' Recently, two FBI agents paid a visit to Reingold's home to question
him about conversations he had been having at the gym. Someone in the gym, they explained to him, had reported that he had
been, "talking about terrorism and September 11th, oil profits, capitalism and Afghanistan." ...
' ...We even need "subversive" speech, whatever that may be,
for America to truly work as a pluralistic democracy. Stifling the statement of dissent, whether in college classrooms, in
art galleries, on billboards, on T-shirts, in books, on posters or in conversation, is clearly un-American.'
**************************************************************************************************** The following article
has been copied from High Times (where it is no longer available): ****************************************************************************************************
With John Ashcroft as our Attorney General and the specter of September 11 so close behind
us, "suspicious activity" has taken on a whole new meaning.
By Michael I. Niman
Barry
Reingold, a 60-year-old San Francisco retiree, enjoys daily visits to the local gym, where he works out and talks politics
with his friends and acquaintances. Since September 11th, those discussions, like the political discussions many Americans
are now having, have gotten heated at times. Heated discussions in the new post-Sept. 11 America, however, can earn one a
visit from the FBI.
Recently, two FBI agents paid a visit to Reingold's home to question him about conversations he
had been having at the gym. Someone in the gym, they explained to him, had reported that he had been, "talking about terrorism
and September 11th, oil profits, capitalism and Afghanistan." In an interview with Emil Guillermo, author and San Francisco
television host, Reingold explained that he had been arguing with his gym mates about how "hundreds and thousands of workers
[are] being laid off in the United States," and how, "this war is not just about getting terrorists. It's also about money
and corporate oil profits." During a heated argument one day, he called George W. Bush "a dog."
Offensive as the image
of a barking, pissing canine Bush may be to Republican loyalists, having the freedom to compare the president to a dog, pig,
or any other animal is at the heart of the democratic discourse that makes this country great. Attempts by government or private
interests to thwart that discourse are not only frightening ­ they're downright un-American.
Take Down
Your Posters
The FBI's chilling visit to Reingold's home was not an isolated incident. On Oct. 12, two Secret
Service agents paid a visit to the Durham, NC apartment of A.J. Brown, a Durham Tech freshman attending college with the help
of an American Civil Liberties Union scholarship. ...
Burn Your T-Shirts and Books ...
What we read has suddenly become of interest to the government. The ominously named PATRIOT Act, which took effect
in late October, gives the Feds authority to search the records of bookstores to ascertain what their customers are reading.
The new regulation precludes any objections by criminalizing protest against such inquisitions. The bill clearly threatens
booksellers with arrest if they disclose to anyone the fact that they were served with a government request for information.
...
Buy the Right Stamps
OK. So you're not talking to anyone at the gym. You're
not wearing the wrong shirts, reading the wrong books or starting the wrong clubs. Your walls are poster-free. You're keeping
away from museums and you don't care if corporations rule the world. Don't think you're home free yet, however. Are you buying
the right stamps? That's right. Are you buying the right postage stamps?
On Nov. 9, Dan Muller and Andrew Mandell of
Voices in the Wilderness, a group opposed to violence and the US sanctions against Iraq, went to a Chicago post office, attempting
to buy 4,000 US postage stamps for an upcoming mailing. According to a report published in The Progressive, a problem emerged,
however, when the two made a simple request: They preferred stamps without the American flag. The clerk asked if Statue of
Liberty stamps would be OK and they answered affirmatively.
The clerk retreated to a back room and called police, who
arrived and questioned the duo as to why they didn't want to buy stamps with the US flag on them. They answered that they
preferred the liberty stamps. The police examined their IDs, while the clerk told them she didn't have enough liberty stamps
in stock and asked them to return the next day. When they returned, a postal inspector was waiting for them. He interrogated
them for 30 minutes. ...
....
...Without these sentiments [deemed suspicious by the Far Right],
we can't have a healthy political dialogue in this country. Likewise, we even need "subversive" speech, whatever that may
be, for America to truly work as a pluralistic democracy. Stifling the statement of dissent, whether in college classrooms,
in art galleries, on billboards, on T-shirts, in books, on posters or in conversation, is clearly un-American.
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the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available
in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social
justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section
107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain
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