Blogs

From the DHS site Hansnews.com: Schmidt turning over filched photos of Jamie Foxx to the actor's rep.

I've gotta give up the journalistic kudos to Arizona Republic reporter Richard Ruelas, who's obviously been working overtime on the DHS suicide story. In a winding piece that jumps from the front page in the Sunday paper, Ruelas speaks with DHS twin brother Doug Schmidt who drops that his brother suffered from depression, and that his death came by hanging. You have to weather a long lead to get to these tidbits, which are the story's main revelations. Ruelas also talks with Schmidt's estranged pa Fred up in Minnesota, who says he did not recall telling Phoenix mag writer David Leibowitz that he doesn't love his son, though Ruelas apparently listened to the tape of DHS's rich developer dad stating such to Leibo.

I also have to credit Leibo for forcing me to do something I almost never do, run out and grab a copy of Phoenix mag, which in addition to KTAR-dork Darrell Ankarlo's snore-worthy column and food writer Nikki Puke-cannon's fave new places to nosh, includes Leibo's long-delayed piece on celeb porn-peddler Schmidt. Earlier this year, Leibo had informed me that he had severed ties with Phoenix mag because they'd killed his Schmidt story even before he got a chance to write it. At that time, he expressed no interest in trying to sell it to someone else. Apparently, Schmidt had threatened Phoenix with a lawsuit, and that's why they passed on it. Leibo'd sent me several back and forth e-mails between himself and DHS over the matter. Leibo even bothers to mention this in the October issue item, and in a fit of honesty confesses that the reason for reviving the article's corpse had to do with the fact DHS had made news with his so-called plot to extort Tom Cruise over lost TomKat wedding photos.

(As an aside, is it really extortion if the "victim" might be willing to pony up a buttload of dough for photos he already owns? I mean, you can't rape the willing. And why was the FBI involved in uncovering this caper? Don't they have terrorists to catch, or something? Personally, I wish DHS had scored on this one. Tom Cruise is one of the most annoying celebs in Hollywood. Who cares if his retarded wedding pics are released to the public or not? Sheesh.)

The Leibo piece is definitely worth reading. I found it interesting that DHS was a fairly literate fellow, or at least more literate than I gave him credit for being. He throws out references to Dostoevsky, Kant, and Nietzsche, and talks about his time spent reading in prison. There's also plenty of the usual alpha-male bullshit, leavened with a generous dose of self-induced drama. I like Leibo's line that the DHS tale has "everything except a psychiatrist," something the guy absolutely needed. I have to disagree with commenters on my earlier post who basically say the guy's an asshole who won't be missed. Thing is, it's usually the assholes of this world who make something happen. Sure, DHS was sleazy, but so what? The dood made a splash while above ground, and we're all writing about him now. Somewhere on the autopsy table, he's having the last laugh.

An ass on an ass? Schmidt in better days, from his Web site.

Could it be another of David Hans Schmidt's publicity stunts? Yet, there it is in black and white on my 'puter, the news that the celebrity sex-tape hawker was found dead in his PHX home of an "apparent suicide." I phoned Sergeant Andy Hill of the PHX PD's Media Relations Unit, and this is the statement the cops are releasing:

During the afternoon of September 28, 2007, the Phoenix Police Department received a “check welfare” radio call. According to the caller, Mr. Schmidt had been required to wear a monitoring device. The device had not registered movement for some time and the caller was concerned for Mr. Schmidt’s welfare. Officers responded to 4301 N. 21st Street, went inside the residence, and Mr. Schmidt was found deceased. Based on the scene investigators believe this is an apparent suicide. Final determination of the cause and manner of death will be made by the Office of the Medical Examiner. No other information will be released at this time.

No word yet on how he offed himself: gun, pills, razor or whatnot. However he did it, I find the news eyebrow-raising because he struck me as a "will to power" kind of guy. You know, the type who takes to heart the Nietzsche aphorism, "That which does not kill me makes me stronger." I met him once at a bar, the now defunct IO at the Biltmore, and he seemed a pugnacious, yet friendly sort. Almost Damon Runyon-esque, if that's possible in Sand Land. Later when I dealt with him by phone, he got a little nasty, threatened to take an order of protection out against me if I didn't stop calling him for a comment. At the time, I was trying to find out why a planned Phoenix magazine profile of him never saw the light of day. The tale from the guy penning it, former KTAR talk-radio host David Leibowitz, was that Schmidt threatened the mag with legal action if the profile went forward. Schmidt didn't like that Leibo was getting into what Schmidt considered too-personal territory. Ultimately the piece didn't run. Makes me wonder if Leibo is going through his old notes today. I know I would be.

(A commenter below notes that this article is in the current issue of Phoenix mag, which I haven't seen yet. If so, talk about timing! New Times also awarded him a BOP, "BEST ATTEMPTED SHAKEDOWN OF TOM CRUISE." The last two lines seem prescient: "In August, Schmidt entered in to a plea agreement, and now faces two years in the pen and a $250,000 fine. Let's just hope that this time, we won't be hearing about him for a long, long time.")

