Saturday, September 4, 2010

Arizona In the Spotlight

Arizona is making headlines again and they are not good. Our dimwit governor, Jan Brewer, embarrassed herself by giggling through a senior moment and by using bad grammar. Will that turn the voters off? Probably not. Given the fact that voters have the attention span of a flea, it will be forgotten by election day. Gov. Brewer will not make that mistake again because she has refused Terry Goddard's repeated request for more debates. The lady knows her brain is on hold.

Here are a few things going on in my State that I wish were not happening, but remember we have the Grand Canyon and the Sonora Desert. Please don't write us off because of a few nutcases in our government.

Excerpts from the Gail Collins op-ed piece in this morning's NYTimes:
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The evening ended when she stomped away from reporters who were yelling: “Governor, please answer the question about the headless bodies.”

Brewer is an unelected governor, a Republican who moved into the job when
Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, was named secretary of homeland security.

The governor has been on national programs on Fox 20 times since April to talk about illegal immigration, but she has been generally unavailable to the Arizona reporters.

Inquiring minds wanted to know about the beheading part. “Oh, our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert — either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded,” she said in an interview. This was both memorable and untrue.

Politicians, in search of a winning issue, created the fear all by themselves. During John McCain’s sterling performance in his primary campaign this summer, he contended that cars full of illegal immigrants “are intentionally causing accidents on the freeway.”

The nonexistent beheadings and alleged drive-by assaults are being brought up at a time when, as Goddard (Democratic candidate for governor) points out, “violent crime is at the lowest level it’s been since 1983 and crime along the border is at least at a 10-year-low.”

Goddard, who is the state attorney general, is absolutely passionate on this subject. He can go on for hours about the Treasury Department’s failure to follow the dirty money. He worked with Western Union to stop the smugglers’ ability to receive payments by wire for their human cargo. He’s outraged about the way our laws limiting the amount of cash people can carry across the border haven’t kept up with the modern methods of transferring money.

Brewer also said that the difference between her and her opponent was that “I’ve done something. Terry hasn’t did anything.” one of these issues, alas, are nearly as exciting as headless bodies or demonic drivers.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amy Collins is an Arizona resident and she had this to say as posted on Truthout.:

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I'm only assuming that Brewer's community college radiological technician training, which makes up the sum of her formal education, did not likely include debate as part of its curriculum.

A recent report by the Pew Hispanic Trust shows that illegal immigration numbers are down by over two-thirds, and recent reports by the FBI have indicated that crime is significantly down in Arizona. Another government report shows that undocumented immigrants actually improve the economy and boost wages and jobs. The drumming up of fear tactics on the part of Brewer, has now revealed to be the only ace she is holding to guarantee her election bid. Her mendacity about balancing the state budget, an inability to articulate how she plans to bring jobs to the state and her sidestepping the fact that her top advisers have well-publicized ties to prison corporations - prisons that are now shown to be unsafe to the general public - all added up to show a woman who is sadly out of her depth and is clutching the life preserver of the "immigration problem" as her only hope.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More news from the state of the weirdos. Arizona may finally get justice. The sadistic sheriff, Joe Arpaio is being sued again. This time the DOJ is not headed by a Republican administration that turned a blind eye to his shenanigans. From Truthout, Nadia Prupis writes:

The US Justice Department (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday for alleged civil rights violations and refusal to cooperate with a federal probe.

"The actions of the sheriff's office are unprecedented," said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. "It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation to gain access to public documents and facilities."


Tthe DOJ has attempted to investigate Arpaio for a litany of alleged civil rights abuses, including racial profiling, unconstitutional searches and seizures and enforcement of English-only policies in his jails.

A separate probe launched this year by a grand jury is looking into abuse of power charges against Arpaio after he conducted baseless prosecutions of political opponents. In 1997, the DOJ also investigated Arpaio for civil rights abuses within his jails, alleging that he deliberately failed to discipline guards who subjected inmates to excessive use of force. Arpaio's compliance in that case led to the implementation of more humane jail policies, including the limited use of pepper spray, stun guns and restraint chairs.

Arpaio expressed disappointment in the ongoing investigation. Arpaio said. d to proceed with "I'm going to continue, maybe tomorrow, to enforce all the illegal immigration laws ... As [State Senator Russell Pearce] always says, 'Take the handcuffs off the cops.' I'm not going to be intimidated by the federal government going to court against us."
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Lest you forget, the same Russell Pearce is the one responsible for that unconstitutional law, SB1070.

16 comments:

Hattie said...

I learn more from you about Arizona than anywhere in the mainstream press. Even my husband, who goes there often on business, can't give me the lowdown the way you do! Has it struck you that politics is the only profession where people brag about their lack of experience? It's like a surgeon saying, Well I've never operated before, but that just shows how honest I'm being with you.
Did you know about the Arizone prison built especially for Hawaiians? Cheaper than housing them here. But really not: it's just a boondoggle for contractors and the private prison industry. Isn't that special?

