Damn, I seem to be poking at these guys a lot lately. Somehow that seems stupid. They're just guys with a job to do, and Bush makes them do all kinds of things I'm sure they don't enjoy. The Cold War is over and now they've set their sights inward... to you and me. I hate that when that happens. So, fuck `em.
FBI Intelligence Bulletin #89
Now, I don't' want any nutbag anarchists screwing with a bomb dog's ability to sniff out something that could kill people. I hope that not one living thing gets one scratch on them during the RNC protests. At the same time, we need to remain vigilant against actions that purposely lower our level of comfort when it comes to exercising our rights as citizens... like the right to assemble and protest when we're being screwed.
Luckily, Tony D. and his posse are watching out for the rights of all Americans... regardless of their politics. It just so happens that Republicans are freedom-hating assholes, so it seems like we're picking on them.
August 16, 2004
Calls on Individuals to Report FBI Interrogations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
According to reports from ACLU offices, law enforcement officials throughout the U.S. have been monitoring the daily activities of various activists they believe are planning to protest major national political events, including the upcoming Republican National Convention in New York, which is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of protesters. In the days leading up to the Democratic National Convention, officials identifying themselves as JTTF agents made "visits" to the homes of several activists as well as their friends and family members.
In Missouri, three young men in their early 20's were subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury on July 29, the same day they planned on protesting the Democratic convention. The men, who planned to drive to Boston with an activist group based in St. Louis, first realized they were being targeted by the FBI when agents visited the homes of their parents a week before the subpoenas. In addition to asking about easily accessible information such as current addresses, the agents also asked the parents for information on their sons' political activities.
----snip----
"These young men are quite terrified by the experience of being targeted by the Joint Terrorism Task Force because of their protest activities," said Denise Lieberman, Legal Director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri. "The FBI interrogations have had a chilling effect on free speech."
I don't want to live in that country, do you? Do we really have to go through this exercise every 50 years or so?
sigh