Isabel Garcia-Deputy Pima County Public Defender-Needs to Go-UPDATE

[UPDATE AUGUST 5, 2008]

The issues with this attorney and her criminal activities was addressed today by the Pima County Board of Supervisors. Her partner in crime presented a letter of support with 739 signatures. The number of people wanting her gone was not given. Here is the article published by the Tucson Citizen today (link here):

Pima County lawyer slammed, defended over sheriff piñata
B. POOLE
Tucson Citizen

Controversy continued Tuesday over Isabel Garcia, the Pima County legal defender who carried a paper-mâché head of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in front of a cheering crowd during a protest last month.

The issue was not on the agenda for Tuesday's Pima County Board of Supervisors meeting, but about 20 speakers - about half in support of Garcia and half in protest of her actions - came to a microphone during a call to the audience.

During a July 10 protest she organized, Garcia, who is a defense attorney, was seen holding the paper head - which had been beaten off of a piñata by youths wielding sticks - while the crowd cheered. The episode sparked calls for Garcia's disbarment and firing.

The issue is not about immigration or Joe Arpaio, who was in Tucson for a book signing, but about Garcia, who is also director of the Coalición de Derechos Hermanos, inciting children to violence, Kendra Wood said.

"I don't think she has any business holding a position of public trust," Wood told the supervisors.

Kat Rodriguez of Derechos Hermanos, sent the supervisors a letter supporting Garcia. The letter contained 739 signatures supporting a woman who has worked tirelessly for immigrants' rights, Rodriguez said.

The protest was not intended to incite violence; it was a traditional form of protest, she said.

"It was a symbol of the oppression we have seen," Rodriguez said.

Lori Oien seemed less concerned about Garcia's actions than the county's reaction.

"What is concerning to me is your approval by silence," she said.

County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said after the meeting that the county is looking into Garcia's actions. The Legal Defender's Office, which Garcia heads, takes indigent defense cases the Pima County public defender can't because of conflicts or other reasons.

"It's under review," he said.

Several speakers decried Garcia's actions as hurtful to law enforcement officers. Larry Lopez, president of the Tucson Police Officers Association, demanded an investigation.

"Law enforcement around this state does not think this is funny," he said.

Leilani Clark was at the July 10 protest and held the piñata. She denied Garcia had any hand in what the youths did.

"She had no control over us. . . . We acted on our own," Clark said.

Notice how the kids have been brainwashed into protecting her--juveniles.

Here is the letter of support, complete with all 739 names (pdf link here):

I suggest everyone contact ICE (866-347-2423) and the Border Patrol Tucson Sector (520-748-3000) with these names and demand investigation of them. The reasoning is they support illegals and are most likely illegal themselves. At the very least, report Garcia and Rodriguez to ICE, DHS and Border Patrol. The office information for Garcia is: Pima County Legal Defender, 32 North Stone Avenue, Suite 703, Tucson, 85701 (520) 740-5775 and fax of (520) 740-882-7338; Derechos contact information is: 631 South 6th Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85701; (520) 770-1373 and fax of (520) 770-7445.

Keep in mind this is not a First Amendment issue, this is an issue of an attorney's blatant disregard for the law, her signing documents with the Mexican government stating she would give aid and succor to illegal border crossers, her disregard for the law regarding juveniles, her attempts to stifle the freedom of others in their free speech, her encouragement of violence upon lawfully elected law enforcement officials, her delight in exhibiting a severed head (a la Nick Berg) and doing it all on the taxpayer dime. It is about an attorney violating the Model Rules of Procedure and her oaths of office.

It is not about hate speech--the only hate speech is her own. It is not about hate actions--the only hate actions are her own. It is not about legal immigration, it is about enforcement of current laws regarding ILLEGALS.

It is about a corrupt city council and board of supervisors who shield her.

It is about time she is gone. Call, write, email--all the information is here and below. Flood these offices with the demand she be removed from public employ and disbarred. Don't let this rest.

[UPDATE JULY 17, 2008 #3] Izzy's "partner in crime" Kat Rodriguez [coordinator of Coalicion de Derechos Humanos] weighs in, using almost word for word Izzy's whiny, spin filled diatribe from the Derechos site here.

[UPDATE JULY 17, 2008 #2] Sheriff Joe weighs in on Izzy here.

[UPDATE JULY 17, 2008]

Original article here.

This story is starting to pick up some traction and we need to keep up the pressure on Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry [contact information below], the State Bar of Arizona and the ethics review boards of the Bar and Pima County Merit Rules and Personnel Policies [Pima County Human Resources].

Speaking of the Pima County Merit Rules and Personnel Policies, they can be found here. Isabel Garcia has violated Rule 7-119 [Rules of Conduct] and the disciplinary procedures are addressed under Rule 12 [Disciplinary Actions, Administrative Suspension and Administrative Suspension; specifically Rule 12.1 C 10 and 12]. I know people who were fired for "dirty" emails on county time--Garcia's behavior is far more egregious in scope and gravity.

I also reported this woman to the State Attorney and received this response via email:

If you believe a public official to have broken the criminal or ethical
laws- then please put it all in writing along with links or print outs
of your pictures, videos etc and send them to:

Fraud and Public Corruption Section
Office of the Arizona Attorney General
1275 W Washington St
Phoenix, AZ 85007-2926

We cannot take complaints on the internet or phone still. Only in writing.

I would strongly suggest taking this action as well and keep flooding them with reports.

It's interesting to note the media in Tucson [the notable exception, of course, being Jon Justice' morning show on 104.1 The Truth, from 6-9am Monday through Friday, who first broke the story] has yet to pick up this story but has, in fact, buried it, despite the outcry from the citizens of Tucson wanting investigation and exposure. Of course, Garcia is a democrat and figures she's protected.

However. Legal, taxpaying citizens of Tucson, those who pay Garcia's wage, have spread the word far and wide. Michelle Malkin has two stories about this incident, "Unhinged in Arizona: Open Borders mob, led by public official, ravages Joe Arpaio effigy" here and "Tucson open-borders official gloats about effigy-beating here". So far, there are 211 comments on the first article and 39 on the second article. Some of those comments are hilarious, yet a few bring home a point people are noticing and it's not a pretty point.

Some of the comments from "Unhinged":

RedDog said: Dang! Does that chick holding up the effigy in the lead still photo look like Linda Blair or what!? eeeeeeeeee!

right_on said: At what point does “free speech” and the right to peacefully assemble, become “hate speech” and the encouragement to commit violence against
law enforcement?

The only difference I see here, between Islamo-terrorists, and Azlano-terrorists is the language.

