December 12, 2005

Patriot Act Extension

Sharon Cobb (who has stopped allowing comments for the time being on her blog), posted a good cartoon today which mirrors my feelings exactly on the subject of the Patriot Act extension.

Comments:

Please Note! Failure to abide by the following may result in your comments being edited or deleted: Remain on topic. Foul language and/or personal attacks are not permitted. Excessive links (more than three per thread) must be approved first. If you do include a link in your comment, make sure it is a short link (go to tinyurl.com if it is too long). Try to keep comments to 125 words or less. Thank you.

Apparently the so-called Patriot Act was lined up and ready to go in all of its voluminous glory when 9-11 occurred. I think it was prepared during the Clinton era and brought to fruition by Bush. Obviously the agenda in this "war on terrorism" is to keep our borders open, allowing terrorists to enter and stay,(violating Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution) and then incrementally take away our rights (violating the Bill of Rights) under the guise of fighting terrorism.

"It's the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government." --Tom Paine, one of the leaders of the American Revolution

If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." — Samuel Adams

That time is here.

Posted by: Ron W at December 14, 2005 09:59 AM

I had nothing to say on the situation where she is trying to expose the one blogger. I do find it ironic that she posts a cartoon with the line "Still Sticking Its Nose In Our Private Lives" when she is trying to do the same thing. Sticking her nose in someone elses private life. Of course she is doing it for the good of the people. His state computer and all, just like the patriot act is doing it for the good of the people.

Does she know how two faced she seems?

Posted by: Gunner at December 14, 2005 03:35 PM

"I do find it ironic that she posts a cartoon with the line "Still Sticking Its Nose In Our Private Lives" when she is trying to do the same thing. Sticking her nose in someone elses private life. Of course she is doing it for the good of the people."

Sharon expressed her thoughts in several posts at SayUncle.

http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2005/12/12/sellingthedrama/

Today we hear from the Hitman

http://feelingthehits.blogspot.com/2005/12/rocking-in-free-world.html

Decide for yourself what really happened.

Posted by: # 9 at December 15, 2005 09:48 AM

The only thing I know about Sharon are the tidbits from your posts and Say Uncle's posts. so when she posts about the bad bush government sticking their noses into people's businesses I have to laugh.

In reality I have no opinion one way or the other on her.

Posted by: Gunner at December 15, 2005 08:28 PM

Gunner,
What #9 and Say Uncle refuse to understand...and I say "refuse" to understand because they both seem reasonably intelligent, is I am NOT out to get anonymous bloggers. How many times can I say that?

What's so very odd is #9 just appeared and is anonymous and tries to discredit me when I simply said if Hitman is doing this on State time on our taxes, then there is a story there. The fact that The Scene and Channel 4 and The Tennessean have all followed up on this adds to the credibility that there is a story here IF that is that case. We also know things that many of you don't and we can't say at this time. I can say this: The State refused to turn over the records we requested under The Opens Records Act because of "Security Reasons," which only added fuel to the fire. We will all get those records eventually,(we all have our respective lawyers handling it) and if it's nothing, we'll say so, and if it's someone in the Gov's office or Dept. of Finance, we'll say so, too. As Blake put it, that would amount to tax payers paying for State propaganda.

What I find so striking is how vicious and outrageous the attacks have been on me--an established journalist and person in the Nashville community, when the same people making these attacks on me are so quick to come to the defense of someone who just appeared and no one knows if he/she is telling the truth. Because Hitman says he/she isn't doing it for the Gov.--they automatically believe him? Okay. "I'm not a crook" Thanks, President Nixon. That's all I needed to know. No need to investigate further. "I did not have sex with that woman." Thanks Bill. That's it. No need to look further. But someone who just appeared is suddenly credible and shouldn't be questioned if he/she is doing this on our tax dollars. Amazing.
And the lack of civility! Extraordinary #9 and Uncle couldn't agree to disagree respectfully. Seems to me they are protesting a bit too much.
Anyhow, Gunner, I've been in journalism for 30 years, worked 5 of them at MSNBC and broke several major national stories, and asked my fellow bloggers to give me time to investigate if there is or isn't a story. #9 and Say Uncle and a few others just were over the top vicious and cruel. Oh yeah. I just had surgery for ovarian cancer and they know that too. It's not bad enough they're bullying a woman, but they have to pick a seriously ill one who is old enough to be their mother. Nice, huh?
So I hope you will be civil. I don't care if you disagree with me--just asking you to not make personal attacks and be a gentleman when you disagree. I'll return in kind.
I honestly can't tell you why #9 is so completely out of line and vicious. I thought he might be a friend of my ex husband, but I spoke with the ex, and he was furious that Say Uncle and #9 were writing what they were. BTW, after 10 months of blogging and never mentioning my ex husband, I mentioned him on the anniversary of his championship fight with Larry Holmes and a film we did with Pat Morita. For this, #9 called me a narcisist, even though I got tons of email from people telling me they want me to do more stories from my years with Tex and boxing and movies. Anyhow, Tex is not behind this--like I said, he's furious with #9/Say Uncle and what they're doing and how #9 called me a narcisist for giving my ex his props and giving his good friend Pat Morita a nice tribute when he passed.
So now you know a little about me. If you have any questions, please address them to me directly instead of reading dreck from bullies verbally beating up on a woman and have no sense of decency.
Sharon

