A Bitter Farewell to Our Freedoms

Headlines today announced that a New York businessman and satellite television service provider has been arrested for offering the Hezbollah TV station al-Manar (source).

I'll repeat: an American has been arrested for re-broadcasting a foreign news station.

Officials have attempted to justify the arrest by referring to al-Manar's recent designation as a "terrorist entity". However, the law under which he is being charged has an exemption for news broadcasts (source).

This is an egregious violation of the protections of the First Amendment and yet another symptom of our current government's disregard for the law of the land.


______________UPDATE_________________

More recent reports have explained that the man, Iqbal, is being held on charges relating not directly to his re-broadcasting, but rather to the fact that he paid Al-Manar for the rights to the broadcasts. That, I will fully agree, is providing material support for terrorists and should be punished.

However, the civil rights issue raised is a valid one, made even more poignant by a story today about a man in New York who was prevented from boarding a flight to California because he was wearing a t-shirt with Arabic writing on it. The t-shirt said (in both Arabic and English) "We Will Not be Silent". He was kept from boarding the plane until he agreed to change the shirt for one that gate security procured for him.

Orwell's Hell

Jesus Christ, it's getting harder and harder to hold out any hope for the human race. What kind of sick Orwellian minds can tout a "Clear Skies" bill that cuts pollution regulation and a "Healthy Forests" initiative that expands logging (to prevent wildfires, obviously)? Who are these shysters that appoint oil and coal industry lobbyists to EPA advisory posts, timber lobbyists to the forest protection services and a Pentagon official who supports circumventing torture bans and incarcerating US citizens without trial or announcement of charges? By the way, this last psychopath (William Haynes II) has also issued statements that destroying endangered bird habitats would benefit nature lovers because "bird watchers get more enjoyment spotting a rare bird than they do spotting a common one. source"

These same Orwellian minds revealed themselves quite starkly in June. An amendment to the Defense Authorization Act sought to make it criminal (and punishable) for a defense contractor to engage in "war profiteering". We've all heard the reports of the huge contractors, awarded no-bid contracts in sweetheart deals with Cheney and his ilk, running up huge invoices with little or no connection to services actually rendered; this amendment would allow the US to defend it's taxpayers' money against such horrendously dishonest practices. However, all 55 of the Senate's Republicans voted against the amendment, while 43 of 45 Democratic senators voted in favor.

Senator Leahy states that current US law does not specifically ban war profiteering. 55 out of 55 Republicans believe it should stay this way.

More from 1000 Steps beach

Night Shots, 1000 Steps Beach

This beach is kind of hard to find - it's in the Mesa area of Santa Barbara, and it gets it's much exaggerated name from the long, narrow concrete staircase leading to it. There are only 149 stairs, though. I was disappointed...

Arts Fund Gallery Show

So yesterday I went to the "champagne preview" (whatever happened to "opening"?) of Bright Young Things at the Santa Barbara Arts Fund. Five of my recent pieces were featured in the show, and there was a great turnout for the opening. I also designed and installed the wall signage. I was especially impressed with the work of Christine Gray, Warren Schultheis, and Ethan Turpin.

Another perk was getting to see my friend and former co-worker David Kilpatrick, whose work also featured in the show. He's in the process of moving to Oregon so as not to be discriminated against for wearing socks with his Birkenstocks.

Unfortunately, since this was cryptically dubbed a private "champagne preview", I didn't think to invite some people I would have liked to be there. But there will be a closing reception of sorts, on Friday, September 15, from 5:00 - 9:00. From now till then you can see all the great art on display from Noon till 5pm.

Jade at the show, with my stuff in the background