Blogs

Is that the corpse of the KTAR news room Ankarlo's devouring?

In case you missed today's show from KTAR's mornin' jabroni Darrell Ankarlo, you can rest assured that your county RICO dollars are being well-spent. At least as far as County Attorney Andy "Candy" Thomas is concerned.

See, for just $11.5K, Thomas not only gets to sponsor the lame-ass local book tour for Ankar-low-brow's racist hate tome Another Man's Sombrero; today, Thomas scored almost an entire show of Ankarlo bashing Thomas' potential rival, Democrat Tim Nelson. Ankarlo also invited on KTAR's paymaster, and blew him like a French horn, fawning over Thomas, rationalizing the controversy concerning the payment from the C.A.'s office, and, ultimately, endorsing Thomas' run for reelection.

"All I can say to you, Andrew Thomas, is I had not decided for whom to vote come November," stated Ankarlo, without pausing to wipe his lips clean (if you know what I mean). "You're a shoe in. I'm not going to even look at the other guys. You keep doing what you're doing, and I'll help you get as many votes as you can."

And this posterior-polishing came after Thomas' office had purchased a mere month's sponsorship for Ankarlo's vile, Mexican-bashing volume. Jesus, Darrell, couldn't you at least hold out for another month? You cheap floozy.

Why, before Thomas came on the show, the Janus-faced jawboner'd denied he'd done anything wrong. He claimed he had zip to do with the KTAR/County Attorney deal. Nor had he profited at all from the transaction, even though it was his book that was receiving the paid-for endorsements from the C.A. Dumbass Darrell insisted the deal came about because the C.A.'s interests in suppressing illegal immigration dovetailed with his own anti-brown sentiments.

"Can I state for the record, I received not a penny in any way, shape or form from this deal," kvetched the lip-flapper. "I am employed by KTAR. KTAR and the County Attorney's office created this relationship. The relationship was consummated simply because my message is one that says you better wake up before we are devastated."

At one point, Ankarlo seemed to contradict himself, explaining that he was asked about the deal by someone in the station's management.

"After I agreed to these book signings," attested Ankarlo, "I was approached. People came to me and said, `What do you think? You line up with the ideologies that he, County Attorney Andrew Thomas, has regarding illegal immigration in the state of Arizona. Would you have any problem if he sponsored your book tour?'"

More

It's likely no one in town will give me any credit for breaking the story that KTAR 92.3 FM is getting moolah from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for top lip-flapper Darrell Ankarlo's book tour. (Sniff.) But that's OK. You know who broke that story, boyos. In fact, should anyone forget, they can check the date on last week's Bird column.

I'm mentioning this because KTAR, the official radio station of County Attorney Andy "Candy" Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, is reporting that the MCAO's eminence greasy Barnett Lotstein, has just admitted that the deal to sponsor the Ankarlo book tour has cost the county over $11,000 in RICO funds.

But Lotstein said the taxpayers shouldn't fret, it's just RICO cash. Funny money that's not directly from the taxpayer.

Pardon for me for a moment while I catch my breath:

BWUAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA-Oh-Oh-
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHA!

Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Anyway you slice it people, RICO money is our money, money confiscated by our servants (yes, I said servants) in law enforcement from criminals and criminal enterprises. It's not meant as the personal cash cow for a County Attorney to promote himself, or the book tour of a media toady.

More

Russell "White Pride" Pearce, doing what he does best...

This Friday, the Web site for the Yellow Sheet Report, a political tipsheet published by the Arizona Capitol Times, picked up on the 30-year-old allegations of domestic violence against Russell Pearce by his wife LuAnne. The story appeared first in this blog, and then was followed by an item in this past Thursday's Bird column.

Both the Bird and the Feathered Bastard revealed the existence of a 28-year-old divorce petition, on file with the Maricopa County Superior Court, wherein LuAnne Pearce swore that her husband was "possessed of a violent temper, and has from time to time hit and shoved" her. In an incident alleged to have happened shortly before the document was drafted, Pearce supposedly "grabbed [her] by the throat and threw her down."

When contacted by phone, Mrs. Pearce denied the incidents ever happened, or that she ever claimed as much to her lawyer at the time, E. Evans Farnsworth, now a judge in Chandler. Farnsworth stated that he did not recall the specific case, as he handled quite a few divorce petitions back in the 1980s. But he stated that the allegation would have come from his interview of Mrs. Pearce, and that he would not have inserted it without her knowledge.

