Opposing death penalty gets people listed as terrorists.

The police in Maryland thought they were playing James Bond. They admit setting up and operating a covert, domestic spying campaign against individuals who are guilty of nothing more than opposing US government policy -- a criteria that includes all decent people.

According to the Washington Post, Police Superintendent Terrence Sheridan admitted that the State Police “classified 52 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects...”

What made these people terrorists? They were against the war in Iraq and the death penalty --- I think I better stay out of Maryland. This spying campaign went on for 14 months until 2006. A letter, from Sheridan, acknowledging that these people were classified as terrorist says that there is “no evidence whatsoever of any involvement in violent crime.” Apparently want to stop killing makes one a terrorist in the eyes of the police -- which I guess explains why so many of them are so violent. This is Orwellian to the max: peace is violence and violence is peace. To oppose violence makes one a terrorist, to engage in violence makes one a peace officer.

The police superintendent who authorized the surveillance was Thomas Hutchins who apparently holds himself out as something of an expert on the Constitution since he opined: “I don’t believe the First Amendment is any guarantee to those who wish to disrupt the government.”

Please note the pure dishonesty of that statement. Hutchins has offered no evidence that anyone was disrupting anything merely opposing it. Apparently peaceful opinions now qualify as “disrupting government” -- if only it were that simple. When government acts in this manner it cries out for disruption.