I was harassed, embarrassed and very upset about the whole ordeal. I called the MCS department to complain about this particular officer and was basically told I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and it was a good thing I had identification on me.

WELL EXCUSE ME!!!! Racial profiling IS IN FACT going on throughout Maricopa County and its people like you who think its “okay” will continue to keep racism from ever being eradicated! Our country was built on the backs of immigrants!

What’s the difference between illegals coming from Canada or other country buying land and purchasing homes and taking jobs and illegals from Mexico?

As for criminals deserving to be in jail, yes, I agree. However, NOT every person who goes to jail is there for some heinous crime. First and foremost! Last I checked, our constitutional rights states a person is INNOCENT until PROVEN Guilty.

Therefore, why should a person who has yet to go before a judge or jury be further punished by having to wear pink “used” underwear, eat food that’s not fit for a dog and be subjected to whatever whims Arpaio decides to mete out for the day, just because that person may not be able to pay their bail or bond out until their court date?

Being sentenced to jail or prison time IS the punishment, further degradation, humiliation and subjugation is deplorable and is against every single persons basic human rights. Nowhere in anyone’s sentence or plea agreement does it state they must endure being watched while taking showers or going to the bathroom, guards on power-trips, deplorable living conditions (putting 4-6 people in a room made for two) and food infested with who knows what along with their specific amount of time incarcerated.

Incarceration IS the punishment; it’s not FOR further punishment.

“all I can do is shake my head and hope that whatever genes create that sort of ignorance will gradually be bred out of the species.”

I know what you are getting at so from your mouth to the Prime Mover’s indifferent ear, but I’d like to point out that ignorance is a function of lack of education or mis-education. Stupidity, however, seems to be completely genetic. The problem is we’ve tried eugenics and it didn’t work out so well for the species. And the age of DNA? Well that will just allow us to screw up to a greater degree of precision if it follows the model of other scientific advances. So how about we start paying teachers six and seven figure incomes based on performance instead of bankers?

Just a thought.

Bron, assimilation is a generational process. I grew up in New York, Ohio, Florida, California, Colorado, Wyoming, Alabama, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Texas. I encountered different ethnic groups on every stop along that road. What I discovered is that all immigrants gradually become “Americanized” in their own way and at their own pace. Many immigrants would not permit their children to speak their native tongues in their homes. Other immigrant parents encouraged their children to become bilingual (a healthier intellectual choice in my opinion). Many immigrants spent most of their lives in this country without ever learning more than a few English words. There have been immigrants who objected to their children marrying outside of their ethnic group or religion; others have voiced no objections whatsoever. Growing up I dated girls of distinctly Mexican, Irish, Polish and Italian heritage. I dated a couple of very Jewish girls and a couple of very WASPish ladies. The point is that all of the people who have come to this country from every other country in the world are individuals, not stereotypes. Many seize “American” culture, as they understand it, with great gusto. Many find American culture terrifying and attempt to shield their children from those things they find vulgar or otherwise distasteful. Many immigrant groups have prejudices against other immigrant groups, or even sub-groups within their own ethnicity. I have met Cuban-Americans who dislike Puerto Ricans and Mexican-Americans who dislike Cubans. Each new wave of immigration has been met with resentment and hostility. Hispanics are the objects of that resentment presently, because they comprise the newest and largest immigrant group. I could go on endlessly with examples of how that resentment is expressed, but I’m sure you’re already familiar with much of it. With respect to illegal immigration, we are a nation of hypocrites. We tacitly encourage it because it permits under the radar exploitation of cheap labor, but we then object to providing any basic human services to those we have induced to violate our laws. Enforcement consists of rounding people up like cattle rather than prosecuting employers. The bottom line is that this is a multi-cultural country and always has been. That’s one of its principal attractions after all. I guess there’s no logical stopping point, so I’ll just conclude by saying that whenever I encounter another Chris or a Joe Arpaio (what the hell kind of name is “Arpaio,” by the way?), all I can do is shake my head and hope that whatever genes create that sort of ignorance will gradually be bred out of the species.

isnt it a good thing for people to learn english? if they do it opens up many opportunities they would not have. Personally I am trying to learn Spanish to help me in my work (construction/engineering) so I can better talk to the laborers and craftsmen. But the guys that speak english and spanish are the foreman and superintendents and the ones that speak spanish are the worker bees making much less per week.

It is really about opportunity in this country, so immigrants need to be able to communicate. I have friends whose grandparents came to this country and their parents were not allowed to speak the native lingua in the home and so the immigrants from the Ellis Island days have assimilated and moved into the American fabric, isnt that what we want for our hispanic friends?

I edited Chris enlightened statements to make them even more ethnocentric and historically accurate.