More

Wing-nutty Hobbit-lady and recall wench Anna Gaines, from a file photo. Saturday, she was briefly arrested at Borders Books on Camelback...

Capping off a disastrous day both for Sheriff Joe and for the Phoenix anti-immigrant movement in general, Anna Gaines -- the founder and chairperson of American Citizens United, the nativist organization currently gathering signatures in an attempt to recall Mayor Phil Gordon -- was arrested in the Borders Books on Camelback during a Joe Arpaio book signing event there.

According to Phoenix Police Department Sergeant Steve Ong, Gaines was arrested, then cited and released for trespassing after an incident involving Biltmore Fashion Park security. Witnesses said, after Gaines got her book signed by Sheriff Joe, she tried to circulate a petition sheet in the store for the recall of Mayor Gordon. Apparently security asked her to leave and she declined. As she was being detained by Phoenix PD, store goers saw Gaines ask Phoenix police officers to ask Joe to vouch for her. At one point, she dropped the petition. One witness said he saw it, and that the petition was completely blank.

Before she was arrested, I spoke to Gaines while she was in line waiting for Joe's John Hancock, and she swore that ACU had 80 percent of the sigs needed to force a recall of Gordon. I asked her how many of the signers were from Phoenix, as is required by law. She declined to answer the query. I have a very strong suspicion that ACU will submit their sigs, but that a large portion of them will be found to be not allowable for one reason or another. At that point, you can anticipate the nativists will howl that they were robbed.

Prior to Gaines being handcuffed and placed in the back of a PPD SUV, Sheriff Joe punked out of addressing the crowd, once he saw that it had been owned by anti-Arpaio activists. At least 90 percent of the crowd was anti-Joe, and when he observed this, he declined to speak, just like he declined to step foot in Mesa during his anti-brown dragnets in that burg. Store manager Mark Panza announced that Joe was feeling under the weather, and that was Joe's excuse for not addressing the audience before signing books. Of course, that was a major pant-load. Like every bully in history, Joe chickened out when faced with significant opposition. I was truly disappointed, as were many of the pro-immigrant crowd in attendance, who let out a giant, "Awwwww..." when told that Arpaio was weenie-ing out.

Arpaio, seated with wife Ava, greeting one of his few supporters at Camelback's Borders Books...

While he was signing books, several of the anti-Joe folks messed with the Sheriff in one way or another. One woman, with book in hand to be inscribed, asked him why he hated immigrants. Another, challenged him on his bringing terror to Hispanic communities. At one point, a young lady raised a large anti-Joe banner, only to have it ripped down and confiscated by some MCSO bodyguard.

Weirdly, there was a situation in which a man was shoved by an undercover Sheriff's deputy. But after being arrested briefly and taken to the back of the store, he was let go. According to several accounts, he was pushed by the undercover deputy for no reason, and when he asked why he'd been shoved, he was arrested. Thing is, there were loads of attorneys around, and he'd done nothing wrong, so they ended up letting him go.

More

KTAR's e-mail newsletter, featuring Ankarlo's book, and the County Attorney's seal of approval.

KTAR 92.3 FM's Darrell Ankarlo continues to rail against big government on his radio show, calling Barack Obama a socialist, in defiance of the facts, while KTAR takes what you might call radio welfare from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office to promote Ankarlo's local book tour for his hatemongering tome Another Man's Sombrero.

Yesterday, Ankarlo was broadcasting from the Barnes and Noble at the Chandler Fashion Mall, signing his Mexican-bashing bag of bull, as promo spots occasionally reminded listeners that Ankarlo's appearance was in part sponsored by County Attorney Andy "Candy" Thomas.

"The Ankarlo book tour is coming to your neighborhood this summer," an announcer intoned in the spots. "Don't miss your chance to get your copy of Another Man's Sombrero by KTAR's Darrell Ankarlo, signed today at Chandler Fashion Center starting at noon. The Ankarlo book tour, presented by the County Attorney's office and news talk 92.3 KTAR."

Presumably, either taxpayer funds or county RICO dollars are being spent to prop up Ankarlo's appearances in the Valley. I say "presumably" because the MCAO refuses to comment on the matter, though KTAR news director Russ Hill explained for this week's Bird column that the County Attorney's office purchased the opportunity to promote Ankarlo's book. I guess Ankarlo needs the help. Arbitron currently ranks his show's overlapping time slots at seventh in Phoenix.

