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The next President of the United States? I hope so... (photo by Jillian Sloan)

Part rock concert. Part college pep rally. That's what it felt like as Senator Barack Obama wowed a near-capacity crowd at PHX's Veterans Memorial Coliseum Wednesday evening. The almost 14,000 in attendance had waited over two hours to see the man from Illinois, the man who may be the Dems best hope to take the White House, the man who is six points away from Senator Hillary Clinton amongst AZ Dems most likely to vote this Tuesday, according to a recent Rocky Mountain Poll.

And the man did not disappoint. Speaking for nearly an hour and never unbuttoning his dark, charcoal gray suit, Obama made it look easy, answering critics such as former Prez Bill Clinton who think he's too green for the Oval Office by stating, "I am running because of what Dr. Martin Luther King called the fierce urgency of now." He also outlined an unabashedly liberal vision of an Obama White House, despite his pledge to have both sides of the political aisle working with each other.

He promised the troops home from Iraq in 2009, calling the Iraq war "unwise," while vowing to maintain "the strongest military on Earth" and to use that military in the unfinished conflict with al-Qaeda. He reminded listeners that, "I opposed it from the start," that "it" being the war, adding, "I don't just want to end the war, I want to end the mindset that got us into war."

Rarely has the left had a viable candidate so unashamed of his liberal pedigree, a candidate that the polls show is more likely than Hillary to kick John McCain's ass, assuming McCain's the Republican nominee. Commentators like to compare Obama to JFK. And Obama delivers his oration with such ease, such sharp aplomb, that the comparison to Kennedy is an obvious one.

Actually, seeing Obama do his thing, and work that audience like it was a client at Massage Envy, I was reminded of Ronald Reagan, whom I hated when I was in college and he was in office. But what Reagan was able to do is package conservatism and give it a genial, devil-may-care face. Such unbridled optimism is appealing, whether it's Reagan using it to deliver a right-wing message, Bill Clinton using it to offer a more compassionate and moderate one, or Obama, delivering a decidedly more leftist version.

Obama claimed, sarcastically, that his detractors refer to him as a "hope-monger," but then he pointed out that hope (read, "optimism") is part of the American birthright, whether you're talking about the revolutionaries who formed this country, the abolitionists who dreamed of ending slavery, or those who fought to end segregation in the South. He observed that "The odds of me standing here are not that high," and gave a thumbnail sketch of his early life history, his father leaving his mother when he was young, and so on. Here, Bill Clinton came to my mind, his recounting of his childhood, and that refrain in his 1992 speeches harkening back to his birthplace: "I still believe in a place called Hope." That Hope, being Hope, Arkansas.

Which makes Bill's role as hatchet-man in his wife's campaign so weird. Obama sounds more like Bill did in '92 than Hillary does. I remember '92 very well. I was an early and ardent supporter of Clinton back then. And I can tell you, people were very skeptical of Clinton, the well-spoken Governor of a "backwards" state. Bush #1 had more experience, but as Clinton pointed out at the time, you can have the wrong kind of experience. Ultimately, with a little help from having Ross Perot in the race, a plurality of the electorate agreed, choosing the fresh "kid" over the old, statist hound.

"We don't just need someone who's ready on day one," intoned Obama, in an obvious jab at Hillary. "But someone who's right on day one."

He dismissed the "fear" being peddled by his opponents about him, and took a swing at Bill, answering Bill's comment to Charlie Rose that an Obama presidency would be a roll of the dice.

"The biggest gamble," Obama warned, "would be to have the same old cast of characters doing the same old things."

I tend to agree. Hillary's a harridan. A calculated, practiced pol. A knife fighter in a knee-length skirt. You wanna know what she's all about? Watch Primary Colors, if you haven't already. I mean, there's something to be said for that Machiavellian stuff. I'm not totally knocking it. But her negatives are high, and she doesn't score as well against McCain as Obama does. Plus, I think people have Clinton fatigue. Hell, I think I have Clinton fatigue. And that's saying something, because I still have my Clinton-Gore wristwatch in the closet somewhere.

When it came to the liberal economic-speak, Obama was saying things that would've had him tarred and feathered back in the '80s, or even the '90s for that matter. He promised to lower everyone's insurance premiums by $2,500 during his first term. Everyone making under $75K would receive a tax break. If you're disabled or a senior and make under $50K, you shouldn't have to pay taxes at all.***

"If you work in this country," said Obama. "You should not be poor."

What, is this, like, the Netherlands or something? This is the sort of talk people who read The Nation and Mother Jones salivate over.

The crowd was packed with students, so they loved the part about making college affordable for everybody. Affordable? What happened to free, dood? I reckon he hedged on that one. I did like the part about making students do some public service in return for a college education. "We will invest in you," he told them. "You will invest in America." There go those echoes of JFK again. You know, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

Uber-MILF Caroline Kennedy was on stage, having spoken before Obama came out. Governor Napolitano was seated beside her, having officially introduced the presidential contender. Despite Obama calling her "one of the best governors in the country," she looked like a donkey at the Kentucky Derby up there with Obama and JFK's daughter. Whew. Thankfully, considering her age and presumed orientation, Nappy's unlikely to ever reproduce.

I liked how her mug froze when Obama started talking about how we need "an intelligent, effective and humane immigration policy." It ain't like Manet's been the best friend to those of Hispanic descent, seeing that she signed the employer sanctions law. Indeed, one prominent Hispanic intellectual in Phoenix suggested in a widely-distributed e-mail that Hispanics in the crowd boo her or at least sit on their hands. Alas, it didn't happen.

I dug the crowd. It was diverse, enthusiastic and friendly. The Maryvale High School Marching Band danced and blew their brass in the stands, and when they were not thumping out a martial roar, the stereo system blasted Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours." Folks grooved to the tune, and others like Sam and Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'." It was a positive vibe.

