Hi, 911? I see somebody using a map!

Dang, Chicago, I thought you were cool. Much cooler than Boston, which goes all flaky at the sight of illuminated cartoon characters.
Turns out Chicago is giving Boston a run for its money in terms of silly security. This Winter Holdiay Public Awareness bulletin reads, in part:

It is important to immediately report any or all of the below suspect activities…
Physical Surveillance (note taking, binocular use, cameras, video, maps) …

I’ll grant that some of the other stuff seems reasonable to report. But…c’mon…maps? This is just goofy. I’m tired of these petty attempts at turning normal urban people into a surveillance network. Those who should make our nation a beacon of freedom are doing the work of those who would see this nation fall. They should take a break, go watch Brazil, or read Farthing, and I hope the clue stick hits ’em on the way out.
And I should have known better about Chicago, after Daley had Meigs field bulldozed in the middle of the night back in 2003. Meigs lives on in my memory as the home field for the subLOGIC flight simulator that lived on the Commodore 64 in the basement of my youth. I kinda miss it, in all its 8-bit, 3-frames-per-second glory.
(A tip of the tuque to Boingboing for the security bulletin link)