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You are here: Home / Just excercising their constitutional right to cut other people’s gas lines

Just excercising their constitutional right to cut other people’s gas lines

by DougJ|  March 24, 20105:20 pm| 70 Comments

This post is in: Good News For Conservatives

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That’s all this is:

Federal and local authorities are investigating a severed gas line at the home of U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello’s brother, discovered the day after Tea Party activists posted the address online so opponents could “drop by” and “express their thanks” for Perriello’s vote in favor of health care reform.

The gas line to the home’s propane tank was slashed, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The one thing I’m not clear on is the exact position of the line between things that are constitutional rights and things that liberals brought on themselves. Presumably, if a Representative is shot or assaulted, that will be the fault of the same liberals who caused the death of George Tiller. We also know that spitting on representatives and taunting Parkinson’s sufferers is a constitutional right. So I’m guessing that cutting your Congressman’s brother’s gas lines is probably constitutionally protected as well.

Update. I see that Tim F has already covered this.

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Reader Interactions

70Comments

  1. 1.

    geg6

    March 24, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    Collateral damage.

    Including the man’s wife and four kids.

    That is all.

  2. 2.

    Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill

    March 24, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    Not that this isn’t horrific, but Tim F. already hit it.

  3. 3.

    David in NY

    March 24, 2010 at 5:23 pm

    Is that the link you wanted? I think it belongs down below.

  4. 4.

    aimai

    March 24, 2010 at 5:24 pm

    Don’t guess! Be sure by joining the Republican Party today! Every membership comes with a conscience back guarantee.

    aimai

  5. 5.

    David in NY

    March 24, 2010 at 5:26 pm

    @Woodrow “asim” Jarvis Hill:

    Also, the pace of posting is getting a little frenzied here.

  6. 6.

    geg6

    March 24, 2010 at 5:27 pm

    By the way, Steny Hoyer is PISSED.

    http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/hoyer-violent-rhetoric-surrounding-health-debate-is-unacceptable.php

    Methinks Michelle Bachman and that asshole from Iowa are laying low today.

  7. 7.

    DougJ

    March 24, 2010 at 5:27 pm

    @David in NY:

    Thanks! I fixed it.

  8. 8.

    danimal

    March 24, 2010 at 5:28 pm

    You libtards get upset over the silliest things. Spitting on congressmen and arranging “accidents” are practically traditions in a country that began with a tea party. A little tar and feathering keeps up the revolutionary spirit. Lighten up, a little collateral damage is regrettable, but not the end of the world.

    /teabagger

  9. 9.

    Keith G

    March 24, 2010 at 5:31 pm

    So I’m guessing that cutting your Congressman’s brother’s gas lines is probably constitutionally protected as well.

    I would think probably not. While I ardently hope no one gets hurt, I am hopeful that independents absorb what is going on, what is at stake, and where the lines are drawn,

    With a quiet, yet authoritative voice, we need to made sure that the Republicans own this misbehavior. “We” being everyone from those in the West Wing to me.

  10. 10.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    March 24, 2010 at 5:33 pm

    Gas lines cut, windows smashed, and wingnut senators shutting down all senate committee action. And Mitch Mcconnell just said on the senate floor, that out of the goodness of their hearts, the GOP is giving democrats one last chance to do the right thing and let wingnuts stop the reconciliation bill and save themselves cause there will be hell to pay. (my paraphrase) — big of them./wingnut

    The Apple Dumpling Revolution is on.

  11. 11.

    RSA

    March 24, 2010 at 5:33 pm

    So I’m guessing that cutting your Congressman’s brother’s gas lines is probably constitutionally protected as well.

    We’ll shortly hear from a long list of conservative libertarians that such violations of property rights are not to be tolerated.

  12. 12.

    freelancer

    March 24, 2010 at 5:33 pm

    @danimal:

    So close, but your flaw was your lack of shitty grammar and also, no typos.

  13. 13.

    Joseph Nobles

    March 24, 2010 at 5:34 pm

    Free speech. By cutting your gas line, I’m expressing my extreme displeasure in something your brother did.

