FBI Terrorism Unit Eyed Web Protest Sites

[Syrinx]

FBI agents monitored Web sites calling for protests against the 2004 political conventions in New York and Boston on behalf of the bureau's counterterrorism unit, according to FBI documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The American Civil Liberties Union pointed to the documents as evidence that the Bush administration has reacted to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States by blurring the distinction between terrorism and political protest. FBI officials defended the involvement of counterterrorism agents in providing security for the Republican and Democratic conventions as an administrative convenience.

The documents were released by the FBI in response to a lawsuit filed by a coalition of civil rights, animal rights and environmental groups that say they have been subjected to scrutiny by task forces set up to combat terrorism. The FBI has denied targeting the groups because of their political views.

"It's increasingly clear that the government is involved in political surveillance of organizations that are involved in nothing more than lawful First Amendment activities," said Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU. "It raises very serious questions about whether the FBI is back to its old tricks."

*snip*

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/17/AR2005071700889_pf.html

[liberaltrucker]

1. Deja Vu all over again

Rather Nixonian, eh? btw-War Eagle.

[Syrinx]

3. yeah, it's frightening

And Roll Tide!

[liberaltrucker]

5. At least we agree on the important things

I'm married to a Bama fan:)

[Syrinx]

12. cool!

:thumbsup:

Some of my best friends are Auburn fans! ;)

[liberaltrucker]

18. Since we're DUers

I'd like to count myself as one of them:)

[Syrinx]

31. that's safe to assume

Sorry for the slow response. I dozed off for a while.

But I must admit, I'm tired of losing to you guys. Three years in a row. Dang. Maybe this year. :)

:hi:

[liberaltrucker]

47. Not a problem

I was snoozing by the time you replied. Looks like you may get your wish this year. We graduated damn near the entire team last year. I'm sure you'll gloat big time if y'all beat us at Jordan-Hare, I know my wife will:hide:

[Syrinx]

48. I guess I'm hijacking my own thread

But the key is the qb. If Croyle can stay healthy all year, we can be competitive. He's a very talented kid, but injury-prone as hell. If he gets hurt that will have a negative effect on Coach Shula's career prospects for sure.

I heard ya'll picked up a very impressive qb commitment for next year. Cottle, I think it's spelled.

Good luck at Auburn, except for the Iron Bowl of course. We need a turn. :)

[cyberpj]

39. See the story told here:

Just saw Robert Greenwald's STEAL THIS MOVIE about Abbie Hoffman. HBO-Signature channel has been showing it and my Tivo caught it but I checked, and it's also available on Netflix.

I highly recommend it! It's a great reminder of just how similar our Iraq situation is to the Vietnam era, reinforces the extent to which Presidents using CIA and FBI will go to extinguish dissent, has good music, good actors and a good message to today's youth at the end - and is just a darn good movie.

Vincent D'Onofrio .... Abbie Hoffman
Janeane Garofalo .... Anita Hoffman
Jeanne Tripplehorn .... Johanna Lawrenson
Kevin Pollak .... Gerry Lefcourt
Donal Logue .... Stew Albert
Kevin Corrigan .... Jerry Rubin

You may remember Robert Greenwald's other efforts such as:
Unconstitutional (2004) aka Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties
Plain Truth (2004)
Uncovered: The War on Iraq (2004)
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron (2003)
Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War (2003)
Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002)

He's also now working on The Walmart Movie
http://www.walmartmovie.com/index.php

One review:
Steal This Movie is an engaging and illuminating trip into the not so distant past and the stormy life of a generation brave enough to question their government and fight for their Constitutional rights. As Abbie put it eloquently, poignantly, and sadly in some of his speeches after remerging from his underground exile: "We stopped a war." Whatever one might think of him and his sometimes bizarre methods of protest, he did indeed lead a movement that led to the end of the Vietnam conflict.

http://www.cinemasense.com/Reviews/steal_this_movie.htm

[Syrinx]

49. I didn't realize Greenwald made dramas

All I was familiar with was his documentaries.

Vincent D'Onofrio, Janeane Garofalo sounds like cool casting. D'Onofrio was reported to be suffering from extreme depression follow Bush's "re-election." I can relate.

