We all know how the Bush regime played fast and loose with our own laws and discarded international law all together.  Our country is currently paying the price for these past sins in the debate on where and how exactly to try the 9/11 bombers for their crimes.  Conservatives and right wing media claim that President Obama is a racist and a fascist, a socialist and a communist depending on who you listen to.  They cry foul and freedom at every action he takes that may move our country just one little baby step into the future and shake apart on camera pining for the America of the past.

If you could find one little man, and I do mean little in the grand fabric of our nation, that stood for every dirty deed the Bushies ever tried to pull who would you name?  Cheney, Rumsfeld and Gonzales all jump to mind but they are in the national spotlight.  Ollie North was an old timer from daddies administration who got a career from being a criminal.  John Yoo is still a national figure.

So who today could be the poster boy for conservative law and order?  Who is the little American that waves the Tea Bagger flag?  Who has the nerve to shred our Constitution and bill of Rights on a daily basis and smile about it?  Well there is just one name that comes to mind and that name is:  Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County Az.

This is a man that will smile in your face while he tells you he can determine you are a criminal by the clothes you wear and how you talk.  Those are the only reasons he and his jack booted deputies need to arrest you.  Too damn bad old Sheriff Joe seems to dress from an old cop movie from the 1970′s.  Anyone younger than him could be a target for arrest.  Lucky for all us white folks he ain’t looking for us!

I must admit that at one time I found him to be a refreshing breath of air in the justice system.  Dressing prisoners up in pink and black stripe outfits with pink underwear and only basic food seemed at the time to be a good idea and possible deterrent to me.

Sadly though, like so many before him old Sheriff Joe has let a little bit of power make him think he is some sort of twisted fat old God.  In his little mind the law is what he says it is and not what our nation decrees as justice.  He has turned Maricopa County into his own little racist haven where he and his police can wad up any judicial process and toss it into the trash can.

From arresting those who would speak out against him at town hall meetings to busting anyone for driving while black or brown old Joe can deny it all with a straight face.  From arresting a person for the way they talk to the way they dress this eel can squirm out of any trap that may catch him.  From calling prisoners dying in the desert on work details due to lack of water accidents to feeding rotting food to prisoners he is always the good guy and a victim of slurs.

Well now one of Old Joe’s stormtroopers has been caught on tape in an open court violating several of our most basic of civil liberties, the right to an attorney, the right of privacy and attorney client privilege.

This supposed deputy walked up to the defense table during trial and actually removed documents from the defense attorneys file!  Then in open court and for all the world to see he called another supposed law enforcement officer over to take the documents and walk out of the court room with them!  The ease and casualness with which this so called law enforcement officer committed this crime tells me it is not the first time he has committed this violation of the law.

There are clear legal, moral and ethical issues involved here and the guilt is clear due to the video tape.  Lucky for us that this happened on old fat Joe’s watch, a man that enforces the law to the maximum. I am sure that criminal charges will soon follow for the deputies involved in the violation of the accused civil rights.

Sadly that is not the case.  Though committed in plain sight of the judge and caught on video camera there will be no charges against this violation of our most basic of civil liberties.  All this fair and balanced judge has asked for is apologies  from the deputies involved.

That seems like a light sentence to me for committing what many say is a felony but he is a cop in Maricopa County and he is  white after all.  I mean after all its not up to the judge to control what happens in his courtroom, right?  It’s not like the judge can do anything about crimes being committed before his very eyes in his courtroom, right?  It’s up to old Sheriff Joe to bring charges against this obviously rogue officer who would so blatantly violate a defendents rights, right?

Well, maybe not.  After a so called thorough and extensive investigation that took all of 2 seconds old Sheriff Joe proclaimed the deputies involved innocent of all charges.  Though caught on video tape removing documents from the defense attorneys file and handing them off to another deputy to remove them from the court room Sheriff Joe says nothing was done against any law.

O.K. Old Sheriff Joe is old after all and may not be up on all the current laws but at least the deputies will have to give a token “I’m sorry” for their crimes and leave it at that no matter how badly the defendants rights were violated.  Just a simple “sorry judge” and the whole thing goes away.  That seems wrong to me on so many levels but this is Maricopa County Az. after all and it seems the laws of our nation no longer apply there.

However, like the little fat dictator he is, Old Joe says he and his S.S. stormtroopers do not need to follow even a judges instructions.  There is no way they will apologize for breaking the law in a courtroom just like they will not apologize for breaking it on the street.  They are the law so they seem to think they are above it.  They are white, have guns and badges and therefore are the supreme beings in the land they walk in.

Maybe, just maybe now that Old Joe is once again in the national spotlight the state or federal government will take a look at him.  This conservative poster child for law and order has gone way to far this time by defying a judge.  I am sure many of those eating rotting food thanks to him would love to get away with a simple “I’m sorry”.

Maybe its time to throw this relic into his own work camps and see just how tough he is.