File another one under the "who says it's all about terrorists?" heading. While all of the discourse during the NSA scandal has generally been about whether or not what the president did was patently illegal (which is where it should be, I believe), another fairly important thing to at least look at is who is getting spied on. Here we have The Thomas Merton Center, an anti-war activist group named after a Vietnam protestor, whom the ACLU has discovered was being spied on by the FBI in 2002. And it's a good thing, too. We can't be having these dangerous anti-war radicals running around with their "free speech" spreading their hate. The memo says that among other things, they advocate "pacifism". I'll tell you, I feel a lot safer knowing that these crazies are being looked at closely. And that's not all! The same memo notes that one of the leaflet distributors "appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent" but that no other participants appeared to be from the Middle East. Look out! They've got a Middle Eastern looking guy! Is this where we've gotten to in this country? The FBI is going to start eyeing anti-war groups? I know, I know, this one's special because there was a guy handing out leaflets who may or may not have been Middle Eastern, so this is totally different. That seems to be the excuse the FBI is hiding behind, that they were looking for a "person of interest", but unfortunately the documents don't say anything that effect. The ACLU reports on the incident in detail. The documents come to the ACLU as a result of a national campaign to expose domestic spying by the FBI and other government agencies. The ACLU has filed Freedom of Information Act requests in 20 states on behalf of more than 150 organizations and individuals. In response to these requests, the government has released documents that reveal monitoring and infiltration by the FBI and local law enforcement, targeting political, environmental, anti-war and faith-based groups. This is going beyond simple checking up on someone who may be a criminal. It's hard to argue with that, no one has immunity from the law simply because they're a group advocating whatever. If there's someone who may be a terrorist in the group, I'm pretty sure the rest of the group would like him outta there. That's not what this is. This is the FBI watching an anti-war group simply for being anti-war. I'd like to know what's so conservative about anything the Bush Administration is doing these days. This is shaping become the biggest Big Brother style government in the US's history. The Patriot Act lets the government find out what books you read and search your house without your permission (or even awareness of it), the NSA is allowed to spy on you any time Bush feels like it, and now the FBI will watch you protest. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Or else." Tags: spying, anti-war, FBI, ACLU, terrorism, activism