I get some of my stranger ideas mowing the grass, which I did this afternoon. During that enforced period of “no computer screen,” connections that have been stewing in the back of my mind sometimes coalesce into a picture.
It’s been speculated in the media that Sheriff Arpaio conducted his “investigation” of Barack Obama’s documents to divert attention from his own legal problems. Another report described it as “the politics of revenge.” After some thought, I wrote that Arpaio might be trying to save his own life. If the grand jury investigating Arpaio were to indict him and he were to be convicted and get jail time, Arpaio has a lot to worry about. His reputation for the mistreatment and humiliation of prisoners is going to make it dangerous for Arpaio in prison. Perhaps Arpaio hoped that his alliance with WorldNetDaily would help defeat Obama in November and bring in a more Arpaio-friendly federal administration.
That’s where the thought lay until this afternoon when I realized: Sheriff Arpaio may have already cut a deal when he met with Rick Santorum and the two of them discussed what Sheriff Arpaio intended to say at the Press Conference. Santorum reportedly gave Arpaio the “go ahead” for his press conference. Was there also a promise of muzzled federal prosecutor, or even a pardon?
Here’s an exclusive video detailing their clandestine arrangement.
Santorum certainly is quiet about what they discussed, totally quiet.
Doesn’t the Arpaio investigation predate Obama? It would be hard to imagine any AG’s selected by Santorum pursuing Arpaio.
Arpaio shouldn’t have much to fear in prison. He’d be protected. But, being the blustering bully type, he’d go bawling like a baby. But what charges would land him there? Have public officials been jailed for civil rights violations?
Get the doofus out of office and break up his little tyranny. Have the DoJ administer MCSO for a couple years to clean it up 😉
If we’re going to start our own conspiracy, we’re going to need a nickname. Posers? Arpaioists?
J Potter has a good point, that none of the investigations against Arpaio carry any risk of criminal charges. But another point is that, at the time he met with Santorum, there did not appear to be much chance that Santorum would be President.
It began under Bush, but Arpaio apparently likes to let everyone think it began under Obama.
Part of that has to do with the primary/caucus schedule. Santorum got momentum when we started hitting strings of Deep Red states.
The Deep Reds reject Gingrich because he uses big words, has all the warmth of an ice cube, and can’t manage to fake sincerity. Have you seen him smile?
A regional (national?) conference of evangelical thought leaders endorsed Santorum back in January. The Deep Reds have always been for Santorum. The Regular Reds are doing their best to unite behind Romney and keep the nutters in the basement!
Were you mowing the grass or smoking it?
at that january conference, dobson referred to calista as newt’s 8 year mistress –
does ANYONE really think saint-orum had ANY chance even in january?
perhaps their conversation was about saint-orum’s status as “natural born”
Anyone who’s convinced that Santorum can become president can become rich for a modest investment. I just looked at Intrade, which gives him a 3/10 of one percent chance of winning the big prize. So if this longshot were to come home in November, a $100 investment would fetch $33,000 or so, and $1,000 would yiield about $333,000.
After watching this video, it seems like Santorum’s chances at becoming President have become a lot more slim: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egtaV6Pj8yI
I’m not too sure about that, unless he’s in protective custody. Corrections officers can’t watch everything.
There are several ongoing federal investigations of Arpaio and his department. The civil case, which has big deadline coming up in April, gets the publiciity but there has been federal grand jury taking testimony for at least a year.
As far as the meeting between Arpaio and Santorum is concerned I suspect they were both using each other for their own purposes.
As much as I detest Mr. Sanctimonious, I am not convinced that that video is on the square and level.
It could be that Arpaio knows he is done. Doing an investigation on the POTUS could be a way of raising questions about the ‘Reason’ he is going to jail. I will just feed the conspiracy nuts about more shady things.
It’s a last grasp to drag the POTUS down. I believe this is going to get worse if the the Presidents approval ratings get better by November. Remember, there is Corsi (swift boat) in the background, and I do not think he is just sitting idle. He has to do better than Kerry this time. He failed in 2010 with his book, not failing again is a great motivator.
You’re working too hard.
It’s simple politics. The Sheriff is up for re-election. The birther stuff will give him cover if the DOJ ramps up the investigation. He can say the only reason they’re coming after him is because he was investigating them.
He can call it retaliation, and since most voters don’t pay close attention, it won’t matter that DOJ actually started first.
He figures if he can just survive the rest of the year, Holder will be gone.
Well, this story is sort of my April Fool’s Eve contribution.
And I was worried you’d gotten a little too much sun out there mowing your yard.
