When criminal-trespassing charges were dropped February 5 against three Maine eco-activists, the activists were relieved. After all, they had merely been standing in a business’s parking lot during business hours, and had left when a security guard asked them to. But some authoritarian types, including Maine’s entire congressional delegation, might have seen a weakness in our legal system — a vulnerability our elected representatives in Washington are continuing to try to shore up.
US Senator Susan Collins, who is seeking reelection this year, is the lead sponsor of a bill we’ve told you about before, “the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007,” which seeks to outlaw the Constitutionally protected freedoms of speech, thought, and assembly (see “Anti-activist Bill Backed by Collins, Allen, and Michaud,” by Jeff Inglis, November 16, 2007).
The protest is growing — but so is the support: US Senator Olympia Snowe has stonewalled for months, even now refusing to make any official statements about the bill, effectively endorsing it with her silence.
Earlier this month, Rolling Stone magazine highlighted the cases federal prosecutors say proves they need this bill. The story shows that the FBI is using informants not as eyes and ears inside criminal conspiracies, but as masterminds and enablers of supposedly “terrorist” plots that result in arrests and prosecutions of penniless, homeless, non-violent, law-abiding citizens. In one example, an Illinois man with no history of violent behavior was cajoled by an FBI informant into agreeing to a plan to blow up a mall near his home — with explosives bought in a deal brokered by the informant.
As the feds’ efforts to manufacture fear are expanding, dissent is, too. On Tuesday, about 30 protestors representing groups as diverse as the Native Forest Network, Peace Action Maine, and the Maine Civil Liberties Union rallied in Monument Square, opposing Collins’s bill and the rest of the Maine delegation’s support for it.
None of our federal politicians sent representatives to the rally. But then, they’re afraid of groups of citizens gathering to oppose government action.
Related:
Letters to the Portland editor: March 2, 2007, The Obliterati, Peace corps, More 
- Letters to the Portland editor: March 2, 2007
In September 2006 Congress passed the Military Commissions Act.
- The Obliterati
What if we could rid politics of all lies? What if candidates could be forced to admit their fabrications?
- Peace corps
In December 2004, 13 anti-war activists gathered in Senator Susan Collins’s office in Portland, Maine. They read the names of American soldiers who had died in the Iraq war, as well as an equal number of Iraqi civilians who had died.
- Dollar Bill-ed
Phillipe + Jorge are surprised and sad to see that state Senator Stephen Alves of West Warwick is being investigated by the FBI.
- Avoiding the problem
Over the course of Olympia Snowe's career in the US Senate, companies and workers in the healthcare and insurance industries have been her top donors (except for retirees and retiree political-action committees, which are obviously also concerned with healthcare issues).
- Post-daily
After leaving daily newspapers, where do journalists go?
- Senators fight snooping
President Bush authorized spying on US citizens without bothering to seek the approval of a federal court. A Maine senator is leading the charge to find out why.
- Tell it to the judge(s)
Bangor Six supporters held a rally on Tuesday outside the Penobscot County Courthouse
- Letters to the Portland editor: April 13, 2007
Here in the 2nd Congressional District we will be proud to call Tom Allen our US senator should he decide to undertake a campaign to defeat Susan Collins in 2008.
- The outsiders
Just a few months ago, the story-line of Maine’s 2008 US Senate race seemed inevitable.
- The 10th Annual Muzzle Awards
Mitt Romney will say or do anything if he thinks it will help him become president.
- Less
Topics:
This Just In
, U.S. Government, U.S. Congressional News, Federal Bureau of Investigation, More
, U.S. Government, U.S. Congressional News, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Kimberly Fischer, Less
