There are times when I really don’t enjoy living in California, this is one of them.
The idea for a law, by Rep. Linda Sanchez, Democrat, of California is sheer lunacy. She has proposed a bill that would make it a federal felony to use blogs, text messages, and Internet messaging (“electronic means”) to harass someone and cause them “emotional distress.”
So if my local paper, the Enterprise Record, posts a web story that “causes somebody emotional distress”, do the aggrieved then just dispense a lawyer from a vending machine in front of the newspaper office and walk in with a lawsuit? There will be DMVesque line with a wait.
It’s coming to that it seems.
Linda Sanchez (D-CA) coming after bloggers
“Greg Pollowitz at NRO Media Blog sends the alert (via The Volokh Conspiracy) that Rep. Linda Sanchez, Democrat of California, has proposed a bill that would make it a federal felony to use blogs, text messages, and Internet messaging (“electronic means”) to harass someone and cause them “emotional distress.” Eugene Volokh pulls these snippets out of H.R. 1966:
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.
(h/t to Helogenic Climate Change)
Here is her official website where you can contact her and let her know what you think about this idea. Be nice.
http://lindasanchez.house.gov/index.cfm?section=contact
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[racist ~ charles the moderator]
Robert Wood (17:13:58)
“Unfortunately, the Gorists have an intent, not secret, but not revealed either. That is, control of the global economy by themselves, under the excuse of “saving the planet”.
These little “effers” should be put down.”
I get the arguments made here loud & clear – and the best way to deal with unruly folks is not always to get in the gutter & lowball with them. The tide is turning. Feel no fear. Suffer no emotion. The higher ground will be taken by objective fighters. Stay cool – and watch corrupt regimes defeat themselves. (It’s just a matter of time.)
–
Just Want Truth… (18:10:52)
“The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails today among human creatures.”
-attributed to Abraham Lincoln”
This makes sense – and so the games go on ….
OT…
Ed Miliband’s global warming law ‘could cost £20,000 ($40,000 US) per family’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1177274/Ed-Milibands-global-warming-law-cost-20-000-family.html
Reply: You haven’t looked at exchange rates in a while Mike, 20,000 British Pound = 30,472.0 US Dollar ~ charles the moderator
To esteemed yet deluded Congress woman Sanchez,
You have clearly demonstrated that a village Idiot can indeed achieve great things, even elected office.. however, it is incumbent upon me to ask you instead of focusing your attentions on a summary execution of our first ammendment rights, you might try something much more in line with those whom share your mindset,; though to do so would require time travel, or a clairvoyant, as hitler and stalin are currently unavailable.
When communism died in 1990, the western world’s socialists realised that the teachings of Antonio Gramsci were true. He predicted the failure of communism in it`s 20th century form, and he laid out the plan for modern socialism to succeed. It would be done by the slow take over of teaching professions, the media and public institutions, and by the degradation of western christian culture. Not so much the religion part, he encouraged leftists to become priests to subvert christianity, it was more about destorying the whole christian “social” culture which is what makes our western cultures what they are (or should I say, what they were till now).
The modern versions of Gramsci are people like Saul Alinsky and Bill Ayers – both of whom were two of the most important influences in Obama`s life.
The goal of these people has always been to :
1) Replace private ownership with collective ownership
2) Replace faith in religion/eternal life with faith in nature & the vision of a here-and-now utopia
3) Replace individual thinking with collective thinking/group speak
4) Replace the emphasis on facts and logic with myth, imagination and subjective experience
5) Replace a free, objective media with a controlled media, driven by the new vision of change and solidarity
6) Replace individual expressions with politically correct sentiments using schools, entertainment, media etc.
7) Replace privacy with government surveillance and tracking
We’re heading there…
Now maybe some stalker has a blog designed to harass their victim from prison. The problem with our legislatures is their desire to create a rule for every eventuality…. yet the rules are very broad, and always have unintended consequences.
