You tell me, if you post someone’s address on line, and suggest that people “drop by” and “express their thanks” in response to a Congressman’s vote on healthcare, the resultant threatening mail and a cut gas line are foreseeable.

In fact, it is predictable that threats and vandalism will result.

What isn’t predictable, I guess, is that the frothing at the mouth crowd would get the address wrong and so instead, this would go to the Congressman’s brother:

U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello’s brother received a threatening letter in the mail on the same day that someone apparently severed a gas line at the home in Ivy.

Two conservative Tea Party activists posted the address of the home on the Internet on Monday, mistakenly believing it was the home of the congressman. One of the activists urged others to “drop by” and “express their thanks” for Perriello’s vote in favor of health care reform.

Tuesday evening, Perriello’s brother’s family smelled gas and discovered the propane line of a gas-powered grill on their screened-in porch had been slashed.

In the mail, they found a letter addressed to the congressman that Perriello’s office described as “threatening.”

The FBI and local authorities are investigating.

This is shouting fire in a crowded theater, and it is clear that the vandal wanted a fire and possibly an explosion.

It’s a specific invocation to violence, and honestly it should be treated as such.

This was the equivalent of burning a cross on his lawn, and the intent is to terrorize.

Hopefully the authorities will use every legal avenue available to pursue both the people who are engaging in these actions, and those who are making specific invocations to pursue specific individuals.

As an aside, I think that whoever cut his brother’s gas line just took a dicey seat for the Democrats to hold, Periello won a squeaker only because of the Obama landslide, and made Congressman Tom Periello the favorite.

Basically, him a hero. Just campaigning normally will now be perceived by his constituents an act of bravery.