Arpaio's Threat Squad does battle with web forum posters.

Sources inside the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office say Sheriff Joe Arpaio's four-man "Threat Squad" has a new mission: Find Mr. Ooops! and his techno-savvy pals who are bothering America's Toughest Sheriff with their insensitive blatherings on Arpaio.com, a popular Web site frequented by deputies and other critics.

The Threat Squad supposedly exists to investigate death threats against Arpaio and other public figures. But sources say the squad's recent efforts have been directed at finding the identities of those who are posting freewheeling messages on the site.

Some postings are rumors, some are rants. Some, by guys like police union leader Mike Pennington, who uses his real name, are impassioned, detailed and accurate narratives of the horrific working conditions created under Arpaio's watch.

This Threat Squad costs the taxpayers about $250,000 per year.

John W. Gardner, who helped launch Medicare, founded Common Cause and became known as ``the father of campaign finance reform,'' has died. He was 89. Gardner died Saturday at his home on the Stanford University campus, his daughter, Francesca Gardner, told The Associated Press. ``He was a good American father,'' she said. ``He was honest, straightforward, earnest, funny, but he knew how to get a laugh in a speech.''

A nice profile/biographical write-up of Gardner's life can be found here at this PBS online feature.

I didn't find anything about the recent news on Common Cause, but there may be something posted there by the time you read this ...

Ten times when using the "f" word was probably acceptable.

10. What the @#$% was that?" -Mayor Of Hiroshima, 1945

9. "Where did all those @#$%ing Indians come from?" -Custer, 1877

8. "Any @#$%ing idiot could understand that." -Einstein, 1938

7. "It does so @#$%ing look like her!" -Picasso, 1926

6. "How the @#$% did you work that out?" -Pythagoras, 126 BC

5. "You want WHAT on the @#$%ing ceiling?" -Michelangelo, 1566

4. "Where the @#$% are we?" -Amelia Earhart, 1937

3. "Scattered @#$%ing showers, my ass!" -Noah, 4314 BC

2. "Aw c'mon. Who the @#$% is going to find out?" -Bill Clinton, 1999

AND

1. "Geez, I didn't think they'd get this @%#*^ing mad." -Osama bin Laden, 2001

The Arizona Republic is running a celebratory feature special on Arizona's 90th year of statehood. Here is their list of the most important folks in Arizona history, which differs a bit from the public vote tallied on one of their website forms.

1. Carl Hayden
2. Barry Goldwater
3. George W.P. Hunt
4. Ernest W. McFarland
5. Charles Poston
6. Father Eusebio Kino
7. John Wesley Powell
8. Sandra Day O'Connor
9. James S. Douglas
10. John J. Rhodes

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