This morning, we learn that the FBI has admitted to using provisions of the Patriot Act to assemble massive files on liberal activist groups and individual liberal activists. The true extent of the FBI’s domestic spying programs are not yet known, but so far the FBI has admitted to assembling a file of 1,173 pages on the lawful activities of the ACLU, a 2,383-page file on Greenpeace, and and similar files on groups and individuals who planned peaceful political protests outside the Republican presidential convention last year.
It seems that, under the control of the Republican Party, the FBI has decided that criticism of President Bush is a crime worthy of extensive investigation. Most ominous of all, Republican officials in the FBI have concluded that criticism of George W. Bush is a form of terrorism. The files on liberal activists were compiled in cooperation with the Bush Administration’s Join Terrorism Task Force, and with the FBI’s counterterrorism unit.
While Osama Bin Laden was still on the loose, and terrorists in Iraq were chopping off Americans’ heads, what was the Bush Administration doing? It was sending out FBI anti-terrorist spies to snoop around at the ACLU to see if any terrorists were hanging out there. The ACLU spends most of its time doing two things: 1) Defending people’s constitutional rights in the courtroom; and 2) Sending out newsletters about the importance of defending people’s constitutional rights. If that’s terrorism, then I’m a terrorist.
As far as the FBI counterterrorism unit is concerned, I am a terrorist, and you probably are too. Why? We’re a bunch of liberals who have dared to criticize President George W. Bush. Just keep this in mind any time a Bush Administration official talks about a new “anti-terrorist” law: The FBI has decided that anti-bush is equivalent to being a terrorist. Substitute the word “liberal” for “terrorist”, and you can see what the Bush Administration is really up to in its effort to renew the Patriot Act.
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so be it! honestly, i’d rather be considered a “terrorist” than to stand by and condone the actions of this administration, or heaven forbid, applauad it. i know flag waving is all the rage on capital hill, but, i’m hoping some of our senators and congressmen will start to see the light and act in the real interests of the people. when ordinary citizens are made out to be terrorists, when “liberal” goes from being a dirty word to a crime, and when people are afraid to even tell a joke that taints dubya’s glowing image, it has got to be time to reconsider the patriotism of these patriots.
If, indeed, this is happening in the country that I love, in flagrant disregard for the constitution that I spent ten years of my life serving to “uphold and defend”; I sincerely hope that everyone that has posted on this site is aware that they, too, are on some government list as a “terrorist”…I only demand that the sonsofbitches have the common decency (an alien term to them) to spell my name correctly:
Michael G. Halvorsen…thank you and fuck the spirit of J. Edgar Hoover….Nyaaaa!!!
Mike, I would say “Ditto!” to that sentiment, and J. Clifford’s, but you know what a negative connotation that word has now…God I hate when they fuck with the language. As Randy pointed out Liberal=Criminal.
Yours in crime,
Laura (I’m sure they can get the rest…Hello guys!)
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