Well, save for one low point, when I saw my good buddy Fronzo West, a.k.a., "the Fonz" being taken head first out of the coliseum by a squad of po-po. The Fonz is a local activist, best known for his "Fuck the Police" attire and van. He roller-skates everywhere, and videotapes nearly every public event. Because of his unconventionality, he's been arrested and assaulted by the cops numerous times. I tried to follow them. By the time I got outside, they'd disappeared. I asked Sean Smith, Obama's AZ communications director, why Fonz was taken out. He said it was because Fonz had on inappropriate attire, and refused to move when they told him he couldn't set up his video camera tripod on the floor.

Was this really necessary? Local activist "the Fonz" being escorted out for having "Fuck the Police" on his attire. (photo by Jillian Sloan)

Personally, I think that's bullshit. The place was packed. Who's gonna notice one black man with a "Fuck the Police" shirt and cap on? I told Smith Fonz was a local character and expressed my worry that he might be arrested. Smith said he didn't think that would happen. I hope that's the case, because otherwise the irony of a black man being pinched for something so frivolous at an Obama rally would be highly ironic.

Some of Obama's coolest lines came at the expense of the current administration, such as, "Whatever else happens, the name of George W. Bush will not be on the ballot." Everybody loved that one. As well as his quip that, "The name of my cousin Dick Cheney will not be on the ballot [either]," this referring to a story tracing both men's genealogy and linking them as distant cousins.

Look, I've never liked Hillary, and nothing she's done on the campaign trail has changed my mind about her. I think with her as Prez, everything would be a battle, from the first day of her presidency to the last. Obama has that sort of charisma that unites people. I even hear Republicans talking about it. I always get the feeling Hillary's trying to force herself down the gullet of the body politic. Not only doesn't Obama do that, he doesn't have to do it. For that alone, he gets my vote.

***Originally, this did not include the reference to the disabled and seniors. VCubed corrected me. See below.

Dan the Man, heading into battle against Nickel Bag Joe.

Just received the following news release on Dan Saban's retirement as Buckeye Police Chief. It'll be effective August 1, so he'll have nothing slowing him down as he goes into full-court press against Sheriff Joe this fall. If we're lucky, by the second week in November, we'll be reading about ol' Joe's forced retirement from office.

With Obama coming to town tomorrow and the primary next week, I know everyone is caught up in Presidential fever when it comes to politics. As much as I'd like to see the Dems win the Presidency, the Saban vs. Arpaio race is by far the most important political race this year for all those who live in Maricopa County. Followed closely by County Attorney Candy Thomas' bid for reelection.

What happens in Washington matters, of course. What happens here matters more. The MCSO is the entity that's riding roughshod over the rights of oridinary citizens like you and me. Liberals and conservatives alike like to natter on about the Patriot Act and such. But it's the MCSO's Selective Enforcement Unit that can come calling for you in the middle of the night, like they did my bosses Jim Larkin and Mike Lacey. And it's MCSO kingpins like Chief Deputy David Hendershott and others, who have the power to smear folks, just like they did Dan Saban back in 2004.

One interesting aside: Check Buckeye Mayor Bobby Bryant's good wishes to Saban below. Bryant and Saban have had their tiffs. In September, Bryant even suggested an ordinance forbidding any city employee from being "a candidate for nomination or election to any paid public office." The proposed ordinance was aimed squarely at Saban, though it was later withdrawn from consideration once it began to garner media attention. Check then Bird item, "Dan Tanned," and the blog item, "Buckeye punts, for the moment, on ordinance aimed at Arpaio foe Chief Dan Saban," if you're interested in ancient history.

Buckeye Police Chief Dan Saban Announces His Retirement Effective Aug. 1

• Redesigning the School Resource Program by creating VALUE Kids, a new year-round SRO program.

According to the MCSO's own documents, Israel Correa should never have been arrested, much less the subject of an immigration hold.

Why did the Sheriff's department place an ICE hold against Israel Correa, an American citizen with a valid driver's license and Social Security number, and not notify ICE?

Let's see, could it have been because his skin was brown?

Correa, a one-time candidate for Maryvale JP, was arrested January 18 as part of Sheriff Joe's posse-enhanced anti-illegal crime sweep, one I discussed both in this week's Bird column, and in the blog post, "Sheriff Arpaio unleashes posse on illegals; Depends stock skyrockets."

Correa was stopped for driving without his headlights on, and later arrested for failure to show his driver's license. Judging from the MCSO incident report, this looks like a bogus collar. The report concedes Correa did produce his valid Arizona driver's license for the arresting deputy. And this same license was returned to Correa when he was released from MCSO custody.

Interestingly, Correa was not cited for not having his headlights on, but rather for failure to provide I.D., not having insurance, and not having his registration in the vehicle. Correa’s insurance is with State Farm. He’s got the docs to prove it. As for the registration, the MCSO checked that through his vehicle license plate number, which they found to be under the name of a woman “with the same address as the defendant.”

After his release January 19, Correa told Channel 12 that an INS hold had been placed against him and his release delayed for several hours. I wanted to mention this in my column this week, so I called Vinnie Picard, the PIO for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to verify that such a hold was placed. Arpaio has officers cross-trained as ICE agents, and they can place an immigration hold. But that authority comes from ICE, and ICE should know about it.

Picard told me there was no evidence of such a hold being placed against Correa, and assured me that placing an ICE hold against someone was a serious matter and that ICE would know about it if one of the cross-trained MCSO deputies had done it. So I left the part about the hold out of my column.

Thursday, I made contact with Correa, who showed me his MCSO booking detail report, which has a section called "Holds." Under this, clearly marked, is "MCSO Ice Hold." (You can look for yourself, here.)

So I called Vinnie Picard back, and Picard checked with MCSO. MCSO's line to Picard was that MCSO had not really placed an ICE hold against Correa; this "MCSO ICE Hold" was just an internal "flag," which indicated that Correa needed to be questioned by one of their 287g officers (287g refers to the ICE program that trains local cops in immigration enforcement). When a 287g cross-trained deputy examined Correa, it was immediately determined that Correa was not an illegal alien, and the hold was released. ICE was never informed, MCSO told Picard, because it wasn't a "real" ICE hold.

