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Big Brother Has Come to the Birthplace of America
Pennsylvania is literally the birthplace of the United States of America. The Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia, and that is where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed.
It
is therefore disconcerting that Pennsylvania's tax authority - the
Department of Revenue - recently launched a big brother "we know where
you live" type ad:
And according to the Department of Justice's Inspector General (via AP),
the FBI spied on an anti-war rally in Pittsburgh sponsored by a
nonviolent anti-war and anti-discrimination group, pretending it was
preventing terrorism:
The FBI gave inaccurate
information to Congress and the public when it claimed a possible
terrorism link to justify surveilling an anti-war rally in Pittsburgh,
the Justice Department's inspector general said Monday in a report on
the bureau's scrutiny of domestic activist groups.
Inspector General
Glenn Fine said the FBI had no reason to expect that anyone of interest
in a terrorism investigation would be present at the 2002 event
sponsored by the Thomas Merton Center, a nonviolent anti-war and
anti-discrimination group.
The surveillance was "an
ill-conceived project on a slow work day," the IG stated in a study of
several FBI domestic terrorism probes of people affiliated with
organizations such as Greenpeace and the Catholic Worker.
Earlier,
in statements to Congress and in a press release, the FBI had
described the surveillance as related to a terrorism investigation.
***
The
FBI has broad definitions that enable it to classify matters as
domestic terrorism that actually are trespassing or vandalism, the
inspector general said.
Regarding the Pittsburgh rally,
controversy erupted in 2006 over whether the FBI had spied on
protesters at the event several years earlier because of their anti-war
views.
(Its not just trespassing and vandalism. According to Department of Defense training manuals, protest is also now considered "low-level terrorism". And see this, this and this).
And
the state of Pennsylvania hired an Israeli-American company with
extensive military and intelligence ties to put out "terror" alerts.
The company - ITRR - describes itself as:
The preeminent Israeli/American security firm providing training, intelligence and education to clients across the globe.
ITRR explains:
The
Institute of Terrorism Research and Response's research and analysis
center, known as the Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center (TAM-C), is
located in Israel. The Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center is staffed
with former law enforcement, military, and intelligence professionals
experienced in the production and utilization of intelligence products.
ITRR categorizes itself as a “Targeted Action Monitoring Center” that does not function as a “clipping service, but a powerful fusion center of battle-tested operatives,
analysts, and researchers who have real-life experience fighting both
terrorists and criminal entities [...] distinguished among other
agencies by its access to a vast network of on-the-ground key-sources
in virtually every region of the world.”
In Pennsylvania, ITRR apparently considered
opponents of gas drilling, and attendees at anti-BP candlelight vigils
and a gay and lesbian festival to be potential terrorists.
And as Pittsburgh Live notes,
the ITRR may have also tracked and disabled "activist groups that
planned to protest the 2009 Group of 20 economic conference in the
city". And see this and this.
For more on "fusion centers" and the use of national security apparatus for corporate purposes, see this, this and this.
Big brother has come to the birthplace of America.
ITRR does not just operate in Pennsylvania. It's website states:
The client list of the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response is confidential.
***
Training clients of the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response have ranged
from
• US military and law enforcement personnel in Israel
• the South Central Pennsylvania Taskforce
• AMTRAK counter-terror unit
• New Hampshire law enforcement agencies
»
- advertisements -
All she wants is what we at the Tax Enough Already (TEA) Party want.
Then tell me why this fiscal conservative wants to pay to keep all guns blazing in the war on brown people? A.K.A. the GWOT.
Unless you also get your kicks from the slaughter, you've been had.
The original TP talked about reverting to the Constitution and avoiding foreign entanglements. Then Sahra was imposed from above and the new program amounts to 'let's save money and cut spending where we can to help keep theses useless wars running.
Attacking Sarah Palin just outed your Progressive Socialist ass.
Marxist.
Whut?
Precisely.
for your information i am a hardcore libertarian.
I hate Sara Palin because she is a fucking moron. Just another empty skirt and a bible thumper on top of that. The fact anyone would want this woman in the white house is fucking astounding to me. How about we put someone in the white house who actually ran a successful business not a journalism major hooked on "teh jesus".
Also, immediately labeling me a "marxist" because i don't like Sara Palin exposes you as a typical Gop drone. I bet you vote in every elction based on the carrot that "we will really end abortion this time we promise."