K. said...

What people will fall for. My, but we're a gullible species. However did we make it this far?

Darlene said...

*Hattie - When you live in the hornets nest you learn to be careful. I vaguely remember reading something about that prison. Thanks for the reminder.

*K - I wonder too.

20th Century Woman said...

Gosh, Darlene, I'm thinking about comeing to Arizona this winter for a visit (and to see you) but what you say about the politics takes my breath away. I surely hope sanity will prevail and that the voters are not as mindless as they seem now.

Leslie Parsley said...

Darlene - great minds.

Needless to say, I'm not a fan of this woman's. On the one hand she obviously doesn't know what the hell she's talking about. On the other, I think she is a puppet whose strings are being pulled by some evil rich people. She is a pawn and an incompetent one at that.

I don't know whether it's stress or early oldsheimers but either one could explain some of that long pause. As a commenter on my blog pointed out, if she'd been telling the truth, she'd been able to get herself together a lot sooner.

A college degree doesn't necessarily indicate a person with smarts.

BTW, she has recanted the comment about the headless bodies. She "misspoke."

Looking to the Stars said...

Thanks for putting the truth in print because we will not hear it from the media. We have the same problems here in Colo.

I was so mad the other day when the editor of the Gazette told Maas not to run for governor. I felt I had time traveled back to the 1920's.

I'm glad you are telling us the truth about AZ. A BIG thank you!!!

Kay Dennison said...

Great, informative post and I echo Hattie's statements!!!!

Darlene said...

*20th Century Woman - Oh gee, will you really come see me? That would be so great. Don't let the crazies stop you; most of them are in Mesa. We are saner down here.

*tnlib - She misspeaks often; silly woman.

*Looking to the Starts - Yes, I know you have political trouble in Colo. I have a Republican friend who sends me so much garbage I had to ask her to stop. The right wing are all over, it seems.

*Kay - I hope I can keep on informing you. How we could go from such a wonderful governor to such an idiot is beyond me, but we have had some real lulus through the years.

Nance said...

Glad I followed the trail over from Ronni Bennett's place.

Jan Brewer is the Republican party personified. She's the only headless human she needs to worry about. McCain has, I fear, become senile. There's nothing wrong with senility (I'm thinking of taking it up, myself), but your family knows to take away your car keys when it happens; why the hell doesn't somebody yank McCain's car keys?!

Love this piece, Darlene!

Darlene said...

*Nance - Thank you for your visit and I do hope you will stop by again.

I love your comment on Brewer being the only headless human; very funny.

Vagabonde said...

Unfortunately there are many people in Arizona, just like here in Georgia, who believe what they want to believe. The truth can be in their face, they still don’t want to look at it. They are totally the “true believers.” I was talking about this to some friend in Norway and they suggested that America’s over religiosity has a lot to do with it. Believe what you are told and don’t ask questions - it's part of "faith".....

Joy Des Jardins said...

Thanks for filling us in on the goings on in Arizona Darlene. Hattie's right....I learn more from you about these things than anywhere.

Darlene said...

*Vagabond - Excellent point.

Hughes ap Williams said...

Darlene -

I saw this article about street prople running for office in Arizona and thought of you LOL:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/us/politics/07candidates.html?_r=1

Benito said...

In the last four months Jan Brewer has been caught lying, three times and counting.

The comments made on June 16, 2010, and June 27, 2010, clearly indicates that the Brewer says that immigrants are beheading people in the United States desert. She first ran away from the question and the press when confronted with the question. She finally when to FOX/ FAKE News to recant her lie.

When Brewer was confronted with the fact the two of her top Advisors (Paul Senseman, Chuck Coughlin) are lobbyist for “Private Prisons” giant CCA she first ran away from the question and the press.

In an attempt to gain sympathy, she first said her father had died in Germany fighting the Nazi in World War II (which ended 1945) but of course we find out the truth that her father was never in Germany and died in California in 1955. Do you see a trend here?

Brewer signed into law SB 1070 Bill (Did she even read it?), lied about the crime rates in AZ (even Janet Napolitano knows that all crimes rates went down), and now we find out that she is in the pockets of PRIVATE PRISONS who stand to benefit with the increase Federal jailing, and thus they will pay her back, I wonder if it has to do anything about the fact that her son was transferred to a brand new prison, he was convicted for rape and sexual assault, I guess the fruit does not fall far the tree.


“Private Prisons Lie”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMcgXxzcBeY

“AZ Crime Rates”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eb4mMk6XgQ

“Father Lie”
http://vodpod.com/watch/3771595-charles-krauthammer-rips-jan-brewer-for-lying-about-her-father-dying-in-ww2

Darlene said...

*Benito - Thank you for your visit. I do hope you will return. Welcome to the debate and thank you for the links to the You Tube videos. When Faux network pans you, you know you are in trouble. Jan Brewer is a disgrace.