I think I get HBO Signature. Have any idea will it will be rerun? No big whup I guess. I can check the HBO website, but if you know offhand...

Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

[wookie294]

2. The FBI has always spied on Americans

I don't think they're as good as they think when spying on Leftist groups.

[cyberpj]

40. check out this movie

Just saw Robert Greenwald's STEAL THIS MOVIE about Abbie Hoffman. HBO-Signature channel has been showing it and my Tivo caught it but I checked, and it's also available on Netflix.

I highly recommend it! It's a great reminder of just how similar our Iraq situation is to the Vietnam era, reinforces the extent to which Presidents using CIA and FBI will go to extinguish dissent, has good music, good actors and a good message to today's youth at the end - and is just a darn good movie.

Vincent D'Onofrio .... Abbie Hoffman
Janeane Garofalo .... Anita Hoffman
Jeanne Tripplehorn .... Johanna Lawrenson
Kevin Pollak .... Gerry Lefcourt
Donal Logue .... Stew Albert
Kevin Corrigan .... Jerry Rubin

You may remember Robert Greenwald's other efforts such as:
Unconstitutional (2004) aka Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties
Plain Truth (2004)
Uncovered: The War on Iraq (2004)
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron (2003)
Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War (2003)
Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002)

He's also now working on The Walmart Movie
http://www.walmartmovie.com/index.php

One review:
Steal This Movie is an engaging and illuminating trip into the not so distant past and the stormy life of a generation brave enough to question their government and fight for their Constitutional rights. As Abbie put it eloquently, poignantly, and sadly in some of his speeches after remerging from his underground exile: "We stopped a war." Whatever one might think of him and his sometimes bizarre methods of protest, he did indeed lead a movement that led to the end of the Vietnam conflict.

http://www.cinemasense.com/Reviews/steal_this_movie.htm

[bluestateguy]

4. COINTELPRO is back

I soooooooo can't wait until the Democrats get back in power to turn the tables and use these powers on the Christian Coalition, anti abortion groups, the Club for Growth and neoconservative think tanks.

[liberaltrucker]

6. Couldn't have said it better myself

The Repukes will reap what they've sown:evilgrin:

[wli]

7. the pro-lifers and white supremacists are the ones to watch

The pro-lifers are the ones assassinating doctors and bombing abortion clinics, and the white supremacists are the ones burning black churches. The lefties don't do anything but hold up signs while walking down the street.

What a crock. Gross violation of the fourth amendment.

[liberaltrucker]

10. Soooo-what are we lefties supposed to do?

Respond in kind? I don't think so. I'm armed for defensive reasons, but NEVER offensive.

[wli]

16. no, that would be sinking to their level

Get non-mobsters into office, shut down the modern incarnation of COINTELPRO, and move on.

And if you're talking about the unthinkable, that's categorically out of the question. Never get anywhere near that stuff. It's not just immoral, it's counterproductive.

[liberaltrucker]

19. Considering the way our nation's going

The unthinkable has become thinkable. As I said, I'd never kill anyone as a political statement. But if the shit hits the fan, I'm fully prepared to defend my family and myself. If that gets me banned from DU, then so be it.

[mitchtv]

30. Let one hundred freeway bloggers bloom

Organize! it's not easy. Viva Che'

[DWolper]

8. Mark Felt Ran COINTELPRO

Mark Felt was in charge of the black bag jobs at the FBI including COINTELPRO. I have not bought into the "Felt's a hero" garbage as he was one of the worst. Keep in mind, he was indicted and later convicted in the early eighties for break-ins and secret spying of domestic anti-war/leftist/student groups. Of the nine counts, one was for being the operational head of COINTELPRO. A lot of people have forgotten this (or never knew) as they poured on the praise last month. Good article on this:
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/29/news-ireland.php

[nolabels]

33. Thanks for that story

Like you got to figure most of these folks in suits don't get near the top trying to be nice. Kinda sounds like this Felt fella might even been wee bit vindictive also. Like it's just not everybody that has the temerity to hang out a presidents dirty laundry, trying to get him fired (impeached) for the spite in it.