Confused? You should be. Correa claims he did tell officers at the 4th Avenue Jail that he was an American citizen. MCSO deputies later informed him a hold had been placed against him. And as stated, the computer printout of his booking report reads "MCSO ICE hold." So if it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck, etc.

"No wonder he thought he was being held and examined by ICE," Picard observed. "Every indication that he had, from the paperwork, and what he was or was not told, indicated that. That's why I was confused, because we had no record of that."

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Does neo-Nazi J.T. Ready (left) advise Russell Pearce (right) on new anti-Mexican legislation? Nah, but he might as well.

State Rep. Russell Pearce is all excuses when he forwards neo-Nazi National Alliance e-mails to his supporters, or is seen smiling and arm-in-arm with local neo-Nazis like J.T. Ready. It's either, "I didn't read the e-mail closely," or "I didn't know he was a neo-Nazi." But the proof, as they say, is in the puddin' head. And though in person, Pearce strikes you as having the I.Q. of a horse's hoof, he has been extremely effective in instituting his one-note-Johnny anti-brown plan for Arizona. Last year, it was employer sanctions, the law that's now driving businesses under, full steam ahead. This year, the evil gets a little more bold, a little more twisted.

For instance, Pearce has made known his intention to put a referendum on the November ballot that would prohibit hospitals from issuing birth certificates to children born of illegal parents. Never mind that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution clearly states, that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside," and that, "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

The idea behind this proposal is something like a blood test for citizenship, something that we thankfully do not have in this country. But Pearce ain't letting the Constitution get in his way, nor human decency, nor shame.

Other Pearce-sponsored legislation in this session reveals a methodical goose-step towards the eradication of entire class of individuals from the population. The most dastardly of these is
HB 2631, which amends current marriage law to require that a prospective bride and groom provide both their social security numbers and proof of citizenship before a marriage license is issued. So only Americans can wed Americans. What if your girlfriend is here on a student visa? Tough luck. How about if your boyfriend has a green card? No dice. Better look for a citizen, sweetie.

You'd have to be tone-deaf to history not to note a faint echo of the Nuremburg laws of Nazi Germany. Of course, in the case of the Nuremburg laws, there was no masquerading the nefarious intent of the regime, which was proactively and unabashedly racist. Take this excerpt from those laws dealing with marriage:

Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if, for the purpose of evading this law, they were concluded abroad.

Agreed, we're dealing with entirely different contexts, and the Nuremburg laws were more directly focused on the Jewish people. But the similarity is near enough on the surface to send chills down one's spine.

There's more along these lines from Pearce, the Mesa muttonhead. And I do mean muttonhead, because after talking to the guy in person on more than one occasion, it's obvious he's not really smart enough to come up with this stuff on his own. I suspect that he's being advised by some entity such as F.A.I.R (the Federation for American Immigration Reform) or Judicial Watch, whose agendas dovetail with his, and who have a gazillion times more brainpower on their respective teams. That's not saying much, of course.

Take, for instance, HB 2625, which sanctions landlords if they knowingly rent to illegal aliens. Under this law, a landlord who does not check a renter's immigration status could receive a civil penalty of up to $250 for each day of violation. Effectively, if you rent to someone who is undocumented, the state will bankrupt you.

There's also HCR 2039, which seeks to put on the ballot a measure that will force the cops to check the immigration status of everyone they arrest. And if some city doesn't want their police acting like the local Gestapo and asking for everyone's papers like in some bad rerun of Hogan's Heroes, the state will cut off all state monies to that municipality's police force.

HCR 2039 also makes illegals illegal. See, there's already a Federal law, Title 8, section 1325 which makes it unlawful for an alien to enter the country illegally and elude detection. Basically, it's a minor offense, with a civil penalty of "at least $50 and not more than $250 for each such entry," or twice that amount "in the case of an alien who has been previously subject to a civil penalty under this subsection."

Under this Pearce proposal, if it's the alien's first offense, the local law enforcement agency can either turn the illegal over to the feds, or refer them for prosecution. First offense would be a class 1 misdemeanor. Second offense, a class 4 felony. And there are additional fines and assessments of court costs against those convicted. How they're going to get this out of some poor Mexican dude who crossed the desert to work for peanuts is beyond me.

In addition, there's HB 2045, which requires all "handymen" to be registered and in the country legally, even if the total cost of the work they're doing does not exceed $1000. That's an obvious swipe at the day-laborers and jornaleros, whose only crime is wanting to work.

Let's face it, in Arizona especially, the word "illegal" as applied to an individual is quickly becoming, under law, the de facto equivalent of "subhuman." Though, I would argue that the real lowbrow barbarism emanates from the likes of Pearce and others who labor to get such legislation passed.

Go get 'em, tiger: Saban being interviewed shortly after announcing his run for Sheriff.

Monday means deadline for me, folks, because I'm under the gun for this week's Bird column, but I would be remiss if I didn't give a little report from my attendance this Saturday at the Dan Saban rally at the Wyndham downtown, where Saban announced his intent to force Arpaio into retirement this year in the general election.

Saban ran against Arpaio in the 2004 Republican primary, and ended up getting 44% of vote. This despite Arpaio's smear tactics against Saban as detailed in the cover stories of New Times journo Paul Rubin: "Boobs Tube," and "Below the Belt." If it had not been for the smear, Saban would likely have won his party's nomination. Especially since many in the party bucked Arpaio in 2004.

Saban's since switched to the Dem column, which should give him a good chance of defeating Arpaio, especially with Republicans and Independents able to cross over and vote for Saban's new Democratic self.

The crowd of 200-to-300 included PHX Police Department legal beagle and Dem Gerald Richards, who is expected to challenge Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas this year.

