Kerry calls Edwards, post-debate, form his hotel room in Englewood, Colorado, October 5, 2004.
Posted on 10/06/2004 5:37:05 PM PDT by jmstein7
IT'S TIME TO ACT [10/06 03:38 PM]
Kerry calls Edwards, post-debate, form his hotel room in Englewood, Colorado, October 5, 2004. |
My friends, it is time for a vital message.
Yesterday we read about some disturbing cases of political violence related to the election. Now we turn our attention to a less directly threatening, but still disturbing trend in American politics.
Every election cycle, there are always reports of campaign workers stealing or defacing signs. Usually it's an overzealous campaign volunteer, or a drunk, or some activist with more anger than brains or knowledge of trespassing laws and respect for others' property. Or all simultaneously.
But something seriously disturbing is going on this year. There's been an exponential number of reports of signs not just stolen, but burned, defaced with swastikas, and torn down by pistol-packing angry teenagers. (An anti-Bush gun-control supporter, perhaps?)
The political season has turned ugly in Howard County, with an Ellicott City homeowner reporting a late-night fire that burned two Republican campaign signs in his back yard.
In addition, local Republicans say scores of other campaign signs have been destroyed or vandalized in the past couple of weeks, most of them along major highways.
"It's absolutely outrageous," said Howard Rensin, chairman of the county Republican party. He said about $1,500 worth of GOP signs have been destroyed.
"We're talking about dozens and dozens and dozens of signs. We think we may be looking at a concerted effort here," Rensin said. "If people want to express their political views, they ought to do so at the polls." ...
Over the weekend, county police conducted a surveillance operation prompted by the spate of sign destruction. On Sept. 25, police spotted a man on Route 40 cutting down with a power tool a sign urging voters to re-elect President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
Police arrested Corey Robert Cooke, 33, of Ellicott City and charged him with destruction of property.
Pfc. Dave Proulx, a county police spokesman, said Cooke has not been charged in any of the other incidents.
The most dramatic incident so far involved the burning of the 4-foot-by-8-foot Bush-Cheney sign and a smaller sign endorsing U.S. Senate candidate E. J. Pipkin in Ellicott City.
James McQuarrie said he awoke shortly after 1 A.M. Sept. 25 and saw a fire burning in the yard of his home in the 10100 block of Old Frederick Road.
"I saw a big flame outside my window," McQuarrie said. He rushed to fight the fire with a hose, then county firefighters arrived to help. The fire also burned part of his yard fence and a nearby pile of wood, McQuarrie said.
Another case in the same neck of the woods:
Howard County's spate of political sign destruction led to the arrest late Friday of a Randallstown couple accused of using a bayonet to cut the centers out of two Bush/Cheney campaign signs on U.S. 40 near Ridge Road in Ellicott City, according to court files and county police.
Peter Lizon, 30, and his wife, Stephanie Louise Lizon, 34, of the first block of Valdivia Court, were each charged with destruction of private property. Peter Lizon faces weapons charges. He is free on $3,500 bail and Stephanie Lizon on $3,000 bail.
"We did it."
Three Duluth teenagers walked into the Duluth News Tribune on Wednesday afternoon, opening with these three words. The boys said they were responsible for vandalizing Bush campaign signs and painting a swastika and the word "Nazi" at a London Road residence last weekend.
An hour later, the three boys traveled to the Lakeside-Lester Park police station, where Sgt. Scott Campbell was waiting to talk to them.
The teenagers told the News Tribune they meant no harm to Bob James, the homeowner and Bush-Cheney supporter who erected the signs. They said they spray painted the signs and the swastika on James' sidewalk but had nothing to do with the vandalism of two of James' vehicles.
Friends and supporters of James and the Republican Party of Minnesota had offered a $2,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the vandalism.
While the teenagers were remorseful for what they did to James, they stood by their contempt for President Bush. They said they left a phone message for James on Wednesday and twice went to his house to apologize, but he wasn't home. They planned to try again later Wednesday.
"It was not an act of hate," said Dustin "Dusty" Dzuck, 17, a senior at Denfeld High School. "My mom called me a terrorist. It wasn't terrorism; it was activism. It was for a cause.... The whole thing is, basically, I just wanted to get the word out there that in my opinion Bush isn't doing this country any good."
Dzuck said his actions bothered him more when he learned James is an Army veteran.
Police said a Nashville teenager and his friends stole 71 Bush-Cheney yard signs because he was mad at President Bush for sending his brother to Iraq.
Andrew Thurman, 18, told police that he and 19-year-old Frederick Stevenson stole the signs from several west Nashville neighborhoods because his brother, a U.S. marine, was sent to Iraq.
"It's not unusual to see the isolated theft of campaign signs in local, state and federal elections," Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said. "However, this is the first time I can recall that someone who admits responsibility for the theft has linked it to the war in Iraq."
