I hope you all had a nice Sunday so far, and I would like to mention several items today.
Let's start with "Real Sheriff" Joe Arpaio, who met Sarah Palin in Arizona on Friday.
Given his apparent disdain for basic human rights, one can see where the attraction to "celebrity redneck" Sarah Palin lies, and vice versa. It doesn't take long to find some shocking facts about the "real Sheriff", for example:
U.S. District Court Judge Neil V. Wake ruled in 2008, and again in 2010, that the Maricopa County jails violated the constitutional rights of inmates in medical and other care related issues. This ruling was a result of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU, which alleged that "Arpaio routinely abused pre-trial detainees at Maricopa County Jail by feeding them moldy bread, rotten fruit and other contaminated food, housing them in cells so hot as to endanger their health, denying them care for serious medical and mental health needs and keeping them packed as tightly as sardines in holding cells for days at a time during intake."
In a ruling issued in October, 2010, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Arpaio to follow U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake's 2008 ruling, which required Arpaio to end severe overcrowding and ensure all detainees receive necessary medical and mental health care, be given uninterrupted access to all medications prescribed by correctional medical staff, be given access to exercise and to sinks, toilets, toilet paper and soap and be served food that meets or exceeds the U.S. Department of Agriculture's dietary guidelines. (...)
In February 2010 Judge John Leonardo of Pima County Superior Court found that Arpaio "misused the power of his office to target members of the (Board of Supervisors) for criminal investigation."
In 2008 a federal grand jury began an inquiry of Arpaio for abuse of power, in connection with an FBI investigation. Arpaio is being investigated for politically motivated and "bogus" prosecutions, which a former US Attorney called "utterly unacceptable". Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon has called Arpaio's "long list" of questionable prosecutions "a reign of terror".
"A reign of terror?" Sounds like a pretty good description of a potential Palin Presidency.
In any case, Sheriff Joe hopefully made Sarah happy with giving her a pair of his "world famous" pink underwear, which he introduced a long time ago for PR-reasons:
A very appropriate present for Sarah, whose main appeal for many male voters still seems to be that she apparently is "hot."
It's a real shame that Sarah Palin didn't tell Joe the story of Diana Palin, Todd's half-sister, who committed several burglaries in 2009 while being a drug addict. I am sure that Sheriff Joe would have offered his sympathies. ;-)
Speaking about crazy right-wingers: Our reader AzureGhost alerted me to a comment on another blog made by Norm Olson (read more about Norm Olson here), commander of the "Alaska Citizens Militia." He calls Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller "my friend":
Norm Olson claims that Alaska Dispatch editor Tony Hopfinger behaved "disrespectfully" by asking questions and therefore deserved to be arrested. Fascist thinking through and through.
Here is a tweet regarding this comment by Norm Olson by our reader AzureGhost, who asks are very good question:
In addition, aview999 found this little nugget - "Dropzone Bill" now put a note in the window of his shop in Anchorage:
Thanks for making clear that Dropzone Bill and his friends have no issues with "killing people."
"Dropzone Bill" William F. Fulton meanwhile has a new lawyer: Wayne Anthony Ross ("WAR"), Sarah Palin's failed choice for Alaska's attorney general (I still remember that day, listening live on the radio to the vote in AK legislature - it was wonderful!). "WAR" was also the co-chair of Sarah Palin's gubernational campaign for Governor in 2006.
Wayne Anthony Ross ("WAR") with Sarah Palin
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Joe Miller's lawyer Thomas Van Flein meanwhile causes some confusion in Alaska.
In addition, ADN-reporter Julia O'Malley got another taste of "Joe Miller's democracy", trying to report from another campaign even:
When I walked in the door, it seemed like the average campaign event. People wore buttons. Kids played with balloons. Everybody ate hot dogs. Right away I could feel a blond woman watching me. I wound into the crowd with my notebook, ignoring her. I saw Miller. His back was to me. There was a crowd around him. About then the blond woman appeared in my path.+++
She asked if I was with the news media.
