By Joel Griffith

Dayton, OH

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) keynoted a Dayton Chamber of Commerce event today.  After opening the floor to questions from the audience, I asked the senator about his support from J Street.  After all, from 2007-2012, Senator Brown accepted $60,000 in PAC funds from the advocacy group, his largest single campaign contributor.  While J Street claims to represent Israeli interests, its policy pronouncements often are at odds with Israel’s security concerns.  The tendency on the part of J Street to criticize Israeli foreign policy explains why many concerned Jewish Americans distance themselves from the organization.   J Street does, however, enjoy the financial support of the Saudi embassy.  More disconcerting is the support J Street derived from Mehmet Celebi, producer of the anti-American, anti-Semitic film Valley of the Wolves.

Senator Brown reacted with hostility to my question—refusing to even let me complete the entire question prepared.  Furthermore, the senator suggested the question was based on lies.  However, he provided no evidence to refute the record which indeed shows more than $60,000 in support for the senator from J Street affiliated donors.

After the forum, the senator mingled with audience members and answered questions.  I patiently awaited an opportunity to follow up on my concerns with Senator Brown.  At this point, I was instructed to leave the premises.  The senator’s staff stood idly by as a concerned citizen was denied a chance to raise an important issue with an elected representative of the people.  The gentleman insisting that this was “a private event” ignored the fact that I was admitted after registering with the Dayton Chamber of Commerce and having received an official confirmation of my attendance approval.  This was not a case of “crashing” a private event uninvited.  I joined other citizens who had registered in advance to interact with Senator Brown.  As the video clearly shows, this was an opportunity to talk with the senator about national policy.

The brash response by Senator Brown to an important question about political donations and the decision to remove a citizen politely inquiring about the matter should be of grave concern to all citizens desiring to hold government officials accountable.  How ironic that Sherrod Brown has admonished about the importance of campaign funding, yet refused to defend the dollars flowing to his own re-election efforts.

Source: Rebel Pundit.com

By Joel Griffith

Dayton, OH

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) keynoted a Dayton Chamber of Commerce event today.  After opening the floor to questions from the audience, I asked the senator about his support from J Street.  After all, from 2007-2012, Senator Brown accepted $60,000 in PAC funds from the advocacy group, his largest single campaign contributor.  While J Street claims to represent Israeli interests, its policy pronouncements often are at odds with Israel’s security concerns.  The tendency on the part of J Street to criticize Israeli foreign policy explains why many concerned Jewish Americans distance themselves from the organization.   J Street does, however, enjoy the financial support of the Saudi embassy.  More disconcerting is the support J Street derived from Mehmet Celebi, producer of the anti-American, anti-Semitic film Valley of the Wolves.

Senator Brown reacted with hostility to my question—refusing to even let me complete the entire question prepared.  Furthermore, the senator suggested the question was based on lies.  However, he provided no evidence to refute the record which indeed shows more than $60,000 in support for the senator from J Street affiliated donors.

After the forum, the senator mingled with audience members and answered questions.  I patiently awaited an opportunity to follow up on my concerns with Senator Brown.  At this point, I was instructed to leave the premises.  The senator’s staff stood idly by as a concerned citizen was denied a chance to raise an important issue with an elected representative of the people.  The gentleman insisting that this was “a private event” ignored the fact that I was admitted after registering with the Dayton Chamber of Commerce and having received an official confirmation of my attendance approval.  This was not a case of “crashing” a private event uninvited.  I joined other citizens who had registered in advance to interact with Senator Brown.  As the video clearly shows, this was an opportunity to talk with the senator about national policy.

The brash response by Senator Brown to an important question about political donations and the decision to remove a citizen politely inquiring about the matter should be of grave concern to all citizens desiring to hold government officials accountable.  How ironic that Sherrod Brown has admonished about the importance of campaign funding, yet refused to defend the dollars flowing to his own re-election efforts.

Source: Rebel Pundit.com

By Joel Griffith

Dayton, OH

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) keynoted a Dayton Chamber of Commerce event today.  After opening the floor to questions from the audience, I asked the senator about his support from J Street.  After all, from 2007-2012, Senator Brown accepted $60,000 in PAC funds from the advocacy group, his largest single campaign contributor.  While J Street claims to represent Israeli interests, its policy pronouncements often are at odds with Israel’s security concerns.  The tendency on the part of J Street to criticize Israeli foreign policy explains why many concerned Jewish Americans distance themselves from the organization.   J Street does, however, enjoy the financial support of the Saudi embassy.  More disconcerting is the support J Street derived from Mehmet Celebi, producer of the anti-American, anti-Semitic film Valley of the Wolves.

Senator Brown reacted with hostility to my question—refusing to even let me complete the entire question prepared.  Furthermore, the senator suggested the question was based on lies.  However, he provided no evidence to refute the record which indeed shows more than $60,000 in support for the senator from J Street affiliated donors.

After the forum, the senator mingled with audience members and answered questions.  I patiently awaited an opportunity to follow up on my concerns with Senator Brown.  At this point, I was instructed to leave the premises.  The senator’s staff stood idly by as a concerned citizen was denied a chance to raise an important issue with an elected representative of the people.  The gentleman insisting that this was “a private event” ignored the fact that I was admitted after registering with the Dayton Chamber of Commerce and having received an official confirmation of my attendance approval.  This was not a case of “crashing” a private event uninvited.  I joined other citizens who had registered in advance to interact with Senator Brown.  As the video clearly shows, this was an opportunity to talk with the senator about national policy.

The brash response by Senator Brown to an important question about political donations and the decision to remove a citizen politely inquiring about the matter should be of grave concern to all citizens desiring to hold government officials accountable.  How ironic that Sherrod Brown has admonished about the importance of campaign funding, yet refused to defend the dollars flowing to his own re-election efforts.

Source: Rebel Pundit.com

By Joel Griffith

Dayton, OH

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) keynoted a Dayton Chamber of Commerce event today.  After opening the floor to questions from the audience, I asked the senator about his support from J Street.  After all, from 2007-2012, Senator Brown accepted $60,000 in PAC funds from the advocacy group, his largest single campaign contributor.  While J Street claims to represent Israeli interests, its policy pronouncements often are at odds with Israel’s security concerns.  The tendency on the part of J Street to criticize Israeli foreign policy explains why many concerned Jewish Americans distance themselves from the organization.   J Street does, however, enjoy the financial support of the Saudi embassy.  More disconcerting is the support J Street derived from Mehmet Celebi, producer of the anti-American, anti-Semitic film Valley of the Wolves.

Senator Brown reacted with hostility to my question—refusing to even let me complete the entire question prepared.  Furthermore, the senator suggested the question was based on lies.  However, he provided no evidence to refute the record which indeed shows more than $60,000 in support for the senator from J Street affiliated donors.

After the forum, the senator mingled with audience members and answered questions.  I patiently awaited an opportunity to follow up on my concerns with Senator Brown.  At this point, I was instructed to leave the premises.  The senator’s staff stood idly by as a concerned citizen was denied a chance to raise an important issue with an elected representative of the people.  The gentleman insisting that this was “a private event” ignored the fact that I was admitted after registering with the Dayton Chamber of Commerce and having received an official confirmation of my attendance approval.  This was not a case of “crashing” a private event uninvited.  I joined other citizens who had registered in advance to interact with Senator Brown.  As the video clearly shows, this was an opportunity to talk with the senator about national policy.

The brash response by Senator Brown to an important question about political donations and the decision to remove a citizen politely inquiring about the matter should be of grave concern to all citizens desiring to hold government officials accountable.  How ironic that Sherrod Brown has admonished about the importance of campaign funding, yet refused to defend the dollars flowing to his own re-election efforts.

Source: Rebel Pundit.com

By Joel Griffith

Dayton, OH

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) keynoted a Dayton Chamber of Commerce event today.  After opening the floor to questions from the audience, I asked the senator about his support from J Street.  After all, from 2007-2012, Senator Brown accepted $60,000 in PAC funds from the advocacy group, his largest single campaign contributor.  While J Street claims to represent Israeli interests, its policy pronouncements often are at odds with Israel’s security concerns.  The tendency on the part of J Street to criticize Israeli foreign policy explains why many concerned Jewish Americans distance themselves from the organization.   J Street does, however, enjoy the financial support of the Saudi embassy.  More disconcerting is the support J Street derived from Mehmet Celebi, producer of the anti-American, anti-Semitic film Valley of the Wolves.

Senator Brown reacted with hostility to my question—refusing to even let me complete the entire question prepared.  Furthermore, the senator suggested the question was based on lies.  However, he provided no evidence to refute the record which indeed shows more than $60,000 in support for the senator from J Street affiliated donors.

After the forum, the senator mingled with audience members and answered questions.  I patiently awaited an opportunity to follow up on my concerns with Senator Brown.  At this point, I was instructed to leave the premises.  The senator’s staff stood idly by as a concerned citizen was denied a chance to raise an important issue with an elected representative of the people.  The gentleman insisting that this was “a private event” ignored the fact that I was admitted after registering with the Dayton Chamber of Commerce and having received an official confirmation of my attendance approval.  This was not a case of “crashing” a private event uninvited.  I joined other citizens who had registered in advance to interact with Senator Brown.  As the video clearly shows, this was an opportunity to talk with the senator about national policy.

The brash response by Senator Brown to an important question about political donations and the decision to remove a citizen politely inquiring about the matter should be of grave concern to all citizens desiring to hold government officials accountable.  How ironic that Sherrod Brown has admonished about the importance of campaign funding, yet refused to defend the dollars flowing to his own re-election efforts.

Source: Rebel Pundit.com

By Joel Griffith

Dayton, OH

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) keynoted a Dayton Chamber of Commerce event today.  After opening the floor to questions from the audience, I asked the senator about his support from J Street.  After all, from 2007-2012, Senator Brown accepted $60,000 in PAC funds from the advocacy group, his largest single campaign contributor.  While J Street claims to represent Israeli interests, its policy pronouncements often are at odds with Israel’s security concerns.  The tendency on the part of J Street to criticize Israeli foreign policy explains why many concerned Jewish Americans distance themselves from the organization.   J Street does, however, enjoy the financial support of the Saudi embassy.  More disconcerting is the support J Street derived from Mehmet Celebi, producer of the anti-American, anti-Semitic film Valley of the Wolves.

Senator Brown reacted with hostility to my question—refusing to even let me complete the entire question prepared.  Furthermore, the senator suggested the question was based on lies.  However, he provided no evidence to refute the record which indeed shows more than $60,000 in support for the senator from J Street affiliated donors.

After the forum, the senator mingled with audience members and answered questions.  I patiently awaited an opportunity to follow up on my concerns with Senator Brown.  At this point, I was instructed to leave the premises.  The senator’s staff stood idly by as a concerned citizen was denied a chance to raise an important issue with an elected representative of the people.  The gentleman insisting that this was “a private event” ignored the fact that I was admitted after registering with the Dayton Chamber of Commerce and having received an official confirmation of my attendance approval.  This was not a case of “crashing” a private event uninvited.  I joined other citizens who had registered in advance to interact with Senator Brown.  As the video clearly shows, this was an opportunity to talk with the senator about national policy.

The brash response by Senator Brown to an important question about political donations and the decision to remove a citizen politely inquiring about the matter should be of grave concern to all citizens desiring to hold government officials accountable.  How ironic that Sherrod Brown has admonished about the importance of campaign funding, yet refused to defend the dollars flowing to his own re-election efforts.

Source: Rebel Pundit.com

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was a proponent of tougher Arizona immigration enforcement.

By Steve Stout

Posted: Sept. 19th, 2012

Statements issued today after reports that Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was killed in a one-car, roll-over crash on a road near a northern Arizona lake Tuesday night.

“Like all Arizonans, I was shocked to learn this morning that Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever had been killed hours earlier in a one-car accident while traveling in northern Arizona. True to form for this husband, father of six and grandfather, he was reportedly en route to meet several members of his family for a Fall hunting and camping trip in the Arizona high country.

I had known Sheriff Dever for well over a decade, stretching back to my days with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. I’ll remember him in his cowboy hat – soft-spoken and unfailingly polite, but firm in his beliefs and steady in his service to the law. In the truest sense, Sheriff Dever was a Western lawman and country gentleman.

“Arizona has lost a leader of more than three decades in our law enforcement community. My thoughts and prayers today – and those of Arizonans, I am sure – are with his wife, Nancy, their children, friends and colleagues as they cope with this terrible loss.