Thurman, Stevenson and two other teens were riding in a Honda Accord when they were stopped by police. Officers searched the car and found the signs, along with three pistols.
Thurman and Stevenson were cited for misdemeanor charges of theft and unlawful weapon possession. The other teens, who were both minors, face only the weapon charge.
Officials say this presidential campaign has triggered more reports of stolen campaign signs than in previous elections.
The battle over political yard signs continued in Rapid City on Friday night, and the Republicans seemed to get the worst of it.
Signs supporting Republican candidates John Thune and Larry Diedrich were spray painted, stolen or destroyed up and down West Boulevard, as well as on several streets nearby. West Boulevard resident Ellen Drabek said Saturday that she lost two signs from her yard during the night.
"Mine weren't painted. Mine were stolen. And there were two large Thune signs up at St. Patrick Street that were broken up. All the rest of them were spray painted," Drabek said. "None of the Democratic signs were touched."
The vandalism and thefts occurred about two weeks after three Rapid City teenagers were caught after they were spotted in the act of stealing a large yard sign for Democrat Stephanie Herseth from a West Boulevard yard. Signs for Democrat Tom Daschle also had been taken.
There are also sporadic reports of Kerry signs being stolen or defaced. If you are a Bush supporter, and you tear down Kerry signs, you are among the lamest human beings on the planet.
But so far, the majority of these cases — and the ones involving the most disturbing details of bayonets, guns, fires, and swastikas — are targeting Bush-Cheney signs.
There is, of course, a way to fight this.
And, coincidentally, it just happens to involve the of the Kerry Spot.
Are those of us — left, right and center — going to let a bunch of bullies push us around? In our homes, front lawns, and neighborhoods?
I quote the football coach in the movie, Rudy: "No one, and I mean no one, comes into our house and pushes us around."
Or, if you prefer the University of Maryland, WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE!
In this case, "this house" means our right to publicly support the candidate of our choice. If somebody stole your sign, they're trying to send you a message — that your voice shouldn't be heard, that their willingness to stroll onto your property break the law can trumps your First Amendment rights. Are you going to let those snot-nosed punks win?
If you have to only put your sign out while you're home, so be it. If you have to take it inside overnight, so be it. Better to make that little extra effort than to concede that their enthusiasm for vandalism can shut you up.
needs some advance time to get stuff sent to you. They got a slew of stuff to my Bush-supporting friends awfully fast, but we know they're going to get a rush of orders in the closing month of the election. And a sign for your candidate only does good before Election Day, obviously (unless it's for moral support during the recount, I suppose).
I know there are a bunch of you out there who don't usually put signs up. It's gauche. Wearing your heart on your sleeve. Kinda cheesy.
But this isn't a normal year. These aren't normal times. And a bunch of little twerps think they can help their guy win by stealing stuff and painting swastikas. On the property of a veteran. Guy spends years defending his country so some kid who can barely spell "Nazi," much less define "national socialism," can march onto his property and spray paint the symbol of those fascists?
Hands balling into fists yet? Jaw clenched? Getting in that Ben Grimm "It's clobberin' time" mood?
Go , or click on the ad at the top of the page. Bring the credit card or the checkbook. Buy as much stuff as you like.
And let's show the world what happens when these little sign-defacing reprobates mess with the wrong folks.
For Bush's arrogance! WTF! Sheesh! Amazing how clueless these people are.
Pretty scary to read some of these letters to the editor, they are filled with hate & venom, no wonder their kids are full of it too & we are seeing so much violence this election!
Most likely he has activist social science or history teachers, just passing on the communist/socialist/fascist legacy. Our high schools are ripe with left to the most leftist liberal instructors. Painting their visions of the way our world should be.... their canvas is our children.
Well, you would have to go back to one of Clinton's old instructors, Quigley, to really get a healthy respect for what might be going on today. It is not by accident.
Quigley wrote a book that is huge. I have a copy but never have had enough time to read the whole thing. It was a plan on how to reorder the world with socialism. Maybe if you google up Quigley you might find some insightful links.
What is so sad is that the people who are so full of hatred are armed with soundbites that they can not possibly support. They are angered by innuendo and don't have a clue what the real facts are. It's really very pathetic.
Pathetic is too soft a word, they are cult-like in their following of sKerry & don't care what he says or does, they can't & don't & won't hear any of it.
Stop please my sides hurt...hey but there are some need machines here
Forgive me for posting something so long here, but I think it is important in understanding some of the mindset behind much of our problem. If you follow this article you will see the globalist mindset of Rhodes and Quigley that helped establish the elitist society who subscribe to those ideals. Mind you, Quigley changed his mind and died believing he had been wrong to promote this idea as defined in his book, "Tragedy and Hope". It's interesting to delve into this mindset because it sort of helps you understand the desparation of the "elite" to win.
