What Constitutes a Conspiracy? (secret service.wmv)

The root word in conspiracy is conspire and for the purposes of this piece, I intend for conspiracy to refer to the action of secretly plotting unlawful acts as well as the act of conspiring among conspirators.

On February 22, 2008, the Star-Telegram reported that on February 20, 2008, Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Dallas Police Department's Homeland Security and Special Operations divisions, said to be acting on orders thought to have originated from the United States Secret Service, halted the security procedures that had been in use that included using metal wands and searching purses and laptop bags, as people waited in line to be seated to hear Senator Obama.

It was said that the procedures were halted to expedite the movement of some 17,000 people waiting to be seated at the rally in Dallas, Texas.

From the Star-Telegram article:

“ Sure, " said Lawrence, when asked if he was concerned by the great number of people who had gotten into the building without being checked. But, he added, the turnout of more than 17,000 people seemed to be a 'friendly crowd.' ”

I pondered the possible motivations for any actions that might have jeopardized Senator Obama's life and decided there are two ways to characterize an order of that nature, an order whose origins seem to have been issued as a whisper on the wind.

Dallas Homeland Security says the order was “ apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service”, which indicates Dallas Homeland Security didn't know or isn't saying where the stand down order originated. When viewed in the broadest terms, the actions are lax and negligent. When viewed with a more sinister eye, it is an action to be studied within the framework of a conspiratorial canvas.

I watched the news all weekend for any word of this action, the stand down order, outside of the two Star-Telegram articles, on any news network regarding this incident, with there never being any mention made of the incident, of which I am aware, during that period.

As of February 28, 2008, I have heard no mention of the stand down order nor has any news agency, again, that I am aware of, picked up the second story provided by the Star-Telegram, which features the Secret Service standing by it's decision to stand down.

Surely discontinuing search procedures and removing security from the first African American hailed by most pundits to truly have a real chance at getting his party's nomination for president, merits more air time and is more news worthy than allegations of professional swooners being hired at Obama rallies or, that other story, whipping many into a frenzy, that being Senator Obama's non credit of the source of words he uttered during the delivery of a speech. And, please, let's not forget the latest furor over a photo of the Senator wearing a turban!

The Secret Service's removal of their protection was reported by Star-Telegram late on February 21. The follow up article entitled, Secret Service Defends Security at Obama Rally in Dallas, a title, by the way, which is misleading, given its contents, was posted on February 22, 2008, reads in part:

The U.S. Secret Service on Friday (February 22) defended its handling of security during a massive rally in downtown Dallas for Barack Obama, saying there was no “lapse” in its “comprehensive and layered security plan”, which called for some people to be checked for weapons, while others were not.

Whether we, as United States citizens or world citizens, are comfortable with the reality or not, there do exist individuals and possibly groups of individuals that do not relish the idea of an African American appearing to be gaining substantial ground toward becoming the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.

That the daughter of America's beloved president John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Carolyn Kennedy Schlossberg, bestowed accolades upon Senator Barack Obama's run for the presidential nomination, proclaiming him to inspire the feeling of hope like the hope that has been recounted to her through the years by so many who did so when speaking to her of her late father, is phenomenal.

I shudder when I hear Barack Obama anointed to be a man like John F. Kennedy, being an unlikely heir apparent to the carefully crafted legacy of the 1,065 day period christened Camelot by the keepers of the Kennedy legacy, a tale of a magical 'kingdom' ruled by a youthful 'king' who was struck down in his prime on November 22, 1963 by an assassin's bullet.

The fact that an order was received in Dallas, Texas "apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service", with the Secret Service detail having been requested by Senator Obama, unless the Senator himself asked the detail to stand down, these sets of events make this story too eerily powerful to ponder what might have been.