DHS Threatens Peace Veteran! I LOVE This Man! He Recorded them!

[leftchick]

I Love you Dwight! :loveya:



http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid:158729

Red State, Meet Police State

A federal employee gets hassled by Homeland Security for antiwar stickers on his car. Is it a mistake, a new rule, or the part of a trend of the First Amendment being bullied out of existence? Read the transcript, read the rules and decide for yourself....

Dwight Scarbrough's idea of political dissent is one that rubs some people the wrong way. He likes to blame his compulsion for peaceful troublemaking on his birthday: October 2, the same as Ghandi. However, a few of Scarbrough's techniques are all his own--especially when it comes to his truck.

<snip>

On February 7, Scarbrough went to his job like any other day. He is a scientist with a federal agency in Boise--one that is part of the executive branch, ironically--and he parked in his usual spot, just outside of the federal Natural Resource Center on Vinnell Way in Boise, kitty corner to a Wal-Mart, a Lowe's Home Improvement Center and a 21-screen Edwards cineplex. Made up of two large, square brick buildings, the complex houses a variety of federal offices including the Social Security Administration, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, among others. But despite the fact that most of the employees in the complex can, at least officially, consider George W. Bush their boss, Scarbrough has taken remarkably little grief for his strident anti-Bush views and props. Even those who don't agree with his message usually tolerate it.

<snip>

Around 2:15 p.m., Scarbrough says, he answered his office phone and found himself talking to a man who identified himself as Officer R. of the Department of Homeland Security. (I'm withholding the officer's name; you know, what with Plamegate and all.) Scarbrough was told that he was in violation of the Code of Federal Regulations, the set of rules that govern all executive departments and agencies, and that he was in danger of being cited unless he came out to the parking lot or let the officer come up to his office. Scarbrough chose the first option, and took along a co-worker--also a veteran--and, being an experienced peace activist, a tape recorder. Downstairs, they found two armed officers with "Homeland Security" insignia patches on their shoulders, waiting for them in large white SUVs. Scarbrough informed the officers that he would record their conversation, and what follows is the transcript of that recording.

Officer: Step back here please.

Dwight Scarbrough: Let's have a seat.

O: I'd like to talk to you.

DS: Let's have a seat........

[rpgamerd00d]

1. Why cant this stuff happen to me? I wanna sue and get rich! Dang it!

[MountainLaurel]

22. You can't sue the federal government

At least I think that's the case. Any legal experts out there?

[villager]

2. good -- and scary-- article. Thanks for posting.

Good to know some folks are fighting back!

[Warpy]

3. Yow.

Take one pissy Repug, one semiliterate cop with a bad attitude, and forget about your rights.

Scarborough should have had someone go in and quickly print out the statute from findlaw.com and read it v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y to Officer Dickhead and ask him how it felt to be lied to about what constituted that law by some college boy Repug who knew better.

[stop the bleeding]

4. I emailed K.O. at countdown with this

WOW is all I gotta say, WOW

[e-mail]

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

5. The SS has been resurrected. eom

[tridim]

6. Whoa! This is just the beginning

If the DHS has this power now, imagine what they have planned for the future. The 06 elections are going to be very interesting and scary for dissenters. I'm preparing myself now.

[AuntiBush]

7. Good for Dwight!

:patriot:

[insane_cratic_gal]

8. Wow! I hope he gets to tell it to the world.

What's up with them being unable to locate the office the HSO claims to have been from?

When they say signs, Aren't they referring to a picket sign, or a yard sign, not an item attached to a personal piece of property? like a bumper sticker? He wasn't handing out pamphlets, or flyers so he was NOT in violation of the law. Like every other Bush crony of this Admin, they choose to loosely interpret the law to how they see fit. Frankly that was blatant bullshit.

It's my opinion, that was complete and total harassment. I hope Olberman covers it and interviews the guy!

[dweller]

9. there's an update to the story

http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A159539

great story, :kick: & R!

dp

[quiet.american]

11. Thanks for posting -- great update! n/t

[rpgamerd00d]

12. He should still sue.

[magellan]

13. Thanks, I find the DHS defense exceeds my worst expectations:

On the government's side of things, getting information has proven little easier than it was the first time around. We finally chatted with Carl Rusnok, the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, who would only say of the incident, "The officer that originally talked with this gentleman interpreted the laws as he saw them, and that's what's done in the field on a daily basis by all law enforcement."

If they were dealing with dangerous behavior that places other lives at clear and imminent risk, I'd allow this justification. After all, police interpret the law every day when dealing with suspected criminals. Mostly they get it right, sometimes not.

