Al Maniac cell mate

Fang-Face writes “Andy Smetanka of the Missoula Independent had a column of his reprinted at Alternet.org. He does a nice little analysis of the anal retention aimed at almanacs. (Damn, I can’t believe that alliteration.) It’s insightful, it’s humourous, it’s sure to get him jailed as a terrorist sympathizer. Read all about it.“

January 23, 2004 by Uncategorized 9

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9 Responses

  1. Bibliofuture says:
    January 23, 2004 at 9:56 pm

    The Bulletin
    Here is a link to the bulletin that the FBI put out to law enforcement. http://cryptome.org/fbi-almanacs.htm

    Read the bulletin and then I would like to see if anyone has some specific objections to what it says considering that this was only given to law enforcement.

    Reply
  2. Gales says:
    January 23, 2004 at 10:24 pm

    Re:The Bulletin
    Seems harmless enough…though it may depend on one’s definition of “suspicious activity”…

    Reply
  3. tomeboy says:
    January 24, 2004 at 2:54 am

    Peach light and evening showers
    >>It’s insightful, it’s humourous, it’s sure to get him jailed as a terrorist sympathizer

    Forget terrorist sympathizer, Andy’s music reviews justify incarceration

    Seizing the Stage

    ….As I was crossing the Higgins bridge towards downtown, there she was: a brunette woman perched at her window on an upper floor of the Wilma, contentedly and somewhat languorously taking in the Dixieland that was floating out of the Caras Park Pavilion as part of the Montana Traditional Jazz Festival.The southern face of the building was washed in peach light from a setting sun that had decided to make one last curtain call after an evening shower. The scene completely filled my eyes.

    Reply
  4. Fang-Face says:
    January 24, 2004 at 6:28 pm

    Re:The Bulletin
    1) It is vague and overbroad, and it is based upon a vague and ill-defined fear. 2) It gives the police the power to arrest you for carrying or reading a book while visiting tourist sites and landmarks.

    In July of last year, Marc Schultz, a freelance writer with the independent newspaper Creative Loafing, was interviewed by two FBI agents over an incident where he had been reading an editorial on politics. Some “good” and “patriotic” citizen blew the whistle on him. I wonder if there is any way to check if there was any blowback on the citizen for turning in a false alarm (hollow laugh).

    Reply
  5. Gales says:
    January 24, 2004 at 8:29 pm

    Re:The Bulletin
    Yes…I know…that’s why I wrote “seems” harmless enough. Far from it. “Suspicious activity” is very vague, indeed. I’m also aware of the Schultz incident. Meanwhile, at our household, we’ve fashioned “camouflage” dustcovers for our almanacs…just to be on the safe side.

    Reply
  6. Bibliofuture says:
    January 24, 2004 at 8:38 pm

    Re:The Bulletin
    From the Bulletin

    The use of almanacs or maps may be the product of legitimate recreational or commercial activities; HOWEVER, WHEN COMBINED with suspicious behavior or other information such as evidence of surveillance activities, these indicators may point to POSSIBLE terrorist planning.

    From Fangs comments, “It gives the police the power to arrest you for carrying or reading a book while visiting tourist sites and landmarks.”

    What? The bulleting gives no arrest powers! Man, talk about chicken little!

    Reply
  7. Fang-Face says:
    January 24, 2004 at 11:36 pm

    Re:The Bulletin
    Security agents (of which I was one for nine years), and law enforcement agents are paid to be paranoid. When they err on the side of caution it is to assume that you are doing something wrong. So, buddy stops at the Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial, grabs his almanac for the walking tour and leaves his car in the parking lot. While walking around, he perhaps scribbles some notes in the almanac. A cop intercepts him, finds a map of Metro DC folded up and tucked inside the almanac with all these landmarks circled in red ink (simply because the red stands out better), checks a few pages of the almanac and finds notations scribbled on a few pages, and assumes the worst the way he is paid to. And buddy is off to cells and interrogation where he has to prove that he is simply a tourist.

    Reply
  8. Bibliofuture says:
    January 25, 2004 at 1:09 am

    Re:The Bulletin
    If the law enforcement official is any good at all they will ask Buddy a few questions find out that his actions are innocent and off he goes about his business. Sky does not fall and 1984 government not imposed.

    Reply
  9. tomeboy says:
    January 26, 2004 at 1:26 am

    Nip it in the bud
    >>Security agents (of which I was one for nine years), and law enforcement agents are paid to be paranoid

    Any chance your “logical” thinking is the product of one too many Andy Griffith Show’s on TV Land???

    Reply

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