WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? Joe Bob Briggs has an answer.

CALPUNDIT is, well, Fisking Robert Fisk, in a small way. I think he’s onto something.

JIM MILLER HAS MORE ON BRITISH MUSLIMS. And it’s disturbing stuff.

LOTS OF INTERESTING STUFF AT RANTBURG TODAY. Check it out.

2600 REPORTS ON A PHOTOGRAPHER ARRESTED FOR PHOTOGRAPHING DICK CHENEY’S HOTEL:

As he was putting his camera away, Maginnis found himself confronted by a Denver police officer who demanded that he hand over his film and camera. When he refused to give up his Nikon F2, the officer pushed him to the ground and arrested him.

After being brought to the District 1 police station on Decatur Street, Maginnis was made to wait alone in an interrogation room. Two hours later, a Secret Service agent arrived, who identified himself as Special Agent “Willse.”

The agent told Maginnis that his “suspicious activities” made him a threat to national security, and that he would be charged as a terrorist under the USA-PATRIOT act. The Secret Service agent tried to make Maginnis admit that he was taking the photographs to analyze weaknesses in the Vice President’s security entourage and “cause terror and mayhem.”

When Maginnis refused to admit to being any sort of terrorist, the Secret Service agent called him a “raghead collaborator” and a “dirty pinko faggot.”

I find this story rather hard to believe — though sadly not impossible. I wonder, though, if 2600 isn’t making too much of the Patriot Act angle. Here’s an InstaPundit item from August of 2001:

LOOSE THREADS IN THE SOCIAL FABRIC: Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn tells the story of a man who photographed some Amtrak cops in Chicago roughing up a drunk. The cops seized his camera and exposed the film. (He has witnesses). Zorn admits that this is a fairly minor civil rights violation, but he’s right to say that things like this are important: “This claim shouldn’t clog our courts. But it’s worth noting because it describes one of those frequent little abuses that corrode respect for authority, breed mistrust and set even good people against those who ought to be their natural allies. The police may have gotten the film. But do they get the picture?”

The police took advantage of the fact that they were armed to intimidate this guy into surrendering his property. If you or I did the same thing, we’d be treated as criminals. Instead, the victim is being treated as a nuisance and a whiner. My advice: help him get some real revenge — write your Congressperson and suggest they abolish Amtrak!

It’s not unreasonable to question people who are taking pictures in a way that looks suspicious. The “confiscate the camera” impulse, however, is right out, though it’s been a common one with law enforcement since long before 9/11. If this guy’s story is true, he should sue and make a stink. He has just as much right to take pictures in a public place as someone working for The Rocky Mountain News.

And if Dick Cheney can’t stay in a hotel without infringing the rights of people for blocks around, then he shouldn’t stay in a hotel. He should stay on military bases, or stay home.

UPDATE: Via the World Wide Rant I find this report by Rob Carr of a somewhat similar experience, though only somewhat.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Wilde thinks this is probably a hoax.

A COLBY COSH CONSPIRACY THEORY regarding Howell Raines and Augusta National:

The real embarrassment, of course, is for those who claim there is No Such Thing As Liberal Media Bias. Could the Times campaign against Augusta National be a tacit conspiracy to derail Al Gore’s renomination campaign? Just as Gore is trying to make headlines claiming that conservatives dominate the U.S. media, this story–in which Pulitzer-winning columnists at the Paper of Record are getting their work rammed onto the spike for arguing in favour of old-fashioned American freedom of association–rears its head. You’ve got to wonder if they’re deliberately trying to make him look like a fool.

Somehow I imagine Wilford Brimley asking “Mr. Raines, are you that smart?”

NOW HERE’S A CULTURE-JAMMING PROJECT, or maybe it’s more like a culture-healing project: online Saudi Dating.

BOY, THIS POST HAS IT ABSOLUTELY RIGHT:

At a very fundamental level, the Big Content companies don’t understand the revolution that is happening in the digital media realm. They still see us as consumers only capable of digesting their offerings and handing over money. They really don’t seem to understand that the reason we are buying PCs, video cameras, digital cameras, broadband connections and the like is that we want to create and share our creations. The quality of “amateur” content is exploding at the same time that Big Media companies are going through one of their all-time lows in music and television creativity. No wonder we’re spending more time with our PCs that we are with our TVs.

Yep. But apparently Peter Chernin of Fox doesn’t quite get it.

(Via Wayne Klick).

IRANIAN AUTHORITIES ARE REPORTEDLY ARRESTING STUDENTS IN ADVANCE of tomorrow’s planned demonstrations.

ARE U.N. VEHICLES smuggling terrorists?

Sad to say, it wouldn’t surprise me.

WITH ADMIRABLE DOGGEDNESS (bloggedness?) Jim Henley continues to post updates on the DC sniper case (remember that?) which, among other things, seem to suggest that the Al Fuqra connection bruited about many places, including here, is unfounded.

TRENT LOTT DESERVES THE SHIT he’s getting from Atrios and Josh Marshall.

It’s one thing to say that Strom Thurmond should be allowed to celebrate his 100th birthday without people focusing on his allegiance to a hateful and oppressive ideology half a lifetime (er, his lifetime — for most people it would be a whole lifetime) ago — just as youthful flings with Marxism may be forgiven later on even if they’re nothing to be proud of.

But to say, as Lott did, that the country would be better off if Thurmond had won in 1948 is, well, it’s proof that Lott shouldn’t be Majority Leader for the Republicans, to begin with. And that’s just to begin with. It’s a sentiment as evil and loony as wishing that Gus Hall had been elected.

(The official 1948 Democratic Party sample ballot on Atrios’ page, by the way, is a must-read. It’s easy to forget how things once were. Lott has, apparently. At least, it would be worse if he hasn’t.)

