Blogs

Why were the nativists at the Paradise Valley Mall Saturday? "Why not?" sputtered American Freedom Riders founder Danny Smith in reply to my query. Hey, it's still a free country, kinda-sorta. And the AFR and other anti-illegal groups wanted to get out of the Thomas Road box this weekend, seeing that the pro-immigrant forces of Salvador Reza were taking a break from protesting M.D. Pruitt's Home Furnishings down on 35th Street and Thomas. Also the nativists were certainly getting a far more welcoming response to their illegals-go-home message from the passing vehicles here at the intersection of Cactus and Tatum Roads.

Smith doesn't like the term nativist, but "anti-illegal immigrationist" doesn't quite have the same ring, and when certain numskulls out there appropriate the term "patriot" for themselves, why would you even want to go near that lable? Anyway, maybe it was the post-holiday blahs, but I passed 'round the protest three or four times before I decided to park the hoopty and make my rounds via foot. In general, the mood was lacking something -- oh, I don't know, maybe opposition? Despite its "Paradise Valley" handle, the PV Mall ain't no Biltmore or Scottsdale Fashion Square. It's a decidedly middle-class venue. I couldn't help but think that the nativists were just preaching to the choir.

I did, however, get to meet Elvis Presley and the Chik-fil-A cow. Unfortunately, the Chik-fil-A cow was noncommittal on the subject of the protest, and only wished that people would eat more Chik-fil-As, thereby saving its sorry bovine behind from ending up as a ground beef patty. Elvis was straight-up nativist, as you might expect. The guy's real name was "Fred," and he was riding a purple Harley. Fred says he has a purple Elvis jumpsuit to match the Harley and promised to wear it at the next demo and do some kung-fu moves for the passers-by. Oooh-la-la.

Laine "Burn a Mexican flag for Freyja" Lawless was on hand, reppin' her Border Guardians group. Noticeably absent was the more reactionary puke parade from the crew of former Kia-peddler and hypocrite extraordinaire Rusty "CYA" Childress. That's a positive thing for Smith, to keep 'em at arms length. Childress' United for a Soverign America is one of the most extreme of all nativist factions in the Valley, one that's welcomed neo-Nazis such as J.T. Ready into its fold, played host to white supremacists like Damon Ashenfelter, and once had a member of the racist White Knights of America in-house.

The AFR disowned Childress after its members say they discovered what they believed to be illegal aliens working on the Childress Kia lot (the lot has since changed ownership). Childress has never denied the charge publicly to my knowledge, though I did call him on several occasions for comment. Childress is a hypocrite, a coward, and a coddler of extremists. No wonder so many in his own movement loathe his presence. One of his hangers-on, in particular, a grizzled old goat who looks like Snuffy Smith, is a true embarrassment for the nativists' cause. Every time some newspaper runs this fool's pathetic, hate-filled visage, open borders activists cheer. Keep up the good work, buffa-snuffy. The more folks hate seeing you, the more they'll hate your bigoted message.

A Danny Smith sammy, hold the cheese: Anti-illegal urban cougar Michelle Dallacroce is on the right...

No one said Elvis could spell, just stay off his blue suede shoes, uh-huh...

Nativists wanted to check this cow's papers, and the cow spat some cud at 'em. Way to go, Bessie!

Fred the Elvis guy says he'll be back next week, wearing a purple jumpsuit and doing some kung-fu moves...

In other news, it was William "Fucking" Reed who first called me with the tidbit that Anderson's Fifth Estate was coming out like Neil Patrick Harris, and becoming a gay club called Forbidden. That's right, where the women's restroom was once "forbidden" to transgender doods needing to pull down their pantyhose and pee, that whole controversy now seems as retarded as bothering to have a Super Bowl this year so the Patriots can kick some other team's ass.

At first, I thought it might be a hoax, seeing that the first online piece written by the Arizona Republic's Megan "I used to be with the band" Finnerty mentioned that,

"Anderson asked Scottsdale's Michele de LaFreniere, who's had gender reassignment surgery, to leave his club in 2006 and she subsequently filed a claim of discrimination with the Arizona Attorney General."

De LaFreniere's never had gender reassignment surgery, apparently. That's a point the Republic flubbed before in a profile of De LaFreniere by Richard Ruelas back in November. Ruelas got a laundry list of things wrong in the De LaFreniere profile, including the fact De LaFreniere's still retains her male genitalia. You'd think clueless club chick Finnerty would've gotten that one fact right. Maybe that was the "tell" to an April Fool's style joke, I wondered at first. But when the item ran in the actual paper minus the reference to De LaFreniere's still-intact manhood, I figured it was on the money.

I put in a call to Anderson, mainly because I wanted to know, uh, so what the hell was the last year-plus all about if the club was gonna go gay anyway? Anderson has yet to get back to me. He must be feelin' sheepish about the whole thing. Or defensive. First he kicks the trannies out of his club, then he cries about how he's the big victim in all this, the legal bills he's paying, the investigation by Attorney General Terry Goddard over the complaint filed by De LaFreniere, yadda-yadda-yadda...

Then he turns the place into a gay club? Hell, he should've saved us all the time, energy and ink and just done that from jump. I don't know what the new potty arrangements will be at Club Forbidden. But one can assume that if it's an all gay crowd, where the trannies are taking a whiz will not be that big of an issue. Nor will Anderson's new single-use, unisex bog, which he unveiled recently after deciding to make nice with De LaFreniere.

