COINTELPRO Comes to My Town: My First-Hand Experience With Government Spies

[Judi Lynn]

COINTELPRO Comes to My Town: My First-Hand Experience With Government Spies
Dave Zirin
Sun Jul 20, 8:00 PM ET

Finally, at long last, I have something in common with Muhammad Ali.
No, I'm not the heavyweight champion of the world, and haven't been named spokesperson for Raid bug spray. Like "the Greatest" - not to mention far too many others -- I have been a target of state police surveillance for activities -- in my case against the death penalty -- that were legal, non-violent, and, so we assumed, constitutionally protected. In classified reports compiled by the Maryland State Police and the Department of Homeland Security, I am "Dave Z." This nickname was given by an undercover agent known to us as "Lucy." She sat in our meetings of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, smiling and engaged, taking copious notes about actions deemed threatening by the Governor of Maryland, Robert Ehrlich. Our seditious crimes, as Lucy reported, involved such acts as planning to set up a table at the local farmer's market and writing up a petition. Adding a dash of farce to this outrage, she was monitoring us in the liberal enclave of Takoma Park, Maryland, a place known more for vegans than violence, more for tie-dying than terrorism.

Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and the ACLU, we now know that "Lucy" was only one part of a vast, insidious project. The Maryland State Police's Department of Homeland Security devoted near 300 hours and thousands of taxpayer dollars from 2005 and 2006 to harassing people whose only crime was dissenting on the question of the war in Iraq and Maryland's use of death row.

My dear friend Mike Stark, a board member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty is at times referred to in "Lucy's" report as a "socialist" and an "anarchist." One can only assume this is the pathetic time honored tradition of reducing people to simple caricatures, all the better to garner Homeland Security grant money.

Veteran peace activist in Baltimore, Max Obuszewski, who initiated the suit, was as well consistently shadowed as he walked down the streets. His "primary crime" (their lingo) was entered into the homeland security database as "terrorism - anti govern(ment)." His "secondary crime" was listed as "terrorism -- anti-war protesters." The database is known as the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or
HIDTA. Yes, a respected peace organizer of many decades standing is checked as a terrorist, his actions listed as criminal, for doing nothing more than exercising his rights. It boggles the mind.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20080721/cm_huffpost/113930;_ylt=A0WTcX7.CIRIg2wArAT9wxIF

[CoffeeCat]

1. Wow, so it's official...

...disagreeing with this government gives you a "terrorist" label.

And we all know what this government does to terrorists.

Say hello to "V For Vendetta." We're almost there.

[FirstLight]

2. Fucking scary...though I hate to say I am NOT surprised

You know how many petitions I have had second thoughts about signing lately because of this very thing?

Though I am sure by now I am probably damned for my liberal views and out-spokenness, I still hesitate sometimes because I think "they are watching"

While many folks here say "don't let them stop you from speaking out, because then they have won."
I have children to worry about and an ex who may just decide to sell me down the river if he thought it could help him somehow.
So I have to watch my back.
yet again, I am sure that any 'agent' here who reads my posts has probably already got me "flagged" as a 'terrorist supporter' for my ultra liberal views and my decision to call President Gore by his proper title ;)


I guess it's a good thing I live rurally so I may stand a chance of disappearing into the mountains
...if anyone comes looking for me :hide:

[Judi Lynn]

3. You can be sure, you're not alone with your doubts, suspicions, anxiety.

You have every reason to wonder just how safe you can ever been with these monsters in charge if you don't behave as though you've had a lobotomy. But then, you'd be a Republican!

[Prophet 451]

5. If you're not paranoid...

...you're not paying attention.

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. Go to the Yahoo link and rate this story "5 stars" only 4 ratings so far! n/t

[struggle4progress]

6. Summary: Republicans feared vegan anarchists might put set up tables at a farmers market

and of course that could lead to purchasing vegetables

[Oldtimeralso]

7. No, Big Oil already bought shrub. n/t

[tanyev]

8. My Gawd. How many billions of Homeland Security dollars have

been completely and utterly wasted on this kind of crap?

[Demeter]

9. All of Them

The only security was provided to the loyalists on salary.

[groovedaddy]

10. Sieg Hiel!!! Just show us your papers! Are we there yet? n.t

[indepat]

11. The financial, human, and technical resources allocated the spying on and harassing

those exercising 1st Amendment rights, if known, would be truly mind-boggling and is a crime in itself. The failure to utilize these resources for legitimate purpose weakens our national defense, also a crime in itself, to wit: the government is fastly becoming a vast criminal operation. :D

[Hydra]

12. It already was

This is just a new level of openness in their behavior.

Apparently they don't care if we know about it now.

[indepat]

13. Sigh!