It’s supposedly illegal to take photographs in public spaces

I've previously read accounts of photographers being harassed. This smart guy turned on his camera's video function and recorded the outrageous conversation with a security guard. She was pleasant, but instructed him about a "policy" that is utterly bizarre (because this policy, to my knowledge, doesn't really exist in the law). Keep in mind that, according to this security guard, it's illegal for a tourist to snap any photos of the historic buildings in Washington D.C. without special clearance. I'd like to reserve this post as a place for anyone else to post comments if they or someone they know has been warned to not take photos in public spaces, prevented from taking such photos or had their camera(s) confiscated.

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“Why should I respect these oppressive religions?” by Johann Hari

Why indeed? Please read this excellent article by Johann Hari at the Independent, detailing the tragic hijacking of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights by religious bigots. Here's a taste: Starting in 1999, a coalition of Islamist tyrants, led by Saudi Arabia, demanded the rules be rewritten. The demand for everyone to…

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Sams store manager: Barack Obama is offensive

Sam Club, which has no problem pumping out conservative books, including those written by Bill O'Reilly, has a problem with an employee who dared to wear a shirt bearing the likeness of the current President of the United States, Barack Obama. The problem was that Obama's image was potentially offensive to customers.

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Comments that sour conversation: free speech versus censorship

Most of us seek a mutual exchange of ideas in our conversations, but not all of us. Most of us are open to the possibility of intellectual change, but not all of us. We get many comments at this site, most of them thoughtful, many of them really challenging to my pre-conceived beliefs. I revel in those challenging comments. In the past few months, though, I have struggled with how much leash to give to several visitors to this blog even though they tried to A) monopolize the conversation, B) preach, C) impose their favorite two issues upon every post, and D) ignore clearly-stated bona fide points made by others. In addition to using these ignorant and aggressive tactics many of these comments clearly have their facts wrong (some claimed that Obama is a terrorist; others claimed that God Himself wrote the Bible in King James English). When these sorts of people join in-person real-time conversations, almost all of us employ similar strategies. We extricate ourselves from those conversations so that we can join some other conversation. We also take steps to avoid spending time in the same room with those sorts of people on future occasions. A blog is not exactly a conversation, but it is a lot LIKE a conversation. What, then, should a moderator do when conversation-killers attempt to roost at a blog? For many months, I've struggled with this question.

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Parting Shot: A Rant

The obsession the Right has had for lo these many years with people's sexuality has received a final "gift" from the Bush Administration. This is like grade school stuff. It's classic "If we don't tell them about it, they won't want it" thinking. Many on the Right feel everyone should have the freedom to own weapons. They think, implicitly, everyone is capable of proper usage of guns and that just because a certain number of individuals clearly intend to use them to the detriment of others, that that is no excuse to keep them out of the hands of everyone else. They are supportive of education in proper use of firearms. So why the different attitude toward sex? I expect this question never to be answered in such a way as to be persuasive to those who think sex is something that ought to be left in the gutter and in the closet, who think that teenagers ought not be told about it in the vain hope that they won't use it, but I am so utterly and profoundly tired of this infantile crap.

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