Classic Liberal Blog

This is truly frightening ...

Bruce Shore, a 51-year-old unemployed man from Philadelphia, exercised his natural right to free speech by sending an email to Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) over an unemployment benefits bill. A month later, FBI agents showed up at his door. Not long after that, U.S. Marshals came to his door and "handed him a grand jury indictment."

The American Police State is has arrived. It's now a felony to send "harassing email" to a Senator (one of your Washington Overlords). Free speech is dead.

Indicting the First Amendment

This is a story that should be a warning to Americans, regardless of political party, because it dramatically illustrates ... the ever-increasing broad and vague federal laws that allow prosecutors to "pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, even for the most seemingly innocuous behavior."

Shore, watching the Senate in inaction on C-Span, was angered when Bunning complained that, gosh, he has missed the Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game because he had to be in Congress to debate an unemployment benefits bill.

Here is part of his Feb. 26 messages to Bunning staffers: "Are you'all insane. No checks equal no food for me. DO YOU GET IT?"

The next month, FBI agents came calling to Shore's home in Philadelphia. They read him excerpts from his citizen's complaints and asked whether he was the author, which Shore readily admitted. Apparently these agents had heard something about the First Amendment, and told this indignant American, "All right, we just wanted to make sure it wasn't anything to worry about."

But the ever-vigilant Obama administration's executive branch was not satisfied. On May 13 ... U.S. Marshals appeared at Shore's door and handed him a grand jury indictment. (James Madison, the father of the First Amendment, had insisted that "the great right" of freedom of speech must be placed beyond the reach of any branch of government. But that was then.)

This is the indictment that forced Shore into federal court. The language is that of Communications Act of 1934 (FDR's time) as amended and updated to include electronic messages in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (including the Communications Decency Act) signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

If found guilty, Shore -- or anyone indicted for sending such so-called harassing messages -- could be imprisoned for up to two years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. I am often very annoyed by my senator, Democrat Charles Schumer; but so far, I have confined my "harassing" messages to him in my columns, which are transmitted in print and electronically. The same is true of my many "annoying" rebukes to the president, who is apparently quite sensitive to criticism.

I'd better watch out.

"That a citizen is being charged under this statute for pestering a senator for not doing his public duty just shows the dangerous powers that these kinds of statutes give to heedless prosecutors. Even if Citizen Shore ultimately wins the case, his life will have been turned upside-down and inside-out. This, of course, is the reason indictments like this are brought -- to deter unwelcome speech."

How long before they use this law against bloggers? After all, posts are "transmitted electronically." Right?

Bruce Shore Pleads Not Guilty To Felony Charge For 'Harassing Email' To Jim Bunning

Bruce Shore, a 51-year-old unemployed man from Philadelphia, pleaded not guilty to felony email harassment on Friday in a Kentucky federal court, where he was arraigned for sending angry emails to Sen. Jim Bunning.

Shore, as a recipient of unemployment benefits, took Bunning's blockade personally.

"If I do NOT get my check next week I WILL HAVE NO FOOD AND WILL BE ON THE STREET," said one email Shore sent from his Yahoo account. "IF THIS POLITICAL GRANDSTANDING DOES NOT END TODAY - WE WILL COME TO YOUR OFFICES AND MAKE OUR POINT."

Shore told HuffPost he also sent several messages via the contact form on Bunning's website, signing everything as "Brad Shore" from Kentucky. He said he has no record of those messages, but that FBI agents had printed them out when they interviewed him in March.

The May 13 grand jury indictment (PDF) does not say what Shore wrote that crossed the line. The language of the indictment is taken directly from the statute -- it says only that Shore "did utilize a telecommunications device, that is a computer, whether or not communication ensued, without disclosing his identity and with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, and harass any person who received the communication."

Shore said he is not sure what exactly he's in trouble for. His public defender in Kentucky told HuffPost he expects to see the government's evidence before the July 27 trial -- but he hasn't seen it yet.

Shore hasn't even seen the evidence against him yet. So much for "innocent until proven guilty." Click over to read the whole text of one of his NOT Very Scary emails. Just as troubling to me too, is that just over 5% of people polled think Bruce Shore should get locked up. Twisted.

It doesn't matter what your politics are either, or if you agree with Shore, or even like the guy or not ... This indictment should send chills down your spine.

Is this what to expect now that the government can't deliver on its promises? Because if it is, social unrest is coming to America sooner rather than later.

H/T - Felony Charge for Writing to a Senator.