You may remember GOPUSA as the right-wing advocacy organization/mailing list that created a phony news organization in order to send Jeff Gannon -- a professional escort whose real name wasn't Jeff Gannon -- to the White House as a correspondent.

The folks at GOPUSA shut down that part of the operation soon after it was exposed by Media Matters and others, but they continue to operate a mailing list and web page in order to spread their crazy.

One recent email came with the subject line “Extremely Urgent: Society to Come Unglued.” A 6,000+ word screed followed, with instructions to “read what I am about to say carefully, because your very life may depend on it.” Amidst the hysterics about plummeting ozone, the email did offer one reassuring bit of advice: “You don't necessarily have to bury a huge cache of silver coins in your backyard to be able to barter in an emergency situation.”

Whew. That's good to know.

Anyway: GOPUSA emails tend not to get much attention. After all, most of their recipients are probably too busy fashioning hats out of aluminum foil to read through 6,000 words. But on Friday, GOPUSA sent out an email that is bound to get picked up by Fox News or some right-wing radio host or Newsbusters blogger:

The Department of Homeland Security Strikes Again

A Special Report by Archie Jones, American Vision Staff Writer

A customer service representative at The Patriot Depot just received a call from Rosemary in Ball, Louisiana alerting him that her brother-in-law was stopped by small town Louisiana police and detained by the roadside for half an hour. A background check was conducted to determine whether he was a member of an “extremist” group. Why? Her brother-in-law (name not disclosed for privacy) had purchased a conservative “Don't Tread on Me” bumper sticker from The Patriot Depot and displayed it on his car.

Now: That obviously didn't happen.

Oh, in case you're wondering, this purported harassment of Rosemary's brother for displaying a “Don't Tread on Me” bumper sticker was just another example of “The notorious Department of Homeland Security memo” being used to “harass, intimidate, and silence all political opposition -- and probably an attempt to demonize them as a prelude to governmental oppression and persecution.”

Yeah. Probably...