DJ William "Fucking" Reed (that's "Mr. Fucking" to you) dealt with this bullshit first-hand when Anderson ended up canceling the last minute a gig for Psychic TV, led by transgender rocker Genesis P-Orridge. Seems Anderson had no freakin' clue about P-Orridge and Psychic TV. Initially, he welcomed them despite their sexual avant-gardism, then he cancelled the show, sending Psychic TV and its fans (myself among them) into a tailspin as Reed hunted for a new venue. Reed, as you might expect, views Anderson's sudden switcheroo with a jaundiced eye.

"The only thing that I see that makes sense is that his business is suffering," said Reed. "So he's trying to tap into a market he had yet to tap in on."

Though Reed's straight, he's played nearly every club in the Valley, and knows the scene as well as anyone. Asked if he thought the gay community could trust someone they'd just spent the last year fighting with, Reed said, "It's hard to tell, man. I have no idea. I couldn't see how they could..."

In the few years I've been here, Anderson's has generally been known as the sorta place where 40-somethings go to sweat to the oldies (in their case, '80s dance music) and look for a middle-class hetero hook-up. So Forbidden, even if it proves to be short-lived, can only be a step-up culturally from its immediate predecessor.

Thus Tom Anderson has met his water closet Waterloo, and fulfilled his karmic destiny in creating a spot in Scottsdale where all men, and men who want to be women, can urinate with impunity! Now all we need is a bronze statue erected somewhere in his honor. Three guesses what it should look like...

The latest issue of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report is out. The quarterly mag is practically a must-read for those following hate groups in AZ, the immigration issue, and how they overlap. Though the lead article "Immigration Backlash" deals directly with everyone's favorite topic, there are three others I found intriguing, considering their direct connection with PHX.

The first is by former New Times staffer, Susy Buchanan, "Bad Blood," a blood-curdling account of the (alleged) attempted murder of Phoenix resident Amanda Crow by her fellow skinheads. Crow survived their treachery, but just barely. The piece's lead reads like an award-winner all on its own. Wish I'd written it:

Phoenix, Ariz.—They left Amanda Crow to die under an ironwood tree. Paralyzed, the 19-year-old lay on her back in a remote wash, studying its thorny branches and teardrop leaves. Blood from her slashed throat and stab wounds pooled around her body in a scarlet aura. A night passed, then a day, then another night. Twice, she watched the Day-Glo bloom of a desert sunrise while flies and ants feasted on her blood.

Crow sustained irreversible paralysis, and is confined to a wheelchair. The trial of her attackers is set to take place this April.

Another article I especially like is "The Teflon Nativists," by Heidi Beirich, which details the anti-immigrant Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), its spider's web of offshoots and front organizations, its ties to virulently racist entities, and how, despite these ties and the bigoted statements of its own leaders, it's retained its "teflon" image with much of the mainstream press and with Congress. Hopefully, as the SPLC continues to write about FAIR and exposes its connections to orgs like the Pioneer Fund and the Council of Conservative Citizens, that will change.

Finally, the SPLC outs local white supremacist Jerry Harbin, who likes to play "Odin" at neo-Nazi rallies, and whom I and others have spotted amongst the counterprotesters at the Pruitt's demonstrations.

Most recently, Harbin played Odin at the after-party to a big National Socialist Movement hoe-down that occurred September 1 in Omaha, Nebraska. He also portrayed Odin at the 2006 neo-Nazi Winterfest event here in Phoenix, according to the SPLC's Susy Buchanan and David Holthouse in their article Odin in Omaha. In it, they describe Harbin's hooded, sequin-trimmed Odin getup as "Obi-Wan Kenobi meets Liberace."

Harbin, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, berated Mexicans in a speech he gave as Odin to Omaha neo-Nazis howling, "White power!" Harbin was also spotted recently at one of the Pruitt's protests, carrying an American flag. Wish he would bust out the Confederate uniform he's wearing below and wave the Stars and Bars instead. Maybe he could even come cruisin' down Thomas Road in the General Lee, with his horn blarin' and him hollarin', "Save your Dixie cups, the South will rise again!" Heck, at least that'd be more colorful than grandmas in fanny packs wavin' "Messcans go home," signs.

Wannabe-Confederate Col. Jerry Harbin, from the current issue of the SPLC's Intelligence Report.

Though the nativists at Pruitt's are not all neo-Nazis and pseudo-Klan types, not by a long shot, there are still many who stand shoulder to shoulder with them down at the Pruitt's protests. And I think their presence is instructive, especially since it's tolerated by others on the same side of the fence and not actively discouraged. True, these clowns are not parading around in their Klan robes. They keep a lower profile. But the more they are revealed by the SPLC and others, the less the other nativists can deny the presence of these folk in their own camp.

Citizen Klahr, still fightin' the good fight, in a pic from a 2002 New Times profile of Klahr.

Whatever you may think of the oft-controversial and always colorful Gary Peter Klahr, civil libertarian and former Phoenix City Councilman, the lawsuit he recently filed against our Mayor Goober makes a superb and timely point.

Mayor Goober has ZERO power to coerce Chief Harris on Operations Order 1.4.3 or any other. Indeed, Goober might as well be the Mayor of Disneyland for all the power he has to influence the police chief. Phoenix has a council-manager form of government, and our chickenshit chief executive is little more than a figurehead with a vote on the city council.

