Secret Service strained as leaders face more threats, page 1

Originally posted by silent thunder

I find it more than a little interesting that the article mentions the agency's possible downshift or dropping of the investigation of financial crime.

I also find it "interesting"...definitely a spin for justifying a not so new but tighter policy of control of dissent and letting the corporate pirates off the hook....

I do not condone death threats made against anyone, and I believe the agency's mission involves investigating such threats. But why does this necessitate the end of investigations into financial crime, just when we need it most?

Agreed...why indeed??? Perhaps I am too much of a cynic but my impression is that the house of cards that is our monetary and banking system at the moment cannot afford any real scrutiny -

And how many of the threats are really serious? Who defines what a "hate group" is, and are they investigated even if they make no specific threats? If so, to what extent? What about "a new wave of antigovernment fervor?" Why does this need to be investigated per se?

I have a feeling that a "hate group" may be defined as anyone who is critical of the current POTB - ergo the demonization of Tea Party demonstrators - the mainstream media has painted Tea Party folks as right wing nut jobs and racists when in reality they are a broad inter-racial coalition of individuals with varying political views - but united in their criticism of the bail out among other things - they may not always be the most articulate, and the right has tried to co-opt them for its own purposes but so far they represent the only major opposition to the current administration -

As to "what extent" these "investigations" go - one has only to look at things like - COINTELPRO - and similar operations for a clue to how far these agencies may go in their pursuit of control of public opinion and outrage...of course actual threats should be taken seriously and investigated but the history of these agencies like the Secret Service shows their tendency towards overkill - literally 'overkill' sometimes....and with the Patriot Act, suspension of Habeus Corpus and other measures in place since 2OO1 they have a green light to trample through the tulips....

just my 2 cents...honestly hope I am wrong...but I doubt it