Forgot to mention I got a threatening phone call following an LTTE

[rurallib]

When I picked up the phone and said Hello this guy just started screaming "Who the hell do you think you are? We have ways of dealing with you!" I called the guy a coward for not having enough guts to come say what he had to say to my face. He said he'd be right over. I said fine and hung up.
Funny thing was my wife was on the downstairs phone. I kind of laughed the clown off and finished the chore I was upstairs to do. When I came downstairs she was talking to him. Had been for about five minutes.
I went upstairs, grabbed the phone again and told him that only a coward would threaten someone on the phone. I said if he wasn't a coward, he'd tell me his name. And he DID! Then he wanted to talk politics. He just kept talking, said he watched about 30 hours a week of news. I asked if he watched Fox. he said he did but watched other stuff as well. I asked if he read blogs. He said he did. I asked if freerepublic and littlegreenfootballs were a couple he read. he said they were a couple of great sites. I then hung up.
After some discussion with my wife and some friends I decided to go talk to the local police. The policeman suggested that he call this guy, confirm the story and let the guy know that he could be charged with harassment.
A few hours later I got a call from the policeman stating that he had called and the guy said the conversation was pretty much as I had described, including the threat. The policeman said it was a good idea to turn him in. Lot of nuts out there right now. Any more calls and he gets charged.

[pstans]

1. Wow

and you don't even live in Western Iowa.

[progressoid]

2. Holy cow. What did you write?

Of course, in today's climate, anything that doesn't glorify king george is considered treason so I suppose I doesn't matter what you wrote. Just speaking out can set some people off.

[rurallib]

5. A friend wrote a column on the Iraq war and I was just backing

her up. Nothing I would consider real inflamatory, just stating some facts. After I spoke up (I sent an email to our local Dem group) others said they had received calls or letters from this guy. Nothing as threatening as what he did to me, but still uncalled for. The police officer also said that he spoke to the perp's local police to keep an eye on this guy.
Sad when your ideas are so bad all you can do is threaten people to get them to go along.
There had been a much more forceful LTTE in the Journal the day before.

[Blue Gardener]

3. All kinds of nuts around here

Was your letter in the Gazette? I've had several in the Gazette and IC Press Citizen, and have received several calls of support, but never anything negative. I understand why including your name is mandatory when submitting a letter, but I think it's just a matter of time before some nutjob follows through on his threats. Something to think about I guess. They won't stop me from submitting LTTE's, but I could understand if you had small children at home and didn't want to take a chance.

[rurallib]

6. No, Muscy Journal.

You may remember my request for people to vote in a poll on leaving Iraq about a month and a half ago. It was in conjunction with that.
I have a disabled wife. Funny thing was the guy didn't scare me at all. I immediately figured if he was using the phone as a method of intimidation he didn't have the guts to stand up to me. I worry about the guy who is just going to walk up and deck me. I am not very shy about my feelings for Bush, often wearing a shirt that says "worst president ever". I figure if some Dem sees me wearing my shirt, it will get them to stand up also. You can't believe how many hand shakes and slaps on the back I get when I wear that shirt.

[IA_Seth]

9. Muscy Journal

I have a picture of my great great grandfather, my great grandfather, my great uncle, and my father's cousin all sitting outside of their house in Muscatine that was originally printed in the Muscatine Journal back in 1939. Do you know if the Muscatine Journal has old archives available? I have always wanted to see the photo in the context of the paper.

[rurallib]

10. No idea. I seldom read their paper

It is just not a very good paper these days. Give them a call. Their website is www.muscatinejournal.com. They probably have a telephone number on there. Phone book listing: 563-263-2331.

[Bluzmann57]

4. See, thats part of the problem with LttE's.

I realize that they must have a person's name for verification purposes, but when a person's name is published and their phone number is listed, that can be dangerous. That being said, keep on writing the letters.
I wrote one to the QC Times in 2004 ranting about how screwed up things would be with bush having a second term (I was right), and a guy called me. But the guy claims to be a progressive and I have read some letters from him. He invited me to "join the cause" but wouldn't say much more than that. I have caller ID so I know damn well who he is. I also called the QC Times after this guy called, and they told me that he calls them, as well as writing frequently, but he tends to ramble. I never returned his call and have never heard from him since. Hope that guy who called you doesn't call you anymore, and if he does, call the police again.
Too many uses of the word "call" in this post. I gotta stop that. Anyway, good luck to you with that guy.

[Hobarticus]

7. I get out-of-state replies when I write LTTEs

They rarely identify themselves, never leave an address, but they sure talk tough.

I did a little Sherlockin' on one of the letters, based on the name and the zip code. Sounded like an old retired guy, living with his daughter. I felt sorry for him, actually, so I let it go.

[Debi]

8. And to think that it is only January of 2006

I'm a glass-half-empty person on this issue. I think it's only going to get worse.

