It looks like the feds are starting to abuse the PATRIOT Act

I came across this by following Ayn Clouter around. I started with her post here, then went to their main page where I saw this. A little Googling brought me to this article in the Houston Chronicle:

Biological art raises specter of terrorism
By CAROLYN THOMPSON
Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Steve Kurtz's artworks look more like science projects than museum pieces. They offer social commentary along with objects such as corn plants and bacteria-filled petri dishes.

"It's not pictures on the wall," said Adele Henderson, head of the art department at the University at Buffalo, where Kurtz teaches.

And it's certainly not terrorism, the artist's friends say.

Last month, agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force searched Kurtz's house after police who been called to his home to investigate his wife's death became alarmed when they found biological materials.

Kurtz says the material was for his art. But the stuff police found -- one of Kurtz's colleagues said it included lab equipment used for DNA extraction and amplification, as well as three types of bacteria -- was enough to trigger fears of bioterrorism.

Crews in protective suits spent two days removing materials from his Buffalo home. Testing for ricin, anthrax and plague turned up negative, according to the Erie County Health Department, which has since pronounced the home safe.

No charges were brought against Kurtz. Earlier this week, however, three of Kurtz's colleagues were subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury.

Kurtz has declined to comment. His attorney, Paul Cambria, did not return calls.

Officials with the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo would not discuss the investigation.

Just so you know, here is a description of Kurtz's art (pictures available at that link):

Molecular Invasion

The current neo- and endocolonial initiatives by corporations attempting to consolidate the food chain and its markets from the molecular level on up presents anti-capitalist activists with a new biological front that requires a new set of tactical responses. Currently, activists are relying on traditional methods and means for slowing the corporate molecular invasion. While such activities are useful, they are also insufficient in and of themselves. Current radical practices, such as luddite oriented sabotage, seem to do more damage to the movement than to corporations. In our presentation, CAE will suggest new tactics and strategies that could be used to challenge corporate authority on the _molecular level_. CAE hopes to demonstrate that there is no place (physical, virtual, or molecular) that biotech corporations can act uncontested. By appropriating and reverse engineering corporate tools, resistant culture can effectively and efficiently fight the profit machine where ever it may reveal itself.

Now, I am not inclined to agree with Mr. Kurtz's politics and his fears - I think the Precautionary Principle is over-hyped - but I believe in the whole Bill of Rights, all ten Amendments, and it looks like the Feds are abusing the First in this case.

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