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Let's see. His treatment of prisoners has been ruled unconstitutional on multiple occasions. He has raided an office of his own county without a warrant of any kind in order to seize emails that are to be used against him in court. His destruction of records has netted him a contempt sanction, and the FBI is investigating him for civil rights violations, intimidation of witnesses, etc.

These aren't idle accusations. They're at least serious enough to get the justice department involved. Even judges aren't immune from this mans corruption.

And this is differnt to being beaten to death how?

This is exactly my point.

If a cop wants to kill someone in custody (or anywhere else) remember the only thing stopping him or her is the fact they will be punished for it. Thus the problem is procedural, if you treat the discharge of a taser the same as the discharge of any firearm then they become significantly less lethal.

Except, out here in the real world, it's a LOT harder to blame a gaping bullet hole on "excited delerium" and essentially shift the blame for the death to your victim for not being strong enough to survive electroshock torture.

I'm waiting for the statistic that shows more people have died in custody due to tasers. I doubt this statistic exists, this is a knee-jerk reaction to isolated incidents.

Nah. Taser just sues everyone who even intimates that their devices have had a hand in the victim's death in any way shape or form.

Everything you describe can be fixed by treating each taser discharge the same as a firearm discharge (they already do this in Australia).

Sorry, but no it can't.

Personally I'd rather be shot with a taser (given the pain and danger) then a 9mm pistol (something tells me that would have even more pain and danger then the taser, given gunshot wounds never heal completely).

Personally, I'd rather the police restrain non-compliant people in ways that don't inflict agony on someone and don't run the risk of killing them.

Also, have you ever seen the results of incorrectly applied electroshock treatments? Sure, lots of people are, more or less, okay afterward. The lucky ones. Ever see electroshock-induced nerve damage? I have. Not pretty. Not fun. And in a lot of cases, a LOT more inconvenient than a bullet wound over the course of your life.

Stop using knee-jerk reaction and start thinking of the taser as an alternative to the pistol, this has worked quite well in some sane nations.

Sorry, but I'm in zero mood to trade one lethal weapon for another that inflicts torture on someone.

I've seen what tasers can do, even to ostensibly "healthy" people. I've even subjected myself to one so I know what the fuck I'm talking about.

Never...

EVER...

Again.

Your car analogy is kind of flawed. You can easily get out of automated speeding tickets in many places by placing the burden of proof on the state.

Example: this guy in Arizona got 37 tickets but because he was wearing a mask in the photos probably will never pay them.

There is that annoying innocent until proven guilty bit getting in the way.

I live in Phoenix, and the tap water here isn't "nigh undrinkable", it's complete poison.

However, there's lots of vending machines all over, especially in front of supermarkets, which dispense reverse-osmosis filtered water for $1.00-$1.25 per 5 gallons. I have several 5-gallon bottles, and fill them regularly from these machines. It tastes great, and is much healthier than drinking tap water which has been known to contain various toxic chemicals. I also use it for cooking.

Newsflash: torture doesn't prevent and hasn't prevented any terrorist attacks since 9/11.

Prove the above with references from reputable, neutral sources.

Oh yeah. prove a negative. Prove that it has. But let's remember this, Israel -- which doesn't care what anyone thinks -- doesn't torture people.

Find an example of the mythic "ticking time bomb" scenario. They don't exist.

Tell me why, in a ticking time bomb scenario why you wouldn't just feed misinformation to stop the torture (since there is no evidence for its effectiveness. Case in point, every forced confessions ever. Oh how we forget all the Vietnam POWs and their videos. Unless of course, you believe that John McCain really did mean that he was "a black criminal and [...] performed the deeds of an air pirate."

I remember when the fact that United States proudly defended human rights, rule of law, and fair and open trials was a symbol of our strength. It showed that we could not only defeat those that would enslave and terrorize, not only through our strength, but more importantly, through the power of our ideas. It wasn't torture and fear that allowed us to defeat fascism, to defeat communism. It was our ideas. But now, those that most loudly say they "love" America, are the ones saying that we are weak. They say we're cowardly. They say we are about to be destroyed. No. No one can destroy us, but ourselves.

