this must be joke email forward week heres another good one our friend goldie from trinidad sent... 
our friend cindy sent us this email tonight - dont know if its true or not but interesting nonetheless:
The next time you are washing your hands and
complain because the water temperature isn't just
how you like it, think about how things were in the
1500s.
Most people got married in June because they
took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled
pretty good by June. However, they were starting to
smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to
hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of
carrying a bouquet when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot
water. The man of the house had the privilege of the
nice clean water, then all the other sons and men,
then the women and finally the children Last of all
the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could
actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying,
"Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled
high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place
for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other
small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When
it rained it became slippery and sometimes the
animals would slip and off the roof. Hence the
saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling
into the house. This posed a real problem in the
bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up
your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and
a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection.
That's how canopy beds came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had
something other than dirt. Hence the saying "dirt
poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get
slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread
thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing.
As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until
when you opened the door it would all start slipping
outside. A piece of wood was placed in the
entranceway. Hence the saying a "thresh hold."
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen
with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.
Every day they lit the fire and added things to the
pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much
meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving
leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then
start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in
it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the
rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas
porridge in the pot nine days old."
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made
them feel quite special. When visitors came over,
they would hang up their bacon to show off It was a
sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the
bacon." They would cut off a little to share with
guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."
Those with money had plates made of pewter.
Food with high acid content caused some of the lead
to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning
death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so
for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were
considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers
got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the
middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky.
The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers
out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the
road would take them for dead and prepare them for
burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for
a couple of days and the family would gather around
and eat and drink and wait and see if they would
wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."
England is old and small and the local folks
started running out of places to bury people. So
they would dig up coffins and would take the bones
to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When
reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were
found to have scratch marks on the inside and they
realized they had been burying people alive. So they
would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead
it through the coffin and up through the ground and
tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in
the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to
listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved
by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."
And that's the truth... Now, whoever said that
history was boring?!!
====
tags: email forwards
state senator jay dardenne is reportedly "very, very serious..." [about] running for louisiana secretary of state this year. now you have to remember that back in november 2005 we blogged an editorial of neil kavanaugh's see "La State Senators Betrayal Noted"
senator dardenne voted for and supported the infamous "voter fraud act" he should be ashamed. no we louisianaian's dont need another an old boy network operative in that office. dont forget that the secretary of state is also in charge of our states elections.
having someone like this in there would be right up the old boy networks alley. dont get the wrong idea we arent endorsing mike francis at this point either but we know who we dont want and thats jay dardenne.
see also: secretary of state candidate and la-state-senators-betrayal-noted
tags: jay dardenne old boy network louisiana secretary of state louisiana elections
well well well look whos calling www.thedeadpelican.com "An Internet news site"
we need to train ourselves to always go to the dp first to use it to click through to our regular news sources. theres power in them thar clicks lol and if everyone would do that the MSM media managers would see that the pelican will deliver traffic to stories that are of interest to US - then the media would mention it in the news more often.
wouldnt the gannett media here in in louisiana love having to mention someone like oh say c b forgotston and his views regularly all because they know that if their story is linked from the dp it will increase their traffic & more traffic = higher ad revenue.
lets use internet economics in our favor. and no we here at wesawthat... arent dp's no 1 fans we dont always agree with mr rogers stance on some issues but we know from our experience with him (sending in news tips for example) that he does work hard to assemble a product thats informative as well as entertaining.
heres the text from the news article:
A dog destined for the dinner table is being thrown into a cage at the Xin Yuan animal market in Guangzhhou, China. France's Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA) appealed to Chinese President Hu Jintao to put an end to the cruel slaughter of dogs, which it blasted as an affront(AFP/File/Peter Parks)
ya know the town talk has a lot of nerve to print something like this when they are the most truth suppressing excuse for a media outlet there is. nuff said.
Our View: Only truth can send the right message
Oprah Winfrey recently defended author James Frey when it was discovered that some of the events and facts in his book are fabricated. Oprah believes Frey's message of redemption, delivered via his memoirs in "A Million Little Pieces," was more important than whether or not the facts presented were completely truthful.
A message of redemption is important. But can a person who lies so glibly about his travails really have found redemption? That point may be arguable.
Nevertheless, the underlying issue is just one example of a greater problem that can be found everywhere, even here in Central Louisiana.
