WAR AGAINST PHOTOGRAPHY UPDATE: Police Chief Jim McDonnell has confirmed that detaining photographers for taking pictures “with no apparent esthetic value” is within Long Beach Police Department policy.

Send Chief McDonnell a copy of Morgan Manning’s article on photographers’ rights.

UPDATE: Reader Steven Hupp makes the inevitable no-apparent-esthetic-value joke: “So, it’s probably been said already, but would I be detained if I took a picture of Chief Jim McDonnell?”