SP's a MILF.
and at this point in Amerikan HIStory, that's all that matters.
'nuff said.
Appropos and sad simultaneously!
ORI
Your assumption that Palin thinks the same way exposed you as an ignorant dumbfuck.
I don't know any GOP/conservative types who think like that idiot above. So fuck off.
um no... I never implied Palin thought anything, only that very dim bulbs seem to champion Palin. Granted it was a leap, in retrospect he sounds more like a Sean Hannity fan than a Palin Fan.
This definitely isn't to say all conservatives think that way, i happen to know a lot of intelligent conservatives who can't stand Sarah Palin.
"Just another empty skirt and a bible thumper on top of that."
Gee, I never would have guessed that her skirt was empty. I rather thought that a large part of her appeal was that which her skirt concealed! Much more interesting to contemplate than that which might lie between her ears!
But then New Yorkers, liberal consmopolitans, and haters of the white working class have always had trouble with the whole "shiksa in haircurlers" style.
And then you wonder why the feeling is sometimes mutual - and getting more mutual every year as they begin to figure out what you really think of them!!
Right. Sarah Palin really represents the white working class, what with her $100 000 shopping spree and millions in assets, plus her crappy book that has earned her millions in royalties...
Kristol gave us Palin. That's the truth. She has an Israeli flag in her office.
We are just a thing to be moved.
Well perhaps i came on a bit strong as a result of the prior comments. She is probably not completely full of hot air, there is likely some level of intelligence hidden behind her "mamma bear" facade. As a libertarian leaning individual though i would never vote for her. I see her as just a shiny object to distract the uneducated voters who gravitate towards candidates based on emotion and party affiliation.
Of course i did attend a well regarded private university and do not think gays should be murdered in the streets, so i some circles (religious right) i would be considered a raging social liberal. Somewhere along the lines (Reagan) the Republican party stopped giving a shit about personal liberties and instead jumped in bed with the religious wackos who would rather the government tell everyone how to live. To me this is completely antithetical to freedom so i reject such people as hypocrites and morons.
"Somewhere along the lines (Reagan) the Republican party stopped giving a shit about personal liberties and instead jumped in bed with the religious wackos who would rather the government tell everyone how to live."
Anyone who is raising or has raised children in the past 30 years with a view toward instilling behaviors in them that are conducive to a reproductive success within a stable marriage are going to feel that they are under attack by the media, the federal courts and the government. The reason they feel that way is that they are under attack.
Libertines who choose not to have children still need fresh meat to party with. And to have a really fun party, they must pry away the daughters of the unenlightened from the behavioral standards most likely to lead to reproductive success and that "narrowness of mind" (otherwise known as self discipline) that will make them good mothers.
Libertarians can never seem to get their heads around a simple evolutionary truth. All individuals die, only groups have a chance of surviving. And in order to survive over the millenia a group must preserve its unique genetic inheritance and pass those genes along to successive generations while maintaining control of the cultural transmission belt that acts to protect and defend those genes from the alien and maintains internal group cohesion and moral standards.
Sarah Palin and her kind are definitely under attack, certainly by our entertainment media and the financial industry, as well as by globalism, the federal judiciary and by the government in general. And while libertarians are not the most dangerous or effective attackers, they are often the most seductive with the siren song of "freedom" but always meaning moral license and hedonistic individualism - perfectly designed to lure away the libertarian's fair share of the fundies daughters that took so much sacrifice to raise.
Palin is no towering intellect, but she is smart enough to recognize an attacker (even though she must kiss up to some of the worst of them to stay on camera). And that is what alarms all the blue state liberals - a clear threat to their feeding rights in and among the white working class.
I think you are suffering from a bit of victim mentality here (and maybe be conflating a few different issues). I do not believe for a second Sara Palin is under attack from the financial industry, globalism, or the government. Why? Becuase the financial industry is one of the biggest supporters of the Republican party (although i will admit they buy off members of both parties to support their agendas). Also, Globalism was championed by Republicans for the past several decades. They WANTED to ship our middle class jobs over seas because they saw short term profit for themselves. Sara Palin was chose by these same Republicans to be the Vice President!!!!!
