Please let all of your friends know about this. The changes that have taken place in post-9/11 America are downright scary, and people need to be made aware, because NBC, CNN, Fox, and ABC sure as hell aren't going to report them, or give them the coverage they deserve.


Man Arrested After Refusing to Remove Anti-War Shirt in Mall

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,80292,00.html

ALBANY, N.Y.  — A man was charged with trespassing in a mall after he refused to take off a T-shirt that said "Peace on Earth" and "Give peace a chance."

Mall security approached Stephen Downs, 61, and his 31-year-old son, Roger, on Monday night after they were spotted wearing the T-shirts at Crossgates Mall in a suburb of Albany, the men said.
The two said they were asked to remove the shirts made at a store there, or leave the mall. They refused.

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Barry Reingold, a 60-year-old San Francisco retiree, enjoys daily visits to the local gym, where he talks politics with his friends and acquaintances. For his outspokenness, Reingold got a visit from the FBI. "One afternoon, someone buzzes [at his door]. And I said, 'Who's there?' And they say, 'The FBI.' I asked them what this was all about. And they asked me if I was a member of the gym. And I said yes.

"And then they said someone in the gym had reported that I had been talking about terrorism and Sept. 11, oil profits, capitalism, and Afghanistan. And I said, 'Oh, really.'

"And then the FBI guy said, 'You know you have the right to freedom of speech.'

"And I said, 'Yes, I know I do, don't I? And that's the end of the conversation. I don't wish to talk to you any further.' "

To which they replied: "We really have to write a report."



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[Houston Chronicle - 12/12/01] Officials of a private Houston art museum recently investigated by federal agents for displaying allegedly anti-American artwork claim they were victims of misguided jingoism and that they will not be censored.

The investigation was part of Attorney General John Ashcroft's anti-terrorism campaign. Even more disturbing was that the agents questioned an employee about her personal life and whether her parents knew she worked at the museum.

At Ashcroft's urging, law enforcement investigates all tips about apparent anti-American activities after the terrorist attacks Sept. 11.



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On Oct. 12, 2001 two Secret Service agents paid a visit to the apartment of A.J. Brown, a Durham Tech freshman. The agents told Brown, "We're here because we have a report that you have un-American materials in your apartment." When Brown denied having any such material, the agents specified that they were specifically investigating reports that she had an "anti-American" poster hanging on her wall.

The poster in question was an anti-death penalty poster chastising George Bush for overseeing the executions of 152 people as governor of Texas. It showed Bush holding a noose and read, "We hang on your every word. George Bush, Wanted: 152 Dead." Brown opened the door so the agents could inspect her wall of posters, ask a battery of questions, and take notes. They called her two days later to verify her telephone number and ask her if she had any nicknames.


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On Nov. 9, Dan Muller and Andrew Mandell went to a Chicago post office, attempting to buy postage stamps. A problem emerged, however, when the two made a simple request: They preferred stamps without the American flag. The clerk asked if Statue of Liberty stamps would be OK and they answered affirmatively.

The clerk retreated to a back room and called police, who arrived and questioned the duo as to why they didn’t want to buy stamps with the US flag on them. They answered that they preferred the liberty stamps. The police examined their IDs, while the clerk told them she didn't have enough liberty stamps in stock and asked them to return the next day. When they returned, a postal inspector was waiting for them. He interrogated them for 30 minutes.


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(The following account was sent to me by an acquaintance of mine)

During the Primary, I liked John McCain better than Bush. I wrote a letter to The Times of Trenton supporting John McCain and critical of George Bush.

I ended the letter with the sentence "Bush must be stopped".

A few days after the letter was published, as my wife and I were going down the driveway to the car to dine out, a policeman with 2 plain clothes officers approached us, and the cop asked "Are you xxxxxx xxxxx?"

I replied in the affirmative, and was told to go back in the house, as 2 Secret Service men wanted to question me.

We sat around the kitchen table, and one of the men produced a 9 page form which would contain the information they sought from me.

They got to the point - my letter contained a threat to George Bush, a canditate for President. They percieved this threat by my closing sentence.

I assured them that this was my appeal to the Republican voters of NJ to stop Bush's attempt to become the Presidential Candidate for the Republican Party, and nothing more. This was to be done by means of the ballot box, obviously, and anyone could see that.

At that point the cop left, and the 2 Gestapo men continued to grill me for an hour and a half, after which they had me pose for Polaroid shots. I took out my black pocket comb, brushed my hair down Adolph Hitler style, and held the comb under my nose to resemble Hitler's moustache, and extended my right arm in the "Heil Hitler" salute fashion, and said, "OK, take your picture."

"No no, that's all wrong", they said, but I just stood there and they snapped the shot and left.

I never heard another worrd about this.

WHAT FIRST AMENDMENT MR BUSH?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/a...article1684.htm

Santa Fe Police Arrest Attorney For Comments he Made In An Internet Chat-Room


A St. John's College Library visit by a former public defender was abruptly interrupted February 13 when city police officers arrested him about 9 p.m. at the computer terminal he was using, handcuffed him, and brought him to the Santa Fe, New Mexico, police station for questioning by Secret Service agents from Albuquerque. Andrew J. O'Conner, 40, who was released about five hours later, said in the February 16 Santa Fe New Mexican, "I'm going to sue the Secret Service, Santa Fe Police, St. John's, and everybody involved in this whole thing."

According to O'Connor, the agents accused him of making threatening remarks about President George W. Bush in an Internet chat room. Admitting he talked politics face-to-face in the library with a woman who was wearing a "No war with Iraq" button, O'Connor recalled saying that Bush is "out of control," but that "I'm allowed to say all that. There is this thing called freedom of speech." He also speculated that the FBI might have been observing him because of his one-time involvement in a pro-Palestinian group in Boulder, Colorado.

Earlier on the same day O'Connor was questioned, officials at St. John's - as well as at the College of Santa Fe and Santa Fe Community College - issued warnings to students and faculty that the FBI had been alerted to the presence of "suspicious people" on campus within the past four weeks. Concern about threats to individual privacy under the USA Patriot Act has prompted New Mexico legislators in both houses to propose resolutions urging state police not to help federal agents infringe on civil rights. The resolutions also encourage libraries to post prominent signage warning patrons that their library records are subject to federal scrutiny without their permission or knowledge.

Doug, I think you should be a moderator for this forum.  What do you say?

it gets you thinking, where is it all leading?
what will happen tommorrow?
times change, and with it comes testing situations for mankind.
i am english, my dad move from pakistan to england in the 1960s, i have come to realise that freedom was given to us by god, so for someone to take it away from you is totally wrong.