“I’m PROUD of Joe Arpaio in that he sees the threat to this country by illegal immigrants. Even the “legal” immigrants that speak English aren’t learning Yuman.* This Country is catering to them and making America bi-lingual. I have a bottle of ketchup from Fry’s that I bought last week, and everything on it is in Yuman and English. What happened to all the legal immigrants that migrated here and were PROUD to learn Yuman and become a Cocopa? The media is also killing this country by referring to “English Cocopans.” There is only one kind of Cocopan, and that is A COPOCAN! If you want to start referring to someone as “American-Cocopans”, then I expect you to be non-discriminatory by referring to each person what they are…Asian Copocan, German Copocan, Vietnam Copocan…? Joe Arpaio is from the “old school”, which we all know is the way it SHOULD BE! I’ll vote for him forever!!!”

* Copoca are the indigenous native Americans who lived in Arizona. They spoke a dialect of the Yuman language, and are the only ones with real grievances from “illegal immigration.”

I am one who voted him in again … along with many others. Obviously many others feel he is a GREAT sheriff. Criminals deserve to be in jail, not in a bed and breakfast. They deserve no special meals, no tv, nothing! They are criminals and need to be punished!!

“This program will continue the merging of criminal law and entertainment — the American version of the Roman games. With each of these shows, there is a major corrosive impact on the quality and professionalism of our legal system”

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Thought provocation:

In some ways, isn’t Roman Coliseum sport what we do within this blawg? We are simply employing a lower means of available media; a written blawg broadcast via the Internet versus radio or televised broadcasts. I do realize that we are not commenting in any official capacity as the ‘justice televangelists’ do; however, public opinion has an often profound effect on cases, whether pro or con.
If Judge Judy (whom I would not watch) ‘blawgged’ (blogged) about her show in verbatim script, would her antics be less objectionable? Does televising the involved subjects in a case cheapen the experience more than that of just hearing the case on radio or reading about it online or within hardcopy newsprint without the additional visual cues?

Within this blawg, we express our views while filling the roles of defendants, arresting officers, jailers, jurors, prosecutors, defenders, and judges in written form while the other commenters add aural and visual enhancements. Are we less ‘guilty’ as Roman game “spectators” than they are simply because we cannot see and/or hear what viewers or listeners experience?

What if this Turley Blawg suddenly became televised—like the Tonight Show—with JT as host and the guests were we who post here? Would we then acquire additional Roman spectator-like qualities and become open to more ridicule than when we were hiding behind pseudonyms in the full glory of namelessness?

Unfortunately, most humans appear flawed with the psychological need to “play to” the microphone in Limbaughesque rants or “act out” before the camera ala Clark/Ito style, both of which denigrate the complete process of seeking the facts and justice in any case. However, is writing about a case based on court-allowed sketches–in lieu of cameras–any less egregious, especially when most of us write anonymously? We are “acting out” our opinions; just that we are not acting before a camera while worrying about our narcissistic appearances.

The important ‘preaching to the choir here’ aspect is that all of the facts of each case must receive unadulterated presentation regardless of the media from which those facts issue.
Is it better to hold trials behind closed-door sequestration or holding them out in the open with transparency? I prefer transparency if the presiding judges ensure less of the media circus such as occurred in the first Simpson case. In all civil and criminal cases, violations of established societal laws occur and the public has the right to seek justice for those violations by conducting civil, fair, decisive, and respectful inquiries while ensuring the constitutional protections of all defendants, regardless of their revilement and hated by the public.

Overall, and using whatever media to portray justice in action, I think openness and transparency of all cases are necessary when societal crimes occur. That is the most effective manner for the citizenry to understand and respect the laws of any society. However, our right to opinions and knowledge of any case must never trump any citizens’ guaranteed rights under the U.S. Constitution and other established laws.

Disclaimer: I do not like nor do I watch any of the people Professor Turley writes about in his article. Perhaps if we humans ever reach a majority of critical thinker status in this society–extremely doubtful– then the Judge Judy’s, Nancy Grace’s, and Sheriff Arpaio’s of the world will be discounted and rejected as simply the publicity seeking entertainers that they embody. Those 3 persons and their ilk must be held accountable for violating any persons’ rights and their recorded media antics are prima facie evidence available in potential libel and other lawsuits.

Therefore, let the justice system televangelisms occur, but prosecute any violations perpetrated by the host celebrities. The MSM’s legal pockets are just so deep and the televised justice medium will most likely become self-limiting if violations incur financial and legal liabilities.

This is a wonderful blog. JT’s entries are well thought out, imaginative and hilarious. Except for the trolls, most everyone here is a lot of fun and I have learned much from what they have to say. There is no reason to poison such a wonderful atmosphere with hate.

Here are my ground rules for engagement with you. I will not discuss anything personal about you or about me. I will gladly discuss ideas, and when we disagree I expect that disagreement to be handled in a respectful manner, with no personal attacks. Otherwise, I will simply go back to skipping your posts as before.