Unfortunately, to our demise, the liberals not only tolerate this type of action, they openly encourage it.

What we need is a law enforcement, Rapid Deployment Force, that would descend on this type of illegal alien love-fest, round up all participants/lookers-on, identify them, and if here illegally, deport them.

What would you suppose would happen, if someone created an effigy of a Latino “Illegal Jose,” and began beating it with a bat (to the cheering and encouragement of a pro-American crowd, of, oh I don’t know, say white people?) You got it! It would not be tolerated…but this is?

vickisoup said: If our US citizens and [some] public officals don’t see anything wrong with proudly strutting around with an effigeal head of another public
official (outrageous conduct previously reserved to the neanderthal
Islamofascists), we are closer to a complete takeover than I’d feared.

Alphonse said: Wow, looks just like pictures you see of Mugabe’s thugs ravaging Zimbabwe. That’s what chamberpot immigration will do for you.

And, some comments from "Tucson Open Borders":

RaisedRight said: “We stand for the principles of peace and justice… except when you try to reinforce laws that we don’t like, then we tear your heads off.”

Blind_Mule said: Jeeez, this stuff just makes me want to go out and kick the Chihuahua.

These people and this women in paticular have absolutley no respect,morals or shame. Reminds me of some middle eastern street protest,what’s next burning the American Flag and Death to America signs.


abstractmind said: I’d love to see some resident trolls explain how this event represents their tolerance, but also how it demonstrates peace and justice.

I’m glad that they are putting pressure on this vile woman. She looks like a replacement for one of the zombies in a Romero film, btw.Scary stuff.


Bill Grant said: Caution, disturbing links. Does this photo remind anyone else of the Nick Berg beheading? Do these creeps realize that? I wonder.

One thing more and more people are seeing in Garcia's actions is how similar her actions are to the terrorists we are fighting and to the Mugabe regime. This is disturbing in the extreme. Commenter Bill Grant, above, has the photos exactly right--Garcia emulates Berg's murderers well.

Several commenters and people calling in to Jon's show have made the observation should anyone have committed this "act of free speech" upon an effigy of Garcia or an illegal, there would be an uproar for weeks based on the alleged hate crime implicit in such an action, yet Garcia gets away with this action with impunity. Such is the hypocrisy of the lunatic left and their fringe followers. The commenters and callers are, of course, correct. Here is the official, 2004 definition of "Hate Crime" from the FBI website here:

A hate crime, also known as a bias crime, is a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.

It's about time that definition applied to those covered and committing such acts themselves. Garcia committed a hate crime--and encouraged juveniles to commit a hate crime themselves--with her actions. Just because she is Mexican and follows the Reconquista/Aztlan/La Raza agenda does not mean she's immune from the laws applying to the United States.

She claims Jon Justice and Joe Arpaio are "haters"--yet who stands like a Nick Berg murderer holding an effigy severed head? Jon Justice is just as entitled to his opinion and Freedom of Speech as Garcia; Joe Arpaio is doing his job of enforcing laws on the books, as he was elected to do. Neither are inciting riots, contributing to the delinquency of minors or disrupting private business. They are not involved in conflicts of interest as Garcia is--encouraging illegal activities while on the county payroll; hiding behind hate crime legislation when it suits their purpose; committed to the overthrow of the US Government she's sworn to uphold and violating her oath as an attorney.

If people don't like what Jon has to say they won't tune him in. If they don't like Arpaio's actions, they'll vote him out of office. We don't have those choices with Garcia. She was appointed to her position and Huckleberry refuses to remove her, despite a growing demand from the legal taxpayers of Pima County.

Now, here's the "rich" part. Garcia responds on the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos website here. Her "rebuttal" is entitled, "Response to Sheriff Arpaio Protest" and is nothing more than a "whine fest"; not once does she address her own wrongdoing. She pulls the usual spin; below are some quotes (comments of mine inserted and emphasized):

...many of us in Tucson have made a promise that we will not allow him to come into our town without him hearing from those of us who stand in support of the thousands of workers and their families who have borne the brunt of his narrow-minded, ignorant policies. That he would come to Tucson to promote a book filled with lies, fear, and ignorant perspectives about immigrants, was especially appalling to us.

The leaflet states that we "continue to work for a community that is diverse, respectful, and appreciative of each other's differences." Others brought signs and megaphones, with someone bringing a large piñata with Arpaio's face glued on the head. I am sure you are aware that these types of symbolic images are not only
common, but generally are used in context of referring to the policies of individuals in power.

I am now the target of a corporate-media-sponsored campaign to get me fired from my job as the Pima County Legal Defender (who is the corporate-media-sponsor?). The first thing that you should know is that this is not a community-based campaign by those that disagree with me, but a campaign
that was instigated by Jon Justice (not his true name) who has a program in the new hate-radio in town, 104.1 FM. On Friday morning, he was on his program urging everyone to call Chuck Huckelberry to fire me because I dared exercise my 1st Amendment right to express my views. (And we are entitled to exercise our First Amendment rights to express OUR views in wanting you GONE-Jon didn't hold guns to our heads to call and write!) They cover it by saying that the breaking of a piñata is a violent act! ??? That is simply absurd. The piñata was a symbol of Arpaio's racist, violent and brutal policies. The youth did not hit Arpaio,
they hit the piñata to break the policies that keep us fearful of each other, and that have caused so much pain to so many hardworking men, women and their children. (And this differs from the actions of islamists in the Middle East how?) He is the violent one. I have spoken directly to some of his victims/survivors of his power, and have cried just listening to their accounts.

I am proud to have been part of the community's response to his arrival in Tucson. We stand committed to stop hatred and xenophobia (it seems you and your cadre are the ones exhibiting the hatred and xenophobia by your actions and encouragement), and to work for a society that respects human rights for
everyone regardless of their age, color, race, ethnic background, gender, gender-preference, religion. As an attorney I find it is not only my right, but my responsibility to stand up when the power of the state is used to crush people (it is not your right or responsibility to advocate the overthrow of a legal government or engage in inappropriate political activity nor to advocate illegal activity in minors). I will continue to do so.

Follow the link and read the entire drivel--make sure your stomach is empty beforehand as you will be heaving at the heaping of self serving, absolute delusional lunatic agenda.

The Tucson Citizen also has an article up entitled, "The big debate: Joe Arpaio, pinata". Below are some quotes from that article:

Immigration rights protesters acted like "out-of-control, raving lunatics" when they destroyed a piñata bearing the likeness of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, "a bully with a badge" who was in Tucson last week to promote his book, says Citizen columnist Anne T. Denogean.

Garcia, whose Human Rights Coalition organized the protest, said breaking the piñata was "funny."

