‘Forbidden Art’ Draws a Fine
by Richard Boudreaux
The Wall Street Journal
July 13, 2010

Outcome of Closely Watched Russian Censorship Case Leaves Both Sides Fuming

Moscow—In a closely watched case of censorship backed by the Russian Orthodox Church, two prominent Russian curators were convicted Monday of inciting religious hatred by staging an art exhibition that included an image of Jesus Christ appearing to his disciples as Mickey Mouse.

But a Moscow court ordered the curators to pay fines rather than serve three-year prison terms demanded by the prosecution.

The 14-month trial’s outcome displeased both sides: The curators said it advanced a return to Soviet-era cultural censorship with rules now dictated by a conservative, politically powerful church. Orthodox Christian activists voiced anger that the defendants avoided prison, and a church official said the fines, totaling the equivalent of $11,340, were too low to dissuade new artistic offenses against the Christian faithful.

Watch the video…

Read the rest of this article here

China’s Censors Tackle and Trip Over the Internet
by Michael Wines, Sharon LaFraniere & Jonathan Ansfield
The New York Times
April 7, 2010

Beijing — Type the Chinese characters for “carrot” into Google’s search engine here in mainland China, and you will be rewarded not with a list of Internet links, but a blank screen.

Don’t blame Google, however. The fault lies with China’s censors — who are increasingly a model for countries around the world that want to control an unrestricted Internet.

Since late March, when Google moved its search operations out of mainland China to Hong Kong, each response to a Chinese citizen’s search request has been met at the border by government computers, programmed to censor any forbidden information Google might turn up.

“Carrot” — in Mandarin, huluobo — may seem innocuous enough. But it contains the same Chinese character as the surname of President Hu Jintao. And the computers, long programmed to intercept Chinese-language searches on the nation’s leaders, substitute an error message for the search result before it can sneak onto a mainland computer.

This is China’s censorship machine, part George Orwell, part Rube Goldberg: an information sieve of staggering breadth and fineness, yet full of holes; run by banks of advanced computers, but also by thousands of Communist Party drudges; highly sophisticated in some ways, remarkably crude in others. (more…)

‘Hitler salute’ gnomes invade German
Ninemsm.com.au / AFP
October 15, 2009

A German town was bracing Wednesday for a rally by 1250 garden gnomes with their stubby right arms raised in a Hitler salute — all in the name of art.

[Watch the video here]

Artist Ottmar Hoerl, who has already displayed his provocative gnomes in Belgium, Italy and two German art galleries, said the display in Straubing in Bavaria was the first one in public in Germany.

“It is a work that is meant to get people to think, to react,” he told AFP.

The German artist found himself in hot water with his gnomes in July after prosecutors in Nuremberg launched an enquiry into whether displaying one of the diminutive figures in an art gallery was against the law. (more…)

Here’s the thirtieth installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly and the LitFraud blog.

LiteratEye #30: Can Holden Caulfield Come Out and Play? You’ll Have to Ask the Judge
By W.J. Elvin III
September 4, 2009

J.D. Salinger has been hiding out in the woods for the past fifty years or so, rarely heard from except when disputes have drawn him into legal battles. As has been widely reported, one such battle is going on right now, that being his suit against Fredrik Colting, a Swedish author.

There’s no need to trouble you with a lot of detail since it’s been in the news. The problem is Colting’s new book, 60 Years Later.

You have to go to Amazon UK to have a look at the “sequel” to Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, since the courts have thus far blocked publication in the U.S..

Salinger’s reclusive nature has sparked considerable media curiosity over the years. What’s up with that guy? Most likely Salinger, now 90, simply had enough of life in the hustling, bustling outside world in his youth. Some of us, so it seems, just aren’t wired for playing hardball in the fast lane. (more…)

How Much Do Protests Matter? A Freakonomics Quorum
by Stephen J. Dubner
freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com
August 20, 2009

Iran’s citizens take to the streets en masse after a disputed election. Gay men in Salt Lake City hold a kissing protest. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church voice their anti-just-about-everything views to military funerals and elsewhere.