It's an issue of ethics. Ethics are the principles of conduct governing an individual, group or profession. These principles are generally based on ideas of right and wrong. Basically these ideas of right and wrong come from two sources -- our religious and legal guidelines.
It should be simple then to act ethically -- do the right thing. But in the past two decades or so the line between right and wrong has become smeared. Doing the right thing often has been replaced with doing the "OK" thing or the "well, it doesn't really hurt anybody" thing.
Even Oprah has bought into the idea that lying is OK so long as the right message is getting out there.
But that's the problem. Can any message be a right one if it is based on a lie?
Here at home we have to decide what is the right message. Do we tolerate lying in order to send a message about redemption? If so, when caught in the lie, how will anyone know our redemption is sincere?
We struggle with ethical issues daily as we are confronted with questionable business practices and corruption in government and law enforcement agencies.
Will we allow government to act unethically as long as the result is one of which we approve?
How do we convince anyone we understand right and wrong if we continually blur the line between the two?
How do we convince our children to do what is right if what they see operating is a process of almost right, kind of wrong, but the ends justifies the means government?
Central Louisianians may not see this as a problem. But without accountability, without holding ourselves and our government to a higher standard of truth and being guided by a pledge to fair and balanced treatment for all, the message we send will be met with suspicion and distrust, and will have little value.
In order for this city and Central Louisiana to grow, the message we send by example to the world must be one that says the people here are trustworthy and will treat all who come fairly, equitably and ethically.
There is only one way to send that message and have it be believed -- operating openly with full disclosure and tolerating nothing but the truth, from each other and our leaders.
Originally published January 26, 2006
tags: the town talk
we have to give a lot of credit to jeff crouere. he has a lot of interesting guests on his radio program other than the usual political people although jeff is a political animal.
on tuesday the 24th january 2006, crouere had a guy on his show named lloyd stewart carpenter who was talking about a "polar shift why the earth is about to tip over on its axis." this means according to carpenter that "the north pole will become the south pole and the south pole will become the north pole." carpenter says this theory was first popularized back in the 1980's in a book called "reversing earth" by peter warlow.
warlow hypothesizes that it will take about 24 hours for the earth to tip over on its axis and most people wont notice anything other than "russia will become more like south america and south america will become more like northern russia." carpenter says that one thing that warlow didnt take into consideration in his book is that earths magnetic field will change at the same time so there will be no more electricity. mankind will revert to tribal living. scientists know that the magnetic field of the earth changes or reverses about once every 50,000 years and its been well over 50,000 years since thats last happened.
Above we see a side by side tracing next to the FACE on the Pacific Ocean Floor. 
Above is a scan of the Rand Mc Nally© Map of the Pacific Ocean Floor.saturday, april 22nd, 2006 and saturday, may 20th, 2006. click on title to view original .pdf file. click any picture to view full size.====related post:
EXTERNAL LINK
**updated** 6:09 am cdt wednesday 12 july 2006 - we have noticed people arriving at this post from googling "gaylon ledington" if he was your friend or family member we are sorry for your loss. click here to view his obituary from the town talk and click here to view his obituary from hixson brothers funeral home. see also Comrades mourn deputy's death; funeral set for Thursday
Son touched many lives
Your Mail
The loss of my son, Gaylon Ledington, in a traffic accident has left my family heartbroken and devastated. But in the midst of this tragedy, the outpouring of love, kindness, friendship and sympathy, along with our faith in God, is helping to sustain us.
Words cannot express how much each kind word, hug and prayer has meant to us. The people who contacted us in person, by phone, through the online condolences of Hixson Brothers and through cards and letters will be things we will talk about and read and re-read over the months and years to come.
We didn’t know until now how many lives he had touched in his few short years, but by your actions and words, we now know there were many.
The honor paid to him by his superiors, his fellow officers and other law enforcement agents was befitting a great dignitary. We were overwhelmed and that picture will remain with us forever.
Thank you to each and every one.
Barbar Ledington
and the family of Gaylon Ledington
Alexandria
Originally published July 20, 2006
living in a rural area has its disadvantages and one of them is that every few years some jokers come through and bash a bunch of mailboxes. ours and about 100 other people's was last bashed in the summer of 2003. its really hard to catch them as you can imagine because they tend to do it in the middle of the night. these kids think its great fun to go round bashing mailboxes but they dont stop and think that a lot of elderly people on fixed incomes cant afford to go out and spend $20. to $50. or more for a new mailbox every few years and then the hassle of installing it or having someone install it. a lot of the times the pole has to be replaced as well resulting in extra expense.
