Lawmakers on the Frontiers Of Science

The courts finally have spoken: In Kansas, it's no longer legal to harass a person by blasting him with secret electromagnetic energy weapons.

At least it's no longer legal to do that to James Walbert of Wichita.

Walbert, a self-described inventor, asked for a legal order of protection against a former business partner whom he claimed had "stalked myself and family members with electronic and microwave devices."

Thanks in part to a letter of support written by Missouri state Rep. Jim Guest on his official stationery — and in part to the former business partner's absence from a hearing on the allegation — Walbert got his order of protection on Dec. 30.

Now we all can breathe a little easier. Or at least we could if we weren't worried about microchips.

Technology already exists that allows identifying information to be encoded onto tiny microchips that can be implanted them under the skin.

Last year, Guest sponsored a bill that makes it illegal for Missouri employers to microchip their workers as a condition of employment.

This year, Guest sponsored another bill to outlaw any involuntary microchipping. Unfortunately — perhaps surprisingly, given the climate in the Missouri Legislature — it never was voted on by the full House.

Microchipping "is a growing problem," Guest told us the other day. "It's just starting. But why would you want to let it start up when you can take care of it now?"

Lawmakers in at least a dozen states have introduced similar measures over the last three years. The Pennsylvania House recently approved a microchip bill.

Guest, a Republican, has become something of an elder statesman for those who worry about the impending microchip threat.

He appeared on a radio show July 6 with the author of the Pennsylvania bill.

He's also become the go-to guy for what he describes as "microwave and electronic harassment victims" — people targeted by nefarious forces wielding secret electromagnetic energy weapons.

His interest in the subject began three or four years ago, he says, when he was first approached by victimized citizens. One of them was Walbert.

"I know James because he contacted me for help," Guest wrote in a letter of support filed with Walbert's case.

"Many victims try hard to get help from professional doctors to help them find devices such as VeriChip," Guest wrote. VeriChip is a Florida company that makes implantable microchips marketed to identify lost pets.

The trouble with claims about electronic and microwave harassment, Guest admits, is "to sort out those who are being subjected to this and those who have legitimate mental health problems." Some of the latter group, he concedes, are "a little bit delusional."

As difficult as it may be to believe, the delusional demographic is exerting a growing presence online. Sites that describe such harassment in excruciating detail, including voices beamed into their heads, are popping up around the Web.

One, FFCHS Daily Harassment Log, described Walbert's court order as the "first official recognition of the need to protect citizens against electronic harassment."

A New York Times story this past November quoted mental health experts who worry that such websites reinforce delusional thinking.

Also quoted is Guest. In 2007, he asked Missouri lawmakers to investigate claims of people like Walbert. "I believe there are people who have been targeted," he said.

And that the truth is out there somewhere. Way, way out there.

REPRINTED FROM THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH.

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