No, it was "classless," says Reyes F. and "treasonous," (Chris F.). Garcia should make a public apology, Adam L. says. Bruce S. terms the protest "disgusting" and wonders how Pima County officials would distinguish between Garcia's involvement in it and another employee's participation in a Ku Klux Klan rally.

And that last line is the very heart of the matter--had this been a white person engaging in this kind of behavior, a white Pima County Deputy Public Defender, paid by the legal taxpaying citizens, and this had been a klan rally, they would have been fired already.

Denogean's article, "Protesters as offensive as Sheriff Arpaio", has this to say:

But I don't think you persuade the public that the man is an
out-of-control, raving lunatic by behaving like out-of-control, raving
lunatics.

That's the kindest description I have for the immigration rights protesters who beat to a pulp a piñata meant to represent the sheriff during Arpaio's visit to Tucson last week.

What occurred about midway through the protest, however, was truly disturbing. Several young protesters outside the store brought out a piñata meant to represent Arpaio.

The piñata, with a picture of Arpaio's face taped or glued to the head, was clad in a sheriff's uniform and equipped with pink handcuffs. One woman held up the piñata, while teenage protesters took turns bashing it with sticks. The Tucson Citizen ran a picture the next day of a teenage boy carting away the remains of the beheaded piñata.

While the beating of Arpaio in effigy proceeded, Isabel Garcia, head of Humanos Derechos, a group that purports to stand for the dignity of all human beings, stood by and laughed.

Follow the link above to the rest of the article--it's extremely enlightening. The Citizen also ran a poll with that article asking, "Do you think Coalicion de Derechos went too far when it smashed an Arpaio pinata?". Overwhelmingly, the answer was "Yes, members act like the people they say they hate (91%) compared to just six percent saying "No, it was deserved" and two percent saying "Other" (total number of votes=759).

The bottom line is this: Isabel Garcia, Pima County Deputy Public Defender, paid by the legal taxpayers of Pima County, needs to be fired and disbarred. Please follow the links to the appropriate officials and agencies and keep up the pressure. The officials and agencies will do NOTHING about it without overwhelming public pressure, stating clearly and unequivocally we are tired of this nonsense and we want the cancer GONE. Do your part to remove the cancer that is Isabel Garcia.

================
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry Contact Information:
(520) 740-8661
Chuckelberry@co.pima.az.us
chh@pima.gov

KGUN 9 Email: kgun9news@kgun9.com
KVOA 4 Email: kchoal@kvoa.com
FOX 11 AZ Email: news@fox11az.com.
News 13 Hotline: (520) 744-6397
Jon Justice: Website here.

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Isabel Garcia-Deputy Pima County Public Defender-Needs to Go

Sheriff Joe Arpaio has a new book out. It's called "Joe's Law", and the good sheriff was in town Thursday, July 10, 2008, for a book signing and radio show. He has also been a guest on 104.1 The Truth with Jon Justice Monday, July 7, 2008, to discuss his book and his views of law enforcement.

Jon Justice has become a voice for Tucson, particularly in the areas of ILLEGAL immigration, city council corruption, corrupt school board issues (one school board member is backed by her US Congressman father in forcing things onto the taxpayer--said father is a former school board member as well) and things concerning the legal taxpayers of Tucson.

Isabel Garcia is a Deputy Pima County Public Defender. She is also co-chair of the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, an alleged border rights group which is actually a group specializing in helping illegals cross the border, "Reconquista" and Aztlan and indulging in violence against those who disagree with them. While she is an attorney sworn to uphold the law, she deliberately breaks it and flaunts her conflicts of interest with impunity from Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckleberry (520/740-8661; Chuckelberry@co.pima.az.us; chh@pima.gov).

Tucson is a relatively laid back town. We pretty much let people be, and if they want to protest something, well, as long as it's peaceful, we let them protest. That doesn't mean there won't be a counter protest, but generally both sides are cool about having their voices heard and doing it within the confines of the law.

Unless Garcia is involved. Protests involving Garcia often involve escalating hate and walk very closely to the edge of breaking the law. She is responsible for encouraging high school students to leave their classrooms and protest police action on campus (when an illegal was discovered after being arrested for allegedly possessing drugs and his family was deported), responsible for encouraging violence against the police, influencing politicians through intimidation, encouraging the La Raza hate studies and the attendant protest when the State School Superintendant spoke against funding them with taxpayer dollars--in short, she is complete bad news.

She is the Mexican equivalent of Jackson, Sharpton and Farrakhan. Worse, while those three racist hate mongers are bad news, she also encourages the overthrow--violently--of the legitimate United States Government through Derechos.

Yet, Huckelberry refuses to discipline her. Why? Allegedly, she is engaging in these activities on her own time.

Chuck, we have news for you.

As an attorney, Isabel Garcia is on duty 24/7. As a County Attorney, she is a representative of the public 24/7. And her salary (as well as yours) is paid for by the LEGAL taxpayers of this county.

Now, how did Garcia cross the line?

She showed up with her gang of racist hate mongers to Sheriff Joe's book signing. Okay, they have a right to protest the fact he is doing his job and enforcing the law of the land.

They don't have a right to incite a riot, contribute to the delinquency of minors, and engage in blatant violence, encouraging said minors to engage in violence as well.

They brought along a pinata (effigy) of Sheriff Joe. While Garcia stood on the sidelines, she encouraged the minors to beat the pinata to a pulp, severing the head of it in the process. She then took the head and delightedly paraded around the parking lot, holding the head aloft. Against a lawfully elected law enforcement officer.



From left, Leilani Clark holds a piñata representing Sheriff Joe Arpaio as Dallely Hernandez, 17, and Crystal Terriquez, 16, take whacks at it. This picture was the front page of the Arizona Daily Star on July 11, 2008 (from the Arizona Daily Star July 11, 2008 article located here).



Edgar Toledo, 14, of Tucson, holds a pinata of Joe Arpaio with the head cut off during a protest Thursday night. About 75 people gathered at the Barnes & Noble bookstore, 5130 E. Broadway, in Tucson to protest a visit by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. (this picture is from the July 11, 2008 Tucson Citizen article located here).

There were several videos taken of this event as well: KGUN 9 News has video here; KMSB 11 has video here; KOLD 13 (which also has a news hotline 520-744-6397) here; KVOA 4 apparently didn't cover this incident, although they have covered many protests against Sheriff Joe in the past, the most recent being a disruption of the Pima county Republican Women's Club by (guess who) January 25, 2008 and linked here. Jon Justice also has video (as well as contact links for the news outlets and Huckelberry) at 104.1 The Truth here and on YouTube here, here and here.

