April 14, 2006
First They Came For the Vegans
While I understand very well the impetus to misuse executive powers (legal, surveillance, or otherwise) against your political opponents, I've never quite understood how this Administration determines that groups like PETA and ELF are such worthy adversaries:
In a bulletin issued yesterday, the Homeland Security Department warns U.S. businesses of the threats they face from animal rights group and "eco-terrorists."
I mean, have you met some of these people? They're idiots. And while ELF made a name for itself some years ago sabotaging companies "unfriendly to the environment," the idea of animal and environmental rights activists as the lurking fifth column within society is just downright laughable. The same goes for spying on peace protesters. Seriously, if you're going to go to the trouble of violating the civil rights of American citizens, do it to people who at least pose some sort of threat to you.
This is all forgetting that the groups with an actual history of murderous political violence in this country and a proven willingness to go on being violent are on the exact opposite end of the political spectrum and get virtually no attention from DHS.
Posted by ben at April 14, 2006 02:17 PM