Via Cousin John
Nice photo. That'll be $1,000, please.
This week's most profoundly wrongheaded display of nonviolent press infringement comes from an unlikely source: The U.S. Forest Service. New rules being finalized in November state that across this country's gloriously beautiful, endlessly photogenic, 193 million acres of designated wilderness area administered by the USFS, members of the press who happen upon it will need permits to photograph or shoot video.
And yes, it does sound like one of the dumbest things you've ever read.
"It's pretty clearly unconstitutional," said Gregg Leslie, legal defense director at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Alexandria, Va. "They would have to show an important need to justify these limits, and they just can't."Wait! It gets better.
More @ Cosmopolitan
Uh-huh.
ReplyDeleteI saw this last week.
Post those pictures to your fb or photobucket or flickr account, and suddenly you ARE a member of the press. Here's your $1,000/fine.
Insane.
DeleteWhy are we treated like unwanted guests in our own country? What possible misinterpretation of our Constitution prevents one from taking a picture in a national park? Soon we will have a Park Ranger SWAT to bust open the tent and smash the camera while shooting any wildlife in your camp area. What have we become?
DeleteSoon we will have a Park Ranger SWAT to bust open the tent and smash the camera while shooting any wildlife in your camp area. What have we become?
DeleteNothing we could have fathomed as kids, that's for sure.