Speaking in support of Saban were community activist Donna Neil of Nail'Em; former state legislator and longtime lefty activist Alfredo Gutierrez; and most-prominently, former County Attorney Rick Romley, who received a standing ovation and really got the crowd rockin' like he was preachin' Sunday-go-to-meetin'.

Romley used change as his fiery refrain, telling folks, "You know it's time for a change when the Sheriff has become so angry over the years, [that] his anger is not just focused on criminals, it's focused on anyone who disagrees with him."

And, "You know it's time for a change when the number of lawsuits against the Sheriff is greater than the four largest jails in America combined."

Finally, Saban took the podium, looking vigorous and ready to tear into a hunk of red meat named Joe. After thanking everyone, he dived into a tasty attack against Arpaio, promising, "Today will mark the beginning of the end of Mr. Arpaio and his infamous reign." He told his jazzed supporters:

Numbered are the days when entire communities are denied law enforcement services because stattioning deputies in their areas is not convenient.

Numbered are the days when entire populations are forced to live in fear simply because of the color of their skin.

Numbered are the days when 40,000 known felons are allowed to roam freely because this sheriff does not think it's a priority.

Numbered are the days when members of the press and our citizens need to fear having a Sheriff who violates their Constitutional rights to privacy and freedom of speech.

And so on. My favorite line was Saban's brief reference to the Hendershott in Honduras affair:

As I stand here today, gone are the days when we send deputies to Honduras when the residents of Aguila, Gila Bend, Sun City, Sun Lakes, and Anthem are being neglected.

Saban declared that when he becomes Sheriff, he'll make reopening satellite jail facilities a priority, go after the 40,000 felons Arpaio's ignored and return dignity, honor and respect to the office. He also stated he will not renew the contract for MCSO offices at the downtown Wells Fargo Bank building, saving taxpayers from having to cover the steep rent there. And Saban promised that once he's sworn in,

"I will order an immediate and detailed audit of the existing finances and expenditure patterns within this office."

The small earthquake you just felt was Arpaio's Chief Deputy David Hendershott trembling.

Honestly, it was a great speech, as was Romley's. And I daresay that the MCSO is nervous. Poll numbers show Arpaio's approval ratings to be high, but nevertheless down some 20%. Sure a wounded dog is dangerous. But if Arpaio pulls some numbskull shit like his camp did against Saban in 2004, they risk an outrage as great or greater than when the MCSO arrested my bosses Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin in the middle of night this past October.

As the Police Chief in Buckeye, and before that as a Commander in the Mesa PD and in numerous other ways, Saban has distinguished himself as a bona fide lawman, not a nickel bag ne'er-do-well like his opponent. It's time for Arpaio to go, and Saban's got mojo enough to make him.

Check the Penzoil in that 'do. Give it up, Joe. Gray's nothing to be ashamed of.

I'm a glutton for punishment. That's the only excuse I have for rolling down to 32nd and Thomas this Friday afternoon to check Sheriff Joe's press conference announcing his "crime suppression operation," supposedly focused on the area between 16th and 40th Streets, and between Indian School and McDowell Roads. "ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ARRESTS ANTICIPATED," screamed the press release on the MCSO Web site. But what caught my attention was that Arpaio was rolling out "armed posse members" in addition to some actual deputies.

Posse members? You mean the pear-shaped alter kockers who roam the malls at Christmas time? Sound the alarm, Bessie! Empty the Luby's up in Sun City. And make sure everyone has on a fresh pair of undergarments. Joe's rollin' out the old farts to hunt down some Messcans! Wahoooooo!

Seriously, is there any semi-public entity in this County as pathetic, decrepit and discredited as the Sheriff's posse? Remember when they participated in Joe's 2003 prostitution busts, and so many of them got nekkid with the 'hos and/or copped free handjobs that then County Attorney Rick Romley refused to prosecute the collars? (Read John Dougherty's June 24, 2004 story, "In the Crosshairs," for more on that fiasco.) These old cats should be playing shuffleboard somewhere and trying to remember the last decade they got laid in. Not running around with guns pretending to be cops for the day.

"We are utilizing our volunteer posse," announced Joe to a gaggle of reporters in the otherwise vacant parking lot where he'd set up his mobile command center. "We've done this many times before. We've gone after prostitutes and other criminal activity utilizing the posse."

Uh, yeah, Joe, and that prostitute thing was really a smashing success. Fortunately, no one's pacemaker gave out while they wuz gettin' their wrinkled weenie stroked.

Allegedly some local chiropractic chick along with the wing-nuts at the DC group Judicial Watch asked Joe to step in and crack down, and there were both pro and anti-immigration folks present, including Salvador Reza, on the pro side, and wacky border extremist Stacey O'Connell on the anti tip. Joe had these big wagons set up -- putatively to process all the arrests they were gonna make.

The Hispanic community's concerned this was a huge dragnet meant to intimidate the undocumented. And they're probably right. But a dragnet by posse members? They're supposed to be present in a support role, though many of these Grandpa Munsters are armed, wear deputy-like uniforms and ride around in MCSO vehicles. I've been told they can't even legally make a traffic stop. Though Joe assured us all there were gonna be some actual MCSO around to do the "real" police work. Plus Joe promised it was all free, like your grandmama.

Ahem, and we all know Joe never lies when it comes to law enforcement.

After I left, I cruised down Thomas several times. There were a number of PHX cop cars around. They've already got the scene covered. I didn't see any MCSO brownshirts anywhere. So why did Joe need to do this when the area's already crawling with PHX PD? Simple. He hadn't had his pic in the paper for like two whole days!

During the press conference, Joe ignored me for the most part, once saying he doesn't answer questions from New Times. But he did seem to wince a couple of times when I asked if he had to use posse members because all of his deputies were down in Honduras advising the po-po there. You know, like the Panama-hatted, Bermuda-shorted Chief Deputy David Hendershott.

I also asked,

"What special training do the posse members have to enforce immigration law? And do you have enough Depends to go around to all the posse members, Sheriff?"

There was a long pause after that one, though a couple of the other journos did smirk.

