COINTELPRO (an acronym for Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert and often illegal projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations within the United States. The FBI used covert operations from its inception; however the formal COINTELPRO operations took place between 1956 and 1971.[2] The FBI motivation at the time was "protecting national security, preventing violence, and maintaining the existing social and political order." Targets included groups suspected of being subversive, such as communist and socialist organizations, the women's rights movement... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO
Who was determining who was a terrorist? Who could be eavesdropped on? Who could be held without counsel? The Bush administration... What a joke, the right wing is worried about Obama taking away their rights... Too funny.
Methods According to attorney Brian Glick in his book War at Home, the FBI used four main methods during COINTELPRO: 3. Harassment Through the Legal System: The FBI and police abused the legal system to harass dissidents and make them appear to be criminals. Officers of the law gave perjured testimony and presented fabricated evidence as a pretext for false arrests and wrongful imprisonment. They discriminatorily enforced tax laws and other government regulations and used conspicuous surveillance, "investigative" interviews, and grand jury subpoenas in an effort to intimidate activists and silence their supporters. ************************************************* The Final report of the Church Committee concluded: "Too many people have been spied upon by too many Government agencies and too much information has been collected. The Government has often undertaken the secret surveillance of citizens on the basis of their political beliefs, even when those beliefs posed no threat of violence or illegal acts on behalf of a hostile foreign power. The Government, operating primarily through secret informants, but also using other intrusive techniques such as wiretaps, microphone "bugs", surreptitious mail opening, and break-ins, has swept in vast amounts of information about the personal lives, views, and associations of American citizens. Investigations of groups deemed potentially dangerous -- and even of groups suspected of associating with potentially dangerous organizations -- have continued for decades, despite the fact that those groups did not engage in unlawful activity. Groups and individuals have been harassed and disrupted because of their political views and their lifestyles. Investigations have been based upon vague standards whose breadth made excessive collection inevitable. Unsavory and vicious tactics have been employed -- including anonymous attempts to break up marriages, disrupt meetings, ostracize persons from their professions, and provoke target groups into rivalries that might result in deaths. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cointelpro ************************************************* Church Committee From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Church Committee is the common term referring to the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church (D-ID) in 1975. A precursor to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the committee investigated intelligence gathering for illegality by the CIA and FBI after certain activities had been revealed by the Watergate affair. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee *************************************************
why do you find it "chilling". if you're not running around spreading lies, you have nothing to worry about. on the other hand, if you go around putting ads on TV stating blatant lies ( swift boat BS), you definitely belong in Jail. You could go to Jail TODAY if I placed an anonymous complaint to DHS saying you're a terrorist. No proof needed. Thanks to your boy Bush. So why are you worried about this anyway if you don't plan to lie? Unless you're a ideologue moron who has nothing else to bitch about.
So question is does Obama want to stop lies about himself, or does Obama want to stop truth about himself? And Obama wantS this (truth squad) NOW, when he has no power of FBI or power as a president, because he is not president right now. It is Missouri law people, not FBI.
Missouri is the "Show Me" state and perhaps they want the campaigns to show them the truth, not swift boat and Rove style lies...
So if someone says something about Obama on tv, that Obama says is not true, then Obama wants them to prove it.
Shouldn't be hard to prove at all...if it is true. Seriously, how in the world are we ever going to stop the mudslinging that nobody actually favors, if we don't start somewhere? Law enforcement should look at all the campaign ads from both sides and put a stop to the lies... Seriously, even the title of this thread by a right winger is a lie...nobody is going to get thrown in jail for a political ad, even if it is filled with lies. Truth in advertising...what a concept!
Transcribed as best I can from original video clip: Prosecutors and sheriffs from across Missouri are joining something call the Barack Obama Truth Squad. Two high profile prosecutors are part of the team, we met them this afternoon in the central west, and they are Jennifer Joyce from the city Bob McCoullch the St. Louis county prosecuting attorney. They will be reminding voters that Barack Obama is a Christian... Jennifer Joyce: So we're here to respond to any character attacks, to set the record straight ************************************************* If I lived in Missouri and I said: "I don't believe Barack Obama is a Christian." I would be prosecuted. This is NUTS!