The Justice Department: The Case of Screaming versus "Screaming"

In January 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice sent two officers to my home to interview me in connection with the fact that I had posted on this blog, My Daily Struggles, a quotation of a statement made by a federal official that was troubling to Justice.  The federal official had said: "This case has been screaming for attention for years."  Those were the words of a federal official that I had quoted.  Let me repeat: all I had done was quote a federal official who had said: "This case has been screaming for attention for years."  Somehow, Justice thought my quotation was threatening to the federal offical in question.  One of the Justice Department officers said to me: "What did you mean when you wrote this?  Walk me through your thought process."  What did I mean?  It was a quotation.

Last summer, at a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter was literally screamed at by angry constituents.  Were these constituents arrested or even investigated?  Keep in mind, I never screamed at anybody.  I simply used the word "screaming."



Am I crazy because I find the Justice Department's investigation of me in January 2010 peculiar?  Of course, the constituents who screamed at Senator Specter during the summer of 2009 did not write embarrasing things about a senior partner of a powerful D.C. law firm who happens to have close connections to the Justice Department.