There is a local lawyer, who is a little older than I am, who came back from college on the East Coast with that absurdist line in his repertoire. (I think it is from some long forgotten TV show in the 60’s.)
I pulled it out of my memory bank a few years ago when confronted by a Kansas City Star reporter demanding to know why I had registered the name “The Mainstream Coalition” with the Kansas Secretary of State’s office for clients of mine to keep Dr. Bob Meneilly and his high-tech hate group from using it.
A year later during the general election my clients asked me to record the following message:
“I’m Dwightie from Olathie. I’m calling you on behalf of the Mainstream Coalition. The Coalition stands for religious and racial tolerance and pluralism. It is our diversity, after all, that makes the gorgeous mosaic that we call America. That’s why it was especially disappointing to hear Democrat Dennis Moore attacking Kris Kobach’s religious faith, as well as falsely accusing him of racism. There is no room for such divisive political tactics in our community; pitting Catholic against Protestant, Christian against Jew, black against white. Say no to bigotry. Say no to hatred. Say no to candidates like Dennis Moore who seek to divide us along religious and racial lines for their own advantage. Let him know that hate is not a family value.”
This went out the Sunday night before the general election in an “auto-dial” recorded telephone message to 15,000 households in North-East Johnson County. (I purposely used my cell phone number and name on the caller ID so if anyone was upset by what was obviously a political prank they could call and vent to me personally.)
But I had forgotten a cardinal rule.
The Left feels that it alone stands for Justice, Peace, and Federally Licensed and Funded Day Care. (You know the formulation; “Why are we spending money on weapons when we could be funding federally licensed and funded day care?”) They can be insulted, reviled, impugned, etc. BUT DON’T LAUGH AT THEM! (Especially by parroting their own clichés back to them.)
As soon as the call went out at 8:00 p.m., I started getting hundreds of calls on my cell and my landline. These kept up for at least 36 hours, at all hours of day and night. The next two days the calls also came in to my law office by the hundreds as well, jamming our firm’s switchboard.
All but a handful of the calls to me were anonymous. All said one of two clever things, i.e. “You are a right-wing piece of (excrement)!” or “You are a piece of (excrement) right winger!” Dr. Bob “his-self,” as we say in “Olathie,” called me, as did his wife: “Shirley and I…”
My call was obviously tongue-in-cheek. Over a year earlier the Star had reported that the Mainstream had forfeited its name. No one who was familiar with the organization would believe for a moment that it was attacking Dennis Moore, who went on to win reelection by a record margin. (Moore’s staff called to tell me they thought my auto-dial was a funny stunt!)
It turns out that Meneilly and his people had sent out thousands of e-mails, most of which went to people who never even received my auto-dial, urging them to call me at home and at my law firm. The one caller I could get to stop screaming long enough to have a rationale discussion admitted he never even received the offending message but still wanted to call to protest the “most immoral and unethical thing” he’d ever heard of. I’m still scratching my head as to what was so “immoral” or “unethical.” Registering an opposition group’s name after they let it lapse? Making fun of a self-righteous group like the Mainstream? Criticizing a political opponent?
Needless to say the calls stopped within fifteen minutes after I made a complaint with the Prairie Village Police against Meneilly and the former Mainstream director, Carolyn McKnight.
The reason I mention this incident is that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach was attacked at length by the K.C. Star’s new “token” conservative, Steve Rose, for daring to be upset at an even more outrageous campaign of harassment and intimidation against his family recently.
Three hundred angry demonstrators went to his house in Wyandotte County last month and stood on his front yard and front porch, shouting and waving signs protesting his policies on voter fraud. Fortunately he, his wife, and his children were not at home. It’s clear, though, that it was meant to harass and frighten them, just as was intended with me by Meneilly and company.
Whatever you may think of Kobach this kind of tactic, pioneered by left-wing groups against members of the Bush administration at their homes in Washington, is one we don’t need to bring here.
Why does the Left think they can harass and intimidate people for daring to oppose them?
I listened to Steve Rose on RUCKUS as he made a lame attempt to pretend that 300 people showing up on your doorstep to intimidate you was just another day at the park.
What BS.
Woody Cozad layed him out too and he deserved it.
