# Sign up for the Citizen Corps! Rat out your commie atheist neighbors! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 16, 2002, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272 "2002-07-16T18:37:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/41 "2002-07-18T22:55:56Z")
**EC:** _Well, Dubya has done at least one amazing thing–bring the left-wing AND right-wing internet kooks together!_ And how! Check out today’s [press release](http://www.aclu.org/news/2002/n071802b.html) from the ACLU praising the “courageous step” of rejection of Operation TIPS taken by… …did you guess? …yup, House Majority Leader Richard Armey. From the article: > [@](#): > > According to the White House, Operation TIPS (Terrorist Information and Prevention System) is scheduled to be introduced as a pilot project in August 2002 and would recruit one million volunteers in 10 cities across the country who would be encouraged to report suspicious, ostensibly terrorism-related activity. The program will target volunteers who because of their work as, for example, utility technicians or cable installers are “well-positioned to recognize unusual events,” the White House says. > > Since Monday, TIPS has attracted fiery critiques from all points on the political spectrum. In addition to the ACLU, the Cato Institute and the conservative Rutherford Institute have both come out against the proposal. Without explanation yesterday, the U.S. Postal Service said it would not allow letter carriers to be involved with the program. Jeez, I **never** thought I’d hear myself say this, but: good for Dick Armey. Lordy, these are very bewildering times in which to be a proud left-wing kook. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/42 "2002-07-18T23:39:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kimstu \* > \*\* Lordy, these are very bewildering times in which to be a proud left-wing kook. \*\* that’s us ‘liberal but not a f\*\*\*ing lunatic’ 😃 yes, mighty scarey times. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/43 "2002-07-19T10:35:31Z")
I was gonna say: will this **really** get off the ground? Hopefully not! ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/44 "2002-07-19T16:15:35Z")
I had to check the temperature in hell when my liberal-est loopy-est friend (in the liberal and f\*\*\*ing lunatic vein) showed up signing the praises of Dick Armey. When the extreme left and the extreme right agree on anything - it is either a very good idea or a very bad one. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/45 "2002-07-19T16:54:19Z")
[Cute parody of the webpage here](http://www.onepotmeal.com/rats.htm). > [@](#): > > Operation RATS - the Retrograde Activities and Treachery System - will be a nationwide program giving millions of American bigots, paranoiacs, nosy neighbors, snoops, snobs, and others a formal way to report innocent actions by others that offend them. Verra nice. ---
**Author:** ![KismetRose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@KismetRose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KismetRose)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/46 "2002-07-19T17:19:30Z")
The more this goes on, the more I think of 1984. Neighbors ratted each other out, and survelliance was key. They had no real Bill of Rights (and ours is ever threatened by the mad-dog reponses of the government) so people were jailed, tortured, and killed. _But an essential ingredient to the government’s insane amount of control was the war - the never-ending state of war overseas that the government staged for the people._ War was the excuse. The moment Bush opened his mouth and started spewing plans to keep us open to an indefinite state of war, I knew he was a doubleplusgood duckspeaker… ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/47 "2002-07-19T17:38:31Z")
What to do? I need some advice from my fellow Dopers… Should I try to beat the rush and go out and buy a big yellow star right now? I guess that I would have to add a big red Maple Leaf (not being of ‘pure’ American blood, and all). And then what? A big green cannabis leaf to indicated that I sometimes smoke pot? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/48 "2002-07-19T18:44:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spizner \* > **peaking through your neighbor’s window** I’ve heard of voyeurism but this is just getting messy… 😛 ::goes to scrub brain:: ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/49 "2002-07-19T18:46:50Z")
I would love to see a protest in which everyone wears long trenchcoats with Nazi symbols all over them and goosesteps in front of the White House while carrying signs decrying Operation TIPS. That, or I think everyone should join and five times a day, report something “suspicious.” Nothing like 100 million useless tips every day to render a program useless. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/50 "2002-07-19T20:14:38Z")
Have faith, my friends. Sooner or later reason will prevail. Already the Post Office has said that it wants nothing to do with it and Congress is looking askance. The catastrophe of last September has already brought any number of fear mongers to the front. There will be more. We can only hope that the nation’s reserve of common sense will restore a balance. Just remember to vote. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/51 "2002-07-19T21:41:47Z")
