Columbian squib on Bell sentencing

>From The Columbian's web site at
<http://www.columbian.com/newsroom/topstories.html>:

     'Assassination Politics' 
     author gets 11 months

       TACOMA, Wash. - James Dalton Bell, the Vancouver man who wrote an
Internet essay entitled "Assassination Politics," was sentenced this
morning to 11 months in prison and two to three years of tightly supervised
probation.
       Bell's attorney objected to the probation conditions, which bar Bell
from possessing a firearm or chemicals or entering a federal office without
prior approval. He may not advocate violence or overthrow of the government.
       Bell, 39, has been in custody since May. In July, he pleaded guilty
to obstructing Internal Revenue Service agents and using false Social
Security numbers. Bell also admitted collecting the names and home
addresses of IRS employees; proposing the "Assassination Politics" idea
that targeted federal employees, and planting a stink bomb in the IRS's
Vancouver office in March.

     -- Marcia Wolf, Columbian staff writer
--
Greg Broiles                | US crypto export control policy in a nutshell:
gbroiles@netbox.com         | Export jobs, not crypto.
http://www.io.com/~gbroiles | http://www.parrhesia.com

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>>From The Columbian's web site at
><http://www.columbian.com/newsroom/topstories.html>:
>
>     'Assassination Politics' 
>     author gets 11 months
>
>       TACOMA, Wash. - James Dalton Bell, the Vancouver man who wrote an
>Internet essay entitled "Assassination Politics," was sentenced this
>morning to 11 months in prison and two to three years of tightly supervised
>probation.


Eleven *whole* months (8 months served already).  They've got to be kidding.  
This is misdemeanor territory.  I know he was chicken enough to plead but 
Milken pleaded and got 10 years!  We're quaking in our boots out here.

DCF
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At 11:24 AM -0700 12/13/97, Bill Stewart wrote:
>At 09:38 AM 12/13/1997 -0500, frissell@panix.com wrote:
>>Eleven *whole* months (8 months served already).  They've got to be
>>kidding.
>>This is misdemeanor territory.  I know he was chicken enough to plead but
>>Milken pleaded and got 10 years!  We're quaking in our boots out here.
>
>Does the 11 months include time served?

Bill, Bill, Bill....

That was not "time served," that was "psychological counselling." Bell was
under the benficent care of mental health workers, seeking to allay his
fears of the government.

The six months he spent in psychological counelling were not prison time,
just as the Soviet hospitals for dissidents were not actually prisons.

With enough further care, Citizen-Unit Bell will _love_ Big Brother.

--Tim May




The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

At 09:38 AM 12/13/1997 -0500, frissell@panix.com wrote:
>Eleven *whole* months (8 months served already).  They've got to be kidding.  
>This is misdemeanor territory.  I know he was chicken enough to plead but 
>Milken pleaded and got 10 years!  We're quaking in our boots out here.

Does the 11 months include time served?  

Also, the Columbian story on Bell had a pointer to http://wire.ap.org/
which had its top story on a trade pact opening up relatively free trade
in the financial services business.
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center?STORYOID=204c.12470&FRONTID=PACKAGE&EXTRA=BIZtrade
				Thanks! 
					Bill
Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com
PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF  3C85 B884 0ABE 4639