The outrage over Garcia's action has been long in coming, but it's time she was put out of our misery. She has committed crimes against the county; she has committed crimes against fellow law enforcement officers; she has committed crimes against this country. It is time. She has to go--and she has to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for her activities.

Below is the letter I wrote to Huckelberry; I encourage everyone to copy it and use it. It is because of people like Garcia we have the problems with illegals we have.

Dear Mr. Huckleberry:

I am part of the legal community in Tucson. I am sick to death of the antics of Isabel Garcia. Her actions the night of Thursday, July 10, 2008, at the Borders Book Store, crossed the line.

My taxes are paying her salary and as her employer, I want her fired. There is a fine line between the right of public protest--PEACEFUL PROTEST--and Incite to Riot. She has crossed that line, seemingly with impunity from you, many times.

You state nothing can be done because she does these things in her own time. I beg to differ. She is a public employee and is held to a higher standard of behavior than an ordinary citizen. She can be fired for the mere APPEARANCE of POSSIBLE wrongdoing as a public employee, even on her own time.

Further, according to Rule 8.4 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Maintaining the Integrity of the Profession):

It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:

(a) violate or attempt to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct, knowingly assist or induce another to do so, or do so through the acts of another;

(b) commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects;

(c) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation;

(d) engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice;

(e) state or imply an ability to influence improperly a government agency or official or to achieve results by means that violate the Rules of Professional Conduct or other law; or

(f) knowingly assist a judge or judicial officer in conduct that is a violation of applicable rules of judicial conduct or other law.

Miss Garcia blatantly violates Rule 8.4 (specifically sections a, b, d, e), and her incite to riot by her activities the night of Thursday, July 10 2008, in which she encouraged onlookers to violently assault an effigy of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, which was caught on video (including her holding the "severed head" of Arpaio aloft), is ample proof of that violation.

She is in violation of Rule 41, Ariz. R. Civ. P., which states:

The duties and obligations of members shall be:

(a) Those prescribed by the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct adopted as rule 42 of these rules.

(b) To support the constitution and the laws of the United States and of this state.

TEXT (c)

(c) To maintain the respect due to courts of justice and judicial officers.

(d) To counsel or maintain no other action, proceeding or defense than those which appear to him legal and just, excepting the defense of a person charged with a public offense.

(e) To employ for the purpose of maintaining causes confided to him such means only as are consistent with truth, and never seek to mislead the judges by any artifice or false statement of fact or law.

(f) To maintain inviolate the confidences and preserve the secrets of a client.

(g) To abstain from all offensive personality and to advance no fact prejudicial to the honor or reputation of a party or a witness unless required by the justice of the cause with which he is charged.

(h) Not to encourage either the commencement or continuation of an action or proceeding from any corrupt motive of passion or interest, and never to reject for any consideration personal to himself the cause of the defenseless or oppressed.

She is in further violation of Federal Statute U.S. Code, Title 8, Section 1325, which states in relevant part:

A person (including a group of persons, business, organization or local government) commits a federal felony when he:

* assists an alien whom he should reasonably know is illegally in the U.S. or who lacks employment authorization, by transporting, sheltering, or assisting him to obtain employment,
* encourages that alien to remain in the U.S., by referring him to an employer, by acting as employer or agent for an employer in any way, or
* knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions.

Penalties upon conviction include criminal fines, imprisonment, and forfeiture of vehicles and real property used to commit the crime.

Further: (this part would authorize the the civilian arrest that is authorized by the State of Arizona)

State and local law enforcement officials have the general power to investigate and arrest violators of federal immigration statutes without prior INS knowledge or approval, as long as they are authorized to do so by state law. There is “no extant federal limitation” on this authority. The 1996 immigration control legislation passed by Congress was intended to encourage states and local agencies to participate in the process of enforcing federal immigration laws.

This is not the first time Garcia has blatantly violated the law, apparently with your approval. As a member of the law enforcement community herself, she positions herself both as a US citizen (which of course she is) but also as someone who wishes to overthrow the legal boundaries of the United States with her ongoing and increasingly violent promotion of Aztlan.

Her activities ARE becoming increasingly violent; this is a significant warning sign, a "red flag" of an unstable mental acuity, a "red flag" used by prison psychologists to evaluate the stability, to project the escalation of violent offenders and a benchmark used to profile violent offenders (such as sex offenders and serial killers). Due to this public exhibition of her increasing instability, she needs to be removed from office. By her very actions of delighting in the beating and beheading of an effigy figure, she shows a distinct lack of professional judgment. Her sanity is questionable at this stage.

By allowing her to continue her post as a Deputy Pima County Defender, you are allowing her to violate state and federal laws. You are allowing her to violate the oaths she took in her chosen profession to uphold the laws. You are allowing her to escalate her personal agenda at the expense of taxpayers. You are allowing her to continue to flaunt her conflict of interest as an attorney of the United States while promoting the overthrow of the United States.

You state these activities take place during her personal time. I'm sorry, but the county works a standard 8-5, Monday through Friday schedule. She is often participating in riots and protests during those times. Whether or not she has this time as sick or vacation time, she is still paid for her time to incite riots, promote violence, promote illegal activity, etc. on county time at taxpayer expense.

This MUST end and it must end now. The legal citizens of this county are fed up with Isabel Garcia's nonsense and we are fed up with you shielding her. Get rid of her. This story is already going viral, and it will soon be nationwide news. Your political career is in the sling with hers and, as previously stated, the LEGAL, TAXPAYING citizens are fed up. We will not hesitate to vote you out of office and have her fired by your successor if you do not do it yourself. And, I am filing a formal complaint with the State Bar of Arizona, including a copy of this letter, regarding Garcia and her activities. What Garcia did amounted to committing a hate crime. Just because she is Mexican and Arpaio is White is no excuse--hate crime is hate crime. I demand she be prosecuted appropriately, under the federal hate crime laws.

Do the right thing by your employers–Pima County Taxpayers–and remove this person from the payroll. Immediately, if not sooner.

Sincerely,
Kateri E. Jordan, PLS, PNPA

PS...Did I happen to mention I'm part of a coalition of bloggers? We plan to get this out and HELP it go "viral". We ARE fed up.

The quicker we get people like Garcia out of office, and those who cover for them, such as Huckelberry, the quicker we can see some progress on the illegal issue.

Had a white person done what Garcia did, the news would have been splashed across the headlines for days as a hate crime. As it is, it's being buried. Isabel Garcia committed a hate crime. Her sanity is questionable. Her judgment is questionable.

Remove her from office. Arrest her. Prosecute her. Now.

