posted on October 29, 2004 04:08:54 PM new
Whoa...Nelly! Dang... I left to make some supper and cook the dogs their chicken... and came back to find out that I died!!!
LOL... I'm still here! And You're right Crow.. It seems I can cause trouble even when I'm not in the room!!
Thank you, to "most" who were concerned... but it was me that stayed up late last night and deleted as many of my recent posts and pictures as possible..
I have a serious case of Paranoia going on right now.... I know, I know, I'm probably over reacting.. but last evening I read a post on another board and it scared the bejeezlees out of me... the more I thought about it, the more paranoid I got..... especially since I have been posting some pretty insulting pictures and of Bush lately not to mention, calling him every name in the book....so I stayed up past midnight click..delete.. click...delete... click...deleting...
Can you really blame me? I am appalled with what this government is able to get away with, the lies, the cheating, the brainwashing, the terror, and how they control by steam rolling over anyone that gets in their way... for the first time in my life.. I am truly afraid of a governing party.. and now Bin Ladin shows up a few days before the election.. I believe this is the October Surprise.. that will assure a win for Bush... because he leads in the polls on the war on terror.
Anyway after reading this article last night... I thought for sure they'd be knocking on my door next... I even had a dream of a big dark haired woman, wearing army boots, and a big frilly apron, with I Love Bush on the front, holding a big white garbage bag in her hands, yelling at me that she was going to put me out with the trash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!LOL
Here is the article I read on another message board...I am not responsible for what she says or her spelling..
a word to the wise
.....................
For all my LJ-loving friends, this is a word of warning, a word to the wise, and a word of utter exhaustion after the wringer I've been put through in the last twenty-four hours.
A couple of weeks ago, following the last presidential debate, I said some rather inflammatory things about George W. Bush in a public post in my LJ, done in a satirical style. We laughed, we ranted, we all said some things. I thought it was a fairly harmless (and rather obvious) attempt at humor in the face of annoyance, and while a couple of people were offended, as is typical behavior from me, I saw something shiny and forgot about it, thinking that the whole thing was over and done and nothing else would come of what I said.
I was wrong.
At 9:45 last night, the Secret Service showed up on my mother's front door to talk to me about what I said about the President, as what I said could apparently be misconstrued as a threat to his life. After about ten minutes of talking to me and my family, they quickly came to the conclusion that I was not a threat to national security (mostly because we are the least threatening people in the entire world) and told me that they would not recommend that any further action be taken with my case. However, I do now have a file with the FBI that includes my photograph, my e-mail address, and the location of my LJ. This will follow me around for the rest of my life, regardless of the fact that the Secret Service knows that I am not a threat.
Obviously, I cannot link to the original LJ post that I made, because I have removed it from my LJ to protect myself and those who commented in that thread from receiving any further visits from the FBI. I apologized for the miscommunication, though I did *not* apologize for voicing my opinion of George W. Bush. I will never apologize for speaking my mind. I will, however, apologize when I say something wrong way and for unintentionally offending/threatening someone, because I am an extremely nonviolent person.
After having consulted an attorney to make sure that speaking about what happened to me will not incur another visit from the Secret Service, I am making this public post to tell you all several things:
1. Once and for all, I want to state for the record, again: I am a nonviolent person. As I told the Sekkrit Service last night, I don't know how to operate a gun. I've never had any military training. I don't even know how to throw a punch. I failed gym. I duck and cover when threatened with violence. I've said before that I could never join the military because I would totally start crying and wuss out and be the worst soldier ever, not because I want to sabotage the government, but because I'm just not cut out for it. Totally respect anyone and everyone who does, but me, personally? You don't WANT me in your army. In fact, you want me on the OTHER GUY'S team, because I will undoubtedly **** things up. I'm a klutz.
2. Actually, #1 is so important that I'm repeating it again: Despite my occasional liberal ranting, I am a NONVIOLENT INDIVIDUAL. I would NEVER encourage others to harm another person, let alone the President of the United States, and I would never actually wish any serious bodily harm to come to him. I may wish other things (like I wish he would get thrown out of office in disgrace, or I wish that he would learn how to pronounce the word "nuclear", or I wish that he'd totally go ape**** on television and ruin himself by saying things like "RAAAAH I JUST SNORTED A BUNCH OF COKE AND I HATE OUR COUNTRY AND I BOUGHT MY PRESIDENCY RAAAAH!!!!11", but I would NEVER wish bodily harm on another human being. It's just not my way.
