Free Republic

PHOENIX (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department says an appeals court overstepped its bounds when it ordered the appointment of a special prosecutor to pursue an appeal involving a pardon of retired Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The appointment was previously ordered by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.{snip} The Justice Department said in its appellate brief that “the government does not abdicate the prosecutorial function when it agrees with a defendant on a legal question.” Arpaio’s attorneys argued that appointing a special prosecutor “raises serious questions about whether the court is actively participating in the prosecution...."

RAMONA — The controversial sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County was in Ramona [last] Saturday to weigh in on the increasingly contentious immigration debate, applauding the protesters who blocked busloads of Central Americans in Riverside County this month as “heroes of our country.” Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the standoff outside a Border Patrol processing station in Murrieta helped reignite discussion of U.S. immigration policy. “Until then, nobody was talking about it, nobody was doing anything about it,” he said before a standing room-only crowd of more than 500 supporters packed into the theater at the Ramona Mainstage. :snip: Arpaio came to...

Can you guess which person said the following quote this week? "If they're afraid to go to church, that's good." If you guessed "Osama Bin Laden," you'd be wrong. But your answer would be understandable, as they certainly sound like the words of a terrorist. No, the man who said this is actually somewhat of a hero on the right. Conservatives fancy him as a sort of cowboy sheriff, fearlessly rounding up lawbreakers and treating them as prisoners should be treated: no cable, pink underwear, and oh yeah...the chance that they'll die needlessly from lack of the appropriate health care...