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ACLU to Sue over FISA Bill

Jay at Stop the ACLU! wants this spread far and wide and I'm happy to oblige! The link to his article is here.

The meltdown continues!

Today, in a blatant assault upon civil liberties and the right to privacy, the Senate passed an unconstitutional domestic spying bill that violates the Fourth Amendment and eliminates any meaningful role for judicial oversight of government surveillance. The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 was approved by a vote of 69 to 28 and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush shortly. This bill essentially legalizes the president's unlawful warrantless wiretapping program revealed in December 2005 by the New York Times.

I'm glad they included the reminder of the New York Times act of treason, revealing specifics on a secret program and informing our enemies of the tools we use against them. Of course the ACLU think this was a courageous act of "whistle blowing" and in their twisted world, an act of patriotism. In the real world it was an a cowardly act of treason.

Once again, Congress blinked and succumbed to the president's fear-mongering. With today's vote, the government has been given a green light to expand its power to spy on Americans and run roughshod over the Constitution," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "This legislation will give the government unfettered and unchecked access to innocent Americans' international communications without a warrant. This is not only unconstitutional, but absolutely un-American."

Of course the ACLU have made up all these accusations out of thin air, and can't win any lawsuit they have launched against this program. They can't provide any evidence to prove their claims and have been smacked down numerous times because they have absolutely no standing. Of course they have repeated their own lies so many times they believe them to be true now. That is what happens to the paranoid. The program is not designed to spy on innocent Americans, and the government would have no interest in those conversations anyway. The program is designed to listen to international phone calls that flagged to known terrorists and their financers. The program is designed to protect innocent Americans.

The bill further trivializes court review by authorizing the government to continue a surveillance program even after the government's general spying procedures are found insufficient or unconstitutional by the FISC. The government has the authority to wiretap through the entire appeals process, and then keep and use whatever information was gathered in the meantime. A provision touted as a major "concession" by proponents of the bill calls for investigations by the inspectors general of four agencies overseeing spying activities. But members of Congress who do not sit on the Judiciary or Intelligence committees will not be guaranteed access to the agencies' reports.

Any information obtained on terrorists should be used, and when compromising…one must make concessions.

The bill essentially grants absolute retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies that facilitated the president's warrantless wiretapping program over the last seven years by ensuring the dismissal of court cases pending against those companies. The test for the companies' right to immunity is not whether the government certifications they acted on were actually legal – only whether they were issued. Because it is public knowledge that certifications were issued, all of the pending cases will be summarily dismissed. This means Americans may never learn the truth about what the companies and the government did with our private communications.

Blah, blah, blah. These telecom companies cooperated with the government and provided protection and prevention of terrorist attacks on many innocent Americans. What they did was their patriotic duty, and they should be seen as heroes, not criminals. Of course the ACLU are disappointed they can't sue these rich companies to line their own pockets.

Still…the ACLU remain steadfast:

In advance of the president's signature, the ACLU announced its plan to challenge the new law in court.

"This fight is not over. We intend to challenge this bill as soon as President Bush signs it into law," said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project. "The bill allows the warrantless and dragnet surveillance of Americans' international telephone and email communications. It plainly violates the Fourth Amendment."

Can't wait to watch you guys get shot down again. Anyone know how we can sue the ACLU for continually thwarting the government's efforts to protect us?

Go visit Jay for more up to the minute information.

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Stop the ACLU! "Weekly" Roundup 06/03-07/06/2008

Life just keeps getting in the way and yet Jay, with a brand new child (CONGRATULATIONS Jay!) keeps sending out incredible news. Go visit him at Stop the ACLU! for more of his great work!

Articles:
ADF Sues NY Governor: "No Authority" to Redefine Marriage.

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit Tuesday in New York state court on behalf of lawmakers and taxpayers to halt implementation of Gov. David Paterson's directive ordering state agencies to recognize same-sex "marriages" from other jurisdictions.

"The governor should respect New York's marriage laws over the laws of foreign jurisdictions. The governor has no authority to issue directives which conflict with New York's public policy. His actions are an assault on the democratic process," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Brian Raum.

A List of Things About Obama that are NOT Rumor.
Obama's whitey rant and the conspiracy Obama's a Muslim set to undermine our democracy are rumor, but there are plenty of facts the media have slacked on covering that are very disturbing. Please help me complete the list.

Supreme Court Creates Killing.
In a 5 to 4 decision, the idiots on the Supreme Court have decided that terrorists are covered by our Constitution, no matter where they are captured and held.

This is as wrong headed a decision as can be imagined and two of the Justices, Scalia and Roberts, were scathing in their dissent.

But, here is the real result of this ruling. No, it doesn't "help" the murderers and terrorists get habeas corpus, or find rights, it will kill them on the battlefield. What battlefield commander will waste his time trying to figure out what rights the terrorist he is facing has or doesn't have?

The proper and reasonable decision to make on the battlefield will be to automatically kill EVERY captured person as soon as you do a quick interrogation. After all, anything else will simply just get the commanders on the line in trouble with the "law."

And, I cannot say I'd blame any American soldier on the battlefield. Just kill every one of those captured without regard for their status. Their innocence? Immaterial. Kill them anyway.

ACLU and Allies Attempt to Shut Down Public Prayer in Ohio and Wisconsin.
The number one religious censor in America is at it again.

Louisiana Governor Jindal Vows to Amend State Law to Maintain Death as a Penalty for Child Rape.
I'm sure everyone heard about the horrible Supreme Court decision in which we think someone needs impeached, if not a few. It is good to know however, that there is at least one politician out there that won't take this lying down.

ACLU Attempt to Stamp Out Prayer at Naval Academy
Once again the seperation claus nazis are trying to stamp out Christian free speech.

Why Aren't We Impeaching Some Supreme Court Justices?
My take on the attrocious legislation from the bench in the Boumediene v. Bush decision by the Supreme Court. The courts will be flooded with habeas corpus petitions soon enough, and the ACLU will be lining their pockets with bloody money to defend the terrorists who want to kill us. Oh, and guess who pays the ACLU to defend these detainees? You do! The American taxpayer!

Hey Supreme Court, Since You Think Death Isn't Proportional Punishment for Rape, How About Castration?
I think a lot of folks will like Bobby Jindal's response to the idiotic ruling of the Supreme Court. Since they don't think death is proportional punishment, I wonder how they'll feel about castration?

They get a choice: physical or chemical. Oh, and they don't just get castrated and leave - they still have to serve out their sentence.

