Coastie,

I hope you are kidding, but somehow I think that you are serious.

It does not matter what Arpaio is politically, he is a egomaniac and a psychopath. I am surprised than anyone who has felt the wrath of our government by having to register would admit they liked him.

Forget sex offenders for a second. He is just a typical cop who runs over the disenfranchised for a little power and publicity. He is just a bad person and has no business in law enforcement. He has no humanity and worse, he thinks it is admirable.

This should really have nothing to do with politics.

Your argument about the military living in worse conditions than Joe's inmates has little merit if you examine it closely. Many times in a military situation, the conditions are dictated by where the soldiers are at----in a foreign desert or a country with a hostile environment. Joe could make conditions more humane for the inmates, but he refuses to do so because he thinks it is "cute" to be a bully and run over a bunch of inmates and families of inmates who he knows cannot take up for themselves. He is a mean person.

Regarding the MRE meals you spoke of, I assume you ate them as you said you did, but some of the baloney sandwiches in prison are not even edible.

Forget the pink underwear. That is just childish.

You say he has not been sued yet. Well, no, he hasn't, but his ass should have been in the penitentiary somewhere long ago. He oversteps his authority and he is everything that is wrong with law enforcement in America.

I know you are not a complainer, and I admire you for that. But there are times I get the impression that, as a registrant, you just did not get screwed hard enough by the government to understand what some of these families are going through.

Just last week I had several mothers message me, crying and emotionally distraught, not because their son has put himself in prison, as they acknowledge he did wrong, but by the blatant disregard the officials, people like Joe, have for humanity in these situations. This kind of treatment and the run around the mothers and families receive is not necessary.

I would not wish this on anyone, but perhaps you needed a few years in prison for a crime you did not commit, or a ten year sentence followed by a decade of probation for some non-contact, non-violent crime like the possession of CP, or a son / daughter in prison that, as a wife or mother, you have to worry 24/7 whether they will even survive the next day. Maybe that would bring you back to reality.

I respect you Coastie, but you should understand the full reality of some of the injustices offenders suffer. I know, I know, they committed the crime, so they should not complain. It has nothing to do with complaining, but more with asking to be treated as a human being.

Politics should have nothing to do with treating people like animals.

rewdiazepam

I am not familiar with Arpaio but he sounds a lot like a sheriff in FL named Grady Judd - the man is a really scary dude. He is the head of the task force (which is being investigated by the way) and has actually appeared on TV saying that he does not care about what the courts say all the guys caught in stings are perverts. He has also been an advocate for making life miserable for inmates.

Coastie I agree with REW that it is obvious that this situation has not bit you hard enough to have compassion for others. That is not something anyone can change (well except maybe you but I doubt that is forthcoming) - mistreatment of human beings is never right - whether they are mentally ill, guilty of a crime, from another country, or from another race. Our country has a very long history of talking the talk but not walking the walk. The country my father fought for in three wars and several "incidents" no longer exists. Anyone that examines the system closely and fairly will find that many laws today violate the basic principles of the Constitution - not just the SO laws but others as well. Many felonies today have the Mea culpa factor removed so that courts do not have to prove one's intent to commit a crime. Many of the felonies on the books today actually say this and others just ignore it all together - and this is just one factor that is eroding the civil and constitutional rights of every citizen in the US.

There is also one factor you forget - soldiers are free. It is a career. My father gladly ate his military meals and slept in tents becasue he wanted to fly - and he did and lived out his dream. Every re enlistment time he chose to stay - not becasue the food or accommodations were great but simply becasue he wanted to fly. To compare the life of a soldier to an inmate is absolutely ridicules. We have heard all the rhetoric about the folks living the life of an SO or in prison becasue of it committed a crime - that is correct but that does not make the law fair or constitutional. Branding folks and ostracizing them from society ALWAYS - without exception - goes into the history books as a huge mistake. And the mass hysteria and public mis information always goes along with it. Look at interim camps for Japanese AMERICAN citizens during WWII - look at Jim Crow laws in the south (remember anyone violating them was a criminal and this was upheld by the Supreme Court for many years as separate but equal) - Native Americans on reservations (a system that it still in place today although somewhat changed) leaving the reservation was a CRIME without permission - they were ALL bad moves and so are the SO laws.