3. What happened to me CAN happen to you. This is really the main reason why I am posting this publicly. I WANT you to make an example out of me. I want you to tell your friends to be CAREFUL about what they say on the Internet, because someone IS reading it and it CAN come back and bite you on the ass. And as nice as the Sekkrit Service dudes were (and honestly, they WERE very nice we even gave them coffee and ****, and they laughed with us and were generally very cool about the entire situation), you don't want them coming to your house. It's just not very fun. Because
4. What you say on the Internet can affect your real life. Due to what I said online, I now have an FBI file. And due to certain policies that a certain administration has instituted, I could now be placed on the government's "no-fly" list, could be subject to random searches of private property without my knowledge or permission, and could be subject to wiretapping surveillance. I doubt that any of these things will happen (except with the "no-fly" list according to my attorney, that's a strong possibility and is something we are looking into), and I could just be being paranoid, but after the Secret Service showed up on my doorstep, I think I'm entitled to a little paranoia. Because ****, I never thought THAT would happen, either. So be aware.
5. What happened to me happened because someone on LJ reported me to the FBI. This is not idle speculation on my part. The Secret Service agent told me as much last night the reason why they were there was because the FBI received a report about my post. It was not found through Google or through keyword searches. It was found through someone on LJ. This is just mind-boggling and ridiculously wanky. I have my suspicions about who may have turned me in, but I'm not going to voice them because, well, what's been done is done. That being said, for anyone else out there who wants to get snarky and report others to the FBI, I'm telling you this right now: because of what happened to me, I am now going to have an FBI file following me around for the rest of my life. This may cause future problems for me in several different aspects of my life, and that kind of damage is permanent. So, yes, I am upset by the knowledge that someone on LJ would do that to me, but it teaches a valuable (if sad) lesson: you cannot trust LiveJournal, and you cannot trust fandom.
6. Because of what happened to me, I will now have to make changes to the way I use my LJ. I have always been very open on LiveJournal. I have never locked posts unless they directly dealt with my RL, and I have never deleted comments that others have made in my LJ. However, in order to protect myself (and YOU) legally, I am going to have to start carefully monitoring comments made in my LJ. I do not think the FBI will continue to monitor this journal, but I refuse to take chances with my life. So consider this a word of warning: If you make a comment in my journal that could in any way be misconstrued as a threat against any high-ranking official, I will have to delete it. It's nothing personal. It's just self-protection.
7. In spite of what happened to me, I will not lock any political posts I make, nor will I stop making political posts. This is important. I will not allow any form of government to make me afraid of voicing my own opinion. The way that I voice my opinion will certainly be impacted by what happened, but I will not stop talking altogether. And neither should you. I don't want to discourage my friends from speaking their minds. I simply want to tell y'all that you have to be ridiculously careful about how you do it, because otherwise, you can get into trouble.
I did make a locked and filtered post last night after all this first happened, because, well, I needed to talk about it. And I want to thank everyone who commented in that thread and gave me support and WTF and information, because it was EXTREMELY helpful and comforting in a time of great stress and OMGWTFBBQ THE SEKKRIT SERVICE CAME TO MY HOUSE OMG
Now, at this juncture, I am not planning on making any kind of formal complaint with the A.C.L.U., as some on my friendslist have suggested. I did not feel that my civil rights were violated by the visit, and I did not feel intimidated by the Secret Service agents. I have, however, contacted an attorney simply because I want to ensure that my rights are protected in the future, and because the Secret Service were less than clear about what exactly can be construed as a threat and what would be done with my FBI file and any medical records they requested. I am not making any efforts to contact the media, and I doubt that I will in the future.
HOWEVER.