SB 144 by Senators Nick Gautreaux, Amedee, Dorsey, Duplessis and Mount provides that on a first conviction of aggravated rape, forcible rape, second degree sexual battery, aggravated incest, molestation of a juvenile when the victim is under the age of 13, or an aggravated crime against nature, the court may sentence the offender to undergo chemical castration. On a second conviction of the above listed crimes, the court is required to sentence the offender to undergo chemical castration.

Gov. Jindal made it absolutely clear that signing this bill today was about more than just sending a no-tolerance message across his state: "I want to send the message loud and clear – to the Supreme Court of the United States and beyond – make no mistake about it, if anyone wants to molest children and commit sexual assaults on kids they should not do so here in Louisiana. Here, we will do everything in our power to protect our children and we will not rest until justice is won and we have fully punished those who harm them."

Activist Federal Judges Force Taxpayers to Subsidize Idaho ACLU.
The state of Idaho owes lawyers from the pro-abortion ACLU law firm $66,000 after failing to uphold a law requiring parental consent for abortions. In losing the lawsuit, the state was forced to pay for attorney fees for the pro-abortion firm, which represented the Planned Parenthood abortion business.

In total, the state of Idaho will have paid ACLU lawyers over $400,000 by the time all of the payments are complete.

During the lawsuit, federal District Court Judge Lynn Winmill enjoined the state from enforcing the parental consent law because of his concerns over the notification of parents in the event an abortion practitioner performed an emergency abortion on their child.

The effort to get a consent law on the books goes back to the 1998 session of the Idaho Legislature.

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter signed the third and final version of the parental consent measure into law in March 2007.

What Will They Do After Bush?
What will they do without Bush?

WaPo After Free Republic Again, Now Over Barack-is-a-Muslim Email
Washintong Post is attacking freerepublic.com and blaming them for starting the chain email stating that Obama is a Muslim. What are they basing these accusations on? Nothing but assumptions.

Google Shuts Down Anti-Obama Sites on its Blogger Platform.
Yes, it sure seems that Google has begun to go through its many thousands of blogs to lock out the owners of anti-Obama blogs so that the noObama message is effectively squelched. Thus far, Google has terminated the access by blog owners to 7 such sites and the list may be growing. Boy, it must be nice for Barack Obama to have an ally powerful enough to silence his opponents like that! It isn't just conservative sites that Google's Blogger platform is eliminating.

ACLU and EFF Sue Justice Department to Uncover Records of Cell Phone Tracking
A lot of paranoia going on about this one, but some folks are keeping level heads. Nothing is being searched. Their is no seizure of anything private. People can be followed without a warrant. So why would a warrant be needed to know someone's location? Take a look, weigh in with your opinion, and share with others.

Judge Throws Out Wiretap Suit from Suspected Al Qaida Charity
The case against the NSA from a suspsected Al Qaeda charity has been dismissed. Civil liberty groups had high hopes for this case because it was the only case they had that had anything resembling evidence.

Obama Makes Huge Flip-Flop on Iraq

"I've always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability. That assessment has not changed," he said. "And when I go to Iraq and have a chance to talk to some of the commanders on the ground, I'm sure I'll have more information and will continue to refine my policies."…

Rumor: McCain Chooses Romney for VP
Just spreading this rumor. Don't know what to make of it.

Videos:
YouTube Allows a Video That Shows a Marine Being Shot in Iraq. UPDATE: Video Removed
Please help by flagging the video. Its absolutely horrible, and telling that youtube hasn't pulled this video!

Hannity on the Obama-Khalidi Connection.
Yet another radical connection the media ignores. Why is Hannity the only media I've heard report on this?

Chris Matthews Uses Death of Russert to Display Elitism.
Chris Matthews shows us how he is from the bottom of the barrel once again. Check this out.

Mass Democrat to Child Rape Victims: "I Will Destroy You!"
Outrage for the night! This may cause your head to explode! It did mine!

Shocker! Obama Also Disagrees With Idiotic Supreme Court Decision.
Oh, and an update on the terrible Supreme Court decision. Even Obama disagrees!

House Dems Call to "Nationalize" Oil Industry.
Outright blatant communism! The true colors of theft shine throught the socialist party!

Who is Pastor Mannings, and What Does He Have on Obama?
This has peaked my curiosity. Does anyone have more info on this?

30Years of Useless Politicians on Oil
30 years of empty promises from weasle politicians on oil independence, and still nothing has been done. Don't fall for their false promises on either party. Check out this awesome video that displays this.

More on Obama and His Terrorist Friends the Ayers
Please spread and share this video on Obama and Ayers!

Obama Gives Vets and Military Families the Middle Finger, Stands With Code Pink

Democratic presidential presumptive Sen. Barack Obama (IL) met with his terrorist supporting fundraiser, Jodie Evans, at a $5 million Hollywood fundraiser held last week at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion on Tuesday, June 24.

In what can only be described as a big middle finger to the veterans and military families who have urged Obama to renounce Evans, Obama met with Evans and was photographed with her at the fundraiser.

Evans is co-founder of the leftist anti-American group Code Pink. She and Code Pink have endorsed the terrorists in Iraq and have sent over $600,000 in cash and humanitarian aid to "the other side" in Fallujah.

Happy Independence Day Open Thread!
Happy Independence Day Everyone! I've put up an open post if anyone is interested in using it to promote their own posts on Independence Day, or whatever topic you write about today.

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Eerily Familiar

I was listening to a speech tonight; the text is below:

Are you tired of the Democratic party?
Are you tired of the Republican party?
Are you tired of a Congress that does nothing?
Are you tired of having twice as many lobbyists as they’ve ever had before?

Then I...I have an idea.
Don’t vote for the congressman or senators.
You don’t have to vote.
Know how we’re gonna pick ‘em?
The same way we pick a jury.
And you’ll get a more interesting cross section than the folks you got right now.
I guarantee it.

Do you want a better healthcare system?
You have an HMO that says, “We’ll give you Viagra, but we won’t pay for glasses.” So you can have a hard-on, but you can’t see where to put it. We’re gonna change it, aren’t we?

And we’re not just talking liberal or conservative-big-time change.

You know recently, a lot of the past administrations said it’s unpatriotic to question the government. If it was unpatriotic to question the government, we’d still be English! The Boston Tea Party...the Boston Tea Party wasn’t people going, “Oh hello.” It was a lot of guys in Boston going, “Here’s your tea, right here”.

I’m tired of the Democratic party
I’m tired of the Republican party

Here’s what we’re talking about Freedom of Speech and it also comes down to the idea of freedom of religion, the idea of practicing any religion you want, anytime, anywhere. You could be anything. You could be Bewish - Jewish and Buddhist. You sit and you wait for things to go on sale. That’s okay. But that’s what we’re talking about. But occasionally religion crosses over-you have people saying intelligent design, “You must teach intelligent design”. Look at the human body. Is that intelligent? I find it more interesting you have a waste processing plant next to a recreation area.

