Washington man gets death threats for War Dead billboard
By SilentPatriot Wednesday Mar 19, 2008 1:30pm
Money quote: "They hate us for our freedoms still, I see." 
Nearly five years after putting up a controversial billboard that keeps a running tally of U.S. soldier deaths in Iraq, the owner says it's staying up despite vandalism and threats.
Thousands of cars pass by with some drivers waving and honking in support. But Queisser says others have thrown rocks at his home and vandals have torn the sign apart multiple times. There have also been letters calling Queisser a terrorist, and even one that threatened him with beheading.
I bet more than 28% of Bellingham, Washington residents know exactly how many soldiers have died in McBush's war.
Oh, 3992, by the way.
(h/t Kathy)
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Thats pretty ironic.
r @ 1:
I'd call it MORONIC.
So... let me guess.... Only by ignoring the fallen soldiers can we honor them? It that it? Good grief, there sure are an awful lot of blockheads tooling around on four wheels.
Well, after all is said and done, there are three kinds of people in this world: those who can count and those who can't.
Bet he wouldn't have that if the sign said "God Bless Our Troops"..........man people are right f*&ked in the head.
r @ 1:
But not surprising.
It is the mentality of that 20-something percent of this country who still support George W. Bush. And it always has been. And politicians like George W. Bush are more than happy to exploit their mentality, irony and all.
Leftist nutties declare death threats and the whole nuck nuck against their enemy all the time too. So its fair to say Both sides play the game. Why are you getting into this?
Bellingham is really liberal, so the threats surprise me.. I drive by that sign every time I'm up there and I think, 'Why don't more people do this?'
Death threats? Beheadings? Is this Saudi Arabia?
Joe!:
FAIL!
Joe! @ 7:
Examples?
There are two signs in my town keeping a tally on the troop deaths. One is on a business downtown. Some tourists have been known to gripe but there have been no threats I am aware of.
I just want to add. Anybody who personally knows a soldier who died in Iraq or Afghanistan understands that their lives were more than just a #..
I don't condemn bringing up the number lost, it is tragic, but boasting about it lends a superficial sentiment about it.
It's time to consider how many attacks the US would have suffered had we not gone to Iraq! I'd rather we fought on someone elses land than on ours. Also, for the bleeding heart liberals that keeps score of our fallen heros, how many deaths have occured in the US due to violence?
goat hussein sage @ 11:
Ya but I'll bet there are absolutely no signs keeping track of Iraqi dead, since back in Bush 1's initial sanctions diplomacy.
t4toby @ 9:
no, FAIR!
American @ 13:
How many deaths due to stupidity?
Troll alert! Guess it must be recess at some elementary school.
... so we don't have to fight them here.
Joe! @ 12:
"boasting about it"?
let's just be honest with ourselves, you have no idea what you are talking about.
A similar display in the San Francisco Bay Area (I think it's in Lafayette) is frequently criticized as being unpatriotic, terrorist propaganda, and even a safety hazard (because the markers are visible from the road).
And 'the lefties do it too!' is not a valid defense. As my Dad used to counsel, 'If the other kid went and jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?'
Joe! @ 12:
a friend of mine from HS,his son didn't make it.
I don't think this man is boasting.I think he's giving the public a constant reminder.He's within his right to do so.
If the creatins can't handle his opinion............tough.
Joe! @ 7:
Your statement is extremely disingenuous. I would venture to say that there are far more on the right slinging mud and issuing death threats against anti-war activists than there are vice versa. I have never threatened anyone for their pro war viewpoints while I have been told in rural Washington state that I should go back to Russia for daring to have anti-war bumper stickers on my car and wearing anti-war buttons on my shirt. The irony is that the war mongers wish to silence speech which is antithetical to their views even though I, unlike many of them, ended up in a war zone in a place called Vietnam.
Your claim that "So its fair to say both sides play the game" is wildly off the mark and also quite deceptive in its [alleged] logic.
ConcernedHusseinCanuck @ 14:
It would have to be a very long sign, unfortunately.
American @ 13:
Attacks by whom?
American @ 13:
That is indeed an excellent thing to consider, for we'd be safer had we not gone into Iraq.
That sentiment sickens me. If an enemy attacks me in my home, I'll stand up and defend my home. I won't deflect the battle into my innocent neighbor's home. To do so is cowardly and immoral.
Liberal organizations keep track of that too, but are again accused of having bleeding hearts when they seek social help for communities with crime problems.
American @ 13:
*yawns*
seems like dick cheney finally logged on to spread nonsensical rants...
Thank you, Erroll.