Goober has a backbone of Jello and all the moral authority of fairground carny. Which is likely why he needed a four-man commission of elders to suggest changes in Operations Order 1.4.3, the police policy that keeps our boys in blue from rounding up every brown person they see on suspicion of being illegal. Otherwise, why would a man of Jack Harris' stature, a man with REAL authority pay any attention to Goober? Harris' boss is the city manager, and the city manager ultimately answers to the city council, of which Goober is but one member.

Indeed, the PHX City Charter specifically states,

Chapter III, Sec. 4. Council and Councilmen to deal with City officers and employees through the City Manager.

Any Member of the Council violating the provisions of this section, or offering a resolution or ordinance in violation of this section, shall be removed from office as in this Charter elsewhere provided.

Uh, does that mean we can remove Goober's sorry fanny from office now? Certainly looks like Goober is trying to give orders to a subordinate of the City Manager to me.

On December 18, Harris told the Arizona Republic, regarding the attempt to make his officers de facto ICE agents, that,

"If you were in my position, would you take those very limited resources and divert them to go after landscapers and dishwashers because they're in the country illegally? Sorry. I've been a cop for 36 years. I disagree with that concept."

Harris added,

"I think the policy of the Police Department not getting involved in routine immigration is the appropriate one. And that will continue to be my recommendation to the mayor and the City Council and the city manager, is that routine immigration enforcement is not something that should be put into the hands ... of local law enforcement. It's a federal issue."

So why is Goober pushing a change, using this four-man panel of legal experts such as former County Attorney Rick Romley and former state Attorney General Grant Woods? Because Goober is bowing to local extremists and to DC wing-nut carpetbaggers like Judicial Watch, which has threatened Goober with a lawsuit and a recall. Goober's ready to bend over and spread 'em for JW. Harris, thankfully, is not, even though he recently played nice with Goober in a December 23 op-ed in the Repugnant , co-bylined by Goober and Harris, contending that they agree on many points regarding the po-po and immigration.

Goober wants to run for Governor some day and so is attempting to appease this reactionary element that wants all illegals to go home. Klahr's suit comes at the perfect time to make its intended point, even if it ultimately goes nowhere. Kudos to Klahr. You may not take him seriously, but this town could use a few more with his moxie.

Below is Klahr's press release on his suit, for your post-Xmas viewing pleasure:

(PHOENIX)-----Former City Councilman Gary Peter Klahr today filed a Superior Court suit seeking an injunction against Mayor Phil Gordon's plan to revise City Police immigration policies and/or to oust the Mayor from office for violating the City Charter.

"Either way this goes, I win," Klahr concluded. "Because if the Court lets the Mayor get away with this, the citizens will certainly demand that the Charter be changed so that ALL citizens can get their elected officials to intervene with the city administration as the Mayor has done in this case."

Jeez, what fell in my eye? Did that come from The Bird!?

Ah, the Christmas season, so full of joy and goodwill towards one's fellow man. But not at the PHX Pruitt's protests, boyo, where the Prince of Peace would certainly not be welcome by the nativists if his eyes and skin in any way resembled those of George Lopez. (A line that recalls our immigration parody of last year, "The Passion of El Cristo," 'cept that back then, we made Sen. Jon Kyl "Satan," and he's since redeemed himself somewhat.)

Indeed, the situation this past Saturday (12/22) was about as ugly as I've seen it, with Sheriff Joe showing up to try and provoke those in immigrants-rights activist Salvador Reza's camp. Indeed, ol' Nickel Bag strutted down the north side of Thomas Road, in an impromptu one-man Xmas parade that forced PHX PD to direct traffic around him. This was slightly before I arrived. When I got there, Arpaio was holding court with his nativist fan club, many of whom were on the south side of Thomas. Knowing that MCSO PIO Paul Chagolla had recently referred to my colleague John Dickerson's cover story "Inhumanity Has a Price" as a pack of lies, I teased the aged lawman, shouting out, "So when're we gonna get that $41 million back, Joe?" This, a reference to the lawsuits caused by Sheriff Joe's jails that have cost county taxpayers millions.

Joe squawked, "You guys never were any good at math!"

And this from a Sheriff whose department is currently knee-deep in the red.

Arpaio dodged further queries, and I was eventually caught up in debating the nativists, if you can call it debate. As per usual, there were a lot of threats to kick my ass. Toothless biddies and various Harley-ridin' types were screaming at me to "Go over there [to Reza's side of Thomas] where you belong!" I told 'em I owned the sidewalk as much as they did, so they could suck it. They all seemed convinced everyone on Reza's side was illegal, and I told them that was bullshit. Could any of them prove they were American citizens, I wondered? One dood said, "I've got my driver's license right here." He seemed genuinely offended when I informed him that a driver's license is no proof that he's a citizen of these United States. Reckon he'll have to rely on his good looks till he gets his passport renewed.

"Something bad's gonna happen to you!" this putz promised me. Hey, give it your best shot, Oswald.

One middle-aged ass, who was too much of a pussy to give me his name, kept telling me I'd better leave, or something bad was going to happen to me. I offer a pic of the guy above, in case the po-po need to jump-start their investigation should I end up shot in the back someday. Another biker fella nicknamed "Jimbo" with Riders Against Illegal Aliens, who I've run into before at nativist rallies, advised me that, "A lot of people here wanna thump your head." No shit, Sherlock. Normally, I'd suggest he be added to the list of possible suspects in the case of my offin' or boot-stompin', save that he sweetened up a bit toward the end of the demonstration as we discussed hypocrite Hispanic-hater Rusty Childress' recovery from a severe motorcycle accident months back. Jimbo said Childress was there that day, though I didn't see him. Maybe he was off somewhere checkin' his Blackberry for possible CYA memos from F.A.I.R., the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

(Inside baseball, I know, but read this Bird item, if you care to grok that last reference. And remember, Rusty, sometimes certain laws can be retroactively applied. Well, at least, according to one County Attorney. Constitutional guarantees against ex post facto be damned!)

