Since we failed to bring you a “Stupid Thing of the Week” last week, we’re presenting two of them this week in hopes that you will forgive us our trespasses, etc.
This particular, unbelievably stupid thing comes from Colorado, where federal prison officials have determined that a federal inmate may not read any books by President Obama. The reason? Prison officials say the FBI told them that some passages in both of Obama’s books “contain information that could damage national security.” The inmate in question is Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who is serving a 30-year sentence for joining al-Qaida and plotting to kill then-President George W. Bush. Maybe the feds are afraid Ali would find out deep secrets about American foreign policy from books written by Obama well before he became President. Nah, that doesn’t make sense. Unless you’re a federal prison official, in which case, apparently it does. I have no sympathy for an al-Qaida member, but come on, this is just plain goofy.
The prisoner’s lawyer, Joshua Dratel, told reporters, “Imagine an existence controlled by characters created by Lewis Carroll [author of Alice in Wonderland], and that would approach that which Mr. Abu Ali faces each day for the duration of his sentence.” And on that happy note, have a great weekend – and if you’re planning to do anything that might land you in federal prison, bring your own books with you.
This article appears in Jul 7-14, 2009.
