January 11, 2005

• This is insane. A good post, if frightening.
• Best wishes for Mr. Kurtz. That's one damn raw deal.
• So what are they going to charge these guys with once they determine that there's no mail/wire fraud? I'm sure they'll be some other ridiculous charge brought against them. I should clean out my refrigerator. I'm sure I've got stuff growing in there that could be considered a public health threat. How long before forgetting about that pot roast makes you a bioterrorist?
• MsVader, agreed, the pot roast scenario may be a frightening possibility, and now not beyond the bounds of imagination. The whole Kurtz situation seems to be what one would have supposed to be too far-fetched even for fiction only a few years ago. The limits and full extent of the Patriot Act have yet to be revealed, it seems.
• Does anyone own a castor-oil plant?
• Careful, I think the castor situation might be similar to that of poppies. Possession plus knowledge = guilt
• Steve Kurtz' hearing has been postponed until February.
• Hearing delayed again.
• "It [meaning the case against him{ was designed by the Justice Department to intimidate other intellectuals and artists, that this is a time of great anti-intellectualism", said Steven Kurtz on Wednesday. Alas, unable to link to sources, which are various New York tv stations.
• Update.
• Kurtz to be tried tomorrow...unless it's delayed again.
• More on the ongoing Kurtz and Ferrell predicament from their defense fund's site.
• When Taste Politics Meet Terror
• An excellent essay on the new climate of fear in the US as well as on the Kurtz affair. ))), homunculus!!!
• thanks, homunculus, for that excellent link. puts everything in perspective and gives a lot more background than I'd seen otherwise.
• Federal judge gives the go-ahead to Kurtz case
• Good find, homunculus! This is certainly all of a piece with former prosecutuon of this artist, in what many feel is an attempt by the feds to intimidate/discourage artists being critical of the admnistration.
• We may not hear much more of this until September if estimates of an eight-month delay before a trial is set are correct. In the meantime, Kurtz has been put through hell in direct contravention of common sense. Dick Cheney gets to shoot someone in the face, his aide gets to lie about the Plame blame; Bush gets to go to war with a country which didn't attack his, gets to condone torture and hold prisoners in violation of international law and break treaties which the US has signed, and on and on ad infinitum, seemingly. I draw the comparison just in case anyone still suffers from the illusion there is the slightest vestige of justice or proibity remaining in the US government these days. ...Hey, Dude! see how everyone's been screwed! take a sack of shit and make him president ...
• .
• The link to the CTheory article above doesn't work anymore. Here's a working link.
• Evidently, this travesty of a case is still hanging fire. The government made a federal case out of it on insufficient and irrational grounds, but seems afraid to drop it now ... could it be in the name of anti-terrorism?
• Video of biotech artist awaiting trial
• RU Sirius interviews Steve Kurtz
• In actual biodefense/bioterrorism news: Monkey Bites, Needle Pokes, Dropped Bottles: Biodefense Accidents On the Rise
• Mail harmless bacteria, go to jail
• Charges against artist Steve Kurtz thrown out FINALLY!