Couldn’t wait one day couldja’.
Criminal investigations of Arpaio and the MCSO date back to 1998. The civil case was started by Bush The Younger, as I recall.
I wouldn’t bet a lot of money on him ever being indicted by the Feds but anything is possible.
The MainStream Media is starting to pay attention to the Sheriff.
Joe Arpaio Faces Crossroads In Civil Rights Case
…and still doesn’t.
The one of him calling “bullsh*t” is. And it’s hysterical. Swearing really is more effective when used sparingly! 😉
I have been thinking that a conviction on embezzlement or misuse of funds would be par for the course. The way the guy seems to operate, how can his hand not be in the till after so many years?
The ultimate grand slam would be a RICO conviction, taking himself, key henchmen, and key supporters down for running the sheriff’s office as a criminal conspiracy. The “mainstream media” would definitely pay attention to that!
Well Sheriff Joe’s latest WND-sponsored “press conference” took place in that Church in AZ and the Birther reports on the event are starting to come out:
Here are just a few links that give their take on the event. Full video is promised by them soon:
http://www.westernjournalism.com/highlights-of-sheriff-joes-most-recent-press-conference/
http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogspot.com/2012/03/sheriff-joe-arpaio-arizona-special.html
SHORT SYNOPSIS OF WHAT THEY REPORT:
– The 2 Birther reports vary slightly on the attendance: claiming “about 1000” and “nearly 1200” packed into that Church to hear Joe & Zullo speak.
– Sounds like most of the conference (nearly 2 hrs for total event from reports) was nothing more than rehashing the same info that they already presented.
– The additional stuff they report as “new details” sounds like nothing more than than trotting out more of WND’s back catalog of crazy claims and “experts” on the whole PDF sham angle – trotting out their old hoopla about “typefonts” and such. So, sounds like nothing really new, but “new” in terms that the CCP is now running with those WND memes as well.
– In the end, sounds like nothing really new. They are still weaseling around calling it “probable forgery”, but no evidence in the reports that they are taking any actions, other than what has already been reported on Sherrif Joe’s letter & response from Selective Service and just some more vague string along plans to “continue investigating” and hinting at having future press conferences…and possibly even a “round table” with their (read: WND “experts”).
– Appears no real media bothered to attend.
– Seems like the “big next step” out of this is merely begging the audience to tell all their friends to sign some lame petition to try to pressure the AZ SoS to make demands of the Democratic Party and pressure Obama to be stricken from their ballot… So yeah, their “big to do” turns out to be nothing more than another whiney demanding Birther letter writing campaign… *rolls eyes* LMAO!
– Seems like any interesting parts were in the Q&A with Zullo, where he seems to have answerd the following:
* Pandered to audience question by agreeing that maybe George Soros is behind all this.
* Did actually come out and say that certain of the fake Kenya BCs that the Birthers still float around are bogus…
* Confirmed that Apraio, Zullo and the CCP would NOT accept or attend any of the Birther court case requests (including Orly’s), using the excuse that they need to “focus on their investigation” (LOL!)
* Claiming that their investigation is now going “interantional”. (my comment – sounds like nothing more than hyperbolic spin for saying they did a Pravda Online artilcle and a Russian radion broadcast interview… *rolls eyes*)
So in conclusion, it sounds like pretty much a re-hash of their old material, with just some splashes of additional old WND smear claims added to the mix. Oh, and a Birther letter writing petition to try to get Obama off their ballot. What a lame and pathetic sham their little farce has become… now I’m barely interested enough to put up with watching what sounds like such a boring rehash of their old material… when it comes out, I’ll try to stay awake and see if I can skip forward to find any good parts.
Slightly more interesting was a 6 minute “InfoWars” interview with Zullo that was just posted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFW69kFKCsc
Although Zullo claims this is now a “full fledged law enforcement investigation”, nothing they’ve done so far or claim to be doing seems to match up to that rhetoric at all.
The interview is interesting, because Zullo confirms what HI has said – that the CCP *never* reached out to HI as part of this investigation at all. Zullo gives an excuse that it would have been “premature” to have done that as part of their investigation (so yeah, wasting time playing with meaningless photocopies of scans seems to be all they are interested in doing.)
What was more interesting is that Zullo came right out and said that he would NOT accept any certified physical BC, if HI provided him with one of those!! So, the man who wastes time playing with PDFs refuses to accept or look at an original certified copy issued from the state of HI itself! Talk about denialsim!! He blathers on some weasel excuse about wanting to see the original vault records…blah, blah, blah…same old Birther denialism nonsense…
You can read and watch more about all of those things at the 3 links I provided (or at least it gives us the version of events as the Birthers are describing them). Their coverage goes into these things in a bit more detail than this little synopsis.