I then asked, "How old is the average posse member, Joe?" He ignored me, but he did say, when queried by another, regarding beleaguered Aguila that the residents there were "very happy" with the MCSO now, after being overrun by crime, in part to inattention from the MCSO.

Yeah, Aguila's very happy , Joe. Very happy this is going to be your last year in office, after Dan Saban whips your flaccid fanny in the general election.

I followed up by asking if most of the posse members were retirees. I was beside Joe throughout the press conference. He said, quizzically, "I hear someone whispering..."

I replied, "It's a little BIRD in your ear, Joe!"

To that, there were a few chuckles, even from ol' Joe.

"So would you say most posse members are around, 50, 60, 70?" I asked.

"I don't think 60 is old," he grumbled. "They keep saying I have wrinkles on my hands. My hands look pretty good."

Huh? I just let it go, and asked again why Chief Deputy David Hendershott was in Honduras and if the posse members were trained to enforce federal immigration statutes. He didn't reply.

Thus concluded another riveting episode of the Joe Show.

Saturday morning, less than 24 hours later, Joe and his mobile command center and his Metamucil-addled clan of mossbacks were gone. Vamoosed. The posse, it pooped. Where did they all go? I know. They had to go back to Leisure World to retrieve their walkers and canes. Just you watch, Messcans! They'll be back. Primed with PolyGrip and juiced with Geritol. Yep, they're geriatrics gone wildin'. Turn your back on them, and they'll put an orthopedic sneaker up your hindquarters. Then choke you with that old people smell. (Cough.) It's a killer...

Seems libertarian comedian Drew Carey took time off from his new gig at The Price Is Right recently, and delved into Pinal County's vindictive and ass-backwards dancing ban aimed at the San Tan Flat restaurant and owner Dale Bell. Check this video from Reason.tv, an offshoot of the libertarian rag Reason Magazine:

The segment, titled Footloose in Arizona, for obvious reasons, repeats much of what New Times journo John Dickerson reported in his September 13 article Dance Gestapo.

Dickerson really ripped Pinal Co. officials a new one in that piece. Read this excerpt where he exposes the blatant Harper Valley PTA-like hypocrisy of these dumbass county functionaries:

In return for Bell's $1 lawsuit, Pinal County Attorney James Walsh has asked the court to award the county a lien on Bell's land and restaurant if he doesn't pay all dance fines, an unspecified lawsuit amount for "damages," and the County Attorney's legal fees.

"Outdoor dancing is not allowed in any zone in our county," deputy director of planning Dennis Rittenback said during Bell's January hearing. In a New Times interview last week, Deputy County Attorney Chris Roll contradicted that: "I've never heard that it's illegal to dance outside in Pinal County."

What a bunch of assholes. Anyway, Carey's video does the trick, showing how benign this San Tan Flat place is, and how it even won over its one critical neighbor. Dickerson got linked to on the Web page for the item, which is cool. The only way to get bureaucratic boneheads like these in Pinal to back off is to embarrass the fuck out of them.

Anyway, kudos to Dickerson for helping to pique the interest of the Reason Magazine crowd. Now all we need is a 60 Minutes piece, and I suspect the polecats in Pinal might drop the whole dang thing to make it go away.

Hey, Wing-It, the Hendershott rumor mill may not be the best place to score blog items.

Journalism is, like, hard n' stuff. You've got to make a phone call occasionally, verify these pesky things called "facts." Hey, who has the time? Not Yvonne "Wing-It" Wingett, or at least not with this little bagatelle she typed up for the Arizona Republic's Political Insider blog. In it, Wing-It claimed, "The New Times ad reps are apparently courting the newspaper’s Public Enemy No. 1 – a hot shot at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office."

Specifically, she was talking about Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Chief Deputy David Hendershott, who apparently has taken time off from his trips to Honduras' Bay Islands, to start a restaurant in Glendale's Westgate City Center, called Paparone's. According to Wing-It, New Times ad reps had been hitting up Paparone's, offering Super Bowl tickets if the Italian eatery would sign with us. Wing-It quoted her primary source as chuckling over the alleged irony.

"They’ve come in every week, according to the managers," Hendershott said, laughing. "They’ve been offering Super Bowl tickets if we sign up for a year’s worth of advertising with them. Why in the word would I pay the New Times for press? We’ve been getting free press from them for the last 15 years," he said, alluding to the nasty relationship between the paper and the Sheriff’s Office.

Funny stuff, huh? Well, except for the fact that it's total bullshit. Wing-It later updated her blog post with an e-mail from New Times publisher Kurtis Barton, who pointed out New Times doesn't have any Super Bowl tickets to give out as perks, nor have New Times ad reps hit up Paparone's, as Hendershott was claiming.

"We have never gone into Paparone's," Barton told me. "We did not even have it in our data base. I looked after I saw [Wingett's] blog. We have not offered anyone Super Bowl tickets. We will not offer tix either. They are going for $3000 a piece. We dont even have an ad that costs $3000 by itself."

Some, including Barton, speculated 944 might have Super Bowl tickets, maybe because they've been billing themselves as, "The official lifestyle magazine of the 2008 Super Bowl Host committee." But I was skeptical about 944 passing those puppies out like party favors. So I put in a call and an e-mail to 944 execs about it.

Carly Harrill, Corporate Events & Marketing Manager for 944, e-mailed me back, telling me, "Nobody at 944 Magazine has been in this restaurant, nor are we offering Super Bowl tickets to advertisers."

Bottom line? The story was bogus from jump. Wing-It, however, simply allowed Jabba the Hendershott to whisper in her ear, and she took it as the unvarnished truth. Hell, Yvonne, why didn't you just let Hendershott write the thing for you, too?

Love some of the comments on Wing-It's item, like the one from SunDevilRick101: "Did they teach the definition of Libel in Hack Journalism 101 or did you skip that day?" Or this one from asuham, "There are a ton of papers out there who reach out to businesses for advertising and if this guy hasn't even talked to them himself, how does he even know they are New Times reps?"

