Kat ‘n’ Mouse

A friend just linked me to this Washington Post article, entitled “Md. Police Put Activists’ Names On Terror Lists.”

Evidently, the Maryland State Police put the names of 50-some non-violent activists (against such things as the death penalty, no less) on the terrorist watch list. And not just the Maryland State list, they might share with some federal agencies, though the full extent of who we share with, or might have in the past, isn’t made clear.

The former (I believe) Chief of Police, who instituted the program to have undercover cops infiltrate & watch the activist’s meetings, called the activists (again, from what I can tell, they were mostly groups against things like the war and the death penalty), “fringe people,” which evidently made them sigh at the meeting and makes me facepalm.

My two favorite parts of the article were

Sachs also recommended regulations that forbid such spying on protest groups unless the state police chief believes it is justified.

“I don’t believe the First Amendment is any guarantee to those who wish to disrupt the government, [Hutchins] he said.

As to the first — how exactly is a regulation saying “Don’t do this unless the Chief of Police says its OK” going to help prevent this in the future? The Chief of Police seems to think its OK – certainly he’s refused to apologize.

And as to the bit about the First Amendment… the whole effing point of the Right to Assemble and the Right to Free Speech is that people bloody well do have a right to get together and make plans about holding rallies against things they (justifiably if not correctly) believe are morally wrong, without being labeled $&#**^% terrorists.