From this description, Arpaio is hosting political rallies.
Misuse of office.
I don’t think that a jailed Joe Arpaio would be in significantly more danger than any other cop who went to prison. I’m sure they’d place him in some special unit or protective custody. Real prisons aren’t like Oz; they actually try to prevent inmates from murdering each other.
Arpaio’s meeting yesterday in AZ can be found at westernjournalism.com . They say the birth cert and selective service card are a fraud. Where are they wrong?
They are wrong in the part about the birth certificate and the selective service card.
Westernjournalism.com as in World Net Daily which is Arpaio’s corporate, swiftboating sponsor.
WorldNetDaily is a division of the Western Journalism Center. In 1999, WorldNetDaily was spun off as a for-profit division to promote far right wing political smear campaigns.
Of all the things this is one I’ve never seen any evidence of. He has misspent a lot of money but I’ve never seen anything about him hitting the till. There were stories a few years ago about how he and his wife managed to buy some property but it never went anywhere.
The charges that get talked about in Phoenix (check the New Times website) have to do with his participation in, or direction of, illegal activities on the part of subordinates.
marshman: They say the birth cert and selective service card are a fraud. Where are they wrong?
.
After an exhaustive search, you are the only known living heir to your long-lost relative’s fortune. Congratulations, you’re a MILLIONAIRE! But first, you need to pay the international transfer fee, and cover some legal expenses and the money is yours!. Please send us your bank account information, Thank You.
Who cares? They’re Birthers. They have zero credibility. They’ve been saying the same thing for four years.
Intreresting to check the “Contact Us” on the Western Journalism Center for Journalism’s website:
Western Center for Journalism
42104 N Venture Drive
Suite B-122
Anthem, AZ 85086
Phone: 202.370.6366
Anthem is a Phoenix suburb. The address appears to be a mail drop. Probably not a lot of room for all the training courses they are supposed to be providing for citizen journalists.
The box number is also home to http://www.exposeobama.com Look at your own risk.
The phone number is a landline in Washington, DC.
And they wonder why no real journalists showed up at this charade.
Well, the held this one in a Church and had a lot of other Birther speakers there, so despite Arpaio & Zullo using lots of weasel words to give this sham the veneer of his office, it amounts to nothing more than a set of WND blog articles playing out in real space to a captive and insular audience.
So yeah, it really did amount to nothing more than a political rally, steeped in full-metal BIrther blather, but it was still nothing more than the same old tired debunked chestnuts, being presented in new form and simply preaching to the choir.
The only thing this latest farce may have succeed at is going down as the largest physical gathering of Birthers yet. I forced myself to stay awake and watch the whole tape and they barely show the rest of the room beyond the speaker’s podium, so it is hard to gauge the true size of the attendence there. Birther claims so far have ranged from 1000-1200, but Birthers are known for exaggerating their turn out by significant factors. It does appear that they had a full audience in the room, but the meeting room appears surprisingly small and even when the whole crowd was clapping or cheering, the size of their combined sound suggests a lot less people than they claim, so they could be off by as much as a whole factor. But hey, even if they only had a few hundred folks in that room, that still would set a new Birther record.
Maybe we’ll get some real assessment of the numbers if they reveal how many signed petitions to the SoS they turn in on Monday, as they claim they plan to do. They were passing around to have everyone sign that petition in the room and then try to go around for some more signatures and even provide an online petition to encourage folks to get their friends & family to sign on as well. So, if we are shown an accurate physical petition count, the actual attendence should be relatively close to that total.
Arpaio is a politician. That’s what he’s been doing for almost 20 years.
Excellent point, marshman!! To which I can only add that David Irving’s meetings in the U.S. can be found here: http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/irving.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=irving
He says that the holocaust never occurred and that a former German chancellor saved the world from Bolshevism. Where is he wrong? Because if he can’t be proved wrong, (and remember, I’m the only one who gets to determine that), then he must be right. Right? That is the way that birther logic works, isn’t it?
Yeah, it was quite a charade. What makes me laugh the most is how, even when preaching to their own captive choir, these Birthers go out of their way to try to hide their real personal bias driving this sham witch hunt…. yet keep contradicting themselves later on in their own speeches, revealing their true bias.
