IT’S A NEW YEAR…WELCOME, 2012
January: time for trying out the resolutions we made sincerely while 2012 was experiencing its birth pangs. As the month flees by we will discover if the resolutions were sensible for us or not, and we will discover if we have the stamina and wherewithal to follow through on our resolutions.
It’s January: Am I Stressed Out?
We here in Southwestern Pennsylvania are experiencing a temperate climate—temperatures in the 30s and 40s. Will it continue? Punxsutawney Phil will inform you on February 2.
PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL, WEATHER PROPHET EXTRAORDINARY
His Highness, Punxsutawney Phil
Valentine’s Day will soon be here. As you consider who you will “Valentine,” consider shut-ins and veterans.
Preparing for a First Date with Carmena
To Andrea Bocelli: A Valentine
CANDIED VIOLETS: Remembering My Mother on Her Birthday
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Shooting Snapshots: Terroristic Activity?
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CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
SHOOTING SNAPSHOTS: TERRORISTIC ACTIVITY?
I want to thank George F. Will. A recent newspaper column he authored, A snapshot of our times*, has me concerned.
Will cites examples of photographers questioned about their terroristic tendencies due to the subjects included in their photographs. One was photographing controversial new turn styles in the Los Angeles subway. Another was photographing industrial scenery at night.
Still another was taking photographs to accompany a news article. The issue about his photographs was the presence of a courthouse in the background.
Why do these examples raise a concern?
When the Los Angeles Police Department developed a Suspicious Activity Report program, the federal government encouraged local law enforcement agencies to adopt its guidelines for gathering information “that could indicate activity or intentions related to” terrorism…From the fact that terrorists might take pictures of potential infrastructure targets (“pre-operational surveillance”), it is a short slide down a slippery slope to the judgment that photography is a potential indicator of terrorism and hence photographers are suspect when taking pictures “with no apparent aesthetic value” (words from the suspicious-activity guidelines).* (bold print mine)
Deputies detained and searched the turn style photographer, and asked him if he was planning to sell the photos to al-Qaeda. When the photographer claimed his right to remain silent the deputy said You know, I’ll just submit your name to TLO (the Terrorism Liason Officer program). Every time your driver’s license gets scanned, every time you take a plane, any time you go on any type of public transit system where they look at your identification, you’re going to be stopped. You will be detained. You’ll be searched. You will be on the FBI’s hit list.*
The industrial scenery photographer finds aestheticism and occasional monetary value in depicting nighttime industrial scenes on film. One night, however, while on a public sidewalk photographing an oil refinery with a large camera on a tripod, deputies ordered him to stop taking pictures, lest they put his name on a troublesome FBI list.*
A journalist, writing a story on drivers distracted by texting and use of hand-held phones, was taking illustrative pictures at an intersection. A courthouse was in the background. Deputies called the courthouse a “critical facility” and labeled his picture-taking as “suspicious activity,” gave him a pat-down search, and demanded to see the pictures he had taken.
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In the decade since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has comprehensively reduced civil liberties in the name of (more…)