Schmidt, of course, was known for hawking sex tapes of Tonya Harding, brokering nudie pic deals for Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Darva Conger and others, and trying to sell Paris Hilton's diaries. He reportedly got his start as disgraced Governor Ev Mecham's press secretary during Mecham's impeachment, a tale told in New Times scribe Robert Pela's entertaining 2002 interview with Schmidt. I love the part where Roberto asks Schmidt about how the Tonya Harding sex tape came about, and Schmidt relates,

I was Jeff Gillooly's agent, and I told him, "You want to make some money? You've got to get me some skin on the old lady." He called me up the day after they were married and said, "I got a 30-minute wedding-night video of Tonya." I took it straight to Bob Guccione at Penthouse.

New Times reporter Bob Nelson wrote about Schmidt's toubles with the law on several occasions, in "Pay Back" (August 23, 2001), "Schmidt Happens" (September 20, 2001), and "Spleen Man" (July 26, 2001), wherein Nelson describes Schmidt taking on the case of Jefferson Davis McGee, a victim of Joe Arpaio's gulags, who was misidentified as a child killer and rapist and got his spleen danced on by fellow prisoners.

David Hans Schmidt (right) with former client and spleen-man Jefferson Davis McGee.

More recently, Schmidt repped Dale Hausner, suspected "Serial Shooter," but he may have bitten off more than he could chew by trying to sell wedding pics of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes back to Cruise for over $1 mil. The feds nabbed him for extortion, and he was planning to plead guilty. He was facing a possible deuce in the federal pen. Still, he'd been in Arpaio's jails before. Compared to that, two years in federal stir has gotta be a slice of bannana cream pie. Likely there's more involved. Or perhaps at age 47 the guy was weary of the fight.

One thing's certain: everyone in P-town's sure to have a Schmidt story. He reveled in his role as the Sultan of Sleaze, and reporters ate up his antics. How can you hate a guy who peddles topless snaps of U.S. Army POW Jessica Lynch, and helps broker Saved by the Bell's Dustin "Screech" Diamond's sex vid? Schmidt was a hustler, a wannabe Hollywood playa stuck in the PHX, a ballsy bottomfeeder always ready to take the slime prime-time. A character, to say the least. And for fans of everything tabloid, one that will be missed, in spite of his many sins.

For a previous post on Schmidt, see: David Hans Schmidt, uh, I mean Schmuck.

Also, check out Schmidt's own site Hansnews.com, which features a link to an O.J. Simpson sex tape Schmidt had been peddling.

Finally, NT writer David Pasztor tackled The Schmidt way back in 1992 with the piece "HAVE HUEVOS, WILL TRAVEL."

One step ahead of the Sheriff: Chief Dan Saban in his CHiPs getup.

Buckeye Police Chief Dan Saban, Sheriff Joe Arpaio's once and future foe, may be able to breathe a tad easier this weekend. Seems a draft ordinance preventing Buckeye town employees from running for elective office will not be on the October 2 City Council agenda, which was recently posted to the Buckeye city Web site.

Though Buckeye Mayor Bobby Bryant, the man behind the proposed city law, claimed that the draft ordinance was not aimed at Saban in this week's Bird column, suspicions persist that this is nonetheless the case. After all, Saban is the one Buckeye town employee everyone knows is going to run for public office in 2008. He already has a Web site up at www.sabanforsheriff.com, and reportedly he informed the City of Buckeye of his intentions when he was hired two years ago. Under the proposed ordinance, Saban would have to resign his Chiefdom to run for Sheriff against Arpaio.

As reported in the Paul Rubin cover story "Below the Belt" (September 20, 2007), Joe Arpaio's attorney Dennis Wilenchik has sent out "virulent anti-Saban letters to several authorities," including the Buckeye Town Council. In The Bird, Mayor Bryant acknowledged receipt of the Wilenchik communique, but said it had no bearing on the ordinance. Still, Bryant and Saban ain't exactly the best of buds, having butted heads before for different reasons. Could it be that since news of the anti-Saban ordinance is out, Mayor Bryant and his fellow Republicans on the council are having second thoughts? Perhaps they realize that the passing of this ordinance would be perceived by the public as a blatant case of political payback and bias.

As a Democrat in the '08 general election, Saban may at last attain the victory against Arpaio that he was unable to clinch as a Republican in the '04 primary. Still, there are powerful forces at work intent on keeping Saban from running and on damaging him in any way possible. If the Sheriff's office was willing to slime him as they did in '04, and as is recounted in the Paul Rubin cover piece "Boob's Tube" (January 25, 2007), you can pretty much expect the worst in mudslinging and dirty trickery as '08 approaches.

The satirical image of Joe as a Klansman that made media headlines in August.

Sheriff Joe's on the warpath against illegals, so much so he's not even bothering to wait for new anti-day laborer laws to take effect in the bigoted burg of Cave Creek. Hell, he's already harassing workers at a church, arresting them for the crime of being BWP, or Brown Without Papers. Ol' Joe had his deputies arrest nine people yesterday near the sanctuary site set up by the Good Shepherd of the Hills Episcopal Church, though these folks' only real crime was wanting to bust their asses for whitey.

Cave Creek's new laws against loitering and cars stopping on city streets don't go into effect until October 24, but, see, Joe IS the law in Maricopa County, and he can do whatever the heck he wants, even if the law books haven't caught up with him yet. Thursday, his deputies pulled people for bullshit infractions. Then they pulled the brown passengers from the vehicles and arrested them.

Why not arrest the ofays picking up men wanting to work? Well, because their skin is sans tan. Though how in tarnation Caucasians who prefer the comforts of their La-Z-Boys and not breaking a sweat will now get their gardening done is beyond me. It's probably beyond them, too.

Cave Creek's a redneck town, and comments recently printed in the Sonoran News about lynching blacks (specifically, by implication, rapper DMX, the subject of this week's Bird column) prove this. Some have chided Sonoran News Publisher/Editor Don Sorchych for running the anonymous comment, but I think they're wrong. Better to have the bigotry out in the open where everyone can see it. If I were black or brown, I wouldn't be going anywhere near the prejudiced podunk of Cave Creek, and I'm sure that's how the majority of residents there like it.

Cave Creek and Sheriff Joe were made for each other. Actually, in his heart, I doubt Joe's really a racist. He's more of an opportunist and a grandstander, than anything. But his actions peg him as a bigoted bully, even if he's only pursuing these policies to pander to the lowest common denominator. Never has that satirical, photoshopped image of "KKK Joe" forwarded around by activist Elias Bermudez in August seemed more apt. If there existed a White Knights of Maricopa County, they'd probably vote in Arpaio as their honorary Grand Wizard.

Note the similarity?

Just saw this bit in the ASU State Press about PHX Mayor Phil "Goober" Gordon speaking at the Central Library yesterday, where he "discussed making the city a safer place for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community." The occasion was a forum addressing hate-crime. Reporter Beezer Muth (great name, BTW) states that, "Gordon delivered the opening speech of the forum, showing his commitment to keeping Phoenix safe for all its members." The piece is titled, "Phoenix focusing on safety of LGBT community, mayor says."

What a crock of butt-monkeys! With our cops being gunned down in the streets for making jaywalking stops, and Phoenix rated as the 59th most dangerous city in America, beating out even New York City, Goober Gordon's the Barney Fife of U.S. Mayors, a bumbling, incompetent nincompoop who's a menace to the public he supposedly serves. Pass-the-buck-Phil avoids any responsibility for the high crime rate in the PHX. Though he was sunning himself in Hawaii when Officer Erfle was killed, he said it was the Feds' fault when he finally returned to Phoenix. And when outrageous security failings at Sky Harbor were exposed by ABC 15, Phil stuck his head in the sand and said the airport was safe, even after watching hidden camera footage of personnel marching past guards without being checked.

So if you're a member of the LGBT community or ANY community, don't buy this pathetic bullhockey Hizzoner peddles. Doing so might cost you your life. We live in a very, very dangerous city. And Phil Gordon has helped make it that way.

(The top photo is from the grilling Da Mayor got from ABC 15's Lisa Fletcher. If you wanna watch her eat Hizzoner's lunch, click here.)

Elissa Wall, a.k.a., Warren Jeffs' Jane Doe...

Pardon me if I crow like the Feathered Bastard that I am, but what was all over the news last night but 21-year-old Elissa Wall, formerly known as Jane Doe in the press, addressing a horde of reporters? This was, of course, following the conviction of Warren Jeffs for abetting her rape by her cousin when she was 14. She began by paraphrasing a line from Edmund Burke, stating,

When I was young my mother taught me that evil flourishes when good men do nothing. This has not been easy for us. The easy thing would have been to do nothing. But I have followed my heart, and I've spoken the truth. Lamont and I would like to convey our love to our families. Mother, I love you and my sisters unconditionally. I will go to the ends of the earth for you. I understand and respect your convictions, but I will not give up on you. I have very tender feelings for the FLDS people. There is so much good in them. I pray they will find the strength to step back, and reexamine what they have been told to believe and follow their hearts. This trial has not been about religion or a vendetta. It was simply about child abuse and preventing further abuse.

She had words of encouragement for women and girls still under the thumb of the FLDS cult, and thanks for Washington County prosecutor Brock Belnap's work. She closed with a quote from Emily Dickinson, "Opinion is a fleeting thing, but truth outlasts the sun."

Moving stuff, to be sure. So why am I crowing? Because back in December I revealed Wall's name in the post "Warren Jeffs' Jane Doe," and I predicted that she would talk to the media after the trial. This, despite the fact that at the time the press was withholding her name, which I regarded then (and still do) as silly. Though Wall was 14 when Jeffs married her off against her will to a 19-year-old, she's certainly an adult now. And since her identity was known by the FLDS, the court, and every reporter covering the case, it was hypocritical to keep her name a secret, especially since with a trial of this importance, a post-verdict press conference was almost inevitable.

I caught a tiny bit o' hell for it back in December, and a little more this Friday when I announced that Utah's Deseret Morning News had published a photo of Wall when she was 14, along with her name. Both the photo and the name were released by Wall's attorney, though I'm certain the Deseret Morning News was aware of her name and likely already had photos of her.

To the Friday post, reader Tom wrote, "Today you have gone after a woman who has done no one any harm, except those that deserve it. Today a little shine has gone off New Times' star. Commenter Zoey was more direct, "This article shows just how despicable this so-called `newspaper' really is. What an asshole!"

An asshole I may be, but at least I'm not a hypocrite. I'll be really surprised if Wall avoids going on Oprah or Larry King. And I'll be equally surprised if she doesn't write a book about her experiences. When these things happen, I suspect Tom and Zoey and all the rest -- me included -- will watch her heart-rending interview by one of the big TV talking heads, and maybe will even read her book. Hey, call me the Carnac of the PHX. Just remember, you heard it here first.

You can watch the full video of Wall's press conference, here. Look down to the right and click on the entry for Wall.

Cpt. John Birch, Baptist, U.S. intelligence officer, and inventor of the missionary position.

It isn't often that someone contradicts themselves so blatantly in the comments to this blog as has Bryan Turner, the AZ state coordinator for the John Birch Society, whom I met Saturday as he was manning the JBS booth at Gilbert's Constitution Week Fair. Concerning a quote about President Eisenhower in JBS founder Robert Welch's book The Politician, Turner at first wrote that, "Robert Welch never called Ike a `a dedicated, conscious agent of the communist conspiracy.'" This was in reply to yesterday's post, "John Birch-ers, Ron Paul-ites and loads of white folk at Gilbert's Constitution Week Fair."

I responded to the comment, something I rarely do, pointing out that several sources indicate that the more outrageous assertions about Eisenhower were modified in later editions of Welch's Ike-indictment. (Remember, Ike was considered a hero, a victorious general. Slandering Ike in the '50s and '60s would be on par with someone today accusing Billy Graham of forced sodomy.) Turner still took issue, posting the following,

The quote is totally out of context, and in the context written in your article totally changes the meaning of the statement in the book.

The editions have NEVER altered that quote, to imply such is dishonest at best.

So which is it, is the quote made up, or was it taken out of context? It's difficult to overemphasize the importance of this controversy for the history of the JBS. Welch's smear of Republican icon Ike helped boot the society he founded out of the mainstream of American politics, earning it the scorn of fellow conservatives such as William F. Buckley, Jr.

Conservative commentator Russell Kirk, for instance, stated that, "Ever since [Welch] has founded the Society, he has done more to injure the cause of responsible conservatism than to act effectively against communism."

Kirk also had a great line about the charge that Ike was a commie: "Eisenhower isn't a communist, he's a golfer."

More

Michael Israel's Lady Liberty, painted live on the premises.

"So where are the slaves and the dead Indians?" That was my first thought on arrival at Mesquite High School this Saturday evening for Gilbert's 6th annual Constitution Week Fair, an event celebrating America's founding document, with George and Martha Washington impersonators, fireworks, patriotic music, red-white-and-blue bunting, and more crackers than a warehouse of saltines. I think I saw one Asian chick out of the over 10,000 Constitution-lovers on site. A couple of Hispanics. Zero blacks. Well, we are talking about Gilbert. And to be fair, Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the United States Constitution only recognized then slaves as three-fifths of a human being. So what should I have been expecting, a live reenactment of Alex Haley's Roots?

No, this isn't where they buried the Native Americans, or the slaves. It's supposed to be Arlington...

To be honest, this is just the sort of family-friendly event that I normally try to avoid like the clap. It was just like having July 4th in September, but without beer. Believe me, once a year is enough, and the cool fall weather hardly makes up for the lack of alcohol. But I digress. Needless to say, you haven't lived until you've seen a huge crowd of ofays held spellbound by a live-action painter, in this case, Michael Israel, who wowed 'em as he painted Lady Liberty and other patriotic images on spinning canvasses, sometimes painting with his bare hands as the audience oohed and ahhed. Israel is talented in a kitschy State Fair art kind of way, and I admit to being intrigued enough at one point to wait until he was finished. I couldn't help it. As a Caucasian, the rage for processed cheese runs in my blood.

The funhouse recreations of national monuments delighted the kiddies and their 'rents alike. But I was on a mission, to spot and perhaps even jawbone with members of the mythical John Birch Society, who had nested in an enclosed encampment called the "town square." This is where the Constitution Week organizers corralled all the political booths and activists, like a political petting zoo where you could come in contact with everyone from supporters of Jeff Flake and Ron Paul, to Goldwater Institute shills, Democrats, ACLUers, and Republicans.

I was most interested in the extremely rare John Birchers, the JBS being a far-right, anti-communist org. founded in 1958 by former candy manufacturer Robert Welch, who held a conspiracist view of history and believed there was a cabal of internationalists manipulating human events and engineering a secret plot to turn America into a pinko, commie state. Welch even believed President Dwight D. Eisenhower was "a dedicated, conscious agent of the communist conspiracy." Welch and his fellow Birchers were considered to be so wing-nut in their day that they were denounced by William F. Buckley, Jr., and kept at arm's length by Mr. Conservative, Barry Goldwater. Indeed, Welch went even further off the deep end years later by embracing elements of the Illuminati conspiracy, the ultimate in crackpot paranoia.

