Ann Coulter applause line.

[laststeamtrain]

"We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors," Conservative Political Action Conference, January 2002.

Lynn Cheney & Condoleezza Rice were in the audience applauding.

Coulter later clarified what she meant; "when I said we should "execute" John Walker Lindh, I mis-spoke. What I meant to say was 'We should burn John Walker Lindh alive and televise it on prime-time network TV'. My apologies for any misunderstanding that might have occurred."

A wave of RW political violence is not that surprising. The far right has a huge voice in this country. People are stupid. They listen & believe.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. How can the encouragement and/or abetting the injury or murder of

FEDERAL officials not be considered TERRORISM??????????????

[NobleCynic]

2. Advoacting the arrest and execution of someone is different

Just a sliver enough of a difference that it isn't considered illegal. Advocating vigilante action would be arrestable. Abuse of free speech is a price we must occasionally pay to keep free speech.

Hopefully this latest wave of right wing nutf*cks wears itself out before they do something stupid. The only good that comes from this is that it is destroying any chance the GOP has of reclaiming the center.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Is posting someone's address and encourage violence considered illegal?

[NobleCynic]

4. Unfortunately there is a grey area on the matter

It depends on how explicitly one is encouraging the violence. If you hide behind enough parsing and euphemisms it slides below the level of crime. Unethical? Certainly. Dangerous? Absolutely. Is it going to far? Without doubt. Is it illegal? Not necessarily.

The price of freedom of speech is paid for not just by the blood of patriots, but on occasion by the blood of innocents and bystanders. I haven't seen the quote you are referencing in particular, but unless it steps over the legal line, the authorities should not do anything on the matter. When in doubt, I side with freedom of speech over security or sanity.