More

Ipso schmucko, going down kinda like the dog he pretended to kill in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

What's the latest from the Old Pueblo and the ongoing donnybrook between Isabel Garcia and those who've taken the Pima County Legal Defender to task for her hoisting the head of a Sheriff Joe piñata during an anti-Joe demo? Seems the idiot who made an issue of the non-issue in the first place, frat-boyish talk radio host Jon Justice of Tucson's 104.1 FM is now in some agua caliente himself over two YouTube videos he posted showing him caressing a life-sized Isabel Garcia piñata, telling his audience, "I want to take her home," while he pawed the piñata’s papier-mâché curves.

Justice obviously intended this latest stunt as humorous, saying he was going to make the Garcia piñata his show's mascot, and joking about how Garcia's form was really light because, "Chorizo's not that fattening." In other words, dumb, unfunny stuff that makes Dane Cook look like Bill Maher by comparison. Gotta wonder why so many people are still taking Justice's insincere gripes about Garcia seriously.

(BTW, Garcia didn't bash the Joe piñata, others did. Not that I would have blamed her if she'd beaten the crap out of that thing. You can read all about it in the current Bird column, which is up now.)

More

Nativists and activists and Sheriff's deputies, oh, my! We ain't in Kansas, no more, Toto. Rather, we're in P-town, at the Board of Stoopervisors meeting. I mean, Supervisors, of course. And if last month's demo before the Supes' auditorium downtown at 205 W. Jefferson Street is any indication, then we can look forward to some spirited, left-wing fun Wednesday beginning at 9:00 a.m., sharp. So get there early, and the 100th person through the door with an anti-Arpaio T-shirt gets in for free.

Heh, fooled ya, it's all for free, and more scintillating than a marathon of Murder She Wrote reruns. That is, everything up till Chairman Andy Kunasek announces that he's not wearing any pants under the Board of Supes' horseshoe-shaped dais, or that the Call to the Public has begun. The latter is more likely, and is sure to be chock-full of people p.o.'d at the Supes for their continued, slavish support of Sheriff Joe Arpaio. (Save for Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, his sole critic on the BOS.) Outside the squat, Supes building, there may be a replay of last month's demo, and if you're curious how that went down, here's a new Dennis Gilman YouTube video to lay it all out for ya.

BONUS VIDEO: Below is another Gilman video based on Joe's Mesa sweeps, and a bizarre, troublesome report of MCSO deputies holding guns on kids during a raid from one of the sweeps. I had not seen this footage. Chilling stuff. How these a-hole deputies sleep at night after pulling such stunts should be a puzzle to any civilized person.

Finally, I should address the reports from Monday's incident at the Macehualli Work Center, where an enraged driver pointed a gun at nativist Lynne Stevens because the guy was pissed that Stevens was photographing him after picking up and then bringing back a jornalero from the day labor center.

More

Russell Pearce "is possessed of a violent temper," according to a 1980 court document signed by his wife LuAnne.

That old example of a loaded question, "So, when did you stop beating your wife?" seems weirdly applicable in Valley political circles these days. First, there’s the June 26 incident involving Democratic state Representative Mark DeSimone, wherein DeSimone was arrested for allegedly punching his wife in the face during a late-night family squabble. DeSimone has promised to resign his Legislative District 11 House seat because of the arrest.

More recently, Michelle Berman, the wife of Gilbert Mayor Steve Berman, told the East Valley Tribune in a July 15 article that she had endured years of physical and mental abuse from her husband. She reported the abuse to a Gilbert police counselor. The Gilbert police handed the allegations over to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating. Berman's denied that he's ever been abusive toward his wife, and has claimed she has a substance abuse problem. The Arizona Republic has subsequently reported that Mayor Berman's past marriages have included allegations of physical abuse.

Will Mesa legislator Russell Pearce be next in the list of pols tarnished by domestic violence allegations? During a recent LD 18 Clean Elections debate with his state Senate primary rival, fellow Republican Kevin Gibbons, the uber conservative Pearce referred to "abuse in our homes" as a "black eye on our society." But while doing some research on Pearce, I ran across a petition for dissolution of marriage filed back in 1980 by Pearce's wife of over 30 years LuAnne. The document is unremarkable, save for one, damning line:

"Further, the husband, RUSSELL KEITH PEARCE, is possessed of a violent temper, and has from time to time hit and shoved the wife, the last time being on February 3 [1980], when he grabbed the wife by the throat and threw her down."