One would think the Birchers would be an anachronism left over from the Cold War. After all, the Berlin Wall fell, and Red China has become a capitalist powerhouse, albeit sans democracy. Funny enough, the Birchers are anti-democratic too, but that's because they regard the U.S. as a republic, and reject the concept of "indirect democracy." I'd heard the Birchers were still very active in Arizona, so here was my chance to find out what they're all about these days. What threat replaced communism as the Bircher bugbear, I wondered?

To judge by their booths (they had two in the "town square"), their main emphasis these days is on battling the chimera of the North American Union, the supposed plot to merge Mexico, the U.S. and Canada into one large superstate with its own currency, the Amero. Bircher pamphlets show Americans pledging allegiance to an N.A.U. flag, cobbled together from the three nation-states. And they depict the Amero with a portrait of George W. Bush on the front. Of course, none of this exists. Even the N.A.U. name is a crock, an invention of overheated wing-nut imaginations. Essentially, believers in N.A.U.-inevitability have twisted a White House initiative called the Security and Prosperity Partnership, which basically assists in streamlining cooperation between the three countries, and turned it into a loony conspiracy fantasy only to be rivaled by Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.

John Birch-er Bryan Turner...

Manning the main JBS booth, along with a few older gents, was 30-year-old Bryan Turner, the Gilbert-based state coordinator for Arizona. He estimated that there were over a thousand true-blue Birchers statewide, with four chapters in the Valley. Though that doesn't sound like a lot, Turner stated that the JBS was undergoing a resurgence of sorts.

"The JBS is non-political, we don’t endorse candidates, but look at Ron Paul," suggested Turner. "He has a similar message as the JBS, and the people that are joining with Ron Paul are much younger people. People my age like freedom. We don’t want to be stifled with regulation. We don’t want to be told what we can and can’t do with out own personal lives. As far as the government itself, sticking to the principles of freedom is something that’s important for us."

I asked him if the freedom he was talking about included freedom from the fluoridation of water, which was once a paranoid chestnut the Birchers were associated with, but Turner said he'd never heard of it. Then I wondered if the Birchers still subscribed to conspiracy theories, to which he replied:

"People say conspiracy theory. I would say we’re conspiracy factists. We don’t believe these things are happening by accident. The people that are pushing us in this direction towards collectivism, totalitarianism and even world government know what they’re doing and they’re doing it on purpose."

More

Jeez, dudes, get a room! J.T. Ready and Russell Pearce snuggling at an anti-immigrant rally in June.

Have you seen Russell Pearce's new toupee? Pearce sports his new rug on his Pearce for Congress Exploratory Committee Web site. He also loses the glasses in an obvious attempt to look younger than his 60 years on this Earth. Normally the grizzled old racist looks a tad older than 60, but he has to suck in his gut and play youthful now. He wants to trade in his rainmaker role in the State House for Congressman Jeff Flake's 6th District Congressional seat. Flake is young, handsome, vigorous. Pearce looks like he's one Denny's breakfast away from a coronary. The toupee is his way of trying not to look like the mean old man he is versus the dimple-chinned, fair-haired, Colgate-toothed Flake.

Pearce before his extreme makeover.

Pearce's after photo. Nice rug, Russ.

One thing that toupee will not hide is Pearce's bigotry towards Mexicans, and his unsavory connections to outright neo-fascists, such as Mesa's J.T. Ready, who recently took part in a neo-Nazi demonstration in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. After the demo, members of the swastika-wearing National Socialist Movement and fellow travelers retired to a local farm where they lit giant swastikas afire, listened to hate-core music, slam-danced, and barbecued a Mexican and an Israeli flag. Ready also keeps a page on the NSM's NewSaxon.org, a racist MySpace, "for Whites, by Whites." And he's attended the local neo-Nazi National Vanguard's Winterfest event. Reportedly in his Scottish kilt. Ooh-la-la.

Ready's a supporter of Pearce, and at a June anti-immigration rally at the State Capitol, the prejudiced pair spent almost all of their time with each other. They even appeared smiling and arm-in-arm in photos. In any other state, such damning pics would signal the end of a politician's career. Here in AZ, they're shrugged at by those in the nativist movement. That's because so many nativists see nothing wrong with neo-Nazis or their beliefs, beliefs which dovetail with their own.

But in 2006, when Pearce was caught forwarding an anti-Semitic e-mail to his supporters -- an e-mail from the neo-Nazi National Alliance, even Republicans bagged on him. None other than ultra-right Congressman J.D. Hayworth withdrew his support for Pearce's reelection to the State House. Hayworth lost to Democrat Harry Mitchell, and Pearce was reelected, despite the e-mail eff-up and despite his previous endorsement of the Eisenhower administration's "Operation Wetback," a 1954 INS deportation program. The voters in Pearce's State House district apparently had no problem with his views.

But in a higher-profile Congressional race, Pearce will not have it so easy. If Flake's campaign is smart, they will find ways to call attention to Pearce's reactionary views and his white supremacist pals. J.T. Ready could end up being Pearce's Willie Horton. You remember, the furloughed killer Bush, Sr., hung 'round the neck of Democrat Michael Dukakis in the '88 Presidential election. Though Ready did shoot at an illegal in an infamous incident when he was running unsuccessfully for Mesa City Council, he hasn't killed anyone. Still his friendliness with Pearce reveals Pearce's own racism. Why would a potential congressional candidate not disassociate himself from someone as revolting as Ready? It must be because they are in fundamental agreement.

