Sheriff Joe Has Got To Go

The Justice Department, after a year of stonewalling from America’s favorite badged bigot, has finally brought a lawsuit against sheriff Joe Arpaio. It seems they requested documents and internal communications from Arpaio’s dept. more than 15 months ago in connection with a probe into allegations of discrimination and harassment against immigrants. The sheriff, known for his hard-line stance against brown people from Mexico, has vowed not to be “intimidated” by the feds.

The Maricopa County sheriff once famously appeared in a reality TV show on… wait for it… Fox called Smile! You’re Under Arrest in which he tricked people with outstanding warrants to turn themselves in. I can’t wait to see the footage of US marshals knocking down ol’ Joe’s door and dragging him away in handcuffs for defying federal law. The only thing that troubles me is that litigation is the path chosen by Eric Holder at DoJ. If you or I ignored requests from the government for documents in the public record, do you think they would choose to sue or just go straight for incarceration?

One of the funniest parts about Arpaio’s ‘heroic stand’ against the feds is that he complained about not receiving stimulus funds last year. For a warrior, he sure does do a lot of crying when things don’t go his way. In any event, I hope this lawsuit will be the end of sheriff Joe. His antics are a manifestation of the worst side of America: ignorance, hatred, intolerance and arrogance. Coupled with governor Jan Brewer’s awesome debate performance yesterday, perhaps AZ is on its way to chopping off at least two heads; those of the hydra called the Radical Right.

Okie GOP Primary… Yawn! (Updated)

Did any of you realize that yesterday was Primary Day here and also in other places? Well, the big news is that the giant Teabag Revolution designed to “Throw The Bums Out!” is a total flop. Yes, I hear you saying, but the useless media told us for weeks that there was an anti-incumbent wave sweeping the nation! Then tell me why John Mccain will be the GOP nominee for Arizona then, smartie.

The truth is, there is no anti-incumbent fever heating up for November. As Rachel Maddow pointed out Monday, only 7 out of over 300 incumbents lost yesterday. I’m no math whiz, but that seems like pretty weak tea. Basically, Like the inestimable Ken Layne pointed out in the Wonkette link, people may hate Congress, but they like their congressperson, which makes me wonder why more people’s heads aren’t exploding from the dissonance. All the big hitters are still standing for the midterms and even $aint $arah Palin’s moose mojo couldn’t topple The Murkowski Machine actually it looks like Teabagger insanity may have eked out a narrow victory against Murkowski. I would add a comment here about how most of the people running against the incumbents are all bat-shit insane, but you already knew that.

This non-excitement continued in the Sooner State too, with the christian bowl haircut beating out the veteran bowl haircut for the chance to ride Mary Fallin’s coattails in the Fall. Some other dude is going to run against Dan Boren too, though that will also be a wash. Basically, the un-excitement cascaded over the southern part of the country like a smooth summer breeze. Well, except for Florida, where only slimy criminals won. Get set for a boring campaign season as yard signs begin to multiply exponentially on our highways and promenades and crappy teevee commercials foretell Armageddon if we vote for the Democrat. Come to think of it, the latter point probably applies to Dan Boren too.

So, go back to work, America. Your revolution is over, Mr. Teabagger. Condolences. The bums lost. My advice is to do what your parents did: get a job, sir.

UPDATE: Teabag insurgent Joe Miller is holding a surprising lead in Alaska after a very close race. He leads Murkowski by around 3000 votes, with rural areas still coming in. So maybe we can make that total 8 for 299.

(cross-posted at examiner.com)

AZ Immigration Bill Not Crazy Enough for OK

I wonder what it would be like if OK decided to compete with other states in something other than crazy? An anti-brown-people crusader from way back, Rep. Randy Terrill has introduced legislation to not only mirror AZ’s draconian anti-immigration law, but step it up a notch by allowing seizure of property. Perhaps we should ask Native Americans what they think about unwanted foreign people coming in and taking over your land and possessions?

Of course, the analogy is a little flawed because Terrill’s crusade is completely unnecessary in the first place. Oklahoma ranks below the middle for numbers of undocumented immigrants in the state at 46,000, but in the rabid right-wing’s hive mind this amounts to an invasion. I’ll bet even money Randy is also a born again Christian, so we can add religious hypocrisy to the list of reasons not to invite him over for tamales. I think he should also introduce a bill that makes it mandatory for fat-ass white people like him to get off their duff and do the work of all those dirty Mexicans. I’m not going to hold my breath.