  14. 14.

    gregw

    March 24, 2010 at 5:35 pm

    I have seen somewhere this morning that this gas line was the short one that goes from the gas tank to the barbecue grill, ie not very dangerous. Not to excuse the obvious trespassing but I sure would like to clarify if this was a main line that not only could have killed the people at the address but neighbors as well. Any one know for sure?

  15. 15.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    March 24, 2010 at 5:36 pm

    Also, the pace of posting is getting a little frenzied here.

    no compaints from me, cause before DougJ came aboard, we would have hours long thread post blackouts while Cole was passed out on the couch from drowning his sorrows in a bowl of Hola Fruita.

  16. 16.

    jl

    March 24, 2010 at 5:37 pm

    We have to hope that most of the populaton will not put up with this, and that the GOP will either alienate the majority of the population even further, or will stop their dangerous and immoral nonsense.

    The GOP is a wounded beast. From what we see now, looks like that they were as unprepared for unforeseen events (such as the Democrats acting like halfway responsible and resolute grown-ups for once) as the Democrats were after they lost the 60th Senate seat.

    If the GOP has no plan B in the case that their plan A of complete obstruction and total-Obama-KO-take-down does not work, and it looks like they do not, then that may help in the midterms.

    Problem is how many innocent people will get hurt in the meantime.

  17. 17.

    freelancer

    March 24, 2010 at 5:37 pm

    @RSA:

    We’ll shortly hear from a long list of conservative libertarians that such violations of property rights are not to be tolerated.

    It’s not property if we’re now a sociali$t country and all possessions are collectively shared by the people. Wingnut cut his own gas line.

  18. 18.

    JP

    March 24, 2010 at 5:38 pm

    The title of the piece is “Put the Fear of Something Into Them”

    http://pajamasmedia.com/vodkapundit/2010/03/24/put-the-fear-of-something-into-them/

    I wonder if they hold their bloggers to the same standards as their commenters? (See comment rule #4)

  19. 19.

    YellowJournalism

    March 24, 2010 at 5:38 pm

    @gregw: The BBQ grill line? So they’re not only dangerous, but stupid as well.

  20. 20.

    David in NY

    March 24, 2010 at 5:38 pm

    So I’m guessing that cutting your Congressman’s brother’s gas lines is probably constitutionally protected as well.

    Right! Just a harmless form of petitioning for redress of grievances! /talkradio

  21. 21.

    geg6

    March 24, 2010 at 5:38 pm

    @gregw:

    They are being quite closed mouth with the details. I’ve been trying to find out, but can’t. And TPM has been all over this, but can’t get the details either.

    I think I understand why they might want to keep the details out of the press right now. At least, until they arrest the mother fucking teabagging terrorist who did it.

  22. 22.

    danimal

    March 24, 2010 at 5:41 pm

    @freelancer: Apparently, I save my typos for my serious posts.

    When someone dies from this crap, I hope the Democratic leadership is willing to call it like it is (terrorism) and that they clearly identify the culprits. The GOP whips up their crazies, then hides behind plausible deniability when they get out of hand. The only reason their deniability is plausible is because the Dems and the MSM continue the charade. These are the acts of domestic, right-wing terrorists.

  23. 23.

    dmsilev

    March 24, 2010 at 5:43 pm

    I like how the asshole blogger/teabagger who incited this went from “Oh well, collateral damage” to being “shocked” that anyone would actually do something.

    So much for having the courage of ones convictions, such as they are.

    -dms

  24. 24.

    Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill

    March 24, 2010 at 5:43 pm

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck: AMEN, Brother. A-MEN.

  25. 25.

    David in NY

    March 24, 2010 at 5:43 pm

    @gregw:

    gas line was the short one that goes from the gas tank to the barbecue grill

    I knew someone whose propane tank (big one for stove etc.) was overfilled. Stuff is heavier than air and flows downhill. Went into the basement window, the dryer pilot light or switch or something lit it, he and his whole house blew up. Partial upside was that his wife and two children were out at the time.

    I don’t know if a grill tank would do that, but I wouldn’t want to find out, either.

