Tucson radio wing nut "Jon Justice" gets panties in twist over Joe Arpaio pinata.

Published on Phoenix New Times Blog
Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 05:24:50 PM



Video of the Tucson protest of Arpaio, from Jon Justice's 1041TheTruth, showing a Sheriff Joe piñata being beaten and Isabel Garcia scooping up its head.

Like you need more proof that times are way-way-slow down in the "Old Pueblo," Tucson radio wing nut "Jon Justice" is hunting the head of local pro-immigrant firebrand Isabel Garcia after Garcia toted the decapitated noggin of a Sheriff Joe Arpaio piñata at an anti-Joe protest.

Seems Nickel Bag Joe was down in Tucson recently for yet another book signing for his prevarication-friendly work of fiction Joe's Law. You know, the one where he claims to have been behind the crippling of the French Connection drug ring, and where he maintains that the Mexican mafia, the Minutemen and immigrant rights activist Elias Bermudez are conspiring against his life. Anyway, Joe was at a Tucson Barnes and Noble to pimp the tome, and there was a lawful protest at the B&N that included scores of demonstrators, and featured, at one point, a Sheriff Joe piñata that two teens beat to a pulp.

Um, like, so what? After all, Phoenicians may recall, if they strain really hard, that the local activist group PUEBLO caught a little heck from the media on Cinco de Mayo, when their inaugural shindig included several Sheriff Joe piñatas that were creamed by party-goers until Joe's candied innards rained from the sky like stripper dollars. PUEBLO was pilloried for the day, unfairly from my point of view, but even Joe didn't make that big of a stink over the matter. He got his mug on the telly that eve, and it wasn't even a media event his highly-paid army of PR flacks had orchestrated. Christ, the old fart was practically giddy

Less than 48 hours later, the PUEBLO piñatas were forgotten, like last month's celebrity meltdown. And why shouldn't they be? We're just talking about some papier-mâché dolls stuffed with Tootsie Rolls and affixed with Joe's dyspeptic mug. Plus, whacking political piñatas ain't nothing new, much less eyebrow-raising, unless you're a complete ass-backwards moron with the cultural I.Q. of a Lincoln Log. Down in Latin America, it’s practically de rigueur for a pol to get bopped in this fashion, but you don’t have to go so far afield. Just check out piñatas.com, where you can find piñatas to abuse of all political stripes – whether it’s Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Dick Cheney or Fidel Castro.

But it seems some rubes in Arizona's Second City think Joe Arpaio should belong to a protected class. Meat-headed lip-flapper Jon Justice, who spews loony venom for Tucson news talk station 104.1 FM "The Truth" (yeah, right), has organized a campaign to get Isabel Garcia fired from her post as the Pima County Legal Defender, because she was present when the piñata-smacking went down, and afterward lifted up the severed toy head and carried it forth through the crowd of protesters. He also wants her disbarred, and because Garcia has long been a lightning rod for nativist hate groups, he’s motivated other drooling imbeciles to call Garcia’s boss at the county and complain.

Interestingly, Jon Just-An-Ass recently added a full-size Garcia piñata to his shtick, and fondled it for a YouTube video, thereby removing all doubt as to his status as a blithering idiot. I guess if we were to take seriously his claim that Garcia threatened Joe with violence by picking up the piñata head, we'd have to assume, by the same wack logic, that he was threatening Garcia with sexual assault by molesting her effigy?

Considering the political slant of this Jon Justice clown, his anti-Garcia campaign would pretty much be par for the reactionary course were it not for a Tucson Citizen opinion piece published yesterday, penned by Anne Denogean, titled "Protesters as offensive as Sheriff Joe,” wherein she took Garcia to task for her actions.

“While the beating of Arpaio in effigy proceeded, Isabel Garcia, head of Humanos Derechos, a group that purports to stand for the dignity of all human beings, stood by and laughed.

“The spectacle reminded me of the antics of an extremist on the other side of the issue, a Tucson man who does his best to incite riots by burning Mexican flags in public places. I wondered how Garcia would react if the virulent anti-illegal immigrant hard-liners were to burn her in effigy or hang a papier-mâché figure meant to represent an Mexican illegal immigrant."

Remember, Arpaio is the Sheriff of Maricopa County, not Pima County. And our corrupt top constable has recently made it the priority of his office to racially profile and arrest undocumented residents on the flimsiest of pretexts, his deputies holding them in custody and leaning on them to sign voluntary removals back to their countries of origin, usually Mexico. In doing so, he tears mothers and fathers from their children and sometimes vice versa, all for minor offenses like a cracked windshield or a non-working tail light.

Of course, there are more reasons to loathe Nickel Bag Joe than just his sweeps of immigrant communities and the intimidation and fear-mongering that comes with them. There are the wrongful deaths in his jails and the horrendous conditions therein, which have cost Maricopa County taxpayers over $43 million in lawsuit payouts to date. There’s also Joe’s political corruption, his retaliation against critics and opponents, and his endless show-boating for the cameras.

All reasons enough to thump a piñata to me, and for Tucson’s residents to tell Arpaio to get lost. But Denogean takes offense.

“The protesters did their best to run Arpaio out of town, with signs urging him to go home.Frankly, as an American, Arpaio has the right to go wherever he pleases.

“But more important, the demand that Arpaio get out of our town is as bad as the suggestion by those on the other side of the immigration debate that anyone who dares utter the words "comprehensive immigration reform" should hitch a ride on the next donkey to Mexico.”

Uh, no. It’s not as bad, Anne. When a tyrant sashays into town, people have every right, and dare I say, moral obligation to tell that tyrant where to go in no uncertain terms. If Robert Mugabe, Fidel Castro or the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet were doing a book signing in your burg, wouldn’t you expect folks to vociferously protest such human rights abusers? Perhaps even by bashing a piñata, burning an effigy or telling these authoritarian a-holes to head home?

Arpaio’s jails have been condemned by Amnesty International, and his anti-Hispanic dragnets are being investigated by the Feds. He deserves every symbolic lick he gets. Plus, I’ll let you in on a little secret Denogean, Joe feeds off the hate. He loves this sort of stuff, and it allows him to play to his base. A Joe-critic like you coming to his defense would only seem comical to him.

As for this radio chucklehead’s suggestion that Garcia should be fired, censured or disbarred, Justice is basically filling his own smelly little news hole and garnering attention for himself. It would be a real mistake for anyone in a position of responsibility either at the Arizona State Bar or Pima County government to take this goofball Sean Hannity wannabe (and never-gonnabe) seriously. For her part, Garcia is unapologetic, writing in a statement on the Web site of the advocacy group she co-chairs, Derechos Humanos, that,

“I am proud to have been part of the community's response to [Arpaio’s] arrival in Tucson…As an attorney I find it is not only my right, but my responsibility to stand up when the power of the state is used to crush people. I will continue to do so.”

Now, that’s a lady with stones. If Pima County doesn’t want her, she should head north. We could use a ballsy babe like her here in the PHX.

Note to Roy Wackjob below: Go ahead, take your best shot, Oswald.