Homeland Security: Hard at Work (656 hits)
Category: HumorRating: 0.91 on 18 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Zandy1123 (View user info) at 2004-10-29 12:38:44 EDT
I was going to put this in the "Politics" or "News" categories, but it's just too funny...
Check out this article: http://tinyurl.com/5gy3h
here's the text:
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Homeland Security Agents Visit Toy Store
Thu Oct 28, 5:20 PM ET Strange News - AP
ST. HELENS, Ore. - So far as she knows, Pufferbelly Toys owner Stephanie Cox hasn't been passing any state secrets to sinister foreign governments, or violating obscure clauses in the Patriot Act.
So she was taken aback by a mysterious phone call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to her small store in this quiet Columbia River town just north of Portland.
"I was shaking in my shoes," Cox said of the September phone call. "My first thought was the government can shut your business down on a whim, in my opinion. If I'm closed even for a day that would cause undue stress."
When the two agents arrived at the store, the lead agent asked Cox whether she carried a toy called the Magic Cube, which he said was an illegal copy of the Rubik's Cube, one of the most popular toys of all time.
He told her to remove the Magic Cube from her shelves, and he watched to make sure she complied.
After the agents left, Cox called the manufacturer of the Magic Cube, the Toysmith Group, which is based in Auburn, Wash. A representative told her that Rubik's Cube patent had expired, and the Magic Cube did not infringe on the rival toy's trademark.
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint filed in the agency's intellectual property rights center in Washington, D.C.
"One of the things that our agency's responsible for doing is protecting the integrity of the economy and our nation's financial systems and obviously trademark infringement does have significant economic implications," she said.
Six weeks after her brush with Homeland Security, Cox told The Oregonian she is still bewildered by the experience.
"Aren't there any terrorists out there?" she said.
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Information from: The Oregonian
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Ok, so it's funny...and sad...and scary.
I mean...really...I don't know what to say about this. Is this the best Tom Ridge can do? Go after patent infringement cases? Oh wait! There was no patent infringement - the Rubick's Cube patent ran out.
These are our tax dollars at work, folks. Worse yet: these are the people to whom we're entrusting our safety and security at home...supposedly.
Discuss...
User Reviews
Submitted by cleanfornow (user info) at 2004-11-30 13:17:41 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Zandy, some night, in the not too distant future, you will hear a knock on the door. "I wasn't expecting anyone" you will think. Your life will never be the same after that. Pfffft get real, this a nothing story, why try to make a big deal about nothing? Ooooooooo I'm soooooo scared. Puss
Submitted by maiorano84 (user info) at 2004-11-05 12:17:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
You're a winner!
Submitted by Asylem (user info) at 2004-11-03 12:54:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Wow. I can't believe that. I never really knew the PATRIOT ACT was something that was really 'used'. I'd only heard of why thye made it, and what it's used for. But i never heard (other than in faranheit 9/11) it actually being used towards something. Absolutley ridiculous.
Submitted by Zandy1123 (user info) at 2004-11-03 12:21:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
yeah - this is real...and aweful!
Submitted by Asylem (user info) at 2004-11-03 11:52:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
HAHA is that for real?
Submitted by slowlyrotting (user info) at 2004-10-29 17:39:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
i dont think of tsa employees as being the people who make me safe. i think of the armed forces and police/sheriff offices.
thats why i always stuff jimmy dean sausage links up my ass before i take a flight anywhere, that way when they strip search me they can feel better about themselves.
Submitted by QueenSkye (user info) at 2004-10-29 14:30:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
how could a town in oregon be north of portland? that just doesn't work, portland is right on the northern border, if it was north of portland, it would be in washington... still +2 because i believe that writers for the Oregonian would fuck that up
Submitted by dawItsPete (user info) at 2004-10-29 14:29:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Rubik's 4 LIFE
Submitted by Zandy1123 (user info) at 2004-10-29 14:13:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by xenon (user info) at 2004-10-29 13:41:45 (#)
Ranking: 1
what the hell?
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EXACTLY!!!
Submitted by Zandy1123 (user info) at 2004-10-29 14:13:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
GLALL - my belly's full...uuuuughhhhhh
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Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2004-10-29 12:54:28 (#)
Ranking: 2
The Homeland Security Department actually does something?
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yeah, but apparently it has nothing to do with homeland security...
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Submitted by AwesomeJohnson (user info) at 2004-10-29 12:50:24 (#)
Ranking: 2
Looks like I'll have to cancel that shipment of knock-off Speak and Spells.
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Yeah...but those are Arabic Speak 'n' Spells...derka derka muhammed jihad!
Submitted by xenon (user info) at 2004-10-29 13:41:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
what the hell?
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2004-10-29 13:18:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Don't worry everyone...I'll protect you all!!!
+2 Zandy!!
Submitted by tomato-soup (user info) at 2004-10-29 12:57:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
terrorist retardedness
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2004-10-29 12:54:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
The Homeland Security Department actually does something?
Submitted by AwesomeJohnson (user info) at 2004-10-29 12:50:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Looks like I'll have to cancel that shipment of knock-off Speak and Spells.
Submitted by GodLovesALittleLovin (user info) at 2004-10-29 12:44:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
A third helping? You're gonna get fat asking for all these leftovers Zandy!
Submitted by GodLovesALittleLovin (user info) at 2004-10-29 12:43:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Delivery for Zandy from a GLALL. Please sign here...
Here's your +2 per request. Only condition being you stop sleeping with my girlfriend's sister. 17 Zandy, 17, don't you even think about consequences man? I wouldn't sweat it though, her parents are fucked up on oxies and don't even remember having a daughter.
Submitted by GodLovesALittleLovin (user info) at 2004-10-29 12:40:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2's for life motherfucker.