What would Illustrators' Partnership stand to gain from making up a non-existent issue? At the very least, Mark Simon has done something unprecedented: he shook artists out of apathy. Even with the Patriot Act imposed upon everyone most working artists just shrugged and went back to their desks. It took this to get them to their senses that inaction against measures is very much like consensual rape: you asked for it. You can call Mark cuckoo all you want but even a broken clock is right twice a day.