Many of us, including you coastie, are luckier than others. And yes lucky - it is only by chance that you are in the state you are in and that the laws are what they are - why don't you move to FL? I am not serous of course I would not wish that on anyone but the point is if that if you did you would have to register with FL and you would now be on the registry for life and follow the restrictions of FL. Would that make your crime worse than what it is now? No of course not but I hope you get my point - it would make your situation a lot worse. I feel lucky everyday that the judge in my son's case tried to help him as much as possible and kept him out of prison - many others here are not so lucky and I feel their pain and fear every day. I try very hard to have compassion with and for them.

These are but a few articles and investigative pieces that detail what a "good and neat" guy Sheriff Joe happens to be. I can find hundreds of other articles written from many sources----conservative or liberal-----that document his antics.

And Coastie, this is the guy you like?

http://tinyurl.com/o6rdstr

http://tinyurl.com/m4sqwwa

http://tinyurl.com/2cb8zzs

rewdiazepam

I wish I was as articulate as Rew.. Very well said. Arpaio has been sued over and over again. He almost always looses, he doesn't pay a dime out of pocket because it is his insurance company, the we the citizens of this county pay the huge premiums on, that pays that. I think in law enforcement it is SOP to carry insurance to cover any officer sued for wrong doing., Also, we had a real douche bag county attorney named Andrew Thomas who thought he would ride off of Arpios fame and look blindly the other way anytime Arpio was accused of something. He was disbarred for unethical practices and forced out of office early. The two of them tried to over step our first amendment rights and suppress freedom of speech by arresting the owners of Phoenix Newtimes paper for printing his address

How does one fight for their life to be restored due to a law that became more punitive 35 years after the crime.

The registry I was under gave me the right to privacy and to live without fear.

In 1947, the state of California established America's first sex offender registry to help monitor the whereabouts of dangerous sex offenders living within its borders [1]. In the 52 years since, the other forty-nine states have also passed legislation that requires released sex offenders to register with local law enforcement in the area in which they establish residence [2]. Until 1996, the information contained in California's registry (and others) was available only to law enforcement agencies. The concern was that the public release of such information might violate the offender's right to privacy and to live without fear.

Lifegonewrong,

You said, " How does one fight for their life to be restored due to a law that became more punitive 35 years after the crime."

I agree with you regarding the situation, but unfortunately, the courts in California do not agree that the law is punitive or ever became punitive. Of course, maybe it has not been tested fully in the courts there, but as long as it is considered a civil regulatory scheme to protect the public, the retroactivity is legal.

The only recourse I know is to find someone who is in your shoes and sue the state of California. In fact, it sounds as if you would be a good defendant. You would, in effect, be California's Starkey. Then your attorney hopefully convinces the courts that applying the newer laws that enhanced the registry scheme to the people convicted before their enactment would be punitive and an ex post facto violation of the California constitution; therefore, they could not be applied retroactively.

This violation of retroactivity was the ruling in both the Williams case in Ohio and the Starkey case in Oklahoma. I think the Maryland ruled in much the same manner earlier in the year, but that decision is still tied up in the courts. And Kansas has a big ruling pending that will also address this retroactivity situation for people like you.

As long as these laws are considered civil in nature, they can legally be applied retroactively. Once they become punitive, they cannot.

rewdiazepam

Coastie, what Rew said

-everyone else on this forum

Thank you for being understanding, your statement gave me a better understanding.

