Liberty's Blog

Keeping Us Safe from Photo Terrorist.

HouDog finds that theHomeland is secure in downtown Houston. I rememember before 9/11 when we were a free country and photographing public places was perfectly legal.

I was downtown the other day when I spotted a little hidden-away park I had never seen. Being the opportunist, I circled the block - found an open parking meter - grabbed my camera - and headed to take some shots.

While waiting for the light to change so I could cross the street to the park, I decided to check the settings on my camera. I did this by taking a shot of a nearby building and then adjusting the settings. Well, I had just snapped my second picture and was changing the settings when a non-descript black SUV cut across three lanes of traffic and pulled in front of me. The tinted window slid down smoothly to reveal a man holding a badge in my direction asking, "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Well, with a pretty high pucker factor, I said, "Sure."

The man asked, "What are you taking pictures of?"

"Nothing yet... I am going across the street to that park to take some shots."

"We get a little nervous when we see someone taking pictures of buildings," he stated and asked for my ID.

I handed him my license and he quizzed me as to its contents... "Are you from Texas?"

"Uh, yeah.... Houston," I responded wondering if this really ever catches bad guys in a lie.

I wonder if there is any potential for actually finding and stopping a terrorist this way. Can they hold and arrest someone who doesn't wish to co-operate? It's still legal to take picures on the streets of America. We wonder if Barney Fife isn't just a local phenomenon in Texas City. It looks like he has a national presense

posted by Liberty @ 6:36 AM