"A lot of people here wanna thump your head." Tell me about it, Jimbo.

Nativist hottie Michelle Dallacroce was on hand, blaring Twisted Sister's "We're Not Going to Take It" on her bulky, MASH-style speakerphone. And I also ran into lesbian-pagan-Mexican-flag-burnin' firebrand Laine Lawless, who was there representin' her group Border Guardians. An independent thinker, Lawless actually has liked New Times' "Target Practice" series on Sheriff Joe, and disagrees with the abuses in his jails. While we were discussing this, self-loathing Latino Anna Gaines of the F.A.I.R.-sponsored group You Don't Speak for Me -- who looks like she's about four feet tall but is as feisty as they come -- walked up to me and informed me, cattily, "I just wanted you to know that she is not a part of our group."

"Which group is that?" growled Laine as Gaines scurried off.

I would suspect she meant former Kia-peddler Rusty Childress' United for a Sovereign America, though Lawless has attended their meetings, and is hardly the most extreme of the bunch. Neo-Nazi J.T. Ready and a certain grizzled buffalo chip everyone knows and loathes are far, far worse. Maybe Gaines doesn't like Lawless because she's a lesbian, or maybe Gaines is just jealous of the attention Lawless has gotten, specifically my story on her early in 2007 titled, "Burn, Baby, Burn!"

Mexican-flag-torcher and Joe Arpaio-critic Laine Lawless holdin' up one side of her Border Guardians banner.

Twisted Sister: Anti-anchor baby urban cougar Michelle Dallacroce cranks some Dee Snider.

As Reza's group, minded over by local pro-immigration legends Alfredo Gutierrez and Danny Ortega, filed away at 11 a.m., I was struck by how disciplined they were in the face of the taunting and viciousness of the nativists, who chanted the refrain to the Steam hit "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," as the protesters walked away. One particularly nasty trailer trash tart, kept shouting at the top on her lungs, "You're going the wrong way. The border is THAT WAY!" Others stepped on Mexican flags and screamed insults. When one of Reza's people, ironically an Anglo, began to respond in kind, Ortega quickly shut her down. The leaders of the Pruitt's protests know that the nativists want to provoke an incident that they can turn to their advantage, or maybe even allow the nativists to use the guns they so often brag about carrying.

Take that, Messcans!

Is that Dog the Bounty Hunter on the left?

This is one reason why Arpaio's stroll down the street was morally reprehensible. As Alfredo Gutierrez pointed out to me as the protesters were leaving, if he had done exactly the same thing as the Sheriff, on the other side of the street, he likely would've been arrested, or at the very least cited for obstructing traffic. Gutierrez says he and the boycott's other leaders will look into filing a complaint against Nickel Bag, though even they know that's unlikely to go anywhere.

Reza's told me previously they're taking a break for Xmas and will not be back out at 35th and Thomas till after the first of the January. Look for things to get even uglier and meaner next year, with the employer sanctions law set to start, and a possible revision of PHX PD's Operations Order 1.4.3 on the table. All of this xenophobia and anti-illegal rage hasn't peaked by a long shot.

Amateur Mel Tillis impersonator and furniture-peddler Roger Sensing, acting like a pinche cabron, as usual, as he talks to Salvador Reza. (Photo courtesy of Eduardo Barraza of Barriozona.com.)

The more I read and learn about Roger Sensing, the more I realize the guy is one class-A S.O.B., even though he cries and whines and tries to make himself look like the victim of an unfair protest organized by Salvador Reza. Did you know, for instance, that Sensing would like to call the shots for the entire PHX PD?

Fortunately, he's not going to get a chance. His appeal of a really idiotic complaint he filed in Maricopa County Superior Court was slapped down Thursday. (Read it for yourself, here.) Sensing asked the court to issue a writ of mandamus, an order requiring "a public officer or an entity to perform a nondiscretionary duty imposed by law." Basically, Sensing wanted the court to order PHX Police Chief Jack Harris to enforce an anti-loitering ordinace around his business, even if Harris had decided that he'd rather use the limited manpower of his department to fight serious crime, and not get involved in penny-ante bullshit.

The appeals court sided with Harris, ruling that,

Whether the Chief’s enforcement decision is based on lack of resources, making other tasks higher priorities, or concerns about the legality or wisdom of enforcing the Ordinance, the Chief has the discretion to make that decision. Mandamus is not available to override that discretion.

The Chief also argues that mandamus is not appropriate because Sensing’s proper remedy is to influence the City’s policymakers to change the City’s policy and practices regarding enforcement of the Ordinance. We agree. The Chief’s discretion over enforcement decisions makes the issue of enforcing the Ordinance a political question that is not appropriate for judicial resolution.

In other words, HE'S THE FUCKING POLICE CHIEF, YOU IDIOT! AND IF HE SAYS HIS OFFICERS HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO THAN CHASE DAY-LABORERS LOOKING FOR WORK, THEN YOU SHOULD EITHER SHUT THE EFF UP OR GO TALK TO CITY HALL. NOW GET THE FUCK OUT, AND DON'T COME BACK! YOU TIRED OLD FOOL.

