In preparation for the Republican National Convention, the FBI is soliciting informants to keep tabs on local protest groups
Moles Wanted
By Matt Snyders

Paul Carroll was riding his bike when his cell phone vibrated.

Once he arrived home from the Hennepin County Courthouse, where he�d been served a gross misdemeanor for spray-painting the interior of a campus elevator, the lanky, wavy-haired University of Minnesota sophomore flipped open his phone and checked his messages. He was greeted by a voice he recognized immediately. It belonged to U of M Police Sgt. Erik Swanson, the officer to whom Carroll had turned himself in just three weeks earlier. When Carroll called back, Swanson asked him to meet at a coffee shop later that day, going on to assure a wary Carroll that he wasn�t in trouble.

Carroll, who requested that his real name not be used, showed up early and waited anxiously for Swanson�s arrival. Ten minutes later, he says, a casually dressed Swanson showed up, flanked by a woman whom he introduced as FBI Special Agent Maureen E. Mazzola. For the next 20 minutes, Mazzola would do most of the talking.

�She told me that I had the perfect �look,�� recalls Carroll. �And that I had the perfect personality�they kept saying I was friendly and personable�for what they were looking for.�

What they were looking for, Carroll says, was an informant�someone to show up at �vegan potlucks� throughout the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protestors, schmoozing his way into their inner circles, then reporting back to the FBI�s Joint Terrorism Task Force, a partnership between multiple federal agencies and state and local law enforcement. The effort�s primary mission, according to the Minneapolis division�s website, is to �investigate terrorist acts carried out by groups or organizations which fall within the definition of terrorist groups as set forth in the current United States Attorney General Guidelines.�

Carroll would be compensated for his efforts, but only if his involvement yielded an arrest. No exact dollar figure was offered.

�I�ll pass,� said Carroll.

For 10 more minutes, Mazzola and Swanson tried to sway him. He remained obstinate.

�Well, if you change your mind, call this number,� said Mazzola, handing him her card with her cell phone number scribbled on the back.

(Mazzola, Swanson, and the FBI did not return numerous calls seeking comment.)

Carroll�s story echoes a familiar theme. During the lead-up the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, the NYPD�s Intelligence Division infiltrated and spied on protest groups across the country, as well as in Canada and Europe. The program�s scope extended to explicitly nonviolent groups, including street theater troupes and church organizations.

There were also two reported instances of police officers, dressed as protestors, purposefully instigating clashes. At the 2004 Republican National Convention, the NYPD orchestrated a fake arrest to incite protestors. When a blond man was �arrested,� nearby protestors began shouting, �Let him go!� The helmeted police proceeded to push back against the crowd with batons and arrested at least two. In a similar instance, during an April 29, 2005, Critical Mass bike ride in New York, video footage captured a �protestor��in reality an undercover cop�telling his captor, �I�m on the job,� and being subsequently let go.

Minneapolis�s own recent Critical Mass skirmish was allegedly initiated by two unidentified stragglers in hoods�one wearing a handkerchief over his or her face�who �began to make aggressive moves� near the back of the pack. During that humid August 31 evening, officers went on to arrest 19 cyclists while unleashing pepper spray into the faces of bystanders. The hooded duo was never apprehended.

In the scuffle�s wake, conspiracy theories swirled that the unprecedented surveillance�squad cars from multiple agencies and a helicopter hovering overhead�was due to the presence of RNC protesters in the ride. The MPD publicly denied this. But during the trial of cyclist Gus Ganley, MPD Sgt. David Stichter testified that a task force had been created to monitor the August 31 ride and that the department knew that members of an RNC protest group would be along for the ride.

�This is all part of a larger government effort to quell political dissent,� says Jordan Kushner, an attorney who represented Ganley and other Critical Mass arrestees. �The Joint Terrorism Task Force is another example of using the buzzword �terrorism� as a basis to clamp down on people�s freedoms and push forward a more authoritarian government.�

http://articles.citypages.com/2008-05-21/news/moles-wanted/

The Democratic Convention will make the GOP convention look like a tea party. Ahhhh, images of 1968 in Chicago when DEMOCRATIC Mayor Daly used the cops to assault other Dems. lol.

hey man....where I come from....Moles get shot and die. Them furry bastards always are stealing my ****, eating my ****, taking my ****.........you know I thought the police would have already taken them all down to the clanker by now but some still need ID. They're all Rats anyways fer snitchin'

And if you really want to learn about crushing dissent, read about what DEMOCRATIC President Woodrow Wilson did to people who disagreed with his stance during World War I. He shut down papers, had people jailed and convicted.

Why is it the Dems always ***** about the GOP denying rights but history always reveals it is the Dems that do it?

