Is there any remaining doubt as to whether we are at warfare in the US? I don't mean with Al Quaeda--I mean internally between our own citizens. Check out this article today. An interesting thing here is that some group claims to speak on behalf of all New Yorkers, taking it upon themselves to let the convention-goers know that "they are not welcome in New York."


They communicated their displeasure by posting "several lists of Republican National Convention delegates posted on the Indymedia site, including one listing more than 2,000 of them. Included are names, home addresses, e-mail addresses and the New York-area hotels where many are staying" with the apparent purpose of...what? Providing a handy list for protesters so they can ring up convention attendees and call on them for a cup of tea? Funny thing is, last time I heard of a stunt like this, it was totally reversed and the media, accordingly, took a decidedly biased stance.

I'm talking about the abortion protesters who would post the names and contact information for various abortion providers on a website and who would cross the names out as they were slain. Wasn't their defense exactly that of the group that is now defended by the ACLU? "After all," they say, "We were just posting publicly accessible information. We aren't threatening them at all." But I thought that merely posting personal contact information itself was a threat?

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"'The Nuremberg Files' Web site lists about 200 abortion providers under the heading of "baby butchers." And the site invites readers to send in such personal details as the doctors' home addresses, license plate numbers and the names of their children.

The similar Wild West-style posters offered a $5,000 reward for information about the "Deadly Dozen" doctors branded "Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity."

Three times, doctors whose names appeared on the list were killed, most recently last October when Dr. Barnett Slepian was gunned down by sniper fire in his home outside Buffalo, New York. His name on the Web site was promptly crossed through.

Throughout the trial, held under tight security, doctors on the list testified that they lived in constant fear, used disguises, bodyguards and bulletproof vests, and instructed their children to crouch in the bathroom if they heard gunfire."
(full article here)

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I guess the definition of threat now contains a necessary element that can either confirm it or turn it completely upside down--your political affiliation.