Maybe I should take this more seriously, but the nasty, somewhat threatening letter that came in Tuesday's mail just seems like petty harassment.
When you operate in the public arena, don't hide behind anonymity, and are in the telephone book, you're pretty much guaranteed to get some blowback now and then.
The letter, unsigned and from a phony address, apparently went to a number of progressive activists. Some have taken it seriously enough to notify the police and the post office. This post at Democurmudgeonhas more details.
The letter is certainly not as creepy as a voice mail left on our home machine awhile back, responding to an opinion column about the war in Iraq. "Coward" was the nicest thing he said, but it was the voice that was chilling. It sounded like a psychopath.
It seemed like the giant RECALL WALKER sign in the front yard might be what landed me on the distribution list for the letter. But it seems to be directed at public employees, which excludes me. Here's an excerpt:
Union members defiled the Capitol in Madison. Maybe it is time for the same treatment for union-member homes. Halloween is coming real soon...
My first thought was that maybe Charlie Sykes and Mark Belling were going to come over and egg our house.
But maybe it's not something to take lightly. There are some crazy people out there.
It does strike me as ironic that this comes when the right-wing is trying to hard to portray protesters and union members as "thugs" who break all of the rules and even pour beer on a legislator's head.
But there has been nothing resembling vigilante activity on the left. That, upon some reflection, is what this letter sounds like -- a warning that the goon squad might be on the way.
Read it yourself and see what you think. It's labeled as the thug letterbecause that's the most descriptive term for it.
And so it goes.