But what the DHS officers were dealing with here was freedom of speech. They cited an ordinance dealing with signs on government property and expanded it on the spot to include the stickers on this gentleman's truck...but not to the stickers on any of the other vehicles in the parking lot.

That in a nutshell is why the government has no business regulating free speech!!

[leftchick]

16. Thank you!

<snip>

On the "nothing" front, Scarbrough has continued to park in the same spot, with the same stickers on his truck. He's even added another prominent message to his tailgate, reading "Help save America in 2006. Stop the lies, stop the spying, stop the dying. Impeach Bush and Cheney" in 4-inch high letters. But while Scarbrough may seem to be asking for trouble, he told BW he hasn't had any more run-ins with federal agents.

Scarbrough's attorney, Michael Bartlett of the local firm Nevin, Benjamin and McKay, said of the lack of additional action, "Hopefully, that's some indication that they simply had made a mistake."

Scarbrough's coverage has, however, turned the former submariner into a minor celebrity. After doing a round of national radio shows, and after the story in BW got covered by the magazine The Progressive (we hear there's a forthcoming story in Playboy as well), Scarbrough said he has received numerous letters and e-mails, almost all of which were supportive. "Even if they don't agree with what I say, they at least acknowledge that we have a right to free speech," he told BW.

On the government's side of things, getting information has proven little easier than it was the first time around. We finally chatted with Carl Rusnok, the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, who would only say of the incident, "The officer that originally talked with this gentleman interpreted the laws as he saw them, and that's what's done in the field on a daily basis by all law enforcement." He said that the case had been referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boise "to determine if anything further should be done."

[samhsarah]

10. Kick ASS!!!!

I LOVE this guy!!!!!!!!!!!!:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[derby378]

14. Good for him - throwing it in the face of the Thought Police

This is harassment, pure and simple.

[norml]

15. Gestapo

The Death's Head emblem similar to Skull and crossbones, often used as the insignia of the Gestapo

snip

The role of the Gestapo was to investigate and combat "all tendencies dangerous to the State." It had the authority to investigate treason, espionage and sabotage cases, and cases of criminal attacks on the Nazi Party and on Germany.

The law had been changed in such a way that the Gestapo's actions were not subject to judicial review. Nazi jurist Dr. Werner Best stated, "As long as the ... carries out the will of the leadership, it is acting legally." The Gestapo was specifically exempted from responsibility to administrative courts, where citizens normally could sue the state to conform to laws.

The power of the Gestapo most open to misuse was "Schutzhaft" or "protective custody" — a euphemism for the power to imprison people without judicial proceedings, typically in concentration camps. The person imprisoned even had to sign his or her own Schutzhaftbefehl, the document declaring that the person desired to be imprisoned. Normally this signature was forced by beatings and torture.


Heinrich Himmler (left) chief of the SS, with Adolf Hitler (right)


Increasing power under the SS

Laws passed in 1936 effectively gave the Gestapo carte blanche to operate without judicial oversight. A further law passed in the same year declared the Gestapo to be responsible for the set-up and administration of concentration camps. Also in 1936, Reinhard Heydrich became head of the Gestapo and Heinrich Müller chief of operations (although Müller assumed overall command after Heydrich's assassination in 1942). Adolf Eichmann was Müller's direct subordinate and head of department IV, section B4, which dealt with Jews.

During World War II, the Gestapo was expanded to around 45,000 members.


Keeping Hitler in power

By February and March 1942, student protests were calling for an end to the Nazi regime. These protests included non-violent resistance of Hans and Sophie Scholl, two of the leaders of the White Rose student group. Despite the significant popular support for the removal of Hitler, resistance groups and those who were in moral or political opposition to the Nazis were stalled into inaction by the fear of reprisals from the Gestapo. In fact, reprisals did come in response to the protests. Fearful of an internal overthrow, the forces of Himmler and the Gestapo were unleashed on the opposition. The first five months of 1943 witnessed thousands of arrests and executions as the Gestapo exercised a severity hitherto unseen by the German public. Student leaders were executed in late February, and a major opposition organization, the Oster Circle, was destroyed in April 1943.

snip

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestapo

[leftchick]

21. yes indeed, they read the playbook

[BiggJawn]

17. "It Can't Happen HERE"

Get it. Read it. It's online, even:
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301001h.html

You have no excuse. Ignore "Demon-Haunted World" because Pastor says it's "worldly", but READ the Sinlcair Lewis book!

The Neo-Cons did.

