and more ill eagle fuckery not to say i told you so but damm here is the truth
Documents Shed New Light on Pentagon Surveillance of Peace Activists (10/12/2006)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: [email]media@aclu.org[/email]
Defense Department Tracked Quakers, Student Groups
NEW YORK -- Documents released today by the American Civil Liberties Union reveal new details of Pentagon surveillance of Americans opposed to the Iraq war, including Quakers and student groups. The documents show that the Pentagon was keeping tabs on non-violent protesters by collecting information and storing it in a military anti-terrorism database.
"There is simply no reason why the United States military should be monitoring the peaceful activities of American citizens who oppose U.S. war policies," said ACLU attorney Ben Wizner. "When information about non-violent protest activity is included in a military anti-terrorism database, all Americans should be concerned about the unchecked authority this administration has seized in the name of fighting terrorism."
The documents come in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the ACLU earlier this year after evidence surfaced that the Pentagon was secretly conducting surveillance of protest activities, anti-war organizations and groups opposed to military recruitment policies. The Pentagon shared the information with other government agencies through the Threat and Local Observation Notice (TALON) database.
The TALON database was intended to track groups or individuals with links to terrorism, but the documents released today show that the Pentagon gathered information on anti-war protesters using sources from the Department of Homeland Security, local police departments and FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces.
Among the documents are reports on protest activities across the country organized or supported by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker peace group. The source for the information is identified as "a special agent of the federal protective service, U.S. Department of Homeland Security," who is apparently on the AFSC e-mail list.
One document, which is labeled "potential terrorist activity," lists events such as a "Stop the War NOW!" rally in Akron, Ohio on March 19, 2005. The source noted that the rally "will have a March and Reading of Names of War Dead" and that marchers would pass a military recruitment station and the local FBI office along the way.
Also included in the documents is information on a series of protests mistakenly identified as taking place in Springfield, Illinois (the protests actually occurred in Springfield, Massachusetts). According to the document, "Source received an e-mail from the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), e-mail address: [REDACTED] that stated that on March 18-20, a series of protest actions were planned in the Springfield, IL area??? to focus on actions at military recruitment offices with the goals to include: raising awareness, education, visibility in community, visibility to recruiters as part of a national day of action."
"Spying on citizens for merely executing their constitutional rights of free speech and peaceful assembly is chilling and marks a troubling trend," said Joyce Miller, AFSC Assistant General Secretary for Justice and Human Rights. "Our country is built upon a system of checks and balances. The Pentagon???s actions violate the rule of law and strike a severe blow against our Constitution."
Another document provides further details of surveillance of a protest planned by the Broward Anti-War Coalition during the Fort Lauderdale Air & Sea Show, which was previously revealed in an NBC news report. The document released today reveals that the Miami-Dade Police Department provided the Defense Department with information on the protest, and that the U.S. Army Recruiting Command and the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Miami were also briefed on the planned protest, which was intended to "counter military recruitment and the ???pro-war??? message with ???guerrilla theater and other forms of subversive propaganda.???"
The ACLU said it is concerned that the Defense Department cites acts of civil disobedience and vandalism as cause to label anti-war protests as "radical" and potential terrorist threats in some of the TALON reports. In a document listing upcoming Atlanta area protests by the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition, the Pentagon - citing the Department of Homeland Security as its source - states that the Students for Peace and Justice network poses a threat to DOD personnel.
To support that claim, the TALON report cites previous acts of civil disobedience in California and Texas, including sit-ins, disruptions at recruitment offices and street theater. Describing one protest in Austin, Texas, the document notes: "The protesters blocked the entrance to the recruitment office with two coffins, one draped with an American flag and the other covered with an Iraqi flag, taped posters on the window of the office and chanted, ???No more war and occupation. You don???t have to die for an education.???"