Some how Sarah Palin's media campaign has convicned people she is not a republican but an outsider... How one can be an outsider and the VP nomination for said party at the same time is truly baffling to me. Finally, i do not believe there is any credence to "the government is attackign her". Democrats attack her yes, but the republican led government attacked democrats when it was run by republicans. This is just the way our broken 2 party system functions, not a specific singling out of Sarah Palin.
Finally, i agree the media ridicules her to no end. However i feel if you can't take the heat you shouldn't run for president. I honestly don't feel she is intelligent enought to be running the worlds largest military/economy. There are many conservatives i would consider voting for, but she is not anywhere close to the top of that list.
Also, just because i am a libertarian does not mean i am some kind of social degenerate. It simply means i don't belive the government has the right to tell people how to live their lives. If you want to live in a religious compound somehwere in the mountains of Utah i think you should have that right, i don't think the government should be able to tell you how to live.
Finally, i believe partents should be held responsible for how their children grow up. It is a very tired argument to say that the reason our shcools are so bad is because they don't have prayer in them. The reality is our schools are suffering because parents do a lousy job of raising their children to be hard workers and moral people. You can't be an absantee parent and expect a school prayer to fix your child or make them study.
"I honestly don't feel she is intelligent enought to be running the worlds largest military/economy. "
So, oh yes...we simply must have Joe Effing Biden a heart beat away...ROTFL. What does this say about Obama's intelligence?
"Also, just because i am a libertarian does not mean i am some kind of social degenerate."
If you truly believe this you would want someone whose default setting is individual responsibility...wouldn't you?
Of these four (McCain, Palin, Obama, Biden) in the last presidential election which in your opinion exemplfies your vision of morality, ethics and individual responsibilty?
You can't cop out with Ron Paul, you need to make a choice from above because GW had no real chance of election either ;-)
For your information i did vote for Ron Paul and i in no way considered it a cop out. At least i voted on principal, even if there was no chance of him getting elected.
While i admired McCain's service i think it is obvious through his support of GW's immigration amnesty program that he is completely out of touch with this nation. He has been too wealthy and insulated by the walls of the Senate to see what has been going on in this country. He is the very definition of an out of touch elitist.
Was the question(s) too hard?
You had a five paragraph post and you referenced Palin in three of them. I gave you four choices and specifically excluded a fifth...which you chose...LOL.
As a refresher, you were discussing morality, ethics, individual responsibility and the intelligence characteristics among Prez & Vice Prez candidates, specifically Palin. If you don't want to answer just say so.
Again, you said;
"Also, just because i am a libertarian does not mean i am some kind of social degenerate."
And I asked the following of you;
If you truly believe this you would want someone whose default setting is individual responsibility...wouldn't you?
Of these four (McCain, Palin, Obama, Biden) in the last presidential election which in your opinion exemplfies your vision of morality, ethics and individual responsibilty?
It's a couple pretty simple questions, I'm just curious dude or dudette...there is no wrong answer here. Quit being defensive.
well there is no need to speculate, the election already happened and as i stated before i voted for Ron Paul, as i would again.
Do i think Palin is more "moral" than "Obama"? Well honestly i see little difference. Obama seems to be a good father to his children as far as i can tell, as is Palin a good mother (though clearly her stance on abstinance only education backfired).
John McCain on the other hand did in fact divorce his wife while she was in the hospital with cancer (after she waited for him to return from vietnam) so i'm not entirely convinced he is a "moral" person.
Well thanks for your answer...in part anyways.
To me...morality is a societal standard.
In America, as in most places, we place a positive value on not willfully lying or decieving, one tenent of morality...so I guess I would respectfully disagree with your interpretation of morality as consisting of being a parent who goes to ball games and provides food & shelter. An axe murderer can do that.
By striving to be ethically & morally responsible one can be said to be trying to be virtuous. A good quality I would say, I would hope you would agree, even if never attained.
Now, as Obama willfully (or by incompetence) lied about many things so far (budget neutral healthcare, then we will decrease the debt with healthcare, manmade global warming scare mongering, "shovel ready jobs" that were nothing buy local/state/federal bailouts, closing gitmo, surge won't work in Iraq but then he deploys the same strategy in Afghanistan etc.) we begin to see a pattern of lies & deceit.
So no, I could not agree that they are the same.
And in my view, teaching abstinence (the concept of abstinence) to your children is not just about sex.