At the time Pearce circulated that neo-Nazi e-mail, he said that a friend had sent it to him and he had not paid close attention to it. Could that friend have been J.T. Ready? Or does Pearce have other neo-Nazi buds we don't know about? I mean, would it surprise you one bit if he did?

J.T. Ready, the Ernst Roehm of the East Valley, second from right, at a neo-Nazi rally in Omaha earlier this month.

Elissa Wall, age 14, in a photo released by her lawyers.

As the jury in the rape-as-accomplice trial of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs recessed for the weekend, attorneys for his accuser revealed her name, Elissa Wall. They also provided a photo of Wall at age 14, one just published in the Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News. Wall alleges she was married off by Jeffs to her cousin, and forced to have sex with him, despite her then tender age.

She's now 21. And though her name has long been well-known to the court, all of the lawyers in the case, the Fundamentalist LDS church, and those familiar with her lawsuit against the FLDS (in which she's asking for $1 million), the news media declined to print her moniker till now.

Back in December, I revealed Wall's name in the blog item "Warren Jeffs' Jane Doe," pointing out that it was hypocritical for the news media to withhold her identity because everyone knew it, and she herself was likely to be interviewed by 20/20 or some other TV news magazine after the trial. Well, she hasn't been on 20/20 yet, but you can bet that now her lawyers have spilled the legumes, Oprah will be on the horn tout de suite.

What happened to her, of course, was despicable, and plain evidence that the FLDS is a cult of personality, overseen by The Prophet, Jeffs. But the withholding of her name by the media, as if this were some ordinary rape case, was ridiculous. At the time I posted Wall's identity, one commenter was indignant, calling it "an asshole thing to do," and that it indicated my "lack of compassion." But it was my belief then as now that in dealing with the secrecy surrounding the FLDS, its polygamy, and Warren Jeffs, the need for clarity and openness trumped whatever antiquated notion of chivalry that was motivating the shielding of Wall's name.

If Wall was still 14, and the alleged rape happened a year ago, that would be a different kettle of koi. The protection of a minor's name would be understandable, and likely court-ordered. But it would not surprise me one bit if Wall writes a book about her horrifying experience, and more power to her if she does. So the secrecy around this adult's name was silly from jump.

Who gets the blame for Officer Erfle's murder? According to nativist wing-nut logic, they do!

I've heard the anonymous voice before. The cowardly creep has called in to my phone mail previously to tell me why the Holocaust never happened, why Hitler wasn't such a bad guy after all, why all illegal aliens carry disease and cause crime, etc. This time he was angrier than usual, but, of course, he was too yellow to leave his name and number:

The killer of Officer Erfle in the line of duty was Erik Martinez, an illegal Mexican whom YOU let come across the border, whom YOU defend. To hell with you, you goddamn son-of-a-bitch killing cops and justifying the motherfuckers who come across the border illegally. To hell with you, and to hell with New Times.

Hey, tell me how you really feel, mushmouth. And next time leave your name and number so I can call you back and give you shit in return. Thing is, this asshole in the shadows has got plenty of pals in local politics and the media. Rep. Russell Pearce -- the racist pol from Mesa who hugs neo-Nazis like J.T. Ready and has forwarded a neo-Nazi e-mail in the past to his followers, says Erfle's death is because Phoenix is a sanctuary city. That's a lie. Phoenix is not a sanctuary city just because the cops are not rounding up illegals off the street in a replay of the Eisenhower administration's Operation Wetback, a program Pearce suggested should be reinstituted. But Pearce is not a friend of the truth, and Erfle's demise is just another occasion for him to push his anti-Mexican agenda.

KTAR's right-wing attack dog Darrell Ankarlo practically had an on-air meltdown the day after Erfle was shot, ranting, "Every time I turn around, somebody's getting killed, or jacked, or ripped off. Hmmm, if I were a betting man, do I lay some cash down? Ah, I think they're probably illegal. Darrell, aren't you profiling? Maybe."

Par for the course, Ankkkarlo is full of self-made fanny fudge. I agree that Phoenix is crime-ridden, and I lay that problem at the feet of our elected leaders, specifically Mayor Phil "Goober" Gordon, who has done nada in the last four years as violent crime's gotten increasingly out of control. In this case, though, using the nationality of Erfle's murderer to claim that all violent crime in this burg is because of illegals is total bull. Most illegals are hard-working and, despite their status, law-abiding. They fear the crime of their neighborhoods and the police equally, all while washing dishes in our restaurants, taking out the garbage in our offices, and tending to the greenery in our apartment complexes.

