Tea-Party crasher tried to collect social security numbers

Interesting Fox News story on the Beaverton Teacher who tried to infiltrate and defame Tea Party rallies across the nation:

“…He is also being investigated by his state’s teachers licensing agency, which was inundated with complaints after his incendiary statements became front page news. In recent weeks, Levin announced his intention to embarrass Tea Partiers by attending their rallies dressed as Adolf Hitler, carrying signs bearing racist, sexist and anti-gay epithets and acting as offensively as possible — anything, he said, short of throwing punches. In an interview with Talking Points Memo, Levin said, “Our goal is that whenever a Tea Partier says ‘Barack Obama was not born in America,’ we’re going be right there next to them saying, ‘Yeah, in fact he wasn’t born on Earth! He’s an alien!'” And in a now deleted post on website, Levin called on his supporters to collect the Social Security numbers — among other personal identifying information — about as many Tea Party supporters as possible at the numerous rallies that took place last Thursday.

“The more data we can mine from the Tea Partiers, the more mayhem we can cause with it!!!!” he wrote.

But the Oregon Tea Party says the teacher’s actions are cause for a “teachable moment,” not a trip to the unemployment line.

Ludt said his group sent out a press release to both the state agency and school district — the same school district Ludt attended as a child — on Monday in which they listed their demands.

The group is calling on the Beaverton School District to:

— Apologize for inadequately supervising their teacher

— Issue a written pledge to thoroughly investigate whether Levin encouraged his students to repeat overtly racist statements

— Send a letter to all staff reminding them of district policy prohibiting teacher engagement in political activity on school time or using school resources

Despite being called “that loose affiliation of racists, homophobes, and morons” among a litany of other offensive names, the Oregon Tea Party says that as long as Levin successfully undergoes anger management and sensitivity classes, they see no reason why he shouldn’t be allowed to teach.

“Levin sees us as enemies. We see him as a fellow human being who is obviously very angry and troubled. Political dialogue will never advance if we are unable to treat each other decently as human beings,” Ludt said.

“Folks are out there are essentially rooting for the football team — they’re more interested in the games and not really looking at the issues. What we’re trying to do is focus on the issues and the best way we can see to do that is to rise above the games.”

As for Levin’s website, it has crashed and burned. The home page that once invited readers to help him demolish the Tea Party at all costs now simply reads: “Want to Show your support for Jason Levin? BUY A TEA-SHIRT.”