Well, holy crap. Okay, we don't know all the details yet, but this is unbelievable. Not to mention, how many of us could be indicted under these same standards?

If you didn't already know, I think this proves without a doubt that Jim Bunning is the world's biggest tool. I hope a tornado whisks him away to the Land of Oz, where he can frolic with the rest of the flying Republican monkeys:

When Sen. Jim Bunning complained on the Senate floor in February that he'd missed the Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game because of a debate on unemployment benefits -- a debate the Kentucky Republican himself prevented from proceeding to a vote -- Bruce Shore got angry.

"I was livid. I was just livid," said Shore, 51, who watched the floor proceedings on C-SPAN from his home in Philadelphia. "I'm on unemployment, so it affects me. I'm in shock."

Instead of just being angry, Shore took action: He sent several emails to Bunning staffers, blasting the senator for blocking the benefits.

"ARE you'all insane," said part of one letter Shore sent on Feb. 26 (which he shared with HuffPost). "NO checks equal no food for me. DO YOU GET IT??"

In that letter he signed off as "Brad Shore" from Louisville. He said he did the same thing in several messages sent via the contact form on Bunning's website. "My assumption was that if he gets an email from Philadelphia, who cares?" he said. "Why would he even care if a guy from Philadelphia gets upset?"

Bunning might not have cared, but the FBI did. Sometime in March, said Shore, agents came calling to ask about the emails. They read from printouts and asked if Shore was the author, which he readily admitted. They asked a few questions, and then, according to Shore, they said, "All right, we just wanted to make sure it wasn't anything to worry about."

But on March 13, U.S. Marshals showed up at Shore's house with a grand jury indictment. Now he's got to appear in federal court in Covington, Ky. on May 28 to answer for felony email harassment. Specifically, the indictment (PDF) says that on Feb. 26, Shore "did utilize a telecommunications device, that is a computer, whether or not communication ensued, without disclosing his identity and with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, and harass any person who received the communication."

The language of Shore's indictment is taken directly from the statute -- there's no description of the actual crime. The Kentucky U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment, but said it's a typical indictment. The crime carries a penalty of up to two years in prison and a $250,000 maximum fine.

Shore swears he didn't intend to make a threat. He thought sending angry letters to Congress was a First Amendment thing. "If I send 50 letters to Congress, is that illegal or is it just me wasting paper?"

Harvey Silverglate, a prominent civil liberties lawyer and the author of "Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent", has long argued that vague laws allow the federal government to prosecute citizens for things most people wouldn't consider crimes. (The message of his book's title is that the average person unintentionally commits three felonies a day. "Half of the anonymous Internet comments would" be illegal according to the statute used against Shore, said Silverglate.)

Now, as more details come out, the story may change. But on its face, it's outrageous. Sure seems like using a nuclear bomb as a flyswatter.

Yep, here we go again. Party before country, temper tantrums before the country's business:

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) promised that he'd be the next Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) if he had to be. And last night, he made good on his threat.

Coburn is blocking unanimous consent on extension of unemployment benefits, just as Bunning did a few weeks ago. Only this time, Coburn's not alone -- the Republican caucus has joined with Coburn, promising to block billions in unemployment benefits just as the Senate is set to leave on a two-week recess.

Due to the timing of the blockade, benefits could expire on April 5, a situation that would not be remedied for a week while the Senate is out of town. Senators will return from their Easter break on April 12.

When Bunning blocked the benefits extension in early March, government programs funded by the money -- which includes everything from construction work, unemployment payments and doctor's fees -- were only shut down for a matter of hours. This time, with the expiration coming on April 5 while the Senate is in recess, the shutdown could last for days.

Coburn and the Republicans are making the same argument this time that Bunning made back on March 1: if Democrats want to extend the benefits, they need to find a way to pay for them. On the Senate floor, Coburn said he was blocking the benefits on behalf that old political standby, the average Joe.

Does Senator Jim Bunning always make an ass of himself? The hate and vitriol that comes from the right has been non-stop and offensive.

A year after surgery for pancreatic cancer, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told an audience last week that she is feeling well -- and then took a dig at the senator who had claimed after her surgery that she would only have nine months to live.

"I am pleased to report that, contrary to Sen. Bunning's prediction, I am alive and in good health," she said.

Jim Bunning, R-Ky., made the comments during a private fundraiser on Feb. 21, 2009, when he described Ginsburg's cancer as "bad cancer -- the kind that you don't get better from."

He later apologized in a statement in which he misspelled the Justice's name. "I apologize if my comments offended Justice Ginsberg," Bunning then said.

Good for Judge Ginsburg not to back down to a republican bully.

And she also took a shot at Liz Cheney for attacking the loyalty of lawyers who represent terrorists.

Ginsburg also weighed in on the recent controversy, fueled by Liz Cheney, questioning the loyalty of U.S. lawyers representing accused terrorists.

Cheney, heading the group Keep America Safe, has criticized President Obama for naming nine lawyers to posts at the Department of Justice after the lawyers had provided legal assistance prior to their government service to Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Ginsburg said she was "unsettled, indeed alarmed" by such criticism. "One of the nine was a former law clerk of mine, a young man of great intelligence, integrity and devotion to the ideals that make the U.S.A. a great nation," she said.

