Civil liberties - down; Fascism - up

The U.S. government is engaging in political intimidation and improperly investigating law-abiding advocacy groups, civil liberties groups have charged -- even as the U.S. Senate weighs renewing controversial counter-terrorism powers and the White House seeks to have them expanded.

The government's Joint Terrorism Task Forces, composed of federal and local law enforcement agencies and scattered about the country, ''are allowing local police officers to target peaceful political and religious groups with no connection to terrorism,'' the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a statement.

interesting... with all the time i spend following news, the Joint Terrorism Task Forces was a new one on me... so, after minimal googling, lookie here...!

(more)

The FBI has expanded its ability to conduct surveillance on individuals and groups by forming Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) with the help of local police departments. These task forces give local law enforcement officers access to federal law enforcement files and uses them to conduct surveillance.

[...]

[I]n the months preceding the 2004 Republican and Democratic Conventions, JTTF agents in the Midwest monitored the daily activities of various anti-war and political activists they believed were planning to attend counter-demonstrations, and made "visits" to their homes as well as their friends and family members.

on another note, i spent a while last evening random blog-browsing and landed on a number of pretty far right sites... i guess i knew that those folks don't have a lot of love for the aclu but i was frankly rather startled at just how vehemently and universally it's despised... many of the sites prominently featured banners and links to dedicated aclu-bashing sites and long screeds decrying its activites... speaking for myself, i've always been vastly impressed at how the aclu champions civil liberties for EVERYONE be they left, right, up, down, over, under, or sideways...

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