You can read the doc in its entirety, here. The passage above is on page four, and is highlighted.

Sure, the document is 28 years old, and the file was eventually closed by the court for lack of activity. (Pearce and his wife are still married.) But, as I've mentioned, the issue has been much in the news of late, and Pearce has always presented himself as a law-and-order type of guy. One of his constant refrains, and one that has earned him near deity status amongst nativists in Arizona and beyond, is that we need to "take the handcuffs off law enforcement" and let them enforce all of the laws on the books, particularly those regarding undocumented aliens.

More

A flier for U.S.A.'s upcoming supremacist shindig: Regarding the dress code, we hear white sheets are optional.

Next Saturday afternoon should be a pretty rowdy one in Phoenix's tony Biltmore Fashion Park. Not only will Sheriff Joe be appearing at the Borders Books there to promote his latest work of fiction, the prevarication-friendly Joe's Law, wherein Joe claims he's being hunted by the Minutemen and the Mexican mafia, that he helped break the French Connection, that he once almost ticketed Elvis, yadda-yadda-yadda. In addition, Joe's presence will bolstered by the racist bike gang Riders U.S.A., the bike club arm of Rusty Childress' United for a Sovereign America, the most vicious anti-immigrant hate-group in the Valley.

As you can see from the flier above, U.S.A. is organizing a prejudice picnic for Saturday the 26th, nearby the state Capitol. Folks will have to pay the pay-triots $15 the day of the event to garner entry, a free lunch, the chance to converse with other knuckledraggers (snorts and grunts are preferred), and the opportunity to listen to the likes of Don "Goofy" Goldwater bloviate. So far, he's the only confirmed speaker. Don, nephew of the late, great Sen. Barry Goldwater, continues to prove that his apple fell far, faaar away from the family tree, most recently by heading up two anti-immigrant initiatives L.A.W. and S.O.L.E., both of which failed to obtain enough sigs to reach ballot-hood despite a year's effort. Wow! And people get to pay $15 so they can listen to this idiot attempt to spit out the marbles in his mouth? Be still my thumping heart!

Why is U.S.A. charging people to attend a rally? Are times really that tough, fellas? Or is this a fundraiser to cover Buffalo Rick Galeener's legal bills? As regular readers of this blog know, Buffalo is currently contesting a misdemeanor charge of public urination stemming from an incident in March where he allegedly took an al fresco whiz in front of a woman's home, nearby the Macehualli Work Center in north Phoenix. Whatever the money's for, Buffalo weenie is apparently organizing the event, which is to start off at Wesley Bolin Plaza, downtown in front of the Capitol, and from there, journey to a "special surprise" picnic area.

Following the picnic and all the fun to be had staring at a fire truck obtained for the wingding -- not to mention the countless "beaner" jokes these anti-brown clowns will undoubtedly be swapping -- this tatterdemalion brigade of bigots will then ride their motorbikes down to the swank Biltmore area, where they will descend on Sheriff Joe's book signing at the Borders Books in the Fashion Park there. If this doesn't sound like an episode from The Beverly Hillbillies, with ex-KIA peddler Rusty "Crusty" Childress playing the part of Jethro Bodine, I don't know what does.

More

A stinging indictment of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the MCSO. That's how the lawsuit filed yesterday by the Arizona ACLU, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, (MALDEF) and the Phoenix law firm Steptoe and Johnson, against Joe, the MCSO and Maricopa County reads. Brought on behalf of five individuals whose civil rights were trampled by the MCSO because they are Latino, the class action complaint includes as plaintiffs the immigrant rights organization Somos America and "all others similarly situated." In other words, all Latinos targeted by the MCSO because their skin is brown.

The suit blasts Arpaio's goons, charging that they've violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Arizona Constitution, and ICE's Memorandum of Agreement with the MCSO, under which Arpaio has federal authority to enforce immigration law with 160 specially trained deputies. Obviously, Arpaio has made few bones about the fact that his "crime suppression sweeps" are in reality all about rounding up undocumented brown people, while denying accusations that he's racially profiling. Now he will have to face a team of high-powered constitutional legal beagles and justify his unconstitutional activities before a federal judge.

Though the complaint seeks "declaratory and injunctive relief," eschewing financial reward, and though it could be a year or more, according to ACLU of Arizona Legal Director Dan Pochoda, before the suit nears trial or the court takes some action, the psychological impact is tremendous as the lawsuit's legal shepherds gather information under the discovery part of the case.

