ON "TARGET"
People are rightly pissed: You tied it all together nicely in your "Target Practice" series. The smart one in all this — in a purely self-serving way — is County Attorney Andrew Thomas. He is using Joe Arpaio as his pawn to go after illegal aliens, the issue that Thomas hopes will put him in the governor's office down the line.
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It's funny how much everything Thomas and Arpaio have done lately is about one issue, immigration. Going after the Superior Court judges. Going after New Times. It all was part of Thomas' grand plan. Too bad it blew up on the opportunistic bastard.
Joe Arpaio has been a Nazi publicity hound since day one, and Thomas' plan works well for him because it keeps the sheriff in the public eye on the hottest Arizona issue of our time. It also fits into his pattern of cruelty. Be cruel to prisoners, be cruel to Mexicans — it's all so perfect.
I'm just sorry that your series didn't come out closer to the election at the end of [this] year. Because, right now, I think somebody could give Thomas a run for his money in the County Attorney race. People are rightly pissed at his actions, particularly in the New Times case, where these two SS commandants wanted to look at the Internet-viewing habits of private citizens who read the paper.
As for Joe Arpaio, I'm not sure even a nuclear attack could rid us of that cockroach.
Victor Perez, Phoenix
It's up to the "powers that be": In your excellent "Money Shot" article (in the "Target Practice" series, Sarah Fenske, December 27), you ask, "So who can hold Sheriff Joe accountable? I think I have the answer: The "powers that be" simply need to sit down and realize that Joe's conduct is simply not worth it anymore.
His continual offer of "bread and circuses" to the yahoos who applaud his every move here in the Valley simply costs too much — in terms of money, lives, and the prestige of this community. We are fast becoming a laughingstock.
If you don't believe in the "powers that be" here in Phoenix, ask yourself why the city is spending $96 million to rebuild the parking garage below Patriots Square Park for the benefit of the developers of CityScape, [providing] $26 million tax abatements for the owners of the same project, and [providing] $97.4 million in tax rebates to the developers of CityNorth.
Yes, Virginia, there are "powers that be" in Phoenix. And these folks just need to sit down with our sheriff and tell him to "cut it out" or they'll run someone else against him in the next election.
My only concern is that the "powers that be" don't read the excellent coverage New Times has provided on Sheriff Joe and the rest.
Tom DePaul, Phoenix
It's simple: Stay out of jail: I bet everyone who's bashing our fair sheriff lately is, was, or knows someone who is a criminal. If you don't like the jails (and the way they are run) and the roaches, and the bad food, then don't commit the crime. It's just that simple.
Sheriff Joe is the only one willing to do something about the crime. He's the only one willing to fight for his county's people on the issue of illegal aliens.
Name withheld by request
Illegal immigrants are terrorists?: Terrorize illegals? You got that backward in the "Flushing Them Out" segment of the "Target Practice" series (Megan Irwin, December 27).
Those illegals are criminals and should be treated as such. They are terrorists and need to be dealt with severely and quickly, or Spanish will be our nation's language. Wake up, New Times, and smell the coffee.
Bob Walters, via the Internet
Get used to it, rednecks: What a bunch of sick assholes you rednecks [battling Mexican migrants] are. The truth is, you are all wasting your time. We will never leave, and those who get deported will come back. Get used to it or leave this bilingual country.
Lou Artinio, via the Internet
Deport them all: Man, the author of the "Flushing Them Out" piece must have gotten a hernia or some pulled muscles slapping on all that liberal spin.
Put the blame right square where it belongs: on the kid in the story's irresponsible and illegal parents for dragging her here and putting her in this position in the first place. All of a sudden, we have a new class of "victims."
Her foolish and inconsiderate parents knew it was against our laws and in violation of our sovereignty and chose to go for it anyway. As such, the child is illegal, too.
Well, the solution is real simple. Deport them, including the child. Problem solved. Nobody said being responsible was easy or fair.
William R. Krutt, via the Internet
A bad name for America: Arizona has always been a state of immigrants, from mine workers to farm workers (who pick 90 percent of the crops in the southwestern United States). Illegal immigration is not a new problem, but if you base the solution to this issue solely on deportation, the very fabric of American humanitarianism will be tampered with in the eyes of the whole world.