Can you imagine the sheer chaos this city would be plunged into if nefarious old farts like Sensing could just call up Police Chief Harris and order him around? Ah, I can just hear the confab now...

[Cue transitional harp music. Imaginary dialogue follows, with split screen of Sensing and Harris on their respective phones.]

Imaginary Sensing: Jack, you get me a fleet of patrol cars down here pronto! Or else I'll chap your ass!

Imaginary Harris: (Gulp.) Yes, Roger...

This is what Judicial Watch, a bunch of carpetbagging right-wing DC lawyers, wants to force the cops to do city-wide. Essentially, JW has kidnapped city government with the threat of a lawsuit regarding Operations Order 1.4.3. Mayor Goober Gordon wants to pay 'em off, and Jack Harris is sayin' no-way, Jose. Which is why JW would like to get Harris fired. Sensing has been working with JW, just as he allowed Rusy Childress and his ilk on his property, and just as he's allowed the Sheriff to give press conferences in Pruitt's parkinglot.

Sensing's probably spent far more money and time on legal counsel, and working with wing-nut orgs like JW, than he's lost during these protests. Keep in mind that Reza's protesters are there for two hours out of one day of the entire week. I think the bad press Sensing's garnered himself, just by acting like an a-hole to Reza and others, is more damaging than the protests. People see that, and they don't want to take their business there. I know I wouldn't. There are other furniture stores in the Valley, you know. Why would I want to shop with someone who's been such a dick to people? And who's turned his store into an armed camp.

Finally, there's the fact that Sensing has had bigot activists playing at landscaping on his property, so as to justify this right-of-way permit he obtained from the city. Eduardo Barraza of Barriozona.com has some awesome coverage of this farce, with video of these cheesdick nativists pretending to work on Sensing's property. Keep up the good work, Eduardo! Barriozona.com also has extensive coverage of the Pruitt's protest. I urge you all to check it out.

Tired ol' lefty Linda Valdez of the Repugly disappoints today in her "quick hit" against Salvador Reza and the protests at Pruitt's. I guess she got the top-down memo telling all of the Repugly's writers that they have to tow the line on the Pruitt's matter. Does Pruitt's advertise with the Repugnant, I wonder? In any case, Valdez's gotta feel like a real putz, having to write this one to appease the bosses:

Protesters should leave Pruitt's alone, focus on officials

The march on Phoenix City Hall fizzled. I think the pro-migrant protests at Pruitt's ought to wind down, too. Intentions may be good, but the supporters of day laborers are providing a forum for the anti-immigrant faction. The weekend face-offs only serve to harden opposition to migrants. What's more, a store should have the right to keep unwanted non-customers away. Relocate those protests to City Hall, the Sheriff's Office and the County Attorney's Office.

Now, I know Valdez is familiar with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and she must be aware that the sidewalk is public property and is not owned by Pruitt's proprietor Roger Sensing. Moreover, day-laborers never set up shop in his parking lot. Have there been jornaleros walking around the area looking for work? Sure. If Sensing doesn't like it, he should get together with Reza and help establish a work center for the jornaleros in the area. But no, he doesn't want to do that. He wants Sheriff Joe's deputy dawgs to run 'em off.

Then there's this loony assertion:

"...the supporters of day laborers are providing a forum for the anti-immigrant faction. The weekend face-offs only serve to harden opposition to migrants."

The weekend face-offs have been very successful from the perspective of Reza and those who support him. The Pruitt's protests have garnered national press. When The New York Times was in town in the person of editor Lawrence Downes, he ended up doing a rather sympathetic piece on Reza, with an online slideshow of a Saturday at Pruitt's.

Reza's ranks are growing. Each week there are more and more protesters present, and they outnumber the bikers, nativists, and skinheads who show up. As far as I'm concerned, the more of the anti-immigrant faction, the better as well. Because the hatefulness of many in that camp offers the perfect foil for the pro-immigrant position. The lines are drawn, and everyone in this city will eventually need to decide: Are they going to stand for humanity, civil rights, and simple progress? Or are they going to join the knuckle-dragging armies of nativist hate, and ride with Sheriff Joe, Andy Thomas, and Rusty Childress?

Pruitt's is also the right place for the protests because Roger Sensing has called in Sheriff Joe and Joe's terrorizing that community, stopping people for being brown and hauling them off for deportation. Morally, Reza cannot look away while this is being done to his people, and he is absolutely correct to target a businessperson who has targeted Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in such a manner. Economic pressure is a legitimate and time-honored means of protest. Certainly, Valdez has read the history of the Montgomery bus boycotts, the sit-ins at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, NC, and Cesar Chavez's boycotts of grape growers?

(And, Nimrod nativists, save the lie that "Cesar Chavez hated illegal aliens." Most of the people he organized were immigrants, often undocumented. And Chavez's UFW supported the '86 amnesty, even helped pen parts of it. Chavez did call in INS on strikebreakers, which was a controversial move, even with his own supporters. Still, Chavez hated strikebreakers, not illegals.)

Reza and his group have been studious in their adherence to city laws. There is absolutely no reason for them to cease their protests. Reza tells me that after this Saturday, they will take a break for Christmas, but will return in the new year. They should ignore the Repugly, and press on in their struggle against Sheriff Joe's bivouac at Pruitt's.

