More Groups Than Thought Monitored in Police Spying

[sabra]

Source: WP

New Documents Reveal Md. Program's Reach


The Maryland State Police surveillance of advocacy groups was far more extensive than previously acknowledged, with records showing that troopers monitored -- and labeled as terrorists -- activists devoted to such wide-ranging causes as promoting human rights and establishing bike lanes.

Intelligence officers created a voluminous file on Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, calling the group a "security threat" because of concerns that members would disrupt the circus. Angry consumers fighting a 72 percent electricity rate increase in 2006 were targeted. The DC Anti-War Network, which opposes the Iraq war, was designated a white supremacist group, without explanation.

One of the possible "crimes" in the file police opened on Amnesty International, a world-renowned human rights group: "civil rights."

According to hundreds of pages of newly obtained police documents, the groups were swept into a broad surveillance operation that started in 2005 with routine preparations for the scheduled executions of two men on death row.

The operation has been called a "waste of resources" by the current police superintendent and "undemocratic" by the governor.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/01/03/ST2009010302013.html

[donco6]

1. How come we never see a headline:

"Fewer groups than thought monitored in police spying" . . . ?

Just odd how it always works the other way.

Oh, and :sarcasm:

[sasquatch]

2. What a bunch of douchebags

[stillcool]

3. damn liberal left socialist commies

trying to mess around with the bottom line.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

4. My own solution to that -

Sure, it doesn't affect change, but at least it's fun.

Is anyone really surprised at this "revelation"?

[Robbien]

5. More Groups Than Thought Monitored in Police Spying (Human Rights activists deemed terrorist threat)

Source: Washington Post

The Maryland State Police surveillance of advocacy groups was far more extensive than previously acknowledged, with records showing that troopers monitored -- and labeled as terrorists -- activists devoted to such wide-ranging causes as promoting human rights and establishing bike lanes.

Intelligence officers created a voluminous file on Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, calling the group a "security threat" because of concerns that members would disrupt the circus. Angry consumers fighting a 72 percent electricity rate increase in 2006 were targeted. The DC Anti-War Network, which opposes the Iraq war, was designated a white supremacist group, without explanation.

One of the possible "crimes" in the file police opened on Amnesty International, a world-renowned human rights group: "civil rights."

. . .

Police have acknowledged that the monitoring, which took place during the administration of then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), spiraled out of control, with an undercover trooper spending 14 months infiltrating peaceful protest groups. Troopers have said they inappropriately labeled 53 individuals as terrorists in their database, information that was shared with federal authorities. But the new documents reveal a far more expansive set of police targets and indicate that police did not close some files until late 2007.

The surveillance ended with no arrests and no evidence of violent sedition. Instead, troopers are preparing to purge files and say they are expecting lawsuits.

. . .

Sachs's review, released in October, condemned the Maryland spying as a severe lapse in judgment. No one has been reprimanded or fired, and the undercover trooper has been promoted twice.

. . .

The (surveillance) logs described silent vigils outside the prison and a ceremony of poetry and songs to commemorate the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. The activists pledged nonviolence. Yet she closed several entries this way: "Due to the above facts, I request that this case remain open and updated as events warrant."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/03/AR2009010301993_pf.html

---

Customers not wanting their electricity bills almost doubled were considered possible terrorists!

Investigators also tracked activists protesting weapons manufactured by defense contractor Lockheed Martin. They watched two pacifist Catholic nuns from Baltimore. Environmental activists made it into the database.

The cops spent 14 months trying to infiltrate leftie activism groups. How incompetent is that? In my experience, to join/infiltrate any leftie movement, all one has to do is show up. They are always glad to have you and your extra pair of hands.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

6. I just assume we're all being listened to at this point.

[Robbien]

7. Being spyed upon and having a file started labeling you as a terrorist

are two different things.

The two anti-war nuns who started the investigation into the cops spying did so because they found out that the authorities had them down as terrorists and filed a FOIA.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

8. No, you're right. And for some reason a number of nuns have found themselves labeled as subversives

as of late.

