May. 09, 2005 - 21:29 MDT

SO WHAT'S NEW ?

Weird the things you see when you don't have a fun gun. Buried, as usual is an article from "Rocky Mountain News" in today's paper. In full:

Record request hits brick wall

"The White House says it isn't covered by the Freedom of Information Act, which a local attorney is trying to use to discover the name of the White House volunteer who forcibly removed his clients from a presidential speech March 21 in Denver."

"Attorney Dan Recht complained Friday that neither the White House nor the Secret Service had met a legal deadlline of Friday to respond to inquiries about the incident using the open records law."

"Generally the law requires federal agencies to respond to requests for their records in 20 days."

"Department of Justice guidelines say the open records exemption applies only to offices within the executive office of the President, 'whose functions are limited to advising and assisting the President."

"Recht's clients -- Alex Young, Leslie Weise and Karen Bauer -- were ousted by a man who looked and acted like Secret Service but was actually, according to the White House a volunteer."

"The Secret Service is investigating the man for possible criminal charges of impersonating one of its agents."

"Recht says the Secret Service told him the man admitted ousting the three solely over a "No more blood for oil," bumper sticker. Recht is seeking the identity of the man and his superiors."

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Of course I have an opinion or two, some might even make sense. As I recall from things in the news I already read, the three had fulfilled the requirements for attendance to the "event" and were not making waves. But some "eagle eye" spotted that the car they came in had a bumper sticker, which in essence said what many of us feel, "No more blood for oil," and I might add I would have had a sticker saying, "No more hand holding with the Saudis."

Apparently feeling his mighty oats the man acted like many of his ilk and decided to exercise his imagined authority and boot the three out. I guess he laid down the impression that he was Secret Service, an implication that has much of the country going, "Oh eeeew !" I think -- at least it does me."

Guess that I am over sensitive about things like that because I remember the tactics of police here in the area going around taking license numbers of the cars belonging to people attending meetings that the police had suspicions about. No proof, but those folks were put on the list. Finally the cops were forced to stop keeping records of activists who had done no wrong, were suspected by the paranoid upper echelon of being dangerous because they might think a bit differently than the big boys.

It is suspected that the records were not destroyed and that the surveillance continues under cover. Not known for sure, but suspected by many.

I think we have enough muscle used by people who legally hold the prerogative to use it and also often that is abused too.

A volunter for the White House apparently can do no harm and will be protected to the max. So it appears to me that this matter will rock along for a few months and disappear amongst the blather ongoing in the affairs of state.

SO WHAT'S NEW ? . . . . . . . . . . . .

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