“In honor of Sheriff Larry Albert Dever and his 34 years of dedicated service to the State of Arizona, and for the peace of mind he has provided the citizens of Cochise County, I have ordered that flags at all State buildings be lowered to half-staff until sunset today, September 19, 2012, and again on his day of interment, for which services are pending.”
- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer

“The Coconino County Board of Supervisors was saddened to learn of the passing of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. Sheriff Dever will be remembered for his 36 years as a true public servant to the people of Cochise County and to the state of Arizona. We express our deepest sympathy to the Sheriff’s family, friends and the law enforcement community, and send our thoughts to our colleagues and friends in Cochise County.”
- Coconino County Board of Supervisors

“We have just learned of the tragic death of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. Arizona has lost a good public servant and a good man. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his wife, children and grandchildren.”
- Bill Roe, Arizona Democratic Party Chair

“I’ve known Sheriff Larry Dever for years, as a friend and fellow law enforcement official. Sheriff Dever dedicated his life and career to serving Cochise County, and his work will leave a lasting positive effect on his beloved community.”

Read More: KPHO.com

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was a proponent of tougher Arizona immigration enforcement.

By Steve Stout

Posted: Sept. 19th, 2012

Statements issued today after reports that Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was killed in a one-car, roll-over crash on a road near a northern Arizona lake Tuesday night.

“Like all Arizonans, I was shocked to learn this morning that Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever had been killed hours earlier in a one-car accident while traveling in northern Arizona. True to form for this husband, father of six and grandfather, he was reportedly en route to meet several members of his family for a Fall hunting and camping trip in the Arizona high country.

I had known Sheriff Dever for well over a decade, stretching back to my days with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. I’ll remember him in his cowboy hat – soft-spoken and unfailingly polite, but firm in his beliefs and steady in his service to the law. In the truest sense, Sheriff Dever was a Western lawman and country gentleman.

“Arizona has lost a leader of more than three decades in our law enforcement community. My thoughts and prayers today – and those of Arizonans, I am sure – are with his wife, Nancy, their children, friends and colleagues as they cope with this terrible loss.

“In honor of Sheriff Larry Albert Dever and his 34 years of dedicated service to the State of Arizona, and for the peace of mind he has provided the citizens of Cochise County, I have ordered that flags at all State buildings be lowered to half-staff until sunset today, September 19, 2012, and again on his day of interment, for which services are pending.”
- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer

“The Coconino County Board of Supervisors was saddened to learn of the passing of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. Sheriff Dever will be remembered for his 36 years as a true public servant to the people of Cochise County and to the state of Arizona. We express our deepest sympathy to the Sheriff’s family, friends and the law enforcement community, and send our thoughts to our colleagues and friends in Cochise County.”
- Coconino County Board of Supervisors

“We have just learned of the tragic death of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. Arizona has lost a good public servant and a good man. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his wife, children and grandchildren.”
- Bill Roe, Arizona Democratic Party Chair

“I’ve known Sheriff Larry Dever for years, as a friend and fellow law enforcement official. Sheriff Dever dedicated his life and career to serving Cochise County, and his work will leave a lasting positive effect on his beloved community.”

Read More: KPHO.com

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was a proponent of tougher Arizona immigration enforcement.

By Steve Stout

Posted: Sept. 19th, 2012

Statements issued today after reports that Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was killed in a one-car, roll-over crash on a road near a northern Arizona lake Tuesday night.

“Like all Arizonans, I was shocked to learn this morning that Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever had been killed hours earlier in a one-car accident while traveling in northern Arizona. True to form for this husband, father of six and grandfather, he was reportedly en route to meet several members of his family for a Fall hunting and camping trip in the Arizona high country.

I had known Sheriff Dever for well over a decade, stretching back to my days with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. I’ll remember him in his cowboy hat – soft-spoken and unfailingly polite, but firm in his beliefs and steady in his service to the law. In the truest sense, Sheriff Dever was a Western lawman and country gentleman.

“Arizona has lost a leader of more than three decades in our law enforcement community. My thoughts and prayers today – and those of Arizonans, I am sure – are with his wife, Nancy, their children, friends and colleagues as they cope with this terrible loss.

“In honor of Sheriff Larry Albert Dever and his 34 years of dedicated service to the State of Arizona, and for the peace of mind he has provided the citizens of Cochise County, I have ordered that flags at all State buildings be lowered to half-staff until sunset today, September 19, 2012, and again on his day of interment, for which services are pending.”
- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer

“The Coconino County Board of Supervisors was saddened to learn of the passing of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. Sheriff Dever will be remembered for his 36 years as a true public servant to the people of Cochise County and to the state of Arizona. We express our deepest sympathy to the Sheriff’s family, friends and the law enforcement community, and send our thoughts to our colleagues and friends in Cochise County.”
- Coconino County Board of Supervisors

“We have just learned of the tragic death of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. Arizona has lost a good public servant and a good man. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his wife, children and grandchildren.”
- Bill Roe, Arizona Democratic Party Chair

“I’ve known Sheriff Larry Dever for years, as a friend and fellow law enforcement official. Sheriff Dever dedicated his life and career to serving Cochise County, and his work will leave a lasting positive effect on his beloved community.”

Read More: KPHO.com

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was a proponent of tougher Arizona immigration enforcement.

By Steve Stout

Posted: Sept. 19th, 2012

Statements issued today after reports that Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was killed in a one-car, roll-over crash on a road near a northern Arizona lake Tuesday night.

“Like all Arizonans, I was shocked to learn this morning that Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever had been killed hours earlier in a one-car accident while traveling in northern Arizona. True to form for this husband, father of six and grandfather, he was reportedly en route to meet several members of his family for a Fall hunting and camping trip in the Arizona high country.

I had known Sheriff Dever for well over a decade, stretching back to my days with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. I’ll remember him in his cowboy hat – soft-spoken and unfailingly polite, but firm in his beliefs and steady in his service to the law. In the truest sense, Sheriff Dever was a Western lawman and country gentleman.

“Arizona has lost a leader of more than three decades in our law enforcement community. My thoughts and prayers today – and those of Arizonans, I am sure – are with his wife, Nancy, their children, friends and colleagues as they cope with this terrible loss.

“In honor of Sheriff Larry Albert Dever and his 34 years of dedicated service to the State of Arizona, and for the peace of mind he has provided the citizens of Cochise County, I have ordered that flags at all State buildings be lowered to half-staff until sunset today, September 19, 2012, and again on his day of interment, for which services are pending.”
- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer

“The Coconino County Board of Supervisors was saddened to learn of the passing of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. Sheriff Dever will be remembered for his 36 years as a true public servant to the people of Cochise County and to the state of Arizona. We express our deepest sympathy to the Sheriff’s family, friends and the law enforcement community, and send our thoughts to our colleagues and friends in Cochise County.”
- Coconino County Board of Supervisors

“We have just learned of the tragic death of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. Arizona has lost a good public servant and a good man. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his wife, children and grandchildren.”
- Bill Roe, Arizona Democratic Party Chair

“I’ve known Sheriff Larry Dever for years, as a friend and fellow law enforcement official. Sheriff Dever dedicated his life and career to serving Cochise County, and his work will leave a lasting positive effect on his beloved community.”

Read More: KPHO.com

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was a proponent of tougher Arizona immigration enforcement.

By Steve Stout

Posted: Sept. 19th, 2012

Statements issued today after reports that Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was killed in a one-car, roll-over crash on a road near a northern Arizona lake Tuesday night.

“Like all Arizonans, I was shocked to learn this morning that Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever had been killed hours earlier in a one-car accident while traveling in northern Arizona. True to form for this husband, father of six and grandfather, he was reportedly en route to meet several members of his family for a Fall hunting and camping trip in the Arizona high country.

I had known Sheriff Dever for well over a decade, stretching back to my days with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. I’ll remember him in his cowboy hat – soft-spoken and unfailingly polite, but firm in his beliefs and steady in his service to the law. In the truest sense, Sheriff Dever was a Western lawman and country gentleman.

“Arizona has lost a leader of more than three decades in our law enforcement community. My thoughts and prayers today – and those of Arizonans, I am sure – are with his wife, Nancy, their children, friends and colleagues as they cope with this terrible loss.

“In honor of Sheriff Larry Albert Dever and his 34 years of dedicated service to the State of Arizona, and for the peace of mind he has provided the citizens of Cochise County, I have ordered that flags at all State buildings be lowered to half-staff until sunset today, September 19, 2012, and again on his day of interment, for which services are pending.”
- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer

“The Coconino County Board of Supervisors was saddened to learn of the passing of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. Sheriff Dever will be remembered for his 36 years as a true public servant to the people of Cochise County and to the state of Arizona. We express our deepest sympathy to the Sheriff’s family, friends and the law enforcement community, and send our thoughts to our colleagues and friends in Cochise County.”
- Coconino County Board of Supervisors

“We have just learned of the tragic death of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. Arizona has lost a good public servant and a good man. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his wife, children and grandchildren.”
- Bill Roe, Arizona Democratic Party Chair

“I’ve known Sheriff Larry Dever for years, as a friend and fellow law enforcement official. Sheriff Dever dedicated his life and career to serving Cochise County, and his work will leave a lasting positive effect on his beloved community.”

Read More: KPHO.com

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was a proponent of tougher Arizona immigration enforcement.

By Steve Stout

Posted: Sept. 19th, 2012

Statements issued today after reports that Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was killed in a one-car, roll-over crash on a road near a northern Arizona lake Tuesday night.

“Like all Arizonans, I was shocked to learn this morning that Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever had been killed hours earlier in a one-car accident while traveling in northern Arizona. True to form for this husband, father of six and grandfather, he was reportedly en route to meet several members of his family for a Fall hunting and camping trip in the Arizona high country.

I had known Sheriff Dever for well over a decade, stretching back to my days with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. I’ll remember him in his cowboy hat – soft-spoken and unfailingly polite, but firm in his beliefs and steady in his service to the law. In the truest sense, Sheriff Dever was a Western lawman and country gentleman.

“Arizona has lost a leader of more than three decades in our law enforcement community. My thoughts and prayers today – and those of Arizonans, I am sure – are with his wife, Nancy, their children, friends and colleagues as they cope with this terrible loss.

“In honor of Sheriff Larry Albert Dever and his 34 years of dedicated service to the State of Arizona, and for the peace of mind he has provided the citizens of Cochise County, I have ordered that flags at all State buildings be lowered to half-staff until sunset today, September 19, 2012, and again on his day of interment, for which services are pending.”
- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer

“The Coconino County Board of Supervisors was saddened to learn of the passing of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. Sheriff Dever will be remembered for his 36 years as a true public servant to the people of Cochise County and to the state of Arizona. We express our deepest sympathy to the Sheriff’s family, friends and the law enforcement community, and send our thoughts to our colleagues and friends in Cochise County.”
- Coconino County Board of Supervisors

“We have just learned of the tragic death of Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever. Arizona has lost a good public servant and a good man. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his wife, children and grandchildren.”
- Bill Roe, Arizona Democratic Party Chair

“I’ve known Sheriff Larry Dever for years, as a friend and fellow law enforcement official. Sheriff Dever dedicated his life and career to serving Cochise County, and his work will leave a lasting positive effect on his beloved community.”

Read More: KPHO.com

By: Alex Stuckey

Posted: July 29th, 2012

Arizona stands to save $500,000 a year under a new law that requires parolees to pay a portion of their drug-testing fees each month, but prisoner advocates fear the additional costs will strain personal budgets.

The law goes into effect Thursday, but Arizona Department of Corrections legislative liaison Jennifer Bowser said the state has yet to determine how much the parolee will pay and when the new requirement will actually be implemented.

“This change is an efficiency, cost-saving thing,” Bowser said.

Not a single fence post has been erected in the year since Arizona launched its own effort to build a border fence through private contributions.

The Arizona Capitol Times reports (http://bit.ly/5q8XKc) that fundraising for the project has almost completely dried up and that the $273,000 that has been raised so far is probably not enough to erect one mile of fencing.

A border security advisory committee of the Arizona Legislature hasn’t yet gotten the materials it needs to build any fencing and hasn’t yet identified the land where the fencing will be built.

And a group that was hired to raise money as part of the fence project hasn’t started collecting funds. The federal nonprofit status the group needs for its nationwide fundraising campaign has been pending for a year.