Yes, I nodded.
Media weren't invited to this event, she said.
But it said on Twitter anyone could come, I said. It was a "meet and greet," I said.
That was a mistake, she said.
How could that be? What about all the people who weren't reporters who read Twitter and came over?
The event got changed at the last minute, she said. It was only for volunteers. It was private, she said. She ushered me to the door. If I had questions, she said, I could call the campaign's press person.
I didn't want to talk to the campaign's press person, I said. I wanted to talk to voters.
The voters thought the event was private and that news media wouldn't be there, she said.
I needed to leave, she said.
And with that, I found myself out on the pavement. I called back into the open door, trying to get her name. She turned her back on me. The door shut.
Back to Sarah Palin:
Sarah's fans continue to fall over themselves in adoration for their idol. Right-wing talk show host Tammy Bruce interviewed Rebecca Mansour from C4P/SarahPAC on her radio show, and these two have the biggest girl crush on Sarah Palin ever witnessed (ok, others come close as well, like Adrienne Ross). It's a comical experience to listen to them, knowing that Sarah Palin is nothing like this wonderful person they describe. Sarah is only "wonderful" if you give her your adoration. If you refuse to do that, you turn immediately into her mortal enemy, because due to her personality disorder, she is unable to accept any dissent.
This interview makes it again plain obvious that the Palinbots are nothing but a pure personality cult, and all criticism towards the great leader Sarah Palin has to be ridiculed immediately, because it just cannot be true.
Accordingly, Rebecca Mansour ("RAM-hammer" in old C4P days) is Sarah Palin's "enforcer" on her facebook page and faithfully deletes all the comments which are even slightly critical of Sarah Palin.
Tammy Bruce and Rebecca Mansour don't seem to realize that they were talking about Sarah Palin as if she was already on the campaign trail for 2012. This should remove the last doubts that Palin is going to run for President, but as I have mentioned before, we already know from several reliable sources for quite a while now that Sarah Palin is going to run. So America is to experience much more screech, hate and madness in the near future.
On a side-note, Rebecca Mansour claims that superwoman Sarah Palin works "20 hours a day." Who cares for her children then? Why do I even ask...
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Other articles which were published during the previous days:
"Think Progress" is continuing to follow-up on their big scoop with the revelation of the secret meetings of Koch industries with members of the business elite and the media.
Now, they take a closer look at some of the "journalists" who attended the meetings.
"Alternet" has a very interesting article about "Conservatives' Big Hypocrisy: Turning Women Candidates (Who Are Anti-Sex and Anti-Woman) into Sex Symbols." The thrilla from Wasilla plays of course an important role here.
"Alternet" also reports about the latest Wikileaks-revelations: "Wikileaks' Iraq War Logs: Secret Files Show How US Ignored Torture"
Another very good recent article on "Alternet": "Fascist America: Is This Election the Next Turn? It's not fascism yet; but if the Tea Party manages to get its hands on the levers of power, it will be."
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I would like to conclude this little "Sunday-roundup" with presenting another documentary which some of you might not have watched yet.
"The Fog of War" won the Oscar for the best documentary in 2003, and deservedly so - it's without any doubt one of the best documentary ever made. It's a huge achievement, and a riveting viewing experience.
This documentary about "the life and times" of former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara is also incredibly relevant when we look at a figure like Sarah Palin, who likes to divide the world in good and evil, and seems incapable of any form of self-reflection. Take into account also Palin's inability to deal with criticism and to feel empathy with others, and we come to realize that the world as we know it wouldn't exist any more if there had been a "President Palin" in charge in 1962 during the Cuba missile crisis (McNamara's lesson No 1: "Empathize with your enemy").
Never has anybody given a more shocking description than Robert McNamara in this documentary of incredibly how close the world was to nuclear war in 1962.
It's also worth buying the DVD with extra features.
Watch the documentary on google video in larger format:
(Click on "CC" in the video menu to turn the captions on and off.)
Enjoy, and have a nice evening!
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