Bush has given the green light to the surveillance state

it's not like this stuff hasn't gone on before, or for a long time... what's different is the scale and the overt nature... reading this kind of story ten years ago would have ignited outrage, thirty years ago it would have precipitated resignations, and forty years ago, there would have been mass protests in the streets... today...? we read it and think, hey, no surprise here...

"For at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, teams of undercover New York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe to conduct covert observations of people who planned to protest at the convention, according to police records and interviews," the New York Times will report.

Records show that in hundreds files labeled "NYPD Secret," the NYPD intelligence operations "chronicled the views and plans of people who had no apparent intention of breaking the law."

The files included members church and anti-war groups, environmentalists, and even three New York City elected officials.

In some cases, records of lawful activities were shared with police departments in other states.

there's a real downside to being informed... it's no longer possible to just go about your daily business and pretend everything's ok, when you know it's anything but...

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