  26. 26.

    MikeJ

    March 24, 2010 at 5:43 pm

    @gregw:

    Local media says:

    Perriello’s office says the line connect to a gas grill was severed Tuesday. They say family members smelled gas outside the home and believe someone cut the line recently because they had recently used the grill.

    http://www.wset.com/news/stories/0310/719066.html

  27. 27.

    Rick Taylor

    March 24, 2010 at 5:45 pm

    We also know that spitting on representatives and taunting Parkinson’s sufferers is a constitutional right.

    __
    I’d thought that spitting on representatives was reprehensible, but understandable if they’d recently passed health care reform. You’re right, this is confusing.

  28. 28.

    freelancer

    March 24, 2010 at 5:47 pm

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    Cole was passed out on the couch from drowning his sorrows in a bowl of Hola Fruita.

    Thank heavens he got the rug to go on the rug, y’know, for evidence.

  29. 29.

    MikeJ

    March 24, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    @dmsilev: The teabagger’s companion runs a website suggesting sending a rope to the country’s first black president and any congresspeople you dislike:

    http://www.myspace.com/sendarope

  30. 30.

    g

    March 24, 2010 at 5:49 pm

    New to posting here, but to fill between the lines — in many rural areas that do not have municipal gas service, a house will have a large-ish propane tank (125 gal or so) outside the house with a line (a copper pipe, actually) leading in to the house to supply the stove, range, maybe a water heater. This has the potential for doing damage, but not to the point of blowing up the whole house, let alone the neighborhood.

    Don’t know the facts in this case, but it sounds like it could be it.

  31. 31.

    The Moar You Know

    March 24, 2010 at 5:50 pm

    The left really needs to reconsider the Vietnam-era commitment it made to non-violence. You wouldn’t be seeing this kind of behavior by wingtards and their overlords in Congress if they thought they’d be getting some payback for it.

  32. 32.

    Menzies

    March 24, 2010 at 5:52 pm

    I’ve started an ActBlue page to contribute to Congresspeople who’ve had their offices vandalized or received serious amounts of death threats.

    Here, and if you know of anyone else, let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

  33. 33.

    gregw

    March 24, 2010 at 5:53 pm

    MikeJ

    Thanks for the find. It still seems curious to me.

    I used to be an insurance adjuster and had a claim where one of those small propane tanks blew up. I couldn’t believe how much damage it caused, it even caught the neighboring house on fire about 20 yards away. Nobody was hurt which was incredibly fortunate.

  34. 34.

    David in NY

    March 24, 2010 at 5:53 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    You wouldn’t be seeing this kind of behavior by wingtards

    I disagree. They’d love a fight. They can’t think, so it’s all they know.

  35. 35.

    r€nato

    March 24, 2010 at 6:00 pm

    I may be going out on a limb here, but not very far: these are probably folks who are also pro-torture or pro-it’s-not-really-torture-wink-wink.

    And they’re so against their fellow Americans having affordable access to medical care that they’ll resort to terrorism.

    And they call themselves Christians, too.

  36. 36.

    Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill

    March 24, 2010 at 6:15 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    The left really needs to reconsider the Vietnam-era commitment it made to non-violence.

    It’s really not possible for me to disagree more.

    Some — not all, but too damn many — of these folks would love a shootout in the streets. Look at how they fetishize Waco! They’re chomping at the bit for an excuse to let off some of those rounds they’ve got stuck up their ass so they can stop being so fuckin’ consitpated.

    Just like our actions in Iraq, shooting them just risks radicalizing even more folks, risks “proving their point.” That’s a risk we must avoid.

  37. 37.

    gelfling545

    March 24, 2010 at 6:18 pm

    Unfortunately, the fact they are both violent and inept (wrong house, guys) makes them doubly dangerous.

  38. 38.

    Dreggas

    March 24, 2010 at 6:20 pm

    I heard Stupak was getting some really nasty threats along with a few others. If you think it’s bad now wait until they start talking about immigration.