Even the Arizona Republic’s columnist Robert Robb, no fan of Andrew Thomas, has written multiple times how the State Bar’s witchhunt against Thomas was wrong. Robb is not an attorney so he can safely speak out without fear of retaliation, unlike the poor attorneys who have dared speak up to defend Thomas. They have been retaliated against by losing their contracts with Maricopa County, having bar complaints filed against them, and losing their positions with the State Bar.

Robb recognizes that what is going on in Maricopa County government and the court system is mob behavior. First it was the kickbacks on the court tower; vendors who contributed heavily to Maricopa County’s golf tournament received pricey contracts on the court tower. Then it was smack down anyone who tried to investigate it. The smacking down continues, as anyone who dares to speak up about the corruption or stop it finds themselves under attack. This is nothing more than mob behavior running amok within our own county. The racketeering continues and escalates, as Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox awards herself $975,000 of our taxpayers’ money for “stress” over being prosecuted.

Here are some excerpts from Robb’s recent article:

“The kitchen-sink approach the independent investigator took in the Thomas charges undermined the public perception of the process’ fairness.

Parsing Thomas’ press releases rather than just focusing on the big stuff, like charging a judge with a crime without probable cause, created a sense that the game was rigged.

The disciplinary-hearing panel concluded that Thomas violated two criminal statutes. This is fundamentally unfair. Guilt or innocence of criminal offenses has no business being judged in a professional disciplinary hearing.

The state Bar is a trade-association advocacy group that takes aggressive positions on public issues and controversies. It also plays a central role in disciplining lawyers.

Thomas protested that this constituted a conflict of interest because, early on, the Bar was investigating complaints against him for behavior that Bar officials had publicly criticized.

But that doesn’t change the institutional question of whether these two roles are appropriately vested in the same organization. It’s not the case for any other profession.

Recent changes have reduced the role of the Bar in the disciplinary process. But it is still where lawyer discipline begins, so the question remains.”

A m e r i c a n  P o s t – G a z e t t e

Distributed by C O M M O N  S E N S E , in Arizona
Thursday, July 19, 2012

Gov. Jan Brewer reflects on the Supreme Court’s ruling on Arizona’s immigration law and what’s next in fight against illegals.

By: lexology.com   Kaitlyn N. Jakubowski

By Andrea Mayer-Bruestle

Read Part 1 of this report
Read Part 2 of this report

Part 3: Egyptian-owned Iowa Fertilizer Company Plant Proposal…Continued

Looking into who owns Orascom, what connections do the owners have and do they really need USA and Iowa taxpayer-funded incentives to build the Iowa Fertilizer Company in the Green Bay Bottoms (a 14,000-acre tract of southeast Iowa farmland ravaged by a levee break here July 11, 1993) found in Lee County, Iowa?

The company proposing to build the nitrogen fertilizer plant in Iowa is Orascom Construction, Co. It is a subsidiary of Orascom Holdings – a construction company started by Osni Sawiris, who built it into the giant company it is today with the help of his three sons: Naguib Sawiris – CEO of Orascom Telecom, Samih Sawiris – CEO of Orascom Development Holdings, and Nassef Sawiris – CEO of Orascom Construction and Fertilizer.

The proposed fertilizer plant would be owned and run by Orascom Construction & Fertilizer, a company which, in 2011, grossed $8.4 Billion [*1], but it is still working every corporate welfare program being offered to it by the Iowa Economic Development and the politicians in Lee County.

According to the OCI website [*2]:

We are a leading international fertilizer producer and construction contractor based in Cairo, Egypt. We are one of the region’s largest corporations with projects and investments across Europe, the Middle East, North America, and North Africa.

Our Fertilizer Group is a strategic owner and operator of nitrogen fertilizer plants in Egypt, the Netherlands, the United States, and Algeria with an international distribution platform spanning Europe, North and South America, Southeast Asia and Africa. Our nitrogen fertilizer operations will reach 7.0 million metric tons of capacity by the end of 2012, positioning OCI among the top global nitrogen-based fertilizer producers. Our operations are also capable of producing a combined total of 1.0 million metric tons of melamine and methanol.

As you can clearly see, this isn’t some small, American start-up trying to break into the fertilizer industry, one of which might actually need all the tax-breaks and bonds that the IEDA and the Federal government are giving the huge OCI [*2]. No, this is a multi-national corporation owned by Forbes’ wealthiest Egyptian: Nassef Sawiris [*3]. The question one must ask is: Does it matter? Corporate welfare is still corporate welfare, regardless if the taxpayers’ money is being given to the new, smaller businesses or to foreign-owned global giants. So does it really matter which company receives millions or billions of taxpayer money? As was demonstrated in our previous article —– the return on the taxpayers’ investment (ROI) is going to be minimal from the Orascom company, as compared to the return that might come back to taxpayers when they invest in an American company: those dollars may be returned in the form of taxes the company pays on its profits, jobs will be created locally and stay in the area (as opposed to crews being brought in from the outside for a temporary economic boost). The other issue one must address is the connections the CEOs (and others involved) may have, that may not be in the best interest of our own country.

Please bear with me as I provide you with details which should help you to better understand my previous questions and statements.

The Rio+20 Summit and OCI

This week, global leaders and businessmen and women are converging upon Rio De Janero, Brazil for the Rio+20 Summit:

At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is being organized in pursuance of General Assembly Resolution 64/236 (A/RES/64/236), and will take place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.
The Rio+20 Conference: It is envisaged as a Conference at the highest possible level, including Heads of State and Government or other representatives. The Conference will result in a focused political document.

Themes of the Conference

The Conference will focus on two themes: (a) a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication; and (b) the institutional framework for sustainable development. (Emphasis mine.)

Seven priority areas

The preparations for Rio+20 have highlighted seven areas which need priority attention; these include decent jobs, energy, sustainable cities, food security and sustainable agriculture, water, oceans and disaster readiness.

The goals of the Rio+20 Summit are in accordance with the UN Global Compact Agenda 21 agreements put forth in previous UN Environmental Summits, and are implemented, in part, by the UN Global Compact program initiative [*4]:

….the Global Compact exists to assist the private sector in the management of increasingly complex risks and opportunities in the environmental, social and governance realms, seeking to embed markets and societies with universal principles and values for the benefit of all.

There are 10 Principles in the UN Global Compact:

The UN Global Compact’s ten principles [*5] in the areas of human rights, labour (Their spelling. Not mine.), the environment and anti-corruption enjoy universal consensus and are derived from:

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• The International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
• The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
• The United Nations Convention Against Corruption

The UN Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption:

Human Rights

Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

Labour

Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;
Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and
Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Environment

Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.

Anti-Corruption

Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

What/Who connects Orascom to these issues?

According to OCI, the company joined the UN Global Compact in 2002 [*6]:

In December 2002, OCI joined the Global Compact at the invitation of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. The Global Compact is an international initiative to bring companies together with UN agencies, labour and civil society to support ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. Through the power of collective action, the Global Compact seeks to advance responsible corporate citizenship so that business can be part of the solution to the challenges of globalization. In this way, the private sector “in partnership with other social actors “can help realize a more sustainable and inclusive global economy. Today, nearly 2,000 companies and other stakeholders from more than 70 countries are engaged in the Global Compact. OCI is among several companies in Egypt to join in this global initiative.

Not only are they part of the UN Global Compact, but they also have one of the UN Global Compact’s Directors on the OCI board: Mr. Arif Masood Naqvi [*7]. Mr. Naqvi was appointed to the Global Compact board in April of 2012. His role with the UNGC is [*8]:

The new appointments bring the total number of Board members to 31, representing all regions of the world and a wide range of industry sectors. The increase in the number members reflects the Board’s expanded mandate to advise the Secretary-General on the rapidly evolving UN-business partnership agenda. As the UN’s central interface to the private sector, the Global Compact is currently leading a system-wide effort to build a portfolio of professional partnership services that will include matching, monitoring and evaluation, as well as acceleration of effective partnerships to reach further scale.

Arif Masood Naqvi isn’t the only questionable Orascom connection as one must look no further than Nassef Sawiris’ older brother and Orascom Development Holding CEO, Samih Sawiris, to find another hardcore environmentalist/sustainable developer dressed in an Armani suit (The following excerpt was taken DIRECTLY from the website of the Sawiris Foundation):

Eng. Samih Sawiris is Chairman & CEO of Orascom Development Holding (ODH), a newly established Swiss-incorporated company… ODH develops, constructs and manages fully integrated touristic towns. Its flagship is El Gouna on the Red Sea, which was initiated in 1989 and holds 15 hotels, real estate property, numerous recreational, entertainment and water & land-sport facilities, shopping arcades, more than 10 kilometers of beaches, its own marina, an international school, a hotel school, a hospital and an airport…El Gouna was awarded four “Green Globe 21″ certificates, granted by the World Travel & Tourism Council for its respect of environmental principles and conformity with Agenda 21…

 

Sawiris Foundation

The Sawiris Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by the Sawiris:

The Sawiris Foundation was founded on the belief that development is only sustainable when its beneficiaries are equal partners in the process. We aspire to be a recognized pioneer in the provision of innovative and sustainable development initiatives, promoting increased empowerment of, and participation by, the people of Egypt…Our mission is to contribute to Egypt’s development, create sustainable job opportunities, and empower citizens to build productive lives that realize their full potential.
The Foundation does do some very good work for the people of Egypt; however, its Board of Trustees is an interesting group and reads like a celebrity list of potential Global Compact/Agenda 21 Directors and has some very interesting connections themselves within the Sustainable Development and global governance arenas.

 

Take a moment to peruse the list for yourself, and do a Google search on a few, and you will see what I mean.

George Soros

A list of OCI connections would not be complete without mentioning the fact that until late this spring, OCI was invested in US grains merchant Gavilon along with George Soros and hedge fund manager, Dwight Anderson. Gavilon was taken over by the Japanese firm, Murabeni, at a price (for OCI’s shares) of $605 million.

The whole irony of the situation:

Orascom is dedicated to the preservation of the environment and is anti-corruption as demonstrated by its involvement with the UN Global Compact; however, it is willing to forgo that dedication to build a nitrogen fertilizer plant on a known flood plain, known as the Green Bay Bottoms, using American taxpayers’ money. These issues cause one to question exactly what is really driving Orascom to go against all its principles and propose a project that could do long-term damage to the environment while only providing 160 permanent jobs to the Lee County area with the majority of the project’s funding coming from Iowan and U.S. Taxpayer dollars.

Stay tuned more to come…

Cliff Notes:

[*1] http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/orscy/financials

[*2] http://www.orascomci.com/index.php?id=aboutus

[*3] http://www.therichest.org/celebnetworth/lists/rich/richest-people-in-africa/

[*4] http://www.uncsd2012.org/index.php?page=view&nr=401&type=400&menu=45

[*5] http://www.unglobalcompact.org/AboutTheGC/TheTenPrinciples/index.html

[*6] http://www.orascomci.com/index.php?id=unitednationsglobalcom

[*7] http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=1497375&privcapId=1459187

[*8] http://www.unglobalcompact.org/news/210-04-19-2012

[*9] http://www.sawirisfoundation.org/sawiris/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=46&Itemid=59&lang=en

Source: The-912-Project.com

Source: WashingtonPost.com

Posted: June 23rd 2012

PHOENIX — Several thousand critics of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio gathered outside “Tent City” Saturday night for a rally calling for the closure of the sheriff’s complex of canvas jail tents.

Organizers say conditions at “Tent City” complex are inhumane. The sheriff has said he doesn’t see any problems with housing inmates in tents and often points out that some members of the U.S. military live in tents.

“We are with you,” protesters chanted in both English and Spanish, in hopes that inmates could hear them.

Most protesters held candles and wore yellow T-shirts that read “Standing on the side of love,” a slogan of the Unitarian Universalist Association, which was holding its annual convention in Phoenix this weekend.

The rally was the latest effort by the association to promote social justice, association spokesman John Hurley said. The Unitarians organized the rally along with the immigrant rights group Puente Arizona.

Read More: WashingtonPost.com

A photo Naguib Sawiris (of Orascom) taken with Kim Jong-il in North Korea

By Trent Thevenot

Last Tuesday we began a series devoted to the possible building of a fertilizer plant in Southeastern Iowa by Orascom. The name of the new corporation is Iowa Fertilizer Company which is looking at possible build sites in Lee County, Iowa, Peoria County, Illinois (with Illinois Senate passing final day tax credits, or expanding their Hurricane Ike damaged facility in Beaumont, Texas. Another interesting note that deserves to be added to this ongoing investigation is that Iowa Fertilizer Company was incorporated in Delaware where Orascom found a number of additional tax loopholes to latch onto.