300 people with bullhorns on your lawn. What azzholes.
You’re right Dwight, the presumption of the higher ground for the left, aided and abetted by the 4th Estate, halls of acadame and Hollywood, is absurd.
Well, when you list your home address as your office and welcome people to come and talk to him at his office… well you do the math.
He asked for this. Kansas has a hard enough time not appearing to be the most backwards state with all the religious wackadoos from Wichita and other parts not NE Kansas.
Kobach is not helping this image.
True dat !!!
Today Nancy Landon Kassebaum and Bob Dole would be seen as flaming liberals and wouldn’t even get out of their own primaries.
its boths sidesdudes….how about the anti abortion activists stalking the
doctors at their homes…surrounding their offices….making serious death threats…
harassingthe families andemployees of the doctors…putting out wanted dead or
alive posters of the doctors ….and ultimately shooting and killing the
doctors. That too is way beyond something to do.
Again…both sides should be toned down. This is not the way the system should be.
No…harassing anyones home at their home isn’t the way to change policy but both
sides have gone way over the bounds of what should be done.
This is why we are a nonfunctioning democracy….the leaders of the 2 sides have
both sides of people hating each other and fighting each other when we really
know who is to blame for the problems of the country.
They create this division of the citizens….but one day all of us…democrat and
republican/left and right/liberal and conservative will open our eyes and reallyt
see who have put us in the position we are in today…and then we’ll clean
these rats out who have been bought and paid for by the monied people and
who’s only job wasto grab the money and the power and make the 98% of
America pay for this mismanagement.
Two comments
First, the addition of Dwight Sutherland as a contributor and his more recent focus on political topics has been great. Nothing brings out reader passion like politics and religion and he has certainly lit those fires. While he is a bit close to the conservative fringe from my perspective, no one can question his chops.
Second, as a long time reader but relatively new commenter, I have noticed that most readers seem to trash Harley on a regular basis. While many of his posts do seem to warrant that opinion, I think he hit the nail on the head with this one. We need a lot less of the crazies on both sides hurling insults and a lot more people looking for ways to reach across the aisle and get things done. Cleaning out Congress by setting term limits might be the best way to start.
How do term limits reduce crazies. Don’t you just end up with crazier, less-experienced pols? Look at MO with their ‘We don’t need no stinking federal laws in our corner of the world’ legislation this year…
Term limits simply eliminate the need to constantly raise money and having to answer to special interest groups. They would be the best possible solution to getting our political sides working together.
putting this terrorists or murderer pic on rolling stone cover reallymean nothing.
I mean bin ladens been on there….and noone screamed….
its all about the publicity…andthey got 100 million dolllars worth of it
and all the readers whowill pick up the magazine and read it….allabout money
and readers.
And the magazine probably loses some readers but its not been the same
mag for 15 years.
It was music…now its music with lots of politics.
Just another way to get americans angry.
Don’t buy it…don’t read it….and pray no young kid reads and decides the
guys a hero. I’ve read stories about this guy on the internet where they make
him out tobe a star. He’s got a fan club/followers. It’s crazy.
But that’s the world we live in.
Should never have been on the cover…and if so…use the pics of him from
the boston police photographer during his arrest.
way too much anger….it too shall pass. Bad decision…but iwht 24/7 news
cycle i’m sure by Saturday something else will popup that’s even dumber.
sorry…comment on wrong story….but in a more important and sadder tone:
baYFIELD, Wis. (KMSP) –
A dog whose photo became an online sensation, touching hearts all over the world, has passed away.
The photo of John Unger and his rescue dog Shoep shows the two floating in the cold water of Lake Superior in Bayfield, Wis. to soothe Shoep’s arthritis.
The picture was shared by millions of people last year and spurred people all across the globe to donate money to Shoep’s veterinary bills and medical treatments, which Unger said helped him live another year.
Unger announced Thursday on Facebook that Shoep has died at the age of 20.
He left a short message saying “I breathe…but I cannot catch my breath.”
You can leave your condolences on Unger’s Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/15rarxL
The photo that stole our hearts: http://on.fb.me/197jOb6
Read more: Shoep, Lake Superior photo dog, passes away at age 20 – KMSP-TV http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/22883839/shoep-lake-superior-dog-dies#ixzz2ZV3Cr6HA
Great pic.
I love dogs.
Thank you harlinator for your daily regurgitation of pure crap.
Nobody is better for it but you.
Dude, he has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary while at the same time being able to compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know.
He is a self-made man and worships his creator
Not to mention, in his above, wrongfully placed comment, he also makes the error in stating Bin Laden was on the cover of Rolling Stone. Thats got to go down hard for someone who is always right; two mistakes in one, commented on the wrong story and got the comment wrong as well.
yeah Wilson…still hurting from taking a beating
on every major issue….okay I put the quote in the
wrong section…but shit dude…. everyone reads
my posts…they’re right on…and if you saw my
plan for rejuvenationof the nation that I’ve posted
in parts on here…you know i’m right.
You’re a small person. You’re little trite comments
towards me are really pretty petty. But you’re
petty. We know your story…and as the commentator
on tkc (which I will try to find said) ‘WILSON WAS
ONCE WHERE HARLEY IS NOW”…thts so true…
you may have ONCE had it going…but now….that’s
all just a memory!!!!!!!!!
They talked about your “place” in olathe and the
deep deep jealousy that rages within you. when you’re at the bottom looking up you
look for targets to express your total dissatisfaction.
You read everything I write…and whether you agree
with me or not you continue to have NO FACTS TO
BACK UP YOUR STATEMENTS. In other words
Wilson…you’re a fake!!!!!!!
you’re a wanna be….what happened to the movie
people?
I get it….oh…you want to forget that little story!!!!!
have a great day looking up!!!!!
Sorry, you’re just wrong and you can’t take it.
You have no idea “where I am”, but I appreciate your attempts at guessing.
Youre wrong, Im done.
The previous message comes from an undisclosed bunker at the Overland Park sewage treatment plant.
you’re right about the self made man…
when you coming over to my house for a beer and
get out of the “HOOD” SECTION in olathe.
It does a person good like yu to come see that great
things are possible in someones life and that
people can be successful.
And that after a down point they can get up again…
PRINT THAT HEARNE!!!!!!!!!
Look harlinator, do you really want Paul to disclose your REAL whereabouts instead of the imaginary MTV crib that exists in your little, warped cranium??
I would recommend you stop poking the bear lest he divulge where you really live for all to see.
little pauly…maybe you should have spent moretimein
business school instead of English class learning to
write “so well”….maybe then you’d not be where you are
now!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahaha…
looking for tkc comment!!!!!
Good god you are a sad, pathetic excuse for a human being. I thought Glazer had you beat for that title but you really stepped up an proved once again how much of a stinky little turd you are.
Thank you dude, but it’s a waste of time. He won’t take his meds, he got caught on TKC stating he would NEVER comment here again, but he clearly has, and 5 out of 6 videos on “the real Harley” appear to be in the can. He was proven wrong today, again, so he’s kind of melting down into another crazed loony series of rants.
His measure of who a person is comes from his paradigm. All his life he prayed to be SOMEBODY, and man, he sure is! He just should have been more specific about who because he’s stuck with this version of “somebody”
He’s racked with jealousy that I’m NOT what he tries to claim. You be honest and tell someone about ONE bad period of time you had and he ends the story there! He’s got no sense of who I really am….so he treats it like everything else, 1 part FACT, 99 parts Harleyism
I sure wish the journalism genius could provide the link he’s promised; wouldn’t you LOVE to go comment on him??? But alas, wishful thinking, HuffPo doesn’t allow illiterate drivel over there…..
Thanks just the same.
Hey Harley! The last time I checked, you were the one that claimed to have a journalism degree from MU, not Paul. So who wasted time learning to write”so well”, then? hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Why does the Left think they can harass and intimidate people for daring to oppose them?”
Wow Sutherland, a really poor closing to an otherwise decent post. Maybe the Left think that if it works for the Right, it’s fair game for them.