"In the discovery phase, [the MCSO] has to turn over information," explained Pochoda. "Hopefully, well be getting deep into records that have never been looked at before... Then there will be testimony taken under oath, pretrial depositions, asking questions under discovery, and possibly a trial."

More

Video of the Tucson protest of Arpaio, from Jon Justice's 1041TheTruth, showing a Sheriff Joe piñata being beaten and Isabel Garcia scooping up its head.

Like you need more proof that times are way-way-slow down in the "Old Pueblo," Tucson radio wing nut "Jon Justice" is hunting the head of local pro-immigrant firebrand Isabel Garcia after Garcia toted the decapitated noggin of a Sheriff Joe Arpaio piñata at an anti-Joe protest.

Seems Nickel Bag Joe was down in Tucson recently for yet another book signing for his prevarication-friendly work of fiction Joe's Law. You know, the one where he claims to have been behind the crippling of the French Connection drug ring, and where he maintains that the Mexican mafia, the Minutemen and immigrant rights activist Elias Bermudez are conspiring against his life. Anyway, Joe was at a Tucson Barnes and Noble to pimp the tome, and there was a lawful protest at the B&N that included scores of demonstrators, and featured, at one point, a Sheriff Joe piñata that two teens beat to a pulp.

Um, like, so what? After all, Phoenicians may recall, if they strain really hard, that the local activist group PUEBLO caught a little heck from the media on Cinco de Mayo, when their inaugural shindig included several Sheriff Joe piñatas that were creamed by party-goers until Joe's candied innards rained from the sky like stripper dollars. PUEBLO was pilloried for the day, unfairly from my point of view, but even Joe didn't make that big of a stink over the matter. He got his mug on the telly that eve, and it wasn't even a media event his highly-paid army of PR flacks had orchestrated. Christ, the old fart was practically giddy.

Less than 48 hours later, the PUEBLO piñatas were forgotten, like last month's celebrity meltdown. And why shouldn't they be? We're just talking about some papier-mâché dolls stuffed with Tootsie Rolls and affixed with Joe's dyspeptic mug. Plus, whacking political piñatas ain't nothing new, much less eyebrow-raising, unless you're a complete ass-backwards moron with the cultural I.Q. of a Lincoln Log. Down in Latin America, it’s practically de rigueur for a pol to get bopped in this fashion, but you don’t have to go so far afield. Just check out piñatas.com, where you can find piñatas to abuse of all political stripes – whether it’s Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Dick Cheney or Fidel Castro.

But it seems some rubes in Arizona's Second City think Joe Arpaio should belong to a protected class. Meat-headed lip-flapper Jon Justice, who spews loony venom for Tucson news talk station 104.1 FM "The Truth" (yeah, right), has organized a campaign to get Isabel Garcia fired from her post as the Pima County Legal Defender, because she was present when the piñata-smacking went down, and afterward lifted up the severed toy head and carried it forth through the crowd of protesters. He also wants her disbarred, and because Garcia has long been a lightning rod for nativist hate groups, he’s motivated other drooling imbeciles to call Garcia’s boss at the county and complain.

Interestingly, Jon Just-An-Ass recently added a full-size Garcia piñata to his shtick, and fondled it for a YouTube video, thereby removing all doubt as to his status as a blithering idiot. I guess if we were to take seriously his claim that Garcia threatened Joe with violence by picking up the piñata head, we'd have to assume, by the same wack logic, that he was threatening Garcia with sexual assault by molesting her effigy?

More

Tears of a clown? Joe's afraid of the big, bad Mesa police chief.

So I return from my brief respite from the sad insanity of Maricopa County to see that mean ol' Sheriff Joe's still so scared of Mesa Police Chief George Gascon that our cowardly top constable won't even step foot in his city!

I mean, Joe makes a big stink about going back into Mesa after his disastrous June sweep of that burg, but he sets up his mobile command center in a county island between Tempe and Mesa? Why do that when there's a perfectly good substation in Mesa from which to coordinate this wannabe-tough-guy dragnet of restaurant workers, house cleaners, and construction laborers going to or from their jobs? After all, if you're gonna use 100 deputies and old posse farts to hunt down undocumented folk instead of real criminals, you might at least save a little scrilla by using the facilities you already have, instead of parking your paddy wagons out in BFE.

