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Why I still like Glenn Reynolds (despite the effort required to mold his Nanotechnology: Three Futures article into publishable form):
From tonight's live-blog of the presidential debate: WHO WOULD YOU NAME TO THE SUPREME COURT? Bush foolishly doesn't say "Eugene Volokh." But President Bush already has my vote.
Later in the entry, Prof. Reynolds notes that "Kerry voted to confirm Scalia." Unfortunately, this doesn't count as an example of a flip-flop -- not after President Bush announced tonight that he considers some of his appointments to be, in hindsight, mistakes.
If you don't tear it down, I will: Nothing has infuriated me more in this election cycle than reports from my friends that their bumper stickers (and, in some cases, the rest of the car) have been vandalized because of their support for President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. I would like to show my support on the streets of Cambridge, where there is hardly a car without a sticker declaring that "Bush Lied, People Died," or some such nonsense.
I've been meaning to do a count, actually, of anti-Bush stickers vs. pro-Kerry/Edwards stickers. I think the number might actually be close.
In response, several people who live outside the People's Republic have suggested "That's what you get for living in Cambridge."
Nope. Political intolerance is everywhere. And it's growing.
I wish I had some empirical sense for how common these sorts of incidents have been during my lifetime: my sense is not very common. Particularly given how often we've heard (completely unsubstantiated) complaints about "voter suppression" in Florida in 2000 -- I tend to think that if these sorts of things were happening a lot to Democrats, it would be headline news. I think I'll start keeping a running list:
(From Jim Geraghty, 10/6/04): Howard County, Maryland:
The political season has turned ugly in Howard County, with an Ellicott City homeowner reporting a late-night fire that burned two Republican campaign signs in his back yard.
In addition, local Republicans say scores of other campaign signs have been destroyed or vandalized in the past couple of weeks, most of them along major highways.
"It's absolutely outrageous," said Howard Rensin, chairman of the county Republican party. He said about $1,500 worth of GOP signs have been destroyed.
"We're talking about dozens and dozens and dozens of signs. We think we may be looking at a concerted effort here," Rensin said. "If people want to express their political views, they ought to do so at the polls." ...
Over the weekend, county police conducted a surveillance operation prompted by the spate of sign destruction. On Sept. 25, police spotted a man on Route 40 cutting down with a power tool a sign urging voters to re-elect President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
Police arrested Corey Robert Cooke, 33, of Ellicott City and charged him with destruction of property.
Pfc. Dave Proulx, a county police spokesman, said Cooke has not been charged in any of the other incidents.
The most dramatic incident so far involved the burning of the 4-foot-by-8-foot Bush-Cheney sign and a smaller sign endorsing U.S. Senate candidate E. J. Pipkin in Ellicott City.
James McQuarrie said he awoke shortly after 1 A.M. Sept. 25 and saw a fire burning in the yard of his home in the 10100 block of Old Frederick Road.
"I saw a big flame outside my window," McQuarrie said. He rushed to fight the fire with a hose, then county firefighters arrived to help. The fire also burned part of his yard fence and a nearby pile of wood, McQuarrie said.
Another case in the same neck of the woods:
Howard County's spate of political sign destruction led to the arrest late Friday of a Randallstown couple accused of using a bayonet to cut the centers out of two Bush/Cheney campaign signs on U.S. 40 near Ridge Road in Ellicott City, according to court files and county police.
Peter Lizon, 30, and his wife, Stephanie Louise Lizon, 34, of the first block of Valdivia Court, were each charged with destruction of private property. Peter Lizon faces weapons charges. He is free on $3,500 bail and Stephanie Lizon on $3,000 bail.
Duluth, Minnesota:
"We did it."
Three Duluth teenagers walked into the Duluth News Tribune on Wednesday afternoon, opening with these three words. The boys said they were responsible for vandalizing Bush campaign signs and painting a swastika and the word "Nazi" at a London Road residence last weekend.
An hour later, the three boys traveled to the Lakeside-Lester Park police station, where Sgt. Scott Campbell was waiting to talk to them.
The teenagers told the News Tribune they meant no harm to Bob James, the homeowner and Bush-Cheney supporter who erected the signs. They said they spray painted the signs and the swastika on James' sidewalk but had nothing to do with the vandalism of two of James' vehicles.
Friends and supporters of James and the Republican Party of Minnesota had offered a $2,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the vandalism.
While the teenagers were remorseful for what they did to James, they stood by their contempt for President Bush. They said they left a phone message for James on Wednesday and twice went to his house to apologize, but he wasn't home. They planned to try again later Wednesday.
"It was not an act of hate," said Dustin "Dusty" Dzuck, 17, a senior at Denfeld High School. "My mom called me a terrorist. It wasn't terrorism; it was activism. It was for a cause.... The whole thing is, basically, I just wanted to get the word out there that in my opinion Bush isn't doing this country any good."