[DCKit]

9. "Social Justice" is NOT a Republicon value.

Give 'em HELL sisters.

[buckrogers1965]

10. Fascists always hate nuns

I have no idea why.

In Argentina, in the 1970s, while Paul VI was Pope, Father Patrick Rice was subjected to water torture by agents of the Argentinian government.

During a period of 15 years, 1,500 priests, nuns and bishops were murdered, imprisoned, tortured or expelled from Latin America.

According to Father Rice, "Any Christian who defends the poor can expect to be persecuted and mistreated by the security police."

America using the CIA backed all these right wing fascist states, as a way to fight communism.

[PassingFair]

19. Any BODY who defends the poor will be prosecuted.

Father Rice needs to broaden his viewpoint.

[aquart]

11. My mom doesn't trust the phones at all.

[lostnotforgotten]

12. And In 10-12 Years Time The Republicans Will Be Back In Power To Start This NonSense Over Again

When will Americans ever learn?

Or better yet, when will Americans stop forgetting?

[Kolesar]

18. Well, no ... eom

[lostnotforgotten]

20. The Pattern Is That The Party In Power Becomes Complacent

Said same party is replaced by the party out of power.

Said same now out of power party is the Republicans.

Over the course of 10 - 12 years the American people will forget the prior Republican abuses.

Rinse, spin, repeat!

[Kolesar]

13. I recall Cheney citing Amnesty Int'l reports about Saddam Hussein for a reason to vanquish Iraq

Is that irony or just plain shamelessness?

It has been established that the government spied on the Akron, Ohio Quaker/Friends activist group in 2003.

[Oddball]

24. Even the Devil will quote scripture...

...when it suits his purpose. Cheney is an evil man in an evil administration.

[antimatter98]

14. This is defined as 'freedom' in the U.S. What a country. n/t

[tanyev]

15. Oh God, no, not bike lanes!

[HeraldSquare212]

16. When all the training is about terrorism. personnel will see terrorists

everywhere. there has been so much money and training devoted to anti-terrorism that that's what the police forces 'know' and that's what they do. If the money were spent on training to help the homeless, the streets would be empty by now.

[Festivito]

17. Imagine how much that cost. The nuts in charge of the asylum.

Yet we all just lost fortunes to white collar crime they don't want to investigate.

[UpInArms]

21. reminiscent of the 800,000 "terrorists" on the no-fly list

"No-Fly" And "No-Drive" Lists Hold Up Americans Crossing The Nation's Borders

DETROIT, Dec. 8, 2007

Toledo, Ohio native Zak Reed is tired of being stopped and detained at the Canadian border every time he tries to drive home.

"I don't feel very welcome in my home at all," Reed tells CBS News. "In fact, I feel like I am not wanted in my country any more."

Last month, for the ninth time in the past year, Reed was held in custody during a routine border crossing across Detroit's Ambassador Bridge, en route to Toledo, about an hour from there. The procedure has become a familiar drill for Reed.

"They swipe the passport, they double take at the screen," Reed says. "They make a phone call. They open up the window, the car is surrounded, and off I go."

Held in a small building to the side of the bridge's toll booths, Reed is fingerprinted, photographed, and interrogated. Guards from U.S. Customs and Border Protection quiz him about his travels, his religious faith, or about whether he sends money overseas.

"I am told that they don't have the authority to tell me what's wrong. They're just doing their job," Reed says.

Reed may be one of the 300,000 people - or close to 800,000 names, including aliases - on the nation's consolidated Terrorism Watch List administered by the Department of Homeland Security since December 2003. The names, from 22 component agencies, have quadrupled in the past four years, and DHS won't confirm who is or isn't on the list.

...more...

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

22. In other news: Hoover Resting Comfortably In His Grave

Scientists claim spin level at zero.

[formercia]

23. This reminds me of a CIA paramilitary unit

that due to lack of work under the Carter Administration, made the suggestion that the Soviet KGB be invited for training.