Stephen F. Kislock, III – 2/15/08

This page was last updated on February 19, 2008.

Fourth Amendment trashed; Stephen F. Kislock, III; Beaver County Times; February 15, 2008.

2/19/08: In his follow-up comments, Mr. Kislock now asserts, “with pride I am the real American!” (Feb 17, 2008 @ 10:20 PM). Apparently those of us who found fault with Mr. Kislock’s letter and comments aren’t real Americans.

FYI, on Feb 17^th I submitted the following comment for posting on the Times website: “My critiques of Mr. Kislock’s letter and subsequent comments are at http://TheBirdsEyeView.us/pundits/BeaverCountyTimes/lte-KislockS-08-02-15.htm.” The Times chose not to post this comment and didn’t say why. This was the second time in two weeks I encountered this problem. In the first occurrence, though I didn’t mention it at the time, Times managing editor Tom Bickert considered my comments to be a “personal attack/response” on Mr. Avedon and did not initially approve the submission. I responded that this position was kind of amazing when you looked at the thread’s comments from Mr. Avedon himself. As I wrote in an e-mail response to the Times, “So let me get this straight. If someone points out a person’s assumptions and facts are incorrect and supports that assertion as I did, all without engaging in name-calling, etc., that’s a ‘personal attack/response?’ I always thought personal attacks were things like name-calling or making baseless comments about someone.” Ultimately, my comments were posted.

This time I didn’t bother to ask what the problem was. In any case, regardless of reason, the Times can choose what to print and what not to print. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Of course, one of the reasons I have this website is so I don’t have to “depend on the kindness of strangers” to get my voice heard.

One last point. Given Times editorial content, Mr. Bickert has nerve accusing anyone of personal attacks even if he had a legitimate complaint about my comments. For example, “Cowards” is how the Times led off the editorial “Special favors” (January 31, 2008).

2/17/08: Since I originally published this critique, Mr. Kislock has been responding to criticism of his letter on the Times website. To “support” his claims, Mr. Kislock further asserted “All Calls and E-mails sent and received in the US are stored and read” (Feb 15, 2008 @ 7:37 PM) while providing no supporting evidence, claimed President Bush “stoled [sic] two elections” (Feb 15, 2008 @ 1:58 PM) (Please read “Bush Lost in 2000 – Not.”), and mentioned “‘Operation Northwoods’, a military plan for the Invasion of Cuba” (Feb 15, 2008 @ 1:58 PM).

Perhaps I’m naïve and/or my math isn’t what it should be, but I have a hard time believing the feds could store all e-mail and record all calls made in the U.S., let alone read/listen to every e-mail/call even if they wanted.

Regarding “Operation Northwoods,” Mr. Kislock failed to note it was a proposal developed 45+ years ago in 1962 by the JFK administration. I believe Mr. Kislock intentionally left out this little detail to lead us to believe it’s a current Bush administration plan. This is a tactic Mr. Kislock has used at least once before.

Most of Mr. Kislock’s 26+ letters over the last four years have been Republican-bashing exercises.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“In regard to Tuesday’s vote on the FISA Amendments Act of 2007:”

[RWC] FISA stands for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

“Foreign is the wrong word for this act of contempt for our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Everyone in the United States is under surveillance.

“What our founding fathers fought and died for and this new nation conceived with was the idea of liberty and justice for all. With their ‘yea’ votes, Pennsylvania’s two senators kicked the founding father’s Constitution to death.

“Sen. Bob Casey, clone of former Sen. Rick Santorum, and U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter stood by their man, G. W. Bush, and the communication companies of America. Today, the right to privacy is null and void in America.”

[RWC] You may recall that back on August 15, 2007, Mr. Kislock used the same language to describe Jason Altmire (D). Mr. Kislock told us, “U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire [D] is a clone of former U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart [R] and he can now claim the title of ‘Loyal Bushie.’”

How far left does a person need to be to satisfy Mr. Kislock? Of course, it may not be a lefty thing. Mr. Kislock’s letter history indicates he has deep animosity for President Bush himself, not just his policies. For a person with BDS, someone simply agreeing with President Bush on anything triggers hysteria, paranoia, et cetera.

Regarding Mr. Kislock’s privacy comment, to have any credibility he needs to convince me he wants to see income taxes eliminated and he opposes socialized healthcare. Why? What greater invasion of privacy is there than the financial “full body cavity search” we go through every year when we must detail every aspect of our finances for multiple levels of government? The only exception may be the access to our healthcare records required by socialized healthcare programs like Medicaid, Medicare, SCHIP, et cetera. How far would I get if I demanded a court-approved subpoena/warrant for my financial records before I submitted my tax returns? Based on a letter he wrote nearly three years ago, Mr. Kislock appears to support socialized healthcare. So much for Mr. Kislock’s privacy concerns.

“Please get out your black marker and your copy of the Constitution and redact/blackout the Fourth Amendment.

“In a matter of seven years, with the help of Specter, Casey and Santorum, Bush has buried the constitution [sic].”

[RWC] Did you notice what’s missing? Mr. Kislock simply made sweeping claims without providing one single detail to support his rant. This is a trait common in Mr. Kislock’s letters.