[WIham] Wis. State Journal 11/14/03: Broadcast of porn tipped police in emergency channels case

[Rick Kisséll]

  I'm the local "Rip Van Winkle" of ham radio, having been away from the 
hobby almost completely between 1973 and 1993. One thing that absolutely 
(and unfortunately) hasn't changed about U.S. amateur radio is the 
disproportionate representation of the ultra-right-wing.  And it wasn't 
just Barry Goldwater and Curtis LeMay.  In the mid-1970s, your typical 
ham was a crew-cut WWII vet, many of whom weren't too sure that "we 
fought on the right side" in that particular conflict.

 (Yes, I know that Goldwater eventually moved to a more libertarian 
politics.)

A few days after Tim McVeigh blew up the federal building in Oklahoma 
City (when the images of dead toddlers being pulled from the rubble was 
still fresh in our minds), I attended a ham club meeting in southeastern 
Wisconsin.  One of the participants made some comment to the effect that 
he "could understand" why someone would do that.  Totally revolting.

In the years since then, I've often found people selling porn at 
hamfests with dozens of right-wing bumpersticks on their vehicles. I 
usually think of that when I hear a conservative talking about 
"traditional family values".

I suspect what we're about to see on this listserv over the next few 
days will be a an almost total waste of bandwidth.