AltWeeklies Wire

Pasties in Public? Not in Colorado Springsnew

Turns out the city's public indecency ordinance prohibits exposure of the "genitals or buttocks of either sex or the breast or breasts of a female." Lt. David Whitlock, a police department spokesman, says officers twice asked the women to either put on shirts or leave the park. "That is a proper interpretation [of the law]," he says. "The only statutory defense is breast-feeding."
Colorado Springs Independent  |  Anthony Lane  |  08-01-2008  |  Civil Liberties

Political Humor is No Longer Welcome in Academianew

For close to two decades, academia has been in the grips of a political-correctness fury that has strangled the sense of humor that was once the campus's best-known calling card. So if you're wondering why Barack Obama had such a surprisingly negative reaction to that New Yorker cover, consider the Harvard Factor.
Boston Phoenix  |  Harvey Silverglate  |  07-31-2008  |  Civil Liberties

Federal Raid on Iranian Charity Stokes Debate About Tightened Bush Sanctionsnew

Two weeks after federal agents raided the largest Iranian charity in Oregon, employees at Child Foundation have regained possession of their seized cell phones and fax machines. But the feds are still holding the charity's computers and remaining silent about the reasons behind a raid that's alarmed many Iranians.
Willamette Week  |  James Pitkin  |  07-31-2008  |  Civil Liberties

Trying Out a 'Sonic Cannon'new

Watch out for police agencies in your area seeking to buy LRADs -- long range acoustic devices. They're not nearly as benign as cops make them out to be.
Portland Phoenix  |  Jeff Inglis  |  07-17-2008  |  Civil Liberties

Remembering Rev. Louis Colemannew

"I can't think of a time I didn't know Louis Coleman," says Raoul Cunningham, president of the Louisville NAACP. The pair grew up together and while Cunningham says he participated in Louisville's sit-in movement as a teenager in the 1960s, Coleman didn’t join the civil rights movement until later in life.
LEO Weekly  |  Phillip M. Bailey  |  07-14-2008  |  Civil Liberties

Pride & patriotismnew

The fight for the right to serve
Creative Loafing (Atlanta)  |  Scott Freeman  |  07-03-2008  |  Civil Liberties

Mass Gun Laws Now Target for Debatenew

Good news, Bostonians: you can own guns! The bad news: so can your weird neighbor.
Boston Phoenix  |  Kim Liao  |  07-03-2008  |  Civil Liberties

Taking a Shot at the Supreme Courtnew

This past week's Supreme Court ruling, invalidating Washington, DC's handgun ban, demonstrates just how far afield "movement conservatism" has taken our country.
Boston Phoenix  |  Editorial  |  07-03-2008  |  Civil Liberties

Why is Homeland Security Watching Eugene's Activists?new

The Department of Homeland Security's monitoring of a peaceful anti-pesticide group led to the arrest and violent Tasering of a 19-year-old university student by local police.
Eugene Weekly  |  Camilla Mortensen  |  06-26-2008  |  Civil Liberties

The 2008 Muzzles: Collegiate Divisionnew

In reality, college campuses are home to some of the most outrageous cases of censorship.
Boston Phoenix  |  Harvey Silverglate  |  06-26-2008  |  Civil Liberties

The 2008 Phoenix Muzzle Awardsnew

Freedom of expression may be guaranteed by the Constitution, but it's an idea we have to fight for every day. We round up the past year's most conspicuous enemies.
Boston Phoenix  |  Dan Kennedy  |  06-26-2008  |  Civil Liberties

Is Being Naked in the Public Square a Crime?new

In the finest Puritan tradition, Middlesex District Attorney Gerald Leone is crusading to save Harvard Square from the shock and awe of the nude human form. The next act of this absurd political-theater production will return to Cambridge District Court this Friday, at considerable expense to taxpayers.
Boston Phoenix  |  Harvey Silverglate and James F. Tierney  |  06-26-2008  |  Civil Liberties

One of Our Drummers Is Missingnew

Musician Vicente Lebron, born in the Dominican Republic, but has lived in the US for 38 years. During that time, he's traveled freely with his band, the Either/Orchestra. He has a Green Card. But now he's detained and held incommunicado by Homeland Security.
Boston Phoenix  |  David S. Bernstein  |  06-26-2008  |  Civil Liberties

Score: Constitution 5, Gulags 4new

The supreme court's recent decision not only restored habeas-corpus rights to enemy combatants, but gave all of us one our most important civil-liberty victories to date.
Boston Phoenix  |  Harvey Silverglate  |  06-19-2008  |  Civil Liberties

A Night in Guantánamonew

I'd volunteered to spend the night in the replica cell (which is modeled on the ones at Gitmo) because we've all heard stories about unlivable conditions at Gitmo but can't come close to imagining what it must be like.
Portland Phoenix  |  Jeff Inglis  |  06-12-2008  |  Civil Liberties

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