We're used to the story by now.  Every so often we see the same type of story.  Blogger posts against local government or Police corruption.  The next we here of him the police have moved in, seized his computer, including private business records, and arrested the blogger on trumped up charges.  And we get rightfully indignant -- as we should -- and join a world-wide campaugn to protect those bloggers and protest the actions of the police department and corrupt government.

We are used to seeing the story from Egypt, from Iraq, from China or Zimbabwe.

But Phoenix?  Phoenix, Arizona?

Before this morning I had never heard of the blog, BodPhoenixCops.  I have no idea whether the authors of this blog are brilliant investigators whose reliablity is high, or if they are as crazy as the Birthers and Michelle Bachman together.  (And since the likelihood of me finding myself in Phoenix any time during the remainder of my life is pretty close to 0%, I wouldn't care, ordinarily.)

It doesn't matter. 

And if this comment gets noticed, I hope the discussion does not get bogged down in a discussion about that side issue.  Free speech is free speech, even for the most obnoxious of speakers -- as long as their is no incitement to violence.  The Jehovah's Witnesses, who were responsible for many cases on freedom of speech and religion, were obnoxious anti-Catholic bigots.  The Minnesota newspaper whose case got 'freedom of the press' made applicable to the states was angry and near-libelous.

It doesn't matter.

What matters is the response of the Phoenix Police Department, as detailed by Ed Brayton and the stories linked to there.  One quote says it all:

"In what should send a frightening chill down the spine of every blogger, writer, journalist and First Amendment advocate in the United States, Phoenix police raided the home of a blogger who has been highly critical of the department.

Jeff Pataky, who runs Bad Phoenix Cops, said the officers confiscated three computers, routers, modems, hard drives, memory cards and everything necessary to continue blogging.

The 41-year-old software engineer said they also confiscated numerous personal files and documents relating to a pending lawsuit he has against the department alleging harassment - which he says makes it obvious the raid was an act of retaliation."

The site claims that most of their material comes from good cops, active and retired, who are blowing the whistle on the department.  Apparently the police agree.

"Police apparently believe one of the tipsters is an officer named David Barnes, who fell out of favor with the department in 2007 when he was a detective and went public with claims of mismanaged evidence at the city crime lab.

Police also raided Barnes' home and according to Pataky's inside sources, plan to raid the homes of more cops."

If this had happened in Cairo, or in Belusconi's Italy, or under Mugabe, every blog in the world would be protesting, and rightfully so.  The libertarians, the liberals, the honest conservatives, all would be out front and yelling.  (And to his credit, one person who has featured the story on his radio show and interviewed the bloggers is J.D. Hayworth.)

Yes, the blog is angry, yes the blog makes accusations, and some may be severely over the top.  Maybe they are true, maybe they are libelous.  But none of them call for a police raid and seizure on ridiculous charges of 'petty theft' -- 

The allegation of "petty theft" against Pataky stem from photos he posted on his blog of police name plates that appear to have been taken from within the department. He said he actually made the plates himself.

 -- and computer tampering with the intent to harass.

Noise, people?  There's a new governor and two old Senators from the state, and local officials -- and a new DoJ head.  Maybe they might consider defending free speech?