Ya'll just don't get it do you? I was just going to leave this alone and let you slam me, hell, it's a free country.(Ok, make your comments on that too).
Damn right I am a fan of Joe Arpio, and of anyone else who who actively fights against illegal immigration, and just for the record, 'W' was just as liberal on it as is Obozo/Holder...Yes Amy, round 'em up and ship out, your brother is being hounded by LE right? Illegals broke the law as well, you know, equality and all that shit. I won't go into the ISIS that have been caught coming across the border the last few weeks, how many haven't been caught? Enough on that.

Rew,
I don't want to measure dicks, but maybe I should spend time in prison? Maybe you should spend months at a time at sea....Yard time? Ain't no yard, my ship was 378ft long and 32ft wide...2 man cell? 30 man berthing area, I was lucky, I worked hard and became 'Cock of the Walk' and got a corner rack, there were only 4 upper and 4 lower corner racks, the others were separated by peg board, a bit close, don't you think? There were 159 coasties aboard and we didn't have the choice of not working.I worked 36 straight hours(Occasional 30 min breaks to eat) in a storm in the Gulf of Alaska(55ft seas) when we lost a piston on the starboard main diesel.
After 3 weeks or so, all food was canned, powdered or frozen, and the cooks could only do so much.(Our baker kicked ass though.)
Now, I also lived in a GP Large tent in the sandbox and ate MRE's for 4 months(1990-91). Inedible baloney sandwiches? You obviously haven't eaten many MRE's.(They are better now). Wonderbread was a treat.

I have been here for 5+ years. Go back and look at my posts over the years, I've been slammed for them by some people because I won't just roll over and let them fuck me. I get angry when i hear this "Poor me" bullshit...Yeah, I'm an RSO! Got a fucking problem?
In the last 5 years I've been laid off 3 times directly due to the current admins. policies(Oil and defense industries, and I can prove it if you want). Did I get depressed? Sure, especially the last time, but guess what? I'm working, not the best job I've had, but it's a job. I make myself desirable enough that companies overlook my status.(I worked 28 straight days in August.(And Labor day weekend).
There is a difference between Judd and Arpio. Grady Judd is an inbred moron running for office in a state of inbred morons....Like him or not, Joe Arpio believes in what he is doing, there is a difference.

Amy..Sorry to disappoint you, but I watch, not only Fox, but CNN and PMSNBC.(I used to think Al Sharpton was actually funny until he got skinny, but now he is just a nasty hatefull racist.

This is all I'm gonna say on this thread..If you don't like it, Ya'll can kiss my ass....And i am quite sober.

I read in the paper today that ISIS is on Twitter and can be contacted that way. WTF?? I almost shit myself laughing. There is no ISIS ! That is all the proof we need. Never mind the blatantly obvious videos. I love that ISIS is on twitter but the all mighty NSA which reads and stores every txt message, email and all our internet traffic in their grand data storage center and keeps all of our IPS numbers with it for seven years. Just in case they want to retroactively charge us with a crime. But they can't track any of the members of ISIS through their obviously very popular twitter account. That is just insulting to our intelligence.

Coastie..you are who you are. I don't hate you for it. Stop insinuating I do. For fun..can you just type out Obama's name one time with out the mocking misspelling of it. I just am wondering if you actually know how to spell it, because you never have. It's like how Obama always calls ISIS ISIL ....does he know that's not their made up name ?

I hear what you are saying about your shipboard experience Coastie - I have one question though - why did you stay? why were you there? I won't even touch the free country part ...

Coastie,

The statement, "If you don't like it, Ya'll can kiss my ass," is not very reassuring on a support forum. Is that how you feel about some of the posters on here???

Nobody called you childish names like you do when you refer to political figures, nobody insulted you, we only made observations and debated. No need to get angry.

Nobody is mad at you, so why all the "Y'all can kiss my ass" sentiment?

rewdiazepam

I have another question for you Coastie - those awful conditions you say you endured aboard ship - how would you have felt if someone came up to you during it and said sorry this is your life now - you can never leave