Wednesday, July 13, 2005 |
Buy A Counterfeit All-Star Cap, Help Osama
Street vendors hawking low-priced, knock-off baseball caps and jerseys to the crowds heading into Comerica Park for the start of Major League Baseball's All-Star Game had no way to know that some in the crowd weren't what they seemed.For real, without blushing or tittering. And they actually believe this sophistry. Your tax dollars at work, friends.For a while, the goods were moving briskly, snapped up by fans unconcerned about the memorabilia's origins but pleased to find it at a fraction of its price inside the stadium. But for more than a dozen vendors, things quickly took an unappealing turn. One minute, they were engaged in a conversation with a pair of seemingly harmless-looking frat boy-types about the price of souvenirs. The next, they were in custody, watching their easy money carted away and explaining its origins to federal agents.
The vendors had just been ICE'd -- busted by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. As part of the massive local, state and federal task force to provide security for the game, these men and women are charged with the responsibility of protecting U.S. citizens from enemies abroad. In cases like this one, however, that job also involves protecting Major League Baseball's intellectual property rights.
"A lot of people ask 'What the heck are you guys in Homeland Security doing with counterfeiters?'" said Brian Moskowitz, special agent in charge of ICE in Michigan and Ohio. "First and foremost, we're looking for vulnerabilities in our trade system; vulnerabilities that criminals -- and by proxy, terrorists -- could exploit."
Steve
: 7/13/2005 05:09:00 PMAmit
: 7/13/2005 05:36:00 PM : 7/13/2005 05:41:00 PMIn the interest of full disclosure, I am a Republican. But, as I said, I agree with Rob (that the Dept of Homeland Security could probably better use its resources... by quite a bit). I don't even think his take here, at least, is partisan. Just because somebody agrees or disagrees with an administration on the whole doesn't automatically require wholesale support of each and every miniscule policy choice.
: 7/13/2005 06:08:00 PMYeah Rob - give the man what he pays for!
Amit: thanks for the love.
Yup, it's silly time here at 6-4-2. Homeland Security tracking down the guys hawking fake merch outside the All-Star game? Anybody wanna take bets on where it actually came from, and who it benefited?
Richard: hee!
Bri: this is what happens when everything gets pushed under one rug. Just strikes me as silly and a waste of resources. Maybe they know what they're doing... and maybe they don't.
-vishal
: 7/14/2005 09:00:00 AMI have indeed. But thankfully, I'm not a politician, so I'm allowed to make my own decisions. Or at least pretend I'm allowed to do so.
: 7/14/2005 09:12:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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