You sir, not only have no understanding what makes this country great. What leads to our American Exceptionalism. What makes us the indispensable nation, that City upon a Hill. No. You, and those that think like you, would tear us down and make us no better than a a third world dictatorial regime.

So I say to you: Why do you hate America?

Moreover, terrorist attacks and public torture executions only weakens the image of Al Qeda and the other terrorist organization in the world, probably provoking MORE attacks.

I'm sure you're trying to make a point here, but it's lost on me.

Biofuels cause food shortages because a farmer in the Third World will make more of a profit growing and selling fuel crops than food crops. This leads to the price of food climbing for the locals and for aid agencies whose food supply costs spike.

Its not about thinking it could cause a shortage, its causing price spikes and shortages. For something really scary, look into whats happening with tequila prices and the long term viability of tequila as farmers stop planting agave.

http://vivirlatino.com/2007/05/30/ethanol-to-lead-to-tequila-shortage.php
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2008/08/17/20080817tequila0817.html

Oh? Then let us begin. To start with, I take issue with your extraneous attack on a local sheriff. It has no place in the discussion.

If we're talking about money spent on education, then it most certainly does as would any other thing the government spends a lot of money on. The US has only five percent of the world's population, but roughly 25% of the world's prisoner's. I think that raises some serious questions. Are we Americans *really* that much more dangerous and violent than the other people on this planet?

As for people who are in prison, they are there because they have committed crimes.

Not all crimes need to be punished with jail time. Locking people up makes you popular with some folks and will get you votes, but does it really make sense to lock up a non-violent drug offender rather than help him or her out with a treatment program that will allow them to get their life back on track and become a productive member of society again? I never said anything about letting violent wackos from drug gangs out early, but rather expressed dismay at the growing prison complex in Arizona.

...starting the debate with an ad hominem attack upon a civil servant who has been reelected to his position multiple times.

I'm not sure what your experience with the situation in Maricopa County is, but Sheriff Joe and County Attorney Andrew Thomas are polarizing figures. The people who like them, really like them. The people who don't, really don't. Maricopa County has more pending death penalty cases than Harris County, Texas which has sent more people to the execution chamber than any other county in America. Setting all ethical issues aside, these kinds of tactics cost lots and lots of money and haven't proven themselves to be any more effective in terms of stopping recidivism. There comes a time when you have to wonder why the people in charge are asking for so much power and using so much force.

According to Wikipedia, an ad hominem attack "is an argument which links the validity of a premise to an irrelevant characteristic or belief of the person advocating the premise." My calling Arpaio a wack job was based upon the methods he employs, including dying the prison underwear pink, driving an armored vehicle around poor neighborhoods to intimidate people, and buying a .50-cal machine gun shortly after 9/11 with the claim that he would use it to shoot down aircraft that looked suspicious. Those are all wacky and those are all fair game. People need to wake up and realize that such things are nothing more than hollow publicity stunts being paid for by the taxpayer.

This is a better source: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/11/30/20091130searchforaliens1202.html

Be sure to read the comments on that article (and other similar articles) as well. It is obvious that this is all political. They guy's "crime" was neither that he ran SETI, nor that he took computers home for repair. It's that he occupied a position that Birdwell wanted to fill with one of her family members.

The other article linked here really should be in the story: Higley firing tied to alien-search software. This one makes it pretty clear that the guy was fired because he's a bad employee and a lousy manager, not because he wants to find aliens.

Quite frankly, it's a little annoying that the OP's story only mentions "ET". That's irresponsible reporting, and it's why newspapers are folding all over the country; when your reporters can't even write a proper, coherent, unbiased story, people go elsewhere for their news.

I thought the exact same thing. One sentence could have explained what exactly the software does.

The other article linked here really should be in the story: Higley firing tied to alien-search software. This one makes it pretty clear that the guy was fired because he's a bad employee and a lousy manager, not because he wants to find aliens.

Quite frankly, it's a little annoying that the OP's story only mentions "ET". That's irresponsible reporting, and it's why newspapers are folding all over the country; when your reporters can't even write a proper, coherent, unbiased story, people go elsewhere for their news.

