I protest.

Another day in the land of the "free."

First there's this little bit of censorship of which I learned by way of Neil Gaiman: U.S. Government Seizes Parody Comics At Customs. It appears that Customs has decided that parody of Bush isn't protected by the First Amendment. Of course, they claim that these are "'clearly piratical copies' of registered and recorded copyrights." Of course, were that the case, as both Neil and Peter David point out, Mad Magazine would have been killed many, many years ago.

So. Censorship. But wait, it gets worse. Much, much worse.

From Dan Gillmor I learned about John Perry Barlow's recent brush with the inconveniences of modern air travel in which he got A Taste of the System. Now, yes, it does appear that he did have a miniscule amount of pot, along with an equally tiny amount of each of some "magic mushrooms" and ketamine, which were, according to the agents, "in the bottom of a bottle of Ibuprofen, still three quarters full of its original contents." There's only one tiny little unimportant problem with this situation. It appears that there's a certain fairly important document which has an amendment that states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

It is arguably reasonable that luggage may be searched for explosives. I tend to think that modern searches are far too intrusive in this respect, given the number of bombings we've had here in the United States (that is, zero), but I do accept that there are some valid arguments for this kind of search. On the other hand, why would agents need to search the contents of a nearly-full bottle of Ibuprofen for explosives? Seems to me this is a direct violation of that "probable cause" thing I quoted above. Both Barlow and John Gilmore agree, because they are contesting his arrest as having violated that Amendment. By the way, if you don't recognize the words or if you voted for Bush last month, that is the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

In reading John Perry Barlow's article and the comments to it I learned one other thing that is somewhat disturbing, as well. I haven't flown in a couple of years, so I haven't been aware of the changes in the security procedures. When I flew last, in mid-2002, the procedures were inordinately intrusive but that was to be expected in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Unfortunately, rather than getting better, things have apparently gotten worse. Not only is luggage being searched regularly (which I was aware of) but people are now being regularly patted down before they are allowed to board. I must repeat that: People are now being patted down before they are allowed to board. I had read about women having been groped during such searches, but I didn't realize that they were doing this to everyone. This is, well, "appalling" doesn't even come close. Vile and despicable. Intolerable.

Of course, people support this because it keeps the elephantsterrorists away, right? Look, no elephantsterrorists here! See, it works!

Inch by inch we lose our liberty, and we slowly become numb to it. When will we be required to present proof that we are allowed to travel from state to state? We are already "required" to show identification, even though it's not strictly legal nor is it really a legal requirement (John Gilmore is outspoken on that issue as well). But try flying without it. Possible, just, but about as inconvenient as it is possible to be.

If anyone tells me that it's "worth it, because it makes us safer," I'll tell them that if they want to be safe in that way, they should move to North Korea. They'll be safe, at least from "terrorists." They also won't have those nasty "rights" that they're so afraid of. I find it utterly, incredibly ironic that it is easier to fly in the People's Republic of China than in the United States. My wife and I flew from HangZhou to HaiKou (on Hainan Island) and back over the week of January 1, 2002. It was trivial, about as much trouble as flying here used to be. Sure, there if you forget your ID you stand a damned good chance of winding up in prison, but there were no pat-downs, no inspections, no luggage searches as far as I know. I'm also pretty sure we were very safe from the possibility of "terrorists." Of course, we were in an authoritarian, totalitarian state, so most liberties I take for granted as a citizen of the United States were nonexistent there, but on the other hand, someone show me the difference between the nonexistent liberties I had there and the vanishing liberties I have here.

At least there, no one was lying to me, trying to make me believe that it was "making me safer."

I fly to Texas on December 22 and back on December 30. I'm emphatically not looking forward to it. But my wife is not a citizen and these days, that's a strong reason to choose ones speaking places very carefully. Unfortunately, protesting a pad-down in the airport would be a bad idea, for her sake if not for my own.

Welcome to the Fascist States of America.

Thanks a lot, you fucking morons who voted for this!