You know, something is up there, when this is going on:

ACLU Files Suit Against Denver, Secret Service
by: Erin Rosa
Fri May 02, 2008 at 10:56 AM MDT

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado announced the filing of a lawsuit against the City of Denver and the U.S. Secret Service today in an effort to force them to disclose plans for an anticipated demonstration zone during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August and to obtain more information about parade routes and permits during the event.
Erin Rosa :: ACLU Files Suit Against Denver, Secret Service
Plaintiffs in the case consist of a total of 12 groups that plan to hold actions during the convention, including Recreate 68, the American Friends Service Committee, the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, and Citizens for Obama.
"Our purpose is to vindicate the rights not only of the [plaintiffs], but everyone who wants some opportunity to communicate their views in conjunction with the Denver convention," said Mark Silverstein, legal director for the ACLU's Colorado chapter.

The ACLU has said that it is filing the suit over First Amendment violations that happened at the Democratic convention in Boston in 2004, where so-called "free-speech zones," which consisted of concrete barricades under a rail line, were set up outside the security perimeter of the convention site.

A Boston judge ruled that the zones were unconstitutional shortly before the 2004 convention but said that there was not enough time to change the plans. ACLU officials says they are trying to make sure the same thing doesn't happen this time around, which is why the organization is filing the suit at this time.

"No one will tell us what these restrictions are," Silverstein said. "We've been trying to find out for a year what these restrictions are."

Plaintiffs say they also want to know more information regarding parade routes and the parade permitting process during the convention, which has not yet been disclosed.

Chicano activist Nita Gonzales, with the Escuela Tlatelolco Centro De Estudios, said that she has been planning a "Somos Americanos" parade during the convention and submitted permit papers in March.

"We have yet to know if that's going to happen," Gonzales said.

City officials have said that a parade route will be made available to demonstrators during the event, but it is not known where it will be located or how permits will be applied to the plan.

Representatives with Recreate 68 and the ACLU say they have been meeting with the city to discuss issues like zones and parade routes since last summer, but they say the talks have not succeeded in their obtaining any information.

Silverstein also said that the suit was somewhat unprecedented in that his organization is filing legal papers regarding First Amendment rights when security plans for such rights have not been disclosed.

------------------------------------------------

However, be prepared, because there is a strong anti-McCain movement within the GOP, and not just Ron Paul people, who believe that McCain is far from a conservative and has been flopping on stances to gain voter support.

McCain has been losing delegate battles as well, alot of these Romney/Huckabee people do not want McCain to represent the GOP.

McCain wasn't my choice, but he wrapped this up a whole lot sooner than Obama. Obama just can't seem to put Hillary away. And they still haven't dealt with Florida and Michigan.

Remember, every vote counts. lol

Just remember that the prominent movement known as Neoconservatism, that the bleating sheeple follow as examples of Conservative principles, is nothing more than Prowar democrats that infiltrated the GOP.
These Globalism lovers have turned the Dems and Reps into nothing more than 2 sides of the same coin.

Also, know the ACLU was founded after DEMOCRATIC President Woodrow Wilson cracked down on dissent. lol.

This is too easy. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

What's the point there? I couldn't be more against the Socialist policies of the Dems, but at least the ACLU is doing something to stop the usurpation of the rights of the people, can you say the same for the arms of the GOP? They would rather walk out of their own convention in Vegas than face the fact that the people want their own voice in the process.

The GOP, with the help of some Dems, e.g., Lieberman, freed millions in Iraq.

Your protestations about GOP trampling rights has no merits.

You've totally missed where I lay blame, I don't point to any one side of the aisle, because the majority of them, Reps and Dems, seem to be owned or follow the end game goals of globalism.

By the way, the idea the Iraq is free, is ludicrous. They are currently occupied by a foriegn military (us). That's not freedom... check points, mercenary in the streets, critical infrastructure being built and controlled by no bid contrators decided by that occupying military, that's not freedom.

You need to read some of the writings of the founding fathers, or do you fall under the idea that the tactics they used to free us from the Monarchy of Britian was in fact Terrorism as well?

And was Iraq free under Saddam? Ask the citizens.

Were the Germans free after WWII? There were check points. There was an occupying army.

NO tactic is bad if it is for freedom. We just don't agree on what "freedom" is.

Saddam's gone, but lets not forget who was backing him and arming him in the 80's. Were the Germans free after WWII? No, there was that nasty wall and all sorts of crap that kept them from being free. Did they have more rights on one side of the wall than the other, sure, but they still weren't free.

Merriam-Webster defines freedom as:1: the quality or state of being free: as a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : independence c: the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous.

B applies to the Iraqi people right now.

I've also heard this: When a Government fears the people, you have freedom, when a people fears its government, you have tyranny.

What applies to us these days?