They always attack environmentalists saying, “You’re a tree hugger”. I go, “No, I’ve done more than hug a tree.” If you find the right naughty pine, you’re gonna have a good night. Oh yeah. “Who’s your woodsman, who’s your woodsman?” I’m not just a tree hugger, I’m an air breather. I’m sorry. It’s bad enough with the squirrels going...”Please help me. I can’t breathe today.” If you put enough chemicals in the water, you’ll be fishing, going, “You know Bob, I love catching them two-headed bass. They’re good eatin’ once you get past the tumors. There’s some good eatin’ out there.”

I’m tired of the Democratic party
Now I’m tired of the Republican party

Now that’s why we’re here–‘cause you want change! Yeah! You wanna shake it up! You have to be eyes wide open, ready to move on! Arm in arm, hand in hand, everybody together, moving forward, because the future is now!

This speech is eerily familiar to what we're hearing on the campaign trail, and indeed this speech was part of a recent campaign--from 2006, in fact. It was given by one Tom Dobbs.

Tom Dobbs, though, doesn't exist except as a character in a Barry Levinson film titled "Man of the Year", starring Robin Williams as the aforementioned Tom Dobbs.


We already know BHO plagiarizes speeches from friends and acquaintenances. We know he doesn't have an original thought in his head. We know he's a relatively eloquent speaker--unless he has no teleprompter. And his eloquence is nothing but a cover for fluff, smoke and mirrors and a complete lack of a platform, full of platitudes but short on solutions.

BHO is the perfect empty suited emperor, mimicking a movie character who, while charismatic and eloquent, was also full of smoke and mirrors while short on actual solutions. Both BHO and Dobbs can whip a crowd into a frenzy like rock stars, yet once the lights are turned off, the crowds have gone home and there's nothing left but the trash on the floor, what have either done to elicit thought? Engage the brain? Have you ruminating about what was said while brushing your teeth?

Sadly, when one tries to think about what was said during a BHO speech (or a Dobbs speech), one must rack their brain to remember anything other than a bunch of noise.

There are no solutions in the speeches. There is no substance. A lot of hype. A lot of feel good rhetoric. Lots of lights, smoke, mirrors, balloons, confetti...but not much else.

At the end of the movie, though, Dobbs is one thing BHO most decidedly ISN'T--honest. After realizing he didn't win the election after all, due to a computer glitch, he rescinds his office (despite advice to the contrary, given by his trusted advisors--who repeatedly tell him no one will know he's not the REAL president unless he blows it and reveals the truth). BHO and Dobbs do seem to have the same advisors.

Go read the Dobbs campaign trail speech again. See how much of BHO's plagiarism you can find. And remember--Dobbs, while fictional, had shady advisors--yet he overcame their bad advice and redeemed himself. BHO will never do so. He revels in being, at the least, a plagiarist--and at the most, a typical, crooked politician.

So much for change and hope.

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The Time Has Come

[UPDATED!]

I issued a challenge a little over a month ago for people to design a logo for Miss Beth. Tonight is the deadline. Below, I've uploaded the best and I need my readers to choose which they would like to see. Leave your choice in the comments section.

There is a new entry which came in after I hit publish but before the cutoff time! It follows as Number 8!

Number 1:********************

Number 2: ********************

Number 3:

********************

Number 4:

********************

Number 5:

********************

Number 6:

********************

Number 7:

********************

Number 8:

I thank everyone who participated in designing these logos. They're all great and it's been a LOT of fun! I wish I had even HALF the creative talent of my contributors to this contest!

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A Real Army Wife Speaks!

Cross Posted by request from Assoluta Tranquillita and Newsblaze.

Brat of Newsblaze, Tanker Brothers and Assoluta Tranquillita fame has asked we post this article far and wide. I am most humbly honored to comply.

A real army wife's response to Obama
Army wives. For a huge part of the American population, "Army Wives" is the name of a prime time show on television. Unless you are connected to the military, as a viewer you will have no idea how accurate the portrayal of Army life really is.

However, REAL army wives - oh, you know those who LIVE the military life, day in, day out - are very aware of the inaccuracies, of the absurdities of what is portrayed. And yes, most army wives are very politically aware.

Brenda Freeman is one such army wife, and she is one pissed off wife. Freeman, who has been an army wife for 35 years as her husband has fought for the US, has a dose of her own reality she is dishing out. Freeman sent me the following:

I watch a bit of television. Most all of it is History Channel, Science Channel, Discovery Channel, and so forth. Brain Food I call it. I do not like reality TV of ANY kind, or soap operas. Last time I checked, an Opera was comprised of musical talent and a stage, neither of which Soaps contain.

However, I do keep track of nonsensical programs that try to mimic military life or military drama. I mostly do this to pick it apart, and either blog it to death, and write nasty grams, or send posts on their web sites through the roof pointing out all of their flaws and oversights and errors. Hey, I get my kicks occasionally. (shrug)

So... the latest on my list is Army Wives. It is on Lifetime Channel. Yea yea yea so what. The point is, I watched it all season last year, and it was "ok" with a few things wrong here and there, I overlooked them.

This year is off to an odd start, and I have sent only ONE email complaining that an American Soldier would NOT blow himself up in defiance of a problem - regardless of PTSD, he would shoot a M**F**ker first, "one and done" type deal. HADJI's and terrorists are the chicken Shiites that blow themselves up! Get the SCRIPT RIGHT dumb asses! I hate writers sometimes -
But last night I was pissed. No, pissed doesn't begin to describe my mood. It was beyond pissed. I can't even find a word for it still.

BETRAYED fits.

In the middle of the program there are commercials. One 30 second spot commercial was BHO, saying "Never forget the sacrifices the military spouses make. Then he went on to say that HE KNOWS its hard waiting for your loved one to come home on R&R, and the agony of never really knowing if they are ok or not, and so forth. It is tough being a military spouse. He knows. For more on military spouses, visit Lifetime TV.

WELL! What the hell!! First of all, it hasn't been called R&R since WWll. It is called LEAVE.

Second of all, what point of reference does he have for "knowing" anything about the trials and tribulations of a military spouse? NADA! ZILCH! NONE!

Third, what does he know about the military? (See previous comments.)

Fourth, excuse me, but aren't you the same Jr Senator who votes NO on military spending time and time again? Why yes... yes you are! So I repeat myself - WHAT THE HELL!