Interestingly, when I called the place to verify the spelling of the name, etc., the kid on the phone offerred up that "Paparone" was the nickname given to the owner by his family. Kind of their way of calling him, "Big Poppa."

"He's kind of a big guy," the kid relayed.

Hey, they don't call him Jabba the Hendershott for nothin'. I may have to check the place out. Given Hendershott's girth, I reckon that fat cat knows how to tuck it in.

As long as they ain't servin' no green bologna in the antipasto. Ewwwww.

Harvard economics prof George Borjas, raking it in at $625 per hour...

You get what you pay for, and County Attorney Candy "Lil' Joe" Thomas definitely got what he paid for with our money when he hired Harvard economist George Borjas to analyze the possible effects of the new employer sanctions law. Borjas himself admits that he was paid $625 per hour to pen a report for Candy entitled, "Labor Market Consequences of Unauthorized Aliens in Arizona." It's a report Candy's submitted as an affidavit to the court as part of his defense in the ongoing legal wrangling over the law.

Candy summarized Borjas's findings to the MCAO's Illegal Immigration Journal, a Web site for which County taxpayers foot the bill:

The analysis by Dr. Borjas, one of the nation's leading authorities on the effects of illegal immigration on the American economy, demonstrates that enforcement of the employer-sanctions law will help to protect and potentially increase wages in Arizona, especially among lower-skilled workers. Dr. Borjas reports that the employment of unauthorized workers has depressed wages in Arizona by nearly $1.4 billion, and has reduced the earnings of low-skilled authorized workers in Arizona by 4.7%.

What Candy doesn't tell you is that Borjas is a known quantity, a labor economist with a definite slant on immigration, that slant being that Mexican immigration is depressing the wages of poorer Americans. Borjas states in the beginning of his report that, "I charge a standard hourly rate for work in this matter. My standard billing rate is $625 per hour. Payment is not contingent on my opinion expressed, or on the outcome of this case." (Emphasis mine.)

On the other hand, Candy did not hire Borjas at $625 an hour to have the Harvard don tell him that the new employer sanctions law will negatively impact AZ's economy. But Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform (AZEIR) pointed out last week in a press release that Borjas had a slightly different take on the employer sanctions law before Candy filed his $625/hr report with the court. On Borjas' blog, he had this to say in December in a post titled "The Arizona Experiment":

It doesn't take a doctorate in nuclear physics to deduce that GDP will fall when the labor force shrinks. But a more relevant question is: what happens to per-capita GDP? If one takes economic theory seriously (and if the aggregate production function in Arizona has constant returns) one would expect no change in per-capita income as a result of this newly found enthusiasm for employer sanctions.

Now if that ain't a contradiction, then Jamie Lynn Spears ain't preggers and Amy Winehouse doesn't need therapy. AZEIR hired its own academic Giovanni Peri at the cut rate of $250 per hour (hey, a prof from UC-Davis is cheaper than one from Harvard). Peri surveyed the academic literature, and found that Borjas was on his own in his conclusions:

Of the empirical studies I analyzed that look at the impact of immigration using state and city data Borjas (2006) is the only one that finds a clear negative and significant effect on both average wages and on low-skilled natives.

In fact, Peri found that most studies point to an overall positive from immigration:

Most of the articles using regional data find small and statistically insignificant effect of immigration on employment (many even find a positive effect), a negative effect on relative wages (immigrant inflow benefits highly educated workers more than less educated workers) and a positive effect on average wages for all workers.

This may seem counterintuitive. But Peri addresses this notion, stating that,

While wage gains as consequence of immigration may sound odd to noneconomists it is very natural and economically sound that when the supply of one type (skill) of workers increases firms will increase demand (and wages) of other types of workers and expand production. At the same time specialization opportunities arise potentially increasing productivity and wages.

Naysayers will claim Peri is as biased as Borjas, except for the fact that Peri's report is essentially sampling the available academic literature and drawing a conclusion from it: i.e., that Borjas's conclusions are in opposition to the prevailing view. Also, Peri's $250/hr. ain't costing us jack, nor is AZEIR's Web site, unlike the very biased anti-illegal immigration journal run by the MCAO.

What I find interesting is that both Borjas and Peri are generally discussing what immigration as a whole does to wages, with Borjas taking an extra stab at assessing the impact of an unauthorized workforce. Indeed, Borjas himself says:

These theoretical arguments do not distinguish between the impact of authorized and unauthorized aliens. In principle, this distinction may not matter because it is the increase in the size of the workforce—regardless of whether it is authorized or not—that introduces the economic pressures in the labor market.

The distinction certainly matters in the Arizona context. Nativists like to argue that they are for legal immigration, and only oppose illegal immigration. The reality is that they oppose all immigration. In fact, if the nativists had their way, they'd run off most of the foreign-born population and try to whittle Arizona down to some sort of lily white backwater where the crackers rule and the brown folk live in fear. This is the reality of what they want, and what pols like Candy and Russell Pearce are fighting for. (In Candy's case, this is despite the fact his wife is Hispanic.)

Ultimately, they will lose. They are running counter to the tide of history. America has always been and always will be a land of immigrants. And while there have been reactions to immigration over time, such as the revivification of the KKK in the '20s, or the re-rise of the nativists now, such reactions are doomed to whither and die. Peri and Borjas are the perfect examples of the triumph of immigration. Though they are on opposite sides of the debate in their rarified academic settings, they are both "foreign-born" workers: Borjas was born in Havana, Cuba and emigrated to the U.S. in 1962; Peri was born in Perugia, Italy, and is an Italian national who maintains permanent residence in the U.S.

(You can read the entire Peri report here.)

Deputy dawgs in Paradise: from left, Sheriff Joe's "Cheney" David Hendershott; Bay Islands Police Commissario Julio Benitez; retired MCSO Deputy Roger Marshall; and Captain Jim Miller.

With the MCSO so deep in the red that it cannot perform crucial functions, what are MCSO officers doing in Honduras of all places training the local gendarmes down there?

