Back To More Important Things

Here's the thing: there are crazies and wackos on this planet and they need to be dealt with so they don't hurt anyone. I want the people tasked with protecting me, and my right to speak and assemble, to have whatever they need, and be able to do what is needed to get the information required to deal with the above-referenced crazies and wackos. Free speech is such a marvelous tool for id'ing the crazies and wackos. They do it to themselves, if you only give them the opportunity. All we have to do is present our argument reasonably and logically and have the documentation to back it up. We don't need to rant about overthrowing the government or removing sitting elected officials by force. That's what the ballot box and the soap box are for.

Turning COINTELPRO on the tea party?
By: Chris Stirewalt
Political Editor
04/07/10 5:13 PM EDT

Writer David Herszenhorn of the New York Times has the account of how the FBI nabbed the man charged with threatening Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

The suspect, Charles A. Wilson, is accused of leaving messages for Murray saying she should be "strung up" for her support of President Obama's health care program and other ugly-sounding things.

The FBI had the number from which the calls had originated and knew that it belonged to Mr. Wilson. But to make the arrest, they needed to have evidence matching the caller on the tapes with the number -- to eliminate the possibility that someone else was using Mr. Wilson's phone.

To make the match, an agent called Wilson and claimed to be part of Patients United Now, the group behind the "Hands Off my Health Care" campaign. No one from the FBI spoke to Patients United or their parent group Americans for Prosperity about the ruse.

The agent talked with Wilson about the group's effort to see the president's program repealed and asked for his opinion about the legislation, eliciting responses similar to the sentiments left on Sen. Murray's answering machine.
That was enough to get a warrant for Wilson's arrest.

Some questions to consider:

How comfortable are you with the idea of agents posing as activists to elicit anti-government tirades? Sounds like good investigative police work to me.

How comfortable would you be if the Bush administration had done the same thing with Code Pink in an effort to get a anti-war activist to threaten a Senator who voted in favor of invading Iraq? Based on my experiences with code oink, I would have volunteered to help, for free.

Would it be appropriate for an agent to attend a tax day tea party rally next week and elicit similar statements from attendees in an effort to find more threats to lawmakers? See the first question.

The Robo-Calls for Warranties

Are a pain, yes, but here's a little tip:

If you receive a call on your cell phone and it says UNAVAILABLE, RESTRICTED, or begins with 800, 866, or 888, DON'T ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE!!!!!!!!
Let your voice mail take the call or just ignore it.

I get them all the time. You can always call the Do Not Call service from the Consumer Services bureau.

Because They Hate Winners

Unless the winner is a socialist or terrorist.

WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW?
BECAUSE OUR MEDIA WON'T TELL US!

Instead of reflecting our love for our country, we get photos of flag burning incidents at Abu Ghraib and people throwing snowballs at the presidential motorcades.
Tragically, the lack of accentuating the positive in Iraq serves two purposes:
It is intended to undermine the world's perception of the United States thus minimizing consequent support; and it is intended to discourage American citizens.

Did you know that 47 countries' have
reestablished their embassies in Iraq ?

Did you know that the Iraqi government
currently employs 1.2 million Iraqi people?

Did you know
that 3100 schools have been renovated,
364 schools are under rehabilitation,
263 new schools are now under construction;
and 38 new schools have been completed in Iraq?

Did you know
that Iraq 's higher educational structure consists
of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers, all currently operating?

Did you know
that 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2005 for the re-established Fulbright program?

Did you know
that the Iraqi Navy is operational?
They have 5 - 100-foot patrol craft,
34 smaller vessels and a naval infantry regiment.

Did you know
that Iraq ' s Air Force consists of three operational squadrons,
Which includes 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft
(under Iraqi operational control) which operate day and night,
and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 Bell Jet Rangers?

Did you know
that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion?

Did you know
that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000
fully trained and equipped police officers?

Did you know
that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq
that produce over 3500 new officers every 8 weeks?

Did you know
there are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq ?
They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals,
83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities
and 69 electrical facilities.

Did you know
that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5
have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?

Did you know
that 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October?

Did you know
that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq
and phone use has gone up 158%?

Did you know
that Iraq has an independent media that consists of
75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?

Did you know
that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004?

Did you know
that 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a televised debate recently?