Breitbart Stovepipes Teh Crazy™

I want some help figuring out why I keep getting mysterious forwards from a gun club in Atlanta, Georgia. Maybe Faux Noise can figure out what dire conspiracy keeps filling my inbox with the latest evidence of Obama’s secret, evil plan to take away our guns. Via David Neiwart at Crooks & Liars:

Funny thing: I was at Netroots Nation last week, but I don’t recall a panel discussion on Teh Evil Plan™ to help the White House collect a ginormous database of conservatives one email address at a time. In fact, I’ve still got my copy of the events schedule, and try as I might I cannot find the session I must have missed.

Faux Noise is playing a truly pernicious fear card. I’m not the first to point out that Breitbart and company were not inclined to don their tinfoil hats when Bush was collecting massive amounts of electronic data on Americans and infiltrating anti-war groups, but I’ll point it out anyway — because, once again, what we’re seeing here is psychological projection.

If Faux Noise wants to talk about spying, they could give me a call. While at Netroots Nation, I came across a pair of pasty, black-clad infiltrators with badges reading: “RIGHT ONLINE.” One had theirs turned around, but it didn’t help; they both stuck out like sore thumbs. Observing their movements, it became clear they were checking out the Westin Hotel to see if they could access the event center across the street through the elevated walkway between the buildings. (They couldn’t.)

After a few queries, I learned that Right Online is a conference of conservative bloggers and activists, and has been shadowing the Netroots Nation conference for a long time. Every year, they hold their convention simultaneously in a nearby location.

Disturbing? Yes. There’s a word for this kind of behavior; it’s the word you use for a person who obsesses over your schedule, follows you around, and tries to sneak into your house: STALKER.

This shadow conference is put together by Americans For Prosperity, a nonprofit with a $3.4 million annual budget (PDF) whose stated aims are “to mobilize citizens to achieve fiscal and regulatory restraint by state governments, and a return of the Federal government to its Constitutional limits” — in other words, they work for the oil industry.

I’ve been blogging consistently for a year, but I have yet to see my first check from George Soros. What am I doing wrong? Maybe I’d make the big bucks if I switched sides and went to hear this kind of nonsense (via Heather at C&L):

As for Brietbart’s specific charge — that the White House is spying on us with spam emails — there are probably several explanations, one of which is that there weren’t enough filters on petitions sent to the White House. That’s not good enough for Faux Noise, of course, which has dug its teeth into this nontroversy like a pit bull and won’t quit stovepiping the Crazy™ through it.

As long as Breitbart is investigating mysterious emails, I’d like to know why my repeated attempts to get off that gun club mailing list have not succeeded. Is the NRA spying on me? Inquiring minds want to know!