Are there illegals out there who do bad stuff? Of course. But there are plenty of all-American, honky scumbags out there too, cop killers among them. In 2005, veteran Phoenix Police Officer David Uribe was gunned down during a routine traffic stop by two white meth-heads, Chris Wilson and Donnie Delahanty. (New Times scribe Paul Rubin detailed the case in his Murder City series last year with the cover story, "The Case of the Grim Tweaker.") Does that mean that all Caucasians in Sand Land are murdering white trash tweakers? Well, from where I sit, there are sure a lot of them here in the Valley, but no, not all crackers in the PHX are meth users and criminals. So why are all the brown folk taking the rap for Erik Martinez? The reactionaries in our midst need a scapegoat to blame all our ills on, and illegal aliens are IT.

Follow, their logic, though. If illegal immigration is to blame for our high crime rate, then wouldn't a comprehensive legislative package focusing on border security and amnesty for those who're here illegally but have otherwise played by the rules help solve that problem? Just such a package was killed this year in the U.S. Senate, and who killed it? The extremist nativists, the folks who listen to Ankarlo every morning and who think Russell Pearce is the second coming of Christ. So who is to blame for our broken immigration policy? And, using nativist logic, who is responsible for the crime some illegals engage in, and by extension, the murder of Officer Erfle?

Like my grandpappy used to say, when you point the finger at someone else, there are at least three fingers pointing back at you. So you see, the nativists are actually accusing themselves. That they're guilty as heck is one thing I can agree with them on.

Look at this incompetent putz. No wonder our cops are getting killed right and left.

They say Nero fiddled while Rome burned, and Phil "Goober" Gordon suns himself in the tropics and passes the buck as PHX cops are boldly shot down during daylight in the center of the city. Just as he did when a security breach was exposed at Sky Harbor Airport, Goober has blamed the Feds for Officer Nick Erfle's death. Fresh off his vacay to Hawaii and back in town, Goober dodged responsibility for the outrageous crime rate in Phoenix -- a dodge he's been running since he took office four years ago -- telling reporters regarding this most recent cop-killing, "I have a message for the Federal Government...When are you going to do your job and secure the border?"

Uh, I've got a question for you Philly Cheesesteak, when are you going to act like a man with a pair of huevos and do something about the lawlessness in your own city? The fact that the scumbag who murdered Nick Erfle after a friggin' jaywalking stop was a once-deported illegal alien is a red herring. Crime has been rampant in this city since you've become mayor. And what have you done about it? Pass out park benches, play Monopoly and poo-pooh the ever-worsening violent crime stats. Take some flippin' responsibility, Philly-boy. This happened on your watch, after four years of you doing zip about crime. Like it or not, your greasy paws are tinged red with Officer Erfle's blood.

The only thing left for the citizens of this metropolis to do is throw your ass out of office. We can do it with a recall election, one that only requires 14,000 signatures out of the millions who live here. It can be done, and we will send you packing. And hopefully we can replace you with a real mayor, one who will recognize the problem and act. Anything would be better than the impotent embarrassment of a chief executive we have now.

It doesn't have quite the same ring as "Banned in Boston," but Phoenix New Times could be "Banned in the Chandler Library" if this dip Larry Edwards gets his way. Edwards is reportedly the prig who complained to the Chandler Library about New Times being on the shelves of the city bibliotheque. According to an article on AZCentral.com, Larry's nose turned blue at the stripper ads in the back of the book. Supposedly he also had a problem with the "articles for teenagers." Could he mean Megan Irwin's cover story "Eurotrashed" about the Dobson High School students and their wild and wooly trip to the Continent? Who knows? (I called the Larry Edwards listed in Chandler and left a message, but he hasn't called back yet.) Anyhoo, this one prude griping to the library lady has caused such a commotion that the Chandler Library Board will convene tomorrow night to discuss it. Guess it doesn't take much.

I talked to the library manager Brenda Brown, and she tells me that in her three years of working there, this is the first complaint she's ever received about New Times. Christ, all you have to do is walk down to the frickin' 7-11 to get one. In case you haven't noticed, they're free, folks, just like your mom. Brown says the library actually subscribes to New Times, which means they pay for the postage to have it sent to them. Mr. Edwards (who in my mind's eye looks like the alter kocker who used to do those Pepperidge Farm commercials) may not have noticed, but there's also this newfangled thing called the Internet, where you can read the whole durn thing for gratis.

Someone from news radio KTAR called me for a quote about it, and I made the point that almost everyone is offended by something, and if you start pulling books and mags off the shelf because one person bitches about it, you won't have much of a library. Brown explained to me that after Thursday night's meeting, someone will study the matter and report back in November, and that's when a decision will be made. My breath ain't exactly bated, bubbee. The Chandler Library only risks making itself into a laughing stock with this thing. New Times is nearly ubiquitous in this part of the world. And if the Chandler book-barn bows to what one local gum-smacker has to say, it's gonna make Chandler look like a town full of fist-class hayseeds.

Supposedly there are some children's books at issue too, like some kids' book about sperm called Where Willy Went. Is that the one about Larry Craig? Or was that Free Willy When I Tap My Foot Twice? All these troublesome books, mags and other reading material. Maybe the library'd be better off without 'em.

Slain PHX Police Officer Nick Erfle.

