Hundreds rally to back hard-line Arizona sheriff

By Tim Gaynor | Reuters – Sat, 28 Apr, 2012

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Supporters of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio hold a rally at a park in Fountain …


FOUNTAIN HILLS, Arizona (Reuters) - As many as 200 activists, some chanting "go Joe, go Joe," rallied in Arizona on Saturday to support Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is facing a federal racial-profiling probe for his police sweeps against illegal immigrants.

"Sheriff Joe is one of the very few guys who will enforce the immigration laws across this nation," said Randy Hatch, who used a megaphone to rally supporters of Arpaio at a park in this northeast Phoenix valley city.

"Every constitution and country that has ever existed has had to have sovereign borders," he said to cheers from the crowd, some clutching placards reading "Sheriff Joe keeps us safe" and "illegal is illegal."

Arpaio, who styles himself "America's toughest sheriff," is a resident of Fountain Hills.

Earlier this month the Obama administration said it was preparing to sue Arpaio and his department "for violating civil rights laws by improperly targeting Latinos."

The sheriff has denied any wrongdoing and lashed out at the federal government for targeting his department while failing to confront the more than 11 million illegal immigrants who live and work throughout the nation.

Arpaio supporter Buffalo Rick Galeener slammed the probe, which began under former President George W. Bush in 2008, as "politically motivated."

"For me it's just a big waste of money and all political," Galeener, who had a .38 revolver in a holster on his hip, said at the rally.

"It's been going on for three and a half years ... they've been digging and digging and digging, and they still can't find anything to charge him with," he added.

The rally came amid heightened tension over immigration in Arizona after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week over a partially blocked state law that targeted illegal immigrants.

Signed by Republican Governor Jan Brewer in 2010, the law requires police to check the immigration status of people they stop and suspect of being in the country illegally. It was among measures blocked by a federal judge before it took effect.

Arpaio has also been under fire for his treatment of prisoners in his jails. Last month, a federal appeals court noted that a requirement that inmates wear pink underwear may be unconstitutional when applied to those not convicted of a crime.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals took up the policy in reinstating a lawsuit against Arpaio and Maricopa County by the estate of a mentally ill man who died of heart problems in 2001, weeks after being forcibly dressed in the underwear. Supporters, though, said Arpaio's tough treatment of detainees worked.

"He doesn't want you to return so it's not going to be a pleasant experience " said Mark Renner, 50, who said he had served time in the Maricopa County jail system.

Hundreds rally to back hard-line Arizona sheriff - Yahoo! News Canada

I am glad they are out there supporting Sheriff Arpaio.

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"For me it's just a big waste of money and all political," Galeener, who had a .38 revolver in a holster on his hip, said at the rally.

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This part of the article caught my attention. I think that this was an unnecessary part of the article and only inserted by the "author" as a subtle implication that people that support the sheriff are from the gun toting "fringe". It seems that if the MSM reports on an anti illegal groups protest there is always a dig at the protestors but when they report on illegal aliens protesting, they are so sympathetic. The media was exposed for the liberal Journolist scam it makes me wonder if they are still just marching to the orders from the like of Media Matters.

The fouth Estate is Busy and it seems biased. Interesting article here:

Fourth Estate or Fourth Branch of Government?
excerpted from the book
Unreliable Sources
a guide to detecting bias in news media
by Martin A. Lee & Norman Solomon
A Lyle Stuart Book, Carol Publishing Group, 1990

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Does the press function as an independent Fourth Estate or as a fourth branch of government? Are media adversaries of the State or its accomplice?

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And:

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THE MIGHTY PR ARSENAL

When we turn on the TV, we don't expect to see a government spokesperson reading officially-sanctioned news reports. Most U.S. citizens who hear about a state-controlled press think of something that exists in faraway places, not in their own country. Some of our political leaders, however, have a less sanguine view of American journalism. "Reporters are puppets," said Lyndon Johnson. "They simply respond to the pull of the most powerful strings."

While claiming to be independent, U.S. journalists rely heavily on official sources who don't necessarily deserve the credence they are given. "For all its bluster and professed skepticism, the press is far too willing to take the government at its word," said Newsday editor Anthony Marro. Consequently, mass media are often little more than vehicles through which those in power pontificate to the American public. New York Times columnist Tom Wicker has described the dependence on official sources as "the gravest professional and intellectual weakness of American journalism." Bill Moyers, who has worked in the White House as well as in print and broadcast media, emphasized a similar point: "Most of the news on television is, unfortunately, what( ever the government says is news."

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Read the article at:
Fourth Estate or Fourth Branch of Government? excerpted from the book Unreliable Sources a guide to detecting bias in news media by Martin A. Lee & Norman Solomon