Posted by: Sharon at December 16, 2005 01:53 AM

Sharon writes, "and I say "refuse" to understand because they both seem reasonably intelligent, is I am NOT out to get anonymous bloggers. How many times can I say that?".

Then Sharon writes, "We also know things that many of you don't and we can't say at this time. I can say this: The State refused to turn over the records we requested under The Opens Records Act because of "Security Reasons," which only added fuel to the fire. We will all get those records eventually,(we all have our respective lawyers handling it) and if it's nothing, we'll say so, and if it's someone in the Gov's office or Dept. of Finance, we'll say so, too."

First she says she is not out to "get" Hitman then she says her lawyers are on the case. You decide what it means. I don't understand it. It seems two-faced to me. What does she mean when she writes, "we all have our respective lawyers handling it"? Who are the others in "all"? This sounds like a conspiracy.

As for the revisionist history from Sharon it is false. Neither SayUncle or I were "vicious and outrageous" with Sharon. She sent two threatening emails to SayUncle, which she ask us not to post and we won't, that threatened legal action for libel and slander which never occurred. Neither of us were rude to her even in the mist of her meaningless threats. If you write something she does not like she will threaten you. That is the recent history. So who is the bully?

The lack of "civility" is a joke. If you read each thread, they are four threads, you will see that Sharon was treated fairly. While I understand her anger with me her comments about SayUncle have no basis. He did not censor the post I wrote or the resulting comments and that is why she says SayUncle was uncivil. Her charges against SayUncle are patently false.

When Sharon writes, "So I hope you will be civil. I don't care if you disagree with me--just asking you to not make personal attacks and be a gentleman when you disagree. I'll return in kind." What she really means is that if you don't see it her way she will retaliate. I have been blogging for a long time. Sharon is the only person that has ever threatened me with legal action. Not once but twice.

Keep in mind I have nothing against Sharon personally. I do not know her personally and this is about her blogging behavior and nothing else. Sharon accuses the Hitman, myself, and SayUncle of being bullies yet she is the one using and threatening to use lawyers. The proof is in the four threads. Read it for yourself and decide for yourself.

Sharon is the worst bully in the Tennessee blogsphere.

http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2005/12/02/outing_anonymous_bloggers/

http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2005/12/08/five_indications_you_might_be_a_narcissist/

http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2005/12/11/michael_moore_is_not_your_friend/

http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2005/12/12/sellingthedrama/

Posted by: # 9 at December 16, 2005 09:40 AM

#9...Nice try,
You once demanded, "Take down your blog!" Look, as a dozen people have pointed out, I am wasting my time trying to argue with someone who just appeared named #9 who is following my comments then trying to hurt me.

Here's a novel idea. Why not contact me personally and discuss this? Why not email me and I'll give you my number and we can meet in person (publicly) and you can say all these things to my face?

You are the one who has converted a dozen people who were for anonymous bloggers into re-thinking their position. To hide behind this and call me names is so cowardly. So...let's meet in person, okay? Say what you have to say to my face, okay?

Otherwise, no one, including myself, is going to take anything you say seriously and will consider you some man out there bullying someone while hiding behind the safety of your computer.

I'll even buy you lunch. But have some courage to do this face to face.