It is about waiting. Abstaining. And the virtue of patience. It can be waiting for anything, the right job, not going into debt for instant gratification...anything...it is patience. Some may prefer drugs be put into their childrens bodies or clandestine trips to the latex aisle instead of time & effort. That is the parents teaching of their morality to their children. It has nothing to do with the concept of patience.
I'm no angel believe me...LOL...far from it...I have my regrets in life, everyone will and does, but we should be trying to raise our kids in what we know is the correct way, everyday.
If Paul could have got his poll numbers up I would have voted for him too. But the lesser of two evils was apparent to many people. Now everyone see's the danger of unified government. Hopefully.
SeeYa
What a great debate--kudos to you both!
Puppet never answered my question of which of the four put forward by me best exemplified the promotion of his/her morals, ethics and individual responsibility.
Sometimes you can learn more by what goes unsaid or deflected than what is actually said ;-)
Regards.
That's fair enough. You even admit that it's not what's between her ears that's most appealing. Kudos.
I'm one of those liberals, but I hope your point about elitist dismissal of the white working class gets some thought nonetheless.
+2010
+1776
wow looks like the racists are out in full force today.
I was simply posting evidence that the FBI has been spying on domestic groups under the guise of "terrorism" for the better part of a century. Of course if you are a racist internet troll you care nothing for facts.
Keep believing the government is trustworthy and will always tell you the truth, people like you will be the first ones into the oven.
Indeed, the repression under Wilson during and after WW1 was worse than anything that has come after. So Big Brother is almost 100 years old.
1913-1919
Fed Created
Income Tax
WWI
Me thinks that when TPTB officially got control.. We should give them a bang of a 100 yr anniversary. I wouldn't be pissed if we gave it to them a little early to boot..
I would have to add the Red Scare and the Overman Committee to your list. They predated McCarthy by a few decades.
"People say they don't care about politics; they're not involved or don't want to get involved, but they are. Their involvement just masquerades as indifference or inattention. It is the silent acquiescence of the millions that supports the system. When you don't oppose a system, your silence becomes approval, for it does nothing to interrupt the system." -Mumia Abu-Jamal
Hmm.
effect change = human deaths
no attempt to effect change = known, massive-quantity human deaths
Seems pretty simple to me. Fuck 'em. Fuck the IRS and their police powers unit, the mass-murdering ATF.
AMERICA, WAKE UP!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHjwXx7mvXs
Indeed WW, wake up america, wake up world.
Equally insidious and largely un-noticed, I feel is the proliferation of the camera (via the cell phone). The things people are peeping into, stripping th eworld and especially it's women of their dignity. Sad.
We are big brother and he is laughing!
All the way to the bank to boot!
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
Someone tried to give me a cell phone yesterday as collateral for a small loan. I wouldn't take it. But did make the loan.
I'm working on trying to drop all and any aspects of modern technology that detract from my experience. I would rather buy tree seedlings than an iPad. I would like to have an elephant but my wife says the neighbors won't appreciate it.
:-)
Laughed at the elephant bit. Maybe they'll find the sound of cows mooing and fresh milk more appealing?
ORI
Bonus Marchers come quickly to mind.
Wilson?.....check FDR ...................the citizens were so afraid of his antics,they Amended the Const after he died.
That Progressive SOB, wanted to inter ALL GERMAN Americans also(not just the Japanese), but alas, there were FAR too many (and likely thousands in the service fighting the cousins of some of our leaders.)
Philadelphia? They can have it. Now stop using the name George Washington. It pisses me off.
you've got your pissed off priorities in a wad
Satellite, bitchez!
(I always wanted to do that)
wow
Wow indeed!
That socialist Obama and his liberal friends are trampling on the Constitution again!!
Oh ... you say this was done by the Bush/Cheney administration? Erm. Those sure look like some scary terrorist organizations - me thinks they need more monitoring - serves them well!
Obama is a piece of shit.
Bush is a piece of shit.
Anyone that doesn't think that Bush or Obama are pieces of shit is a piece of shit.
Pretty simple, really.
Yes, Bush AND Obama. +1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
True but the neocons act like everything wrong with the economy is entirely obamas fault but completely ignore anything bush did.
That's an ax to grind elsewhere
So go to a neocon website and bitch about it there.