by Jimmy Flatbush

Created on: October 03, 2010

Alternative news sources continue to capture market share from mainstream media outlets, thus drawing the ire of talking suits from Madison Avenue to Sunset Boulevard. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has not disguised his unfettered displeasure with the eroding market share of his print and electronic media empire. Murdoch has even inferred that the halcyon days of the internet must come to an end. Like many of his fellow hypocrites in the mainstream media, Murdoch wants to control the flow and content of the twenty-four hour news cycle.

Step one for achieving Murdoch’s dubious goal is a federal piece of legislation that is currently meandering through Congress. California Democrat Linda Sanchez introduced the legislation disguised as an anti cyber stalking law. The bill actually contains language that could severely curtail the first amendment right of free speech. Whatever political correctness destroyed during the nineties would be eviscerated by this obvious violation of civil liberties.

Megan Meier’s tragedy became the impetus for the Sanchez legislation. Megan was a 13 year old who succumbed to suicide temptations after repeatedly receiving bullying messages from neighbor Lori Drew. I will not delve into Tina Meier’s ulterior motivation for this legislation, or the impact that ADHD medications had on Megan Meier. I want to focus on the outrageous cyber stalking bill proposed by Sanchez and cosigned by 14 other sniveling idiots.

Here is relevant text from 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, or information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received;…”

“Electronic means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.”

Even though it takes eight years of law school to create this gibberish, I deciphered enough of its convoluted texture to find three instances where I can either be fined or sent to prison for exercising my right to

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