Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Preempting Another Chicago, 1968, Mr. Obama?

Why would the Democratic Party allow US Military Intelligence and the Colorado National Guard to deploy in Denver during the Democratic National Convention? What warrants the use during the convention (and what warrants the existence) of a certain "Colorado Information Analysis Center" which is "just one facet of a diffuse national intelligence network that has grown up quietly since Sept. 11, 2001?" Why did a precursor to this "Information Analysis Center" collect data on peaceful protestors and report one of them as a terrorist? And why doesn't the Colorado National Guard explain why it's renting 500+ hotel rooms and operating a restricted military base at a nearby college campus? Why are members of "US Northern Command" that was created in 2002 for "homeland defense" operations be working with the Secret Service on "convention security?" Obviously, since all the democracy has been removed from Democratic National Conventions since the Democrats stopped actually convening nationally to choose a candidate, a direct analogy to what happened to the DNC in Chicago in 1968 is elusive.

So, is all this just a lot of homeland security and defense cheese that needs to be blown before god forbid it goes to some hospital or school? This sounds traditionally like something that would embarrass Democrats. It is unquestioningly a domestic military operation planned that has to do with security and spying at the DNC. Democrats didn't seem to be be embarrassed by illegal spying on Americans after immunity was given to companies that did so, so why should they at their own convention? After all these questions only one remains: Is this the same event that culminates the "movement" that Barack Obama envisioned?

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