The criminal part (that apparently wasn't in TFA) was the 18 school computers they found at his house that he'd taken home with him. This is a better source: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/11/30/20091130searchforaliens1202.html

From the sound of it I guess you've already tried everything, but anyway ... ;)

http://www.azcentral.com/health/news/articles/1029health-antibiotics29-ON.html

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/WATCHBLOG/60115

Is a story about the white guy with the gun in question.

Don't be afraid of the Phoenix Police. Be afraid of the imposters.

In Phoenix, you stand a good change of being the victim of a home invasion staged by Mexican Army Regulars...

Or Mexicans in Phoenix police drag, fulfilling their contracts...

Or Phoenix Police whose chief and the Phoenix mayor just can't take much criticism.

Try and discredit the reports based on the sources I use. Not working. The incidents did happen. Police officers were calling into local radio shows and confirming the reports.

It seems most home invasions in Phoenix are carried out by those who attack drop houses the 'coyotes' use to stage illegal immigrants on their way to other cities. Taking some hostage and making a quick buck is the motive. Posing as police works very well until the real police show up. then, hope the bad guys run out of bullets, which they often do.

Our mayor, Phil Gordon, is death against enforcing immigration law, as is our former Governor and now head of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano. It's so bad the Feds are demanding that local law enforcement accept a new policy that pretty much prevents them from enforcing the law. That's the 287(g) program that apparently is too successful.

Sherrif Joe also has tangled with the local alternative paper, which published his and other officials home addresses and apparently violated grand jury statutes. It's only an arcane law when it is applied to you.

Sherrif Joe has his view of law enforcement. It enrages many of the liberal intelligensia around here, who would rather we put the illegals up in the Phoenician and give them a chance.

Me? I back Sherrif Joe, knowing full well he can get carried away. The alternative is to have everything not nailed down stolen by the illegals as they stream through here on their way to a better life.

At least he doesn't PRETEND to be doing his job.

You ought to live here. Then you would grasp a little more of the nuance. Much too easy to take things at face value. 4 years here has taught me that we have a serious illegal immigration problem. How to solve it is unfortunately simple - clean house, starting with the House of Reperesentatives. Our government has too many conflicts of interest, business sees illegals as cheap labor, Democrats see them as new voters, and regular citizens have no one on their side. But I'm not hopeful.

Why the focus on illegal immigration? That's the crux of the trouble over Sherrif Joe. That's all it is.

Bring it on.

The correct article is here.

Amazing this is happening in the United States

for last 5 years same shit gets posted over and over again - Cheap solar panals

Umm... No. The price to produce them has gone down and is in fact the lowest it has ever been.

It is just that the demand is outstripping supply so economics is causing a price increase.

There was a New Zealand airbus a320 that crashed off the coast of France in test maneuvers where the flight computer miscalculated the airspeed and attempted to correct causing an unrecoverable stall at low altitude.

We also have the quantas flight that dropped almost 500 feet in seconds because a ground wire was improperly placed and arced causing spikes across all the systems and invalid sensor input. That didn't result in a crash, largely because everything reset itself but several passengers suffered broken bones and other injuries from that. And these are just within the last 8 months to a year.

As for the problem being pilot verses autopilot, your mostly right because when the systems fail, or fail to address the situation properly, the pilot takes over. But it seems that this Air France case, the flight computers were at fault and the same multiple sensor failures were too. I guess the question is going to be is if this is pilot error because they couldn't control the plane in enough time, or classified as an autopilot error?.

It's not surprising that an American company errs on the side of individual freedom while a European company is more inclined to favor an approach that relies on systems.

How fond Americans are of reductionist dualities that are unhelpful, misleading and frequently downright dangerous: American pilot with The Right Stuff in an American plane would have saved everyone; dangerous European plane and computer killed hundreds. Oversimplified sniping, or childish fantasy?

It's not an "American" thing, it's an "idiot" thing.

If I want real facts on flying, instead of wild-assed pseudo-political trollery, I'll go read Peter Ladkin or Patrick Smith: "The gist of the accident appears pretty clear: Air France Flight 447 was victimized by a terrible storm."