As incredible as it sounds, according to a radio show focused on Honduras' Bay Islands called The Roatan Bruce Show (Roatan being the capital of the Bay Islands, one of Honduras' 18 "departments"), Sheriff Joe's personal "Dick Cheney" Chief Deputy David Hendershott, MCSO Captain Jim Miller and other MCSO deputy dawgs have for the past year been advising the police in that part of the world.

This, while the MCSO has had to cut back in overtime expenditures, reduce visitation hours for prisoners (the Sheriff is still fighting a judge's order to reinstate them), threaten to close down the courts by not delivering defendants to their trials, neglect its duties in unincorporated areas such as Aguila, and on and on.

Take a look at the above pic from the online pub "Honduras This Week Travel," wherein Roatan Bruce recounts his interview with Hendershott and others from the MCSO. Check Hendershott's Panama hat and that Tommy Bahama shirt. The guy looks like a cross between Marlon Brando in The Island of Dr. Moreau, and the mad scientist Dr. Mephisto from South Park, known for genetically engineering a monkey with four asses.

Just thank Yahweh Hendershott ain't wearin no Speedo.

Discussing the MCSO's helping hand in an October 27, 2007 article for the same publication, Roatan Bruce informs readers,

There was a time when crime was difficult to stop. It resulted in the federal government eventually sending in more and better qualified police. One of those police is National Police Commissario of The Bay Islands, Julio Benitez. Having two years experience, one as a sub Commissario and for the last year as Commissario, he has attracted the help of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, one of busiest and most respected Sheriff’s Offices in the United States, which serves citizens in Phoenix, Arizona.

Busy? Maybe. Respected? Only if you're a third-world police force, boyo.

In the same article, Roatan Bruce notes,

Sheriff Joseph Arpaio sent down two teams of expert police in the last year to establish a sisterhood relationship between Honduras, Bay Island Police and their office. Captain Brian Beamish from Special Operations and Lieutenant Kevin Riddle from the Central Investigations Division were part of a second wave of police that spent a month in Honduras training policemen in Tegucigalpa before coming here.

Nutty. Wonder if the MCSO is showing the Hondurans the best way to use a restraint chair?

Captain Beamish tells Roatan Bruce that the MCSO's initial mission was to train 160 police officers in the islands off the coast of the Central American nation. And the MCSO's work there is still ongoing, according to Beamish.

“After two weeks,” Captain Brian continued, “the students then receive the other instructor. At the end, there will be a large graduation. There is more training scheduled for the beginning of the year (2008) and it is going to continue for the next several years. The next group to come down will be on anti-corruption."

Are you kidding me? "Anti-corruption"? What, are they gonna show the Honduran po-po how to raise ducats from the sale of pink underwear?

One thing Hendershott can certainly advise them on is how to police a banana republic.

Jokes aside, I'll certainly be looking into this further next week, and making some public records requests to see who's paying for what. I know that last year, I asked for travel records on Hendershott, and the very few I got to view did not include any airplane flights or hotel stays in Honduras.

Has this been covered in the local media somewhere and I just missed it? Doing various searches online, I did note this proclamation by Governor Napolitano issued back in June for the "Bay Island Sister agency Project for Justice and Service Day," but on the face of it, the whole thing seems outrageous. Is the MCSO doing this on our dime? Plus, you've gotta wonder if this is Hendershott's fall plan if Buckeye Police Chief Dan Saban whips Arpaio's fanny in the general election later this year. You know, retire to sunny Honduras...

"I'm not opposed to helping other nations and countries," Saban told me when I asked him for a comment. "But at a time when the MCSO is under-staffed, under-resourced, and we've got 40,000 felons running loose in this county? Helping other nations should come way at the other end when we're fully staffed."

Well said, Chief. If the MCSO is as stretched financially as they claim, then they have some explaining to do...

Thanks to veteran Arpaio critic Jim Cozzolino for the 411 on Hendershott's Bermuda-shorts junkets to the Caribbean.

PS: You can listen to audio files of Roatan Bruce's interviews with Hendershott and other MCSO operatives, here.

Ron Paul, the Christ of the pod people; photo from his campaign Web site.

What is it about Congressman Ron Paul that draws nearly every Klan member, Hitler-worshipper, tax-resister, John Bircher and 9/11 tin-foil hatter to his camp? I have to say, when Paul talks about the war in Iraq or closing down GITMO, he can make sense. But then you read a little bit of the guy's background and you realize he believes the Civil War was unnecessary and that he regurgitates these staid, old "states' rights" arguments that you thought were buried with the corpses of George Wallace and Strom Thurmond. You find out that he's practically a regular on moon-howler extraordinaire Alex Jones' radio show; that he's said in the past that he agrees with much of what the John Birchers say; and that he's worried about certain wing nut-conspiracy theories such as the paleocon nightmare fantasy of a so-called "North American Union." And you begin to realize that Paul's the crackpot king of conservatism. No wonder gatherings of his supporters seem oddly cult-like when you run across them, like at First Friday in Phoenix or the recent gun show at the fairgrounds. They remind me, vaguely, of the ultra-left supporters of Lyndon LaRouche who were so prevalent in the late '70s and early '80s. Pod people with a fixation on Paul as their messiah figure.

At this point, it's almost a cliche. Whenever I'm taking a peek at some white-supremacist Web site, like Stormfront.org, or some Klan site like the Empire Knights of the KKK, there's either a page, or a banner or a declaration from a member, touting Ron Paul as the savior of America. Former KKK Grand Wizard Don Black, webmaster of white supremacist message board Stormfront.org, has donated $500 to Paul's campaign for President. Even when informed of who Black was, Paul's campaign refused to return the money, saying that Paul planned to use the filthy lucre towards positive ends, so the evil-doer's ill-intent had therefore been trumped. Stormfront.org still offers a link for members who want to donate to Paul, and shows a U.S. map of meet-up groups in support of a Paul candidacy. Also, it's worth noting that one of Black's good friends, former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke is constantly trumpeting Paul's cause.