A detailed explanation of MDA bonds and how they benefit Orascom, otherwise known as OCI, and how taxpayers will be the big losers in this venture.

The Federal Politics

The MDA bond program was created in response to the 2008 storms and floods that hit the Midwest. The program was part of the Heartland Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2008. Congress’ objective was to provide a mechanism for companies to get lower interest rates if they need to borrow money to rebuild. Congress was not lending the money, just providing incentives for lower interest rates from lenders.

In all, congress allowed a maximum of $14.4 billion to be borrowed through this program. Congress specified particular amounts to each of several states affected by the floods. To assure their intent was met, Congress required that businesses using the bonds (1) had been impacted by the floods and (2) had existed in a county declared a disaster area.

How the Bonds save Orascom (OCI) money and ‘cost’ the Federal Government and you the Taxpayer

Congress was not authorizing the federal government to loan or give money to the companies rebuilding after the floods. Congress was forgoing money that would come to the federal government via income taxes paid on interest from the borrowing.

Typical bonds sold by companies involve IRS income tax. Companies that borrow money through bond sales agree to pay interest to the bond buyers–the lenders. The interest lenders receive is taxable as income. If a bank or individual lends money through regular bonds, the interest payments received is taxable income. What Congress did through the MDA bonds was say that lenders who buy this specific type of bond will not have to pay income taxes on the interest.

If lenders receive, for example, $1 million in interest from MDA bonds, it is tax exempt. By contrast, in the case of regular corporate bonds that are taxable, lenders receiving interest are prepared to hand approximately 30% to the IRS. So, their truer profit from lending the money is no longer $1 million; it’s $700,000.

Continuing this example, Orascom has the option of selling regular bonds that require their lenders to pay 30 percent of the interest to the IRS, or Orascom can use MDA bonds that require their lenders to pay nothing to the IRS. Orascom is not impacted by this situation; it’s their lenders who pay the income tax. At this point in the example, Orascom has no incentive to use the MDA bonds.

Lenders would prefer to pay no federal income tax. So they offer Orascom lower interest rates if Orascom will go through the MDA process. It’s a way to share the tax savings with Orascom, which is what Congress anticipated. Congress knew that non-taxable bonds, bring lower interest rates to the borrowers. So instead of expecting $1 million in interest, the lenders lower the interest rates so that they receive, for example, $800,000 in interest payments from Orascom. That gets Orascom to borrow through the MDA program.

Orascom comes out ahead because they pay out less money in interest. The lenders come out ahead because they keep all the interest money; they don’t have to pay federal income tax on the interest. The loser is the federal treasury (you the taxpayer) because nobody pays income tax on the interest. The $300,000 that should have gone into the federal treasury is kept by the lenders and by Orascom.

Again, this is a simplified example. The true situation depends largely on Orascom’s credit rating. However, the Iowa Finance Authority and the Iowa Policy Project each have a model [*1].

The Iowa Policy Project (in the attached MDA Orascom Fertilizer Plant Bond Analysis Excel spreadsheet) predicted extremely conservatively that if Orascom used the MDA bonds to borrow $1.2 billion (instead of regular corporate bonds) the company would save the equivalent of being written a check today for $85 million. By plugging in the Iowa Finance Authority’s assumptions [*2], the savings for Orascom would be more like receiving a check today for $280 million.

The difference in the two estimates is caused by several factors that are unknown at this time. The Iowa Finance Authority assumed that MDA bond users would borrow for 20 years and would have a BB credit rating or higher. Their interest rates would be between 8.5%-9.5% with typical bonds and 6%-7% with MDA bonds. The IFA example expects that companies would pay approximately 25% less in interest over the life of the bonds. (The IPP assumed only a 15% discount and a better credit rating, which is why the two models differ.)

The 25% discount is consistent with a presentation by Bradley and Riley PC [*3], a law firm with offices in Iowa. The firm and other sources state that non-taxable bonds bring interest rates that are 25%-30% lower than if the same company with the same credit rating uses taxable bonds. By this account, even the IFA savings prediction of $280 is conservative.

Corporate Welfare—Orascom’s likely take from the Federal Government and you the taxpayer

In order to understand the full impact on the Federal Treasury and you the Federal Taxpayer, one must determine what Orascom’s interest payments would generate in federal income tax without using the MDA bonds. That tax would be paid by the lenders.

The company plans to borrow $1.2 billion. The Iowa Finance Authority predicted that the average company participating in the MDA program would pay between 8.5% and 9.5% if they were not participating. The law firm of Bradley and Riley PC predicted 7%. We will use 8%. [*1 & *3]

Plugging that 8% rate into a spreadsheet provided by the Iowa Policy Project, Orascom would pay approximately $1.25 billion in interest payments for 20-year bonds. If Orascom finances the project with 30-year, taxable bonds, the interest payments would amount to $2 billion. Being conservative, we’ll take the lower number.

In a typical (non-MDA) situation, Orascom’s expected interest payments of $1.25 billion would be taxable as income by the federal government.

Most of the lenders for these government and quasi-government bonds are in higher tax brackets. First, few lower income entities have money to invest. Second, tax professionals with the backing of simple equations discourage people in lower tax brackets from investing in these type bonds. Consequently, most of the entities lending their money to these companies are in the tax brackets of 28%, 33% and 35% [*4 ].

Again, we’ll be conservative and use the 28% tax bracket.

If Orascom paid $1.25 billion in interest, and its lenders paid 28 percent of that in income tax, the federal government would receive $336 million over 20 years.

Where is that money going? This is not money that the federal government is spending; it’s money that the federal government—currently running a huge deficit (See: US National Debt Clock)—is not receiving. Most of it would be staying in the pockets of Orascom’s lenders. The rest, approximately 25% of it ($84 million,) will be kept by the Egyptian company’s owners. The majority of them belong to the Sawiris Family, the wealthiest family in Egypt.

Figuring out the per-job expense to American Taxpayers

As with all our assumptions, we will be conservative on this. We will take the benefits that Orascom is expected to receive and divide them by the jobs they plan to create. Both sides of the equation will be estimates, conservative ones, giving the benefit of the doubt to Orascom (OCI).

We know from the conservative analysis above that Orascom will save by using the MDA bonds. The savings—determined by two models offered from the Iowa Policy Project and the Iowa Finance Authority—amount to between $85 million and $280 million. A third source noted above expects the savings to be even greater. For our sake, we will assume that Orascom will save $200 million through the MDA bonds.

On top of that, Orascom will be receiving more than $32 million in job credits and a forgivable loan from Iowa. This figure comes from the Public Interest Institute’s “Should Government Pick Winners?“ [*5] That brings Orascom’s bottom-line benefit to $232 million.

Details of economic incentives, like the following, were carefully laid out in the Public Interest Institute’s piece on this issue,

Orascom is taking advantage of every economic development incentive they can wrangle out of the state of Iowa and local governments. This includes $1.6 million in forgivable and low-interest loans from the state, almost $1.2 billion in federal loans through the 2008 flood-relief money, $2 million for road and rail improvements, and various local government incentives. [*6]

 

The local government incentives are yet to be determined since Lee County officials and Orascom are continuing their negotiations.

On the other side of the equation is what Orasom is bringing, or how the public is benefiting from this project. The only items we know that fit this description are the jobs. Orascom claims that it will create 1,500 to 2,000 temporary construction jobs and 165 full-time jobs at the plant. We have not included future property tax as a benefit because the company and Lee County are currently working on an agreement for tax increment financing on local property taxes. [*7]

If we give Orascom the benefit of the doubt, we would come up with 2,165 jobs that the company is creating. We would not subtract those likely to be filled by current Orascom employees who will move from Texas. Nor would we subtract the number of jobs likely to be filled by residents of Illinois and Missouri, two nearby states (who are strong components of this tri-states region) that will benefit even though they are not offering Orascom any incentives.

We would divide the amount of benefits that Orascom is receiving and divide by what they are giving ($232 million / 2165 jobs). The result is $107,000 per job. Again, that is very conservative. For every job that Orascom is creating, the company is benefiting by $107,000.

If we remove 25 percent of the permanent jobs due to the positions that will be filled by people who are not Iowa residents, the figure become ($232 million / 2124 jobs) $109,000 per job.

If we use the Iowa Finance Authority’s estimate of interest savings for Orascom, the figure becomes ($312 million / 2124 jobs) $146,000 per job.

If we remove the construction jobs since none are permanent and many will be filled by non-Iowa companies with many non-Iowa employees, the figure becomes ($312 million / 124 jobs) $2.5 million per permanent job.

The Worst news of all

On top of all this data, there is some text to deal with. It says that Orascom doesn’t qualify for this bond program.

The bond program was put together by Congress to help companies that suffered from flooding in 2008 while situated in counties that were declared disaster areas. Orascom didn’t have a plant in Iowa in 2008: It could not have suffered from the 2008 floods that hit Lee County. The county was declared a disaster area, but the land where the company wants to build was not flooded in 2008.

The reason that Orascom is getting to take advantage of the bonds is because of a decision by the IRS in 2009 [*8]. That decision allows state governors to choose practically any private project for these bonds. Restrictions Congress originally applied were lifted.

The deadline however still applies. The bond program ends on January 1, 2013. Orascom will have a hard time finding $1.2 billion available to borrow, and likely will get approval from the Iowa Finance Authority for portions as the company finds lenders. Because of the deadline, Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-IA) has asked the House Ways and Means Committee to extend the deadline. He specifically notes Orascom. [*9]. The committee has not taken up his request…yet.

Detailed Cliff Notes:

[*1] http://www.iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/jumpstart/downloads/MDA-Bonds_2-24-2010_FINAL.pdf , page 33

[*2] http://www.brownwinick.com/downloads/MDA_Bonds_-_2-24-2010_-_FINAL.ppt, screens 31-33

[*3] http://bradleyriley.com/newsletters/Midwest-Disaster-area-bonds-detailed/, page 9

[*4] http://bradstreettaxblog.com/?p=243

[*5] http://www.limitedgovernment.org/brief19-16.html

[*6] Reprinted by permission from INSTITUTE BRIEF, a publication of Public Interest Institute.” The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and not necessarily those of Public Interest Institute. They are brought to you in the interest of a better-informed citizenry.

[*7] http://www.dailydem.com/articles/2012/02/20/news/news1.txt

[*8] http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-10-10.pdf

[*9] http://kilj.com/2012/05/news/loebsack-calls-for-extension-of-program-to-ensure-continued-iowa-job-creation/

Note: Throughout this story, and our investigation into it, we found and used sources from both the left and right sides of the political aisle to show this story isn’t about a party, it’s about the common sense differences of understanding what is right and what is truly wrong.

H/T James R., Andrea, and the many others for your continued help in investigating the many threads to this story.

Related Articles:

http://www.teapartytribune.com/2012/06/22/wealthiest-egyptian-company-using-millions-of-taxpayer-money-to-build-fertilizer-plant-in-iowa-mississippi-river-flood-zone/

By Andrea Mayer-Bruestle

The good, bad, ugly & downright dirty details of a foreign investment that could go bad, very bad:

This photo was taken not far from the possible construction point of the Iowa Fertilizer Company

Good: Lee County and Iowa are working hard to bring 165 jobs to Wever, Iowa, a small community near the Mississippi River.

Bad: The jobs will be with a nitrogen and ammonia fertilizer plant below the river level and protected by levees that gave way in the Mississippi River flood of 1993. If you have so quickly forgotten about this record flood, here is a case study providing many of the ugly details of the flood of 1993 and contributing factors to the historic flood.

Ugly: Taxpayer money will be used to fund the project through tax credits and tax exempt bonds, costing more than $200,000 per job.

The Downright Dirty: Proposing the project is Egyptian-based Orascom Construction Industries (“OCI”), owned by the Sawiris family (the wealthiest family in Egypt), but is proposing to invest only approximately 8% of the funding for the project due to “high risk”, which will leave the rest of the funding on U.S. taxpayers’ backs.