Fifth, isn't it interesting that most of the time, commercial ads have a little logo in the lower right sidebar that say who the ad was paid for by, and lo and behold, from the verbiage, and the LOGO, Lifetime took this cookie! Yes, I looked and pay attention!

So, I gathered the typical information such as who writes for the show, who directs the show, who financially supports the show, and so forth, and sent them all a nasty gram.

I AM OFFENDED. TOTALLY and COMPLETELY OFFENDED.

I also added a post to their blog. I sent emails, and so far today, over 6104 people have done the same from blog spot, my space, and several other places like yahoo, and MSN groups.

PATRIOTS ARE NOT HAPPY that we can not simply sit and watch a program without ***** (sorry! I did edit this somewhat... insert your own name for BHO. lol) being shoved in our faces. And to have him speak about knowing a damn thing about the military is blasphemy! That is actually similar to me saying I know a thing or two about flying to the moon because I saw it once on the NASA station and went to the Cape to see a shuttle launch. Yep, know all about it, sure do. NOT.

Ok, I am done ranting. For now. Sheesh.

Brenda.

My question has to be: Do you think if someone sent this to Obama, he would actually "get" ANYTHING that Freeman is saying? For him to get any sense of what Freeman says here, would demand a radical "change" in who he is. Not going to hold my breath "hoping" for him to get a clue.

Ros Prynn is a NewsBlaze investigative reporter and editor, who writes on a range of topics. Contact her by writing to NewsBlaze.

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EAGLES UP!

PRO-TROOP GROUP ASKS

FOR BLOGGERS' HELP!

This Thursday, June 26th is the huge "From the Front Lines" 8-hour telethon hosted by the nation's largest pro-troop organization Move America Forward - http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org

Our goal: to send the largest single shipment of care packages in U.S. history. We're hoping to collect sponsorships in excess of $500,000 for care packages by the end of the day Thursday.

* Today Rush Limbaugh promoted the effort on his nationally syndicated show:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_062408/content/01125111.guest.html

* Also, The San Francisco Chronicle wrote about it:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=27546

* And the Sacramento Union has two stories about the broader effort:

Here: http://www.sacunion.com/pages/california/articles/9981/

And Here: http://www.sacunion.com/pages/sacramento/articles/9974/

Now we're looking for help from the blogosphere. We are asking for your help to get the blogosphere to explode with mentions of this effort - so that any American patriot who loves our military and is surfing the Net the next two days is sure to know about this effort. If nothing else, please ask your readers on June 26th to tune in to "From the Front Lines" via http://www.HotAir.com or http://www.ustream.tv/channel/from-the-frontlines

Supporters of our troops can sponsor care packages at: http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org

P.S. If you want some more inspiration, check out what Super Blogger Spree did.

First she blogged on Wake Up America:

http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2008/06/protests-and-counter-protests-in.html

And then had this piece published at DigitalJournal.com

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/256477

Now please be sure to do your part to help! :-)

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George Carlin-Dead at 71

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.

His comedy would have me rolling, holding my sides and laughing until tears were streaming down my face. I didn't care for his politics, but the ability to make people laugh is rare and will be very much missed.

George Carlin, dead at 71.

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Keep Your Head Down and Your Helmet On!

Cross posted with permission from Assoluta Tranquilata and Newsblaze

My friend Brat wrote this article and it's one that needs to be spread far and wide. Please read the article, and do what you can to help.

"Keep your head down and your helmet on!"

Many of us in the troop support arena often tell our own troops that saying. Head down and helmet on seems to make perfect sense both for our heroes, and for those of us who love them.

Now there is news that keeping your helmet on may be causing more than a BIG headache. Dr. Robert Meaders is a retired Captain in the US Navy, Medical Corps. Retired he may be, but Dr. Meaders is far from enjoying a relaxing retirement; he is a man with a mission. Operation Helmet is Dr. Meader's ongoing effort to support our troops. The ongoing mandate of Operation Helmet is to replace the government issued (GI) helmet liners that our troops wear. The current helmet liners supplied to our troops are the product of Team Wendy. If you go to Operation Helmet's site, you will see letter after letter from troops stating the problems every helmet liner causes.

Let's be clear here. Dr. Meaders is NOT badmouthing Team Wendy, or lambasting the government or military. On the site, Dr. Meaders acknowledges that the helmets themselves are tested to rigorous standards, but that the liners themselves do not appear to meet certain obvious criteria. The wearers of the GI issued helmet liners tell of the headaches they get from these liners, to the point they can only be worn for about 30 minutes with no adverse effects.

This past week Dr. Meaders had this on his site:

12 June 08: Important notice

This past week, I got wind of the possibility that Government Issue (GI) pads might be extremely flammable. Being a suspicious old doctor, I tested for myself one each of the GI pads and the Oregon Aero pads we have been providing for the past four+ years. I lit a kitchen match, holding it just under each pad so the flame made contact. The GI pads manufactured by Team Wendy and the other approved pads except those of Oregon Aero burst into a flaming inferno producing a stream of burning plastic dripping from the pad. The Oregon Aero pad flamed momentarily then self-extinguished.

The only way I could put the Team Wendy-manufactured GI pad out was to dash outside and turn the hose on it and even then it kept flaming up until completely soaked. Hard to do in the desert. [www.operation-helmet.org]

Dr. Meaders set out to do something about this need of our troops. His goal is to replace every military issue helmet liner with another liner that negates all previous problems documented with the Team Wendy liner. Already he has sent out over 39,000 replacement helmet liners manufactured by Oregon Aero. Operation Helmet has testimonials of gratitude from our fighting troops who have received the replacement liners.

Obviously, this is an urgent need. In a war zone, where Traumatic brain Injuries (TBI) are an ongoing danger, it is imperative that a) troops keep their helmets ON, and b) that these helmets are inflammable. A helmet too uncomfortable to wear for long periods when out on a mission, is a disaster waiting to happen for our warriors. When an IED explodes our heroes need to be WEARING their helmets, and those helmets must be inflammable.

Dr. Meaders' organisation is a registered non profit group, and they are always in desperate need of funds. They send these helmet liners to our troops FREE of charge. As with most efforts of supporting our troops, as word is spreading among our troops, so the requests keep rolling in to Operation Helmet in ever-increasing numbers.

If you can't manage a monetary donation, Dr. Meaders could use your help lobbying your local and national politicians to effect legislative change, so our military gets equipment that works for them. Check Operation Helmet's site here: www.operation-helmet.org

Right now is the perfect time to make sure that our troops CAN "keep your helmet ON!" Let's get 'er done.

Ros Prynn is a NewsBlaze investigative reporter and editor, who writes on a range of topics. Contact her by writing to NewsBlaze.

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