Jim Craven: >Subject the targeted employee to systematic, calculated and >repeated provocations that would make Mother Teresa go postal and then when >the person reacts, use the reactions to try to show mental instability, >insubordination or being a threat in the workplace without any reference of >course, to the provocations to which the person was subject; This reference to going "postal" reminded me of an extremely chilling incident which is taking place in Texas as we speak. From what I can gather, a completely innocent person is facing a stiff prison term for simply making this kind of reference in email. Something tells me that there are signs of government repression gathering momentum around the use of email. That is why it is important to fight for free speech on the Internet. In a time of growing class polarization, one of the few uncensored mediums will be the Internet and the powers-that-be are frightened by that. China has been doing everything it can to suppress email communications, but there are too many holes in the dike. Our goal should be to remove the dike entirely. ---- The New York Times Postal Worker Guilty in Threat Via E-Mail LAREDO, Tex., Dec. 12 A United States Postal Service worker is facing up to five years in prison for sending E-mail to a co-worker in which he threatened to "go postal" and set off a "shootout at the O.K. Corral." The postal worker, John Murillo, was convicted by a Federal jury on Friday of transporting a threat across state lines. Prosecutors said the Internet message, even though it was sent to a friend who lived across town, actually passed through Tennessee, Georgia and New Jersey before reaching its destination. "They are trying everything to make me go postal," the message read in part. "This Mexican can only take so much. You kick a dog so much and sooner or later that chain will snap. I have been very patient with them but I am tired and making plans. "Judgment day will come. It will be a shootout at the O.K. Corral." In the five-day trial, the prosecutor, Mary Lou Castillo, portrayed Mr. Murillo, 48, as an enraged, alcoholic loner dangerously close to a psychological collapse, The Laredo Morning Times reported. The trial included testimony by Mr. Murillo's friends and former co-workers, including William Espinoza, who received the message. Mr. Espinoza turned the message over to postal inspectors. Mr. Espinoza testified that he was "shocked" when he received the message on April 18. But under cross-examination, he admitted that he had laughed when he read it. The public defender, Juan R. Flores, told jurors that the case was about freedom of speech. Mr. Murillo said that he had never planned to take any action. Still, he conceded that his message could have angered postal service officials. "I don't even have a gun," Mr. Murillo said after jurors announced their verdict. "But governments have been brought down just by words and I was putting out a lot of words." Mr. Murillo is scheduled to be sentenced early next year. Copyright © 1998 LEXIS®-NEXIS®, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