Questions that will soon be answered in a series of articles soon to come which will expose everything about this breaking story:

• What is the name of the company being planned for construction in the Mississippi River flood plain? We have that answer!
• Where is the money for this project coming from? As you can imagine, we do have the answers.
• Why are both Republicans and Democrat officials supporting this project? This is a puzzle within itself.
• This project will create a couple thousand temporary construction jobs (many shipped in by the construction company from other areas), but will only create about 160 permanent jobs; how does over $1 Billion U.S. taxpayer dollars (your money) justify the creation of only about 160 permanent jobs? This is a question that makes absolutely no sense to most common sense individuals.
• How many jobs will be lost from other local American fertilizer plants due to the unfair advantages given by the government to OCI through taxpayer-funded subsidies and tax credits using more of your taxpayer dollars? Will the creation of 160 permanent jobs be worth losing countless more? NEVER
• Who exactly is the Sawiris family? What are their connections? Do we ever have the answers for this question with expectations of more to soon be uncovered.
• Who exactly will benefit from the taxpayer subsidies? Will the money stay in the U.S. and help the U.S. and Iowa economies? You can draw your own conclusions to this question. However, we will try to lay this out in the coming days.
• Illinois and Texas are also competing for the project – why? What are those state governments proposing to OCI to move the project into their states? How will those states benefit from the project? We have some of these answers and are uncovering more each day.
• Was the current OCI-Beaumont Fertilizer Plant built with post-Hurricane Ike disaster funds? What do you think?
• How much will it cost to repair the Iowa plant when the Mississippi river floods again? Who will pay for those repairs? OCI or taxpayers? Do we have to guess?
• What would be the environmental costs – damages and clean-up costs – when the Mississippi floods again (as it often does)?
• How are the EPA’s ethanol standards involved? There are some interesting answers to this question.
• How high in the government does this go? We have some of this already mapped out with high expectations of more to be uncovered.
• In a historically controlled union area of Iowa, why is it your taxpayer dollars have to be used to develop business when the reason for high unemployment can be found by a looking into a common cause?

A m e r i c a n P o s t – G a z e t t e

Distributed by C O M M O N S E N S E , in Arizona

The “dekookification” of Laurie Roberts – is she capable of learning what is really going on with the grassroots?

Kathy,

I just wanted to write to express my disappointment in your “airing of dirty laundry” in the media by giving Laurie Roberts negative quotes about fellow republicans, especially as the article is talks about in terms of “Operation Dekookification.”

You are welcome to your opinions, but please keep in mind Reagan’s 11th Commandment “Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican.”

I am aware that you have been instrumental in attempting to discredit me within our legislative district, and was the key person opposed to me being on the Romney slate.  I can handle personal grudges and issues, but I find your participation in Laurie Roberts article reprehensible.

I would encourage you to get to know some of us “kooks” – you may even have a nice long conversation with Wes Gullett about his impressions of me from the Mayoral campaign.

There are some of us, that are working on trying to unite the party and make sure that all Republicans unite to support WHOEVER wins the primary – but as long as these kind of personal and hateful attacks directed at mostly Tea Party Patriots continues, we will never see unity in the Arizona Republican Party.

I hope you will look back to Dodie Londen’s leadership in the party, she truly united a very fractured group of people.  I really wish more Arizona Republicans would work to do the same.  For now, I have grown tired of the moderate Republicans claiming it is the Tea Party Republicans that are divisive, when all I read in the paper and from moderate Republicans is their disdain for the addition of hard working, door knocking, freedom loving Patriots – and how those people represent the “extreme” of the party.  (By the way, did you see the results in Wisconsin, it seems that conservative principles aren’t so extreme after all).

BTW, if you were to attend a Tea Party meeting, you would learn that nearly 100% of our time and energy is devoted to ECONOMIC issues.  Not the social issues, despite your claim otherwise.  In fact, most of the Tea Party led bills this legislative session had to do with reining in union power to save the tax payers money.  We worked hard, hand in hand with the Goldwater Institute, to champion many bills.  I guess you will need to add them to the “kooks” in the party.

BTW, the KEY bills that were followed by the Tea Party were:

I don’t see a vast social agenda in these bills.

Kathy, I expect to have long involvement in political issues.  I am hope to help bring the AZGOP back together working side by side, rather than against one another. These kind of articles and tactics will only further divide Republicans and ensure that Arizona will achieve Obama’s goal of becoming a blue state.

I hope you will give careful thought and consideration to this.  I hope we can work together to truly unite, not divide our party.  The Country’s entire future is at stake, and these petty disputes MUST end.

Regards,
Jennifer Wright

Tom Horne

Source: AZCentral.com

Posted: June 7th 2012

A state criminal investigator has filed a $10 million legal claim against Arizona involving Attorney General Tom Horne.

Margaret “Meg” Hinchey is accusing the state’s top prosecutor of engaging in a cover-up amid allegations that Horne participated in illegal campaign activities.

Horne calls the charges “false, absurd and completely without merit.” He says he’s “confident the courts will see it that way.”

The notice of claim is a precursor to a lawsuit. Hinchey’s 19-page claim was filed Thursday.

Hinchey alleges Horne and his staff sought to destroy investigative materials and retaliated against her after she reported the information to the FBI.

She also claims the AG’s office overlooked improper and potentially criminal behavior by Horne and favored staff members.

Source: AZCentral.com

Judge William O'Neill

A m e r i c a n  P o s t – G a z e t t e

Distributed by C O M M O N  S E N S E , in Arizona

Judge William O’Neill’s former close friend reveals that O’Neill told him in 2009, “Thomas has no right to prosecute judges”
O’Neill should have recused himself from handling disciplinary case due to bias; O’Neill also violated judicial ethics by ghostwriting pleadings for former friend 

We have been told that a close former friend of the judge in the Andrew Thomas disbarment trial, outraged about the unfairness, has come forward and revealed the judge’s longstanding bias against Thomas in an affidavit. Judge O’Neill ruled against Thomas when he tried to prosecute Judge Donahoe around 2009. At the time O’Neill was presiding over that trial, he told his friend Mark Dixon, a friend and contractor who helped O’Neill work on his property, that “the County Attorney’s Office had no right to challenge a judge.” This is not even correct; many judges across the US are regularly thrown in prison for everything from bribes to elections violations to theft.

The affidavit is posted at scribd, and has been filed in Lisa Aubuchon’s appeal proceedings.

A defiant Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, pounds his fist on the podium as he answers questions regarding the Department of Justice announcing a federal civil lawsuit against Sheriff Arpaio and his department, during a news conference Thursday, May 10, 2012, in Phoenix. According to the Department of Justice, after months of negotiations failed to yield an agreement to settle allegations that the sheriff's department racially profiled Latinos in his trademark immigration patrols, the lawsuit was filed.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Source: KTAR.com

By AMANDA LEE MYERS and JACQUES BILLEAUD,

Posted: May 12th,2012

The careers of most politicians would crumble under the heavy scrutiny that the self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in America now faces.

But despite a mountain of legal troubles, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio remains popular with voters and has more than $3.4 million in the bank for his November re-election campaign.

The Justice Department sued the five-term sheriff on Thursday on allegations that his officers racially profile Latinos- a move that has his critics saying that voters will finally be turned off and his supporters saying the development will only make him more beloved among voters who want a tough sheriff who doesn’t back down from anyone.

“He’s the new Wyatt Earp,” said Tom Morrissey, chairman of the Arizona Republican Party in a reference to the Arizona lawman made famous by the gun fight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone. “The guy’s legendary.

“What he stands for resonates across the country,” said Morrissey, also a retired chief U.S. Marshal. “Hundreds sometimes thousands of people cheer this man, give him standing ovations everywhere he speaks. That speaks volumes.”

He said Arpaio’s hardline stance on illegal immigration and his tough talk have driven his popularity.

“He tells it like it is. He’s not polished, and a lot of times you never know what’s going to come out of his mouth,” Morrissey said. “The truth has a certain ring and Joe Arpaio speaks in that realm.”

Even as the Justice Department brought the lawsuit down against Arpaio, saying that he abused his power and violated the Constitution, the sheriff himself held a news conference and showed no signs of backing down.

“I will fight this to the bitter end,” a visibly angry Arpaio said, adding that the case will give him a chance to finally see what evidence authorities have to back up claims. “I’m very happy that we are being sued because now we can make them put up.”

He said nothing is going to affect his chances of winning in November.

“They know that I’m going to get elected. It’s a national issue,” he said. “I’m the poster boy. The national press is picking this up again … I can get elected on pink underwear.”

Arpaio has built his reputation in part by making inmates wear pink underwear, work in chain gangs and jailing them in tents.

His profile got even bigger when pushed for a stronger role for local police to enforce immigration law, launching 20 patrols looking for illegal immigrants since January 2008.

Thursday’s lawsuit comes as part of efforts to enforce a federal law that bans police from systematically violating constitutional rights.

Justice Department officials first leveled the allegations against Arpaio in December, saying a culture of disregard for basic constitutional rights prevailed at his office.

Arpaio denies wrongdoing and dismisses the case as a politically motivated attack by the Obama administration.

Arpaio’s office is accused of punishing Hispanic jail inmates for speaking Spanish and launching some patrols based on complaints that never reported a crime but conveyed concerns about dark-skinned people congregating or speaking Spanish.

The lawsuit also says that Arpaio’s office has virtually no policies or procedures designed to prevent or address discriminatory policing, and has no system in place to track any alleged misconduct by deputies during traffic stops, arrests or complaints.

State Sen. Steve Gallardo, a Phoenix Democrat, said the lawsuit eventually will shed light on corruption within the sheriff’s office.

“It forces Arpaio to go into a courtroom and explain a lot of these accusations,” Gallardo said. “You’re going to see the true Sheriff Joe Arpaio.”

Gallardo said that it may take a few years, but “at the end of the day, once the public sees the truth … I think the public will give a big thumbs down to Sheriff Joe.”

Antonio Bustamante, a Phoenix civil rights attorney and critic of the sheriff’s immigration enforcement, said that “there’s a big swath of voters that this will not sway at all,” calling much of the voting public in Arpaio’s jurisdiction racist and ignorant.

“People come (to Arizona) from other places and want to make it like Kansas or Nebraska,” said Bustamante, who said he’s a fourth-generation Arizonan whose ancestors came from Mexico. “A lot of those folks look upon us as the outsiders, and we’ve been here for generations. And we settled the state and were the pioneers of this state.”

The most recent reliable poll asking voters how they feel about Arpaio- conducted by the nonpartisan Behavior Research Center- showed that 41 percent of the 700 people asked thought he was doing an excellent or good job. Thirty-three percent thought he was doing a poor job and 19 percent said he was doing a fair job, according to the poll, conducted in April last year.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Arpaio has had no problem with fundraising, garnering more than $1.1 million in the past year. The majority of those contributions came from people living outside the state, with 2,700 donations alone coming from California, compared to 2,500 from Arizona.

Donors in Texas, Florida and Washington also made a substantial number of donations to the campaign.

Records show that Arpaio’s re-election committee had $3.4 million on hand as of Dec. 31, the most recent figure available. More updated figures will not be released until June or July.

Justice officials would like Arpaio’s office to seek training in constitutional policing and dealing with jail inmates with limited English skills, collect data on traffic stops and immigration enforcement, and establish a comprehensive disciplinary system that permits the public to make complaints against officers without fear of retaliation.

Separate from the Justice Department’s allegations, a lawsuit that alleges that Arpaio’s deputies racially profiled Latinos in immigration patrols is scheduled for a July 19 trial in federal court.

A federal grand jury also has been investigating Arpaio’s office on criminal abuse-of-power allegations since at least December 2009 and is specifically examining the investigative work of the sheriff’s anti-public corruption squad.

The sheriff’s office also has come under fire for more than 400 sex-crimes investigations- including dozens of alleged child molestations- that hadn’t been investigated adequately or weren’t examined at all over a three-year period ending in 2007.

Arpaio has apologized for the botched cases, reopened 432 sex-crimes investigations and made 19 arrests.

Source: KTAR.com

Source: AzCentral.com

By: Emily Gersema

Posted: May 12th, 2012

Some Arizona business organizations are applauding the recently ended legislative session for producing business-friendly bills that, after Gov Jan Brewer signs them, could boost economic development in the state.

They also cheered the end of the session because it meant the demise of some bills that they believed would stifle business development if they became law.

Although the two main bills that worried them died due to inaction or were rejected outright, business leaders in Phoenix believe Senate Bill 1507 and House Bill 2789 left an impact anyway.