"The Pentagon has gone too far in collecting information on Americans who pose no real threat to national security," said Wizner. "It is an abuse of power and an abuse of trust for the military to play any role in monitoring critics of administration policies."
my approach is first thought purest thought no editor just gut instinct
This approach doesn't usually make for the most well-reasoned arguments. Sometimes you actually need to think about something before writing or speaking.
like it or not i don't think or wriet like mos t kid z
You remind me of a few people I met in college. Bad stream-of-consciousness is bad stream-of-consciousness.
thanks professor jazzercise your literary opinion and extensive published works proceed you.
the thread was og about kevin tillman not my writing style or lack of interestingly it has morphed into yet another attack on my speling and opiniions kea zy keyze kesey keasey
he would be happy i am upsetting you all and your little rules there are no rules and your reality is not mine
funny how there is zero margin for spelling error or opinion or individuality in this so called "forum"
if it were face to face conversation instead of some protracted digital approximation of a conversation i think people would handle my spelling errors and my opinion a bit differently i am glad to offend narrow minded stuffed shirt assholes who think they are gods gift to the pen who the fuck are you? i am supposed to be in awe because you write for wax po or graduated Berkley? i came from the school of hard knocks i am lucky i can read and write at all fucking academic funkologists who have 0 street cred but report on it anyway
for the record if you don't like my opinion or the way i write block me as a user
I like this guy....
However, the letter was heartfelt... Lotsa real words spoken here. I do concur with many things in it. It is not nearly enough to move most Americans in to action. They will continue to work their shitty jobs for bum paychecks and sit in their recliner while the cable TV washes over them in waves of lies, media manipulation and escapism.
i agree with some of your points, if im reading them right. but in your approach you try to hard to shock people, and you sound ignorant.
sabadababada returns.
The word ignorant is certainly one that often gets bandied about and abused, most especially amongst the P.C. You're confusing the word with harshness and lack of compassion.
i agree with some of your points, if im reading them right. but in your approach you try to hard to shock people, and you sound ignorant.
sabadababada returns.
The word ignorant is certainly one that often gets bandied about and abused, most especially amongst the P.C. You're confusing the word with harshness and lack of compassion.
I dunno... I just re-read his response to the letter. It is harsh but not off the mark. I agree with it. It does suck that it happened, of course. I think things like this should be a wake-up call to all the douchebags who put those stupid fucking ribbon magnets on their cars and the "support our troops" bullshit. I hope upon hope these dumb redneck fucks think twice before engaging in blind patriotism and take their "these colors don't run" blinders off. People need to question authority....now more than ever.
i agree with some of your points, if im reading them right. but in your approach you try to hard to shock people, and you sound ignorant.
sabadababada returns.
The word ignorant is certainly one that often gets bandied about and abused, most especially amongst the P.C. You're confusing the word with harshness and lack of compassion.
I dunno... I just re-read his response to the letter. It is harsh but not off the mark. I agree with it. It does suck that it happened, of course. I think things like this should be a wake-up call to all the douchebags who put those stupid fucking ribbon magnets on their cars and the "support our troops" bullshit. I hope upon hope these dumb redneck fucks think twice before engaging in blind patriotism and take their "these colors don't run" blinders off. People need to question authority....now more than ever.
agree.
good letter though. the more i hear about pat tillman, the more respect i have for him, though. that dude walked away from lots of money to live his ideals. thankfully, he wasnt the rambo patriot that the administration tried to make him out to be, but an intelligent, selfless individual.
i feel kala's frustration though. but for a lot of soldiers, its more about opportunity for a job, benefits and college tuition.
Comments
not to say i told you so but damm here is the truth
Documents Shed New Light on Pentagon Surveillance of Peace Activists (10/12/2006)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: [email]media@aclu.org[/email]
Defense Department Tracked Quakers, Student Groups
NEW YORK -- Documents released today by the American Civil Liberties Union reveal new details of Pentagon surveillance of Americans opposed to the Iraq war, including Quakers and student groups. The documents show that the Pentagon was keeping tabs on non-violent protesters by collecting information and storing it in a military anti-terrorism database.
"There is simply no reason why the United States military should be monitoring the peaceful activities of American citizens who oppose U.S. war policies," said ACLU attorney Ben Wizner. "When information about non-violent protest activity is included in a military anti-terrorism database, all Americans should be concerned about the unchecked authority this administration has seized in the name of fighting terrorism."
The documents come in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the ACLU earlier this year after evidence surfaced that the Pentagon was secretly conducting surveillance of protest activities, anti-war organizations and groups opposed to military recruitment policies. The Pentagon shared the information with other government agencies through the Threat and Local Observation Notice (TALON) database.
The TALON database was intended to track groups or individuals with links to terrorism, but the documents released today show that the Pentagon gathered information on anti-war protesters using sources from the Department of Homeland Security, local police departments and FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces.