HERE’S A STORY ON BLOGS AND THE COMING WAR:

CNN owned the story of the first Gulf War — blogs and the Internet may carry the day if there is a sequel.

Just as the 1991 conflict was the testing ground for 24-hour cable channels like CNN more than 10 years ago, a second conflict there may serve as a trial by fire for the news and commentary sites known as blogs.

I actually think the Afghan War did that, but this is a pretty good article.

THE CAPITALIST CHICKS email to say that they’ve added a discussion board. Apparently they think that InstaPundit readers are likely to contribute.

They’re probably right, and I think that they do achieve their goal of ensuring that readers think of capitalists as something other than dour old men of the Ebenezer Scrooge variety.

RON BAILEY WRITES ABOUT REGENERATIVE MEDICINE: I say, bring it on! Uh, starting with the knee cartilage.

SARI STEIN HAS multiple updates on Concordia University’s situation, and this call to arms that could profitably be read by people at many other schools:

On the one hand, the expression of support is wonderful. On the other hand, I’m kind of ashamed to realize just how much Concordia’s international reputation has been damaged. I graduated from that school. It’s on my diploma and my resume. I had a pretty good three years there – DESPITE the idiots. They are not the majority and they do not represent most students, and most of the time I had no problem just going about my business and ignoring them . . . and getting a damn good education in the process, I might add.

It disheartens me to realize that people are giving up on Concordia instead of fighting to take it back from those who have hijaked it. Would they be so quick to give up on McGill, or Harvard, or Princeton? Would they be so quick to just shrug and say “the school’s been taken over by the professional shit-disturbers, good riddance”? I doubt it. No, they’d fight for their school.

To any Concordia student who may be reading this: the power ultimately rests with you, at the voting booth. Get informed, get involved, get organized, and make a change. Victory may be difficult at Concordia but it’s not impossible. And the rewards are great: reclaiming the school for the students, in the name of democracy, freedom, and the right thing.

As I say, this is good advice for people at a lot of schools.

EUGENE VOLOKH ON THE EVOLVING SECOND AMENDMENT: This one is a must-read.

FIVE REASONS FOR WAR: A cartoon by Ted Rall.

No, really. More proof of the “it’s not a bug, it’s a feature” angle to, well, most everything.

HOWELL RAINES HAS SURRENDERED TO THE BLOGOSPHERE and will run the two spiked columns on Augusta National.

I think it’s all because of Mickey Kaus’s “Flood the Zone” strategy.

DAVE ROBERTS WRITES that the FBI’s balldropping on the PTech matter is more evidence that antiterrorism could learn a few lessons from the Blogosphere.

UPDATE: Charles Johnson thinks that the PTech matter is a massive security problem, making all sorts of government security systems untrustworthy. But at the moment, it looks as if the Homeland Security guys are pointing a finger in the wrong direction.

If this kind of thing keeps up, they’ll be seeing some “fingers” of their own.

Hmm. Centralizing things in can’t help this.

WHO WILL REPLACE PAUL O’NEILL? Ben Domenech has some candidates in mind:

Bono

Pros: As O’Neill’s de facto deputy, he already knows the ins and outs of the job. Plus “generosity,” “debt relief,” and “worldwide economic recovery” just sound better when they’re said by a man with an Irish lilt and ridiculous sunglasses.

Cons: Would immediately be rumored by Lloyd Grove to be tussling behind the scenes with Rumsfeld over who is “coolest Cabinet Secretary ever.”

Actually, there’s no contest. Meanwhile Tony Adragna has multiple takes on the O’Neill / Lindsey resignations. Oh, and there’s also more at &c.

I’VE BEEN DOING SOME IMAGE TRANSFERS in support of my wife’s documentary, which is now in post-production, and I really liked this picture. I think it’ll go on the publicity website when that’s up. Anyhow, here’s a picture of the InstaWife hard at work on a shoot earlier this year. As you can see, she’s enjoying herself.

Yes, we’re a family of media geeks, and apparently it’s genetic: my daughter was photoshopping a picture of me into something amusing last night. I guess there are worse traits to pass on to the next generation.

HOUSTON PARKING LOT RAID UPDATE:

HOUSTON, 12:16 p.m. CST December 6, 2002 – A Houston grand jury Friday indicted two Houston police officers, including Capt. Mark Aguirre, who headed the Kmart parking lot raid in which hundreds of people were arrested over the summer.

Aguirre and Sgt. Ken Wenzel, who was the field leader for the operation, were each charged with five counts of official oppression. . . .

[T]he mass arrests sparked damage claims and lawsuits that could cost the city millions.

One of those people arrested has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the city, accusing Aguirre and the city of falsely arresting him for “attempted trespass.”

If I were one of the law enforcement people behind the similar Racine arrests, I’d be worrying.

UPDATE: Here’s a longer account.

I MENTIONED THE NINTH CIRCUIT’S CITATION OF MICHAEL BELLESILES in its anti-Second Amendment decision yesterday. Clayton Cramer reports that the Bellesiles influence goes farther than that.

UPDATE: Eugene Volokh has more on this subject.

I understand that Judge Reinhardt may have been especially susceptible to Bellesiles’ views because he is married to Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the Southern California ACLU and fierce proponent of gun control. I’m not suggesting that Judge Reinhardt should have recused himself, as the ACLU was not, to my knowledge, involved in the lawsuit. But I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there was a copy of Bellesiles’ Arming America on the nightstand.

A SOFTWARE COMPANY SUSPECTED OF AIDING TERRORISTS has been raided. A reader emails that local radio reports in the Boston area say that employees had told the FBI of a Saudi terror connection there a year ago but the FBI gave them the brush-off, so they persisted until they got Customs interested.

Is this an argument against putting all of our Homeland Security eggs in one potentially-corruptible basket?