I was amazed to see a letter in this morning’s KC Star by a reader who feels very strongly that IRS employees should get bonuses(!) for harassing conservative group like The Tea Party because anything that makes life difficult for the latter is per se legitimate and desirable. I don’t understand the thinking of some one like this,who apparently doesn’t realize that these same tactics can be employed against them when their party is out of power.(Don’t they remember that having the IRS audit political opponents was one of the Articles of Impeachment of Richard Nixon ?) I also beg to differ with Harley who says The Right has no right to talk given the harassment of abortion clinics and doctors. I see his point but would say that I can understand becoming enraged at someone’s actions(Trayvon Martin’s sympathizers or anti-Iraq war protesters are obvious counter-parts on the left) but I do not see why you would become enraged at someone expressing their views,particularly if you only heard about it from a third person. (I was getting obscene calls phone six days after the election from areas of Johnson County where my auto-dial never reached!) Since neither side has a monopoly on virtue I’m sure you’re right but the whole phenomenon of Political Correctness adds a new dimension to intolerance of opposing beliefs.
Dwight; Hearne needs to put you on a retainer. This has to be cutting into your billable hours. I’d almost be willing to pay for the entertainment of reading the comments you generate.
Get your checkbook out, Stomper!
Dwight….i’m sure the same things happen on the other side.
The push/pull techniques used by the politicians in
races have generated lots of angry phone calls from bothsides.
Read red state where they tellyou to call a senator about a
bill that doesnet affect the reader…come on dude….politics
is dirty and you get your hands dirty every timeyou try to
pin something on one side.
Its about winners and losers.
Guys like chuck…Wilson…smarmyman…they are outraged
at everything 24/7 of everyday…nothing positive about
anyone or anything. they’re on one side.
Then there are winners…like myself who looks at each
issue…analyzes the different sides then makes a decision
based on fact.
Chuck never met a brown or black man or non white
person he didn’t hate.
smarmyman never met anyone he didn’t hate!
and the little man…he just never met anyone!
thanks…enjoy your take but I will continue to point out
that theres three sides to every issue…yours…the opposite
of yours….and mine(which is always right) (just joking)
good to have you with kcc….hope family is doing well…
we should meet sometime …..take care!
President Bush-lite’s IRS also got turned loose on left-wing groups who oppose him.
Of course that lil’ bit of news didn’t make the front page.
Pretty much goes to show that politicians and their groupies can argue from one-side of the table, standup and walk around to the other side and argue that side without batting an eyelash or a tinge of embarrassment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBiqkkkTYMk
Dwight, Harley attempts to take a position just to see his words in print, regardless of the subject matter or incredible IQ gap between writer-commenter. It’s like watching Stevie Wonder drive a car.
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule—and both commonly succeed, and are right.”
― H.L. Mencken
Here is Chris Matthews, “Speaking for all white people”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw_UOs-CE54&list=UUFldR60VyvA0S_zV776E_KQ
It just doesn’t get any better than this. The presumption of superiority by way of ego, narcissism and a specious go to narrative that has dominated the zeitgeist for 60 years. A myopia so necrotic and pernicious, it enables the willfull impercipience of Talking Empty Heads, politicians, professors and Hollywood elite who cash checks on the dead backs of African Americans exsanguintaing into gutters all over America while continuing to polarize and excaberate division.
The racism of liberal low expectations keeps African Americans on a new metaphorical plantation where the owners and masters apply the whips of Affirmative Action, EBT/SNAP addiction, embarrassing quotas, disgraceful set asides that scar the backs of not just African Americans, but all of us.
Drive down the road past all those trees at Tara and 12 Oaks today, knock on the door and sh*theel fu*ks like Chris Matthews, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson will home working thier whip hands.
Whoa, lots of Websters getting used after that one.
Ya want it in cursive?
One more time, FU*K Chris Matthews, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackazz.
A trio of more deplorable human beings would be hard to find outside of the Penal System.
Karma should find them in Dante’s 8th Circle.
“Bolgia 9: In the ninth Bolgia, a sword-wielding demon hacks at the Sowers of Discord, dividing parts of their bodies as in life they divided others.[48] As they make their rounds the wounds heal, only to have the demon tear apart their bodies again.”
Purgatorio was the better book. Also Chris Matthews has man boobs.
Above message should have appeared under the-one-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken
I thought you were dead Voldemort??