Joe Lieberman: Loves Our Leader; Hates Grandmothers

Keeping America Safe from Raging Grannies

Domestic spying on anti-war groups forces ACLU into action

( via The People’s Republic of Seabrook)

It’s time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be the commander in chief for three more critical years and that in matters of war we undermine the president’s credibility at our nation’s peril.

– Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT)

In the four-plus years since the 9.11 attacks, much time, effort, and money has been expended in the effort to keep our country safe from terrorism. We’ve gone to war in Afghanistan, created our own home-grown terrorist threat in Iraq so we could claim to be fighting terrorism, and we’ve ramped up the propaganda/fear machine in this country to almost unsustainable levels. All this time, though, it would appear that our government is only just now beginning to recognize that the gravest and most significant threat to our nation’s security: Seattle’s Raging Grannies. Yes, America, while our attention has been focused on swarthy, unwashed men espousing violent, radical Islam, here at home a collection of seemingly benign grandmothers bearing beatific smiles and plates of oatmeal cookies poses an even more significant risk to our safety and Our Way of Life.

Man…who would have thought that the biggest threat was right here at home, baking cookies under our collective nose?

Monica Zucker and three other members of Seattle’s Raging Grannies, a peace group of older women who dress in outrageous hats and sing protest songs, lifted up their voices in response Tuesday to recent Seattle P-I disclosures that they were in federal anti-terrorism files.

“Oh, we’re a gaggle of grannies, urging you off of your fannies,” they sang at a news conference in the downtown Seattle offices of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington.

Acting on behalf of the Raging Grannies and 10 other peace groups across the state, the ACLU of Washington is demanding to know whether and why federal government anti-terrorism units are spending time and money spying on peace organizations.

The local ACLU is using the Freedom of Information Act to seek information on any surveillance from the Defense Department, the FBI and the Seattle Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Instead of wasting so much time and effort tracking radical Islamofascists in far-flung inhospitable countries, our glorious defenders of the Homeland’s security could have stayed right here at home. At least they might have gotten some decent cookies out of the deal, eh?

“The government should not spy on groups engaging in peaceful political protest. The FBI should focus its efforts on actual threats and not target people because of their political views,” said Kathleen Taylor, state ACLU executive director.

To those who say domestic spying is a price they are willing to pay for security, Taylor echoed critics, in and out of government, who say too much useless information gums up anti-terrorism intelligence rather than helping it.

“You can’t find a needle in the haystack by adding more hay,” she said.

The ACLU filed the request on its own behalf, Seattle Raging Grannies and other nonviolent religious and political anti-war groups statewide:

The American Friends Service Committee; Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane; People for Peace, Justice, and Healing; Pierce County Truth in Recruiting; Seattle Peace Chorus; Sound Nonviolent Opponents of War; United for Peace of Pierce County; Vancouver For Peace; Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation; and the Yakima Valley Peace Advocates Network.

This smacks of Cold War-era fear mongering all over again, doesn’t it? Much like it did then, the government is using an external agent (then: Communism…now: the war on terrorism) to justify working to stifle dissent. No reasonable person would suggest that tracking peaceful protest groups is even tangentially related to Homeland Security. What it IS all about is silencing dissent through intimidation. Thankfully, most of these groups are not easily intimidated and they’re well aware of their Constitutional free speech rights.

Representatives from local peace organizations mentioned in federal law enforcement files said it raises other concerns for them.

“In a time of war, when we are told it will be endless war, for my government to be spending to investigate the Peace Chorus is stunning, an incredible waste of money,” said Martha Baskin, a member of the Seattle Peace Chorus.

Indeed, but we never know when these sorts of currently “peaceful” organizations will turn to violence in an attempt to realize their peaceful goals, do we? No, in the never ending war against dissent terrorism, one never really knows where the next threat or the next attack is coming from. So, the next time your grandmother offers you a plate of cookies, you might just want to think twice about the motives behind those cookies. Is it love…or something much more sinister? Such is the nature of the Evildoers who would threaten Our Way of Life….