Or even the news: 'unprofessional' pilot behavior related to crash (possibly because they weren't paid enough to live near the airport, and may have been tired from a long commute). There was a similar (possibly the same?) story on the TV at work, from the angle of there being several crashes related to this 'unprofessional' behavior by pilots from the same pilot school, which I guess is being investigated.

Wow, you and at least two people are still laboring under the delusion that highways are paid for exclusively by gas tax. Check out this $42 billion Arizona transportation plan that is paid for by an increase in SALES tax. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0504transpo-projects0504.html

Exactly. Canada is a free country. Any individual can leave Canada freely. It's up to the receiving country to check who is coming in.

To state that the border are unsafe is ridiculous. Point to the matter is this article proving that despite the change in administration, there is still a problem on top when it comes to getting the facts straight. I am disappointed but not surprised.

The company itself became famous on slashdot and the internet for attempting to influence coroners' reports to suppress theories that their products killed people

Guess somebody is owed an apology see this http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/04/06/20090406ItalyQuake06-ON.html

You, sir, are an idiot. Or a troll, but really, I'm leaning strongly towards idiot.

It's just that stupid "don't fuck with people in power" attitude that has plagued this country for years. If everyone had your idiotic attitude, the ghost of Richard Nixon would still be President after everyone completely ignored Watergate, allowed him to toss out the Constitution, and declare himself leader ever after. It's idiots like you who elected George W. (as in, "What do you mean the law applies to me too?") Bush, who then—you guessed it—tossed out the Constitution and conducted a reign of scaremongering with the threat that if you spoke out against him (or just had a Muslim-sounding name, you were a terrorist who could be packed up and shipped to Egypt, Syria, or some other godforsaken part of the world and tortured or killed. Hell, with that attitude, we'd still be a fucking British colony, you moron.

If the guy did something illegal, then let them prove it. As it is, though, all indications so far that the police are guilty as sin of gross abuse of power, and if so, every damn one of them who were involved in this should be heavily fined, jailed, and never allowed to work for law enforcement again.

If you RTFA (reported by the Arizona Republic, you idiot, not just "some bloggers"), you'll see that a former homicide detective who is speaking out about crime lab mismanagement was also targeted. Of course, I guess that just falls under the "he should have just shut up and let the police do any damn thing they want" umbrella that is your philosophy on people who have the legal right to kill you.

I'm not even going to try to explain how law enforcement must necessarily be held to a higher standard of not retaliating when people do things that aren't illegal no matter how much they don't like it. I'm afraid it might explode your tiny little brain that can't comprehend that things like accountability and the right to free speech is a little more complicated than poking a bear with a pointy stick. Maybe we'll get lucky and some policeman who you pissed off will throw you in a cage with a hungry bear just because he can, then maybe you'll realize how stupid and facetious your analogy really is.

He's dead Jim.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/asu/articles/2008/12/02/20081202spt-dillon.html

A student here in Arizona was strip searched at a high school because the school administration got a tip that she might be carrying and distributing prescription strength ibuprofen. The legality of this strip search has been contested and the case has made it's way to the Supreme Court: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/01/16/20090116school-strip0116-ON.html

That is High School. If this original person involved is in higher education, then the law is pretty clear: Search and Seizure without reasonable suspicion of a crime is in fact a crime.

In Goodyear, AZ we had someone take down a whole power pole. Took out power to about 4000 homes in my area. The guy claimed he "enjoyed [the] sparks". He had apparently previously been arrested for copper theft. Picked a fantastic day to do it too. 115 Degree high that day... The wife and I spent the day at a friends house. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/07/15/20080715swv-arrest0718.html

No, they show that in the US, a firearm is a common way to commit suicide. And that's only if you are a man: women tend to use other means. In other countries where firearms are not readily available, other methods are used. In Canada, it was found that restricting the availability of handguns did not change the suicide rate -- it simply caused a substitution with other means.

Ah, the infamous "2.7 times more likely to be a victim of homicide". A closer look at the data used for this "study" found that people renting their home rather than owning it were 4.4 times more likely to be a victim of homicide. Makes you wonder if there are other factors at work here, and whether people are buying a firearm because they correctly perceive they are potentially a victim of a violent crime.

