Peaceniks have been targeted for some time....but no one cared.

[yes_justice]

My reaction to the IRS singling out the Tea Party groups for scrutiny is frankly, "Welcome to the empire, tea partiers"
Jess Sundin: "Karen came to weekly meetings. We’re all volunteers, and so we make decisions together at those meetings, and she participated in those discussions, sometimes even chairing the meetings. Karen had a key to our office

Comments

[mahnmut]

For those of us who are not exactly Tea Party sympathizers (hence do not qualify as the addressee of your query), or who haven't necessarily "just discovered" that this has been happening for quite a while but still do not find it any less wrong just because it has "been happening", what recommendation do you have in terms of response to your question? a) energetic nods of approval; b) some Tea Party bashing; c) funny kitten macros; d) other [please specify]? <-- take a pick please. ;-)

[yes_justice]

I'm aligned with Jeff on this one, probably, which I think is obvious in my post. More transparency and actual arrests when people abuse power would be a start, but a fantasy on my part. It kinda burns me that the people who harassed John Lennon got away with it scott free. Whistleblower laws are above us apparently. And just ask anyone in any Internal Affairs what they are up against. Code of silence.

Kitten are also always welcome, of course. *put on tea party hat*

[mahnmut]

While that's true, it's no reason to give up and keep silent about it. Whenever something bothers people, they should be saying it, and keep repeating it until those guys up there get fed up with it and decide that it'd be better for them if they just do what people demand, rather than listening to all the continous whining complaints. So yeah, while it can be pretty frustrating to be hitting a wall of silence, that shouldn't be stopping people. Unless they want the loud yelling extremists to keep dominating the discourse like they have been at this point.

As for patriotic tea kittens, I knew you would've loved the idea. (C) it is, then.

[yes_justice]

Well, we have these powerful establishments, CIA, FBI, IRS, with little oversight and disarming them (taking away their gun, so to speak, lol) may actually be a reasonable approach. Actually re-reading my OP, I didn't make it obvious what the solution if any was, though some of the linked articles go into it. Great question, thanks.

[farmerz_agent]

I wasn't aware of these specific investigations of the FBI. I'm still going through your links. I've noticed that all your sources are from very far Left sites. It surprises me that none of these stories were covered by more main stream media, of course some of these are kind of old topics so it might be difficult to find current news sites with the information.

I've kind of always suspected that the FBI has files most people. I know they have a file on me.

One of my favorite FBI factoids:

"Church commission in the 1970's exposed that the FBI agents accounted for at least 25% of the entire KKK. They were the ones pushing for more violent actions, engaged in church bombings, executions of civil rights leaders, etc."

I support limiting the powers of the FBI and all other government organizations.

However I have to admit that as a small business owner and someone on the Right I fear anti-war groups because their 'solutions' always seem to be more communist leaning.

[paft]

fa: I wasn't aware of these specific investigations of the FBI.

The targeting of leftwing activist groups by the IRS and other government agencies is old news.

You ever heard of the Church committee?

[sophia_sadek]

The Church committee? Aren't they the guys who charged Galileo with heresy?

[telemann]

Yeah, it's an age thing I believe. A lot of younger people here don't know about those hearings and the impact they had simply because it's ancient history, and really have to rely on some online summary, which unfortunately doesn't capture the same feeling as living through that period. It was quite a bombshell what those hearings uncovered.

[notmrgarrison]

The FBI ignores rightwing militias groups?
The FBI singles out groups with words like "progressive" in their names?

I'm not seeing the analogy here.

[yes_justice]

The FBI ignores rightwing militias groups?

Well, right wing militias are not really a good analog of peace activists. Right wing militias are under scrutiny because of the weapons AND their political views. As the left is often fond of pointing out, the only weapons involved with peace activists is when the cops bring them.

The FBI singles out groups with words like "progressive" in their names?

They single out people who oppose the war, sure. INS too.

Take a closer look at that list I posted. You seriously think the FBI should have spied on John Lennon? You think that the antiwar.com lawsuit is valid? You wanna pay your government to spy on vegans?

[notmrgarrison]

You seriously think the FBI should have spied on John Lennon?

No. You seriously think I should be just as outraged now over something that happened back when J Edgar Hoover was alive?

[yes_justice]

And the peace groups in 2010? And antiwar.com? To the extent that the tea party irs scandal bothers us, this should also qualify as government abuse.

[telemann]

[sophia_sadek]

I heard that as the president of the Screen Actors' Guild, Reagan stood up "against" blacklisting. He advised that Guild members have their names cleared with the American Legion, or some such organization. Here is an article that mentions Reagan's involvement in McCarthyist red baiting.

[yes_justice]

I'm so glad my government protected me from the likes of Tom Hayden!

Fuck the Alphabets

[rick_day]

[sophia_sadek]

You must have an FBI file. Anyone who files an FOIA request for an FBI file gets one opened automatically.

My tack with the FBI was to make sure that my file was so thick it required its own file cabinet.

The FBI is still important because they shoot suspects who stab them with a knife:

[telemann]

Conspiracy junkies will have a field day with that. But why didn't the FBI didn't search him for weapons, or why couldn't they restrain him with some smooth karate moves, or just taz his ass.

[sophia_sadek]

There have already been a number of people who suspect that he was killed deliberately. There are ways to use a gun that do not inflict deadly wounds. It is not as if they guy pulled out an AR-15 on the officers.