Ginsburg went on to praise lawyers who serve on a pro bono basis even for clients who might be unpopular.

"To that expression of the true America Way, one can only say Amen," she said.

By the way, he only controversy is that Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol attacked the loyalty and ethics of our own legal profession and the lawyers that work there.

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Tom Delay thinks Jim Bunning is "brave." (But then, this is the same man who said, "By the way, there's no one denied health care in America. There are 47 million people who don't have health insurance, but no American is denied health care in America.")

Like most Republicans, he thinks you should be desperate enough to take any job you can get, even if it doesn't begin to meet your family's basic needs - especially the dignity-free, low-wage, low-security jobs so beloved of top Republican donors:

Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," the Texas Republican said that Bunning's fiscal responsibility was commendable, even if his shenanigans (refusing to allow unemployment benefits to be considered by unanimous consent) nearly brought the Senate to a halt.

"Nothing would have happened if the Democrats had just paid for [the benefits]," Delay said. "People would have gotten their unemployment compensation. I think Bunning was brave in standing up there and taking it on by himself."

Asked whether it was bad strategy to make a budget stand on a $10 billion extension of unemployment (as opposed to, say, the Bush's $720 billion prescription drug package), Delay insisted that if the PR had been done right, Bunning would have been applauded. Helping the unemployed with federal assistance, he said, was unsound policy.

"You know," Delay said, "there is an argument to be made that these extensions, the unemployment benefits keeps people from going and finding jobs. In fact there are some studies that have been done that show people stay on unemployment compensation and they don't look for a job until two or three weeks before they know the benefits are going to run out.

Host Candy Crowley: Congressman, that's a hard sell, isn't it?

Delay: it's the truth.

I don't think this mean old snake is used to being under the gun like this. I'm glad it's finally over:

Sen. Jim Bunning’s (R-Ky.) one-man filibuster ended on Tuesday.

Bunning agreed to stop blocking legislation to extend benefits and COBRA health plan subsidies to the unemployed after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) agreed to allow him a vote on an amendment to pay for the $10 billion bill.

It’s the same deal Bunning was offered last week, but Bunning at the time decided to continue his fight. He’d been holding up an extension of the benefits since Thursday.

However, 205,000 households will now face delays in their unemployment checks. Thanks, Jim!

Senator Jim Bunning's hold was unconscionable on some many levels, but now we find out that it's also causing damage to many homeowners as well.

Consumer Reports:

Will you be able to get insurance for your flooded basement this spring when snows start to thaw?

At this very moment, the National Flood Insurance Program, the government-run program that provides most flood insurance for residents and businesses nationwide, is officially out of money. Funding for the program ran out last night. The House Financial Services Committee voted to extend the program through March 31. But in the Senate Banking Committee, an extension of funding for flood insurance and several other, more prominent programs, was blocked today by Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., who said they would add to the deficit.

Here's what the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the flood program, said today:

Authorization for the National Flood Insurance Program expired February 28, 2010. If reauthorization takes place after this date, policies that are already in the process of being issued or renewed will be issued when Congress re-authorizes the National Flood Insurance Program. Payments for claims on existing policies will not be impacted; such policies will continue uninterrupted.

In all likelihood, a bill will be passed to extend the coverage and make it retroactive to Feb. 28th, says John Priple, vice-president of government affairs for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America. In the intervening days, however, you won't be able to buy flood insurance.

Conservatives are a funny breed. When one of their own is in office, the deficit suddenly isn't an issue.

Rand Paul, the son of the original Paul, is holding a fundraiser in support of Bunning.

Republican Rand Paul’s campaign for the U.S. Senate will hold a rally at 3 p.m. Tuesday in front of U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning’s Lexington office to support Bunning’s blockage of unemployment and health care benefits for over 1 million jobless Americans, including 119,230 Kentuckians.

David Adams, campaign manager for Paul, said Monday he will be representing Paul at the rally.

These are the people who want to invade DC and only make it worse for American families.

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Sen. Jim Bunning's outrageous actions have put in jeopardy 400,000 Americans receiving unemployment benefits. ABC news tracked him down and asked for comment while he was entering an elevator. Apparently the elevator is part of his ROYAL infrastructure and he yelled at the reporters and flipped then the bird::

The exchange took place as Senator Bunning was getting into an elevator in the Hart Senate Office Building.

“Excuse me! This is a Senators only elevator!” Bunning thundered.

I tried again to ask his reasons for blocking the bill, Bunning said he already explained his reasons last Thursday, when he said he wanted the $10 billion cost of the bill to be paid for, rather than simply adding to the national debt.

“Excuse me!” he yelled. “I’ve got to go to the floor!”

As the doors closed, I asked Bunning if he is concerned about those losing their benefits.

He did not answer. This is all on-camera.

Senator Bunning was even more expressive before the cameras arrived, using a little sign language.

When Senate producer Z. Byron Wolf spotted Bunning exiting his office, Bunning said, “I’m not talking to anybody.” When Wolf asked him to stay and talk to our cameras, Bunning walked toward the elevator and shot the middle finger over his head.

