Monday, October 30, 2006

Boo.

"The Thirteen Scariest People In America," according to Alternet. gotta say, they make a pretty good case. I particuarly like this dude:

"Scariest Cop: Joe Arpaio / Sheriff, Maricopa County, AZ

by Charles M. Young

A huge swath of Arizona that includes Phoenix, Tempe and Scottsdale, Maricopa County attracts journalists and politicians from around the world, all hoping to learn penal reform theory from Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who opens his gates to everyone except reporters known to be critical. He brags on the department website that he has "nothing to hide and nothing to fear," and except for the occasional prisoner who gets beaten to death (R.I.P. Scott Norberg), he probably doesn't have anything to hide or to fear.

Most of the press considers him a colorful character who dresses his inmates in pink underwear, feeds them $.45 meals and houses them in tents where the temperature can exceed 140 degrees and the inmates have to breath the stench from a nearby dump and animal crematorium. A true pioneer of women's liberation, he has instituted chain gangs for women as well as men. Both sexes must listen to patriotic songs, and recordings of Arpaio reading self-help books throughout the day.

Although he forbids raunchy magazines (as well as coffee, cigarettes, Kool-Aid and hot meals), his recent jailcam experiment, live Web broadcasts of inmate life including toilet sessions, was a huge hit, and was quickly linked to by porn sites around the world. When inmates sued for invasion of privacy, Arpaio had to shut it down, but it was a rare setback for "America's Toughest Sheriff," as he likes to bill himself. Under a novel interpretation of the state's smuggling law, his most recent stunt is arresting illegal immigrants and giving them the pink-underwear-and-patriotic-song treatment. Having been elected four times by America's scariest voters, Arpaio can (and does) intimidate anyone who objects to his Guantanamo of the Sonora. Why waste cruel and unusual punishment on mere Islamofascists when we've got all these criminals on the border and a shredded Bill of Rights? Welcome to the future of law enforcement."

9 comments:

Taihae said...

gaaahh???! gaaughg?!

Anonymous said...

Wow. This is messed up! Plus, I agree that those are some scary voters!

Anonymous said...

Off topic, you might find this stormcloud post quite interesting in the language used.

http://stormcloud.wordpress.com/2006/10/27/breaking-pornography-addiction/

Cigamybab said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
belledame222 said...

speaking of scary, eh?

"God is watching you!" Terrific. Have fun.

Katie said...

I lost track of some post I really liked--I'd swear it was this blog--where you & Mandos talked about types of "magic," the origins of certain guys-only priviliges, etc. I remember him saying something about "spooge-giving," but I looked up "spooge" in a search & couldn't find it. :-( He was saying that he thought there was SOMETHING natural behind the social constructs (which is why he used that term--he said that, though there were of course natural exceptions, there was still a natural MAJORITY of each category that could be "spooge-giving" or "childbearing.") Guess Blogger doesn't search the comments. Remember which one it was?

Oh, and by the way, I replied to your comment on my blog. That's one thing about Blogger that bugs me. I like how LJ has comments that reply to each other. That way, you can be notified even when you get a comment on someone else's blog. Anyway, I haven't looked in a while, but I think I asked you a question or something in response.

Katie said...

Oh, and I might donate against this guy's campaign. What a jerk. I can't believe people still keep themselves so uninformed as to believe tactics like this work against crime. The studies have been done, folks! Read a book & learn about 'em!

belledame222 said...

I'm afraid I don't remember where we were talking about spooge-giving magic; but I'm intrigued, now, at least.

will come by your blog later, Katie.

i think maybe Blogger beta gives the option of comment notification. it also apparently clamps itself to the back of your skull and starts sucking out your precious bodily fluids, though, so I'm not gonna do it.

Katie said...

Does "womb envy" ring a bell? That was another term.