Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Report on Anti-Obama E-Mail Generates Threats

Someone apparently is taking exception to our recent report on the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) employee who used her work computer to send a racist, anti-Barack Obama e-mail.

Since our original report on Wednesday, your humble blogger has received at least two written threats of physical violence. Two other missives seemed to encourage physical violence against yours truly. All of the communications came as anonymous "comments" to Legal Schnauzer.

We reported that Ashla Jana' Campbell, a financial associate in UAB's Department of Pediatrics, transmitted an e-mail that included a poem titled "Night Befo Crizzmus" from her work computer. The poem makes numerous racist references and mocks Obama and other prominent Democrats.

Use of state equipment to transmit such material is a violation of UAB's Acceptable Use Policy and is to be handled by use of the university's progressive discipline policy. UAB President Carol Garrison has failed to respond to our interview requests, and it is unclear if UAB has taken any disciplinary action against Campbell.

Someone claiming to be Campbell's husband, however, is threatening to take action--of a violent kind--against me.

Not long after our original post, we received the following anonymous comment (language alert):

How childish to only approve comments that agree with your warped worldview. Maybe I should just come down to 5204 Logan Dr and kick your pansy ass. Why don't you look over your shoulder for a while like my wife has had to you piece of useless shit.

Evidently the guy objected to the fact that I had not approved one of his earlier anonymous comments. But I have no idea which one it was because I get all kinds of anonymous comments. If someone doesn't have the guts to sign his name, and his comment either makes no sense or is based on false or defamatory information, I reject it--as many bloggers do. This guy responded by letting me know he had the investigative ability to look up my address in the phone book and the "manly ability and intent" to kick my "pansy ass."

I thought it might be a good idea to let him know that I had checked Ms. Campbell's entry in the UAB online directory and discovered her husband's name is Robert. Interestingly, Ms. Campbell has since deleted that information from the online directory. Anyway, here is my response:

Anon: Or should I say "Robert." Sounds like you are making a threat. Is that how a "real man" handles his problems? Making anonymous threats. What a manly thing to do. Why don't you write a semi-coherent response, in English, with your real name. Maybe that will work.

Our correspondent seemed pleased to admit that he was Robert Campbell and followed with another threat:

No wonder UAB let you go, you don't know english when you see it? Real man?? does a real man harass a woman from behind a computer. Does a real man kick that man's ass when it's his wife? you betcha I'm glad you know my name because when people ask "Who did that to your face?!" you can tell them.

Meanwhile, someone thought it would be fun to egg the guy on. I think this person is a certain Alabama Republican operative--or perhaps a certain "newspaper reporter" in the state:

eventually schnauzer your going to piss off the wrong person. you write b/s about people and expect them to take it. sorry u femine pansy azz will get it

Classy, isn't it? Here's another one:

I would pay to see that guy kick your ass schnauzer. You've got it comong BIG BOY

Note the curious mispelling of the word "coming." If you check out the first comment to this post, you will find the same mispelling--"comong."

The earlier post, from roughly a year ago, was about Republican operative Dax Swatek and his connections to U.S. Attorney Alice Martin. It also highlighted Dax Swatek's misleading actions in conducting Martin's 2000 campaign for an Alabama court seat. It's not hard to guess who might have responded by writing "nutcase yours is comong"--and roughly three months later I was unlawfully terminated at UAB.

Now, we have another commenter who spells the word "coming" as "comong." Gee, wonder who that might be. And wonder what he might know about the loss of my job. Hmmm.

As for our anonymous commenter who claims to be Robert Campbell, his actions have been reported to authorities. Under Code of Alabama Section 13A-11-8 (harassment or harassing communications), it's not a real good idea to threaten people.

6 comments:

Starkville Bible Student said...

Schnauzer, you are not a coward; rather, you are courageously standing up to the creeping right wing totalitarianism that has largely engulfed the republican party. Liars and cheats hiding behind Christianity, in many cases. Hang in there, you still have rights... even in Alabama.
Hey, it could be worse, you could be here in Mississippi!

Matt Osborne said...

Anonymous comment trolls are so much fun, aren't they? Especially when they threaten violence. The best fun is when you figure out who they are (which is never hard to do, since they're always such ignorant little pricks) and they act like paranoid psychotics.

How fondly I recall the first person who ever made threatening and harassing calls to me, back in those hallowed days before there was an internet. Every time I wrote another letter to the editor, you could set your watch: by seven AM on the very day of publication, he would call. Attempting conversation, I would listen to (and record) his dire threats of bodily harm.

Oh, how I treasured our relationship. My stalker and I were like the closest of lovers, except he kept promising to kill me for being a faggot communist sympathizer, while I kept reminding him that he was an ignoramus.

But all good things must come to an end, and oh! The look of shock, shame, and surprise on his face when he discovered we had installed a new invention, "Caller ID."

Ah, the hilarity when he learned that he had been threatening a minor child -- that the author of those letters in the newspaper was not some poofy little adult, but a teenager too young to drive.

Oh, the joyous rapture when the judge told him in no uncertain terms that he would spend many years in ass-pounding prison if he ever called my home again.

Mr. Shuler, treasure your friendship with Robert. His threats are in fact a form of romantic obsession. He cannot live without hating you; you are the most important person in his world. Your act of unmasking him has leveled his self-image, razed his self-worth, and left him cretinous nothing. He NEEDS you right now. Reach out to him in the best possible way: a restraining order.

Anonymous said...

I don't think someone mistakenly typing coming as comong is neccessarily proof it's the same person. Have you noticed the o and the i are beside each other on the keyboard? Has common sense left you entirely?

legalschnauzer said...

Matt:
Stalkers and threats of violence are serious subjects. But your comment made me laugh till I cried. Thanks for letting me know that I should treasure my time with Robert.

legalschnauzer said...

Anon:
Did I say the "comong" spelling was "proof" of anything? Don't think so.

I can tell you I'm not the only one who noticed it. In fact, another blogger brought it to my attention.

To me, the repeated use of the phrase--yours is coming, you have it coming--is more interesting than the spelling.

Nothing is proof, but I would bet my unemployment check, which isn't much, that it's the same person. And I bet he's starting to get a little nervous. He should be.

Bay said...

I agree with one of anon's comments that, "You would be laughed out of the courtroom". Now THAT is true but the judge's laughter would be based on your thinking that truth, facts, proof, records mean ANYTHING in their courtroom.