(that should be "on" not "one")
The last sentence is the most disturbing.
http://www.insightmag.com/archive/200007192.shtml
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>By Paul M. Rodriguez
rodriguez@insightmag.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FBI Database Monitors Catholic Bishops, Pro-Life Groups
It has been rumored for years, but dismissed as nutty conspiracy theory, that the federal government has been assembling an extensive database on pro-life organizations under the auspices of tracking potential criminals involved with “domestic terrorism.” The Justice Department has admitted such a federal task force exists but has denied it tracks innocent civilians or groups.
Then how to explain newly obtained internal Justice Department documents that lay out justification for “intrusive investigative activity” by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the U.S. Postal Inspection and U.S. Marshals services and other federal law-enforcement agencies to compile dossiers on groups as divergent as the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Rifle Association and the Women’s Coalition for Life?
News alert! has obtained hundreds of pages on this secret project called VAAPCON, an acronym for Violence Against Abortion Providers Conspiracy, sometimes just shortened to VAAP. These never-before-seen records detail not just suspected criminal activities by some factions of the antiabortion or pro-life movements, but also the political activities, biographies and lobbying efforts by some of the most well-known — and law-abiding groups — in the country.
Consider this VAAPCON entry called “Profiles of Pro-Life Groups … NOT PARTICIPATING IN DIRECT ACTION.” It lists the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Americans United for Life, Feminists for Life, Women’s Coalition for Life, American Life League, the Christian Coalition and Concerned Women for America.
In one of the documents dating back to 1994 or early 1995, an entry concerns the Catholic bishops’ group: “Led by [the late] Cardinal John O’Connor, the Conference is considered by many to be the broadest, best organized and most powerful of the pro-life groups. The Conference is primarily engaged in education and provides information and technical assistance to pro-life offices in the 189 dioceses and 18,000 parishes across the United States. They strongly condemned the shooting of [Wichita, Kan.] Dr. [George] Tiller, saying that ‘there is no room in the pro-life movement for violence.’ They oppose the Clinic Access bill now pending in Congress.” (This reference apparently was to the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinics law.)
Then there’s this entry on the Women’s Coalition for Life: They “describe themselves as both pro-feminist and pro-life. It’s an umbrella organization of approximately 1.8 million members, linking 15 existing grass-roots groups led by women opposed to abortion. Founded in April 1992, the coalition counsels women in crisis pregnancies and lobbies for antiabortion legislation. They have formed a ‘Susan B. Anthony List’ to rival Emily’s List and provide financial support to pro-life women candidates in 1994.”
The federal snoops had this to say about one of the na-tion’s largest women’s group: “With about 600,000 members, Concerned Women for America focuses on social issues like abortion and homosexuality, but has also attacked the Administration’s health-care package and the economic stimulus package. More recently, they attempted to derail the nomination of Dr. Joycelyn Elders as U.S. Surgeon General, and to prevent President Clinton from opening up the military to homosexuals.”
Then there’s this item from the secret database: “The Christian Coalition is an evangelical advocacy group founded by the Rev. Pat Robertson after his 1988 campaign for President. In the past, the Coalition focused on such issues as abortion, homosexuality and school prayer. They are presently trying to move more towards the mainstream. At their recent annual conference, it was decided to expand their agenda to include the economy and health-care reform. They engage almost exclusively in lobbying and grass-roots organizing.”
Larry Klayman, general counsel of Judicial Watch, whose group obtained the documents under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, asks: “What in the world are Janet Reno, Hillary, Bill and their VAAPCON task force doing using law-enforcement personnel to infiltrate, collect and assemble database information of this type? We were told by one source that some in the FBI objected to the monitoring of these groups on legal and ethical grounds but were overruled by upper levels at Justice.”
What is curious to even two senior federal law-enforcement officials, one at the FBI and one at the Justice Department, is that the database is under the auspices of the Criminal Division and that virtually all entries are part of what’s called an “FI” tag — that is, a “full-investigation” label. “This is wrong and it ought to be exposed for what it is, a political witch-hunt,” said a concerned FBI agent.
Mixed in with the bishops, for example, is information on violent groups and astounding details on surveillance and monitoring techniques by a variety of federal law-enforcement agencies. This includes tracking mail sent to or received from all manner of organizations in contact with people in the federal database, including the NRA, Nynex Telephone Corp. and even the Blind Work Association in Binghamton, N.Y.[/quote]
------------------
"Anyone feel like saluting the flag which the strutting ATF and FBI gleefully raised over the smoldering crematorium of Waco, back in April of ‘93?" -Vin Suprynowicz
[This message has been edited by deanf (edited June 24, 2000).]
