It has been said that politics is entertainment, and the right wing has been more and more the lunatic fringe, never letting up on their vicious attacks on President Barack Obama.
Bill Press, the talk show host and liberal activist, has just published THE OBAMA HATE MACHINE regarding this, but even since publication, we are seeing more evidence that the pace of hate is growing ever faster.
Now we have Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is being investigated by the federal government for racial profiling and abuse of power in the handling of illegal immigrants, and Hispanics and Latinos in general, and the kind of harsh conditions that are used in jails in his county.
Arpaio now has decided to accuse Barack Obama as having a forged birth certificate, and held a press conference a few days ago to revive the “birther” conspiracy theory which has been ridiculed and exposed as false so many times that it makes one want to scream! This is his way of getting revenge on the Obama Administration, and it shows that Arpaio is a loose cannon out of control, not giving a damn about what people say or publish about him. He is an example of the worst element in law enforcement, and undermines respect for that very important group who do not need a lawess, arrogant man such as Arpaio to ruin their reputation.
And then we have US District Court Judge Richard Cebull of Montana, appointed by President George W. Bush to the federal courts in 2001, and becoming the Chief Judge for the district in Montana in 2008, who has done the most outrageous thing possible for a federal judge. He sent an email that was both racist and sexist about President Obama, stating it was a joke, showing terrible judgment, and making one wonder whether he could ever be objective in future court trials and cases in Montana. The joke was that that African Americans were equivalent to dogs, and that Obama’s white mother had had sex with animals. Cebull apologized profusely, but the damage was done, and saying it was not racist and sexist, but only anti Obama was insufficient, as a federal judge does not have the right to express political views that could affect his supposed objective judgments on cases involving race and gender that come before his court. Cebull issued a profuse apology, but that is simply not enough!
The answer is that Arpaio needs to be forced from office for his corruption and abuse of power, and that Cebull resign in disgrace, or face impeachment investigation and removal by the US Senate for his behavior, since both people are totally beyond the pale in their dealings and utterances.
Those who believe in fairness and equity in the field of law and justice MUST fight to remove these cancers from our law enforcement and judicial communities!
What rubbish logic. Joe Arpaio didn’t set out to “get” Obama. He was given the task of investigating the birth certificate as a result 250+ Tea Party members who suspected a fraud and gave their evidence to Sheriff Joe to investigate. He was bound to conduct an investigation. However, he wasn’t on the investigation team. He was only the messenger of the results of that investigation. But MORE importantly he didn’t back down from doing an investigation based on who he was investigating – suggesting that there is a two tier system of justice. The forged document is only ONE aspect of many other irregularities regarding the information about Obama’s birth, but it fits a pattern. Maybe the Tea Party went to Sheriff Joe because they know he is hard nosed and wouldn’t wimp out of doing what he was elected to do – investigate a potential crime. If there were more Sheriff Joes showing due diligence in their duties then the ongoing mess would have never been allowed to come to fruition.
Keep up the good (no great!) work, Joe.