The best thing about this is people who otherwise disagreed with me now are standing by me because of you. I've asked you to stop the personal attacks and leave me alone, but you haven't. Bully. You don't understand investigative journalsism...not my problem.

Once again, I ask you to leave me alone, quit writing about me and quit stalking me or people who post about me and then come on to immediately try to discredit me. Stop it. Or, meet me face to face you coward.

Posted by: Sharon at December 16, 2005 12:37 PM

We have the Patriot Act, sneek-n-peeks, financial peeks, medical peeks, library peeks, army monitoring, NSA monitoring, etc, and we can't close the border?

Posted by: RandomObserver at December 16, 2005 01:09 PM

Sharon,
I got to meet Tex several years ago when playing at a benefit in East Nashville. I knew I liked him the minute I heard him laugh!! It took me a minute to put it all together but, anyway, I am a fan of his boxing and film work. Oh, and don't sweat the small, insignificant people. You're doing a great job. Hope you are doing well!

Posted by: Jakester at December 16, 2005 02:47 PM

Sharon wrote, “You once demanded, "Take down your blog!””

Not exactly.

I wrote once on Blake’s blog, “Considering how this is going I am surprised Sharon has not said, "Take down this post and apologize.””

I wrote at SayUncle, “This is a two way street. Either accept the responsibilities that come with it or apologize and take down your blog.””

The phrase “Take down this post and apologize” came from Nashville. You must have missed that. For the humor impaired it was a joke. It was about trying to silence a blogger. I guess I will have to explain it to you. You were trying to censor and silence the Hitman. We take censorship very seriously in East Tennessee since Brian Conley the owner of the Metro Pulse silenced South Knox Bubba.

Sharon wrote, “Look, as a dozen people have pointed out, I am wasting my time trying to argue with someone who just appeared named #9 who is following my comments then trying to hurt me.” I have been around longer than you in the blogsphere but much of what I wrote was lost when South Knox Bubba folded. If you think I just appeared to hassle you then put away your hubris, you are sadly mistaken. You are wasting your time arguing with me. You made a mistake and your behavior is not acceptable.

When bloggers hire lawyers to censor and silence other bloggers they cease to be bloggers. You have violated every code there is in blogging. Your charge of stalking is extreme and delusional. Considering your emails it is also highly hypocritical.

Let’s review your behavior. You made a mistake. You rationalized and justified it. You then threatened me after I wrote about it. Then you said you were ill and I should treat you extra special because you were ill. Then you tried to charm and disarm us over at SayUncle even closing your last post with “Best, Sharon”. Then you said your ex-husband “Tex” is very upset. Now you call me a coward and want a face-to-face meeting. If I will not post on your blog or send you an email what makes you think I will drive 4 hours to Nashville to have lunch with you? I don’t trust you. Why should I?

Here is what I will do. I will wait until your lawyers conclude this. If the State turns them down or this was just a bunch of bluster from you then it is cased closed. If on the other hand this is real and your lawyers prevail I will then be involved again.

Good luck in your endeavors. I gave you some sincere advice and I hope you consider it. Your voice on TennCare is valuable as long as you can refrain from trying to censor people or resort to calling the Governor a “killer”. There is nothing personal here. It is just the principle. Good people do not allow witch-hunts. Period. Just so you know this, I am and have been ambivalent about Bredesen. TennCare was never a consideration in this either. I am sick of people trying to silence other people expressing themselves. That was and is my only interest in this matter.

Posted by: # 9 at December 16, 2005 03:26 PM

Citizens raise your voices and be heard. We formed the Government and no President can ignore the limits we have placed on his power. A President who ignores the Constitution threatens to become a tyrant.

We are a nation of law. Our law is clear. The 4th Am. of the Constitution established:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The President does not have the authority to make a secret exception to the U.S. Constitution. Citizens must demand that the President respect the Constitution.

That so called libertarian bloggers like Instapundit have ignored this blatant abuse of power is bad enough, but the hardrights are ready to give up their American birthright to protection from arbitrary and limited government.

Powerline goes to far as to declare:

"It's absurd to expect the government to wait for a warrant when it has reason to believe that a phone call it needs to hear for vital security reasons will take place any minute. The only sensible approach in such a case is to monitor the call and then advise the special intelligence court of its action."

Who knew that true patriots would forfeit their liberty so easily.

SC

Posted by: Scott at December 17, 2005 11:22 AM