The radical populus/socialist element in the US seized the opportunity to not “let a crisis go to waste” by opting to harass and demonize fellow US citizens Saturday – AIG families (including those who had already returned their legal bonuses)… So they loaded up a busload of ACORN activists and members of the socialist ACORN/New Party derivative, Working Family Party to tour private residences in protest, and posture for the press.
Their agenda was plainly stated by 24 year old musician/activist, Asaad Jackson, then piled on by the Connecticut chapter of the WFP, Jon Green (organizers of the harassment tour).
Standing at the foot of the driveway, in a sun-soaked cul-de-sac in a Connecticut town synonymous with wealth, Jackson read aloud from a letter he and other visitors from poorer places wanted to hand-deliver but ultimately left in the mailbox.
“Now that we have had a chance to see your community,” Jackson read before an international throng of about 40 journalists, “we would like to invite you to visit ours.”
~~~Green said the point of the tour was to contrast the circumstances of tour participants — several of whom have lost jobs or are facing foreclosure in a recession characterized by the failure or near-failure of once mighty companies such as AIG — with the circumstances of society’s most privileged people.
“There’s a growing gap between people who are generally insulated from the economic meltdown and those who are not,” Green told reporters on the lawn outside AIG’s red brick office in Wilton, where the tour concluded with a rally.
Yup… it’s all about class envy with these socialists. No disguising that.
But in the Chicago Trib account above, I can’t believe they weren’t even curious about the obvious… did the professional protesters violate US postal code regulation, CRF 310.3 as part of their harassment tour?
Standing at the foot of the driveway, in a sun-soaked cul-de-sac in a Connecticut town synonymous with wealth, Jackson read aloud from a letter he and other visitors from poorer places wanted to hand-deliver but ultimately left in the mailbox.
~~~At Poling’s home, and later at Haas’, who also lives in Fairfield, a small delegation of activists left the bus, followed by reporters, to try to deliver a letter addressed to “AIG Financial Products Executives.” The letter invited the executives to consider the variety of pressing social needs that might benefit from the amount of money awarded them as bonuses, such as health care, housing and education.
~~~At both houses they were greeted by private security guards who asked the visitors to “respect the property line” and refused to deliver the letter on their behalf but allowed them to read it aloud and place it in the mailbox.
Tell me, did that hand-delivered letter bear a stamp? And since it was from a “group” of activists, who was the official “return to sender” of the letter? One thing is certain – the letter is not being sent to the proper address for the recipient… AIG Financial Products Execs. That should have properly been delivered to the appropriate district offices.
Odd question, I know. But, per the Private Express Statues, (here’s the link for you Wiki-education fans…) – and per CFR Title 39 Section 310.2 – any letter that is hand delivered must bear proof that the “amount of postage which would have been charged on the letter if it had been sent through the Postal Service is paid by stamps, or postage meter stamps, on the cover or by other methods approved by the Postal Service.”
There are a few exceptions found in Section 310.3:
310.3(b)Letters of the carrier.
(1) The sending or carrying of letters is permissible if they are sent by or addressed to the person carrying them. If the individual actually carrying the letters is not the person sending the letters or to whom the letters are addressed, then such individual must be an officer or employee of such person (see §310.3(b)(2)) and the letters must relate to the current business of such person.
(2) The fact that the individual actually carrying the letters may be an officer or employee of the person sending the letters or to whom the letters are addressed for certain purposes does not necessarily mean that he is an officer or employee for purposes of this exception.The following factors bear on qualifications for the exception: the carrying employee is employed for a substantial time, if not fulltime (letters must not be privately carried by casual employees); the carrying employee carries no matter for other senders; the carrying employee is a regular salaried employee and shares in all privileges enjoyed by other regular employees (including employees not engaged primarily by the letter carrying function), including but not limited to salary, annual vacation time, absence allowed for illness, health benefits, workmen’s compensation insurance, and retirement benefits.
“Special messengers” are permitted to do so with 25 letters and under, and is restricted to the use of “messenger services”.
So the burning question is who was the “letter” from, did it bear proof of USPO postage, and did they have the right to place that letter in the AIG families’ mailboxes?
Violations of these codes carry a fine, and/or 30 days of prison time. And if I were any of those families, I’d go for it.
As far as the reception, it was just the ACORN/WFP activists and security guards. Since ACORN/WFT was seeking publicity for their attack on fellow US citizens, the families’ absence didn’t seem to bother them. Instead they praised the security guards.
There was no shouting or hostile conversation between the activists and the guards at either residence. Police were on hand at both places, mainly directing traffic, and there were no arrests.
“They were nice,” said Mark Dziubek, 47, a recently laid-off metal worker from Southington who boarded the charter bus in Hartford and read the letter outside Haas’ house.
Two guards parked in a Honda at the driveway leading down to Haas’ home, a large white colonial with light blue shutters on a hill facing Long Island Sound, said he was not at the residence. They said their firm, Espion International, had been hired “by the tenant,” not by AIG.
Asked where Haas was, one of the guards said, “He went away.” They declined to give their names.
In the meantime, an unastute media continues to fan the populus flames of outrage – pitting citizen against citizen. Normally I’m a huge fan of Wordsmith’s Sunday Funnies. In fact, I regularly send the link to my mother to also enjoy his time intensive compilation.
But today’s crop of political ‘toons are no laughing matter. The nation’s media remains consumed, 24/7, with whipping the US citizen up into a class envy frenzy of hatred. Evidently passing moral judgment on contract agreements is socially acceptable nowadays. Otherwise how can we justify negating bonus contracts, but not negating pensions and benefits for retired auto workers as part of their bailout funds?
Or is that next?
I only know one thing. Congress is passing out the taxpayers money like Halloween candy, hasn’t got a clue how it’s used. Nor can they genuinely track it for it’s immensity. They are to blame for the legislation that led us to this financial crisis. They are immediately and overtly to blame for these bonuses. Yet their response is to feign outrage, and have the media distract the citizens by pitting us one against the other… the “haves” vs the “have nots”.
It’s a Communist/socialist/progressive dream come true. And we’re all being played like backwoods fiddles.
Wake up, America. You’re demonizing the very people that you want to continue making the bucks to pay for your nanny social welfare… from unemployment to health care. If you plan to be a progressive/socialist, at least try to recognize and protect those who are going to be supporting you.
Vietnam era Navy wife, indy/conservative, and an official California escapee now residing as a red speck in the sea of Oregon blue.