It’s funny, I read a quote the other day that seems to apply to this situation. It’s pretty old so I can understand why the knuckle dragging morons that run the OK state legislature might have forgotten it, but maybe we should remind them:

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

But that’s from some French statue so it really doesn’t apply, right? This other one is a little longer but it should be familiar to all you Christians out there:

“No, the kind of fast I want is that you stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I want you to share your food with the hungry and bring right into your own homes those who are helpless, poor, and destitute. Clothe those who are cold, and don’t hide from relatives who need your help. If you do these things, God will shed his own glorious light upon you.”

So that crazy book actually has good stuff to say if you take the time to read it? Who knew? Anyway, if Jesus comes back and lands in OK, I sure will feel sorry for people like Randy Terrill. The Christ is likely to be pretty pissed and you wouldn’t like Him when He’s angry.

On the other hand, Jesus is actually a mythological archetype, the Rapture is only a fevered fundamentalist fantasy, and we’re all screwed. Enjoy your Wednesday.

New Stuff is Coming!!!

This is a big week for me, so I apologize for not having much time to blog.There’s lots of crazy developments that I would love to tackle: the crazy Arizona immigration bill, financial reform, immigration reform, the climate bill, midterm elections. But, seeing as how nobody’s paying me to write this crap, it’s just a hobby.

The interviews I did will be posted in TWO new Art That Matters features this weekend, so you’ll definitely want to check back on those. I also finished my thesis paper, a defense of the practice of painting. I’m going to propose it for presentation at next year’s CAA, so I’ll keep you posted on how that’s going. I may even be able to post it here in series format… we’ll see.

In other art news, I’m participating with a number of Media Studies students in a performance/installation collaboration for Hallwalls’ Artists+Models:Stimulus event on Saturday. We’re doing an interpretation of Georges Bataille’s The Story of the Eye. It is going to be pretty insane and I have a feeling we might be the talk of the event. If you don’t know what The Story of the Eye is all about, then please be forewarned before you start to read it: it is a pretty graphic exploration of sexual and cultural taboos. Definitely not for the faint of heart!

Hopefully, I’ll have some more time for blogging soon, but it’s shaping up to be one crazy Summer. If you’ve been following me, then please send me a note or comment on a story so I know you’re still out there!

Got Your ID On You, Boy?

I realize that the half-wits who cooked up this law (sorry about the link to Fox) were aiming to round up all the Messicans and send them directly to jail. Unfortunately, I don’t think any of them understand what an affront to liberty and justice this is. An LA Cardinal even compared it to Nazism. While that rhetoric is used far to often these days, it’s the first time yet that there might actually be some merit in the analogy. Can you imagine a scenario where a cop stops you on the street and if you don’t have ID they can arrest you, even if you’ve done nothing wrong? Proponents are sure to argue that such a law would only effect illegal immigrants who don’t even have a SS number to give. However, that automatically assumes that cops will only be stopping people who might be (or even just look) Hispanic, which in and of itself is insane. In fact, this is just a small step towards a complete police state where each and everyone of us is required to be carrying government issued ID wherever we go, plain and simple. John McCain spent five years in a POW camp protecting our freedom from this kind of totalitarian law, so I’m sure he’s virulently opposed, right? Oops, never mind. Apparently, he now thinks illegal immigrants are intentionally causing accidents on highways.

This is the problem with the far right in a nutshell. Legislation ostensibly written to apply to immigrants because of fear and hatred inevitably butts up against constitutionality and there won’t be any sort of pushback from the right who love to scream about the constitution because they just can’t fathom that it could also be applied to them. They themselves came up with this unconstitutional monstrosity, yet are happy to accuse anyone who can’t quote the 2nd Amendment verbatim as ignoring the founders’ intent. It’s just madness. Their cries of “Read the Constitution!” were noticeably silent as the Bush administration slowly dismantled rights across the board, starting with the PATRIOT Act, and there will be similar silence over this. The truth is, right wing wackos only like the parts of the constitution they agree with. I sincerely hope the governor of AZ, Jane Brewer, comes to her senses if this bill makes it to her desk. If not, I’m sure the Supreme Court would be interested in such a blatant violation of civil rights.

What a Drag It Is Getting Old

Poor, poor Walnuts. See, he thought that after losing a presidential campaign, in part because he decided to thrust a vapid, media-whore hillbilly into the spotlight as his running mate, he would be able to at least skate to re-election as the senior senator from the fine, arid state of AZ. Alas, once the scary black dude was sworn in, the Great White American Freakout™ began in earnest and all of a sudden it wasn’t so cool to be the senior senator from AZ. For their part, the Teabaggers decided they’d like to see one of their own take over for Grampa Mccain, namely an unhinged lunatic radio jockey who wants to marry his horse or something. Now, this did not sit well with John Mccain. Not well at all. See, being the senior senator from AZ has all sorts of perks and side benefits like socialist health care and a three day work week. Not to mention that if he was no longer a senator then he’d have to spend more time with his family in one of their seven homes, sipping free Budweiser and reminiscing about the good ol’ days. And who wants that?

