House Speaker moves forward to address problems with IRC
The Arizona Capitol Times is reporting that House Speaker Andy Tobin has introduced a host of measures that would set a special election enabling voters to decide whether to use legislative and congressional maps drawn by elected legislators representing constituencies – as was the practice prior to the passage of Prop. 106 in 2000. Democrats and Republicans worked together to draw the lines.
Arizonans are currently faced with oddly configured and decidedly partisan maps approved last month by Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission.
He died in 1972, at the age of sixty-three, a marginalized figure in his own obscure field and seldom mentioned outside of it.
But to close followers of the topsy-turvy GOP presidential primary, the late Saul Alinsky is suddenly becoming a household word. This is due, in large measure, to the mantra-like repetition of the name by Newt Gingrich, who invokes it every day on the campaign trail as part of his stump-speech indictment of President Obama.
“We need somebody who is a conservative and who can stand up to him and debate and who can clearly draw the contrast between the Declaration of Independence and the writings of Saul Alinsky,” Gingrich told a large crowd outside the Wings Plus restaurant in Coral Springs, Florida Wednesday.
FN Five-sevens were among the weapons allowed to walk. Photo: Wikipedia
As I wrote in a post for Big Government this past Sunday, January 22, the Arizona’s legislature has decided once more to do the job the feds won’t do, and has launched its own investigation into Fast and Furious. And during an appearance on FOX NEWS this morning, Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin explained why they’ve taken this step. He said that constituents were flooding their offices with questions about the gun-running operation, and he said one recurring question was, “You’re not waiting for the feds [to do something] are you?” He then said the answer to that question was “No.”
Said Tobin:
This is an incident that occurred on Arizona soil, with Arizona business owners, [where we lost] an Arizona agent (Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry), and quite frankly we felt it needed a lot more attention. We felt our citizens needed a place to go to share their stories. Maybe there’s more there. This was a failed program right from the start and I think the idea is to put more light on it.
Agency offers to talk before going to court
In its developing battle with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio over alleged violations of the civil rights of Hispanics, the Justice Department appears to have blinked, backing away from an earlier threat to take the Arizona lawman to federal court immediately.
Still, the Civil Rights Division under the direction of Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez has made it clear that the DOJ has no intent of proving its charges, as Arpaio has demanded.
In an email sent to WND on Jan. 5, the DOJ stated, “If MCSO wants to debate the facts instead of fixing the problems stated in our findings, we will do so by way of litigation.”
Yet, in a six-page letter delivered to Arpaio’s office Wednesday, Perez appeared to have softened his position by offering to talk, rather than going to court immediately.
“We stand ready to meet, answer questions and discuss a resolution with you and your client immediately.” Perez wrote to the sheriff’s office’s outside counsel, Joseph J. Popolizio.
In the proposed meetings, nevertheless, Perez made it clear the DOJ has no intent of showing or debating any of its alleged evidence.
A top official with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Phoenix, AZ who has repeatedly declined to voluntarily testify to Congressional investigators about Operation Fast and Furious has been subpoenaed, according to the office of Congressman Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The development comes as the American firearms industry is gathered here at the Sands Convention Center for its annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show, and Fast and Furious is a hot topic. This announcement will make it hotter, primarily because the industry, and particularly gun dealers from across the Southwest, have been blamed by the Obama administration for the flood of firearms heading south to Mexico.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s command center routinely monitors dozens of popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks and news and gossip sites including the Huffington Post and Drudge Report, according to a government document.
A “privacy compliance review” issued by DHS last November says that since at least June 2010, its national operations center has been operating a “Social Networking/Media Capability” which involves regular monitoring of “publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites and message boards.”
The purpose of the monitoring, says the government document, is to “collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture.”
The document adds, using more plain language, that such monitoring is designed to help DHS and its numerous agencies, which include the U.S. Secret Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency, to manage government responses to such events as the 2010 earthquake and aftermath in Haiti and security and border control related to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Hat Tip: The Atlantic | DRUDGE REPORT
Arpaio willing to go to federal court to vindicate his department
Maverick Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is challenging the Obama administration’s Department of Justice to present evidence to back its charge that his office is discriminating against Hispanics.
“Prove it,” Arpaio said in remarks directed at Holder in an interview with WND.
“If Eric Holder has evidence that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has engaged in systematic violations of the civil rights of Hispanics, then show me the evidence,” Arpaio said.
Arpaio contends that the 22-page complaint the Department of Justice released Dec. 15 against his office was nothing more than anecdotal and didn’t prove there are systematic sheriff’s department policies aimed at depriving Hispanics in Maricopa County of their civil rights.
Nor was Arpaio concerned that the DOJ might take him and his sheriff’s department to federal court.
BY LINDA BENTLEY | DECEMBER 28, 2011
U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow ruled any Hispanics stopped since Jan. 1, 2007 may file suit against MCSO in a class action complaint
PHOENIX – As they say in Hollywood, it’s all in the timing. And the timing of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (DOJ) Dec. 15 report to Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery stating it has reasonable cause to believe the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing, couldn’t be met with more skepticism.
For starters, the report was released on the anniversary of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder, a result of the flawed Operation Fast and Furious gun-walking program that allowed straw buyers to purchase guns and place them in the hands of drug cartels across the Mexican border, while U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been simultaneously frying on the hot seat of a congressional investigation into the matter.
The report was also released the day after Terry’s family issued a statement calling for criminal indictments to be pursued against those responsible for the gun-walking program that resulted in the murder of Terry and hundreds of others.
As Holder has done his best to stonewall the investigation into the Fast and Furious program by the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has likened Holder’s behavior to President Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell, who was sentenced to 19 months in prison for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.
During the 2010 and 2011 summers, I was a cashier at Wal-Mart #1788 in Scarborough, Maine. I spent hours upon hours toiling away at a register, scanning, bagging, and dealing with questionable clientele. These were all expected parts of the job, and I was okay with it. What I didn’t expect to be part of my job at Wal-Mart was to witness massive amounts of welfare fraud and abuse.
I understand that sometimes, people are destitute. They need help, and they accept help from the state in order to feed their families. This is fine. It happens. I’m not against temporary aid helping those who truly need it. What I saw at Wal-Mart, however, was not temporary aid. I witnessed generations of families all relying on the state to buy food and other items. I literally witnessed small children asking their mothers if they could borrow their EBT cards. I once had a man show me his welfare card for an ID to buy alcohol. The man was from Massachusetts. Governor Michael Dukakis’ signature was on his welfare card. Dukakis’ last gubernatorial term ended in January of 1991. I was born in June of 1991. The man had been on welfare my entire life. That’s not how welfare was intended, but sadly, it is what it has become.
Other things witnessed while working as a cashier included:
a) People ignoring me on their iPhones while the state paid for their food. (For those of you keeping score at home, an iPhone is at least $200, and requires a data package of at least $25 a month. If a person can spend $25+ a month so they can watch YouTube 24/7, I don’t see why they can’t spend that money on food.)
Read the rest.
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Christine Rousselle // Providence College // @Crousselle
Hat tip: Camelbackland