Locally, I spoke to the Grand Kleagle of the PHX KKK, a guy named Joseph Parkton, who has AZkkk.org, the Web page for the AZ Empire Knights of the KKK, registered in his name. Parkton, who may have recently added the title of Grand Dragon to judge from his site, told me why he supports Paul and plans to vote for him.

"He stands for America, you know?" said Parkton. "He wants to do away with the tax systems. He wants to fight against illegal immigration. He has a bunch of very good ideals that we can align ourselves with."

Parkton, who's in his 30s and is employed in private security, tells me that there are a lot of different Klan organizations, but that the chapter he's in charge of is more politically motivated.

"We want to bring our troops back home and secure our borders," he said. "So our troops are not over [in Iraq] and being killed for useless reasons."

In this way, Paul and his supporters remind me of some sort of throwback to the America First Committee that wanted to prevent our involvement in the conflict that became WW II. At some point, the far left and the far right meet, and they meet, in our time, in the person of Ron Paul, which explains the enthusiasm of some lefty college kids for his message as well as the Ronulan loyalty of many 9/11 conspiranuts who believe the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in 2001 were part of an inside job by the Bush administration.

(For more on the connections between the Paulites and the 9/11 Troofers, check this link to posts of interest on the Screw Loose Change blogspot.)

Two-ton turd reicher from Mesa, white supremacist J.T. Ready, has opined on his NewSaxon.org page that, "The Jews are afraid of Ron Paul." Local NSM organizer Scott Hume has expressed support for the Texas congressman. And during the Constitution Week festivities in Gilbert, there was great overlap in those who supported Ron Paul and those manning the booths for the local John Birch Society.

On the other hand, at the recent gun show in Phoenix, the Ron Paul table featured volunteers and organizers who were Jewish and gay. So is it unfair to hold Paul accountable for all the racist nutbars who support him?

Erstwhile AZ gubernatorial candidate Barry Hess is responsible along with fellow libertarian activist Ernie Hancock for those Ron Paul Revolution stencils you see all over. You know, the ones that have LOVE emphasized as part of rEVOLution. Yep, those started here in P-town, and Hess and Hancock take the credit or blame depending on your P.O.V.

Hess explained that he and Paul are the best of pals. He stated that Paul's message resonated with a lot of folks, not just the Sand Land schutzstaffel.

"The unifying theme is `get government out of our lives,'" claimed Hess. "That's why he's getting the support of groups that normally wouldn't support anybody. And that's much to his credit. If you look at a list of all the wacko groups that are supporting him, that's just a very small segment of his support. The main support is from main street."

But then, as much as I like Hess on a personal basis, he's capable of slipping into some of that 9/11 nuttiness himself.

"He (Paul) feels the same way on 9/11 as I do, and I don't know what happened," he explained. "I find it extraordinarily suspicious that there are 19 pictures [of the 9/11 hijackers] on television some 4 hours after an incident -- supposedly these were all the people involved. Then we found out at least 5 of them are still physically alive and have never had anything to do with it."

Ooooh-kay, Barry, step away slowly from the exhaust nozzle. That happens to be one of the most debunked myths propagated by the 9/11 tinfoilers -- supposedly that some of the hijackers were/are still alive -- a canard based on some initial misreporting by the BBC, which the BBC later corrected.

Moving right along, James Kirchick of The New Republic currently has an article out on the subject, titled, "Angry White Man: The bigoted past of Ron Paul," which details all of these racist newsletters written under the Ron Paul imprimatur, if not penned by the great OB-GYN himself. Since the TNR article was published earlier this week, Paul's campaign has issued a statement denying that the good Doctor actually wrote the newsletters in question, and denouncing their content.

But Kirchick writes,

...whoever actually wrote them, the newsletters I saw all had one thing in common: They were published under a banner containing Paul's name, and the articles (except for one special edition of a newsletter that contained the byline of another writer) seem designed to create the impression that they were written by him--and reflected his views. What they reveal are decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays. In short, they suggest that Ron Paul is not the plain-speaking antiwar activist his supporters believe they are backing--but rather a member in good standing of some of the oldest and ugliest traditions in American politics.

TNR has selections from Paul's newsletters online. They contain trash like this:

In June 1991, an entry on racial disturbances in Washington, DC's Adams Morgan neighborhood was titled, "Animals Take Over the D.C. Zoo." "This is only the first skirmish in the race war of the 1990s," the newsletter predicted. In an October 1992 item about urban crime, the newsletter's author--presumably Paul--wrote, "I've urged everyone in my family to know how to use a gun in self defense. For the animals are coming." That same year, a newsletter described the aftermath of a basketball game in which "blacks poured into the streets of Chicago in celebration. How to celebrate? How else? They broke the windows of stores to loot." The newsletter inveighed against liberals who "want to keep white America from taking action against black crime and welfare," adding, "Jury verdicts, basketball games, and even music are enough to set off black rage, it seems."

Should we care? I mean, the guy's not gonna win the Republican nomination, and he'll be lucky to win a primary. But there's also the ton of money he's raised, and his increasing acceptance by many as some sort of wing-nut Jimmy Stewart riding a white horse into the political arena. Bill Maher's been a long-time fan, though I wonder if he'll change his mind given the TNR report. And Paul was recently on Jay Leno, with Leno coming to his defense on being excluded from a FOX News debate, saying: "You seem like a gentleman. You don't seem like that type. But it seems like you should be kicking somebody's ass right now."

Whenever a marginal moonbat extremist like Paul begins to gain mainstream acceptance, then we at the very least should call him on his less savory connections. I was happy to see that Paul distanced himself from these newsletters, but how can he completely wash his hands of them when they were penned under the banner of his name for decades? I think he should also give Don Black back his $500, and tell these racists openly that their support is not welcome, in any form. Otherwise, he has nothing to complain about when people criticize him for his wing-nut ways.