Artist's 'fantasy passports' confiscated at airport

[DustMolecule]

CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) -- Fake passports created by an Austrian artist for a contemporary museum exhibit were confiscated at an airport after a customs agent thought they might be harmful if imported, government and museum officials said Tuesday.

"I think it says a lot about the condition of our world today, that everyone is understandably on the alert," saiddirector Linda Shearer.

The items were supposed to be included in the museum's exhibit titled "State of Sabotage," which focuses on government or corporate power over the individual, Shearer said.

The items belonged to an art group headed by Vienna artist Robert Jelinek, and included what the government described as "fantasy passports," along with ink pads, rubber stamps and ink. They were taken from Jelinek's luggage February 9 in Detroit as he headed for Cincinnati.

More: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/16/fake.passports.ap/index.html

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Wish there was a photo of the 'fantasy passports'. I wonder just how realistic (or not) they were.

[DulceDecorum]

1. Mohammed Atta is reputed to have used a fantasy passport

from the Conch Republic.

"Conch Republic" passports are sold in Key West for the sum of $109. If you have paid any more than $109 for a "Conch Republic" passport, you are the victim of fraud. If you paid money believing that you were to receive a valid travel document in return, then you are a victim of fraud. The "Conch Republic" passport does not give you any rights to enter the United States. The US Embassy in New Delhi, India, states that "Conch Republic" passports are sold for $900 over the Internet.
http://www.passportinfo.com/conch.htm

The Conch Republic was established by secession of the Florida Keys from the United States of America, on April 23rd, 1982 in response to a United States Border Patrol Blockade setup on highway U.S.1 at Florida City just to the north of the Florida Keys. This heinous act effectively isolated Keys Citizens from the U.S. mainland since the blockade was on our only land artery to and from the mainland. This roadblock portrayed Keys residents as non-U.S. citizens who had to prove their citizenship in order to drive onto the Florida mainland! Hardly an American thing to do!

We protested! A totally American thing to do! Key West Mayor Dennis Wardlow along with a few other 'key' Conchs, went to Federal court in Miami to seek an injunction to stop the federal blockade, but to no avail. Upon leaving the Federal Court House , on the court house steps , Mayor Wardlow announced to the world, by way of the assembled TV crews and reporters, that ; "Tomorrow at noon the Florida Keys will secede from the Union!"

At noon, on the day of secession, at Mallory Square in Key West Florida, Mayor Wardlow read the proclamation of secession and proclaimed aloud that the Conch Republic was an independent nation separate from the U.S. and then symbolically began the Conch Republic's Civil Rebellion by breaking a loaf of stale Cuban bread over the head of a man dressed in a U.S. Navy uniform. After one minute of rebellion, the now, Prime Minister Wardlow turned to the Admiral in charge of the Navy Base at Key West, and surrendered to the Union Forces, and demanded 1 Billion dollars in foreign aid and War Relief to rebuild our nation after the long Federal siege!

Thus began our Conch Republic journey which still continues today! We are both Conchs and we are Americans and we are proud to be both. By act of Congress we hold dual citizenship as Conchs and as Americans and will fight for the right to be both!
http://www.conchrepublic.com/history.htm

[DustMolecule]

2. LOL - So, THAT's how he (Atta) did it !

Another great mystery solved... :crazy: ;-)