  39. 39.

    maus

    March 24, 2010 at 6:24 pm

    @30

    The left really needs to reconsider the Vietnam-era commitment it made to non-violence. You wouldn’t be seeing this kind of behavior by wingtards and their overlords in Congress if they thought they’d be getting some payback for it.

    I don’t think calling them on a bluff for a second civil war would help this current atmosphere pushing towards domestic terrorism any.

  40. 40.

    bemused

    March 24, 2010 at 6:24 pm

    I’m imagining if a former candidate for vice prez, a Dem, had a twitter that said RELOAD directing to facebook map with crosshairs & Dem legislators ignored the whole thing. Then I imagine the reaction from republicans.

  41. 41.

    Robin G

    March 24, 2010 at 6:27 pm

    The GOP won’t be quite so happy with this when their snarling pet turns on them. If a single Republican congressperson thinks he/she is somehow about the purity test fray, may I recommend they go read up on the last guy who rode the mobs into power.

  42. 42.

    matt

    March 24, 2010 at 6:37 pm

    @gregw:

    This is correct, cutting the bbq gasline would have one of two things happen:

    1. If the valve was already open, it would have just dispersed all the gas in the tank fairly quickly and harmlessly.

    2. If it was closed, the second you turned it out you would absolutely notice it because it would be loud as hell and very obvious.

    Essentially a harmless act, but a horrible one nonetheless.

  43. 43.

    Violet

    March 24, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    @Robin G:
    Indeed. Excellent comparison.

  44. 44.

    Dreggas

    March 24, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    Tea Partiers burn pictures of Rep Carnahan, leave coffin in front of house

  45. 45.

    freelancer

    March 24, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    Just say NO to Sociali$m.

  46. 46.

    AhabTRuler

    March 24, 2010 at 6:49 pm

    cutting the bbq gasline would have one of two things happen

    Assuming, of course, that this is a small, grill-only tank (don’t know the weight, 25#??).

  47. 47.

    Mike in NC

    March 24, 2010 at 6:50 pm

    Gas lines cut, windows smashed, and wingnut senators shutting down all senate committee action.

    Remember: “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!”

    Thus waterboarding isn’t torture; it’s like a harmless fraternity prank. Also.

  48. 48.

    GordonGuano

    March 24, 2010 at 6:51 pm

    I have to wonder if there isn’t some moderate “third way” of dealing with this. Sending money to reps who have their windows broken is all well and good, but it seems to me that turning the other cheek is just bailing out a sinking lifeboat, if a boon to glaziers. With times as tough as they are, I would rather my money went towards campaigning against the jerkwads who incite these bottom-feeders instead of replacing an endless succession of windows. At the other end of the scale, putting a load of buckshot into a would-be brick-hurler smacks of overkill and is reminescent of wingnut gun-nut paranoid fantasies about defending their homes from (oddly, always dark-skinned) intruders, not to mention escalating the problem.

    So I was thinking of perhaps taking a cue from Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash as well as Inglourious Basterds and branding their foreheads with a teabag so everyone knows to spit in their food at restaurants and otherwise make their lives miserable. Only thing is, I fear they would take it as a mark of pride, and would start branding themselves and even their children. So the teabag-branding idea is out.

    However, I couldn’t see them ever adopting say, a nutsack brand.

  49. 49.

    freelancer

    March 24, 2010 at 6:56 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    Remember: “Extremism exremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!”

    Fixt.

  50. 50.

    liberty60

    March 24, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    Oh, but not to fear- not all wingnuts are advocating violence; Shikha Dalmia, a Glibertarian over at Forbes Magazine advocates they adopt a Gandhi-esque stance of nonviolent civil disobedience.

    Because you know, that really is the essence of the Mahatma’s teaching; making sure that poor people can still have their lifesaving health insurance cut off because they get sick.

    (and wtf- thats twice in one day I have seen a winger invoke Gandhi; how persecuted they must be!)

  51. 51.

    AhabTRuler

    March 24, 2010 at 6:58 pm

    @AhabTRuler: And while yes, such an explosion can be challanging to engineer purposefully, as always, it’s more the intent than the execution of the act.

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne

    March 24, 2010 at 7:02 pm

    @Robin G:

    I’m still trying to get over the little detail of them guillotining him face-up so he could watch the blade as it descended on him.

    Yikes.

  53. 53.

    AhabTRuler

    March 24, 2010 at 7:02 pm

    @liberty60: WTF? When the paramedics come for me I will go limp? Isn’t the medical community kin of, I dunno, prepared for non-responsive customers?

  54. 54.

    Keith G

    March 24, 2010 at 7:05 pm

    @matt:

    Essentially a harmless act, but a horrible one nonetheless.

    IMO a distinction without a difference. Acts of aggression are harmful. Violating the private space of a private family is intensely fear producing and fear is harmful.

    This was not a harmless act and even though you did not intend to, calling it harmless reduces the significance of this act of aggressive criminality.

    We do not need to be hysterical, but we need to be adamant that this can not fly.

  55. 55.

    burnspbesq

    March 24, 2010 at 7:05 pm

    @gregw:

    “I have seen somewhere this morning that this gas line was the short one that goes from the gas tank to the barbecue grill, ie not very dangerous.”

    If you think that’s “not very dangerous,” you must not own a gas barbecue. Nobody ever checks the integrity of that line, and if you’re distracted you might miss the smell of gas. Then, light a match or push the ignitor button and … KABLOOEY. The explosion might not kill anyone, but it will put them in the burn unit for sure.

  56. 56.

    liberty60

    March 24, 2010 at 7:13 pm

    Sllightly off-topic, but a shout-out to Glenzilla, who wrote yesterday criticizing the Canadian government’s speech-crime official who wrote a threatening letter to Ann Coulter.

    It takes some pretty strong Constitution-adoration to defend the free speech rights of someone like her, so I really was impressed.

    Can anyone name a single winger who would defend Michael Moore like that?

  57. 57.

    Chris do Cavaco

    March 24, 2010 at 7:16 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    The left really needs to reconsider the Vietnam-era commitment it made to non-violence

    Some of the Vietnam left embraced violence, and it cost us dearly. When the New Year’s Gang blew up the Army Math Center in Madison in 1970 and killed a student, the blue collar guys I worked with snapped from increasingly skeptical of the war to hard core Nixonites. I dearly hope Peak Wingnut doesn’t mean people get hurt, but if it does the crazy balloon will come crashing down.

  58. 58.

    Bnut

    March 24, 2010 at 7:18 pm

    Gas grill=dangerous. My dad almost lost his eyesight when the gas regulator or other such device malfunctioned.

    Man o man, would I love to see some ‘baggers try to hit Dem offices in largely trafficked urban settings. I work in the same Brooklyn building as ACORN (I work for a progressive third party), and one day last month a couple of nuts showed up with signs and rhymes. My bro Luke and I were having a smoke out front when (I can only guess because we were the only white people in a very AA area) started chatting us up about their loony BS. One of them said he would love to get in the building, so I told him “Of course! As soon as you get past 2 Marine Corps combat vets.” We gave the evil eye, they returned it, but STFU pretty quick. All talk.

  59. 59.

    Robin G

    March 24, 2010 at 7:22 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Once the ugly mob turns out you, they’re pretty merciless. (For some reason, I’m picturing Scar with the hyenas at the end of The Lion King…)

  60. 60.

    Bubblegum Tate

    March 24, 2010 at 7:26 pm

    Stoopit libs! Don’t you know that all of these incidents are lies?

    I call BS on all such stories. We know the stories of racial epithets at the Capitol on Sunday were false, and its my contention that all the more recent accusations are also false.
    __
    Yes, this includes Stupak’s voice mail – unless you can provide forensic evidence linking someone to it who has voted Republican in every election since 2004, I won’t believe its an actual conservative/Republican/TEA Party member doing it. Absent such proof, my presumption will be that its either a flat-out lunatic or, more likely, a false flag operation…such as has already happened many times since the Democrats first started to tremble in fear of the TEA Party.
    __
    Furthermore, we know from experience – and Matt from personal experience with union thugs – that the violence comes from the left. Unable to win an argument and knowing that if patriots get the truth out, they’re cooked, it is natural for the left to try either intimidation or slander to derail the opposition. They’ve tried intimidation, and it didn’t work – now they’re trying slander.
    __
    We’re on to your game, liberals, and we’re not having any of it.

