The lay of the land . . .

THE ORGANS OF STATE SECURITY: Stalin would only wish the KGB could've had the kind of reach that today's American security systems provide. SURVEILLANCE IN 'THE HOMELAND' is a site that's a partnership between TRUTHOUT and ACLU Massachusetts. They are very concerned citizens.

Ten years after the devastating attacks on New York and Washington, the fundamental promises of American democracy are hanging by a thin thread. Promoted by a culture of war and fear, the US government has steadily chipped away at those legal protections that enabled 'we the people' to rule ourselves. "Ten Years Later: Surveillance in the Homeland" charts the course of this shift, exposing the rapid advent of a technologically advanced surveillance state in the shadows of the Twin Towers.

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"In addition to massive surveillance, assassinations and dirty tricks "by any means necessary" included the creation of National Security Agency (NSA) "watch lists" of Americans ranging "from members of radical political groups, to celebrities, to ordinary citizens involved in protests against their government," with names submitted by the FBI, Secret Service, military, CIA, and Defense Intelligence Agency.

The secret lists, which included people whose activities "may result in civil disturbances or otherwise subvert the national security of the US," were used by the NSA to extract information of "intelligence value" from its stream of intercepted communications."

Tailgunner Joe, a cool dude.

What really pisses me off is that this is a resurgence of the bigoted lunacy of 'Tailgunner Joe' McCarthy's paranoia of sixty years ago. The message hysterically presented by the American Right hasn't changed much, except that Commies have been replaced by Muslims and Mexicans: the M&M's of cynicism and bigotry in current American politics.