Some illustrative examples, just from this presentation:
– We learned an interesting tidbit about hat AZ Rep Carl Seel, who repeatedly tries claims his “Birther Bill” legislation has “nothing to do with Obama” and is just a Constitutional concern for better candidate vetting: both Carl Seel and “event chairman” Jeff Lichter had FLOWN to have a private meeting with Trump early last year, when Trump was starting to play flirty with the BIrthers. …but this has nothing to do with Obama…yeah…right *rolls eyes*
-Arpaio and Zullo keep repeatedly trying to claim that they only desired to “clear the President” and that there is NO political motivation here at all… yet during the course of the presentation, they both keep slipping up and making clear references to their own GOP allegiances, snearing remarks about Obama and other Democrats, show their bias with statements like “this country is changing before my eyes”, and (around 1:47 & 1:50 into the tape) even slip and make clear here that their real intent with all this is to make it a issue in the upcoming election cycle by goading the public to “demand answers”. In other parts of the presentatin, they keep encouraging the audience to “spread the word” about this “criminal investigation”. And yes, Arpaio’s entire portion of his speech comes across as a typical political stump speech for his own re-election.
-Heck, for a group claiming no political motive, they sure spend a lot of time ranting that Fox News won’t cover their story. My favorite bit of this was Zullo (around 1:31) going off on a tear about how upset he is that Bill O’Reilly won’t buy into the BIrther stories.
– Arpaio & Zullo repeatedly goes out of their way to state that they are not accusing the President of any crime, yet they keep using definitive terms to describe their findings as “criminal forgeries” and “a felony” inno uncertain terms … yet if any of that was true, they would actually take steps to bring forth charges, instead of just host endless sham press conferences on an investigation in progress. No real law enforcement would jeopordize the success of an upcoming case by issuing numerous press conferences and casting clear insinuationss before even filing charges…that is the easiest way to get a case thrown out for prejudicial bias!
– Another interesting reveal on the tape is the conversations that start around 1:15, where Zullo openly reveals that he believes that Obama is a foreigner and not even born in the US… wow, that is quite a biased jump to conclusion for those claiming they are just trying to get to the bottom of documents that look “suspicous” to them!
-Even more interesting was an anecdote of a phone call that Zullo revealed he had with Arpaio early on, where he says that Arpaio told him he had his back, even if Zullo is wrong.
– For an investigation that claims it can’t take any real action or press any charges, because it still has a lot of investigation to do and that they are not actually accusing the President of anything, they sure smile and supportively agree whenver the audience chimes in and jumps directly to that very conclusion. Heck, at 1:40 on the tape, Zullo goes as far as to tell a questioner that he believes in the “magic reset button” – that if they can remove Obama from office, somehow it magically nullifies everything his administration has done. LOL!
–But even more sinister, (see 1:28), Zullo sets up the audiences false hopes by pretty much coming out and accusing Obama of “Mail Fraud” on his Selective Service registration and inciting that it can result in serving years in prison plus a $250K fine and that it would mean that he can’t hold public office … not that you will ever see them actually pursue such charges, but hey, the whole goal here is to incite these people and demonize Obama as a criminal deserving punishment and who can be removed from office… which is why Zullo also spends quite a bit of time pimping that bogus mailman’s story and making bogeyman references to Bill Ayers.
– They spend an awful lot of time complaining and worrying about not getting media coverage of their “investigation”, instead of merely focusing on taking any actual actions. Heck, in this conference, they have now gone as far as to (see 1:41) claim that there is an intentional criminal conspiracy involved in this “major media blackout” and Zullo stated that they “know” that people’s safety has been threatened at the networks and that George Soros and his operatives *are* involved… Wow, that is one doozy of a whopper for them to be so irresponsible about insinuating!
– Then again, they like insinuations, since they keep repeating that they “have some pretty good ideas who DID it” in calling the BC out right criminal fraud … yet they repeatedly AVOID ever naming any actual names… just winking and nodding in support any time the audience “goes there” on their own…
As the old saying goes, they doth protest too much…
…And they’ve made it quite clear that they know they can’t win with this issue by pursuing a real case with Congress, the courts or the FBI. No, they have come out and made it very clear at numerous points here that their whole goal is to “try him in the court of public opinion”… in other words, Swift Boating..
Yes they are wrong and it seems fairly obvious that even they know it. This is nothing but a desperate attempt to indoctrinate people into believing a bunch of false stories, in hopes to sway public opinion and portray the President as as criminal.
There was nothing in this presentation, other than the same easily debunked lies and smears that WND and Birther sites have been telling themselves and trying to peddle for years now.
