|
July 16, 2002
Robert Fisk
The Kashmir
Distraction
Salam al-Marayati
When
is Terrorism
Not Defined as Terrorism?
Kathleen Christison
The
Image Problem:
Anti-Palestinian Bias
from Wilson to Bush
July 15, 2002
Gavin Keeney
In One
of Safire's Ears,
Out the Other
CounterPunch Wire
Nader in
Cuba
Ralph Nader
The Secret
World of Banking
Dave Marsh
Vincible:
Michael Jackson, Racism and the Music Cartel
Rahul Mahajan
Justice
for Bhopal
Jeffrey St. Clair
Seduced
by a Legend
The Return of Jimmy T99 Nelson
July 14, 2002
Bill Christison
The
DOA (Poem)
David Vest
I'll Never
Get Out of This Band Alive
July 13, 2002
M. Junaid Alam
A Process
of Dehumanization
Gavin Keeney
Go Tell
Karl Rove!
Matt Vidal
Corporate
"Ethics" Red Herrings
Ed Whitfield
Lessons
from Independence Day
July 12, 2002
Sean Donahue
The Other
Harken Energy Scandal: Oil, Death Squads
and Colombia
Walt Brasch
Sin Tax
Scam
"Psst. Cigarettes. A Buck Each."
Steve Perry
A Tale
of Two Twits
Wall Street Burns, Bush Fiddles, But Where's Wellstone?
July 11, 2002
Lloyd Marbet
Arrested
by the Chamber
of Commerce
David Krieger
Law vs.
Force
David Vest
Fountain
of Foo:
Strike Three Called
Irit Katriel
A Deep
Ideological Crisis
Richard Glen Boire
Dangerous
Lessons:
Public School Drug Testing
July 10, 2002
CounterPunch Wire
Third Party
Woes
South Carolina Denies Kevin Alexander Gray Ballot Status
Nassar Ibriham &
Majed Nassar
Bush's
Middle East Plan: Always Changing, Never Changing
Robert Fisk
Ain't That
America:
A Strange Kind of Freedom
Dave Marsh
The Return
of CREEP:
Record Cartel Accounting
Bernard Weiner
Hope and
Despair in
the Body Politic
Gary Leupp
European
Worries and
Bush's Terror War
July 9, 2002
St. Clair / Cockburn
The Atomic
Clock is Ticking:
All Roads Lead to Yucca Mtn.
Jack McCarthy
Florida:
a Terrorist Sanctuary for Bush's Bloody Pals?
Robert Fisk
How a Saudi
Billionaire
Does Beirut
Stanton and Madsen
God, Incorporated
Kurt Nimmo
IDF, Gangbanging
with Tanks
Bill Christison
Disastrous
Foreign Policies
of the US Part 3:
What Can We Do About It?
July 8, 2002
Rick Mercier
Yucca
Mountain Bound
Lev Grinberg
The
BUSHARON Global War
Tariq Ali
How Bush
Used 9/11 to Remap the World
Lori Allen
The Tugs
of War:
Palestinian Life Under Curfew
July 7, 2002
Alexander Cockburn
White
House Crooks
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
INSIDE
EXCLUSIVE
TO
COUNTERPUNCH
SUBSCRIBERS
Published March 15, 2002
Read Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
Buy
This Explosive
New Book at an
Amazing Discount!
Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
|
July
16, 2002
How My 35mm
Camera Almost Became a Tool of Treason
by Kurt Nimmo
"I'll
confiscate your camera," the
Customs officer growled.
I was walking down the pavement on the
US side of the border a stone's throw from Ciudad Puerto Palomas,
Mexico. I was rewinding film back into the canister.
"Excuse me?" I said.
"If you take a picture, I'll confiscate
you're camera," the officer repeated.
I don't know how much Customs officers
know about cameras. It was obvious I was rewinding film. Even
so, I quickly stashed the camera in my bag. I've had the camera
since 1986. It's worked flawlessly over the years and I didn't
want to lose it.
I smiled but the officer remained grim.
I walked past him over to the Customs station. The officers there
were not much friendlier, but at least they were not interested
in my camera.
Later, I read an article about a
newspaper photographer in Vermont. He was detained for taking
pictures of the Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon. Officials
saw Jason Henske of the Brattleboro Reformer taking digital pictures
and called the cops. Although the police insisted Henske delete
the images from his camera, he felt it was his right, under the
First Amendment, to keep them. "I was able to take my photos
with me, and the images were published the next day in the Brattleboro
Reformer, at the insistence of my editor, and under threat of
being charged with a felony for treason," Henske
later said.
Apparently, under an obscure Vermont
law, it is illegal to take pictures of nuclear power plants during
a time of war.
Windham County State Attorney Dan Davis,
according to an article published in the Times Argus, said he
became aware of the treason statue after 911. "I don't think
it's a good time to be publishing photos of Vermont Yankee,"
Davis said. "But I didn't write the law."
Meanwhile, Neil Sheehan, a spokesman
for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said there were no federal
laws prohibiting photography of nuclear plants from public property,
and he expressed surprise that Vermont had such a law on the
books.
All of which makes me curious - when
am I taking a potentially treasonous photograph? New Mexico has
a lot of military installations, millions of acres of posted
government land, even a missile testing site not too far away
from where I live in Las Cruces. New Mexico's where the first
atomic bomb was detonated.
I don't know if we have a law similar
to Vermont's, but if we do I wouldn't really be surprised. I
may have treasonous images on the hard drive of my computer and
not even know it.
A lot of us may be traitors and not even
know it. That's how crazy things are since 911.
I don't know if it's an act of treason
to photograph a Customs station. Not doubt it would look bad.
No doubt the likes of Top Cop John Ashcroft would frown upon
such reckless behavior. I mean, as an American, I should probably
know better. We're at war, after all.
For now, I'm just glad the Customs officer
didn't confiscate my camera. I imagine he would have had the
right to do so if he thought I was compromising national security
in some way. After all, I might we part of a sleeper cell. I
might be casing the Customs office for an attack by al-Qaida.
The last time hostile forces crossed the border was in 1916 when
Poncho Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico. He crossed not far
from where the Customs officer threatened to confiscate my camera.
In the future, I'll think about what
I photograph.
I don't want to be sharing a cell with
Jose Padilla anytime soon.'
Kurt Nimmo
is a photographer and multimedia developer in Las Cruces, New
Mexico. He can be reached at: nimmo@zianet.com
Today's Features
Robert Fisk
The Kashmir
Distraction
Salam al-Marayati
When
is Terrorism
Not Defined as Terrorism?
Kathleen Christison
The
Image Problem:
Anti-Palestinian Bias
from Wilson to Bush
Gavin Keeney
In One
of Safire's Ears,
Out the Other
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|