Well, Except For That Pesky Last Sentence

The Associated Press brings us a story that is just calculated to make you think overbearing administration crushing of dissent. It starts out with all the usual heart-string tuggers: old man, ambiguous statement at end of letter to the editor then visit from two Federal agents.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - An elderly man who wrote in a letter to the editor about Saddam Hussein's execution that "they hanged the wrong man" got a visit from Secret Service agents concerned he was threatening President Bush.

The letter by Dan Tilli, 81, was published in Monday's edition of The Express-Times of Easton, Pa. It ended with the line, "I still believe they hanged the wrong man."

Tilli said the statement was not a threat. "I didn't say who — I could've meant (Osama) bin Laden," he said Friday.

Two Secret Service agents questioned Tilli at his Bethlehem apartment Thursday, briefly searching the place and taking pictures of him, he said.

If you read all that, it sounds like a bit of an overreaction, no? Harmless old guy, nothing to worry about. Thuggish Feds, etc., etc. Even the AP has to publish one salient fact, however. They save it for the very last sentence:

It wasn't Tilli's first run-in with the federal government over his letter writing. Two FBI agents from Allentown showed up at his home last year about a letter he wrote advocating a civil war to unseat Bush, he said.

Mr. Tilli is not exactly - in fact, not at all - blameless in this. And the Federal agents are bound to follow up on things like this, despite Mr. Tilli's disingenuous attempt to deflect the issue. Advocating civil war isn't harmless and isn't protected speech, either.

UPDATE: Gun Toting Liberal (Alex Melonas) gets suckered on this by a highly edited version from DemocracyNow that leaves off the last bit entirely. I rather suspected there would be much fulminating about it, and I thought it would be edited the way it was done here, which is why I linked the original.

Other Links to this Post

1. Gun Toting Liberal â„¢ » Blog Archive » “Freedom of Speech, Press, and Assembly;” Each In Great Danger. — Monday, 22 January , 2007 @ 7:02 pm