If this was a real criminal investigation, they would be focused on trying to take their case to the DA or even talk to the authorities in the HI DOH. But no, they’ve made it repeatedly clear that Arpaio doesn’t have the cajones to pursue any actual prosecution himself here. Listen to the audio – they are doing everything they can to merely make accusations YET do NOTHING about it. Heck, they refuse to even get involved in any of the Bither lawsuits out there… and won’t even talk to the state of HI.
Now *that* should give you a clue that there is no actual investigation happening. Just regurgitation of the same failed Birther lies as before…only being repackaged under the guise of their authority.
I find it quite funny that a department that won’t even talk to HI holds a press conference and explains in an authoritive manner about how it “is a common practice for foreigners to register births in HI to get their kids citizenship” (see 1:31-33) and talk about HI adoption BCs and HI BC sequencing numbers. All of these which are absolute clear LIES and have been investigated and debunked long ago. All of which anyone could easily find out are untrue by simply going to the HI DOH website or calling them up and looking at the actual statues as well. So, it is all a sham setup to trick the gullible into thinking something that isn’t true. The clear tell is the classic con artist tactic of the misleading pitch – (see 1:29) where Zullo starts off talking about claims of rampant BC fraud made by the Inspector General in 2000. All of which is intentionally misleading and has NOTHING to do with HI or anything related to Obama’s BC circumstances at all.
Their “investigation” started last August, 2011. Yet here we are 7 months later and all they have “found” amounts to nothing more than regurgitating the same crazy claims about PDFs, typewriter fonts, haloing, seal embossing, etc. that WND tried to trot out more than 10 months ago. You can easily look it up and still find all WND’s articles and then look at media reports at the time and see how all of them quickly fell apart and were debunked under any scrutiny outside of the Birther cult sites. Even all of the CCP “experts” and investigators are nothing more than the same list of sham “experts” that WND put out there when they first tried to pass off these bogus stories and red-herring claims.
So, I ask you, if you have any sense or ability to actually think for yourself – what exactly has the CCP actually done over the past 7 months themselves, when just about everything they’ve focused on just regurgitates the same long-debunked arguments that WND failed to gain any traction with last year? Heck, Zullo even bragged that the information the CCP is getting was “developed by citizens”, not the CCP. TRANSLATION – they are simply reguritating stuff that doesn’t rise above the level of the chain email rumour mill and not actually “investigating” anything.
The biggest clue is at 44 min – Zullo admits that they *did* contact actual Forensic Document Examiners early on (i.e. the only folks that would actually be *qualified* to do such an “investigation”. Zullo admits that they all TURNED HIM DOWN, because they told him that you can’t do any actual investigation UNLESS you are actually analyzing the actual paper document! .
So yeah, this whole “investigation” is a clear biased sham when the investigating team refuses to even check with the state of HI and the HI DOH and in when they IGNORE the advice of ACTUAL Forensic Document Examiners, who tell them that you can’t conduct an investigation without using the actual document. But yet they have somehow managed to waste 7 months of time merely playing around with irrelevant software and images and passing off old internet rumours and bogus articles as their own work… Yet they will boldly claim that his BC is “cut & paste from 2-3 other BCs”… all while refusing to check with HI or deal with an actual physical document… *rolls eyes*
What the CCP has done is nothing more than a slow-drip shell game con job. Anyone foolish enough to pine their hopes on this charade is just setting themselves up for endless disappointment, as all they have to do is feed you false hopes and string you along by throwing you a bone of new rumour mill nonsense from time to time, yet never actually deliver any results…(and of course, carefully AVOID using any actual experts or checking with actual authorities in order to keep their ruse going).
But even for the CCP, it seems that some Birther rumours are too silly and flimsy for even Zullo to risk pushing. I found it quite interesting and telling in the Q&A how he sheepishly demurred that the CCP was not planning to invest much effort in going down the rabbit hole of Orly’s Social Security Card claims… LMAO!
They literally made a church into an echo chamber. An online phenomenon made flesh. An underground alternate reality. Arpaio behind a pulpit. That saved the cartoonists some work! When’s the next cult meeting? This recitation of allegations has already become liturgy.
Indeed! A very apt description, on all levels.
I’m about halfway through the video of the March 31 pep rally at the Church on the Green. A couple of “highlights” so far:
Starting 19:01, using County resources to stifle free speech:
Arpaio:
“Who’s this singer from Tucson, they’re going to give her an award for going after me, oh Linda Ronstadt, remember her? She went ten thousand after me, against me down the streets to the tent city, and I did, I had another jail next to the tents, so I played her song so loud they couldn’t hear her blasting me from across the street. That’s how you do it.”
Starting 38:28, collusion between a partisan organization and the “investigation”:
Brian Reilly:
“Since that time, I’ve been, I’ve been the gofer between the Surprise Tea Party and the Cold Case Posse. They want something fetched, I go fetch it.”
Starting 43:03, Zullo admits being biased:
Mike Zullo:
“When I did meet with the Sheriff, the Sheriff did tell me, and I kind of snickered like you guys did, ‘I want to clear the President'”.
Starting 43:41, Zullo admits that no forensic document examination took place:
Zullo:
“And what we did find out in the very beginning of this venture, was to get forensic document examiners to really help us, they were prohibited from doing so because they would not render an opinion without first seeing the original document and using it as a basis of comparison.”
Starting 45:33, more colllusion:
Zullo:
“The information that we are getting was developed by citizens, it wasn’t all developed by the Cold Case Posse. You do, you should give yourself a round of applause, the people here did a tremendous amount of work.”
It’s mighty slow going.
Dave,
You have a stronger constitution that I do. I couldn’t watch more than a minute of the nonsense. But………………….
As I recall Ronstandt called Arpaio a “sadist”. And, oh yes, her brother was the chief of police in Tucson for ten years or so.
The is the jaw dropper. “We couldn’t do it the right way…..so we spent six months doing it the wrong way.” Unbelievable!!
Carl, I had to take a break. I’m sure there’s more to come, but Mama’s fixing fried chicken, and I’ll be properly fortified for the rest.
I saw announcements for the pep rally saying it wasn’t going to be broadcast, because they wanted to encourage attendance; then at the pep rally they asked “Where are the broadcasters?” and railed against the coverup.
Which is a contradiction of what he led people to believe on March 1:
Of course Zullo never actually said that the outside experts who ran the tests rendered an opinion.
Doc, I found this comment from Brian Reilly, who says God told him to start this whole mess:
http://ncrenegade.com/editorial/surprise-az-tea-party-project/
The pearl in that particular oyster, I think, is this little snippet:
“This project came together flawlessly because it truly was the Lord’s will.”
You’ve got your priorities straight!! Enjoy the chicken!
Carl, words cannot do justice to Mama and her chicken.
I’ve just listened to another nugget from the pep rally. Starting at 1:17:20, Zullo goes on with some theory about how typewriters produce exactly regular placement of letters on the page, and cites some typesetter as an expert. Now I recall getting some pretty irregular results from playing with a typewriter as a kid, and from using one after I got schooled in it; but be that as it may, typesetters don’t work with typewriters, do they?
About 1:29:00 they’re manning the lifeboats to abandon the birth certificate ship.
Great minds (and stomachs) think alike. As I type my wife is preparing her fried chicken.
Wow! This guy is giving ignorance a bad name.
Somewhere on the blog Doc has more about typewriters and their eccentricities than anyone needs to know.
And, to answer your question, a typesetter might use a typewriter from time to time but it doesn’t make him an expert on them. Do you think Zullo believes typewriting and typesetting are the same thing??
Carl, best wishes to you and that chicken, and to the responsible party. Now as for Mr. Zullo, I have a hard time getting inside that head. I also have a hard time finding out anything about Mr. Zullo’s credentials and qualifications. I have sure seen ignorance given a run for its money as I’ve watched this video.
Just now I got to 1:45:17, where he gets into “some of the people that he’s associated with, the likes of Bill Ayers”. I was wondering how long that would take.
I have some material on typewriters, but it is not encyclopedic and I’m not an expert.
Paul Irey is the birther typewriter expert. As I recall from his interview on RC Radio, he was a professional typist at one time, and later he used typewriters for publishing before he use typesetting equipment.
Irey claims that the Obama certificate is a composite of letters from many different typewriters, but he was unable to identify any of them.
The problem with Irey is that he has no reason to know about lots of different typewriters and all the things that each model could and couldn’t do under different conditions of repair and adjustment. There are such experts, but Irey is not one of them.
Doc, Zullo’s gone on and on about how this birth certificate had to have been a cut-and-paste job because it had to have been produced by multiple typewriters; and thus there is conclusive evidence of fraud. I have no idea whether or not evidence indicates a second typewriter on some grassy knoll, but I know I’ve completed a document on a second typewriter because the ribbon ran out on the first one.
It is cooking as I type!