Dzuck said his actions bothered him more when he learned James is an Army veteran.
Nashville, Tennessee:
Police said a Nashville teenager and his friends stole 71 Bush-Cheney yard signs because he was mad at President Bush for sending his brother to Iraq.
Andrew Thurman, 18, told police that he and 19-year-old Frederick Stevenson stole the signs from several west Nashville neighborhoods because his brother, a U.S. marine, was sent to Iraq.
"It's not unusual to see the isolated theft of campaign signs in local, state and federal elections," Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said. "However, this is the first time I can recall that someone who admits responsibility for the theft has linked it to the war in Iraq."
Thurman, Stevenson and two other teens were riding in a Honda Accord when they were stopped by police. Officers searched the car and found the signs, along with three pistols.
Thurman and Stevenson were cited for misdemeanor charges of theft and unlawful weapon possession. The other teens, who were both minors, face only the weapon charge.
Officials say this presidential campaign has triggered more reports of stolen campaign signs than in previous elections.
Rapid City, South Dakota:
The battle over political yard signs continued in Rapid City on Friday night, and the Republicans seemed to get the worst of it.
Signs supporting Republican candidates John Thune and Larry Diedrich were spray painted, stolen or destroyed up and down West Boulevard, as well as on several streets nearby. West Boulevard resident Ellen Drabek said Saturday that she lost two signs from her yard during the night.
"Mine weren't painted. Mine were stolen. And there were two large Thune signs up at St. Patrick Street that were broken up. All the rest of them were spray painted," Drabek said. "None of the Democratic signs were touched."
The vandalism and thefts occurred about two weeks after three Rapid City teenagers were caught after they were spotted in the act of stealing a large yard sign for Democrat Stephanie Herseth from a West Boulevard yard. Signs for Democrat Tom Daschle also had been taken. From Jim Geraghty, 10/5/04: September 2, 2004: Huntington, West Virginia:
Republican supporters in Huntington were watching their candidate accept the party's nomination when a gunshot rang out right in the middle of George W. Bush's speech.
"We heard a small snap, and felt glass come sliding by us. We looked up and saw a hole in our window and realized somebody was shooting at us", said Paula Stewart.
Witnesses tell police that someone fired a shot at the Republican Headquarters office at 1402 4th Avenue around 10:30pm Thursday night.
Today, Knoxville, Tennessee:
An unknown gunman fired several shots into the Bearden, Tenn., Bush-Cheney campaign office Tuesday, WBIR-TV in Knoxville reported.
According to Knoxville police officers on the scene, it is believed that the two separate shots were fired from a car sometime between 6:30 a.m. and 7:15 a.m. One shot shattered the glass in one front door and the other cracked the glass in another of the front doors.
Today, Orlando, Florida:
A group of protestors caused a commotion Tuesday afternoon at the Bush-Cheney Headquarters at SR436 & the 408. The protestors rushed the front door and Orlando police spokesman, Sgt. Brian Gilliams says.
Once inside, the protestors used a marker to draw on posters and scribbled remarks. O-P says one employee at the office was slightly injured and police are considering whether to file misdemeanor battery charges against the unidentified protestor. From Instapundit, 10/5/04: Swastika Burned Into Grass On Bush-Cheney Supporter's Lawn
Homeowner: 'My Signs Are Going Right Back In The Yard'
POSTED: 11:57 am CDT October 1, 2004
UPDATED: 12:31 pm CDT October 1, 2004
MADISON, Wis. -- Madison homeowners are livid after vandals defaced their homes.
Homeowner Rob Schaeffer
Someone burned an 8-foot-by-8-foot Nazi swastika on a home's lawn near where Bush-Cheney signs were posted. The vandals used grass killer to spray the symbol.
Several nearby homes were vandalized -- all were within a two-block radius on the West Side, near Ice Age Trail, News 3 reported.
State Republican Party officials claim it's the latest in a series of desperate acts by Democrats.
Homeowners are angry, but resolute in what they plan to do next.
AVON, Co:
AVON — Enough of the burning Bush and enough of the Avon chain saw massacre.
Vandals trespassing on his property to chainsaw the middle out of Republican campaign signs spurred landowner Magnus Lindholm Wednesday to offer a $5,000 reward for information leading the arrest of those responsible.
Earlier this week, somebody chain-sawed the middle out of two Bush signs on his property in Avon at the William Post Boulevard exit on Interstate 70. A “Bush/Cheney ’04” campaign sign was burned in Wolcott.
The Avon signs had been torn down previously, and others around the state have been damaged. Also targeted were campaign signs in other parts of the state promoting the U.S. Senate campaign of Pete Coors, also a Republican.
No signs promoting Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry or Senate hopeful Ken Salazar have been reported damaged.
We'll see if this continues... I'm as much keeping track of this for myself as for anyone else.
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