Washington Post Didn't Get it Right

You know the Klyde Morris cartoon that Wes Oleszewski drew for Aero-News last week (with a follow-on, Monday), the one explaining the characteristically-lousy cartoon portrayal of the FAA building? Remember how the hero-ant, Klyde Morris, noted that he was accosted by FAA security, and told that he couldn't take a picture of it?

Well, the Washington Post picked up on the story behind the cartoon, and, although their reporter didn't get it right (he consistently referred to Klyde's artist, Wes Oleszewski, as "Morris"), the incident got at least a few folks asking what kind of insanity this represents.

The reporter, Don Phillips, suggested that, since Klyde is often pointing out the stupidity and heavy-handedness of the FAA, this particular incident might have been a "counterattack."

The bad news is, there was a lot of discussion -- serious discussion -- of whether it should be illegal to take photos of federal buildings, from the sidewalk!

The Post says Wes would have not had the problem, if only he had gone to the FAA's website for a photo. In other words, if Wes had gone through channels, he could have looked at a government-cleared photo. The Post thus implied that Oleszewski might have had other reasons for wanting to take that photo. Hmmm...

[Perhaps the federal government will get the message: it's the government that is unpopular, not the American people. Perhaps the government could get more in line with the American people -- the freedom-loving, live-and-let-live, friendly and intelligent folks we are. Perhaps then the government wouldn't need to be so blinking paranoid, that its full-benefit goons are willing and authorized to accost cartoonists --ed.]

"When they came for the cartoonists, I said nothing, because I was not a cartoonist..."

FMI: www.klydemorris.com