Posted on 07/09/2009 11:52:52 AM PDT by zimfam007
Here it comes. Thought crime and hate crime legislation. No one can attest to the vile nature of internet harassment, threats and insults more than I can, but I would never silence my "critics". This law is unconstitutional, a blatant violation of the First Amendment. It destroys the basic tenets of the Constitution.
(Excerpt) Read more at atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com ...
Since most talk radio shows are available as an internet “podcast” - this is another attempt to silence all critics of this administration.
McCain’s fault
I'm sure that quite a few people are offended by your statement. Off with your head.
Well, isn’t that nice.
“America is cooked. Get used to it.”
No, I won’t get used to it because it’s not going to happen.
I say get rid of the defeatism.
Good luck defending yourself against prosecution when the words “severe,” “repeated” and “hostile” can be made to mean absolutely anything by a skilled attorney. Twisting the meaning of words is their job.
This bill must be stopped.
Yea, I’m sure federal prosecutors are going to put so much effort into concocting a case against a zillion internet users all saying “your mom”, “no, YOUR mom”. The situation would have to be extraordinary for them to even bother taking a look at it (like the case where the girl killed herself). This guy’s spin is pure fear mongering BS.
Take a moment to reflect on how the law works, in particular the concept of deterrence.
All they have to do is imprison a few and publicize it. The result would be the end of free speech on the internet, followed eventually by the same for speech anywhere in any form.
If anything, this thread underestimates the danger of the bill.
Wow, you’re just a pinyata of straw men today. Nobody said anything about chat room smack talk or people calling each other idiots. We’re talking about political speech.
And yes, this bill will be used to attack it. If you can’t see that, you don’t know the first thing about how attorneys and leftist judges use the law. And you don’t have the first clue about the intentions of this Congress. Your defense of this obvious leftist assault on the First Amendment is pure BS.
I won’t hold my breath.
Why do you say that? Are you reading impaired?
It looks like a poorly worded law, but it does require:
severe, repeated, and hostile behavior.
There are already state laws about harassing communications. They seem better written than this.
parsy, who has written a few cease and desists letters to people using the phone to harass others.
FWIW, here is Arkansas law:
§ 5-71-209. Harassing communications.
(a) A person commits the offense of harassing communications if, with the purpose to harass, annoy, or alarm another person, he:
(1) Communicates with a person, anonymously or otherwise, by telephone, telegraph, mail, or any other form of written communication, in a manner likely to harass, annoy, or cause alarm; or
(2) Makes a telephone call or causes a telephone to ring repeatedly, with no purpose of legitimate communication, regardless of whether a conversation ensues; or
(3) Knowingly permits any telephone under his control to be used for any purpose prohibited by this section.
(b) Offenses involving use of telephones may be prosecuted in the county in which the defendant was located when he used a telephone, or in the county in which the telephone made to ring by the defendant was located.
(c) Harassing communications is a Class A misdemeanor.
(d)(1) A judicial officer, upon the pretrial release of the defendant, shall enter a no contact order in writing consistent with Rules 9.3 and 9.4 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure and shall give notice to the defendant of penalties contained in Rule 9.5 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure.
(2) This no contact order shall remain in effect during the pendency of any appeal of a conviction under this section.
(3) The judicial officer or prosecuting attorney shall provide a copy of this no contact order to the victim and arresting agency without unnecessary delay.
(e) If the judicial officer has reason to believe that mental disease or defect of the defendant will or has become an issue in the cause, the judicial officer shall enter such orders as are consistent with § 5-2-305.
There is usually a warning given the alleged perp.
parsy, who thinks even Ark’s law could be enforced in a bad way, but hasn’t seen it happen yet.
Let me give one example. My client was a tramp. She screwed around with a married man, her boss, after assuring his wife during an interview that she was not the kind to make her honey where she made her money. The boss had two little kids.
Naturlich, wifey-poo calls a few times to call my client a tramp, whore, etc. you get the picture, which would not be a cause of action for slander because, uh, hem haw, it was true.
However, I wrote a letter advising now Ex-wife that this was harassing, etc. and stop or else we would make complaint.
parsy, who thinks the phone was better than ex-wife telling tramp in person what she thought due to possibility of excessive hair loss on both parties.
You might have to start doing that, too—if the power of the government continues to grow. Remember, carbon dioxide has been declared a pollutant by these numbskulls.
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