To add to Greg Broiles' excellent recap of the case. What might be amplified is the way Jim's case was gnoshed in the media and here, with more attention to AP than to the basic facts, as exemplified in the news report on sentencing, as Phill did, as did the IRS spam of Jim's arrest. Fair enough, for that was clearly the purpose of AP, as with all publishing and speaking in a manner to get attention, whether by IRS-fed scare stories churned out by its PR department, by we advocates of earnest causes, and by the eager-to-oblige news, law and pol biz -- FC not excepted. Jim's case was happily churned by all parties, us foremost among them, and Jim (with aid and abet by others) is to be congratulated for success with AP: Agent Provocative, Apt Promo, Avid Preening for and against. May he quickly capitalize on his notoriety and beat the pack of envious competitors waving less risky, lawful docs which attract zip. Now, is it not true that we've self-censored ourselves into believing Jim is just a fool, rather than a gutsy guy willing to do what most of us will not, instead preferring covert self-censorship over the all-too-easily opposed group-think kind. If so, the IRS (with aid and abet by news, law and pol) has proven a gov-authorized version of AP and warning spam quite nicely intimidates us into censoring ourselves into well-behaved submission while believing its a shrewd move to protect careers from wiser fools like Jim Bell. Free Jim Bell, and pay lost salary and punitive damages!