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How do we know they were actually from the Secret Service? If someone says they're from the Secret Service and they want to come into my house, there are two things they have to do: 1) they have to show me some ID ; and 2) let me take down their names and badge/ID numbers. I'm not letting any stranger into my house just because he says he's from the Secret Service.
According to Hedgecock's piece, "...the agents would not identify themselves by name...", which is a big flashing red sign to me.
Look: here in the US we have Constitutional rights, and that includes the fact that we don't have to let law enforcement officers into our homes.
Considering that Martha Stewart ended up doing jail time for misremembering doing something that isn't a crime anyway, I think I'd also tell them that I wouldn't talk to them until I had a lawyer present, too. And if they said, "Well then, we'll just arrest you for non-cooperation," I'd hold out my wrists. "Go right ahead," I'd say, "but understand that I will sue you for false arrest...and besides, I doubt your case will be helped by the fact that you tried to deny me my constitutional rights."
Especially in a case where I knew I had committed no crime whatsoever.
The key is not to resist or get angry or do anything wrong--be polite, but be firm about retaining your constitional rights against self-incrimination and the right to have legal representation present during questioning.
If they're real Secret Service personnel, they will have identified themselves and shown their badges to you when you greeted them at the door, and they'll be annoyed by your reluctance to speak but they'll follow procedure--if you ask for a lawyer, they have to let you have one, especially if they arrest you.
But if they're not real Secret Service personnel, they'll bluster and threaten...and the last thing they'll actually do is try to arrest you. They'll make you think they're going to, but they won't, because impersonating a federal agent is a serious crime. And if they bluster and threaten but back down when you hold out your wrists for the cuffs, you should call 911 and ask the police to come to your home...and watch the "secret service" people beat a hasty retreat, because the cops can ascertain with a fair amount of speed whether these are real agents or not...and if they aren't, these people are in serious trouble.
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I don't advise anyone to do anything I just discussed in this blog entry. I'm saying what I would do if I were confronted with alleged "Secret Service" people who wouldn't identify themselves or show me their badges.
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And, by the way, I resisted the urge to abbreviate "Secret Service" as "SS", though in this case it's pretty appropriate.
Also by the way, isn't it interesting to note that this happened because someone who didn't want to vote for Barak Hussein Obama said so, and explained why?
With the "Obama Youth" videos that have been circulating, with the propaganda that has been "astroturfed", with ACORN trying to stuff the ballot boxes, with the SS allegedly being used to intimidate people--is there any "Nazi" tactic which the Democrats haven't used in their quest to win this election?
If he does win--God forbid!--I half expect the fire insurance premiums on the Capitol to skyrocket....
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Vox Day discusses why the bailout didn't do anything to prevent the fiscal meltdown--and as usual he's dead-on with his analysis.
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We're keeping up with Moore's Law...for the time being. But it's an excellent point that at the 32 nanometer level it's hard to get a smooth surface.
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Some months ago, while Mom and I were shopping, I grabbed--on impulse--this mustard. It's "Silver Spring Beer 'n' Brat horseradish mustard". And it goes very well on bratwurst; but on impulse I tried it on hot dogs--and oh my God is it good. I've used 2/3 of the jar and I'm going to be getting more of this stuff.
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Anime fans who have seen Marmalade Boy will get a chuckle out of the fact that there is a brand of mustard called Mustard Girl.
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And now I'm going to fire up Word and see if I can add anything to anything.