  61. 61.

    Keith G

    March 24, 2010 at 7:29 pm

    @Keith G: fywp

  62. 62.

    The Populist

    March 24, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    GOP = Pro life? Increasingly, I doubt that.

    These guys think they know what socialism MEANS yet they keep looking dumb. S o c i a l i s m means the government would have taken over, lock stock and barrel, the insurance companies. They keep talking about collectivism taking root YET isn’t that a sign of society as a whole? When we give charity, that is collectivism. When we go see a movie, that is collectivism. Group outings, rallies: Collectivism.

    If they are so worried about the dreaded s word, I hope they plan on giving back their social security check, medicare, tax refund, etc.

  63. 63.

    The Populist

    March 24, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    I call BS on all such stories. We know the stories of racial epithets at the Capitol on Sunday were false, and its my contention that all the more recent accusations are also false.

    He calls bs until somebody is critically injured or dies. They call BS because they have no heart or soul.

  64. 64.

    Bubblegum Tate

    March 24, 2010 at 7:38 pm

    @The Populist:

    Even if somebody is critically injured or dies, he’ll still call BS. He’ll say it was a “false flag operation” or some such bullshit. He will do absolutely anything to avoid dealing with reality.

  65. 65.

    Ash Can

    March 24, 2010 at 7:48 pm

    @liberty60: It wasn’t a Canadian government official, it was the provost of U of Ottawa. It wasn’t a threatening letter, it was a letter of encouragement that she do her homework on what Canadian law did and did not permit in the way of inflammatory speech, so as to avoid prosecution. And yes, good on Glenzilla to stick up for the rights of someone like her, but if the law of the country in question doesn’t recognize hate speech as a right in the first place, it’s sort of an exercise in futility, isn’t it?

  66. 66.

    Hob

    March 24, 2010 at 8:05 pm

    @The Moar You Know: Indeed that worked out really fucking well in, say, 1930s Germany. Soon as the Reds showed up to a few street fights, they shut those brownshirts right down and won the people’s love.

  67. 67.

    Hob

    March 24, 2010 at 8:15 pm

    @The Moar You Know: And my response to that is kind of knee-jerk, but deeply felt, because what you said doesn’t really make me think of historical analogies or political theory – it makes me instantly think of all the young-ish radical-minded guys I’ve known who would love to hear a call to arms like that. And the ones I’m thinking of are pretty much the same type of people who became the worst of the posturing Weatherman crew back in the day. They’re self-righteous thoughtless assholes who are more interested in their own shared mythology than in people’s lives, and I don’t trust them, and I don’t want them using things I believe in as an excuse to go fuck up whatever or whomever is handy. I realize you don’t think you’re addressing those people, but they’re the ones you’ll get.

  68. 68.

    Calouste

    March 24, 2010 at 8:49 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Robespierre tried to kill himself with a gun a few days before but only succeeded in shattering his jaw. It might have been impractical to guillotine him the usual way due to that.

  69. 69.

    Honus

    March 24, 2010 at 10:26 pm

    @Ash Can: well, Ann is a lawyer, educated at Michigan, I believe, so she should know at least a little about Canandian law.

  70. 70.

    asiangrrlMN

    March 25, 2010 at 4:44 am

    @Hob: I agree. Deliberate malicious violence brings out the worst elements from the woodwork. Most reasonable people (and by that, I mean mostly non-Republicans) want nothing to do with escalating violence for many reasons, not the least being you can’t put that genie back in the bottle once you let it out. People who are drawn to violence will find excuse for it, no matter the cause. I really don’t want to give anyone that kind of ammo (pun semi-intended).

    @Ash Can: And, I agree with you as well. It would behoove us in America to remember that not all countries have the same laws we do. That’s kinda the point of having different countries.

    As for these asshats, it is, indeed, going to get worse before it gets better.

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