All I could come up with was 'Fail!'
goat hussein sage @ 23:
It doesn't win too many Iraqi/MidEast friends by ignoring it though which has been happening all along. US troop deaths are tragic and completely unnecessary. However, the number being that low and getting so much attention compared to Iraqis does nothing but anger people towards the US, would it not? For the next few decades, Americans better hope their government agencies do a stellar "anti"terrorism job after this mess.
American @ 13:
So, in other words, you are a coward. It's also time to consider and remember that we are fighting (less?) than 5% of Al Quida Operatives of those in conflict with the military in Iraq.
Karen @ 10:
Crickets chirping........
Erroll @ 22:
My point is this is no different than we when we call each other out on something so widespread along the poliitcal spectrum such as... racist hatemail? I've seen both sides do it, fair and square. 99% of death threats seem to be just scaremongering nonsense anyway. It's too docile and prevelant to make a newspage out of it these days.
Why do vandals in Bellingham, Washington hate our troops?
It's good to know the right-wingers have thier priorities straight. All the cheerleaders of the war(O'Liely, Limballs, Hannity) are very mute on the subject of the 5th anniversy of the Iraq War. They would rather question peoples patriotism then have to face reality.
The official number of US soldier that have died in Iraq is not accurate. It only counts soldiers that actually die in Iraq. It doesn't count soldiers that sustain their injuries in Iraq, but die outside of the country. Soldiers that die en route to military hospitals in Germany, don't get counted. Soldiers that die months later from their injuries back here in America, don't get counted. Like we'll never know the true number of Iraqi civilians killed by our war. We will never know the true number of US soldiers that have died as a result either.
Conservativeslayer @ 34:
Not to mention suicides stateside.
American @ 13:
Answer? None.
The plots that have been foiled have been prevented through police work (more than a year's worth in the UK 'liquid explosives' plot) and incompetence on the part of the 'terrorists' (taking their training video to Circuit City for duplication, trading stereo equipment for guns, having to be coached through a 'loyalty oath' by an undercover agent). But we're safe against blinking signs with ATHF characters on them, college students with LEDs on their hoodies, and runners who draw chalk lines in parking lots.
The 'we're fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here' is nonsense - because we're also being told we have to spy on terrorists lurking in our midst, and that the threat is so enormous that we need to erode civil liberties and Constitutional protections in order to fight it.
There are about 50,000 deaths due to violent crime per annum in the United States. In 2002, the CDC launched the National Violent Death Reporting System. Limited reports are available to the public here.
Pwned.
Mr/Ms. Queisser: Keep up the good work.
[Deleted. Off topic-Sitemonitor]
"others have thrown rocks at his home and vandals have torn the sign apart multiple times. There have also been letters calling Queisser a terrorist, and even one that threatened him with beheading."
Otherwise known as "polite political disagreement" by Fox News (the apologists for right wing violence network).
[Deleted. Off topic-Sitemonitor]
P.D. @ 33:
This is exaclty what I'm talking about.
A couple of nuts on the right make death threats
therefore
...conservatives are all terroirsts threatening to kill us!!!!
Drowning out the voices of millions of people by a highlighting what a fraction of a fraction of that group says is not an ideal political thought. It's the backwards style of politics right out of the playbook of Sean Hnanity. And no I'm not accusing John of being anything like Hannity. I'm asking what constructive purpose does this blog have?
[If you haven't figured this out by now,perhaps a different site would be more to your liking.The door is over there. Site Monitor]
Conservativeslayer @ 34:
And those who come home and commit suicide due to injuries or mental problems.
Joe! @ 41:
It introduces us to people like you.
Joe! @ 7:
Oh, yeah, both sides do... because, threats aside, let's look at all the actual threats carried out...
Bobby and John F Kennedy... Martin Luther King Jr... Yitzhak Rabin... Medgar Evers... Hmm... it seems like everytime someone is assassinated, it's a progressive, someone trying to bring about change for the better, being assassinated by some stinking conservative coward who couldn't face change. Hmm... And then there are the victims of the Oklahoma City bombings... the doctors who carry out legal abortions... and of course Matthew Shepherd and Brandon Teena
Oh! Wait! A Republican who was assassinated - Abraham Lincoln! Except he'd just done the most progressive thing in his century and ended slavery....
It's almost as if violence is a TOOL of conservatives whose fear of change causes them to lash out against courageous progressives trying to make the world a better place.
pissed off patricia @ 42:
You mean I'm the only one that sits around a campfire while reading this blog, drinkin' dry martinis, singin' songs of solidarity and whistling zipadeedoda with my sphincter?
Damn, I must have missed that memo.
Joe! @ 41:
Nobody is making that claim here. You are improperly inferring it.
It highlights an attitude shared by a large portion of right-wing voters, voters who are continually egged on by the rhetoric of Ann Coulter, Niel Bortz, Michael Savage, etc. There is a large media contingent that seeks to legitimate this kind of conduct on the right, or at the very least, to fan the flames of this kind of sentiment.