The reclassification of terrorism is spreading across this country. A bill just BARELY defeated in Oregon would have made you a terrorist if you download music, block traffic or write a bad check. Want to know what the punishment would have been? Read on...
This Madness Is Spreading Nationwide!!
Excerpts from a recent interview of
Dr Walter Belford
by PT Shamrock
DWB - For instance Senate bill 742 in Oregon, which was narrowly defeated by just three votes, would have classified terrorism as a plethora of completely unrelated actions.
Downloading music, blocking traffic, writing a bad cheque or any form of protest, none of which has anything to do with terrorism. All these 'offences'would be punishable by life in prison unless you agreed to attend a "forest labour camp" for 25 years of enforced labour.
I understand that a made over version of Senate bill 742 will be reintroduced in late 2006 with another name and with some minor adjustments and will probably pass the second time around. Then it will naturally, spread nationwide.
Not even Communist China or Stalinist North Korea put people in labour camps for writing a bad cheque, but this was nearly implemented in the 'land of the free'. Debtor's prisons were supposed to have been banned more than 150 years ago! Explain to me what does writing a cheque with insufficient funds have to do with fighting terrorism? Nothing I tell you, absolutely nothing!
Understand and know that this was an actual bill and there are similar ones around the nation that are also being drawn up by your so-called representatives in government.
DWB - If you think Oregon is bad, try Wisconsin! Wisconsin is crazy about control. It takes fingerprints when a police officer pulls you over for a broken taillight. And blood specimens if they suspect you are intoxicated or on drugs. Wisconsin has the honour of sponsoring the Super National ID legislation which will also be a Pan American Union Card, i.e. an international ID as the US merges with Canada and Mexico.
PTS - What else is Wisconsin infamous for?
DWB - A man was sent to prison for five years for "paper terrorism." He sent too many papers in a complaint he had with the government.
DWB continues - In Rhode Island, governors proposed a bill that would have outlawed criticism of the government, defining it as anarchy under World War One era rhetoric.
In the UK there is a very active advert campaign presently that encourages anyone to report "any suspicious" behavior from their neighbors, etc. to the authorities. What "suspicious" means is left entirely up to the person who would report someone. So if you had a neighbor that was angry with you for any real or imagined reason, you'd be reported and your name will remain on numerous government databases forever! Your name will never be deleted from those government databases.
DWB - For example an eighty-year-old man, John Catt who served with the RAF during the Second World War was stopped last September by police in Brighton for wearing an "offensive" T-shirt, which suggested that Bush and Blair be tried for war crimes. He was arrested under the Terrorism Act and handcuffed, with his arms held behind his back and taken off to jail. He is currently awaiting trial under the "British Terrorism Act."
A little known provision hidden in the latest version of the Patriot Act will empower the Secret Service to charge protesters with the new crime of "disrupting major events including political conventions and the Olympics," amongst other 'crimes'.
The Secret Service would also be empowered to charge persons with "breaching security" and to charge people for "entering a restricted area" which is "where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting."
In the UK the authorities are using satellite imagines to spy on citizens to see what home improvements have been made so they can be taxed (extra) for home improvements, e.g. an observatory, an addition or improvements to your home or flat, etc. Worse if you refuse to allow local council (government) officials into your home (without a warrant) to take pictures of the interior of your property, that refusal is now a criminal offence.
For our American friends understand that your government isn't concerned about the (US) border, where the real danger of possible terrorist crossing is and where clearly that government is turning a blind eye. They are concerned about demanding middle aged women present ID on buses in Denver and arresting men for donating travel tokens to people without the right change in New York.
The Associated Press recently reported that Federal air marshals have expanded their work beyond airplanes, launching counterterror surveillance at train stations and other mass transit facilities in a test program. This so-called 'test' program, as always, is simply the prologue to a permanent situation, or permanent program policy for the feds.
What this means is that federally brainwashed goons, and they are goons and jack-booted thugs, are now stomping around with machine guns and vicious dogs, getting in everyone's face and randomly grabbing and searching people on the subway, train, boats, buses, airplanes and even private automobiles.