He deserves to be voted into the Hall of Shame: Dirty Ballplayer, Dirty Senator.

Bob Cesca has a roundup of some of the other funding wingnut whacko Jim Bunning just blocked (with the acquiescence of the Senate Democrats, of course):

 No reimbursements to States for previously-committed Federal highway funds. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will not be able to approve any expenditures from the Highway Trust Fund beginning on Monday, March 1. This will prohibit FHWA from reimbursing States for any previously-committed Federal highway funds.

 No ability to commit additional Federal highway funds. Due to both a statutory prohibition and the furlough of its employees (described below), beginning on Monday, March 1, FHWA will be unable to approve States’ commitment of any Federal highway funds.

 No ability to commit additional Federal transit funds. FTA will be unable to approve any new transit grants from all transit programs that are funded out of the Highway Trust Fund. This will prohibit States, transit agencies and MPOs from receiving funds from any of the following programs: Bus and Bus Facilities, Urban and Rural Formula, Metropolitan and Statewide Planning, Fixed Guideway Modernization, Formula Grants for Elderly and Disabled, Job Access and Reverse Commute, New Freedom and Transit in the Parks.

Furloughs

 Shutdown of Agencies and furloughs of over 4,000 Federal employees. The entire FHWA, the entire Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCSA), some portions of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and some portions of the Research and Innovation Transportation Administration (RITA), will cease operations and furlough their employees (totaling over 4,000 employees) beginning on Tuesday, March 2.

ARRA

 ARRA "Recovery Act" Impact: Due to the furlough of FHWA employees, any remaining obligation of funds by States may not be processed. This could cause States to lose some unspent ARRA funds.

Highway Safety

 No new MCSAP or new entrant grants. The shutdown of the FMCSA will prevent the agency from entering into new obligations for its 11 grant programs and funding vouchers for work performed during the duration of the lapsed authority. In particular, two highly visible programs, the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) grants and the New Entrant grants, would be greatly affected. The MCSAP program provides funding to States to reduce the number and severity of crashes and hazardous materials incidents involving commercial motor vehicles. The New Entrant program provides funds to States to prevent unsafe motor carrier companies from entering the industry.

 All of NHTSA's State highway safety grant programs would shut down. In addition to the furlough of its personnel, NHTSA would have to shut down operations of Highway Safety Research and Development; National Driver Register (NDR); and Highway Safety Grants, and would have to stop paying all bills for the programs under these accounts.

They need to beat him like a rented mule. Shame on him, and shame on the spineless Democrats who let this mean old snake go home to take a nap and then rolled over for his blackmail, adjourning for the weekend and letting desperate families hang:

Retiring Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) late Thursday launched a one-man crusade to block an extension of unemployment and COBRA insurance benefits, vowing to allow the benefit programs to expire Sunday unless Democrats agreed to pay for them with unused stimulus funds.

Bunning’s quixotic pursuit of deficit offsets at the potential expense of payments to unemployed or uninsured citizens enraged Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and other Democrats, who vowed to keep the chamber in session until Bunning relents or collapses.

Yes, last night the brain-addled Bunning complained about missing a college basketball game, and responded "Tough sh*t" when Sen. Jeff Merkley begged him to drop his opposition.

A senior Democratic leadership aide said Durbin would ask for unanimous consent to pass the extensions without Bunning’s payment scheme every half hour for the foreseeable future. “We’re going to keep doing it until we break him,” the aide said.

Break him, huh? David Waldman:

So they had him to the point where he was shouting obscenities on the Senate floor and decided... to let him go home for a good night's sleep.

Awesome!

He probably slept a hell of a lot better than the Kentuckians who are out of work and depending on those benefits, I can tell you that. No word on whether Senate Democrats actually tucked him in.

This morning, the fight resumed, presumably after a nourishing breakfast which some of those Kentucky families would probably have liked to have had themselves. The unanimous consent request to pass the extension was made, Bunning objected, gave a short speech, and then suggested the absence of a quorum, which you may recall is often used as a stalling tactic to avoid conducting an actual filibuster.

[...] UPDATE: Never mind! The Senate appears to have adjourned for the weekend. Bunning has won for the day, and Durbin's threat has shockingly failed to materialize at all. The extent of Bunning's punishment: he missed prime time TeeVee last night.

Oh, and when the DSCC calls you for a donation? Refer them to this. You can also let Sen. Bunning know how much you appreciate his politicking over benefits for the neediest in the worst economy since the Great Depression. Flood his offices with faxes and phone calls.

The Cincinnati Enquirer is preparing to rank President Obama’s first hundred days. In doing so they listed how local lawmakers have voted with the President.

• Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio: 100 percent
• Rep. Steve Driehaus, D-Ohio: 86 percent
• Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio: 71 percent
• Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio: 43 percent
• Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.: 41 percent
• Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky.: 24 percent
• Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio: 0 percent
• Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky.: 0 percent
• Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio: 0 percent

I think the most telling number there is that of the House minority leader, John Boehner. He is setting the lead for his caucus and they are following in lockstep with him. Even the Senate’s Minority Leader has been able to support the President 41% of the time.