Finally, on another note, it seems the Repugly's Robert Robb is a fave of the neo-Nazis over at Stormfront.org. They posted a portion of his December 7 piece, "If Arizona is lagging, immigration is reason," and of course, it was posted there because they agree with Robb. When I blogged about Robb's piece days back, I pointed out that his column offered an intellectual (really a pseudointellectual) justification for racism. And now some local neo-Nazi has proved my point! Kudos to Stormfronters for welcoming Robb into their fold where he belongs.

Salvador Reza at this Saturday's protest on Thomas.

Is the Republic's City Hall suckup, lil' Casey Newton, gunning for a job on Goober's staff? He might as well be, the way he's turned into a mouthpiece for Flipflop Phil, penning shorts like Saturday's "Pruitt's top foe refuses meeting," which reads like it was authored by one of Phil's paid flunkies.

According to immigrants-rights activist Salvador Reza, Figgy Newton didn't contact him before going to press with the Saturday item. The article tries to assign blame to Reza for the lack of any City Hall-desired three-party talks.

Reza's repeatedly stated that he would sit down with Pruitt's owner Roger Sensing and the Mayor once Sensing calls off Sheriff Arpaio's Deputy dawgs. But Sensing won't do that. So the "talks" the Mayor so desperately wants (to show he's doing something) are a no-go. Goober needs someone to blame, and Reza's his fall guy.

Using the Sheriff's own words against him.

Saturday, I opened the paper to see Newton's byline implying Reza was to blame for being intransigent. Sensing also called for an audit of Reza's finances, something the city is in no position to do. Though the city helped set up the Macehualli Work Center near 25th Street and Bell Road in 2003, the Mayor's own website notes that currently, "State law, which the City will not violate, prohibits direct City support or involvement in any day labor center." So that dog won't hunt, Rog.

Sensing, however, IS receiving the protection of the sheriff over and above the off-duty deputies he pays for. If anything should be audited, it should be the taxpayer dollars spent on Sensing's bullshit.

I'm starting to notice a theme here...

"I'll talk to Sensing and the Mayor," said Reza at the Pruitt's protest Saturday. "As soon as the Sheriff gets out of there, and stops arresting people just for the color of their skin."

Reza pointed over the south side of Thomas, where the MCSO has occupied Pruitt's lot every Saturday.

"Look at that," he said. "When they go arrest someone on the street, they transfer them here. Arpaio has an adjunct headquarters here. People are out here for a reason. Enough is enough, you cannot continue doing that."

Hey dood, where's the sheet? Gotta represent...

Newton makes a point in his piece of saying that Sensing "also called for an immediate stop to the weekly protests in front of his business."

Uh, so fucking what? Old man Sensing may be rich as Crassus, but he has ZERO power over the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He does not own the sidewalk on his side of Thomas Road, and he sure as shinola does not own the sidewalk on the north side of Thomas. Judging from Saturday's turn-out, the protests are growing, with Reza's group of lawyers, college students, clergy, parents and activists stretching down Thomas on the east side of 35th Street, and the Minutemen, American Freedom Riders, and others stretching down Thomas on the west side of 35th Street. And there's not a damn thing Sensing can do about it.

More

The Mayor's panel, getting an earful while Hizzoner hides out...

Is Mayor Phil Gordon afraid of Hispanics? You've gotta wonder, especially when a mostly Hispanic crowd of about 1,000 persons shows up to the auditorium at South Mountain High School to express their frustration over Da Mayor's capitulation on the issue of Operations Order 1.4.3, and Mayor Goober is M.I.A.

Not that I actually expected Mayor McChickenshit to grow a pair. Especially when he's got his C.Y.A. squad of mostly white, mostly moderate Republicans to do it for him. Hey, I'm not dissing former AZ Attorney General Grant Woods, former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, or former U.S. Attorneys Paul Charlton and Jose Rivera. Sheesh, these guys should get medals for listening to speech after speech from lawyers, community activists, religious leaders, educators, and regular citizens who're worried, upset and sometimes just plain p.o.'d by Mayor Goober's attempt to revise Operations Order 1.4.3, the PHX PD policy that outlines when the cops call ICE and when they don't.

They sat there like troopers for three to four hours. Goober played hooky from school, and thus deserves a good, hard butt-flogging. But then, he might like that.

In any case, despite (or maybe because of) Goober avoiding the place, it was an exhilarating and often inspirational evening. Even the attempt to disrupt it by a gaggle of nativists was no biggie, really. The nativists, bless their hearts, wanted to take over the meeting from the evening's primary sponsors, County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox and State Rep. Steve Gallardo. Like a pack of unruly schoolkids many of them couldn't keep their kissers zipped while up in the peanut gallery, and they eventually got the boot.

Following this, several of them were in the lobby of the place, whining to reporters that their First Amendment rights had been violated. ("All we wanted to do was say the Pledge of Allegiance! Whaaaaah!") Gimme a break! The meeting's organizers had rented the entire school out for the night. If they'd been assholes, like Roger Sensing of Pruitt's, they could've had the lot of you arrested for trespassing.

But that would've been wrong. There were no arrests Thursday night. And indeed, several nativists stayed, and a couple were allowed to rise to the podium and throw in their two bits. They were not shouted down, and were even given polite applause by those who disagreed with them. Heck, if anti-anchor baby urban cougar Michelle Dallacroce had remained, I suspect they would've let her address the crowd as well. After she left the hall, I spied her giving the TV reporters an earful. In reality, they wanted to be thrown out. And this was a somewhat savvy PR move, as on a couple of the TV news broadcasts covering it, the segments focused on the nativists to the exclusion of the actual event! So you could say they got exactly what they wanted.