Among the documents are reports on protest activities across the country organized or supported by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker peace group. The source for the information is identified as "a special agent of the federal protective service, U.S. Department of Homeland Security," who is apparently on the AFSC e-mail list.
One document, which is labeled "potential terrorist activity," lists events such as a "Stop the War NOW!" rally in Akron, Ohio on March 19, 2005. The source noted that the rally "will have a March and Reading of Names of War Dead" and that marchers would pass a military recruitment station and the local FBI office along the way.
Also included in the documents is information on a series of protests mistakenly identified as taking place in Springfield, Illinois (the protests actually occurred in Springfield, Massachusetts). According to the document, "Source received an e-mail from the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), e-mail address: [REDACTED] that stated that on March 18-20, a series of protest actions were planned in the Springfield, IL area??? to focus on actions at military recruitment offices with the goals to include: raising awareness, education, visibility in community, visibility to recruiters as part of a national day of action."
"Spying on citizens for merely executing their constitutional rights of free speech and peaceful assembly is chilling and marks a troubling trend," said Joyce Miller, AFSC Assistant General Secretary for Justice and Human Rights. "Our country is built upon a system of checks and balances. The Pentagon???s actions violate the rule of law and strike a severe blow against our Constitution."
Another document provides further details of surveillance of a protest planned by the Broward Anti-War Coalition during the Fort Lauderdale Air & Sea Show, which was previously revealed in an NBC news report. The document released today reveals that the Miami-Dade Police Department provided the Defense Department with information on the protest, and that the U.S. Army Recruiting Command and the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Miami were also briefed on the planned protest, which was intended to "counter military recruitment and the ???pro-war??? message with ???guerrilla theater and other forms of subversive propaganda.???"
The ACLU said it is concerned that the Defense Department cites acts of civil disobedience and vandalism as cause to label anti-war protests as "radical" and potential terrorist threats in some of the TALON reports. In a document listing upcoming Atlanta area protests by the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition, the Pentagon - citing the Department of Homeland Security as its source - states that the Students for Peace and Justice network poses a threat to DOD personnel.
To support that claim, the TALON report cites previous acts of civil disobedience in California and Texas, including sit-ins, disruptions at recruitment offices and street theater. Describing one protest in Austin, Texas, the document notes: "The protesters blocked the entrance to the recruitment office with two coffins, one draped with an American flag and the other covered with an Iraqi flag, taped posters on the window of the office and chanted, ???No more war and occupation. You don???t have to die for an education.???"
"The Pentagon has gone too far in collecting information on Americans who pose no real threat to national security," said Wizner. "It is an abuse of power and an abuse of trust for the military to play any role in monitoring critics of administration policies."
The documents released today are online at:
www.aclu.org/safefree/spying/27047lgl20060828.html (Florida protests)
www.aclu.org/safefree/spying/27046lgl20060912.html (Georgia, California and Texas protests)
www.aclu.org/safefree/spying/27045lgl20060912.html (AFSC protests in Massachusetts and Ohio)
More information on government surveillance of Americans is online at: www.aclu.org/spyfiles.
I like this guy....
However, the letter was heartfelt... Lotsa real words spoken here. I do concur with many things in it. It is not nearly enough to move most Americans in to action. They will continue to work their shitty jobs for bum paychecks and sit in their recliner while the cable TV washes over them in waves of lies, media manipulation and escapism.
Your critique of it, dude? Spectacular....
The word ignorant is certainly one that often gets bandied about and abused, most especially amongst the P.C. You're confusing the word with harshness and lack of compassion.
I dunno... I just re-read his response to the letter. It is harsh but not off the mark. I agree with it. It does suck that it happened, of course. I think things like this should be a wake-up call to all the douchebags who put those stupid fucking ribbon magnets on their cars and the "support our troops" bullshit. I hope upon hope these dumb redneck fucks think twice before engaging in blind patriotism and take their "these colors don't run" blinders off. People need to question authority....now more than ever.
agree.
good letter though. the more i hear about pat tillman, the more respect i have for him, though. that dude walked away from lots of money to live his ideals. thankfully, he wasnt the rambo patriot that the administration tried to make him out to be, but an intelligent, selfless individual.
i feel kala's frustration though. but for a lot of soldiers, its more about opportunity for a job, benefits and college tuition.