Good for you for turning the guy in to the police. :thumbsup:

[Hardrada]

11. My letters (and some articles) have been published in the DMR

for decades now and I have had all kinds of responses (none physical). Long phone messages left in my ABSENCE! Xian tracts jammed into envelopes and mailed to me. These all came from Sioux City but that person must have died since I haven't gotten those for some years. Hostile letters filled with underlined Bible verses. Letters in black ink with Biblical menacing parts written in red ink, a few strange postcards and my own letters taped on a piece of paper and sent back to me as though to mock me. And one long hostile email message followed up by email messages to my wife's school (she had nothing to do with my letter!) and a nasty letter to our local paper which I managed to keep from being printed because it was somewhat libelous and deranged. (The person who wrote it is a fundie home schooler with ten children who lives up in Ocheyedan and whose husband goes around sabotaging school bond issues). I am a semi-professional writer and I can manage to write letters that skin those RW people and sometimes draw blood but they are 99% cowards and I never, save for the last instance, know their names since they are even more cowardly than their Thief Executive!

[Wapsie B]

12. What is it with these people?

It's one thing to disagree with another on the issues. But to make threatening phone calls and stuff your mailbox with these mindless fundie rants only shows me that modern-day republicanism is a mental illness. Everything they are is wrapped up in this corrupt little man in the WH.

[Hardrada]

13. I know their political beliefs are not rational because the

ones we know pull their names from our email lists or will NEVER speak to us again if we bring up anything wrong about Shrub or the war (This is my Orange County CA brother-in-law who is also a total but covert racist). In fact my late uncle Ed used to cut me off angrily if I mentioned my views on the V Nam war as early as 1965. They will tolerate no dissent. Why is this?

[Wapsie B]

14. They have no use for a divergent point of view.

The John Wayne, wrap yourself in the flag world they've created for themselves is their comfort zone. Their mindset can't handle questioning the status quo. That's a point the conservative media handlers have capitalized on for years. What we're seeing now is the result of constant prodding of the repug core by the gop spin meisters. The repug core is emboldened. They have that swagger of invincibility, that nothing can stop them, even with the most incompetent person to sit in the WH in modern times.
That internal fear and hatred of core repugs is pumped up every day under the guise of a kind of faux intellectualism. What you experienced with uncle Ed with 'Nam is the same mentality, the same hatred of the Left we see today with Iraq, and a reason why you still see W stickers on cars. That deep-seated hatred of the Left is not going away and will only get worse. That's why we need a true opposition party in this country. We need a Democratic Party that will kick ass and take names. That is the only thing repugs will understand and respect, just like the playground bully.

[Hardrada]

15. I am puzzled at the fact they have to have their comfort zones.

I don't think the ones i know are unequipped to analyze their beliefs. It must just be some kind of psychological or emotional jump they are unwilling to take. I have always agreed with Socrates that the unexamined life is not worth living but some people for soem reason can't bear even the beginnings of a rational analysis of their beliefs. Do they think their sense of self would be under attack? Their motives? Their sexuality perhaps (that might not be too far off since there is also a possible worry about the 100% status of their heterosexuality)? SOMETHING in their minds is apparently threatened. What could that be or could it be a confluence of separate but easily merged fears?

[tom2]

16. LTEs are great, free advertising - Do it!

I think most people who write opinionated LTEs get little or no negative feedback, and threatening feedback is rare. I believe the experiences written above, but I hope people do not read this post and the great comments and then become too intimidated to write.

You can write very pointed letters, calling for Bush's resignation or calling him a liar, and still not have a single negative response. It is especially beneficial if you can base your comments on facts and don't write the letter with the intention of exciting the enemy. You are not going to sway the enemy. The point of the letter should be to sway moderates and help Democrats feel good about their beliefs.

I write many letters and receive many responses from strangers on the street, from my friends and acquaintances, postcards and rarely some phone calls from strangers, almost all positive. I have had only two postcards from someone who quibbled about the way I interpreted economic data (they were wrong, of course). I am fortunate, perhaps, that I have had nothing threatening at all.

Please take the time to write LTEs and submit them to your local newspaper. If published, they are read more often than the expensive ads in the paper, and there is no charge to you. They help give the impression to your community that the majority of Iowans are thoughtful, knowledgeable, concerned citizens who care, people that identify with the ideals of the Democratic Party. I always try to make a point against a Republican politician running for office soon or against the Republican Party in general. Even if it is about Bush, I try to tar the whole Republican Party.

I am convinced that LTEs really do make a difference. And I hope you will all take the time to submit at least one letter a month. A letter a month is worth thousands of dollars a year in newspaper advertising.

[rurallib]

17. Not going to stop me from writing.

I figure LTTEs are going to be one of many weapons in Loebsack's race against Leach. I will not be intimidated by any loudmouth. As you state we need to just go after them with facts.
Besides I think most of these clowns who think they are saving the W republic are given to thinking we will back down when confronted. I have never been one to back down, and I believe most Democrats will not back down. This is such a surprise to those empoewered by Hannity and his ilk. So far the confrontations I have had I am 3 wins 0 losses. Not that I am looking for trouble. I just refuse to back down to these creeps.
BTW welcome to DU, TOM2