The last sentence is the most disturbing.
http://www.insightmag.com/archive/200007192.shtml
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>By Paul M. Rodriguez
rodriguez@insightmag.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FBI Database Monitors Catholic Bishops, Pro-Life Groups
It has been rumored for years, but dismissed as nutty conspiracy theory, that the federal government has been assembling an extensive database on pro-life organizations under the auspices of tracking potential criminals involved with “domestic terrorism.” The Justice Department has admitted such a federal task force exists but has denied it tracks innocent civilians or groups.
Then how to explain newly obtained internal Justice Department documents that lay out justification for “intrusive investigative activity” by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the U.S. Postal Inspection and U.S. Marshals services and other federal law-enforcement agencies to compile dossiers on groups as divergent as the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Rifle Association and the Women’s Coalition for Life?
News alert! has obtained hundreds of pages on this secret project called VAAPCON, an acronym for Violence Against Abortion Providers Conspiracy, sometimes just shortened to VAAP. These never-before-seen records detail not just suspected criminal activities by some factions of the antiabortion or pro-life movements, but also the political activities, biographies and lobbying efforts by some of the most well-known — and law-abiding groups — in the country.
Consider this VAAPCON entry called “Profiles of Pro-Life Groups … NOT PARTICIPATING IN DIRECT ACTION.” It lists the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Americans United for Life, Feminists for Life, Women’s Coalition for Life, American Life League, the Christian Coalition and Concerned Women for America.
In one of the documents dating back to 1994 or early 1995, an entry concerns the Catholic bishops’ group: “Led by [the late] Cardinal John O’Connor, the Conference is considered by many to be the broadest, best organized and most powerful of the pro-life groups. The Conference is primarily engaged in education and provides information and technical assistance to pro-life offices in the 189 dioceses and 18,000 parishes across the United States. They strongly condemned the shooting of [Wichita, Kan.] Dr. [George] Tiller, saying that ‘there is no room in the pro-life movement for violence.’ They oppose the Clinic Access bill now pending in Congress.” (This reference apparently was to the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinics law.)
Then there’s this entry on the Women’s Coalition for Life: They “describe themselves as both pro-feminist and pro-life. It’s an umbrella organization of approximately 1.8 million members, linking 15 existing grass-roots groups led by women opposed to abortion. Founded in April 1992, the coalition counsels women in crisis pregnancies and lobbies for antiabortion legislation. They have formed a ‘Susan B. Anthony List’ to rival Emily’s List and provide financial support to pro-life women candidates in 1994.”
The federal snoops had this to say about one of the na-tion’s largest women’s group: “With about 600,000 members, Concerned Women for America focuses on social issues like abortion and homosexuality, but has also attacked the Administration’s health-care package and the economic stimulus package. More recently, they attempted to derail the nomination of Dr. Joycelyn Elders as U.S. Surgeon General, and to prevent President Clinton from opening up the military to homosexuals.”
Then there’s this item from the secret database: “The Christian Coalition is an evangelical advocacy group founded by the Rev. Pat Robertson after his 1988 campaign for President. In the past, the Coalition focused on such issues as abortion, homosexuality and school prayer. They are presently trying to move more towards the mainstream. At their recent annual conference, it was decided to expand their agenda to include the economy and health-care reform. They engage almost exclusively in lobbying and grass-roots organizing.”
Larry Klayman, general counsel of Judicial Watch, whose group obtained the documents under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, asks: “What in the world are Janet Reno, Hillary, Bill and their VAAPCON task force doing using law-enforcement personnel to infiltrate, collect and assemble database information of this type? We were told by one source that some in the FBI objected to the monitoring of these groups on legal and ethical grounds but were overruled by upper levels at Justice.”
What is curious to even two senior federal law-enforcement officials, one at the FBI and one at the Justice Department, is that the database is under the auspices of the Criminal Division and that virtually all entries are part of what’s called an “FI” tag — that is, a “full-investigation” label. “This is wrong and it ought to be exposed for what it is, a political witch-hunt,” said a concerned FBI agent.
Mixed in with the bishops, for example, is information on violent groups and astounding details on surveillance and monitoring techniques by a variety of federal law-enforcement agencies. This includes tracking mail sent to or received from all manner of organizations in contact with people in the federal database, including the NRA, Nynex Telephone Corp. and even the Blind Work Association in Binghamton, N.Y.[/quote]
------------------
"Anyone feel like saluting the flag which the strutting ATF and FBI gleefully raised over the smoldering crematorium of Waco, back in April of ‘93?" -Vin Suprynowicz
[This message has been edited by deanf (edited June 24, 2000).]