With respect to climate, has everyone heard that California has shut off water to the central valley (A huge agricultural area) to protect a certain species of smelt? Will California melt down to show us the foolishness of environmental hysteria?
The drought was blamed on climate change, but the lack of water may have more to do with environmental hysteria than weather.
http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/the-california-water-v-delta-smelt-war/
Whatever happened to “Sticks and stones?” Are we getting so sensitive now that we need the law to protect us from people insulting us? Where do we go from there, putting people in jail for breaking a date? I agree that children must be protected, but that is the job for their parents. It’s too bad that not all parents are as diligent in some regards as they could be, however eviscerating the first amendment is not the answer.
no we shouldn’t be afraid, just to laugh at this [snip]- enforcing such nebulous categories as ’emotional distress’ would lead to a very silly quagmire. We need to enjoy the humor of this y’all.
Thanks for the info, CTM.
I thought you guys were just supposed to correct any mistakes that pop up! 🙂
Mike
I haven’t read all the post at this time so I may be overstating something that has been stated before. In my humble opinion this HR1966 is unconstitutional. That said it it should pass I feel that it will be challenged in court very quickly. By the way her site only lets you email if your are a resident of her district. She does provide links to find you representative and email them. I have sent my Rep an email and let him know my feelings about this proposed bill. In my opinion this is nothing more than an attempt to restrict free speach via electronic means.
Tell your Rep to vote no.
Bill Derryberry
I suggest additional language to the proposed legislation: A “grandfather clause” that exempts those of us who have already established ourselves as certified “heretics”. With carefully crafted language (we’ll use really big words that confound Rep. Sanchez). I believe I can easily establish the exempting credentials of everyone attracted to THIS particular island of electronic communication using language lifted right from leftest handbook of political correctness. That would leave us free to marshal our legal forces and blast The Goracle into a puddle of green grease without fear of dangerous recoil.
“The man gave me migraines, Your Honor! Talk about serious distress!”
This leads to the law of unintended consequences. Canada has such a law (as does each province and territory), normally just called Section 13(1) and it has been hijacked by leftist activists to pursue anyone they dislike – normally white Christians (in fact, almost exclusively white Christians). There is currently a battle to repeal it and even the original advocates are now saying it has been misused. Check out http://ezralevant.com or, better still, buy Ezra’s newly released book ‘Shakedown’, ISBN 978-0-7710-4618-6. It portends a very grim future where freedom of speech applies only to those who enforce their own leftist views by quasi-legal means. Ezra Levant is a Jew who had the temerity to publish the Danish cartoons in his magazine and was dragged through Hell for offending a radical Imam. You don’t want or need that law!
I understand what Sanchez is trying to do. I haven’t read the bill, so I don’t know whether that gets it or not. But in evaluating this, we need to look at her aim.
This came about because someone had used the internet in a way that a teenage girl felt emotionally trapped, and committed suicide to escape.
Is that worthy of doing something about? Maybe try to effect a change on an entirely new, potentially hazardous medium?
Maybe the language of the bill has to change for it to be a worthy accomplishment.
But, jeez, talk about throwing the baby out with the bath.
P.S. At the same time, I’m in absolute agreement with GK (20:04:52) :
When communism died in 1990, the western world’s socialists realised that the teachings of Antonio Gramsci were true………..
Okay look, believe it or not like with all things of this nature people are trying to do something good. In my opinion, for what it is worth, the moment you start limiting any kind of speech no matter how annoying it is you are going to start having idiots that move to every other kind of speech. We all wanted the ‘DO NOT CALL’ Law a few years ago and it worked it has pretty much silenced every telemarketer out there, all that are left are Charities and Political pollsters, So they will try to do the same thing on the internet. Impose fines, jail time, etc.
Look when you start classifying speech then you get just that classified speech and people who don’t care administrating it.
