tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31185275695747388102008-07-16T17:24:33.666-07:00ALLEGHENY REPUBLICANSMichael Grantnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118527569574738810.post-62784306639543542462008-06-27T05:08:00.000-07:002008-06-27T05:09:21.864-07:00SHERIFF JOE IS AT IT AGAIN!<a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_WMAfW6Ix_9c/SGTYVcapscI/AAAAAAAAAlw/wKttwzrA6y4/s1600-h/untitled.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216532131318706626" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_WMAfW6Ix_9c/SGTYVcapscI/AAAAAAAAAlw/wKttwzrA6y4/s200/untitled.bmp" border="0" /></a>Maricopa County was spending approx. $18 million dollars a year on stray animals, like cats and dogs. Sheriff Joe offered to take the department over, and the County Supervisors said okay.<br />The animal shelters are now all staffed and operated by prisoners. They feed and care for the strays. Every animal in his care is taken out and walked twice daily. He now has prisoners who are experts in animal nutrition and behavior. They give great classes for anyone who'd like to adopt an animal. He has literally taken stray dogs off the street, given them to the care of prisoners, and had them place in dog shows.<br />The best part? His budget for the entire department is now under $3 million. Teresa and I adopted a Weimaraner from a Maricopa County shelter two years ago. He was neutered, and current on all shots, in great health, and even had a microchip inserted the day we got him. Cost us $78.<br />The prisoners get the benefit of about $0.28 an hour for working, but most would work for free, just to be out of their cells for the day. Most of his budget is for utilities, building maintenance, etc. He pays the prisoners out of the fees collected for adopted animals.<br />I have long wondered when the rest of the country would take a look at the way he runs the jail system, and copy some of his ideas. He has a huge farm, donated to the county years ago, where inmates can work, and they grow most of their own fresh vegetables and food, doing all the work and harvesting by hand. He has a pretty good sized hog farm, which provides meat, and fertilizer. It fertilizes the Christmas tree nursery, where prisoners work, and you can buy a living Christmas tree for $6 - $8 for the Holidays, and plant it later. We have six trees in our yard from the Prison.<br />Yup, he was reelected last year with 83% of the vote.<br />Now he's in trouble with the ACLU again. He painted all his buses and vehicles with a mural, that has a special hotline phone number painted on it, where you can call and report suspected illegal aliens. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement wasn't doing enough in his eyes, so he had 40 deputies trained specifically for enforcing immigration laws, started up his hotline, and bought 4 new buses just for hauling folks back to the border. He's kind of a 'Git-R Dun' kind of Sheriff.<br /><br />TO THOSE OF YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH JOE ARPAIO, HE IS THE MARICOPA ARIZONA COUNTY SHERIFF, AND HE KEEPS GETTING ELECTED OVER AND OVER.<br />Sheriff Joe Arpaio (In Arizona ) who created the ' Tent City Jail': He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.<br />He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails. Took away their weights Cut off all but 'G' movies.<br />He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects.<br />Then He Started Chain Gangs For Women So He Wouldn't Get Sued For Discrimination.<br />He took away cable TV Until he found out there was A Federal Court Order that Required Cable TV For Jails So He Hooked Up The Cable TV Again Only Let In The Disney Channel And The Weather Channel.<br />When asked why the weather channel He Replied, So They Will Know How Hot It's Gonna Be While They Are Working ON My Chain Gangs.<br />He Cut Off Coffee Since It Has Zero Nutritional Value.<br />When the inmates complained, he told them, 'This Isn't The Ritz/Carlton.....If You Don't Like It, Don't Come Back.'<br />He bought Newt Gingrich's lecture series on videotape that he pipes into the jails.<br />When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a Democrat, he replied that a democratic lecture series might explain why a lot of the inmates were in his jails in the first place.<br />More On The Arizona Sheriff:<br />With Temperatures Being Even Hotter Than Usual In Phoenix (116 Degrees Just Set A New Record), the Associated Press Reports:<br />About 2,000 Inmates Living In A Barbed-Wire-Surrounded Tent Encampment At The Maricopa County Jail Have Been Given Permission To Strip Down To Their Government-Issued Pink Boxer Shorts.<br />On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 138 Degrees Inside The Week Before.<br />Many Were Also Swathed In Wet, Pink Towels As Sweat Collected On Their Chests And Dripped Down To Their PINK SOCKS.<br />'It Feels Like We Are In A Furnace,' Said James Zanzot, An Inmate Who Has Lived In The TENTS for 1 year. 'It's Inhumane.'<br />Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic. He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates: 'It's 120 Degrees In Iraq And Our Soldiers Are Living In Tents Too, And They Have To Wear Full Battle Gear,<br />But They Didn't Commit Any Crimes, So Shut Your Mouths!'<br />Maybe if all prisons were like this one there would be a lot less crime and/or repeat offenders. Criminals should be punished for their crimes - not live in luxury until it's time for their parole, only to go out and commit another crime so they can get back in to live on taxpayers money and enjoy things taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves.<br />Sheriff Joe was just reelected Sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona<br /><div></div>Michael Grantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118527569574738810.post-86792332949655829622008-06-19T05:13:00.000-07:002008-06-19T05:14:07.061-07:00Our Tax System Explained: Bar Stool EconomicsSuppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:<br />The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.<br />The fifth would pay $1.<br />The sixth would pay $3.<br />The seventh would pay $7.<br />The eighth would pay $12.<br />The ninth would pay $18.<br />The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.<br /> <br />So, that's what they decided to do.<br />The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20." Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.<br />The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.<br />But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'<br />They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.<br /> <br />And so:<br />The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).<br />The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).<br /><br />The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).<br />The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).<br />The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).<br />The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).<br /> <br />Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.<br /> <br />"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"<br /> <br />"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got"<br /> <br />"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"<br /> <br />"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"<br /> <br />The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.<br /> <br />The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!<br /> <br />And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.Michael Grantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118527569574738810.post-82556783591274620092008-06-19T05:07:00.001-07:002008-06-19T05:07:38.402-07:00<a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_WMAfW6Ix_9c/SFpL-22kB7I/AAAAAAAAAlA/8HmAyNbdmy0/s1600-h/alleghenyrep"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213563061883111346" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_WMAfW6Ix_9c/SFpL-22kB7I/AAAAAAAAAlA/8HmAyNbdmy0/s200/alleghenyrep" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>Michael Grantnoreply@blogger.com