The Vegan Terrorist?

Yesterday, the FBI announced that Daniel Andreas San Diego has been added to their “Most Wanted Terrorists” list.  This is the first time a domestic terrorist has been added to the list.  He is an animal rights activists and detonated two bombsin 2003 near the headquarters of companies that engaged in animal testing.  No one was killed or injured, but there was property damage.

Here is San Diego, on the same list as Osama bin Laden.  According to the FBI, these were very sophisticated bombs that used kitchen timers.  Since when are kitchen timers sophisticated?  He also might be armed with a 9mm handgun, so you should consider him armed and dangerous.  Seriously, how does this man pose more of a threat than any criminal that is on the loose right now?

Also, the timing of his addition to the list is very curious.  Just last week, a Department of Homeland Security memo was leaked identifying “right wing extremists.”  Their reaction to the memo was that they track “left-wing extremists” as well.  The point is that our police state is starting to monitor more and more domestic activity, from militias to protesters.

Is the FBI, DHS, and the Federal Government getting more concerned with our activities in the US?  Do they fear that as we progress further into the New Great Depression that people are going to try and rise up against the government?  Are they trying to suppress our actions with scare tactics?

Just think if protests turn into riots and property is damaged?  Could these protesters be classified as terrorists?  What happens then?  Are they locked up in a military prison somewhere?  If you donated money to their cause, would you be implicit to their crimes? 

In each case of the government flexing its muscles, the actions become less fitting of the crime.  At what point will opposition to the government be considered extremism or terrorism?  We need to stand up for our rights and liberties before they are all stripped away.  This might sound extreme, but if we do not push back against the police powers our government is taking, what else do you expect to happen?

Barry Bonds and Civil Liberties?

The Federal Government flexed it’s muscles again yesterday, sending 20 IRS and FBI agents to raid the home of Greg Anderson’s Mother-in-law for a “tax investigation.”  Anderson is the ex-trainer of Barry Bonds, and he has already spent over a year in jail for refusing to testify against Bonds.  This is a blatant attempt by the Feds to bully Anderson to get him to testify.

I can’t believe this is not getting more publicity.  Maybe it’s because people are sick and tired of the Bonds case, but this is a great example of how the Federal Government can violate our freedom and civil liberties.  The worst part is that I haven’t seen one media outlet criticize the government in this case!  How can you sit back and call out the government’s Gestapo tactics!

This can happen to anyone!  If the government wants to come after you, all they need is a “tax investigation” and they can come and raid your home and seize your property!

One of the key reasons for the American Revolution was that the British soldiers were being stationed in people’s homes, invading the liberty and freedom of the Colonists.  These kinds of actions and tactics were exactly what the Constitution and our Founding Fathers were against.

It is absolutely ridiculous that our tax dollars are being used to fund this witch hunt against Bonds.  Don’t they have better uses for our money?

Where were these agents at new Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s home?  He didn’t pay $30,000 in taxes!  What about the fraud that has been committed by the Wall Street investment firms and rating agencies?  What about the subprime lenders?  Why are they spending so much time going after Bonds, when every CEO of every big bank should be put in jail for fraud?

I never thought I’d be defending Barry Bonds, but the government is going about this all wrong.  They are violating the basic principles of this country and getting away with it.  A dangerous precedent is being set, where the government can search your home and seize your property for no reason at all.  We need to demand that our right to freedom and liberty is not put in danger by the big government, police state we live in now.

Source:  ESPN

AirTran – Security or Racial Profiling?

I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the Muslim family heading from Washington, DC to Florida on AirTran airlines.  They were taken off their plane by security because other passengers reported hearing them talking suspiciously about the plane.  They were interrogated by the FBI, then cleared, but were not allowed back on their flight, nor would the AirTran staff help them find another flight.  You can read the entire article here.

Today, AirTran issued an apology and offered to reimburse the family for their non-used AirTran tickets, the tickets on the other airline they flew, and a free flight back to Washington, DC.

This is too little, too late.  I know when I fly, and if I’m by the engine, I say to the person next to me, “Great, I’m by the engine” mainly because of the extra noise you get.  Does that make me a terrorist?  Maybe the family, the Irfans, were being too cavalier in their conversations and some of the passengers were worried.  That’s fine by me.  Everyone’s security should be the top priority.

But once they were cleared by the FBI, what excuse does AirTran have to keep them off the plane?  Then they wouldn’t help them book another flight?  That’s ridiculous.  The least they could have done was apologize to them, explain the security situation, and offer to put them back on their flight or the next one out.  AirTran’s staff completely mismanaged the situation, and it took the company this long to offer any sort of apology?

I hope that the Irfan family shows how American they are and sues the daylights out of AirTran for racial profiling and discrimination.