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Jim Bell accused of "spamming"

I find it symptomatic that the enemies of free speech use "spam" as a generic
term for any kind of speech they don't like.

I don't think the following piece needs much commentary, but it probably will.

Path: altavista!news1.digital.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!192.108.254.3!news.teleport
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From: Jack Hammer <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: or.politics,wash.politics,alt.rush-limbaugh,alt.fan.tom-leykis
Subject: IRS SAYS INTERNET SPAMMER SABOTEUR (fwd)
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 17:15:35 -0700
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Subject: IRS SAYS INTERNET SPAMMER SABOTEUR


Government affidavit says an Internet author plotted to sabotage an
Oregon 9-1-1 computer and poison city water with botulism. 

VANCOUVER, Wash.- Is there any truth to the rumour that Assassination
Politics (AP) author Jim Bell, who was arrested here Friday by the
Internal Revenue Service, plotted with Portland, Oregon 9-1-1 overseer
Greg Daly to poison the Bull Run resevoir with botulism made from green
beans, and shut down the 9-1-1 emergency center's computers by dumping
carbon fibers into the air vents?

The IRS is accusing Vancouver resident James Dalton Bell, 38, of
conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government. He appeared Monday afternoon
in U.S. Distict Court in Tacoma and was accused in an 18-page affidavit.

AP is a Murder Inc. like plot about a risk-free way of rewarding assassins
through a lottery. 

Bell was seen frequenting local Libertarian functions and a so-called
common law court. The murder conspiracy was applauded by some high ranking
Libertarians.
 
The plot has circulated widely on the Internet. An April search
warrant accused Bell of directly soliciting others to murder. AP would
supposedly protect the identity of the murderers. 

The strategy, which Bell says he wrote and posted solely for speculation, 
involves uses of encryption to predict and confirm assassinations 
and electronic digital cash to pay for the gruesome killings. 

Criticism of AP predicted a reign of anarchy and terror should the plan be
allowed to develop. Bell responded to criticism personally and with
vehemence.

Federal agents raided Bell's Vancouver home April 1 and then accused him
of obstructing government officers, and employees, and using false Social
Security numbers. Bell is far more dangerous than the charges suggest, the
affidavit filed by IRS Inspector Phillip G. Scoff said.

Scott's affidavit said Bell, who has a chemistry degree from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had discussions about using carbon
fiber particles to attack computer systems with Greg Daly, a friend who is
an electronics specialist overseeing Portland's 9-1-1 communications
center. 

"Daly stated that he and Bell had 'laughed' about attacking the 9-1-1 
center with the fiber," the affidavit said.

The affidavit went on to say that Daly also told IRS agents that he had 
hypothetical discussions with Bell about contaminating water supplies 
and about making the botulism virus from green beans. 

In the April 17 and 18 intertiews with IRS agents, Daly admitted he
had keys to Portland's pristine alpine watershed and direct access to 
the Portland water treatment facilities.

Daly tried to defend himself Monday by saying that the conversations he
and Bell had were "merely intellectual fun-and-games discussions" between
old friends who enjoy technical things. 

But Daly also described his friend of 15 years as  "bit of an odd unit".

And during the interview Daly appeared to crack and turn state's 
evidence when Daly offered to "rat (Bell) out in a heartbeat."

The investigation had been expanding Thursday when IRS agents searched the
home of another friend of Bell's, merchant marine radio man Robert East.
Among items seized in the East address raid was a three foot length of
carbon fiber. 

The IRS affidavit reported that East told agents he and Bell had discussed 
"the possibility of putting the fibers down the air vents of a federal 
building" to its computers and about using the fiber against the IRS.

Bell was recently published in The Oregonian daily newspaper where he
appeared to avoid an explanation of his plan, writing mostly of what he
predicted would be AP's positive impact. 

Bell did not say in the article how exactly AP would be implemented, who
could be killed by it or even why it was called Assassination Politics.

But the Internet version, repetively posted for more than a year on 
libertarian e-mail lists and newsgroups, revealed a darker vision. Some 
recipients of Bell's complained of the excessive "spamming", others of 
AP's ethical lapses.

The Oregonian seemed to accept Bell's story without question, and Bell's
idea was defended by some Libertarians. 

Responding to the arrest, Tonie Nathan, the first woman and only
Libertarian to receive an electoral vote for Vice President, appeared to
endorse Bell's assassination plan. 

"I find them basically rational, mind-opening, intellectually
stimulating," she wrote Tuesday. She went on to say that AP "should be
considered." 

Found inside what the IRS reports was Bell's car were documents from the
Multnomah County Common Law Court (MCCLC), a group that elects themselves
the case judges and purports to administer "common law." 

Bell was seen at a court meeting held in a Portland pizza parlour back in
February. Bell has denied ownership of the car. 

The self-appointed court met in an all-you-can-eat buffet where it put
Attorney General Janet Reno, IRS Commisssioner Margaret Richardson and
other IRS officials on trial. 

The mock trial was the result of a complaint by Oregon resident Louis
Wispell, one of the MCCLC "Justices." 

It has been observed in this "court"  that complainants can select their
judges from the buffet line, some who confessed to stealing food, having
snuck past the cashier on the pretense of being on the camera crew. 

The judges have also been observed to switch places with complainants in
other meetings of the MCCLC in trhe basement of a Russian church.

The MCCLC has recently been in the news in regards to charges of its
clerk, Richard Lancial, and his son, Thor Lancial, of simulating court
process. 

Charles Bruce Stewart is the Chief Justice of that court and also the
owner of an e-mail list, [email protected], on which Bell posted
much of his material.

Stewart insists his court is constitutional.

The IRS says Bell has a history of tax disputes with them and reportedly
has a large, outstanding, unpaid balance. 

Friday was set for Bell's detention and preliminary hearing. The
government has asked that Bell be held without ball because he is a danger
to the community, and reportedly is seeking a grand Jury indictment. 

                         From your friend,
                         Your best friend,
                         Your only friend,
                            Jack Hammer
 
                                 ;-)

---

<a href="mailto:[email protected]">Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM</a>
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps