Some of the complaints her legal team responded to were simply absurd.

Complaint alleging interference in a job hiring was filed under the name of Edna Birch, a busybody character on the British soap opera Emmerdale. Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein, said no one by that name could be found living in Alaska and the filer refused to use a real name, so the complaint was dismissed Feb. 20.

Forget about the fairness or irrationality of this complaint. The mere fact that she had to engage an attorney to respond to it means anyone with a computer, printer and a few stamps can force a politician to incur thousands of dollars in legal fees. And while these sort of Kafkaesque tribunals have normally been reserved for prominent Americans, we might all get to participate in the future.

TARP, the Stimulus Bill, GM/Chrysler Bailout, Cap & Trade and Healthcare reform will create hundreds of new bureaucratic tribunals and czars with the power to investigate and punish those who are found to be non-compliant. You don’t need to hire a lawyer to trigger an investigative process; you just need to file a complaint.

Whether it’s a politically motivated effort or just the rant of a schizophrenic neighbor we all might get to experience this sort of madness in the future.


Tom Suhadolnik American Thinker