I haven’t been able to find much on him either. Early on there was talk of him being a former/retired “detective” from Bergen, New Jersey. Bergen is a fairly small town and I found no mention of him in any newspaper archives that I could get to. That struck me as strange for a person who had been a “detective”.
I’m amazed that no one (media or not) has asked this guy more about his background
These guys haven’t had an original thought yet. What took six months??
.
This gets to one of the more fascinating contradictions in this tawdry little tale:
We have a conspiracy that birthers believe stretches back to 1961 and involves dozens, in not hundreds, of people from around the world and throughout the American media and government that managed to get man born in Kenya into the White House.
But………………….when it came to forging a birth certificate they didn’t just type up a new one but they cobbled together something from many sources and how many typewriters. Mind boggling.
Yes, it’s ridiculous, especially when compared to the care and craft that was given to an actual government forgery, albeit one perpetrated by the Brits, that occured during WWII: Operation Mincement a.k.a. The Man Who Never Was.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat
Yeah, I rated that as one of the biggest tidbits of info to learn from all this too. *face palm*
That was quite an interesting find… thanks for sharing that!
People should always be wary of those who wrap their hate in religion and proclaim actions as being instructed to them from God…
Yeah, that truly was an amazingly crucial ruse…one that continued to bring lots of additional unforseeable payoffs for the Allies throughout the War.
Of course, my favorite WWII secret plan was by Earnest Scribbler:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhmnOpoGAPw
😉
Yes, but a county sheriff involved in Presidential politics? For what legitimate purpose relevant to his office? Sherrifs in these here parts don’t even hold rallies fer themselves, much less anyone higher up the food chain!
Well, now that sounds promising. Conspiracy!
I was thinking the ultimate prize would be any sort of white-collar crime connected to the operation of this “posse”. Would you trust a lifeboat from this man?
It took 5 months to drill Arpaio on 3 years of birther memes. He’s got to be able to play the part.
Oh, and don’t forget the holiday season, and college football season. No way they got down to any serious work before mid-January. So, call it 6 weeks. See, when you put the priorities in the appropriate order, it looks better and better.
If he or his office gets Federal funds any political activity can be in violation of the Hatch Act.
He was apparently concerned with negotiations with the Justice Department during February at least.
Well, I cleaned up the photo from ORYR of the Birf-a-palooza showing the audience and made a couple of defensible assumptions.
The shot has Deano in the bottom of the right frame with the Vattelivision camera. Since he won’t want folks behind him or in his shot of the podium I can assume that he is the front row and anchor for the audience.
I further assume that the audience is seated evenly and consistently out of frame in the same manner as in the frame. If correct, then any counts based on this will be based around a maximum audience number possible.
The photograph then shows a manual count of 28-30 deep (front to back) by 23-26 across.
Min numbers = 644
Max numbers = 780
Another thought, Carl….there was a line in this ritual chant to the effect of: “You all deserve a round of applause, the people did the work, this is the people’s information.”
The non-profit posse spent six months repackaging someone else’s work …. with the intent of selling it back to them?
That’s SOP for WND, marketing what’s already free …. but telling the marks is giving the store away!
There have been people pushing him to run for Governor…..and President.
Scary thought.
The Sheriff is an elected official. By this measure the governor couldn’t be involved in politics either.
The Hatch Act applies only to employees of state or local governments in limited situations.
And the marks just keep on coming. Amazing.
That seems like a more realistic estimate of size, based on the room limitations and the noise level of the crowd. Thanks!
I say it still sets a public physical appearance record for Birthers. I can’t think of any physical event they’ve attempted that has come anywhere close. What is the optimistic estimate of the next biggest thing they’ve tried? Perhaps 150, if even??
The problem has been when Birfoons attend other assemblies such as T-Party rallies and attempt to hijack those numbers as if the majority there are also Birfoons.
The largest “pure” Birfoon rally I recall was the Phil Berg attended one last year in DC which IIRC was around 60-90 max in total with a lot of tourists wandering by and going WTF……
The “Reverend” Manning “Trial of the Century” MAY have been in the 100-150 range, hard to tell as it was rigorously controlled and as it was spread over a couple of days with people attending and leaving
They all remembered to bring a friend!
Any signs of physical abuse on the “friends”? Were any of them on leashes? Shackled to chairs, etc? Increasingly fidgeting as the service droned on? Anyone mouthing ‘help’ at the camera?
Very good point about “pure Birfoon” rally size.
Of course, there is a certain level of cross-over between some ODS suffering groups (Tea Party & Birtherism)… which is really what allows for this particular Arpaio/CCP “event” to reach the size that it did – after all, this whole thing is also their local Tea Party event rally… so this is clearly one area of the country where the Tea Party chapters are especially infected with Birtherism as well.