SB 1507 opposed government-led efforts to reduce pollution and eradicate poverty, while HB 2789 opposed regulation by the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Among the groups fighting the measures was the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which led quiet opposition to SB 1507 through position statements sent to legislators, instead of through public press conferences. The organization’s spokesman, Garrick Taylor, said it was concerned about potential harm to commerce.

Reince Priebus – Wisconsin Shenanigans

Scott Rohter , May 2012

The word was when Reince Priebus was first being touted for a position as the National GOP Chairman in January 2011, that he was a good strong conservative from Madison Wisconsin. Hummm… I thought. “A strong conservative voice from Madison Wisconsin.” Is that even possible?.. While I thought it was a bit unlikely that such a thing could actually be coming from a place like Madison, the home of the University of Wisconsin, nevertheless I stifled my skepticism and tried to keep an open mind. A lot of things are possible you know… especially in the land of Vince Lombardi ! And so after six unsuccessful attempts to elect a Party Chairman, a deadlocked group of Republican delegates to their Party’s Central Committee elected Reinhold Priebus, attorney and a former Wisconsin State Party Chair, to lead the National Republican Party on January 14, 2011 in an unprecedented seventh ballot.

My first inkling that something wasn’t quite right though,… that his performance didn’t quite match up to all of the rhetoric, was when my calls to the RNC did not get returned, not by him or by anyone else. My next observation was when Mitt Romney got caught red-handed trying to steal the Iowa State caucuses away from Rick Santorum. Then nearly the same thing happened again, I think it was either in Maine or New Hampshire. My initial pause for thought over Reince Priebus was now causing me to slow down a little bit and take notice.

Once more in Ohio there were serious violations of the official Republican Party rules governing Primaries with respect to the apportioning of delegates. This was cited by the Santorum campaign. All of these things were going on under the watchful eye of the National Republican Party Chairman, Reince Priebus! When Texas wanted to go to a winner take all Primary last month, (and it was perfectly legal for them to do so) the RNC found some way to stop them. There was that too. Then all of a sudden and for no apparent reason, Rick Santorum suspended his Presidential campaign, when he was really doing quite well against The Establishment’s favorite candidate Mitt Romney,.. and with comparatively little resources.

Now under Reince Priebus’ watch there is blatant and open candidate favoritism going on during the remainder of the GOP Primary (against the rules) while there are still two candidates left in the race, which by the way is not over yet, not at least until Mitt Romney racks up the magic number of delegates… (I think the official number is 1144). Maybe the Republican Party does not think that Ron Paul is actually a real candidate in this race? I know they wish that he wasn’t! But he is! So now my original pause for thought has turned into an abrupt, screeching halt!…

To read more please visit my website http://lessgovisthebestgov.com/Reince-Priebus-GOP-chairman-shenanigans.html

Comedians including Bill Engvall, Lewis Black, Kathleen Madigan and Don Novello join forces to raise money for a monument devoted to the Bill of Rights in Phoenix.(Credit: Parallel Entertainment)

Source: AZCentral.com

By: Randy Cordova

Posted: May 7th, 2012

Both Gov. Jan Brewer and Mayor Greg Stanton have issued proclamations supporting a comedy fundraiser that seeks to raise money to build a monument devoted to the Bill of Rights in downtown Phoenix.

“You’ve got a Republican and a Democrat both coming together and agreeing on what an important thing this is for Arizona,” organizer Chris Bliss says. “That tells you something about the significance of the event.”

So does the talent involved: Bliss has rounded up some heavyweight comic talent for the fundraiser: Bill Engvall, Lewis Black, Kathleen Madigan, Dick Gregory, Tom Smothers, Bobcat Goldthwait, Steven Wright and Don Novello, reprising his Father Guido Sarducci character.

“We’re bringing a lot to the table,” says Bliss, a comic and juggler in his own right. “Some of these acts gets six figures on their own, and they’re all here, working for free, donating their time and talent.”

Bliss’ idea for a monument sprang from a comedic bit he was working on that involved comparing the Bill of Rights to the 10 Commandments. He then realized how the words and the message of the Bill of Rights weren’t necessarily resonating with a new generation.

“It’s only 500 words,” he says. “It’s not that hard!”

Bliss founded the Bill of Rights Monument Project, which involves installing Bill of Rights displays throughout the United States. His first display, a plaque, was dedicated in Montezuma, Iowa, in 2008.

The Arizona monument, which would be the second effort, is on a much grander scale. Created from 22 tons of stone, it would be placed in Wesley Bolin Plaza near the main entrance. The proposed installation date is late 2012.

About $400,000 needs to be raised for the project; he estimates he has already reached between 25 and 40 percent of the goal. Still, he obviously needs people to dig deeper into their pockets.

“Sometimes people hear about this, and the importance is not immediately obvious,” Bliss says. “A million schoolchildren are going to see this through the years. You will be the first state in the nation to honor in this way the Bill of Rights, one of the most important documents in human history. It’s a big deal.”

For Arizona, it could also be seen as a boost for our state’s image.

“Here were all are, living in a state that’s a great place that has suffered a lot of setback,” Valley concert promoter Danny Zelisko says. “We’ve become the punch line of a lot of jokes for various reasons. That’s what makes this more than just another charity concert or benefit. It’s an incredible cause.”

That’s the historic side of the pitch. Then there’s the entertainment aspect of the fundraiser.

“It really is a comedy hall of fame,” Zelisko says. “This is like a bill of comedy legends.”

That includes Novello’s Father Sarducci character. The chain-smoking padre was a major comedic figure in the 1970s, thanks to appearances on “Saturday Night Live.”

These days, Novello has cut down on his stand-up work and focuses on writing. His satiric book “The Lazlo Letters” was published in 1977 and remains in print. It has also inspired a pair of follow-ups, though the whimsical Sarducci character remains his best-known creation.

Sarducci works because “he’s not about religion,” Novello says.

“People still think it’s going to be me reading the Bible. That’s not funny,” he says. “What’s funny is a priest being a gossip columnist.”

He’s not surprised by the character’s durability.

“I didn’t think he didn’t have legs,” he says. “I didn’t think it was a one-note character. I played this person who could talk about all kinds of different things.”

He got involved with the concert through pal Tom Smothers, who urged him to participate.

“Things like freedom of speech — that’s what comedians are all about,” Novello says.

Source: AZCentral.com

” Muslim Brotherhood invades TAMPA
to help re-elect President Obama”

A Muslim Brotherhood front group, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) will hold a pro-shariah Conference in Tampa, Florida on May 11 – 13, 2012. The Conference will be at the Hilton Hotel Airport 2225 North Lois Avenue, Tampa FL. ISNA is a cultural jihad organization that has been designated as an “un-indicted co-conspirator” in the federal terrorism financing case called – Holy land Foundation Trial. The Muslim Brotherhood is actively working to get President Obama re-elected. Join with many patriotic Americans as we stand against the Muslim Brotherhood in Florida.

‘That is sad and disgusting. Someone should be fired or resign’

by Joe Kovacs

There’s outrage in Norfolk, Va., today after a white couple was attacked by a group of dozens of black teenagers, and the local newspaper did not report on the incident for two weeks, despite the victims being employees of the paper.

Even today, the Virginian-Pilot did not cover the crime as news, but rather as an opinion piece by columnist Michelle Washington.

“Wave after wave of young men surged forward to take turns punching and kicking their victim,” Washington wrote, describing the onslaught that began when Dave Forster and Marjon Rostami stopped at a red light while driving home from a show on a Saturday night. A crowd of at least 100 black young people was on the sidewalk at the time.

“Rostami locked her car door. Someone threw a rock at her window. Forster got out to confront the rock-thrower, and that’s when the beating began. …

“The victim’s friend, a young woman, tried to pull him back into his car. Attackers came after her, pulling her hair, punching her head and causing a bloody scratch to the surface of her eye. She called 911. A recording told her all lines were busy. She called again. Busy. On her third try, she got through and, hysterical, could scream only their location. Church and Brambleton. Church and Brambleton. Church and Brambleton. It happened four blocks from where they work, here at the Virginian-Pilot.”

Washington says neither suffered grave injuries, but both were out of work for a week. Forster’s torso ached from blows to his ribs, and he retained a thumb-sized bump on his head. Rostami reportedly fears to be alone in her home., while Forster wishes he’d stayed in the car.

The columnist admits the story has not, until today, appeared in the Virginian-Pilot.

“The responding officer coded the incident as a simple assault, despite their assertions that at least 30 people had participated in the attack,” Washington explains. “A reporter making routine checks of police reports would see ‘simple assault’ and, if the names were unfamiliar, would be unlikely to write about it. In this case, editors hesitated to assign a story about their own employees. Would it seem like the paper treated its employees differently from other crime victims?”

Washington says the day after the beatings, Forster searched Twitter for mention of the attack, and one post in particular chilled him.

“I feel for the white man who got beat up at the light,” wrote one person.

“I don’t,” wrote another, indicating laughter. “(do it for trayvon martin)”

Trayvon Martin, is the unarmed black teen, who died after being shot by a community-watch captain with white and Hispanic parents, George Zimmerman, in Sanford, Fla., sparking a wave of outrage long after the incident.

The newspaper is coming under heavy criticism today from residents in the greater Norfolk area, known as Hampton Roads.

“It is unbelievable that the Virginian-Pilot would BURY this story for two weeks for politically correct reasons. That is sad and disgusting,” said David Englert of Norfolk. “Someone should be fired or resign over the decision not to report this attack. It is a sad enough commentary on our society and community to read about how the responding police viewed this crime, but for our only newspaper to decide that they will hide from the truth rather than report the truth is PATHETIC! Any attack by a mob of people on any innocent victim should be put under a bright spotlight for all involved to be judged and exposed as appropriate, and to make sure that the criminal justice system does its job to protect those who obey the law.”

William Tabor of Chesapeake, Va., complained: “Surely the Pilot knew about it. A racially motivated attack is certainly news. Was it not politically correct enough to be reported? Is civilization suspended in Norfolk after dark? If we can’t rely on the police for protection, and our [news] media fails to warn us of such hazards, we can only rely on ourselves.”

Read more at WND.com…

Today, April 24th, is Day 2 of the 99% Spring Occupy Week at Brandeis University, and the fears I addressed to President Lawrence in a letter, featured in my article “Retaliation to Brandeis University’s Occupy Week, Get a Real Education”, were confirmed.

The speaker I heard today, surrounded by a circle of students in chairs, was Cathy Hoffman, a local nonviolence activist who served for 20 years on the “Cambridge Peace Commission”. In the SCC atrium, she rambled about the importance of being there for people, and did an exercise with students where they would yell the name of a person important to them, and then share that name with people nearby. Notwithstanding the vague descriptions of freedom and our positions as children of the Earth, I was particularly struck by how casually she said that the Cuban Revolution was a great thing. She’s talking about nonviolence, but the genocidal reign of Communists Fidel Castro and then Che Guevara is being praised?! Looking around the SCC, confusion seemed to plague students more than shock. If this were about “getting a real education”, she would’ve mentioned the millions of people who were starved, slaughtered, and tyrannized by this ideology. Instead, the subject retreated to the vague notion of “peace” and raised more questions than answers about Occupy.

There were several fliers available for pickup, and the three I took had several things in common. ~

Flier 1: May 1st–”International Workers Day”

”The right to an 8-hour working day was won with the blood of the martyrs of Chicago in 1886. 126 years later we continue to fight for the rights of all workers in the U.S.”  

–Occupy demands include:

• End police brutality!
• Money for jobs and education, transportation not war!
• Keep education public!
• An end to corporate rule and a return of power to the people!
• Stop attacks on workers!
• Stop the detention and deportation of migrant workers and their families! (picture on the side shows kid in hoody next to “Don’t Take My Dad” sign)
• Stop racial profiling legislations and programs!

Sponsored by Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Alternative, Socialist Party, Latinos for Social Change, July 26 Coalition, Tecschange, Coalicion Mayo Iro and USWA local 8751 Boston School Bus Union

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Notice how illegal immigration, labor rights, “end police brutality” and racial profiling are conveniently meshed together into an excuse for criminalizing law enforcement and legislation like Arizona’s immigration law—a move that is currently being lead by top Democrats, including Chuck Schumer, who was at Brandeis within the past few years: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/24/top-dem-vows-overturn-supreme-court-immigration/

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Flier 2: Occupy May 1^st A Day without the 99%

“We will strike for a better future!”