As I sat watching the speakers, little Anna Gaines of the anti-illegals group You Don't Speak for Me was asked to leave, mainly because she was providing her own running commentary of the event, like a Hispanic Howard Cosell, if you will. She refused several requests to pack it in, but eventually hit the road once the cops came over to her. See, the organizers had their own security, but there was a serious contingent of cops present. PHX PD didn't get involved, however, unless security was practically on the verge of doing a citizen's arrest. A citizen's arrest almost occurred, but the guy walked off, and that was that, basically.

Most disgusting thing I saw that evening was Candy Thomas' toady Barnett Lotstein sitting in the audience, leisurely and deeply mining his nose for nuggets, knuckle-deep. I kid you not. I'm sure Barnett was there doing surveillance for his boss, but, jeez, Barnett, couldn't you have saved the booger patrol for the drive home? The guy's just like school in the summertime: No class.

The Arizona Republic mischaracterized the event as a "wild forum," and "raucous." What episode of CSI were those doods watching? Yeah, it was spirited, but in a good way. I left feeling energized by what I'd heard and seen. And hopeful that if our side of this could remain motivated and positive, we could win the day. Si, se puede, baby!

Of the over 20 speakers or so, I really dug Hector Yturralde of Somos America, Jarrett Maupin and Alfredo Gutierrez. Yturralde echoed the sentiments of many who'd come before, stating, "My greatest fear is racial profiling." For his part, Gutierrez informed the quartet of esteemed esquires that, "Fear has overtaken this community. Fear is palpable in this community."

Maupin practically tore the house down, telling the panelists, "You need to be introduced to who we are. We are the children of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr....The people that you hear naysaying our appeal for humanity are the children of Jim Crow." He appealed to the panelists not to "corrupt" the police by turning them into instruments of the children of Jim Crow. His speech was frequently interrupted for applause, and ended in a standing ovation.

There were also many folks I was unfamiliar with, including one older gent who declared, in response to the nativist disruption earlier, that he loved the U.S., and hugged the flag to prove it. Another elderly fella encouraged the panelists to do the right thing, and not change the policy.

A minuteman named Tom spoke, and insisted he was not a Nazi or KKK. Maybe not, but there are those elements in your ranks, bub. Ask yourself why.

The other nativist who spoke was instructive: An ol' Caucasian gal who kept mispronouncing the word "assimilate." Classic.

At the very end, Grant Woods encouraged reporters not to give the minor nativist incident at the beginning major play. Obviously, this was not heeded by most journos.

Mary Rose Wilcox pleaded with the panel members to extend their December 31 deadline. Jose Rivera indicated that it had already been decided that the deadline would be extended.

The Mayor has time to go on Darrell Ankarlo's hate-monger morning show on KTAR. He has time to get his mug on Lou Dobbs, but he doesn't have time to come listen to the citizens of this city? If he had, I suspect he might have second thoughts about revising police policy. Keep the pressure on him, and the panel, people. As the nativists are constantly showing us, the louder you are, the more attention and action you will get.

Thought I'd share a few missives I've intercepted of late, the first being a fundraising letter from County Attorney Candy Thomas wherein he trumpets the, ahem, accomplishments of his office, including denying bail for suspected illegal immigrants, convicting immigrants of self-smuggling themselves into the country, and helping to bring Maricopa County perilously close to a police state.

Of course, there's no mention in the letter of the arrests of my bosses Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin, New Times' co-founders, or of his former employer Dennis Wilenchik, the rogue special prosecutor Thomas hired to pursue this paper. And there's nary a peep about the $2 million and counting in public funds that Wilencheckbook continues to bank, working on civil cases for Thomas, though Thomas had to fire him as special prosecutor.

Yet, Thomas does whine about the much-deserved obloquy he's endured for screwing up so badly on so many fronts.

"I have been sued, picketed, vilified in the media and threatened," sniffs Candy,adding, "Some media organizations have even published my home address and the name of my wife and four children on their website [sic]. They did this even though they know I prosecute some 40,000 felony cases a year against some of the most dangerous gang members and criminals in America."

The part about his home address being published by "some media organizations" is total bullshit. Back in October, AZCentral.com published a link to the County Recorder's Web site, where anyone with a lick of sense can ferret Thomas' address out for themselves. The article itself was so obscure that reporters for The Arizona Republic who attended Candy's press conference on the matter hadn't seen it. The massive irony was that Thomas was drawing the article to the attention of far more people by holding a press conference on it. Thomas even had printouts of the AZCentral.com article distributed to the journos present! As I asked in my blog item back then, "ROSY RED HERRING,"

"If you were really worried about the safety of your tykes, why would you hold a press conference announcing to ALL of the media that some obscure online story linked to info. about your rugrats? Uh, political gain might be one reason."

And now Thomas is using his four kids AGAIN! Dredging up this bogus threat as a way of raking in some campaign scrilla. Nice father. First he essentially endangers his own children, then he turns them into bait for political contributions.

You can read the fundraising letter in its entirety, here.

Also, a former intern for Thomas by the name of Peter Leslie has been trying to dig up dirt on Democrat Gerald Richard, the Phoenix police department lawyer who's expected to challenge Candy's bid for reelection next year. Leslie has submitted a public records request to the PHX cops for a buttload of info on Richard, including travel and expense reports, his current salary, and any position he may have taken on Operations Order 1.4. You know, the one that keeps the po-po from rounding up Mexicans willy-nilly in paddy wagons.

