Balloon Boy and Joe Arpaio

So my fever induced hiatus made me somehow miss the story of the year, Balloon Boy. Now I think the political implications of this story are very important, so I've compiled a list of resources for all of you to be as up to date as possible so check out this, this, and definitely this!

Great now on to Joe Arpaio. Joe who? Joe Arpaio! The winner of the Frank Rizzo award, given for local law enforcement officials that take facism to new heights. That's who. Well if you haven't heard of him, now would be a great time to find out about him. He is the Sherrif of Maricopa County in Arizona. Amazingly he actually looks more sinister than even the great Frank Rizzo, the deceased maniacal chief of police and mayor of Philadelphia. A few years back, Joe (that's Joe Arpaio to you!) decided it was silly for women prisoners to have access to abortions. For a while he was requiring that women prisoners get a court order to obtain their legally granted rights to "get timely, safe and legal abortion care." Since the ACLU pushed him around in court he relented. Now he is only requiring that the women pre-pay for their transportation and security costs before receiving treatment. The ACLU is taking him to court on this very matter today.

But wait there's more. You don't get the Frank Rizzo Award without taking fascism to new heights. And Joe certainly is. Janet Napalitano (former Arizona Governor and current head of Homeland Security) recently revoked his authority to essentially "act" as a federal agent in conducting sweeeps of illegal immigrants. Joe's response is to do it anyway. "I don't take orders from the Federal Government" he explained. But that's not all. How does he go about conducting his sweeps? You know he goes around looking for people that "look like they just came from Mexico" he explains. He's gone on to point out that there are various ways people talk and act if they are illegal.

Arpaio's fascist cred still has a lot more to it. He's known for cutting prisoners meals down to two a day and feeding them moldy bread. He started the first female and juvenile chain gangs in Arizona. And he marched inmates through the streets in pink underwear, citing pink as a calming color. He also pulled over Elvis Presley once.

While surfing about Joe I came across a piece of art work that called Arpaio, Arpayoso, meaning clown in Spanish. That's good but I think I have a better one. ArpayASSHOLE. What do you think? I personally like the sound of it.