This 'test' will be implemented and expanded (US) nationwide very soon. The so-called "Visible Intermodal Protection and Response" teams, or Viper teams, will patrol Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and Los Angeles rail lines; ferries in Washington and New York states; bus stations in Houston, Dallas, Miami, Chicago, Seattle and elsewhere; and mass transit systems in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Baltimore.
Please recall that recently Rigoberto Alpizar was murdered on an Orlando (Florida) bound flight from Miami by (US) Air Marshals (plural) after, as alleged by the feds, Alpizar ran off the plane yelling that he had a bomb in his backpack.
It has been confirmed by witnesses on that flight that Alpizar never screamed that he had a bomb. It seems like a license to murder is standard fare for these jack booted thugs.
The passengers stated that his wife was trying to calm Mr. Alpizar down as he was singing "Go Down Moses", as he hadn't taken his medication and was tense according to his spouse. Those same eye witnesses said that they were more frightened of Air Marshals putting guns to their head and threatening them not to look at what was taking place. That incident was a primer for the move to put Federal militarized police on the streets and all over transport networks throughout the united States. [Correct spelling.]
In case you've forgotten, the Alpizar incident has uncanny parallels with the murder of Charles de Menezes a Brazilian youth, by British goons (undercover police,) just one day after the supposed aborted second London bombings on July 22nd, 2005.
De Menezes was wearing a light denim jacket, did not vault a barrier, calmly picked up a newspaper, did not have wires trailing from his jacket and was not seen coming from the building under surveillance one day after the failed bombings. CCTV tapes of the incident were seized by London/UK police who then claimed that the tapes didn't exist due to the cameras conveniently malfunctioning at that exact time, something which the London Underground workers wholesale denied.
De Menezes walked onto the train and was shot in the head officially eight times, possibly more.
So in the event you should, for example, attempt to help someone out by selling or giving them a spare token that you have for the tube or subway, that may be deemed as suspicious behavior and you will be cuffed and taken away. If you resist you will be shot.
Now let me put this before you. Remember that Bush called the US Constitution, "just a Goddamn piece of paper." Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said in a Washington Post article recently that Congress explicitly denied a White House request for war-making authority in the United States immediately after the 9/11/2001 attacks. Daschle's quote is right here!
"This last-minute change would have given the president broad authority to exercise expansive powers not just overseas ... but right here in the United States, potentially against American citizens," Daschle wrote. [Source: The Washington Post.]
DWB continues - In spite of Bush being legally shot down on that eavesdropping request, amongst many other similar requests, President Bush arrogantly went ahead and authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to eavesdrop on telephone calls and e-mails within U.S. borders without judicial approval. Now that's a fact. Bush' steps' regarding wiretapping American citizens clearly violates the constitutional rights of Americans and is a crime, period. IMO that may be an impeachable offence against Bush.
In fact James Comey, a deputy to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, questioned legality of the NSA program and refused to extend it in 2004. White House aides then turned to Ashcroft while the attorney general was hospitalized for gallbladder surgery, but Ashcroft, author of the controversial USA Patriot Act, also refused to endorse the spying. That really tells you something doesn't it?
The New York Times caved into White House demands to withhold this story from the public and sat on this eavesdropping story for one year until finally some brave hero(s) exposed Bush's spying and produced the truth! The person or persons who leaked Bush' spying on Americans are the true patriots! They're the real American heros. Unfortunately they'll probably end up being fired and lucky if they don't go to jail.
Look at this New York Times article [DWB hands PTS the newspaper clipping] where the NYT's reveals that "it has obtained videotapes showing the New York Police Department conducting surveillance by planting undercover officers to secretly infiltrate and monitor anti-war protests and bike rallies amongst other spying on Americans."
For your information and for that of your readers, the (US) National Security Agency (NSA) has surreptitiously placed tracking cookies on almost all (US) PC's and Mac's without the owners knowledge or consent. This is, naturally, in addition to (US based) ISP's having had to place tracking programs on all US based servers under penalty from the authorities. This has been done for tracking purposes of all web sites looked at and for scanning and recording of all e-mail's sent and received from all US based computers and servers.
I would suspect that the UK and many other western countries have done the same or similar thing, all without legal precedent and or the computer user's knowledge or permission.