[Kolesar]

18. Darn good reporting by Nicholas Collias ... eom

[gratuitous]

19. Uh oh, intimidation and illegal threats aren't working

Time to let the rabble know who's really in charge in George Bush's America, methinks. Well, I'll have a chance to find out for myself on Sunday at the big anti-war demonstration. Still haven't decided what I'm going to put on my sign.

[napi21]

20. You know what the most frightening part about this story is?

How many other Americans would have just gone over and removed the signs? How many would have the b's to stand there and argue with those guys? I WOULD! But if my husbanad would have been there, he would have said "Just go take the dams signs off the car and make this go away!"

I know, I've always been a outspoken B!

[leftchick]

23. I agree

Dwight showed extrordinary bravery. I know my husband would have done the same as yours. I would have given them shit too!

[lumpy]

27. kick

v

[file83]

24. This man is guilty of ThoughtCrime. DoublePlusUnGood!!

[wordpix2]

25. OK, here's ANOTHER illegal spy case---CENSURE this pResident ,you

spineless senators

[alfredo]

26. Just passed this on to my army buddies.

[Disturbed]

28. Right now in Amerika...

you can be detained indefinetly without any rights. You don't have to charged with anything. You can be held in a cell and not be allowed any visitors, even an Attorney. All that the authorities need is to declare that you might be a witness or possible participant in terrorism.

[alfredo]

33. And that is at the discretion of the president. Remember during

the Pinochet years, people just disappeared off the face of the earth? Congress has given bush the ability to drag anyone off the street, do what he wants with them, and he doesn't have to answer for it.

[H2O Man]

29. The War on Dissent

is coming to your home town soon.

[leftchick]

31. It is already in my town

on Jan 31, the SOTU address by the ass**, we had a little get together downtown, about a hundred people, where seven people were arrested. It was not good.

:(

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

30. I repeat once again: What, if anything, has DHS actually ACCOMPLISHED?

What does it actually do, other than harass peace activists like this?

[Terran1212]

32. FBI/GEMA guy visited my house yesterday ...

My sister is in Homeland Security; he wanted to meet with the family for background checks. More like he had alternative reasons, but who am I to question the Police these days? They can do anything.

[Oilwellian]

34. I wrote Dwight a few weeks ago and he wrote back

Here's my letter:
I just read your story posted on a website called Democratic Underground and wanted to let you know you're a hero with us. I found your email address by googling your name and found your VFP Chapter page.

I just love any man that has a passion for fighting the fascism that's consuming our country. I hope you realize groups like yours are being wiretapped and monitored very closely. I recently read a minute by minute FBI report of a peace group out of Balitmore that was monitored while attending a peace rally in D.C. The description of their cars were given, how many and who were in each car that went to the rally, what their signs said, minute details of their every move. I'm racking my brain trying to remember where I read it...if I remember, I'll be sure to forward it on to you.

Please be careful Mr. Scarbrough and I'm so glad to see you have the ACLU working with you. Best wishes and let's go get those Bush bastards!

(I have this at the bottom of each of my emails)

NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice, and certainly without probable cause. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.

Here's his response:

Hi Kathryn:

Just wanted to thank you for your support and advice to be cautious. I am, an will continue to be careful. This is a time of fear and doubt for many and I am very fearful for my nation and our citizens that do actually care about real freedom as laid out in the constitution. I hope they are tracking my every move and words because then they are wasting their time on me and not some other poor American.

I am a Navy Submarine veteran and quite fearless in what I am doing to defend our right to FREE SPEECH. As is the case for all veterans, we served for whatever personal reasons to defend the constituition of the United States and it's citizens, not the President (especially a fascist one like GWB) or Congress.

I do have an excellent attorney and law firm that are representing me as needed on a pro bono basis. They all loved this case and are great defenders of the people against BIG BROTHER.

I also liked your statement at the bottom of your message. It is great and very reflective of our times with this fascist regime currently in power. Hopefully we can vote them out of power before they totally ruin our country and relationships with nations and others around the world. We must demand that our foreighn policy related to economic and military abuses be changed.

Anyway, thanks again for your support.

Dwight Scarbrough
President, Chapter 117
Veterans for Peace
Boise, Idaho

[rosesaylavee]

35. Wow, wow, wow....

The chilling part of this for me is that there is no one to confront after the fact, no one to address about the wrong done to this man. No receptionist, locked doors, no return phone calls - what the hell is going on?

Good for Dwight and his foresight to take his recorder and a co-worker. I think we all need to get tape recorders...