**SG:** _Already the Post Office has said that it wants nothing to do with it…_ (slight hijack) My guess is that—besides wanting to minimize possible run-ins between mail carriers and enraged gun-toting postal customers who think the mail carrier is spying on them—the USPS is not feeling **at all** friendly towards the Homeland Security folks these days, due to widespread allegations that they are pulling their punches in the search for the anthrax terrorist who killed two postal workers and infected five others. Whether or not the allegations are true, I’m sure that there are a lot of postal workers out there whose level of confidence in Homeland Security operations is far from high. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/52 "2002-07-19T21:53:59Z")
I really hope you are all going to do your bit by reporting anything suspicious, or potentially dangerous. You know, like **pretzels** 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/53 "2002-07-19T23:38:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by throatshot \* > **I would love to see a protest in which everyone wears long trenchcoats with Nazi symbols all over them and goosesteps in front of the White House while carrying signs decrying Operation TIPS.** Yeah, but it’s really really really hot here in DC. Can this wait until November? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/54 "2002-07-20T16:26:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wabbit \* > \*\*Canada, here I come! \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*Why, I bet there’re all sorts of ways to cross the border unobserved! I’m sure our > Canadian dopers know all sorts of way to get into the Great White North without our Glorious > Leaders finding out, and if any of them e-mail me with details, I will personaly see to it that > these routes are shut down, tout suite. \*\* That explains the hippies being nabbed while swimming into Canada at the Pigeon River border crossing. (I wish I had a cite. I heard it on the CBC regional news, and LMAO.) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/55 "2002-07-20T16:59:28Z")
[Looks like it’s just about dead](http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/ny-ustips192792923jul19.story?coll=ny%2Dnews%2Dprint). But that sure was scary. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/56 "2002-07-20T17:12:21Z")
Thank goodness. It’s a good thing to encourage people to be observant, but Operation TIPS went too far. Setting up an organized, recognized band of snitches was just too creepy… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/57 "2002-07-20T18:01:06Z")
…to be done _overtly_. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/58 "2002-07-21T01:53:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muffin \* > \*\*That explains the hippies being nabbed while swimming into Canada at the Pigeon River border crossing. (I wish I had a cite. I heard it on the CBC regional news, and LMAO.) \*\* The Thunder Bay Post says they were members of the Rainbow Family of Living Light. [Here is a map of where they are gathering in Canada.](http://198.31.181.41/rainbow/rainbow/events/2002can-map.jpg) The Post reports that the police are “monitoring the situation.” (This just keeps getting odder and odder.) ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/59 "2002-07-21T05:08:11Z")
I’m very glad it’s died in the arse, but did you folk really believe for a minute that your fellow countrymen would board this bandwagon and start snitching on ‘suspicious’ activities, regardless of whether the govt. sanctioned/ordered it or not? I don’t know about the US, but if THAT had been suggested here in Aus, it would have been met with the BIG FINGER…not just because of the civil/human rights that would have been violated, but BECAUSE THE FUCKING GOVERNMENT PROPOSED IT. We have a ‘Fuck-You’ healthy disregard for ANYTHING the govt tries to initiate. And anyway, it’s just so ‘UnAustralian’ to dob\*. \*Dob: to tell the authorities/teachers/parents/elder sibling about some crime/misdemeanour/acitivity engaged in by a friend/aquaintance/cousin of a girl you know, in order to have said person punished. VERY uncool. To dob someone in means that you willingly accept becoming a social pariah. Far, FAR worse than the alleged crime of the person you originally dobbed-in. (Exceptions to this rule are perps of child-abuse (of any description), murderers (of anybody except known serious crims or perps of child abuse) and those who try to scam the tax-system (except for those earning over 70 grand a year!) ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272/60 "2002-07-21T15:20:42Z")
**kambuckta** , Mrs Grundy may have been banned in Australia (perhaps because of the country’s origins?), but there is a small-but-not-insignificant number of people here who obsess about what might be going on behind their neighbo(u)rs’ curtains. Like others who have posted previously, I’m glad that the issue appears to be dead. For now. But I think it would have been interesting, since these snoops seem to focus not on threatening or suspicious activity, but on “immorality” (morality, of course, being defined by their own standards). Thus, among the notifications of suspicious packages and suspicious people with camcorders, any number of complaints about (real or perceived) Wiccans, gays/lesbians, fornicators, “pagans” in general, etc., etc., _ad nauseam_. Which may have rendered the whole effort useless. And don’t forget that in addition to the TIPsters, the Homeland Security people were (are?) setting up “red teams,” whose purpose was/is to “think like the terrorists” in order to identify holes in the security procedures. Which means that, to a certain extent at least, the TIPSters would have been reporting on the red teams. Which would at least have kept them out of _my_ hair. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-up-for-the-citizen-corps-rat-out-your-commie-atheist-neighbors/119272.md?page=4)