However, a prior criminal record seems to be significant:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0903MurderVictims0903.html

"The notion that these (murders) are random bolts of lightning, which is the commonly held image, is not the reality," says Kennedy, who has examined the backgrounds of murder suspects and victims in a number of U.S. cities.

The FBI has the resources to multitask. Child Pornography is a victimless crime only in the - too often adolescent - imagination of the Geek. Innocent Images National Initiative

Officials at a Surprise charter school say they were shocked to learn that a fifth-grade teacher who also taught an after-school program had been distributing and receiving child pornography on the Internet for years.

On Monday, federal agents arrested Victor Scott McPeak, Jr., a teacher at Arizona Charter Academy, after unraveling an international pornography ring spanning more than 20 countries.

Court documents also state that McPeak told two agents he had thousands of sexually explicit images of female minors on his laptop, and admitted he was the only user of the laptop.

Records also state, "McPeak advised that he has had a sexual interest in minors for approximately five years and he has been attempting to hide his sexual interest from his 12-year-old daughter."

Europol officials reportedly identified one of the ringleaders as an Italian national who was operating a Web site that advertised and distributed videos of minors, some under the age of 10, engaging in sexual acts.

two agents visited McPeak in Surprise on Monday and were told:

" . . . he predominantly has sexually explicit images and videos of females between the ages of eight to twelve on his laptop computer."

" . . . he looks for child pornography on the Internet two hours every night after his children's bedtime."

This is the second case in 14 months in which a Surprise charter school has been linked to possible sex offenses involving minors.

Investigators in January 2007 discovered that a 29-year-old sex offender had been posing for several months in fall 2006 as a pre-teen at Imagine School at Rosefield. Neil Havens Rodreick II was finally caught while trying to pull the same ruse at a Chino Valley charter school. Surprise charter-school teacher busted for child porn [March 20]

About 90% of the energy involved is for (a) fertilizer

Actually the fertilizer used in conventional western farming is a petrochemical. As are the herbicides [pdf] sprayed on crops.

I suppose they want it both ways - keep people on the edge and they're easier to control or something.

I understand where you're coming from, but I think there's plenty of evidence to show that is simply not how it works. The old west is an example of it not working: everyone was ready to kill and yet things were not peaceful.

Ah, yet another case of people believing the movies. Yes, violence occured in the west, but on average it was actually much more peaceful than the east coast. The Violence was overstated

Pretty much any inner city where lots of people have guns would also serve as an example of this failing. All the shootings don't seem to stop further shootings. Pretty much any war zone or terrorized area shows the idea that violence stops violence to be false.

I consider war zones a seperate concern; requiring seperate solutions. But I consider 'terrorized' areas in desperate need of additional arms - in the hands of the right people, preferably those being terrorized.

As for gang violence - I view much of that in terms of warfare and law enforcement - The gangs are like miniature tribes operating seperately from legal law enforcement. I mean, how do you punish somebody who steals your drugs? You can't report them to the police, about the only option remaining is vigilante justice. On seperate note, drugs are big business in inner cities. They're divided up into territories, and territories shift by what's essentially warfare. They can't get much in the way of stability(like some of the old mobs), because their leaders are often removed by the police.

Legalize drugs and work on some economic enrichment and I'd bet on crime dropping like a rock.

Arizona (the Copper State) had a new strike a couple years back near Globe and Miami. I don't know if this new ore strike, very close to an old mine, can be considered a "new find" or not. The higher prices have made it once again affordable to open a few of the mines that had closed years back. It's definitly going to be good for the area (the dusty area featured in the shitty Sean Penn movie U-Turn). http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20070429/ai_n19051147 http://www.theminingnews.org/news.cfm?newsID=1777 http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0214carlota14.html http://www.fortheretarded.com/?p=404 So, should we run Corning's flexible fiber to the house and plastic inside? I'd like to build in a few years, and I'm amazed how many of the new builds today are getting wired.

Taser dart-to-heart distance that causes ventricular fibrillation in pigs.
IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2007 Mar;54(3):503-8.