It is therefore my further opinion that this recently exposed skullduggery and eavesdropping by Bush et al on Americans and others is just the tip of a huge hidden iceberg. I believe this eavesdropping by Bush' NSA and other agencies started long before 9/11/2001 and will be found to be far more intrusive and widespread than we currently know or believed previously.
Pop Star Michael Jackson finally saw the light and after his acquittal left the united States [correct spelling] and has temporarily settled in Bahrain. I understand he is reportedly eyeing property in the tax free Gulf emirate of Dubai.
The Federal police are indoctrinating middle school children in San Antonio, Texas these days. The Federal police, i.e. National Guard and regular army are invited into schools and are teaching the children how to behave and who to obey, them. They (Federal Police) are even seen at cross walks directing traffic! [HB Zachary middle school, San Antonio, Texas.] What is the Federal Police (US Army) doing directing traffic in and around schools? Both "programs" will soon spread nationwide. The parents who protest that their children are being subjected to Federal Police indoctrination in schools are investigated!
I believe it is was either Newport News or Norfolk, Virginia where school age children (young teenagers) have to use their thumbprints biometrically in order to obtain books at the school and or public libraries and are being told that their thumbprints are required for their own protection.
JERRY STRAUSS
====
tags: terrorism walter belford jerry strauss PT Shamrock rumor mill news
some people are goofing on mayor nagin's comments at new orleans yesterday. nagin is quoted as saying:
10.1MB .wmv 13 min 38 sec video file must seedont you see a resemblance between brian george who was in that memorable episode from seinfeld called "the cafe" and judge rizgar amin?
judge rizgar amin
brian george 
heres the latest in the city of alexandria v cleco lawsuits. there are so many and we have blogged about this before to try and recap and someone correct us if we are wrong, cleco has been accused of cheating alexandria "ratepayers" by over charging alexandria for utilities. or something like that. it all started when some guys that worked for cleco sam sansing and david pugh squealed to the city that cleco was frauding it.
as you can imagine, cleco is suing these two in state court and there is controversy there because the judge in that suit judge george metoyer well his wife works for one of the litigants - the city of alexandria. see new judge wastes no time joining the old boy network.
so then it turns out that there was some spies on the citys side because mayor randolph fired his chief of staff and two other high level city "executives" for giving cleco a heads up about what they were discussing in "secret" city council meetings. they turn around and sue and randolph hires charlie weems to defend the suit. mr weems promptly moves the suit to his law partners court who just happens to be a federal judge. how convenient.
anyway, our interest lies as you can tell in all the lawyers involved. you see judge dee drell comes from the gold weems law firm and so does the other federal judge u s district judge f a "pappy" little, jr. "the gold firm" is located here at alexandria, la., charlie weems comes from the gold firm as well. in fact the secretary of state used to list the incorporators of the gold weems law firm as c.s. weems, III and f.a. little, jr.
of course the right thing to do under say oh canon 2 of the federal canons of judicial conduct would be for judge drell as well as judge little to recuse themselves from any suit that their former or current law partner(s) would bring on before em. didnt we just go over this in the alito hearings?
naturally the local press never reports any of this. a few years ago judge little ruled on a lawsuit concerning bayou robert. judge little also lives on bayou robert despite that he ruled anyway. the town talk never mentioned the judge lived on the very property he was ruling on despite publishing several articles about the dispute itself; when it was pointed out to them their reply was "he has to live somewhere"
another one of the lawyers the one representing one of the guys mayor randolph fired is jock scott who is the son of the late federal u s senior judge nauman s scott.
so what we have is a cabal of lawyers who happen to control the federal throne here, poised, to take over a major louisiana utility - cleco. uh huh they are republicans too...
City, Cleco agree to audit to help resolve dispute
By Billy Gunn bgunn@thetowntalk.com
(318) 487-6378
Alexandria and Cleco Corp. have agreed to an audit overseen by a U.S. District Court judge to resolve the legal and public argument over whether the utility owes the city's electricity users money.
City Council members Friday unanimously voted to adopt guidelines that will be submitted to Judge Dee Drell, who is presiding over the city's lawsuit against Cleco filed this past summer.
"The audit process provides an opportunity for a neutral and experienced auditor to identify the specific claims that the city has against Cleco," City Attorney Kelvin Sanders said at a special council meeting Friday.
"The audit and resulting mediation has a good chance of expediting a resolution of the city's claims with minimal cost and should improve the city's ability to assess the value of its claims," Sanders said.
