I've been doing a lot of thinking on Jim Bell's plight, so based on my experiences with government workers, this is how I think it happened: (A little background -- my wife and I have a hobby of doing small real-estate developments, so we have ended up dealing with the local government employees quite a bit, so much so that they know us by name and face by now.) One big impression left with me by government employees is that most of them are serious, nay even solemn, people. I think that they are the kind of people who never have perpetrated a prank in their lives. Couple that fact with the kind of prank Jim Bell pulled (using mercaptan (sp?) to the level of making people vomit from the smell), and I suspect that the IRS folks got incredibly bent out of shape over it. (As I myself would if I had an office that I administered and someone did that to my employees and/or me.) The incredible anger that was likely generated by that action (a prank in Jim's eyes, but certainly not in the eyes of the IRS employees) caused them to try everything legally within their power to "get" Jim Bell. His use of multiple SS#'s to avoid paying taxes probably just increased their fury, given that the job of the IRS (according to the likely majority viewpoint of IRS employees) is to ensure the compliance of their fellow citizens with the tax code so that the burden may be shared fairly. Jim's AP writings added fuel to the IRS employee's fires, most likely causing them to think that Jim was going to be up to more serious deeds in the future -- but that was not the likely the initial cause of their furor, it was the attack on their offices and the attack on their livelihood and the government that they all work for. If Mr. Bell had not made his attack on their office, and had not tried to illegally evade taxes, we would still likely be reading his musings and rantings on AP as he would be walking around a free man. AP, of course, made for wonderful :) publicity for the IRS in Jim Bell's case, as it is something that the media could really sink its teeth into. So, in short -- Jim Bell, IMHO, is in jail because he vandalized IRS offices and prevented them from doing their legally-appointed duties -- not because of AP. AP just gave the IRS and the media a lot of good, juicy tidbits to feed to the public about Mr. Bell. ========================================================== Mark Leighton Fisher Thomson Consumer Electronics fisherm@indy.tce.com Indianapolis, IN "Their walls are built of cannon balls, their motto is 'Don't Tread on Me'"