Man threatens to run down controversial election figure

When an American couldn't convince his girlfriend that George Bush was the right choice for president, he became enraged, put a screwdriver to her throat and threatened to kill her.

Police had to use a Taser stun gun to control the teenager - who had enlisted in the US Marines just days before and is likely to be discharged before he even begins recruit training.

"You won't live to see the next election," 18-year-old Steven Soper told Stacey Silveira as the two fought inside his gray, two-storey home west of Boynton Beach in Florida, according to a police report.

Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge William Bollinger ordered Soper to be be held without bond in the Palm Beach County Jail pending a mental health assessment. He'll be back in court on Friday.

According to Silveira, it was not the first time the two had discussed politics - but it was the first time Soper was aware she supported John Kerry for president. Before that, she was undecided and considered voting for Bush to appease Soper, she said.

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http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/28/1098667903835.html?oneclick=true

Unfortunately most of the people who do it are never prosecuted. If they are, usually they only get a slap on the wrist.

One of the few times a working cyclist got justice was in the road rage death of Tommy McBride in Chicago. Somehow, he managed to hold onto the license plate of the bastard who murdered him.

Where can I contribute to this guy's defense?

Try this. It will help the SOB get his license back after the murderous asshole gets out of jail. Then maybe he can run over your granny (cause this is *absolutely* the kind of driver we want on the road).

I'm all for exercising "political expression", but this nut could have killed an innocent person. Maybe if you'd happened on the scene after a 4-year-old child was crushed by a speeding vehicle (while she was walking on the sidewalk), you might know what I'm talking about.

Actually, I can barely count the number of times when cars have accelerated towards me, as a child even, in various places in this country. That is what people are like when they drive. Someone also was staring at me today in the middle of Berkeley, as she turned at Shattuck and University while talking on a cell phone, and I had to step out of the way of her car. It's so commonplace that you hardly think about it a few minutes later. My friend was hit by a car like this by the BART station. Two people in wheelchairs have been mowed down in Berkeley, and I know they didn't even ticket the driver in the most recent case because she said the sun was in her eyes (you're not supposed to drive at the speed limit if you can't see anything, much less not notice large objects like a guy in a wheelchair). The drivers acted like we were a pain when the critical mass had a short poetry reading in that block of Ashby during the next ride. A freshman got killed by an Cadillac Escalade in a crosswalk somewhere near Concord last month.

... there is still courtesy in some of the outermost 'burbs or in small towns, because they expect to see children, and/or they have not lost most of the courtesy which the acid of auto congestion destroys. Even though there have been some horrendous events involving drunk drivers and hit and runs, overall, I would guess the number of incidents are not as bad as they are in the downtown areas.

Berkeley actually has some pretty good traffic calming measures, they're much more progressive than San Francisco in that way. The bureacracy in SF finds innovations challenging, to put it nicely. But they're better than they used to be.

Corporations profit from all of this of course, the auto industry, the oil industry, the insurance rackets, all beating us down. And some who might otherwise be our allies do the same thing from sheer ignorance. But as we have nothing more to lose, why not fight back?

the "controversial election figure" part of the equation.

that we run down everyone we disagree with in cold blood?

just that the anti-car rhetoric is warping the political context in which the incident occured.

in fact, it was a crime of passion, which is to say, it happened primarily of opportunity and impulse reaction.

the car was incidental.

which is what makes it a crime in the eyes of the law. people don't generally walk around with guns. would that make it easier for you to understand?

i also understand how it's being "spun" by anticar people in this thread.

you just like to pretend people don't notice that kind of thing. why is it that you so readily defend such displays of elitism?

the guy tryed to mow this woman down with a car. you want to defend him and his choice of weapon I assume. and that makes me an elitist. hmmm... sounds like more pro-car rhetoric to me.

and you just want to defend kathleen harris.

not cars. thus the spin.

I'm on the side of those who have died already, winning the right of Black folks to vote in the South, not those dying to deny it.

What's your excuse?

this has nothing to do with defending Katherine Harris, so don't be spouting your reductionism at me.

But if you feel so strongly, why don'y you buy a gun and go to Florida? Or heck, use your car. Just make sure you get her name right this time, so you get the right person. kill! kill! kill! go get em!

you just don't like cars, and take any chance to say it. spin spin spin.

the guy's facing like 30 years or something. is that enough for you? would you like to kill him? maybe give him the good ol' 3 strikes treatment?

and why aren't you pissed enough about Black voter disenfranchisement, to see some humor in the pathos?

hmm? so many questions. maybe the answer's easy, maybe you're just a self-righteous ayhole.

*you* just don't like people whom you believe don't like cars, and *you* take any chance to say it.

"the guy's facing like 30 years or something. is that enough for you? would you like to kill him?"
-You mean like you want to kill her?

"and why aren't you pissed enough about Black voter disenfranchisement, to see some humor in the pathos?"

I'm supposed to think it's funny when somone threatens to run down someone else- just like you do? tee hee that's a spin of your own you have going! But you're not seriously going to tell me you care about anyone's disenfranchisement when you want to support a guy for trying to run down an elected official (a vile elected official, it's true.)

maybe you're just a tad self-righteous yourself, ya little spin doc. hmmmmmmmm?

is so touching. o the raw humanity, the base decency &c &c.

i'm still with the Black voter on this.

Katherine Harris is an *alleged* human being.

and you're right, it's just so sad she was so brutally intimidated, what a waste of life. that guy could have done something positive with rage like that, instead of handing himself over to the prison-industrial complex so gratuitously.

pity, that.

that some innocent being (even someone as smug as yourself) isn't standing next to that politician when some nutter tries to take her out.

