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.
Thanks so much for sharing that with me. Bless us all on our journey.
I think I will just sit out on the porch with one of those horn thingies and scare the pi$$ out of them! LOL!
Amen Brother.
"Praise the Lord and pass the ammo."
These Socialist stormtroopers need a boot in the A$$.
The Weimar Republic was disrupted and ultimately destroyed by the National Socialists (Nazis) using the same type of intimidation tactics on a much wider and more violent scale, and a few years later Hitler was in charge of the Third Reich. It's extremely unlikely that something on that order could happen here, but why allow it to even gain a toehold?
posted on 10/07/2004 8:32:37 AM PDT by epow
It is exactly what is happening here. It started army of lawyers the deocrats sent to Florida in 2000 to disrupt the election process there. It has grown to this, next week it will go to the next step.
Actually it begin with the so called anti-war marches in the 1960's and has continued to grow like a cancer. It will continue to grow until it has accomplished its purpose or it is stopped.
It starts small and if not stopped continues to escalate. This is the way that it started in Germany in the early 30's.
The useful idiots that bring it about never seem to learn that once a man with their ideas gains his throne that they will be his first victims.
He can no longer afford the risk of the machine that put him in power being used to remove him.
Just ask the "Brown Shirts" if you can find one.
"Anyone but Bush" has been a convenient and simple enough cog for these mental midgets to hang their adrenal glands on. (You probably thought I was going to say brains but they don't have any, it's all about emotion, baby!)
"Can it get worse?". The answer is yes: and I'll tell you how in another episode.
You're getting very close here but what I might add is that they are reacting to Fear. "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself" (can't quote the source) but you get the message. Some of us are not afraid, but others are.
After the big rock was cast into the pond on 9/11, it's ripples still carry far and these 'waters' remain unsettled.
One might think four year election cycles might suffice to 'calm' events where our electorate would once again think clearly on issues, but apparently not. 'Thanks' goes to the media and democrats for clouding up the water, rocking the boat, and frankly, trying to scare the crap out of everyone.
I wouldn't go so far as to call them cowards, but misguided-- and when they fail, they'll only add to that ash-heap that wasn't committed toward moving in the direction that would ensure the greatest liberty, freedom, and dignity available to mankind.
They'll always be with us, they'll always stand in the way, but something, just something will rise up and smite them every time.
And, they'll never learn that you shouldn't come to a freedom fight when all you have is: appeasment.
776.031 Use of force in defense of others.--A person is justified in the use of force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to prevent or terminate such other's trespass on, or other tortious or criminal interference with, either real property other than a dwelling or personal property, lawfully in his or her possession or in the possession of another who is a member of his or her immediate family or household or of a person whose property he or she has a legal duty to protect. However, the person is justified in the use of deadly force only if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.
http://flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0776/ch0776.htm
"Power corrupts and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely"--Lord Acton
So anyone who is staffing any Republican HQs, or have loved ones working as volunteers at these facilities, make ready both in mind and material, and be prepared to respond in an instant should these mobs attack again in your AO. Advise your people to dial 911 first, then you immediately after, and have others coached to do the same. One is none, two is one.
There are legal statues that exist which appear to vindicate such actions should they be made necessary, such as Florida's State Statute 776.031 (see FReeper 'Veritas et equitas ad Votum's post# 269).
A word to the wise is sufficient.
You're welcome. I go a long, long way back. When computers were just beginning to become common and before we knew about the internet, I was already online. In those days there were Bulletin Boards where you did this kind of debating. They were called "BBS" boards. The things I learned arguing with other people changed me. Taught me things. This whole process is profoundly healthy, as long as you keep an open mind.
In one sense, I am deeply sad. This battle with Islam is much worse than most people realize. I've seen it coming for years. I've read the Koran. I know what these people intend. This is as bad or maybe worse than the cold war against communism. This is what people today don't understand.
It's depressing but if you keep track of the car bombs and the murders you get a sense of what is happening out there. These people are incredibly barbaric. There is no other word for it. They kill wantonly. They always have.
This is why Kerry is so sKerry. He doesn't understand that what Bush is doing is the only way to deal with these people. We either win, or we die. Like I said, sorry to have to hand this off to your generation but we will. This war is going to go on for decades, literally.
The test is going to be - we have this tradition in the country of freedom of religion, so we can't imagine an evil religion - the test will be us realizing that that idea is wrong. Just like communism is an evil idea, Islam is an evil religion. Neither is compatible with freedom. We haven't figured that out yet. Either we will, or we will lose.
So far, I haven't heard of any instances of things like this happening in my state (TX). We do have laws here about intruding on private property after dark, though, and these laws have gun metal teeth!
I think that we must be prepared to physically defend ourselves from the demoCREEP thugs. It is sad that it comes to that, but it seems to me a can of pepper spray would be completely in order.
...or a Louisville Slugger. Whichever you are most effective with.
I doubt they would be too fearful of raiding the Repub HQ here is Austin, though.
I remember some 'journalist' dweeb referring to the murderers at Beslan as 'activists'.
Judging from recent posts on DU and other lefty boards, many of them are openly calling for rebellion if Bush 'steals another election'. They are talking guns, ball bats, mob unrest. Although most of them are empty threats, it's still disturbing. Who needs the Taliban when we have our own Democratic party?
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