Needless to say, John Mccain had to come up with something, anything, to endear himself to the Teabagger Nation. He’s made a pretty good run of it, throwing his principles out the windows of the Straight Talk Express as if they were no more then electoral college votes. Too bad that didn’t work, though, because his opponent is so far to the right as to be completely in another galaxy and even John Mccain’s years of experience at hypocrisy are no match for a bona fide wingnut loon. However, Walnuts does not give up easily, people! He’s got a new plan that is sure to bring the sheep back into the fold, so he can continue to be grumpy on the senate floor forever: tell the Teabaggers that he was never a maverick! On its face, this seems like a good idea: Teabaggers tend not to be too intelligent and anything they hear on Fox News is gospel, right? If Mccain could just get a soundbite or two stating his non-mavericky goodness, he’d be golden. But WAIT! Wasn’t it just last year he was proclaiming what a maverick he really was? That he was, in fact, the Original Maverick? Sadly, yes.

So now, instead of swooping in at the last minute with a can’t-fail plan worthy of the master flip-flopper himself, he has instead become the butt of the 24 hour news cycle mock-a-thon. It might have helped to use a word other than the one he made the centerpiece of his campaign, but such is the mysterious mind of Walnuts. I’m not in favor of a Senator J.D. Hayworth, but I must admit it has been fun watching him force John Mccain to spin and twitch like an epileptic sock puppet in the wind. I wonder what devious strategy Mccain will think up next! He never really married Cindy for her beer money and her percocet hook-up? Meghan’s enormous ta-tas actually belong to Janet Reno? My friends, whatever happens, it’s sure to be comedy gold, my friends!

Reality Is Inconvenient

In Arizona, right-wing wack-job J.D. Hayworth is giving John Mccain a run for his money when it comes to tacking to the right for the Republican primary. Other commentators have noted that this is a hard slog for Mccain; no matter how far right he swings, that’s not going to be good enough for the loons.

So, with that in mind let’s take a look at J.D. Hayworth: he’s a B-List radio jockey, in the same vein as Limbaugh, and he has long been a lightning rod in AZ. The rise of the Teabaggers obviously benefited his message, so he’s decided that running for office is a good idea. Like I mentioned, Mccain is a sell-out, RINO, commie, socialist no matter what he does, so I’m sure Teabaggers’ minds are made up.

A few days ago, Hayworth was quoted outlining his position against gay marriage in the same terms made famous by Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum: allowing gays to marry would eventually lead to men marrying horses.

I won’t go into the absurdity of that but rather, I’ll let the indefatigable Rachel Maddow handle it. Hayworth went on her show last night and she pressed him on the comment. I’m not that interested in his defense; he’s an ignoramus, ’nuff said. It is the way that he ended the conversation that got my attention and highlights the problem facing our national (and personal, for that matter) discourse:

…Maddow tried to explain that she looked for evidence to support Hayworth’s claim, and couldn’t find any. “Well, that’s fine,” Hayworth said. “You and I can have a disagreement about that.”

“Well, it either is true or it isn’t,” Rachel responded. “It’s empirical.”

Hayworth, perhaps unaware of what “empirical” means, replied, “OK. OK. I appreciate the fact that we have a disagreement on that.”

-From Washington Monthly, via Alex Koppelman

So, let that be a lesson and a warning to all you progressives who might deign to argue with a right-wing nutjob: empirical evidence Does. Not. Matter. All the bluster over global warming and evolution? Simply a matter of opinion, dontcha know. The reason that I even bring this up is because I have felt the frustration of this tactic many times while trying to make a reasonable point on Facebook, of all things. I know, you don’t have to tell me about the inanity of trying to argue on teh intranetz, but I am amazed at how often, when presented with information that directly refutes their position, conservatives will simply say, “let’s just say we disagree.”

Ok. Fair enough. From now on, my new strategy is just to disagree with anything inconvenient. Like gravity, or my gas bill. It’s simply Nat’l Fuel’s opinion that I owe that much money this month. I also will employ this tactic when PETA gets wind that I let Roxie, my cat, starve to death because it’s just those elite liberal scientists’ opinion that cats need food to live. I mean, I prayed for her! Won’t Jesus provide?

I can practically hear the rest of the world laughing. I’m fairly certain that international science institutions are scrambling to hire people who have a disagreement of opinion with the liberal bias of reality.

Lo, the sunset of the empire continues apace.