Beyond the media attention they inevitably garner, what do protests actually accomplish?

We rounded up a few people who have thought a lot about this topic — Chester Crocker, Bernardine Dohrn, Donna Lieberman, Juan E. Méndez, David S. Meyer, and Howard Zinn — and asked them how much protest matters in this day and age, and why.

Here are their answers. (more…)

Moral of the Story, An Ethicist’s take on the news:
Can You Hate the Artist but Love the Art?
by Randy Cohen
ethicist.blogs.nytimes.com
August 12, 2009

The Issue

Last Wednesday Budd Schulberg died at 95. He was a journalist (particularly astute about boxing), a novelist (‘‘What Makes Sammy Run’’) and above all a screenwriter: ‘‘On the Waterfront’’ is a glorious accomplishment. He was also a man who named names to the House Un-American Activities Committee. It is not easy to reconcile Schulberg’s disheartening testimony with his splendid work. Does rejecting the artist mean rejecting the art? (more…)

Jury: West Point Didn’t Violate Free Speech
1010WINS
22 July 2009

White Plains, N.Y. (AP) — West Point officials who ordered anti-war demonstrators out of an Army-Navy basketball game did not violate their First Amendment rights, a federal jury decided Wednesday.

The jury found that the protesters’ message — they wore T-shirts spelling out “U.S. out of Iraq” — was not the main reason for their expulsion.

The eight protesters, admittedly looking for attention, stood in the top row of the bleachers to display their message as the national anthem was played before a game in 2004. Building manager John Spisso ordered them to cover up the shirts or leave, and when they refused, they were escorted out by military police, held for three hours and charged with disorderly conduct.

The charges were dropped a month later, but the garrison commander, Col. Ann Horner, barred the protesters from West Point for five years. The protesters, all from nearby Westchester County, sued both officials, accusing them of violating their freedom of speech. Each protester sought at least $50,000 in damages. (more…)

FBI files show wide “Deep Throat” investigation
by Matt Sedensky
1010 WINS
June 21, 2009

Miami (AP) — Newly released FBI files show agents across the country and at the highest level of the agency investigated “Deep Throat” – the 1972 porn movie, not the shadowy Watergate figure – in a vain attempt to roll back what became a cultural shift toward more permissive entertainment.

The documents released to The Associated Press show the expanse of agents’ investigation into the film: seizing copies of the movie, having negatives analyzed in labs and interviewing everyone from actors and producers to messengers who delivered reels to theaters.

All of it in a failed attempt to stop the spread of a movie that some saw as the victory of a cultural and sexual revolution and others saw as simply decadent. (more…)

China rounds up dissidents, blocks Twitter
by Christopher Bodeen
1010WINS
June 3, 2009

Beijing (AP) — Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square this week, Chinese authorities have rounded up dissidents and shipped them out of town. Now, they’ve even shut down Twitter.

Along with their usual methods of muzzling dissent, the authorities extended their efforts Tuesday to silence social networking sites that might foster discussion of any commemoration of the events of June 3-4, 1989.

The action is a new sign of the government’s concern of the potential of such technology in an authoritarian society where information is tightly controlled.

“There has been a really intensified clampdown on quasi-public discussion of awareness of this event,” said Xiao Qiang, adjunct professor of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California-Berkeley, and director of The Berkeley China Internet Project.

“It’s a discussion about where China is now and where China can go from here. So the authorities are making a major crackdown to block user-generated sites such as Twitter and show there is no right to public discussion,” he said. (more…)

Missing atheist sign found in Washington state
by Mallory Simon
CNN
December 5, 2008

An atheist sign criticizing Christianity that was erected alongside a Nativity scene was taken from the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington, on Friday and later found in a ditch.

An employee from country radio station KMPS-FM in Seattle told CNN the sign was dropped off at the station by someone who found it in a ditch.