I guess you could argue that maybe the MCSO wanted to operate in secret, save for the fact that Joe told the press where he would be at 5 p.m. for his press conference where he kvetched like some old drag queen about all of his high-profile critics, "thanking" everyone from Mayor Phil Gordon to Governor Janet Napolitano for unmanning him. The bitter, bitchy sarcasm flowed so freely from Joe's haggard lips, I half-expected to see Arpaio in pantyhose when the camera pulled back for a long shot.

More

Brandy au naturel, from her Web site brandysmassage.com.

I'll be out of pocket for the next couple of days, and so will not be able to blog as normal. There will be some catching up to do Monday, on the new Cave Creek raid and the series on Joe in the East Valley Tribune. Interesting video the Trib has online. Joe looks like a geriatric gangster, and PR flack Lisa Allen [formerly Lisa Allen MacPherson], his past-her-prime gun moll. I haven't had a chance to watch it all or read it all, so I'll reserve judgment until I can.

I have a bit of nativist nuttiness for you in the meanwhile, a member of United for a Sovereign America and stalwart supporter of Sheriff Joe by the name of Brandy Baron. A regular at anti-immigrant protests around town, Baron is a masseuse by trade, a practitioner of the art of the sensual touch, and though she strictly states on her Web site Brandysmassage.com that she will not perform any act of a sexual nature, she does offer "tandem" massages with an equally adipose skin-buffer by the name of Taylor.

Brandy is available by appointment at A Touch of Heaven Massage, which she's informed me in the past that she owns. The trade name is registered with the Arizona Secretary of State under the name Frank Baron, but the "Whois" for TOH's Web site lists "Brandy Baron" as the contact person.

Interestingly, two of her fellow masseuses, Angie and Nicole, have elected to have their faces blurred out online. Don't know why these gals would be so shy. Especially since the business' Web site features a disclaimer, which says,

"Anything of a sexual nature regarding massage is illegal so please don't ask us to discuss it with you. Rest assured you will have a pleasurable as well as relaxing experience with us."

Barron writes on her blog that she's of Hispanic descent, and is also firmly against any illegal immigration. She's particularly bitchy about immigration from Mexico (Canadians are apparently a-OK), and she claims she wants all of the nation's immigration laws enforced. She frequently can be found demonstrating up at the Macehualli Work Center in north Phoenix as part of U.S.A.'s ongoing harassment of that day-laborer site.

Baron is intelligent enough, and though we disagree on many subjects, we agree on some others, such as the legalization of prostitution, which she advocates. Indeed, in a blog called "BBW Brandy's Blog," on the site escortblogs.com, Baron writes about the differences between street hookers and the higher end of the trade.

"I don't think that there is any more special service that can be offered to another person than pleasure," blogs Baron in a 2005 post. "Most outside of the profession think that it's all about sex and money. Those same people usually think of anything sexual between unmarried people as being dirty. They have no idea how much caring, compassion and nurturing goes into providing intimacy. A good provider offers herself as a companion which is far more than just a sex toy. I have no respect or regard for those people who cheapen the profession by standing on street corners. They are the main reason that so many have such a low opinion of sex work. THEY are the ones that always get seen! A good professional is very discreet for everyone's protection."

I had a little confab with her on this a while back, at the state Democratic convention, no less. I was there reporting, and she was there doing a little observing for her camp. Her adult daughter was with her, as were a couple of other nativists. Below's a sampling of the give and take from the impromptu interview I did with her.

I should state that I actually like Brandy as a person. I've found both her and her daughter to be civil with me, unlike most other U.S.A. members, such as alleged public urinator Buffalo Rick Galeener, Craig Tillman and others. I think it's hypocritical of her to be for the enforcement of all laws, save for those having to do with the world's oldest profession. But one's own hypocrisy is always the easiest to justify, right, Brandy?

More

Will J.T. be at the big debate Thursday? And more importantly, will he be in uniform?

The call's gone out from ex-KIA peddler Rusty Childress' United for a Sovereign America, the most militant outfit of racist knuckledraggers in the Valley: Their old buddy state Rep. Russell Pearce, aka, Mr. Ethnic Cleansing needs their help. Or so goes the line on Childress' immigrationbuzz.com, under a blog post entitled, "Your presence is requested," wherein the nativist troglodytes announce the upcoming Legislative District 18 Clean Elections primary debate to include Pearce and his state Senate primary opponent, attorney Kevin Gibbons.

