Moles Wanted. To infiltrate 'vegan potlucks' and inform on protest groups in Twin Cities ahead of GOP National Convention

f#ckers...

Remember when the Army was spying of peace groups and Quakers? The frightening thing about this is that it's up to the AG to determine the guidelines. Alberto Gonzales would put them all in jail, forever, without access to lawyers, without rights, all the better to cover up his political/criminal behavior. The Republicans and RNC go beyond creepy, approaching un-American, bordering on criminal. I have accepted, based on past actions and a "profile" of the RNC model operative, that this story is true. There are over 100,000 on the terrorist watch list now, and there's a list of 20,000,000 in the United States subject to arrest under the Bush/fascist regime. We are ALL subject to arrest, or even kidnapping, and can be held without charges, without legal recourse, and can be tortured until we admit to our "crimes." All on the say-so of Bush or one of his lackeys. I don't like what my country has become under the Bush regime and the influence of the RNC. Let's hold them responsible for their actions next year.

Sure, their food is sometimes bland and makes me gassy, but I didn't think that qualified vegans as terrorists. This is just a move to squelch dissent and take away our right to peaceful protest. Disgusting and un-American. Sounds like the FBI are the real terrorists here.

I'll volunteer! I love potlucks! I'll bring the burgers!

"This is all part of a larger government effort to quell political dissent," says Jordan Kushner, an attorney who represented Ganley and other Critical Mass arrestees. "The Joint Terrorism Task Force is another example of using the buzzword 'terrorism' as a basis to clamp down on people's freedoms and push forward a more authoritarian government."

Succinctly stated.

The ultra-depressing part of this is, for me anyway, that my once-reliable "I'll kill 'em!" reaction is very slow in coming. Something about desensitization, or maybe I'm beginning to suspect we might not win this one. Since we've lost so many of these fights -- often before we even knew they were taking place.

What's a democracy to do. I honestly don't know any more.

Stalin would have been proud.

Has someone in the world of vegans done something to cause our gov't. to suspect them? I suppose that would be called a classified fact. Though facts seem to be absent in the bigger picture. What's next, Quilting Bees? Watch out for those evil ladies with needles, sewing messages into their creativity!!

Give me a break - this story wouldn't have passed muster even in a high school journalism class. It's nothing but a tale told by a punk U of M sophomore who thinks vandalizing elevators is fun. There's not a single corroborating fact offered. To fluff it up a bit, the story tosses out some unrelated acts by different agencies in other cities in different eras. Pathetic.

That said, I imagine there WILL be undercover operatives circulating through groups planning demonstrations - Chicago in 1968 and the Seattle WTO riots in 1999 pretty much make it a public safety requirement. If your organization isn't planning anything violent or disruptive, no one will give a damn what you say or do. If anyone did, most of us would have already been arrested.

At times like this, I take direction from the Dalai Lama: "We must maintain our optimism; we must maintain our determination." I find that to be good advice, not easy, but beneficial. There is a larger goal for humanity, which transcends all the machinations of psychopaths.

Tensions are so high right now I hope nobody gets hurt or worse.

They laughed at me and called me crazy when I told my Argument and Persuassion class that taking action against ambiguously defined groups (i.e. terrorists) is a dangerous thing to let your government do. We could probably all be defined as terrorists for typing on this thread. Excuse me while I go rig my tofique soy based plastic explosive substitute.

They laughed at me and called me crazy when I told my Argument and Persuassion class that taking action against ambiguously defined groups (i.e. terrorists) is a dangerous thing to let your government do.

Tell them again. And again, and again.

Love this stuff. Its been going on straight through from the 60's. San Francisco was a major center of this kind of stuff right up to the 90's. The ACLU's local chapter was finally able to force the local police to release records of groups they had been spying on, doing these kind of things. The ADL had been playing a key role in spying on groups here. It peaked with Judi Bari and Daryl's bomb under the seat of their car that knocked Earth First into a hole it never really recovered from.

The 1984 Democratic Convention was just as intense as the 68 and 04 events.

Stories of provocateurs all the way back to the assination of MLK have to be understood as part of the establishment and its fear of any organized opposition that is willing to go onto the streets.

Expect lots of moles here as well. Just be yourself! :)

I think spying in these blogs is a huge waist of time and money. More so, I think most spying is a huge waist of time and money. In this day and age, pretty much anyone that is savvy enough to blog and send text messages on a cell phone, is smart enough to assume everything they do is public record anyway, and anyone can read it, including the government. so if there was a group of clandestine vegans out there, i doubt newsvine would be the place to spy on them.

More so, one note about people in this day and age who are true vegans. If you know a true green vegan, which you probably do, they tend to pay very close attention to details, especially when you go to a bar or restaurant. I have yet to meet a vegan that takes anything at face value. For example, if they menu says "Spaghetti and Marinara sauce" the vegan will inquire with the server if there is "veal bones or chicken broth in the sauce." If the menu says "mash potatoes," here again, is there chicken broth in it?" i would think it would be very difficult to infiltrate a vegan group or fool a vegan. All you would have to do is slip up on using Worcestershire or Soy sauce one day (anchovies) , and you would be exposed.