“I thought it would be safe,” Freedom From Religion Foundation co-founder Annie Laurie Gaylor told CNN earlier Friday. “It’s always a shock when your sign is censored or stolen or mutilated. It’s not something you get used to.”

The sign, which celebrates the winter solstice, has had some residents and Christian organizations calling atheists Scrooges because they said it was attacking the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth.

“Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds,” the sign from the Freedom From Religion Foundation says in part.

The sign, which was at the Legislative Building at 6:30 a.m. PT, was gone by 7:30 a.m., Gaylor said. (more…)

From Michael Moore, November 5, 2008

En Español: Pellízquenme …un mensaje de Michael Moore

Friends,

Who among us is not at a loss for words? Tears pour out. Tears of joy. Tears of relief. A stunning, whopping landslide of hope in a time of deep despair.

In a nation that was founded on genocide and then built on the backs of slaves, it was an unexpected moment, shocking in its simplicity: Barack Obama, a good man, a black man, said he would bring change to Washington, and the majority of the country liked that idea. The racists were present throughout the campaign and in the voting booth. But they are no longer the majority, and we will see their flame of hate fizzle out in our lifetime.

There was another important “first” last night. Never before in our history has an avowed anti-war candidate been elected president during a time of war. I hope President-elect Obama remembers that as he considers expanding the war in Afghanistan. The faith we now have will be lost if he forgets the main issue on which he beat his fellow Dems in the primaries and then a great war hero in the general election: The people of America are tired of war. Sick and tired. And their voice was loud and clear yesterday. (more…)

Graffiti Home Protected By First Amendment
KRDO.com
by Marshall Zelinger
October 27, 2008 10:29 PM, updated October 28, 2008

Your First Amendment Rights At Issue

Colorado Springs – How far is too far when expressing your First Amendment rights? Rienet van der Linde lives on Pyrite Terrace on the west side of Colorado Springs. She’s written on her home, like graffiti. Letting anyone who wants to read it know that she lost her job and she’s unhappy with her former employer.

“This is the house I’m living in and this is the place I can say whatever I want to,” says van der Linde, who’s home is in foreclosure.

At first, her neighbors were concerned for van der Linde’s health. Police were called to her house for a welfare check four times since October 18th. Some of her neighbors say they’re concerned for traffic accidents because of the writing on van der Linde’s walls. Her home is along Rio Grande Street between 21st Street and Lower Gold Camp Road. (more…)

T-shirt gets Van Nuys woman kicked out of federal building
by Douglas Morino
LA.com
August 26, 2008

Van Nuys – A routine trip to the Social Security office Monday turned into 30 minutes of shock, disbelief and irritation for Lapriss Gilbert, who was forced to leave the federal building by a guard who objected to her “lesbian.com” T-shirt.

As she headed for a line to pick up a Social Security card for her son, Gilbert was stopped by a guard who said her T-shirt, naming an educational and resource Web site for gay women, was offensive.

She said the guard, who works for a private company hired by the Department of Homeland Security, demanded that she leave the building or face arrest. (more…)

Kansas university fires mooning debate coach
by Roxana Hegeman
1010WINS
August 22, 2008

Wichita, Kan. (AP) — Fort Hays State University has fired its debate coach for losing his temper at a tournament, engaging in a videotaped shouting match that included pulling down his shorts to expose his underwear.

University President Edward H. Hammond also announced Friday that the school was immediately suspending its debate program until problems are addressed at the national level. He said it was important to take a stand against the declining standards of college debate.

The argument between Fort Hays State debate coach William Shanahan and another coach following a tournament match at Cross Examination Debate Association event at Wichita State University in March received nationwide attention after it was posted on YouTube on Aug. 2.

Shanahan told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Friday that while his reasoning might seem convoluted, he argued with the other coach because he respected her and her opinions.

“Obviously it got out of control, but to be honest I thought I was in a safe house,” Shanahan said. “I thought I was part of a community that handled its problems internally and that recognized the dangers of exposing ourselves – no pun intended – to the rest of the country.” Read the rest of this article here.

image: sf0