I might agree with the point you are making if such conduct were limited to a tiny minority of right-wing voters. They are indeed a minority, but not a tiny one.
American @ 13:
I sorry that you have to live in a world so filled with fear. You get to choose to buy into it and participate in it, or stop spreading the fear. Your choice, really!
I drive past this gentleman's house twice a day, on my way to and from work. The city of Bellingham trends green-lib, but "out in the county," folks are a bit more ... conservative. While it's sad to hear that he's received threats, I'm quite certain that most people here in town fully support and admire his service.
We should never forget the sacrifices made on our behalf (even if the war itself was not justified).
t4toby @ 8:
People who do this kind of thing to a defenseless sign and the important
information it displays wish this was Saudi Arabia but that the country be
ruled with an iron fist version of christianity rather than wahhabist islam.
I believe that it's probably one person that is doing this or a couple of
people that are either related or friends. Either way they are despicable
hit and run cowards, much like the anonymous trolls you get on blogs or
message boards. These chickenhawks would never have the guts to do
this in broad daylight or make those threats to anyone’s face. What pathetic
chicken shits!
Joe! @ 41:
Considering that these nuts have a sizeable audience for their television shows, you're not exactly making any headway here.
And what's it to you? If we answered 'discussion of current events,' what would you bring to the table? (Truth is, it's a secret conspiracy. That you have to ask about our purpose clearly identifies you as a GOP mole or NSA spy. Smyert Shpionam!)
Does C&L even *need* to be constructive? Is John, Nicole, Howie, or any of the staff telling you what to think? Is the site being passed off as 'news,' like the tripe on FOX Nooz Channel?
Karen @ 46:
I agree with most of what you said but I don't think the minority is as big as you imagine it to be. A lot of people on the left think it's the entire Republican party, which is just sad.
Joe! @ 51:
Just how do we tell a person on the "left"? Are they somehow a different colour? Do they were special Tshirts? And why would you defend Repuglicans on a site that obviously has little love for the mess they have created?
ConcernedHusseinCanuck @ 45:
Okay, I gotta admit, I do love a dry martini. The campfire the songs and the special whistling, not my style. :)
Albatross @ 44:
I can't think of a president in the last 50 years who hasn't been the target of an assasin's attempt. Being in the oval office is the most dangerous job in the world, whether youre a dem or a repub. You are right that the extreme right carries much more violence than its other side. But have you heard of a man named Che, or Castro? Peacenicks they're not.
Won't he have to add one to it then?
Joe! @ 51:
Zombie is as zombie does. They vote in a block, they walk in a block, and they're not good at riding Segways.
For my own part, I don't always agree with the liberal line. I think there's a lot of unproductive silliness on the protest front, and the issues I think are important aren't necessarily the ones that headline here at C&L.
ConcernedHusseinCanuck @ 52:
Because I think most of them are misguided not evil retards, which means they can change if we learn how to knock sense into them. And I'm sick of the divison this country's in. Are you?
American @ 13:
You should honor them by enlisting.
Jay Severin Has a Small Pen1s @ 38:
Actually a moderate.
A lie and a mischaracterization.
And is honest about it, unlike most politicians
A lie, like Whitewater under the Clinton administration, which should Obama be elected will probably cost the taxpayers millions of wasted dollars to investigate while the Right makes propaganda hay out of it.
And being one of the most popular names in the world, and THE most popular name in several Muslim countries, is about the equivalent of having two people share the name "Bob" in the United States...
The FBI has done a miserable job catching that terrorist. It's almost as if he's more useful to the Bush administration on the run...
You refer to that lie like it's a bad thing...
Bitches get shit done
Libelous lie
Like George Bush Sr. did.
that was a trumped-up lie of the Right...
Unlike the Bush Administration Justice Department firings which were very clear
Mental schizophrenia is essential to the Right, who also suspect Obama of being a Muslim even as they decry his Christian minister's views.
That's not true. You cannot be expected to "remember" something you never knew in the first place!
More to the point, who signed a confession under torture unlike "tough" soldiers... and who would assume control of an administration that conducts torture...
Water under the bridge! Water choked with billions and billions of dollars, admittedly...
Why is it that America can vote for the American Idol winner in five minutes using cell phones, but can't figure out a way to run an honest presidential election? Maybe because Republicans own the voting machine company...
Pissed off patricia, I admit I love dry martinis to, but I too could forgo the campfire.
I bet O'Reilly would call the billboard owner a far left loon and that he should just accept the consequences (death-threats) of his hatefull unamerican actions.
American @ 13:
Do you have any idea how stupid and misinformed this statement is? (Probably not.)