[psychopomp]

32. COINTELPRO never left

What, you think it went away? lol

[cyberpj]

42. seen this?

Just saw Robert Greenwald's STEAL THIS MOVIE about Abbie Hoffman. HBO-Signature channel has been showing it and my Tivo caught it but I checked, and it's also available on Netflix.

I highly recommend it! It's a great reminder of just how similar our Iraq situation is to the Vietnam era, reinforces the extent to which Presidents using CIA and FBI will go to extinguish dissent, has good music, good actors and a good message to today's youth at the end - and is just a darn good movie.

Vincent D'Onofrio .... Abbie Hoffman
Janeane Garofalo .... Anita Hoffman
Jeanne Tripplehorn .... Johanna Lawrenson
Kevin Pollak .... Gerry Lefcourt
Donal Logue .... Stew Albert
Kevin Corrigan .... Jerry Rubin

You may remember Robert Greenwald's other efforts such as:
Unconstitutional (2004) aka Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties
Plain Truth (2004)
Uncovered: The War on Iraq (2004)
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron (2003)
Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War (2003)
Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002)

He's also now working on The Walmart Movie
http://www.walmartmovie.com/index.php

One review:
Steal This Movie is an engaging and illuminating trip into the not so distant past and the stormy life of a generation brave enough to question their government and fight for their Constitutional rights. As Abbie put it eloquently, poignantly, and sadly in some of his speeches after remerging from his underground exile: "We stopped a war." Whatever one might think of him and his sometimes bizarre methods of protest, he did indeed lead a movement that led to the end of the Vietnam conflict.

http://www.cinemasense.com/Reviews/steal_this_movie.htm

[Rich Hunt]

50. well...

I think that some of the anti-abortion groups probably have files as well.

I don't condone spying, but I wonder if many on the right wouldn't turn into "civil libertarians" (albeit bogus ones) overnight.

They do seem to "migrate" - ethically if not politically.

[samdogmom]

9. Wow! I thought we learned something from the Nixon fiasco!

But, while we learned something IMPORTANT--Nixon was a first-rate crook (DON'T, I REPEAT, DON'T COPY!) Karl Rove, et. al., learned a completely different lesson! Whatever! I'm proud that I'm on the right side of this issue! No spying on American Citizens that are just trying to express their Constitutional Rights.

[wookie294]

34. It is the job of the FBI to spy on innocent Americans

I remember sending FOIA requests to the FBI to obtain info on various dead Americans. The FBI responses I received were amazing. The Bureau spends alot of time spying on the most innocuous politicos and peace activists. It's a waste of taxpayer dollars. I remember reading reports from FBI agents who followed the first elected female congressman (Jeannette Rankin). They were terrified of her because she was a peace activist. LOL. The FBI follows all kinds of innocent Americans around the country. I have no doubt the FBI has somebody who monitors the DU board on occasion. The Nixon attitude is alive and well in America's intelligence services.

[cyberpj]

43. seen this?

Just saw Robert Greenwald's STEAL THIS MOVIE about Abbie Hoffman. HBO-Signature channel has been showing it and my Tivo caught it but I checked, and it's also available on Netflix.

I highly recommend it! It's a great reminder of just how similar our Iraq situation is to the Vietnam era, reinforces the extent to which Presidents using CIA and FBI will go to extinguish dissent, has good music, good actors and a good message to today's youth at the end - and is just a darn good movie.

Vincent D'Onofrio .... Abbie Hoffman
Janeane Garofalo .... Anita Hoffman
Jeanne Tripplehorn .... Johanna Lawrenson
Kevin Pollak .... Gerry Lefcourt
Donal Logue .... Stew Albert
Kevin Corrigan .... Jerry Rubin

You may remember Robert Greenwald's other efforts such as:
Unconstitutional (2004) aka Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties
Plain Truth (2004)
Uncovered: The War on Iraq (2004)
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron (2003)
Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War (2003)
Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002)

He's also now working on The Walmart Movie
http://www.walmartmovie.com/index.php

One review:
Steal This Movie is an engaging and illuminating trip into the not so distant past and the stormy life of a generation brave enough to question their government and fight for their Constitutional rights. As Abbie put it eloquently, poignantly, and sadly in some of his speeches after remerging from his underground exile: "We stopped a war." Whatever one might think of him and his sometimes bizarre methods of protest, he did indeed lead a movement that led to the end of the Vietnam conflict.

http://www.cinemasense.com/Reviews/steal_this_movie.htm

[rexcat]

11. I am sure the FBI is monitoring this site...

so here goes, as a honorably discharged verteran and small business owner, go f--k yourself FBI agents.

