Oh so THIS is why the Secret Service went to the art exhibit

[underpants]

Good they should have then.



An artwork containing mock 37-cent stamps showing President Bush with a revolver pointed at his head is part of an exhibit at Columbia College's Glass Curtain Gallery titled 'Axis of Evil, the Secret History of Sin' Tuesday, April, 12, 2005 in Chicago. The exhibit captured the attention of the Secret Service who sent agents to inspect the works last week according to gallery officials. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Art Exhibit Featuring Bush Stamp Probed
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/secret_service_exhibit

[bryant69]

1. I don't know if you are being facetious

I would say they probably do have to check this sort of thing out. I mean if they harrassed the artist or the gallery owner beyond asking a few questions that would be wrong of course.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[mike_c]

2. hey! When will the USPS have those stamps? I WANT SOME!

eom

[JHB]

3. As an aside: That doesn't look like a revolver to me

Pistol? Of course. But not a revolver, at least as far as I can tell from the small, slightly-blurry image.

[underpants]

10. Yahoo writer

It does appear to be a pistol not a revolver. Good catch most people ( :hi: ) wouldn't have even noticed.

[i have issues]

4. That's a powerful image...

As an artist myself and a former Nyer who's actually had a gun to his head,TWICE in two separate muggings,I almost spilled my coffee.If the artist wasn't formerly on any lists ,he is now.

[jojo54]

5. This story is on the front page of DU

Here are a few other images from the exhibition:







These are from The Columbia Chronicle online. Here is the link:

http://www.ccchronicle.com/paper/index.php

[smoogatz]

6. Why is it "good" that the Secret Cervix interrogated this artist?

Isn't he/she just exercising his/her first amendment rights?

[underpants]

9. All threats, real or implied, are checked out

They don't want to get caught ignoring one.

[Plaid Adder]

14. This is not a threat. It's an image.

I'm sorry, but this is one thing I hate about living in the post 9/11 world: once everything is under surveillance everything has to be taken literally. This artist is not threatening to blow W's head off; he's put a picture of the guy's head on a stamp with a picture of a gun next to it. It may be an expression of the fact that he fantasizes about people blowing W's head off; but fantasizing is not supposed to be illegal. It may also be a deliberate attempt on the part of the artist to get viewers to realize how tightly they are policing themselves by getting them to notice how they feel when they see something that goes beyond the boundaries of what the Patriot Act has now defined as legitimate/legal speech and thought. In which case, I suppose the arrival of the Secret Service guys just makes the viewing experience that much more complete.

If the SS wants to investigate threats, I would suggest they send someone down to DeLay's office, or to Cornyn's, or out to the Confronting the Judicial War on Faith conference, where people are openly talking about violent retribution against justices, and not in a museum setting either.

@#$!,

The Plaid Adder

[UdoKier]

17. It implies that doing so would be a "Patriotic Act"

Not that I have a problem with that...

[smoogatz]

19. Quite a stretch

from there to making a threat, IMO--even an implied one. This sounds like plain old harrassment to me.

[UdoKier]

21. Well, I don't object to their looking into it - that's their job

They have to take everything seriously. But I have no problem with the artwork, not even a tiny bit. I wish that posters like that were plastered on every alleyway all over the country.

The people need inspiration in these times.

[meegbear]

7. They showed another set of stamps on the tele ...

it was a row series showing a plane going into the WTC.

[jobycom]

8. Heheh. Maybe the Secret Service just needed a chuckle, too.

Could you imagine working for that piece of filth knowing you had to take a bullet for him?

[dbt]

11. Oh, please.

Clinton suffered worse than this on a daily basis for two terms and then some. The "Where's Lee Harvey Oswald when you need him?" bumper stickers leap immediately to mind.

"Poppy, make them STOP!"

[WearyOne]

12. did they buy any art ?

[Toucano]

13. I like art to be provocative.

This is very provocative. The image makes me very uncomfortable.

[UdoKier]

18. Funny, didn't make me uncomfortable at all.

Gave me a kind of warm feeling inside.

[zbdent]

15. Too bad they didn't show the original picture

Of Rove holding the gun and saying

"Hey, George, just think. The sympathy vote will totally kill the Dems in a landslide. Now, you would want that for Unca Dickie, wouldn't you? Come on . . ."

Taken in the lowest point of 43's popularity . . .

[ariellyn]

16. This should have been checked out...the same would have been

done if it were Clinton or any other president. (And I use the term "president" very loosely when I refer to **.)

[smoogatz]

20. You think?

What's to check out. I really don't see even a veiled threat here.

[tx_dem41]

22. What do you see, then? n/t

[smoogatz]

23. A comment. Wishful thinking.

But that's not the same as making a threat. A threat is the expression of the intention to do harm. I don't see that in this image--do you?

[tx_dem41]

24. I don't think the Secret Service cares about the dictionary definition of

"threat". I apply my "Substitute Clinton for Bush" rule. They should check it out IMO.

[smoogatz]

25. Them artists is a violent bunch, all right.

Got to watch 'em like a hawk. Good thing there's no legitimate national security threats to worry about.