Subject: Human Rights Policy

• Richard Adkerson, the Grasberg mine, Max Jarman and the banality of evil...

  May 31, 2007

• AZ ACLU honors New Times founders Jim Larkin and Mike Lacey as Civil Libertarians of the Year.

  March 31, 2008

• County Attorney Andrew Thomas jeopardizes Serial Shooter case, claims Gerald Richard

  April 17, 2008

• VICTIM'S RITES

  March 16, 1994

• A Quiet Voice Against the Death Penalty

  Amnesty International's Dr. Daniel Georges-Abeyie coolly argues the case against capital punishment in our hang-'em-high state

  October 3, 1996

• Letters

  February 20, 1997

• Letters

  December 11, 1997

• Letters From the Issue of Thursday, September 14, 2006

  September 14, 2006

• Hot Links: Troops May be Coming to Arizona; PA Gov Apologizes for Napolitano Comments; Cops Bust Cockfighters

  Are we expecting company? As many as 20,000 soldiers may be stationed in the western United States -- with a "significant" number going to Arizona -- to serve as a terrorist-fighting force. The idea is to stop any bad guys from trying to storm the Palo Verde nuclear power plan and other sensitive sites. Pennsylvania's governor apologizes for insulting remarks about Janet Napolitano. Not that they weren't true, mind you, but he's sorry. Here they come to snuff the

  December 4, 2008

• Anti-Joe Arpaio Action Scheduled for This February 28 in Phoenix

  Time to get pissed by this clown, and to march... Looks like February will be going out like a lion, with a massive anti-Joe protest scheduled for the 28th demanding the termination of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's 287(g) agreement. Some 70 activist groups will march by the Arizona ICE office, the Wells Fargo Tower, where the MCSO has its executive offices, and the Phoenix Federal Building, according to local human rights activist Sal Reza. I'll be there to observe as a sympathetic party. But to t

  February 12, 2009

• Zack de la Rocha Endorses Anti-Arpaio Rally and May Be at Phoenix March, According to Activists

  from WikimediaCommons De La Rocha: "Some of those that work forces/Are the same that burn crosses." Sound like anyone we know? In what appears to be a major coup for the activists organizing the anti-Arpaio action the weekend of February 28, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network has announced through a press release that firebrand frontman Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine fame is encouraging people to join the march and rage against Sheriff Joe Arpaio's treatment of the

  February 19, 2009

• Take the Power Back: The Schedule for This Weekend's Anti-Arpaio Activities

  courtesy of lafronteratimes.comReady to rage against Arpaio? Boy, are you in luck.Below is the schedule for this weekend's anti-Arpaio/anti-287(g) activities just released by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Several high-ranking NDLON staff members have re-confirmed that Rage Against the Machine's Zack de la Rocha will attend Saturday's march, so be there and be there early. Word is Phoenix's anti-Hispanic nativist hillbillies will also show up as a counter-protest. They are truly a

  February 25, 2009

• John Conyers to Hold Hearings on Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Abuses, and Video from Wednesday's Arpaio Pile On in D.C.

  One clip from today's media event denouncing Joe Arpaio, and heralding the investigation into him by the U.S. Department of Justice. The big news out of D.C. for us here in Sand Land, of course, is that the Justice Department is investigating Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office for civil rights violations. Now I've learned from Jonathan Godfrey, the Communications Director for the House Judiciary Committee, that Chairman John Conyers has indicated his committee will hold hearings on Arpaio's abu

  March 11, 2009

• ICE and Janet Napolitano's Gulag Archipelago for Women

  from the Human Rights Watch report Detained and Dismissed. It's Napolitano's responsibility to make sure these women are treated humanely. I've gotta give a shout out to our sister paper Miami New Times' Riptide blog for this disturbing post about the medieval health care female immigrant detainees receive in ICE's countrywide gulag archipelago. In it, reporter Tim Elfrink covers a news conference in Miami where the results of two studies condemning the health care available to illegal i

  March 20, 2009

• John Conyers' House Judiciary Committee to Hold 287(g) Hearing April 2

  from Congressman Nadler's Web site NYC Congressman Jerry Nadler (left), with House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers. Trying to get info out of Washington, D.C. from here in Sand Land is like attempting to obtain cheese directly from the cow's teat sometimes. Nevertheless, I'm in receipt of scuttlebutt from folks in the immigrant rights community locally, who've been telling me about the joint hearing to be held Thursday, April 2 by Chairman John Conyers' House Judiciary Committee

  March 27, 2009

• Al Sharpton, Mary Rose Wilcox, ACORN's Bertha Lewis, and Others Blast Joe Arpaio on Media Conference Call

  photo by Juda EngelmayerRev. Al's got his eye on Sheriff Joe...As I promised in a previous blog post, I participated in a national conference call this morning, which featured the Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis, Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Rev. William Barber of the North Carolina NAACP, and other civil rights leaders from around the country. The speakers called for Sheriff

  April 7, 2009

• March to Stop the Hate

  February 26, 2009

• Grand Drama

  May 22, 2008

• Taser Aftershock!