[liberaltrucker]

13. C'mon, Rex, this is DU

You can say fuck.

[rexcat]

15. I am trying to clean up my act...

I travel every week and I am stressed out and have noticed that my language needs cleaning up, but your right. For the FBI: FUCK YOU!

How was that liberaltrucker?

[nolabels]

20. I try to avoid that word, it's a cop ouf for having a vocabulary

Like pick up a dictionary and think about all them words in there. They are all for free and yours for the taking

Besides do you really think coital operations could be done while lurking at DU?

[liberaltrucker]

22. Depends

On if you're in the Lounge, in which coitial words mean, well, coitus, or in GD or GDP where the same words just mean FUCK YOU, GWB:)

[liberaltrucker]

21. That'll do it

Sometimes ya just gotta cuss.

[nolabels]

24. You must have listened when I was wrenching on that KW

F' Word Etiquette - A Grammatical Synopsis
(snip)
Especially for you folks that don't have the new high tech Internet "in thing" called "audio", we've compiled this text based version entirely for your convenience:

fuck

VERB: Inflected forms: fucked, fuck·ing, fucks

TRANSITIVE VERB: 1. Vulgar Slang To have sexual intercourse with.
2. To take advantage of, betray, or cheat; victimize.
3. Used in the imperative as a signal of angry dismissal.

INTRANSITIVE VERB: 1. To engage in sexual intercourse.
2. To act wastefully or foolishly.
3. To interfere; meddle. Often used with with.

NOUN: 1. An act of sexual intercourse.
2. A partner in sexual intercourse.
3. A despised person.
4. Used as an intensive: What the fuck did you do that for?

INTERJECTION: Used to express extreme displeasure.

PHRASAL VERBS: fuck off 1. Used in the imperative as a signal of angry dismissal.
2. To spend time idly.
3. To masturbate. fuck over To treat unfairly; take advantage of. fuck up 1. To make a mistake; bungle something.
2. To act carelessly, foolishly, or incorrectly.
3. To cause to be intoxicated.

ETYMOLOGY: Middle English, attested in pseudo-Latin fuccant, (they) fuck, deciphered from gxddbov.

WORD HISTORY: The obscenity fuck is a very old word and has been considered shocking from the first, though it is seen in print much more often now than in the past. Its first known occurrence, in code because of its unacceptability, is in a poem composed in a mixture of Latin and English sometime before 1500. The poem, which satirizes the Carmelite friars of Cambridge, England, takes its title, "Flen flyys," from the first words of its opening line, "Flen, flyys, and freris," that is, "fleas, flies, and friars." The line that contains fuck reads "Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk." The Latin words "Non sunt in coeli, quia," mean "they are not in heaven, since." The code "gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk" is easily broken by simply substituting the preceding letter in the alphabet, keeping in mind differences in the alphabet and in spelling between then and now: i was then used for both i and j; v was used for both u and v; and vv was used for w. This yields "fvccant vvivys of heli." The whole thus reads in translation: "They are not in heaven because they fuck wives of Ely ."
(snip)
http://netscientia.com/Fword_ReVisited.html

[liberaltrucker]

28. Thanks, nice history

I bookmarked the link. But as Carlin said, "fuck is the beginning of life, but a word we hurt one another with". From comedy comes wisdom.

[liberaltrucker]

27. A small rant, if that's OK

Try loading in Boston on a Monday and gotta be in LA Friday. That, mi amigo, is stressed out. End of rant...but I really do understand stressed out by jobs other than mine:)

[wli]

17. hello FBI agents, I have a special request for you

Please investigate police departments using provocateurs as a pretext for disrupting peaceful protests, police brutality against peaceful protesters, and most of all, please investigate the criminal organizations who have hijacked the federal government. Indicting and prosecuting them would also help.