Leslie also submitted a public records request to the Arizona Supreme Court's Commission on Minorities asking for everything they've got on the guy because Richard was for 12 years the commission's chair. Basically, the commission tries to:

"...address disproportionate minority contact in the justice system; enrich the diversity of the judiciary to reflect the communities it serves, while maintaining the highest level of qualifications; promote cultural competency in its judicial officers and employees; and enhance communication with minority communities through education and collaboration with public and private sector programs that aspire to similar purposes."

It's an unpaid position, BTW. Richard had been on it since its inception in 1994. He stepped down in 2006.

Sounds like a standard liberal, do-gooder deal. But in the minds of wing-nuts like Thomas and his ex-interns, such a Chairmanship is likely considered the apex of anti-Americanism. I gave Leslie a call, and he admitted to poking into Richard's background. When I asked him if he was doing it on the behalf of County Attorney Thomas, he danced around the question a bit.

"I'm not a paid office worker or anything like that," he told me. "It's been a while since I've been downtown."

Leslie says he went to ASU and currently works at a car dealership. He said the request for info. on Richard was just for him to help him make up his mind on the candidates. Asked if he was an intern in Thomas' office, he stated, "I'm not currently an intern in his office." Thomas' PIO Michael Anthony Scerbo informed me that, "Peter Leslie is a former intern whose internship expired in December 2006. He is a private citizen who is not currently employed at this office nor is he currently serving as an intern."

Ah, politics. Back in Richard Nixon's day, they called it rat-fucking. Though, here as then, it's the rats who want to do the fucking.

You can read Leslie's request to the cops, here. His inquiry to the AZ Supreme Court, here

Tell me about the rabbits again, George...

Goofy, giraffe-necked doofus Robert Robb is easily The Arizona Republic's most fatuous scribbler. And with competition like E.J. "Puddin'Head" Montini and Laurie "I hate drunk Mexicans" Roberts, that's some accomplishment! Robb, though, is different from his colleagues in this respect: He really reckons himself to be purty durn smart, though his arguments are as thick as the rock in Russell Pearce's Cro-Magnon skull.

Check the quick shot by Robb at the head of Tuesday's editorial page -- a tidbit of inanity titled, "Protection of rights isn't a matter of negotiation, Mr. Mayor." It reads in toto:

"I suppose that it's good that Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon is getting involved in the Pruitt's issue, but he still clearly doesn't get it. He wants to mediate a negotiation. Pruitt's just wants to sell sofas. It shouldn't have to negotiate for the city to protect its right to do that."

Two things I love about this. First, the photo of Robb, who looks like he should be barefoot on the banks of the Mississippi with the proverbial straw of hay sticking out of his pie-hole and his hand down his britches. Second, Huckleberry Hound's insistence that the only "rights" being violated here are those of Pruitt's owner Roger Sensing -- his property rights, I suppose.

I like them French fried potaters...

What about the rights of American citizens to protest as enshrined in the First Amendment of the goddamn U.S. Constitution?! Sorry, but protesting on the sidewalk before Pruitt's does not impede Sensing's business. Moreover, Sensing has worked his ass off to provoke and insult the protesters, to escalate the situation, and to deny these protesters the opportunity to exercise their freedom of speech.

For all the knuckle-draggin' nativists out there, save the pant-load about them all being illegal aliens in Reza's camp. That's a lie. The ACLU's Daniel Pochoda is not illegal. Alfredo Gutierrez is not illegal, and on and on. So stick that one in your tuba and go play Deutschland Uber Alles somewhere else.

More

I'm on deadline today, so I barely have time to breathe, but here are a couple of things I felt I should point you to re: everyone's favorite topic: illegal immigration.

First off, check this opinion piece and slideshow about the standoff at Pruitt's by New York Times editor Lawrence Downes, titled, "Showdown in Arizona, Where Mariachis and Minutemen Collide."

"Want to see America unraveling?" asks Downes. "Come here, to Thomas Road and 35th Street, to M. D. Pruitt’s furniture store. Come on Saturday morning and stand near the eight delivery trucks barricading the parking lot, like the wall of an urban Alamo."

Urban Alamo indeed. This weekend, I was happy to see that the cops had brokered an agreement to have the nativists on one side of 35th Street, the pro-immigrant protesters led by Salvador Reza on the other. Reza gets points for suggesting it. The cops get points for refereeing it. And the nativists get points for accepting the proposal. For the most part folks stuck to it, and I hope this continues. There is still the potential for violence, but it is certainly lessened if these groups are not mingling with each other.

In the voice-over for his slideshow, Downes rightly calls the scene, "very loud, very ugly." He also points out that in the midst of the shouting and provocations, "Practical solutions are not what people want to hear." He's certainly right about that, as he is that, "All the hate at Pruitt's is focused on men who simply want to work...and they have no way to do so legally."

On a related subject, regarding the PHX PD's Operations Order 1.4.3, and the possibility that local cops may soon be enforcing immigration law like the nativists want, take a look at this Rocky Mountain Poll from November. It shows that people are all for the po-po becoming the city version of the INS, up until the point that it detracts from the cops fighting real crime, or till we all have to pay for it in the form of a tax increase.

Fun-ny. So when your business is getting robbed at gunpoint by some tweaker and the cops are too busy pulling over Pedro for DWB, "Driving While Brown," keep your whining to yourself. This is the world you numskull nativists want. Have fun living in it when it's a reality. The residents of Aguila can already tell you what it's like.

The original, legal art the County Attorney's office appropriated for it