I want people to be aware that what they say on their LJ can cause problems for them in RL, because I love all of you and I don't wish what happened to me on you. You are more than welcome to discuss this post in your journal, and you are more than welcome to link to it from your journal. If you want to post this in a community, go for it. Hell, if you want to put me on fandom_wank, it's probably not a bad idea. The wankers would have a FIELD DAY with this. I know I would. Please, feel free to make an example out of me. So share this with your friends. Tell them what can happen. It's beneficial to all of us to know that this can happen, and hopefully, it'll prevent something like this from happening again.
posted on October 29, 2004 04:19:18 PM new
Thanks Cheryl....do you think what this person posted is bogus? If it is, she sure did a number on me! Maggie
posted on October 29, 2004 04:21:02 PM new
think a lot of us are paranoid. Just look at what's going on with the voting in Ohio. Cleveland in particular. Frightening stuff.
Cleveland is frightening enough without the voting stuff.
posted on October 29, 2004 04:26:59 PM new
LOL Helen....I admit it.. I'm probably over reacting big time... but just in case... I might have to make these posts go poof too! HA..Maggie
posted on October 29, 2004 04:34:50 PM new
Maggie, I highly doubt the Secret Service would pay someone a visit for posting negative things about the President. They'd have to check out everyone if that were true.
posted on October 29, 2004 06:42:53 PM new
Well, I didn't read the whole thing but if this was 5 years ago I wouldn't believe a word...nothing like this could happen in America!
But with this administration and the subsequent destruction of our liberties and the death of democracy I can well believe it.
But, if it is true, get your butts out there and vote the czar out of office!
Talk, scream, yell make a noise to let the aspholes know there are still Americans with backbone who still believe in freedom and individual rights unlike the neonazicons in here who don't.
Hi Maggie! Wow ! had a good time with linduh while you were out! She's almost too easy!
She wants to turn me in cause I'm trash
Ooops, gotta stop using those smiley faces ...they make ya stoopid ...look what happened to linda!
(Whisper) Ya know SHE'LL be standing at the gas chamber holding the door open LOLing all the while.
posted on October 29, 2004 07:21:05 PM new
classicrock
I knew the mere mention of the word Cleveland would draw you out. Actually, I'm enjoy quite warm weather here right now. I know, I know. Don't enjoy it too much!
Cheryl
Protect the environment. Plant a tree and remove a Bush.
posted on October 29, 2004 07:27:08 PM newLOL Crow..didn't your mama teach you not to tease a weasel?? They can be quite nasty, vicious beasts when teased!!
posted on October 29, 2004 07:42:15 PM new
Naughty Maggie!
No wonder we haven't heard from Frau linda...you scared her away!
Damnit Maggie and we really had her going!
But she is getting so drearily predictable that she really isn't much fun anymore.
Tell me whatcha been up to.....I may not answer, gotta get to bed early and go to a farm auction up nort tomorrow (unless that's against the Patriot Act , then I'll just stay home and practice clicking my heels together.....
posted on October 30, 2004 07:04:36 AM new
Maggie, wasn't George going to read that book to the students after he got done reading "My Pet Goat"?
There's an old saying in Tennessee I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee that says, fool me once, shame on shame on you. Fool me you can't get fooled again." George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
---------------------------------- "Give it up for George W. Bush, the best friend international jihad ever had."
posted on October 30, 2004 10:59:15 AM new
Hey Crow....Hope you found a ton of stuff at the auction!
I've been busy these past few weeks. My best friend from Grade School, (who I haven't seen in 25 years!) came to visit and stayed for 9 days.. talk about a reunion! Since she and her husband had never been in this part of the country before.. we did all the tourist things...I ran their feet off all week..LOL.. I think they were exhausted!
We took a Riverboat Natchez (steam Paddle) cruise down the Mississippi, with live jazz and Cajun bands playing and lots of good Cajun food...
Toured the old plantation houses, walked the beaches in Gulfport and Biloxi..visited the casinos, visited Stennis NASA Base, and an alligator ranch, and of course toured the French Quarter in New Orleans...and best of all sat around and reminisced about old times...
The weather was wonderful..a tad to hot for what they are used to, but they survived..
Had a great time! Maggie
, but I would NEVER wish bodily harm on another human being. It's just not my way.
Actually, I'm enjoy quite warm weather here right now. I know, I know. Don't enjoy it too much!
