The Postal Service approves thousands of requests every year from police officers and federal agents seeking information from Americans’ letters and packages.
I do a little light farming or heavy gardening, whichever … … farming is hard in my traveling profession … … quite often I’m not back home in time for my plowing or planting (that’s awful) … … I knew the feds had been opening my mail for over 20 years … … reading all my personal, radical mail … … and it never bothered me because I figured them birds had to learn it somewhere… … might as well be from my mail … … but then it occurred to me (in my predicament) having the FBI open your mail might come in handy … … I sent Sheila (my partner) a letter through the United States mail … … I said in it ‘For god sake! don’t plow up the backyard! that’s where the guns are buried!’ … … National Guard rolled up and dug up the whole backyard in time for me to plant the damn thing!
~ Utah Philips 1983
15·5 months ago