At my house, Sunday morning is web-surfing morning. A lot of bloggers pad their content by linking to interesting items they see on others’ blogs. I try not to do that, but sometimes the urge is stronger than I am. And God knows, you probably wouldn’t be caught dead on the sites I surf, which means you’d never see this stuff if I didn’t wave it in front of your face. So here goes (I promise not to do this often):
First, a link to a story about a US citizen who was detained at the border because customs agents thought she was guilty of copyright infringement . . . for possessing a sketch of an SUV! The story, on its face, is outrageous, but my wife Donna says there must be more to it. I suspect she’s right . . . the woman must have pissed off the customs agents somehow . . . but that leads to an even greater outrage, the pervasive Republican-authoritarian notion that we should truckle to people in uniforms, a notion I find utterly un-American. But read the story and see what you think.
And now your reward, Rachel Ray Food porn!
Credit where credit’s due: both items found at The Agitator.
My theory about the border hijinks is that the Border Patrol was flummoxed by a flamboyantly unconventional female who is a former member of a group that styled itself “The Guerrilla Girls” and who in particular used as a pseudonym the name of the mos famous female Communist ever. Not to mention a female who was mixed up in a lawsuit about, among other things, intellectual property and copyright infringement. That it took the government an hour to sort all this out to their satisfaction should surprise no one who has dealt with the IRS or the Post Office.
See http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/05/30/050530ta_talk_toobin
“Utterly un-American?” Pfffht. Go google “Keystone Cops”.
Best regards
BBB
BBB,
Too many Americans think it’s okay for cops to beat or taser people for having an attitude or being uncooperative. “She had it coming.” “He asked for it.” Americans like that do not deserve the free nation our forefathers risked their lives to give us, IMHO. You’re talking Keystone Kops; I’m talking home-grown Gestapo.
As for the woman who was detained, she was an American citizen returning to America. She is allowed to be unconventional, to belong to a group with a provocative name, to call herself whatever she damn well pleases. It is interesting, however, that there was indeed more to the story . . . there nearly always is, and my wife is nearly always right. Strike that. My wife is ALWAYS right.
Well, my attitude has always been that it is not wise to mouth off to someone who is armed and entitled to make your life miserable, not that I think that’s what happened in this case. I had a friend who had a different opinion, and yes, he did in fact get beaten up by a cop at some point. (He also died one Saturday night playing chicken on his motorcycle without a helmet, but that’s a different story…).
It doesn’t make it right for the cop to beat you up, but that doesn’t make it wise to tempt him.
Gestapo? Doubtful. My mom grew up in an actual Fascist regime, not the fantasy one of the leftist imagination. The annoying people confiscating nail clippers and 4 ounce bottles of water at the airport are not Fascists. Get a grip.
Oh, and your wife and mine must have gone to the same school — the one for really smart people who are always right….
Cheers
BBB