Perhaps you missed the recent Pentagon memo/report (quickly squelched by the Bush Crime Family) that finally and definitively said that there was NO LINK between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and the Al Qaeda attackers (most of whom were from U.S. "ally" Saudi Arabia) who carried out the atrocities of Sept. 11. Ergo -- follow closely here -- invading and occupying Iraq was not only morally and legally wrong, but tactically illogical. Kind of like the U.S. unilaterally attacking Mexico in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor.
Gawd, you gullible, lemming-like, fear-mongering cowards are a piece of work ...
The right to dissent has been under attack since even before 9/11.
The attacks have equated loyal opposition to terrorism itself.
Dissent must continue because of the attacks, not just in spite of them.
Joe! @ 54:
Che died in 1967. That was 40 years ago.
We're the ones (admittedly an idea from the Kennedy Administration) who tried to whack Castro. Castro himself has stepped down and is probably in as good health as everyone's favorite dialysis-patient-in-a-cave-in-Afghanistan. I don't exactly think there are Cuban assassins lining up for the job.
Extremism of either stripe breeds violence, but it's a mistake to think that such is always directly connected with the central figure associated with a movement. If the ideology is weak enough or limited in scope, decapitation could very well put a stopper in it (Cinque and the Symbionese Liberation Army).
And, sorry, as far as I'm concerned, the most dangerous job in the world is either a soldier driving a truck in Iraq, or a policeman in any city, who have a much greater chance of getting shot/killed, and don't have private protection.
Wow Albatross! Are you a speed typist or what?
Joe! @ 54:
He's no peacenik, but I'm trying to remember the last time Castro invaded a country that had done Cuba no harm, and killed millions of its people...
Che, well, of course, there you would have some kind of a point... if he hadn't been, y'know, DEAD for more than forty years...
Joe! @ 51:
Has anyone here intimated that it is the entire Republican Party? Was it a necessary implication of the post to which you have objected? Could you not have come on this thread, and simply implored us not to believe that every conservative behaves this way? I assure you that if you had done that, you would have instantly won friends willing to debate you rather than elicited hostility by arguing that the post was worthless, and that people on the left behave in this manner with the same frequency as people on the right.
I can't tell you precisely how big this minority of cowardly criminals is, but it always manages to rear its ugly head every election cycle, and whenever a left-wing voter merely puts up a sign.
I was once managing a campaign for a CA Assembly candidate. I had a sign on my car for this candidate, with a Clinton for President sign next to it. It was part of an official campaign canvass of neighborhoods. More than once we my car was vandalized, one time with people driving up next to me, shouting obscenities, and hurling rocks at my face through my open window.
My mother put up a Dukakis for President sign on our lawn in 1988, and the very next morning, "Shut Up Commie Fags" was spray-painted across it.
I would be love to ignore these cowardly acts as those of an insecure minority whose long-term influence on politics and my country is negligible in the face of my own courage and the courage of my more-noble conservative opposition. But now that this contingent has its own extremely influential, constantly voiced, very loud media advocacy, I can't do that.
Precisely how large is this minority of cowards? It's large enough to take seriously, and to have posts like these. If more noble conservatives (perhaps like yourself), would loudly and constantly condemn these acts, rather than condemn the blogs who condemn them, that minority would shrink to the insignificance you claim it already has.
P.D. @ 65:
Actually yes. I've been typing for more than thirty years... I'm working on actually MAKING SENSE...
Bush and Cheney's insane sociopathic brainwashing of America is over.
Report acts like this to the local media and to both the local County Republican and Democrat party headquarters
to get it on record.
Stay peaceful. We will overcome.
Death threats didn’t stop Crosby Stills Nash & Young from completing their tour in 2006.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/28/6675/
Albatross, Very impressive. Reading you're post made my head spin.
American @ 13:
You're conflating Iraq with the 9-11 attack again. That's been disproven ages ago by the 9-11 Commission.
The fact is boosh was asleep at his post when the attack occurred. He already occupied the office for a year and a half, and ignored a PDB.
In the years since 9-11, we've never been attacked by Martians either.
Do we credit boosh for that?
Joe! @ 54:
Are you seriously attempting to equate what Che and Castro have done to the belligerent foreign policies of the United States during the past 60 years? If you are, it is no wonder that anyone here is not willing to treat what you have written in any kind of legitimate manner.
Albatross @ 44:
Well said.
Lets not forget about Anwar Sadat, Gandhi, Benazir Bhuto or even Paul Wellstone.
Do we need to actually post...AGAIN...the quotes of Ann Coulter and her ilk...quotes calling for the DEATH of journalists, politicians...quotes that weren't said on some street corner...but made through the media...nay...given a PLATFORM by the media...quotes that in a court of law, if tied to the execution of a crime could be pointed to as having aided and abetted that crime...
Karen @ 25:
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