They warn that the debate is being put on by "the very far left Children’s Action Alliance," and so, "Mr. Pearce would love to have your [sic] show your support for the Conservative Candidates. Please plan to attend."

"Children's Action Alliance!? Sounds like a buncha dang Commies. Why, they're prolly all for anchor babies, too!"

Or so you can imagine such U.S.A.-affiliated cave dwellers as alleged public urinator Buffalo Rick Galeener, wing-nutty Hobbit lady Anna Gaines, and aged neo-Nazi Elton Hall saying to themselves. Be looking for U.S.A. members such as these to show up, perhaps even the prejudiced playboy Childress himself. (He has loads of time on his hands since he sold the lot.) Why, if the stars align, maybe Pearce's personal political albatross, his ofay Willie Horton -- I mean, Mesa neo-Nazi and Republican precinct committeeman J.T. Ready -- will be there in the flesh. And lots of it.

I just hope there's plenty of security present in case J.T. and Elton decide to reenact Kristallnacht while in the audience. These are the sorts of people whom Pearce attracts: Childress, who is a long-time Pearce supporter; Ready, whom I watched Pearce work a crowd with at a June 2007 anti-immigrant function; Gaines, the anti-Hispanic Hispanic, and a regular speaker at committee hearings held by Pearce in the state House.

Additionally, in April, it was reported that Pearce was soliciting donations on the site of bigoted border activist Glenn Spencer. Spencer heads up a hate group in Sierra Vista called American Border Patrol, and he once famously wrote the Los Angeles Times that,

"The Mexican culture is based on deceit. Chicanos and Mexicanos lie as a means of survival. Mexicans who have truly become Americans have shed themselves of this survival mechanism."

Ooh-kay. Back away slowly from the ammo and the bag of Elmer's glue and no one gets hurt, Glenn.

And of course, who could forget the 2006 incident where Pearce forwarded a neo-Nazi National Alliance e-mail to his supporters? These are not mistakes. They are part of a pattern. A pattern that in any other state of the union would get you relegated to political oblivion.

But what do local Republicans think is worse than courting white supremacists? Getting a donation from a Dem. In fact, some Republicans got their Levi's in a twist recently when they learned that none other than Jim Pederson -- you know, that cat with the Foster Brooks smile who ran against Jon Kyl last time around -- had given moolah to Kevin Gibbons' campaign.

More

Bruce Starr at the Super Bowl. The image is from the Honduras radio personality's February report on his trip in Honduras This Week Online.

Let's return to Honduras for a moment and check in with Sheriff's office pal "Roatan Bruce" Starr, a radio-personality in the Bay Islands, Honduras who also pens articles for the English-language pub Honduras This Week Online. You may recall that it was Starr's show Chief Deputy David Hendershott visited, along with other MCSO hotshots, back in 2007 to promote the MCSO's activity in Honduras, which included training Honduran police officers on the county dime, and paying for the trips from the MCSO's RICO budget.

Despite Sheriff Arpaio's promises to suspend the program, the Honduran Operation is believed to be ongoing, part of an effort by the MCSO and Hendershott to set up a Honduran base for a massive facial recognition project, on which the MCSO has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's also been revealed by Channel 12's Joe Dana that Hendershott pitched just such a facial recognition project to a rep of the European Union. Dana has alleged a friendship between Hendershott and a CEO of the county vendor providing the facial recognition technology. And Dana's reported that Hendershott's traveled to China, staying in the same hotel as this vendor.

The guy whose kiss-ass reports inadvertently brought the Honduran scandal to light was Honduran radio personality "Roatan Bruce" Starr. Starr's radio shows and his column's for the English-language pub Honduras This Week Online, are pure boosterism. And he apparently took it personally when the Phoenix media began using his "Aw, shucks" articles and interviews with David Hendershott and other MCSO brass to expose the MCSO's efforts in Starr's adopted land.

Take this gripe from Starr describing his interview of National Police Officer on the Bay Islands, Commissario Julio Benitez, which Starr did March 17, 2008.

"We also talked about the problems a few one sided and self-serving reporters from the Phoenix area have caused for our Sisterhood Law Enforcement Project started by the Maricopa County Sherrif's [sic] Department," wrote Starr. "Please listen to this interview to see how damaging a few people can be to ruin it for the safety, security and protection for us in The Bay Islands and all of Honduras. Maybe we should all contact the publisher of the Arizona Republic newspapers to voice our opinions about the awful job of reporting a competing underground newspaper is doing to hurt us here."

More