Looks like I may have to quit emailing my friends and victims, and definitely quit blogging. California Rep. Linda T. Sanchez and 14 others (all Democrats I presume) are proposing a bill containing this language:
Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both….
[“Communication”] means the electronic transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received; …
[“Electronic means”] means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.
Yes, I admit it. I am not innocent. I knew what I was doing. I have been causing “substantial emotional distress” on purpose! At least I hope so. But that’s OK. If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime. I’m resigned to my justly deserved fate.
I’ve been watching Dickens’ Little Dorrit on PBS. It made me nostalgic for debtor’s prison. Back in the good old days, as a last resort, you could always count on a bed at the href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshalsea”>Marshalsea.
Now this new Democratic initiative promises the same kind of entitlement for Republicans who insist on spewing out their hateful dissents from the policies of President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader Reid. The Democrats, God bless ’em, are putting a penal safety net under freedom of speech.
Arresting developments!
You like to raise peoples’ hackles…
Fortunately, I don’t believe anything you say. In fact, I don’t believe you do either!
But the courts might think otherwise.