In terms of size, the two events you mentioned are among the biggest I can remember as well and your size estimates of those sound about right. The only other one that seems to even reach that level was their 2011 Veterans Day march – possibly exceeding the 100 mark. But then again, there were so many other marches and Veterans Day gatherings and curious passers by in that same location that a true assumption of that turnout is the most tainted of all.
On a related note, former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and his top assistant Lisa Aubuchon just got disbarred by the Arizona Supreme Court (which handles attorney licensing rather than the State Bar of Arizona, which has voluntary membership). Another assistant received a six month suspension.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/04/10/20120410thomas-aubuchon-stripped-their-legal-licenses.html
talking points memo:
this m.o. sounds quite familiar …
Guess who this quote is about:
He found her willingness to charge ahead without investigating or fundamental analysis, to be “brave.” The result was Respondents became alive in imagined interests of others that never existed. Evidence of the truth was never needed for such vain imaginings and more importantly, never sought nor wanted. For Respondents it did not matter how they produced their results as long as their desired outcome could be achieved. They prosecuted innocent people, without evidence, and did not blink.
Rather than do the serious work of real investigation and evidence based analysis, they discarded such required effort with a vengeance and replaced it with any gossip or innuendo that would serve their goal. They knew there was no evidence to find. News releases preceded news conferences and the news reports that followed became their verification. There was an intentional abandonment of even a semblance of true investigative techniques.
even more….
Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk personally informed Sheriff Arpaio and Chief Deputy Hendershott that she had reviewed the investigation involving the Stapley II case and that additional investigation was needed. Sheriff Arpaio, through Chief Deputy Hendershott, closing their eyes to his Constitutional rights, ordered Mr. Stapley arrested.
They never filed any documents or charges but instead surreptitiously videotaped his arrest, and held him in jail for hours. It was testified that no one ever filed anything against Mr. Stapley regarding this event, but took the time to call the press to inform them that he had been arrested.
Shocked, Ms. Polk demanded a meeting with Sheriff Arpaio, Mr. Hendershott, Mr. Thomas and Ms. Aubuchon. On September 24, 2009, she confronted the
Sheriff in his own office. He exploded. Mr. Thomas and Ms. Aubuchon stood silent. Polk Testimony, Hr’g Tr. 211:18–215:2. Regardless of some counts, Respondents knew they had charged a person with dozens of crimes that he could not be convicted of. When Ms. Polk discovered that Respondents ignored the Constitution by intentionally hiding critical evidence from her, she publically criticized Mr. Thomas and the Sheriff. The retort was to be expected. Lisa Aubuchon reported the actions of Sheila Polk to the Grand Jury. Her witness? Chief Deputy Hendershott. Ex. 185, TRIAL EXB. 02097. To its credit, the Grand Jury refused to be
The name “Hendershott,” which I had only before come across in the movie Unforgiven (Will Munney’s alias while attempting to slum as a know-nothing dope), keeps popping up in the annals of birtherism.
Hmmm.
The complaint is like reading all about Birthers and Orly Taitz- even though it is just people as inept and corrupt of values as she is
Ms. Alexander never located an investigative file for the RICO Act Lawsuit. There was no investigative file. No factual investigation was performed by anyone to discover actual evidence to prove any facts relevant to the RICO Act Lawsuit.390 Mr. Thomas, Ms. Aubuchon and Ms. Alexander instead followed what had become the standard practice: (i) treating as a fact an unsubstantiated rumor without any investigation to determine its truth, and (ii) ascribing a malevolent motive to every action, ruling or decision contrary to Mr. Thomas’s desires and wishes.
These are the people that worked with Sheriff Joe…..
Note Sheriff Joe suggesting abuse of authority in order to avoid an embarressing Grand Jury
Chief Hendershott told them about the racketeering lawsuit, and that they thought Judge Donahoe was going to throw MCAO off all County investigations.Chief Hendershott said that he had met with Mr. Thomas, Ms. Aubuchon, and Sheriff Arpaio, and that Sheriff Arpaio came up with the idea of charging the judge.Chief Hendershott told Sgt. Luth to use as the material for the Form 4, or probable cause (“PC”) statement, a complaint that the Chief Deputy had submitted to the Commission on Judicial Conduct against Judge Donahoe.
Arpaio ally Andrew Thomas DISBARRED:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/10/1082194/-Arpaio-ally-Andrew-Thomas-DISBARRED