“We will strike for OUR HUMAN RIGHTS to:

Healthcare, Education, and Housing, Economic, Social and Environmental justice, Labor rights, Freedom from police brutality and profiling, Immigrant rights, Women & LGBTQ rights, racial and gender equality, clean water and healthy food to feed our families

We call for a democratic standard of living for all peoples! Peace in our communities with JUSTICE! What will you strike for?

Rally at noon, City Hall Plaza, Boston!”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

More themes—illegal immigration and immigrants condoned either as “labor rights”, “immigrant rights”, or “migrant workers”. “Police brutality” and “racial profiling” are lumped together, specifically criminalizing law enforcement for border control. The note of unlimited welfare is also emphasized, despite the complete inaccuracy in the definition of a “right”–with demands for “money for jobs and education”,  and everything from food (“healthy”) to housing.

After the circle-game with Mrs. Hoffman, I felt like I was watching a Barney show, and indeed these demands to have everything provided by the government goes hand-in-hand with being a baby.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The third flier—you guessed it—was written entirely in Spanish.

Here’s the translation:    May 1^st! A day without the 99%!

No work! No school! No shopping! Fiesta in the streets of the Financial Distro!

We start at 7 in the morning at the crossing of Federal and Franklin!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If you don’t see the trend between socialism, labor, illegal immigration, and the delegitimization of law, you may not be as freaked out about this “Teach-In” as I am.

You’ll have a better understanding of what this Occupy Week is about by looking at the books they proudly displayed near these fliers. Since I’m doing an extensive breakdown of these books, I’ll feature that shocking list in my next article. Stay tuned for the latest developments on the Occupy Week at Brandeis University! 

Over the last weekend, I sent a letter to President Frederick Lawrence after seeing a flier featuring him, along with other left-wing clubs on campus, as a participant of the “99% spring week”/”Occupy Week”/”Get a Real Education” events scheduled for this week. My letter was met with a very considerate and prompt response on the President’s obligations to participate as often as possible in campus events–however, his particular involvement as speaker for “Occupy as a National Teaching Moment” gave me pause. His offer to speak at a Brandeis Tea Party event was in his closing response to me, alongside an explanation for why he is not endorsing OWS. He did not address, however, nor express any concern, for the issues I raised with OWS in my letter…Read it for yourself, and be the judge: Were my concerns overlooked and is there more to this event series than club-blind cooperation from the administration?

~
April 19th, 2012
Dear President Lawrence,
I’ve come to understand that next week an Occupy series, “Get a Real Education”, sponsored by you and other departments and clubs at Brandeis, will be held on the Great Lawn and throughout campus. Although I have no objections at all with your decision, based upon your beliefs and the philosophical bent of the University, I do have to question this particular endorsement given the violence and destruction that has arisen consistently from OWS. While I will not silence student and faculty opinions on socialism, wealth redistribution, social and environmental policy, and any other principles, pedalling them through this particular brand is a dishonest liability that is hardly educational.

The particular timing of your endorsement for OWS is especially disconcerting after they announced their May 1st plan to cause “the biggest shutdown New York City has ever seen”, which would disrupt the lives of the less fortunate and hardly do anything helpful. I am fully aware that Occupy Wall Street consists of anti-capitalist proponents, willing to use central planning as a means of taking money from an unknown group of oppressive wealthy people to redistribute among the less fortunate. I also understand that their tactics are specifically focused on anti-corporatist sentiment, targetting banks and other businesses.

In terms of being educational, however, the fact that they are planning to disrupt shareholder meetings between stockbrokers and the CEOs of major companies like Verizon, Walmart, and GE is misinformed. Such meetings are the one area where everyday people who own stock can hold corporations accountable, and yet OWS is planning to disrupt this process in the name of defending the “99%” and taking on corporations. Perhaps they need a lesson about misdiagnosing the source of the problem they want to solve. While they chide the businesses that took bailouts, they paradoxically do not condemn the government for offering them in the first place. As a matter of logic, rather than ideology, this makes no sense.

The contradiction between OWS actions and message is most disturbingly highlighted by the promoted violence to “collapse the system”. You may recall that business owners were intimidated and harassed from their homes, banks attacked and vandalized, and the significant taxpayer cost of damages to public property—over $2 million, according to ABC, in Boston alone. I know that Brandeis students were at that particular camp, and the fact that their destructiveness lessened the quality of life and wallets of everyday people is unforgivable, even if you sympathize with their intentions.

The antisemitism in the national OWS movement is also worrisome and should be outright condemned, especially by Brandeis University. The most prominent example is the image Occupy Tampa recently posted to its facebook page on Holocaust Remembrance Day, in which a stereotypical Jewish man with a Star of David on his hat is driving a car with a UN wheel and Obama’s face as the shift. Regardless of your opinion on Israel’s global role, I think it is completely nonpartisan to question the specific release of this image on a day when Jews were slaughtered in genocide. The despicable association between “greedy bankers” and Jews has been similarly revisited in signs such as, “It’s Yom Kippur! Banks should atone!”, which was featured in Occupy LA back in October 2011. The prominent association between “Wall Street corruption” and “Jewish financing” has also been made with regards to Israel and America, a hateful link that is hardly educational.

As a student dedicated to principle rather than brands, I condemn an event where the information of a particular group is mischaracterized and their disparaging actions ignored and, in essence, condoned. I can only hope that regardless of your beliefs, you will at least have the integrity to be honest and toss the term “OWS”, say what it really is (socialism), and lay out every single offense that is being committed in the name of their social justice. Ignoring these atrocities would be an affront to the integrity of genuine education.

Sincerely yours,
Mary-Alice Perdichizzi
President of the Brandeis Tea Party Chapter

We previously exposed two Alinsky IAF affiliates in the Mesa Unified School District. One is the Mesa Education Association and the other is the MESPA (Mesa Education Support Personnel for the Mesa Public Schools).

There appears to be yet another IAF affiliate in our Public education system. This time, it is in the Kyrene School District in Tempe.

The Kyrene Education Association

The current president is Erin Kirchoff. On her Facebook page, she is a fan of groups such as:

Moveon.org, AZ Working Families, 1 million strong against Michele Bachmann, Arizona Progress, Obama for America-Arizona, One Voice Community Center, ONE Community, Barack Obama, Terry Goddard, Kyrsten Sinema, Ed Ableser, David Schapira, NoH8 Campaign, Center for Progressive Leadership (traning course that Raquel Teran and Lilia Alvarez attended. Board members include Progressives Kyrsten Sinema and Chad Campbell), AZ Democrat party, Human Rights Campaign.

Also, according to their meeting minutes, they received a visit from the lead organizer of the IAF Valley Interfaith Project affiliate, Joe Rubio in January 2010. He “emphasized the necessity of all people who care about education to become involved in the effort to educate the electorate on the history of Arizona’s decline in education funding”.

You get the picture.

Within the KEA is a Human and Civil Rights Committee. It is headed by Kinora Hernandez. The mission statement says the committee is

…comprised of Kyrene teachers who are passionate about
making sure ALL students and staff in Kyrene are treated fairly
and with respect.
The committee develops policies and activities to support our strategic objective to advance racial, economic,
and gender equity in Kyrene schools.

The committee sponsors two events each year.

1. National “mix it up day”

It sounds like a nice idea. Except for the fact that it implies that our children are incapable of making friends and good choices on their own and that all children are inherently bullies.

“Mix it up day” is sponsored by Tolerance.org which was founded by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Tolerance.org sounds so…very…tolerant. Their mission statement:

“Dedicated to reducing prejudice, improving intergroup relations,
and supporting equitable school experiences for our nation’s children.”

They include teaching kits for teachers which are geared towards specific grade levels. These kits include subjects such as:

American Civil Rights Movement: A Time for Justice

Bullied: A Student, A School, and a Case That Made History
(a documentary film that chronicles one student’s ordeal at the hands of anti-gay bullies. It can become a cornerstone of anti-bullying efforts in middle and High School.)

Viva La Causa
(The Delano strike and grape boycott led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta)

2. “No Name Calling” Week

In an agenda for the KEA, they discussed ideas on how to incorporate “no name calling” into the curriculum. Ideas they came up with included:

Do something simple: Have students sign No Name-calling Pledge sheets or wear stickers to pledge that they will not bully (basically, teachers bully kids into pledging they won’t be bullies)

Social Studies: Have students generate a survey about bullying and administer their survey to a specific number of students in the school.

Math: Create math problems. For example, If 15% of the students in a class of 27 do not come to school because they fear they will be bullied while at school, how many students would be missing?

Language Arts: Write poems, narratives and enter in the Creative Impressions Contest sponsored by nonamecalling.org

Art: Create pieces that reflect feelings generated by bullying. Enter in the Creative Impressions Contest sponsored by nonamecalling.org.

Who is nonamecalling.org?

Their sponsors include:

Amnesty International, Anti-defamation league, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Colage – Children of Lesbian and Gays Everywhere, Girl Scouts of the USA, Jewish Mosaic-the National Center for Sex and Gender Diversity, National Conference for Community and Justice, NEA, National Urban League, OUThistory.org, Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Based on the meeting minutes, the focus of the KEA is to promote Democrats in elections (like Penny Kotterman, David Schapira), encourage teachers and others to vote for every bond override proposal and education money-focused Propositions (like Prop 100), support continued funding for all day kindergarten, any legislative actions that affect teachers, teacher salaries and days off for sick time or vacations.

What about the children?

http://armorandshield.blogspot.com/2010/04/kyrene-education-association-just.html

Source: TPT Submission

By: Anita Christy from GilbertWatch.com

Posted: April 11th, 2012

Russell Pearce goes before the Supreme Court on 4/25 to argue in favor of the constitutionality of SB1070. Also, at the invitation of Senator Charles Schumer, he will be testifying on 4/24 before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security at a hearing entitled “Examining the Constitutionality and Prudence of State and Local Governments Enforcing Immigration Law.”

It is shocking to me that the mere right of an individual state to enforce federal immigration law, to protect the jobs and lives of lawful citizens, has become a federal case.

I’m willing to bet that Russell Pearce’s “style” at both of these hearings will be very impressive. He will be presenting his argument to the most powerful entities in the United States of America. He will tell the truth, and he won’t falter. He won’t embarrass or apologize for Arizona. SB1070 is his legacy, all the way to the Supreme Court.

Russell Pearce has always stood for substance and truth over style and whim. When you hear someone say that Russell Pearce has been bad for Arizona, they are lying.

The truth is that Arizona’s economy is far better compared to other states; the truth is that companies are moving to Arizona not leaving; the truth is that Arizona’s tourism and the dollars it brings has increased, not decreased. The truth is that it is the leftists, not the constitutional conservatives, in other states that decry Arizona’s horrible reputation. The truth is that law abiding citizens admire Arizona and have introduced legislation that imitates SB1070. The truth is that Phoenix has experienced a 30-year low crime rate. All since SB1070.

The leftists did all possible to boycott Arizona over SB1070. They failed. Yet, the leftists and their sympathizers continue to lie about the success of Arizona after SB1070.

Meanwhile, California (Leftist Community Agitator Randy Parraz’s home state) has laws favorable to open borders and illegal aliens. Employers are leaving California by the trainload. Yes, there are many other variables (such as California’s tax and regulatory environment) that play a role. But when you consider the leftist mantra in Arizona, all of their trumped up negatives are the result of just one thing: laws that protect its legal citizens.

Russell Pearce’s words, actions, and votes have always lined up to protect individual liberties of law-abiding citizens. He has done this in spite of unrelenting attacks upon him by the leftists, their sympathizers, and the liberal media, and in spite of attacks from Eric Holder’s Department of “Justice.”

Upholding our country’s immigration laws should be supported by every American citizen.

Source: AZCentral.com

By: Alia Beard Rau

Posted: April 11th, 2012

State Rep. Daniel Patterson, a Tucson independent, has resigned his seat in the House.

Patterson gave his resignation letter to House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, who accepted the resignation.

“Effective immediately I have accepted the resignation of Daniel Patterson,” Tobin said.

Read the resignation letter

The decision comes shortly after the House Ethics Committee recommended the full House remove Patterson from office. The full House was expected to vote on expulsion this afternoon.

Patterson had tweeted earlier in the day that the “fix was in.”