Like you needed more proof we live in the Wild Wild West: PHX Police Officer Nick Erfle was shot dead Tuesday morning in Central Phoenix, during rush hour, after stopping a man for jaywalking, and attempting to arrest him for priors. This was near 24th St. and Thomas. Not way over on the West Side. Not in Glendale, or South Phoenix, or Mesa. But in the center of the city. Erfle's partner gave chase. The now-murderer carjacked a ride, keeping the driver behind the wheel as his hostage. Cops finally boxed in the car at 27th Ave. and McDowell. According to reports, the thug pointed a gun at the hostage, and an officer shot the bastard down.

Just another day in Murder City. Where was the PHX's chief executive, Mayor Phil "Goober" Gordon? His stupid campaign Web site states that, "After a landslide victory on Sept. 11th, the Mayor is in Hawaii with his family. His first vacation in four years."

"First vacation"? Goober's first vacation was the election, in which he faced no serious challengers. His lackeys, like campaign manager Tony Motola, made sure Goober's only real rival, the Rev. Jarrett Maupin, was thrown off the ballot for campaign petition irregularities, leaving the hapless Steve Lory as Goober's straw man. There was ONE debate. Lory got about 23% of the vote. And apparently, the campaign was so tough Goober needed a vacay in the tropics. Lucky him. Nick Erfle was not so lucky. Erfle was left here on the home front trying to clean up the mess Mayor Goober has made of public safety in our lawless metropolis.

What has Goober done about crime in Phoenix during the last four years? He handed out park benches as part of an ill-conceived public watch program -- akin to putting a band-aid on a bloody, headless torso. When watchdog publisher Morgan Quitno Press announced that Phoenix's violent crime rate made it the 59th most dangerous city in the U.S., more life-threatening even than New York City, Goober pooh-poohed the results, saying the stats were unimportant.

Our witless wonder of a mayor...

As the murders, rapes, and armed robberies piled up, and as other newspapers joined this one in questioning the Mayor's lack of action, Goober and the City Council placed on the ballot a proposed sales tax increase to pay for 500 more cops and support staff over the next two years. The so-called public safety initiative, or Prop 1, passed September 11. We may not see the results from this desperately-needed measure until we're more than halfway through Goober's second term. Meanwhile, cops are shot dead in the street, and pistol-wielding punks carjack, loot, and rape. Where's Phil? Sipping a Mai Tai in his Bermuda shorts somewhere?

Let's face it, Phil Gordon is a witless menace, with all the foresight of a broiler awaiting slaughter. All ambition, and no substance, or even a minimum of competence. His bumbling boosterism is moronic, childish, and for those of us who have to live in this town, potentially life-endangering. Why wasn't this public safety initiative cooked up earlier in his first term? Why didn't he develop a more proactive plan to fight crime in our city? Why did he brush aside statistics that were sounding an alarm? Why? Because this man is not fit to run a dog kennel, much less a city of our population and sprawl.

The Rev. Jarrett Maupin has threatened a recall of the Mayor based on his incompetence, his underhanded skullduggery, and his greedy accumulation of a political war chest that's at least a half million dollars, even after the expenses of his campaign. Maupin says he needs 14,000 signatures to force a recall. I'm beginning to believe such a drastic action is needed.

Supporters of convicted Border Patrol Agents Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Compean often tout the case as a miscarriage of justice, an instance where two true-blue BPAs ended up the victims of an overzealous prosecutor. As I stated in my recent Bird column "Anti-Heroes," it's obvious from the transcripts of their trial that R&C are guilty of shooting an unarmed marijuana smuggler in the ass as he was fleeing them, and of covering it up. But at the bottom of the arguments in their favor is not a disagreement over facts. Instead, many nativists really believe that there's nothing wrong with shooting unarmed illegals, especially if they happen to be transporting some wacky weed. Check out the comments below from Yahoo's closebordersgroup. They come from a thread that began by commenting on my column, and you can see that their foaming-at-the-mouth rants prove my point.

Not everyone in the thread is as bonkers as these moon units. But about 99% are certifiable. Other threads on the closebordersgroup include: "Hispanic students leaving Tulsa area schools ** WHOOPEE**"; "Alan Keys for President"; and "taser ban for illegals," wherein one writer suggests, "When you taser the ILLEGALS..... MAKE DAMN SURE THEY ARE IN WATER!!!!!!"

A nastier little right-wing hornets nest would be hard to imagine. Thanks to a colleague for tipping me off.

From donnamags44:

"They should have killed the bastard and left him for the critters to feast on. Just think--one dirty, sleazy, filthy, vile drug smuggler from Mexico has caused so much pain and suffering for not only the two fine BP Agents, but their families as well. How many American tax dollars? A butt shot was good, but one to the head would have been much better."

From velvetmischief:

"I'm surprised this sleazebag drug runner is still alive and someone hasn't popped him in the head yet - or knifed him - or used an Asian star on him - or a nice poison arrow....

From bug_way_ji:

"Frankly, the aim should have been a foot higher and the world would have been a better place for the future children that he'll still be plying his drugs on."

From marcidye:

"People like him does not deserve to live, people dye from the drugs he has brought across our borders."

From Kmart:

"You're taking the side of the smugglers, the criminals, and the narco-terroristas, and frankly I dont give a rat's ass if some filthy Mexican criminal gets his ass blown away."