Sheriff Joe Watch: the Sheriff and the Loose Cannon

Since Joe Arpaio was elected Sheriff for the first time in 1992, I remember several stories of Sheriff's guards and deputies behaving badly. If you want a full list, check out the Wikipedia page. What I don't remember is Joe ever being the slightest bit apologetic about any of the various deaths, beatings, beatings to death, etc that occurred as the result of the actions of the men on his watch. However, when honorary Sheriff's deputy Shaquille O’Neal uses some naughty words (slightly NSFW, but the bad words are bleeped) in an impromptu rap in New York City, now, apparently, Sheriff Joe has finally found a reason to discipline someone. He want's O'Neal's badge(s) back.

No word yet on whether O'Neal actually needs any stinkin' badges. And if you really want to know what those words that got bleeped out of Shaq's rap were, the recently departed George Carlin may be able to clear that up for you. (Yeah, that link is NSFW. It's called "7 words you cant' say on television" for a reason).

/Green Bandit Out

Appologies, and a prediction

Hi. Sorry I never got around to doing that local politics rundown. Oops. Anyway, I think I can predict at least one gaffe that will occur in presidential politics some time between now and November.

As we know, Republicans and Democrats, and in a broader sense, conservatives and liberals, clash on many issues, but one of the key reasons they clash is that conservatives tend to frame issues -- in their own minds, most likely, as well as in debates -- as straight dichotomies, good versus evil, us versus them, etc, while liberals tend to focus on nuances and often reject the idea that because something is not good, it is therefore evil, or that because something is not evil it is therefore good. Of course neither side sees their own way of viewing the world as wrong, and both sides would quickly defend their own method of framing issues.

I suspect we're going to see this come out in an embarrassing way before the General Election, when someone (probably a McCain staffer, or his eventual running mate, or perhaps McCain himself) will say:

"There are no gray areas when it comes to dealing with Terrorism. This is strictly a black against white issue."

Obviously there are ways that an Obama staffer, or Obama, could make this slip, but (a) it would take more effort since presumably they'd be phrasing it as "not a black and white issue," and (b) it would likely come off as less inflammatory for the same reason. And for the record, I would see this as a gaffe, rather than as an actual incidence of racism. If Obama is smart, his team won't spin it as racism, either, but will instead point out that the "black and white" rhetoric is exactly the problem with taking that approach to any issue. At one time in America "black" was clearly considered bad, and "white" clearly good. Now the country has moved beyond that and sees that there are good and bad people of all colors. We need to look at national security the same way. Terrorists are (by definition) evil, but that doesn't give us the right to treat them unfairly. We disagree with Iran on many important moral issues, but that doesn't mean we can't talk to them without compromising our values.

Anyway,

Green Bandit Out.

PS -- I wonder if this difference in viewpoint is the reason Democrats often nominate an attorney and Republicans usually don't. The last Republican attorney that was elected president was Richard Nixon (who, after all, did negotiate with the Communist government of China).

Getting Local

I was thinking of posting a top ten list of my favorite Constitutional Amendments in the Bill of Rights, but it's just so hard to choose. So I'm going to start taking a look at the ballot proposals for Flagstaff's city elections (coming up, May 20!).

I realize that of the three (possibly four?) people who read this blog, none of you live in Flagstaff. Sorry.

Guns!

Saw this comic by conservative cartoonist Chuck Asay during my daily editorial comics trawling. It's a "new" "spin" on the old NRA slogan that "guns don't kill people, people kill people." I'd just like to say that Chuck is entirely right. Guns, sitting, unloaded, on a shelf, locked away, cause no one any harm. You may also note that most gun laws are not directed at the guns themselves. I've never seen a legislature pass a law that says guns must drink from a different drinking fountain, or that they must walk in the gutter rather than on the sidewalk. No, most gun laws are designed to keep hands out of people who cannot be trusted to handle firearms responsibly. How can you tell a person cannot be trusted to handle firearms responsibly? Well the first sign is that this person is attempting to purchase a firearm.

Remember, kids: Automatic Assault Rifles Don't Kill People. Automatic Assault Rifle Owners Kill People.

You think it doesn't effect you?

If you think the environment doesn't effect you... you're in for an awful shock. Buffalo Mozzarella from Campania has been contaminated by illegal toxic dumping. Our cheese, man! They're getting our cheese!

Seriously, though, this isn't something happening in a pre-industrial country, it's not something that only effects the school children living in some one else's neighborhood. Cutting corners on the environment effects food. It effects the economy. It effects the trendy Italian Bistros that global warming deniers take their trophy wives to on their anniversaries.

If there's one thing Republicans can pride themselves on...

If there's one thing Republicans can pride themselves on, it's being fiscally conservative, right? Am I right? I'm wrong, aren't I? Let's see how wrong I am:



My favorite line starts at about 2minutes 16seconds in: "Sheriff Joe Arpiao, normally open to all media requests, declined to talk to twelve news on camera about this operation."

Yeah, so apparently the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department is too low on funds to buy basic office supplies, but they're sending county employees to Honduras to help train police there. I'm all for strengthening international relations, but this looks a little like Joe's sending his best employees on working vacations at Maricopa County expense... and shouldn't international relations be the federal government's job?

/Green Bandit Out.

At Least We've Learned from Our Mistakes...

Found this over at Tom Tomorrow's but the original article is here

MADISON, Wis. - The online gun dealer who sold a weapon to the Virginia Tech shooter said it was an unnerving coincidence that he also sold handgun accessories to the man who killed five students at Northern Illinois University.
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Eric Thompson said his Web site, [removed by Greenbandit], sold two empty 9 mm Glock magazines and a Glock holster to Steven Kazmierczak on Feb. 4, just 10 days before the 27-year-old opened fire in a classroom and killed five before committing suicide.

Another Web site run by Thompson's company, [removed by Greenbandit], also sold a Walther .22-caliber handgun to Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people in April on the Virginia Tech campus before killing himself.

"I'm still blown away by the coincidences," Thompson said Friday. "I'm shaking. I can't believe somebody would order from us again and do this."

Removed links to prevent driving up his webtraffic (not that this site is going to drive a lot his way). If you're really curious about his websites, the original article has them linked. The skills needed to run a business don't really depend on what you're selling. If this guy is as shaken as he says he is, why not go into a different line of work?