Is this "campaign" tactic legal?

[Tansy_Gold]

I'm sitting here reading a magazine, and all these stupid subscription cards keep falling out. I pick one up and discover it is return-mail postage paid. And I say to myself, "Self, you ought to take some of those from popular magazines and send them in without any address, just a Kerry/Edwards sticker. Give the folks in the mailroom something to think about. And let their magazines pay for it."

But would this be legal? I mean, Self wouldn't send in the subscription cards with fraudulent addresses, which would result in the magazine having to send out expensive copies to non-existence subscribers. But could Self legally drop those postage-paid cards in the mailbox?

Just wondering. I have to keep Self on a short lead these days. . . .

[sui generis]

1. there's the irritant factor

if we associate ourselves with "guerilla" tactics like that we're putting our reputation at risk. Those "postage paid" aren't really paid until they are mailed, so if they get a bunch of stickers like that the company will notice that dems are wasting their money and it'll probably backfire as a strategy.

[goju]

2. You would just be costing people money

I dont think its a good idea. It would different if you were irritated at the company, then I could see using their prepaid postage as a tool to send a message. Sending unsolicited campaign material probably would just get them thrown in the trash. Why waste good campaign material :)

[eyesroll]

3. Techically, it's a misuse of business-reply mail

Legally, you're only supposed to use business-reply mail for its intended purpose. "Self" cannot legally drop the cards in the mailbox.

(I work for a magazine publisher.)

That said, you probably won't get caught.

[Wilber_Stool]

4. Let me get this straight.

Solicitors are not charged of return cards until they are mailed? How does that work? It sounds like a book keeping nightmare.

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. It's all done with bar-codes and computers

[AP]

9. They could never catch you. What are they going to do? Lift prints?

[MercutioATC]

5. Just imagine what you can do with prepaid-envelope junk mailings...

:evilgrin:

Now, I'm going to preface this by saying that things that could damage machinery (paper clips, twist-ties, hard bits of anything) are not cool.

That said, when you get an annoying piece of junk mail with a postage-paid return envelope inside, why not be charitable and make the lives of the people who deal with your return correspondence brighter? Opening mail and entering data has to be tedious work...liven it up!

I'd bet they'd LOVE fun items like pizza coupons, dryer lint, gum wrappers and confetti. I usually try to send something valuable, like a discount coupon for penis enlargement, too. DO NOT SEND:

Any white powder, regardless of how pure.

Any hair, skin, blood, or similar body parts. They're just oogey.

Anything bearing any of your personal information.

These people work hard! Help them out! (and, remember, the company that sent you that mailing pays for the return postage, too)

...just a thought...

[Tansy_Gold]

6. Having just received two credit card solicitations. . . . . .

. . . . Self thought it might perhaps print up a nice little label with a nice little quote from, say, Sen. Robert Byrd, on the arrogance of the boosh administration, stick said label on the credit card application (which contains none of Self's personal information) and send it back to the nice credit card people for their edification.

No staples or paper clips, no white powder, no oogey bodily fluids, just a little reminder that

"To engage in war is always to pick a wild card. And war must always be a last resort, not a first choice. I truly must question the judgment of any president who can say that a massive unprovoked military attack on a nation which is over 50 percent children is 'in the highest moral tradition of our country'." -- Sen. Byrd, 2/12/2003





Tansy Gold, who came across that quote in a back issue of a magazine to which she subscribes and which she would NEVER subject to a stealth return mail campaign perpetrated by her devious Self or anyone else

[eridani]

8. Use them for general educationals that don't mention candidates by name

The following screed fits on a single sheet with 12 pt Times New Roman type. I also have one on black box voting. Whoever opens it has a chance to get educated.

BUSH FLIES SAUDI RACEHORSE OWNER WITH PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF THE 9-11 ATTACK OUT OF THE COUNTRY

Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, owner of War Emblem (who won the first two of three Triple Crown races in 2002) was at the top of the list of a group of well-connected Saudis who left the country from Lexington, KY in a luxurious customized 727 shortly after 9-11. According to one of bin Laden’s top operatives, Aziz knew well beforehand that a major attack was to take place in the US on 9-11. And the Bush administration let the bastard fly the coop. The very fact that a couple of hundred Saudis were flying around within the US to central pickup points like Lexington, while US citizens were prohibited from flying from Minneapolis to Chicago is totally outrageous.

On March 30, 2002, Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah was captured in Pakistan and questioned by two teams of intelligence agents. One of the teams consisted of Arab Americans posing as Saudi agents, who hoped to scare Zubaydah into thinking he would be turned over to the Saudis for the usual torture and beheading. Far from being intimidated, Zubaydah was relieved, and told them that a call to Prince Ahmed would explain all—and he knew all the phone numbers from memory. He also told them to call Prince Sultan bin Faisal bin Turki al-Saud and Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Saud al-Kabir, members of the House of Saud related to King Fahd.

He said that several years earlier the royal family had made a deal with Al Qaeda in which the House of Saud would aid them as long as they kept terrorism out of Saudi Arabia. The interrogators insisted that 9-11 changed everything—the House of Saud would not stand behind them after that.

Zubaydah said that 9-11 changed nothing, because Ahmed and the others knew beforehand that an attack was scheduled for America that day. They didn’t know exactly what it would be, and they didn’t want to know. Bin Laden knew the Saudis couldn’t stop it without the specifics, and also that they couldn’t turn on him without disclosing their foreknowledge.

Bush helped Ahmed leave the country right after 9-11, unmolested until June 22, 2002, when he supposedly died of a heart attack in his sleep. On June 23, Prince Sultan died in a car wreck. On July 30, Prince Fahd died in the desert of thirst. None was older than 43, and all are beyond questioning now. That these three were named by Zubaydah and then died young a couple of months later is extremely suspicious.

DELIBERATELY FACILITATING THE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE WHO KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT 9-11 OUT OF THE COUNTRY BEFORE THEY COULD BE QUESTIONED MAKES THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT. REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER!

Sources: Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, Scribner, 2004
Gerald Posner, Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11, Random House, 2003

[Tansy_Gold]

10. That is EXACTLY the kind of thing Self was thinking of

Self would like to include a Kerry/Edwards sticker, but the real message is just getting people to understand that there are issues out there.

Self thinks most people really are curious about things, really do want to know what's going on, but they are afraid. Knowledge has come to be a dangerous thing in these "interesting" times in which we live.

Self also has an almost limitless supply of paper. . . . . . . and there's an American Express business reply envelope sitting on her desk at the moment.

Wuld you care to post that page on BBV, and give permission for Self to print it?

Tansy Gold, who is not her Self this morning ;-)