told MTV News. "They weren't getting proper food, they weren't getting proper water, and they were tied outside in 115-degree heat," Arpaio said. "We are developing the investigation." He added that the department is seeking additional warrants to check the guns to determine if "they're legal, if he's allowed to have weapons."
According to Arpaio, the charred remains of at least one dog were recovered from DMX's backyard, and the sheriff's department will be investigating the rapper's possible involvement in illegal dogfighting. Police continue to explore the grounds around DMX's home for more dog remains.
The rapper's attorney, Stacey Richman, defended her client, saying, "He loves and lives for his animals" and "has caretakers for his homes and especially for his animals." According to Richman, "The caretaker [DMX had hired] was only coming in once a day. Of course, that was not the arrangement."
This isn't the first time police have taken an interest in DMX's dogs. Back in 2002, the rapper pleaded guilty in New Jersey to charges of animal cruelty, stemming from a 1998 raid of DMX's home. Police claimed he had neglected 13 pit bulls. He eventually plea-bargained down to fines, probation and community service, and even starred in a public-service announcement against animal abuse.
The DMX news comes the same day that NFL star Michael Vick admitted his own involvement with dogfighting. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback told the U.S. District Court in Richmond, Virginia, that he would plead guilty to "conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture." Vick faces a maximum term of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Later Friday evening, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that Vick has been suspended from the league indefinitely.
Aug 24 2007
DMX's Arizona Home Raided; A Dozen Pit Bulls Removed From Residence
Police also discovered weapons cache; no charges have been filed against rapper.
By Chris Harris, with additional reporting by James Montgomery and Stephen Totilo
Deputies with the Maricopa County sheriff's office raided the Cave Creek, Arizona, home of rapper DMX on Friday morning (August 24), and according to a police spokesperson, 12 pit bulls were removed from the residence, all in bad condition. Police would not get into specifics but did say the animals are being tended to by veterinarians.
At this point, DMX (real name: Earl Simmons) has not been officially charged with any crime, but police are still investigating. DMX was not at his home at the time of the raid, during which police also discovered a large cache of weapons. Police do not believe the rapper is in Arizona but would like to question him as part of their investigation.
A tipster notified police more than a week ago that dogs were being kept in inhumane conditions at the rapper's property, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told MTV News. "They weren't getting proper food, they weren't getting proper water, and they were tied outside in 115-degree heat," Arpaio said. "We are developing the investigation." He added that the department is seeking additional warrants to check the guns to determine if "they're legal, if he's allowed to have weapons."
According to Arpaio, the charred remains of at least one dog were recovered from DMX's backyard, and the sheriff's department will be investigating the rapper's possible involvement in illegal dogfighting. Police continue to explore the grounds around DMX's home for more dog remains.
The rapper's attorney, Stacey Richman, defended her client, saying, "He loves and lives for his animals" and "has caretakers for his homes and especially for his animals." According to Richman, "The caretaker [DMX had hired] was only coming in once a day. Of course, that was not the arrangement."
This isn't the first time police have taken an interest in DMX's dogs. Back in 2002, the rapper pleaded guilty in New Jersey to charges of animal cruelty, stemming from a 1998 raid of DMX's home. Police claimed he had neglected 13 pit bulls. He eventually plea-bargained down to fines, probation and community service, and even starred in a public-service announcement against animal abuse.
The DMX news comes the same day that NFL star Michael Vick admitted his own involvement with dogfighting. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback told the U.S. District Court in Richmond, Virginia, that he would plead guilty to "conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture." Vick faces a maximum term of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Later Friday evening, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that Vick has been suspended from the league indefinitely.
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