Yesterday was - maybe - a day that shall live in infamy...we'll see about that. It all depends on how much Portlanders value what's left of their civil liberties. FBI Special Agent Balazan, et al were on hand to pressure Portland into making a deal with the Devil. Susan Lindauer, a guest on this show and no stranger to the civil liberty twilight zone, has said that in reality, there are only a handful a real terrorists in the US and only a few thousand worldwide. Nonetheless, the Feds brought in the Big Guns from DC So it was that the FBI and Oregon law enforcement agencies urged the Portland City Council to reconsider entering police officers into a counterterrorism program protected behind steel doors of secrecy. All in the name of rooting out potential homegrown threats.
Portland wisely withdrew from the Joint Terrorism Task Force several years ago, and remains the only major city not participating fully in the program. The Joint Terrorism Task Force is essentially a trade for Portland: In exchange for access to worldwide terrorism intelligence, the city sacrifices most civilian oversight of the two officers it would have full-time in the task force.Scary, Huh? Think the Patriot Act is not in force? Think your freedom, civil rights and privacy are sacrosanct? GET THE FACTS. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. DON'T BACK-DOWN. www.aclu-or.org/
Know whom to address your complaints? Find out here:
www.leg.state.or.us/searchmeas.html
And let's not forget the IWW Local IU 650 action every morning until...Well, morning for the Labor MOvement, I guess. It is saddening that the Janus Youth Project workers have to resort to this.portlandiww.org/2011/02/update-on-the-janus-youth-direct-action/
- KBOO