In the city's lawsuit, Alexandria makes numerous allegations against the utility, including alleging fraud over years of electricity transactions.
An audit "is the right thing to do," Mayor Ned Randolph said.
Council President Charles F. Smith Jr. said, "We want the people of this town to know we're not hiding anything."
The city suit against Cleco is one of three now in the courts involving the utility, Alexandria and a bevy of other players. The longest-running lawsuit, filed by Cleco against two former employees, is ongoing.
Attorneys for the former employees, Sam Sansing and David Pugh, who brought alleged Cleco wrongdoings to city officials' attention in the spring of 2004, said they will proceed fighting for their own audit in state court.
The most recent case, filed in September, was brought against the city after Randolph got rid of three longtime city executives, Harold Chambers, Sonny Craig and Darrell Williamson.
Originally published January 14, 2006
drell resume added 8:19pm cdt sunday 02 april 2006we saw this the other morning on spelunking through the chaos and posted it without comment. what is there to say except that we arent surprised in the tiniest bit to see that this would have pennsylvania's senator arlen specter slimy fingerprints all over it..this guy is for or authors every two-bit piece of corporate, police state nazification of america "legislation" they can come up with; wisconsin's congressman james f sensenbrenner, is another, oh and lest we forget utah's senator orrin hatch. so anyway we louisianaian's will clean our house but you yanks have have to help as well.
ps isnt it creepy how they have done their names a la... specter.senate.gov ... hatch.senate.gov ...while the representatives have theirs at the end.
Perspective: Create an e-annoyance, go to jail
Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.
It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.
In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess.
This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison.
"The use of the word 'annoy' is particularly problematic," says Marv Johnson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "What's annoying to one person may not be annoying to someone else."
Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called "Preventing Cyberstalking." It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet "without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy."
To grease the rails for this idea, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, and the section's other sponsors slipped it into an unrelated, must-pass bill to fund the Department of Justice. The plan: to make it politically infeasible for politicians to oppose the measure.
The tactic worked. The bill cleared the House of Representatives by voice vote, and the Senate unanimously approved it Dec. 16.
There's an interesting side note. An earlier version that the House approved in September had radically different wording. It was reasonable by comparison, and criminalized only using an "interactive computer service" to cause someone "substantial emotional harm."
That kind of prohibition might make sense. But why should merely annoying someone be illegal?
There are perfectly legitimate reasons to set up a Web site or write something incendiary without telling everyone exactly who you are.
Think about it: A woman fired by a manager who demanded sexual favors wants to blog about it without divulging her full name. An aspiring pundit hopes to set up the next Suck.com. A frustrated citizen wants to send e-mail describing corruption in local government without worrying about reprisals.
In each of those three cases, someone's probably going to be annoyed. That's enough to make the action a crime. (The Justice Department won't file charges in every case, of course, but trusting prosecutorial discretion is hardly reassuring.)
Clinton Fein, a San Francisco resident who runs the Annoy.com site, says a feature permitting visitors to send obnoxious and profane postcards through e-mail could be imperiled.
"Who decides what's annoying? That's the ultimate question," Fein said. He added: "If you send an annoying message via the United States Post Office, do you have to reveal your identity?"
Fein once sued to overturn part of the Communications Decency Act that outlawed transmitting indecent material "with intent to annoy." But the courts ruled the law applied only to obscene material, so Annoy.com didn't have to worry.
"I'm certainly not going to close the site down," Fein said on Friday. "I would fight it on First Amendment grounds."
He's right. Our esteemed politicians can't seem to grasp this simple point, but the First Amendment protects our right to write something that annoys someone else.
It even shields our right to do it anonymously. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas defended this principle magnificently in a 1995 case involving an Ohio woman who was punished for distributing anonymous political pamphlets.
If President Bush truly believed in the principle of limited government (it is in his official bio), he'd realize that the law he signed cannot be squared with the Constitution he swore to uphold.
And then he'd repeat what President Clinton did a decade ago when he felt compelled to sign a massive telecommunications law. Clinton realized that the section of the law punishing abortion-related material on the Internet was unconstitutional, and he directed the Justice Department not to enforce it.
Bush has the chance to show his respect for what he calls Americans' personal freedoms. Now we'll see if the president rises to the occasion.
======
tags: stupid laws arlen specter sec 113 preventing cyberstalking declan mccullagh cnet news