Thanks.

[cyberpj]

44. check out this film on how it all happened before -

Just saw Robert Greenwald's STEAL THIS MOVIE about Abbie Hoffman. HBO-Signature channel has been showing it and my Tivo caught it but I checked, and it's also available on Netflix.

I highly recommend it! It's a great reminder of just how similar our Iraq situation is to the Vietnam era, reinforces the extent to which Presidents using CIA and FBI will go to extinguish dissent, has good music, good actors and a good message to today's youth at the end - and is just a darn good movie.

Vincent D'Onofrio .... Abbie Hoffman
Janeane Garofalo .... Anita Hoffman
Jeanne Tripplehorn .... Johanna Lawrenson
Kevin Pollak .... Gerry Lefcourt
Donal Logue .... Stew Albert
Kevin Corrigan .... Jerry Rubin

You may remember Robert Greenwald's other efforts such as:
Unconstitutional (2004) aka Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties
Plain Truth (2004)
Uncovered: The War on Iraq (2004)
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron (2003)
Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War (2003)
Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002)

He's also now working on The Walmart Movie
http://www.walmartmovie.com/index.php

One review:
Steal This Movie is an engaging and illuminating trip into the not so distant past and the stormy life of a generation brave enough to question their government and fight for their Constitutional rights. As Abbie put it eloquently, poignantly, and sadly in some of his speeches after remerging from his underground exile: "We stopped a war." Whatever one might think of him and his sometimes bizarre methods of protest, he did indeed lead a movement that led to the end of the Vietnam conflict.

http://www.cinemasense.com/Reviews/steal_this_movie.htm

[Rich Hunt]

52. I agree....

They should be out there protecting us from pedophiles and fraudsters.

[kestrel91316]

14. Fascism marches onward ................ nt

[appleannie1]

23. They are admitting to more

WASHINGTON - The FBI has thousands of pages of records in its files relating to the monitoring of civil rights, environmental and similar advocacy groups, the Justice Department acknowledges.

The organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Greenpeace, are suing for the release of the documents. The organizations contend that the material will show that they have been subjected to scrutiny by FBI task forces set up to combat terrorism.
http://start.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20050717/42d9d7c0_3ca6_1552620050717-1413883995

[Media_Lies_Daily]

25. The FBI does what it's ordered to do. Who gave the orders?

[appleannie1]

26. Who usually gives the FBI orders?

[formercia]

51. The Attorney General.

[Stand and Fight]

29. Gestapo...

For those of you who don't like Nazi references, read your fucking history. 'Nuff said.

[Karenina]

35. American-style

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4115950

[Stand and Fight]

41. Indeed... n/t

[psychopomp]

36. Begin countermeasures

It is better to try to hide your ip address and actively block government (as well as corporate) scans. To the first end, get tor:
http://tor.eff.org/
For the latter, get PeerGuardian:
http://methlabs.org/projects/

Both are free and work.


This has been a public service announcement.

[Obamarama]

37. It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see an image like this in the future:

Bush, Cheney, KKKarl and the rest of the NeoCon cabal up on a platform draped in red,white and blue out on the west lawn of the Capitol, watching a military parade roll up the middle of Mall.

I mean, the OTHER dictators all do it. Why not Bush?

[ElectroPrincess]

38. Well gee whiz ...

Hey there ... Hi there ... Ho there ... Let's extend a warm welcome to all Agent Mikes' and Marys'? :applause:

BTW perhaps you should inform your bosses: save for a few "out there" members that every message board is cursed with, DU proves to be both fun and enlightening to the average "objective" message board lurker.

In other words, your Agents' time would be much better spent monitoring some of the more fanatic Right Wing message Boards? Without a doubt, many of us can attest to more than a few genuinely scary personas who tend to call certain RW message boards home. ;)

[Zorbuddha]

45. They make it hard to be a good American.

Dissent is sacred in a democracy.

[progressoid]

46. Golly gee, I'm shocked. Shocked I tell ya.