With "These results suggest[ing] that the probability of a dart on the body landing in 1 cm2 over the ventricle and causing VF is 0.000172."

Completely sponsored by Taser, in all likelihood...

And yeah, it is absurd, but Tasers being contributory to death rarely makes it on the certificate. It usually gets left off becaue of all that legal pressure. This was the only case where it really happened and shit really hit the fan: Scott Denton is probably one of the more reknowned Pathologists in the USA too... http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0730taser30.html?&wired

I said the general consensus but I admit it's a lot of conjecture on the part of armchair CEO's:

"Bell said she expects the airline to start charging for "A" boarding passes itself.

The airline has said it is studying ways to boost revenue, and charging for premium seats has been mentioned by many analysts." (from here

I flew Southwest out of San Antonio when they were testing the new boarding, and I really liked it. Although, I had pass A4 so I was in good shape (I prefer a window seat as far front as possible.)

Funny, I had a bad dream in which the nightmare was having a C pass.

...family values bank robbery is still being practiced. The old ways aren't all gone yet.

Here's a question... The exhaust of a hydrogen car is mostly warm water vapor - the same output as a humidifier. If the whole planet switched to hydrogen, what would be the overall effect of running a billion humidifiers on our roads? Would Arizona suddenly become as humid as Florida?

Enter, the taser. Potentially a wonderful tool for stopping an attacker without permanently injuring them

Except, of course, for those who get killed by tasers.

But I agree with your point. It's amazing that in many places less-lethal weapons are more regulated than firearms. (I can't legally buy a stungun, but I have a revolver and a rifle. Huh?)

I'd say the only way to ensure against misuse is to make these less-lethal weapons available to everyone; if they're so safe, let citizens use them to control rogue cops, rather than having to throw stones or, worse, shoot back.

Africa has 200 million cellphone users (about the same as the number of US cell phone users, and 10x the number of fixed phone lines in Africa). To me that seems like the obvious answer for last mile connectivity. Some might hook those phones up to computers with bluetooth, but maybe they should just skip that step and use smartphones without computers. Already Africa is using cellphones to increase productivity, such as cell phone banking.

Yes it is a purchase in the normal sense. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 included certain provisions aimed at fostering competition in all areas of the cable industry, including the sales of set top boxes. The cable industry has managed to delay this for over 10 years now, but the FCC finally had enough and set July 1, 2007 as the deadline for when cable companies must start supporting customers that choose to buy digital cable boxes instead of renting. They probably won't be immediately available at Best Buy, but they will be available. Here is one article about it.

off-brand OJ better keep his ass out of the country, the real O.J. is on a suing spree!

...

<shrugs /> although, I guess that's better than a killing spree

...run furiously to the people excited about the least useful but most pretty features of your new OS, and get them to buy into it.

Oh really? He openly campaigned for banning gay marriage in his state of Arizona.

http://www.azcentral.com/blogs/index.php?blog=85&t itle=mccain_is_star_of_proposition_107_tv_com&more =1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1&blogtype=Pluggedin

Sounds like he supports taking away my rights to me. I'm sure glad to have friends like him running for president. I'd hate to see what my enemies would do.

How depressing. Could HD pr0n be doomed? Sony (the major Blu-ray manufacturer) has said they won't produce pr0n disks.

I forget the legal term for it, but I believe a judge can set aside a jury verdict also. It's also leaving the judge open to review, and is likely to be grounds for a mistrial, retrial or appeal (whatever the appropriate legal term is). So it works both ways.

This is correct. Here is a link of an example, though it still doesn't name what legislation/procedure gives them this authority.

Copper is NOT a precious metal (Score:-1) by Anonymous Coward on 12-14-06 10:38 (#17241010) Nor is nickel, and neither is zinc. Hyperbole, when will you leave?

there is some speculation that we have reached peak copper. High-grade copper may in fact be a precious metal ere long.

Link

What makes you think Diebold ATM units are secure?

Very true, Here in Phoenix Arizona crooks have been stealing these machines left and right. A 2 ton flat bed of trailer plus a bulldozer or backhoe borrowed from a nearby construction site is all the theives need. Arizona Republic