Let’s hit a couple of quick local items first. A little more detail on the latest version of that housing development called Wildwood Ridge, next door to Lake Wildwood. Because of its size, 352 lots, this proposal triggers a county requirement for inclusion of some "affordable" units, whatever that means. What it means to this particular developer is building a few two-story garages with apartments on the top, which the proposal says would rent for $650 a month. That is, of course, if the owner actually chooses to rent it out. The rest of the "affordable" housing in this proposal consists of 24 duplexes, each unit of which would sell for something in the neighborhood of $300,000. It’s still a little hazy, but I think we’re starting to get an idea of what "affordable" means.

And I wanted to mention the stir about painting a new mural on the back side of the Del Oro Theater building in Grass Valley. Not that you can depict artwork on the radio, but the city has commissioned a highly regarded mural artist named John Pugh, and The Union published a picture of the preliminary design. Naturally, it’s a mining theme, but everyone’s an art critic. People have been steaming about it in letters published by The Union. One guy even said that it should be seen as advertising, not art. He didn’t mean advertising for a product; he meant advertising for the city. I just wanted to check in on the side of art in public places. I like the preliminary design, but like most art critics, I don’t know much about art. Good art has to be better advertising for the city than simple illustration, however. Everything gets a little old when you look at it every day, but I’d rather get tired of a good mural than the plain back of a painted building.

I believe cartoons qualify as art, and we need a little follow up on the Muhammed cartoon riots which haven’t stopped. The best analysis being written about the story says it’s not that the Islamic people are so offended by the cartoons; it’s that they’re using the cartoons as a symbol for their perception that western society is dumping on them in a big way. It’s pent up anger spilling over, but at the same time, there’s a backlash in Europe. There’s a feeling among Aryan Europeans that they’ve been accommodating, tolerant and even deferential to Islamic immigrants, and now there’s a backlash because of the extreme response to the cartoons. You might say the events have created a feeling that the term Islamic extremist is redundant. Political correctness is history.

In turn, these reactions are frustrating for Muslims who are trying to live harmoniously in places outside the middle east. Travus T. Hipp suggested that a sectarian world war may be brewing. If so, I think the Christians have a significant advantage in firepower. If we’re going to put it in sectarian terms, and maybe we should, the Christians would be the predators and the Muslims would be the prey. They can sneak in a retaliatory blow once in a while, but mostly they have to hide in a cave like bin Laden.

Islam isn’t the only major religion currently being offended by art. A guy named Maqbool Fida Hussein, reportedly the most famous artist in India, gave to a charity auction a map depicting India as a nude woman. This inspired numerous protests by Hindu groups, one of which burned Hussein in effigy. The artist withdrew the painting from the auction and issued a public apology.

And I think this story also is related. We mentioned a few weeks ago how Microsoft was cooperating with the government of China in censoring Internet content. Yahoo is taking the concept a little further. It appears that Yahoo gave up Emails and other personal information on a Chinese client enabling the government to throw the guy in jail for "inciting subversion."

Free speech is under vigorous attack on all fronts around the world. Folks say the Internet is the place where free speech flourishes, and it is. People can say anything they want, electronically, and they say the most outrageous things imaginable, but at the same time, it’s never been easier for those who are so inclined to smack you down for speaking freely. Everything you say electronically can be eavesdropped by someone who doesn’t want you to say it.

The electronic mine field isn’t just people snooping on what you say. A hacker who hasn’t been caught yet slipped into the system of a Northern California retailer–as yet unidentified by the media–and came up with the PINs for about 200,000 Bank of America debit card holders, then started distributing them all around the world. In the immortal words of David Allan Coe, "The safe just aint safe anymore." It makes you think the only way to conduct your business is in cash, but that stuff is rapidly going out of style. A friend told me recently that he thinks the day is coming soon when there will be no more coin and currency. When that day comes, someone will be monitoring every transaction you make. It sure will be tough to deal in illegal substances. Bartering will be back in style in a big way. "How about a crate of peaches and ten pounds of tomatoes for a bag of your home grown weed?"

The Bushwhacker says he knows about an al Queda plot to knock down a tall building in Los Angeles with hijacked airliners back in 2002. Why do you suppose he’d bring this up now? I’ve almost forgotten about wiretapping already. And Cindy Sheehan decided not to run for the U.S. Senate against Dianne Feinstein. Says she can be more effective from the outside than from the inside. It’s unlikely she’d have gotten inside, anyway, but she could have made the election campaign a lot more fun to watch.

Local Views of the Gnus will be back next week, unless I decide to accept the invitation to go hunting with Dick Cheney.