Brick wall hits brick wall
So much for the revenue potential of gun nuts and other assorted wing nuts sending bricks to Congress to build an American Berlin Wall along the Mexican border. It turns out that rather than a grass roots campaign to get individuals to actually mail a brick to their congressmen, the scheme uses a web site where you have to pay $11.95 to have a contractor ship your brick via UPS Freight to Washington. (Apparently even grass roots movements contract out these days.) That does seem a bit pricey for bricks- could the contractor be another Halliburton subsidiary?
Unfortunately for the brick senders, the Congressional Post Office (not part of the USPS) has so far declined to run down to the UPS depot to truck the bricks to the Capitol. At least not until someone pays $3.95 postage for each brick.
You can read more of the brick saga in the Atlanta Journal Constitution story linked below. The story also explains where the ‘grass roots’ group got its start- in a “chat room for a Web site dedicated to assault weapon aficionados”. It also points out that the groups co-founder, Kirsten Heffron, is a former worker for the anti-union National Right to Work Committee. Interestingly, the Send a Brick web site omits Kirsten’s anti-union past, referring only to a stint as ”Public Affairs Director for a 2-million-member national grassroots advocacy group”. Grassroots is certainly a popular (and flexible) word!
Wonkette mails a brick (and gets one back)
Like we said, we figured this mail-a-brick thing was a sure fire revenue enhancer- maybe it works both ways? (But then again, if Congresspersons really replied in kind, their bricks would be franked- we’d never see the money…)
Right wing wackos as a revenue source?
Postcom points out that a group pushing the idea of a Berlin-style wall along the US-Mexico border is asking people to send bricks to their Congressmen.
Could be a revenue windfall! After all, you have to figure that the bricks are never going to get any further than the site where they do the anthrax screening for mail addressed to federal agencies. It’s not like we’d actually have to deliver them to the actual members of Congress.
Best quote from the web site:
“It is very important that you include a message on the brick and a signed letter so that the brick is not just discarded.”
(Clever- I know when I get a brick in the mail I always look to see if there’s a signed letter with it before I decide what to do with it.)