All I can hope is that this congress person does not get her way, I am offended on a regular basis on some of the AGW stories that I hear. To the point it causes me emotional distress ( I start cursing about idiots and how can they blindly swallow bunk ) after that distress I critically examine what is being said, try to glean any truth from it, sigh heavily, and get on with my life.
BTW I hate telemarketers but I hate stupid laws more. I can hang up on telemarketers ( I have refused to put myself on the Do Not Call List ) and only know they are dying out because I never get called anymore. Such stupid laws.
The telemarketer comparison is a red herring. The sanchez law is a limit on personal expression, the do not call list is a self exclusion. One says the person cannot speak, while the other says I have a right to not listen. Big difference.
I live in Southern California, and I’ve watched this woman for a few years now. Linda Sanchez is what some might call a “Reconquista.” The issues closest to her heart are those of illegal aliens that share her ethnicity. She would love to use this bill to silence those who criticize unlimited immigation, illegal immigration and amnesty/guest worker schemes. She’s a brown supremacist.
Sanchez’s proposed bill is causing me substantial emotional distress.
Ms. Sanchez’s bill is causing me substantial emotional distress too!
(Where to I apply to collect my cheque?)
(squints, after re-applying CYNIC brand contact lenses)
reviewing my previous comment, and looking at the current composition of Congress, perhaps I was a bit too charitable. the current language will likely pass as is.
gk:
6) Replace individual expressions with politically correct sentiments using schools, entertainment, media etc.
7) Replace privacy with government surveillance and tracking
Sanchez will use that poor girl’s suicide the way Obama’s been using the financial crisis — purely in service, not to America, but to their ideology,
Smokey (12:40:09) :
“DaveE: I think the key is “severe, repeated & hostile”. That will naturally get ratcheted to the point that a second occurrence is ‘repeated’”
But the real key is the subjectiveness of the complainant. Who is to say that a blog post will “cause substantial emotional distress”? Why, the person whose fragile feelings are injured, of course.”
Smokey, DaveE:
I’ve read your comments 4 time now and I’m ever more distressed by them. Please send 4 cheques (2 hurdle x 2 re-reads) to me. Soon; or I’ll read your posting again… I’m feeling so fragile… maybe I’ll just remember it 2 more times…
“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….”
hmmmm, let me think here… who does that? Isn’t that describs exactly what Governments and MSM do all the time? Are those guys shoting themselves in the food with introducing this sort of language?
It has been proven clinically that there are people in mental distress due to all the crap they hear about global warming and how it is their fault??? Looks like we might have a law that will enable us to sue them to the bone marrow.
US citizens should fight this sort of thing from the outset, before you sleepwalk in to the INGSOC totalitarian state we have been living under in the UK since the arrival of Billy Liar Blair in 1997.
The socialists have perfected “mission creep” , the EU being the classic example , creating a European superstate regardles of the wishes of the voters.
h.oldeboom (12:44:41) : So the Californian USA people can expect something. Finally, why left these old-Europeans Europe and why did they go to America? Probably USA is going to be even worser than Europe because they are giving up LIBERTY!
Wir haben nicht die Freiheit en California. Wir sind Sklaven an den Staat.
10% VAT (Umsatzsteuer) und 11% Einkommensteuer fur Californien.
Ich möchte auf ein Leben frei, vielleicht in Lateinamerika?
Mike Bryant and CTM, I think you both missed the fact that Mike is Canadian and was correct initially, as he was calculating from the Canadian dollar. :^] -Further to this post; “You have the right to free speech, as long as you’re not dumb enough to actually try it !!!” -The Clash, from the song “Know Your Rights”.
Freedom of Speech is not everywhere as sacred. The Amsterdam Appeals Court has sanctioned the prosecution of an elected parliament member for making a film critical of Islam. This was big news in Holland. The same parliamentarian was meant to address the British parliament last month but was refused to travel to the UK by the British government.
Pat Condell has a sharp critical response to those two events (please be warned, Pat is quite blunt):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW6PRABq4HM&feature=channel_page