So assassination works for you, but since you know you don't have the stuff it takes to do it yourself, better to have some nutcase take the fall for you. Admirable.

is remarkably inductive

discover yourself. it's a beautiful thing.

against oppressors. that is not an automatic tactical endorsement. that's about as simple as i can say it, though that still might be a bit over your head.

you can call all the names you like, you have to, to cover for the obvious privileges your appalling equivocations demonstrate.

one needent even speculate.

"Seltzer drove his silver Cadillac toward Mrs Harris and several supporters who were campaigning in the western Florida city of Sarasota, according to the police report."

Yessir, that's one oppressed Cadillac drivin' SOB.

Oh and yes, Harris should die because she helped steal the election. Her supporters should die because they support election stealing. All's right with the world.

in the US south. seriously. your burlesque of it is in fact a sickening display of your unquestioned privileges. whether you deign to vote or not.

but if that's not enough, maybe you can figure out clever new ways to make the privilege of driving too expensive for southern Blacks as well. oh i mean, "save the earth."

or you could just do some PR work, to convince southern Blacks that it's fun to bicycle through roadblocks! fun to bicycle away from a hurricane!! fun to try to register rural voters by biking down gravel country roads in Mississippi. Alabama. Florida. make a video! i'd love to see ya try, but not up close. that might be too dangerous for my tastes.

oh yeah, your humanity and "decency" is moving, but more of the stomach than of the heart. in fact, it's mighty white of you, whatever you might have come wrapped in.

to the disenfranchised people of color. Elderly Jewish retirees don't rate? Are you an ageist or just a hypocrite?

And you do or don't support running down innocent (if misguided) supporters if that's what it takes? Yes or no?

and what will you take away from the southern Black voter after the votes and the cars?

guns! oh they're violent and bad. only cracker southern klansmen sheriffs should have those.

and then what after that? maybe some family counseling to keep the population numbers down.... you could accomplish a lot of your goals that way. maybe tie it to whatever's left of welfare. extend and extend and extend your concern.

say!! speaking of extend, maybe you can start doing some writing for the national alliance, you know, build some bridges on issues of common concern. chat up wendy campbell, maybe she can get ya in with the stormfront crew.

i'll bet they feel for poor, oppressed, innocent ms. harris too. why, you might find you have so much in common!

bicyclists that you can't abide. OK to oppress them, but anyone else no.

Now no one in this thread mentioned bicyclists, you just happen to pick that one out of the air, right? Cause it couldn't be anyone else that would so offend your sensibilities about the unfair treatment of murderous drivers. Take a walk through our fair city. Your friend in the Caddy has like-minded friends there. They're equal opportunity. They kill seniors, kids in strollers, other more responsible drivers (that don't run reds). It's not oppressed black people in the south that you care about.

If I find the defense fund for your friend I'll be sure and forward it on. Do read that link about trolls. It's so ....YOU.

and what about senior Jews voting for Herr Buchannan. so glad ya mentioned it. you dont seem at all upset about that either.

who's really getting away with murder?

(hint: it's not those not getting away with pathetic half-hearted murderous gestures.)

Do you or don't you support running down innocent supporters?

You know, I exercise my "political expression" in a different way from Mr. Seltzer. If I decided to run you down in a truck because you were a lying thief I think that would be misguided and wrong.

and you can take your alternating jew-baiting/nazi-baiting and stuff it. Let's see, first -I'm- the Nazi, and then you want to insult elderly Jews?

Do you or don't you support running down innocent supporters?

You know, I exercise my "political expression" in a different way from Mr. Seltzer. If I decided to run you down in a truck because you were a lying thief I think that would be misguided and wrong.

and you can take your alternating jew-baiting/nazi-baiting and stuff it. Let's see, first -I'm- the Nazi, and then you want to insult elderly Jews?

what about the struggle for suffrage? you okay with that or not? it has been known to get kinda scary down there before. do you think the klan types should be the only ones with weapons? votes? cars?

just do drop wendy a line, i think she can get you in touch with some people who would be very interested in helping you achieve some of those long-term goals of yours.

Ahhh- don't bother.

It sounds like you and this Wendy are down with one another. Using her name is almost the same appeal for trolling as using nessie's. Oh but you wouldn't know about that would you.

It's apparent that you have your whole night ahead of you. have a nice troll...

that there is such a thing as "innocent supporters" of a white politician in the american south who is publicly committed to the systematic disenfranchisement of Black voters. i mean, what year is this?

the fact that you apparently do is a shocking display of historical ignorance, to put it just as nicely as possible. appalling, really. where have you been?

time to go rent "eyes on the prize" or something. seriously. get yourself educated, then dismiss all that.

that you don't understand? pretty plain english answer to your question.

now, your turn. answer time!!!

you got your ass kicked on the question because you're just spouting glib answers that fit your own life experience, with little (apparent) clue as to the historical context in which other people do things. you should learn a little more before getting all high and mighty with others to whom that historical context matters, especially on points of (ahem) "principle" (though yours stretches the term). this is a very easy way to learn that lesson, though you certainly don't ever have to at all, do you?

as for:
"Using her name is almost the same appeal for trolling as using nessie's. Oh but you wouldn't know about that would you."

Wendy's where she is because her own little issue mattered so much, that it blinded her to the compromises she was making in pursuing it to the exclusion of all other input. At the rate you're going, you will know all about that. You can even take a bike down the road to hell, but you don't have to.

And finally, it's the logical fallacy of name calling:
"It's apparent that you have your whole night ahead of you. have a nice troll..."

but people will oppose your dangerous, smug self-righteousness, whatever you call them. might as well get used to that. if you don't like it, maybe nessie's is more your style.

too bad he can't hardly stand ya neither, huh? time to hit the road...

pathetic and nasty. you had nothing to say and you took all night to say it. score it in your favor if your ego needs it that way. you have perfectly demonstrated what you are, thanks for the insight into human nature.