The bipartisan committee had made the recommendation after they questioned Patterson for two hours. The ethics allegations included intimidating other lawmakers, angry outbursts and domestic violence.

Patterson has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He left the committee hearing before the unanimous vote was cast and without making any final comments.

During the questioning, Patterson admitted he has made mistakes that he regrets but said they did not merit removal from the House.

“Nothing I have done warrants my resignation or removal from the House,” he said, adding that he already has suffered a loss of his office, legislative assistant and reputation. “Certainly there are some things that have happened at the House where if I could do it over, I would handle things differently.”

In his resignation letter, however, Patterson said he was “reluctantly” resigning “under strong protest.”

“I have been forced to resign due to the fact that the House has become a very hostile work environment,” Patterson wrote. “Due to this, I am no longer able to serve my constituents in the way they deserve.”

Patterson criticized the investigative report an independent team of attorneys produced. The report included numerous allegations made by anonymous staff members and lobbyists. He said in addition to including unverified allegations, it went far beyond the scope of the original ethics complaint.

Patterson also repeatedly asked for a full hearing in which he could question those who made allegations against him.

“I should have a full opportunity to talk with these people directly,” he said.

Committee members agreed that some of the allegations were unverified. But they said there was enough concern just based on the complaints from named lawmakers.

“Even if we strip away what is anonymous sourcing … there is still a core of members, duly elected members that signed declarations that show a disturbing pattern of behavior,” Rep. Ted Vogt, R-Tucson, the committee chairman, said. “There is a fundamental gap between how you perceive yourself and your actions and how others perceive you and your actions.”

Phoenix Mayor Stanton

Source: AZCentral.com

By: Lynh Bui

Posted: April 11th, 2012

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton’s first State of the City address laid out ambitious policy plans that suggest his leadership won’t be contained within city limits.

In his speech Wednesday, Stanton outlined policy priorities that spanned across national, global, regional and city initiatives that aim to do more than shape just the future of Phoenix but promote a better-educated region with high-wage jobs and a booming green economy.

AZ State Rep. Patterson

Source: KPHO.com

The drama surrounding a southern Arizona lawmaker continues at the state Capitol.

The Arizona House Ethics Committee meets again Wednesday to consider the expulsion of Patterson from the Legislature.

The committee met briefly Tuesday to consider Patterson’s case but recessed until Wednesday so members can review a response that Patterson submitted right before the deadline.

Source: KPHO.com

A m e r i c a n  P o s t – G a z e t t e

Distributed by C O M M O N  S E N S E , in Arizona

Out of control activist judiciary panel reports to State Bar, so they rubberstamped disbarment of Thomas

Tea Parties and conservatives are encouraged to show their support for former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas tomorrow as he holds a press conference denouncing a panel’s decision to disbar him, another deputy attorney, and suspend a third deputy attorney. Thomas tried to root out corruption in Maricopa County and was fought every way by powerful, entrenched liberal politicians. When he tried to prosecute crooked County Supervisors like Mary Rose Wilcox and judges, they filed bar complaints against him, knowing that the liberal State Bar would pounce on them.

Thomas has been an activist conservative who stood up for the rule of law, including immigration laws. The panel that made the decision to disbar him was composed of two attorneys and one member of the public. The judge on the panel had ruled against Thomas in the past when he tried to prosecute corruption, so he was already biased against him, and should have recused himself but did not. Those attorneys report to the State Bar of Arizona. The State Bar of Arizona has made it REALLY CLEAR that they will go after anyone who dares defend Thomas. Ernie Calderon, a former State Bar president and Democrat, dared to stand up and issue an ethics opinion defending Thomas. In retaliation, the State Bar removed him from his position as the State Bar’s representative to the American Bar Association.

The press conference will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, April 11, at 10:30 a.m. at the plaza between the Orpheum and the Wells Fargo Building, a public area between Second and Third Avenues on Adams Street in downtown Phoenix. People can park in the Wells Fargo parking lot or along the streets or other parking garages. It shouldn’t take more than half an hour.

People should attend if they don’t want to see our state become as corrupt as Mexico, as we already have the illegal immigration to go with it. The far left is taking down conservatives in Arizona who dare to speak up one by one. First they took out Thomas, then they went after Russell Pearce and successfully took him down. Their next target is Sheriff Arpaio. Click here for their article, “After Attorney’s Disbarment, Latino Groups Want Arpaio Brought Down Next.”

This kangaroo court ignored all the evidence that has come out about how corrupt Maricopa County government is. Here is just some of the corruption that has taken place since the trial – but the panel refused to consider it:

March

–FDIC is suing lenders over a risky loan they gave to Supervisor Stapley. This is a loan that Thomas and Aubuchon tried to investigate Stapley for.

http://sonoranalliance.com/2012/03/28/fdic-sues-over-risky-land-loan-to-stapley/

–County employees including County Manager David Smith played in pricey golf foursomes with vendors, in exchange were given lucrative Court Tower contracts. Thomas tried to investigate the Supervisors over the Court Tower.

http://sonoranalliance.com/2012/03/16/new-court-tower-scandal-county-corruption-and-golf-tournament/

–Judge who protected the County Supervisors, ruling against Thomas’s investigations, abruptly resigns in the middle of his term with no explanation

http://sonoranalliance.com/2012/03/12/another-judge-who-protected-the-county-supervisors-abruptly-resigns/

–Supervisor Stapley announces he is not going to run for reelection, and won’t even run for Congress – he knows he has no chance since all his corruption has come out

http://sonoranalliance.com/2012/03/04/targeted-by-conservatives-and-tea-party-activists-stapley-elects-to-fail-upward/

–Arizona Project 2012 Tea Party announces victory at stopping two Supervisors from running for reelection. They had made targeting the Supervisors their #1 priority this year due to all the corruption.

http://sonoranalliance.com/2012/03/01/arizona-2012-project-rabble-busters/

February

–County Manager David Smith abruptly resigns. Smith had filed the bar complaints against Thomas and his deputies and was the County Supervisors’ hatchetman.

http://sonoranalliance.com/2012/02/29/corrupt-county-manager-david-smith-abruptly-resigns/

December

–Liberal Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts admits there must have been something to Thomas’s investigation of the Court Tower

http://sonoranalliance.com/2011/12/15/republic-writer-hints-that-court-tower-investigation-was-vindicated/

–Engineer in charge of Court Tower project fired (he’s rumored to want to go public about it)

http://sonoranalliance.com/2011/12/14/high-level-county-employee-managing-court-tower-project-fired/

–Several county employees fired or suspended for accepting bribes from vendors on Court Tower

http://sonoranalliance.com/2011/12/12/county-employees-accepted-free-gifts-from-companies-awarded-court-tower-contracts/

November

–County Supervisors & cronies lawsuits against Thomas & Arpaio thrown out

http://www.teapartytribune.com/2011/11/01/judge-dismisses-county-officials-lawsuits-against-arpaio-and-thomas/

October

–Supervisors continue firing attorneys who attempt to represent Thomas

http://sonoranalliance.com/2011/10/29/supervisors-continue-to-fire-more-lawyers-from-defending-andrew-thomas/

–Steve Chucri files to run for County Supervisor against Don Stapley since he realizes he will easily win

http://www.icarizona.com/2011/10/steve-chucri-files-candidacy-for.html

Read the full story about this show trial and kangaroo court at Worldnetdaily.
Read a full-page ad taken out in the Arizona State Bar’s magazine denouncing the State Bar’s prosecution of Thomas signed by a former AZ Attorney General, an ethics expert, a former president of the AZ State Bar, a former Chief Justice of the AZ Supreme Court, and a former disciplinary counsel for two State Bars.
Read the Maricopa County GOP EGC resolution denouncing the State Bar.

Source PatriotActionNetwork.com

By: Darla Dawald – National Director

Written by: Michael CHILDS

Posted: April 6th, 2012

Great Job Patriots! I know many patriots contacted the school! We can make a difference daily in fighting the continuous assault on our country! One battle at a time!  Great news for Good Friday!

Darla Dawald

HERE IS THE UPDATE:

‘Political correctness’ backfires

District Superintendent Edward L. Fleury acknowledged in a statement that “political correctness” was the motivation behind a proposed change, but the school ultimately decided against booting “God” from the song.

“Students will be allowed to sing or not sing ‘God Bless the USA.’ … No other words will be substituted,” he said. “We believe the use of the word ‘God’ is acceptable in patriotic songs. The district has no intent to censor any patriotic songs. We are certainly sorry if this approach was perhaps considered as disrespectful. That was never the intent.”

The incident, while seemingly minor, touched a nerve in the debate over the place of religion and references to God in public schools.

See complete article here!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/5/school-returns-god-t…

Original story:

Massachusetts elementary school replaces ‘God bless the USA’ with ‘we love the USA’ in popular Lee Greenwood song. This is why our country is falling apart. We have taken God out off everything, next we will be taking God out of Church, Oh wait!! we have done that too. It’s no surprise that another stupid school has made another stupid step towards an atheist or should I say Muslim nation.

Lee Greenwood was quoted as saying,

The most important word in the whole piece is the word GOD, which is also in the title “God Bless the USA”. We can’t take God out of the song, we can’t take GOD out of the Pledge of Allegiance, we can’t take GOD out of the American currency.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1547987881001/god-less-song-causes-outrage

This really get’s under my skin because America has bent, compromised, accommodated every other nationality as to not offend anyone, but I refuse to remove God from my country, YES! that’s right my country, God is what we were founded on, God is what we believe on, God is what we stand on, God is what we sing about, God is who blesses this country, God is who can only save this country, so darn right I want God in everything in this country. I don’t want change I want people to come to God and let him make the change. I don’t want people from other countries to come to our country and change it, I don’t want other religions Changing what this country was founded on. America We Have A Voice And It’s Sings GOD BLESS AMERICA.

Source: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Events
Joe Arpaio, Sheriff       Click Here to for PDF

Posted: April 3rd, 2012

DOJ TO SHERIFF ARPAIO:
“MONITOR ABSOLUTELY MANDATORY”
ARPAIO TO DOJ:
“I WILL NOT SURRENDER MY OFFICE
TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT” 

(Phoenix, AZ) A series of meetings between representatives for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the U.S. Department of Justice were slated to begin tomorrow to discuss ways to resolve allegations of racial profiling by Sheriff’s
employees.
But hours before the first meeting, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roy Austin of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division called Arpaio’s attorneys with an ultimatum. Austin stated that it was absolutely mandatory for
the Sheriff’s Office to agree to have an outside monitor otherwise there is no reason for further meetings

Appointment of an outside monitor essentially usurps the powers and duties of an elected Sheriff and transfers them to a person or group of persons selected by the federal government. Every policy decision, every operation, every neprogram in the jails and in enforcement, virtually everything would have to be approved by the monitor, nullifying the authority of the elected Sheriff and eviscerating the will of the citizens of Maricopa County.

“I am the constitutionally and legitimately elected Sheriff and I absolutely refuse to surrender my responsibility to the federal government. And so to the Obama administration, who is attempting to strong arm me into submission only for its political gain, I say, ‘This will not happen, not on my watch!’”

Sheriff’s Deputy Director and Attorney Jack MacIntyre says a federal monitor is
the most extreme proposal, particularly in light of the fact that the federal
government has refused to provide any details or proof as to how they came to
the conclusion that Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office employees engage in
patterns and practices of racial profiling as well as other unsupported claims that
the DOJ has widely publicized.
MacIntyre stated “We have never agreed to a monitor replacing the duly elected
Sheriff. We have always been open to negotiating these issues raised by the DOJ,
but never the appointment of a monitor.” END

Source: AZCentral.com

Posted: March 30th, 2012

City North

Source: AZCentral.com

By:Eugene Scott

Posted: March 31st, 2012

A fast-growing transportation management company based at CityNorth is expanding and planning to create 200 additional jobs in the next two years.

GlobalTranz occupies about 10,000 square feet of office space 5415 E. High St., in the mixed-used development north of Loop 101 and west of 56th Street in northeast Phoenix. The 9-year-old company is adding 7,500 square feet to its offices and expects the project to be completed by July.

“We are a brokerage firm. We are the middle man between customers who ship freight and the carrier who moves the freight,” said Michael Leto, executive vice president for business development. The weak economy has not stalled growth projections. “We did $79 million in revenue in 2010. We did $135 million in 2011 and we are probably going to do around $210 million this year,” Leto said.