Who else wants to spy on the law-abiding citizen? Now the NYC Police get caught doing it.

Anyone who thinks that the government, at the local, state, and federal level, ought to be able to snoop on anyone at all, remember: even if you agree with those in power now, you may not agree with the next regime. Even if you are complacent about spies in the midst of those protesting today, think how you will feel if the guys you hate most come into power, you want to make your objections to their policies known, and YOU become a target.

Today's New York Times tells us the New York City Police have been spying on protestors -- and not just spying but creating disturbances that can turn a peaceful protest into something that's no longer peaceful.

Funny thing about peaceful protests that go wrong: under the Patriot Act provisions that Bush and friends are trying to ram through Congress (and might still succeed in getting through), such protests can be relabeled as terrorist activities -- and the participants labeled as terrorists. This would be true, even if the folks who started the ruckus were sham participants. And really -- how would you know if the disturbances were caused by actual protestors or by infiltrators?

Want to bet the NYC police not the only ones doing this sort of thing?

An article everyone should read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/nyregion/22police.html

SNIPPET:
>>Undercover New York City police officers have conducted covert surveillance in the last 16 months of people protesting the Iraq war, bicycle riders taking part in mass rallies and even mourners at a street vigil for a cyclist killed in an accident, a series of videotapes show...officers hoist protest signs. They hold flowers with mourners. They ride in bicycle events. At the vigil for the cyclist, an officer in biking gear wore a button that said, "I am a shameless agitator." She also carried a camera and videotaped the roughly 15 people present...At a demonstration last year during the Republican National Convention, the sham arrest of a man secretly working with the police led to a bruising confrontation between officers in riot gear and bystanders.<<