Just good natured "fun."
Yeah right...
The question you raised reminded me of a similar subject in a conversation in 1994 with a county commission candidate here in North Carolina.
"Not here!" the candidate said. "This is America!"
Upon which I quietly escorted him about 50 feet from his office, not far from the main highway entrance to little Washington, where there still stands a State Highway Historic Marker that matter-of-factly reads, "Washington, North Carolina, Burned By Federal Troops 1864."
As weird and freightening as the anti-Christian and anti-Southern bigotry is that fuels a lot of the anti-Bush crowd out there, at least they are trying to use the channels built into the system to affect the outcome.
However, if the kind of voter fraud that put Mary Landreau in the Senate and put some others in the House in recent years in demonstrated not just perceived to have defeated one or the other of the two leading contenders for the Presidency this year, than it will be a very bad development.
This is not 1960, and a gracious concession won't cut it. The Red vs. Blue divisions are very real, and the undecideds are likely to find themselves in the crossfire.
"not having any aspirations for higher political office"
I think you're right!
This country has to be divided and shredded in order to destroy it's foundation.
By that remaark I don't want to imply any tolerance of the behavior of the morons in the picture above, of the outright violent organized vandalism we've been discussing, and rather flippantly in the original article.
FAR from it.
When this is considered "Free Speech," and the "electioneering communications" banned by McCain-Feingold is upheld as "not free speech" in a bogus and outrageous 130 page long rationalization by the highest court, "Houston, we have a problem."
I'm afraid we may be in for a very long 26 days, and what may be the beginnings of a slow burn.
Why Soldiers Do Not Support John Kerry
John Kerry, broke the creed and called his fellow Soldiers "War Criminals" in his 1971 testimony to the senate he said verbatim "...not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command." Then John Kerry did the unthinkable and turned his back on his country in that very testimony buy saying this in reference to the winter soldier hearings that were held in Detroit, MI, that were later shot down as a total farceWinterSoldier.com "They relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do. I'm sorry John if you seen ANY War Crimes and did not report them, then you are the problem, it was your duty to stop any such activities and report it, what kind of an officer are you? But enough of the 1971 Senate Testimony troubling as though is it. Mind you while all this was going on John Kerry was in the still on inactive status in the Naval Reserves. Then, He goes to Paris, France and meets with what the media likes to call both sides, to try and slant it to make it sound like he was doing something good, actually they were both of our enemies! The North Vietnamese and the Vietcong! John Kerry in my book now has two counts of treason against him he definitely violated the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (Since he was still a Naval officer) plus it is against the law anyhow for ANY citizen to speak on the behalf of the United States without the permission of the President. But, he didn't just have one meeting he had two separate meetings. So, now the treason factor is up to four counts. Then he came home and they held a meeting in St. Louis with the VVAW(Vietnam Veterans Against the War funded in part by the Communist Party) and they held a meeting where the discussed the assassination of pro-war United States Senators. This has been documented in FBI files and John Kerry now admits his attendance at this meeting. Strike 5 John you are a traitor the final straw was when you threw your "symbols" away, be it medals, ribbons, or sugar plums painted as purple hearts, the intention was to hurt and divide America, and your doing it once again! GO AWAY JOHN, JUST GO AWAY!
NAME AND TOWN
NAME AND TOWN
John Kerry's senate testimony can be viewed at John Kerry's 1971 Senate Testimony
These violent punks are getting away with it. If you have to go to jail and the judges throw the book at you, it will take the fun out of it.
We are on the verge of our destiny being decided in the streets if law enforcement does not get damn serious about this.
In some states, trespassing is a threat itself and can be met with force. That is going to get some people hurt or killed.
Thanks for your additonal comments. I agree with your points about the left. I've never seen a more befuddled group of misguided souls (being generous using the word souls, when I'm not entirely certian they have one left).
Freepers are the answer, even if we don't all agree. At least we are civil.
"Civil society" is the term given to the network of relationships men form for mutual and cooperative improvement of their lives through free association. -- Richard M. Eberling
Fledermaus, I have lived in East Tennessee my entire life (48 years) and have never heard this. I can't imagine it being true. In fact, I have served on juries for murder charges where the defense was self-defense, and the only standard I recall was that the defender must have had a reasonable fear of death or significant bodily harm (speaking from memory here). As a jury, we were instructed that an individual could not use deadly force to protect property. Do you have some source for this? I'd hate for something bad to happen to another person or to you because there was an assumption about the law that wasn't true.
Thanks. You do know how to make me feel better! :)
But a 17 yr old who feels such hatred for our president! That takes it to a whole other level! I do worry.
Thanks for the ping. Great comments bump.
BTTT!!!!!!!
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