Vegans Among Us

While idiot duo Bill Kristol and Gary Schmitt genuflect to King George and serve up a heaping helping of apologia in the WaPo, and decade-late Byron York goes after Clinton in the National Review Online, the Times reports that while the NSA spied without warrants, the FBI was surveilling environmental, animal cruelty, anti-poverty, and vegan groups.
The bureau has used that authority to investigate not only groups with suspected ties to foreign terrorists, but also protest groups suspected of having links to violent or disruptive activities.

But the documents, coming after the Bush administration's confirmation that President Bush had authorized some spying without warrants in fighting terrorism, prompted charges from civil rights advocates that the government had improperly blurred the line between terrorism and acts of civil disobedience and lawful protest.

One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis planned to conduct surveillance as part of a "Vegan Community Project." Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group's "semi-communistic ideology." A third indicates the bureau's interest in determining the location of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

[…]

"It's clear that this administration has engaged every possible agency, from the Pentagon to N.S.A. to the F.B.I., to engage in spying on Americans," said Ann Beeson, associate legal director for the A.C.L.U.
The documents, secured via the Freedom of Information Act, show that the FBI has used employees, interns (!), and confidential informants to “develop leads on potential criminal activity,” in addition to monitoring the groups’ websites and protests. Seriously, don’t they have anything better to do? How about that anthrax mailer? Ever find him?

When was the last time anyone was killed by Greenpeace or the Catholic Workers, for fuck’s sake? Give me a break. Utterly ridiculous. I’m amazed Russell Dalrymple isn’t on their 10 Most Wanted list.

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