  Turns out much-maligned stun guns are a good thing overall

  June 21, 2007

• Can't Miss: Icehouse

  March 1, 2007

• Torturous Times

  The winged wonder on John McCain's righteous anti-torture stance, Stepford-like Gilbert and changes at hipster haven Lux

  November 17, 2005

• Low Yield

  Thriller ripens into something distasteful

  September 1, 2005

• Give Her Liberty

  Eleanor Eisenberg dances off into the sunset

  August 25, 2005

• Raging Bull

  Kerry's a wuss. Dubya's a doof. How can anybody vote for either of these clowns?

  October 7, 2004

• In the Crosshairs

  June 24, 2004

• Caine Unable

  Catholics are bad, Nazis are bad, and Michael Caine's movie about both is boring

  January 29, 2004

• Dead Men Talking

  The ACLU is fighting a state law that keeps death row inmates off the Web

  September 12, 2002

• Federal Inquiry

  Justice Department examines conditions at state youth facilities

  June 27, 2002

• Hunger Strike

  Can a non-9/11 benefit album make any noise?

  December 6, 2001

• Shocking Accusations

  Is Scottsdale weapons manufacturer Taser International saving lives or supplying tools for torturers?

  August 16, 2001

• War Crimes in Downtown Phoenix

  Vietnam vets discuss the allegations of atrocities leveled at Bob Kerrey

  May 3, 2001

• More, Moor, Moore

  The name sounds familiar...

  March 29, 2001

• Drug War Cowboys

  The DEA may finally get its man

  December 21, 2000

• Grave Undertaking

  Horrors of El Salvador massacre are exhumed in award-winning local documentary

  June 15, 2000

• No, No, Janet

  October 29, 1998

• Flashes

  October 22, 1998

• Joe, Jane & John

  October 30, 1997

• Flashes

  September 25, 1997

• Human Plights

  International group urges immediate stop to Arpaio jail practices

  September 18, 1997

• Barbarism As a Public Relations Strategy

  December 5, 1996

• AFFIRMATIVE REACTIONCROATIAN DELEGATION, WITNESS TO GENOCIDE, HEARS OF POCAHONTAS AND OTHER DOMESTIC HUMAN-RIGHTS ABUSES

  June 29, 1995

• MENTAL HEALTH MASQUERADE

  ARIZONA SET OUT TO CREATE THE BEST MENTAL-HEALTH-CARE SYSTEM MONEY COULD BUY. IT ENDED UP WITH A PROGRAM AS DYSFUNCTIONAL AS THE PEOPLE IT SERVES.

  June 1, 1995

• MIA: Truth

  July 8, 1992

• Al Sharpton Does Phoenix This Friday, June 19th, According to Arizona ACORN

  by David Shankbone Get your game face on, Joe, Rev. Al's ready to rumble...I've just received confirmation from Monica Sandschafer, ACORN's lead organizer in Arizona, that the Rev. Al Sharpton will be in Phoenix this Friday, June 19th. For those unaware of it, that date is known as Juneteenth, and it commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.According to Sandschafer, Sharpton's itinerary will include a prayer breakfast at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church in downtown Phoenix from 7:3

  June 15, 2009

• ACLU to Host Forum on "Constitution-Free" Zone Near Border That Allows Checkpoints

  Border Patrol checkpoints and their impact on civil rights will be discussed at a forum next week in Green Valley hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union. The topic is a hot one in the southern Arizona community, where some residents have fought plans to install a permanent checkpoint on Interstate 19 near Tubac. But the checkpoints and the "Constitution-free" zone -- as the ACLU puts it -- that allows them received notoriety in the Valley after a local man was Tased at a checkpoint on In

  July 6, 2009

• Ling/Lee Vigil

  July 9, 2009

• Iran Supporters Rally at Arizona State University

  Jessica SmithA member of Sunday's rally holds up a sign depicting a few of the deaths that occurred during the protests in Iran. ​ Clad in green and clutching picket signs, hundreds gathered at Arizona State University on Sunday to show solidarity for post-election protests that have left at least 20 people dead. "This summer, the youth of Iran have shown an enthusiastic push for freedom, and as a result we have witnessed a new face of democracy and political maturity," said Shawdy Ban

  July 27, 2009

• Joe Arpaio a "Torturer on U.S. Soil," Says NPR Opinion Piece

  Torturer with a badge? You don't have to convince us...​An opinion piece published yesterday on National Public Radio's Web site, written by Hector Sanchez, Director of Policy and Research for the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, calls Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio "a pernicious person," a macho champion of "denigration and mental abuse," and a "torturer on U.S. soil." Sanchez makes the valuable point that in the current debate on CIA torture of so-called enemy co

  August 28, 2009

• Freedom Film Festival: The Least of These

  September 17, 2009

• Zack de la Rocha Returns to Phoenix January 16 to Lead National Day of Action

  by Ernesto Yerena This time, they're protesting Barack The third time's the charm, and according to civil rights leader Salvador Reza of the Puente Movement, the pleasure will be ours January 16 as Rage Against the Machine/One Day as a Lion frontman Zack de la Rocha returns to the Arizona capital to lead a National Day of Action. Will people be marching against Joe Arpaio and the 287(g) program? Nope, says Reza. "Joe's a has-been," said Reza, who's so far organized two such demonstrations

  October 27, 2009