Spying has no impact on our trying….

My DC action updates/coverage are still being posted at pinktucson.livejournal.com with when I can… but this email that was forwarded to me from a friend seemed more appropriate for this blog. Why? Because so many of the activists I’ve recently spoken to have experienced the same thing of which this woman writes. And several of us who were doing the Mothers Day 24 hour vigil had our hard drives crash multiple times within a couple weeks before the event. I try not to live in a world of suspicion and paranoia…. but it makes one wonder.

Here’s the email Ellouise recieved and forwarded to me.

(Prior to this email of today, she was unable to get into her yahoo account even though her children using the same computer had no trouble with theirs) Soooooo, this is a little spooky…

—-

I got a new modem today. My internet connection seems faster but
loading my email is still slower than other sites. I’ll bet you
thought I would never wonder about that. Well you thought wrong.

I also opened up ANOTHER new email account. Having no access to my
email for most of last week was more than a tad inconvenient. It did
put a bit of a wrinkle in organizing our Mothers Day Peace Vigil, but
I did that the old fashioned way by using the telephone. I figure it
will take you awhile to find this new email account and I will enjoy
it working as fast as it does for everyone else on that site until you
find me there.

I spent the morning emailing my political contacts, fellow peace
activists and reporters and gave them my work email to use in case of
emergency. I figure you can’t shut down that email without a flurry of
court orders or some such hassle that I am really not worth.

I have turned off my home phone. An added benefit to that is the money
I am saving. Besides, every time I answered it lately it was either a
hang up or a wrong number. So no great loss or inconvenience there.

I got a new ATM card too. Funny, I had that card for years and never
had one problem with it. I also rarely used it since it is for my
savings account and I do try to be a good girl and leave that account
alone. But right before I went to Crawford for Easter, I transferred a
bunch of money into that account and used that card while I was in
Texas. Then I used it in New York two weeks later when I was there for
the UPJ rally. Imagine my surprise when all of a sudden it stopped
working right after I got back from New York two weeks ago.

I was on the radio today! Did you hear me? Oh I know, that is most
likely a dumb question. I hope you paid attention to the part where we
talked about the loss of constitutional rights. The host of the show
told me she wants me back! So free up your Saturday afternoons. I may
even say hi to you at some point.

You see, agent mike, you don’t scare me. My dad was a history teacher
for 40 years and I was the only kid in my kindergarten class who not
only had memorized the preamble to the constitution but could also
explain it and the Bill of Rights (well, as well s a 5 year old could
explain it). Point is, I could have told you when I was 5 that spying
on American citizens who are political activists is WRONG.

I think about my dad a lot these days. He was a proud Democrat. He was
very active politically and had all of his kids knocking on doors for
JFK in 1960. But Dad was somewhat conservative. He called me his
looney leftist daughter. He never did understand the need for a
feminist movement, as he always treated women as equals. He never
agreed with me about abortion but he thought the Vietnam war was
wrong. When he realized that he was most likely on one of Nixon’s
enemies lists, he was furious. He also told me in 1967 that I had
better hope the USA NEVER got involved militarily in the middle east,
that we would never be able to get out once we got in. He disagreed
with Carter getting involved even though it was to negotiate a treaty.
And he was livid when bush sr went to war with Iraq in 1991.

See, Dad was really proud of his days as a soldier in WWII. But he
hated war. He had night terrors for the rest of his life. I can
remember many times seeing my mom or my dad sleeping on the couch in
the living room when I was a kid and I thought that was normal for a
long time. When I was finally old enough to realize it wasn’t, I asked
my mom and she told me my dad tried to kick her out of the foxhole in
the middle of the night at least two or three times a week. My dad
also didn’t let us watch war movies. He was a huge John Wayne fan, but
we only saw his cowboy movies. Dad said he had fought in a war and he
saw nothing entertaining about it. He thought it was wrong for
Hollywood to make money from war movies. So I guess you can say he
planted that peace activist seed in me when I was very young.

My dad was the smartest man I have ever known and he didn’t raise no
fool. I know he would be proud of me today. I think of him every time
I stand with my fellow peace activists, holding signs to protest this
despicable war. I know he would worry about me and I doubt I would be
able to tell him about my phone and email and bank card problems, as I
would not want to worry him. But I know for a fact that if he were
alive today, he would most likely be right there next to me,
protesting this war and demanding the impeachment of this monster of a
president.

So I am not afraid of you or of my government. Bring it on. Oh, and I
will be back at the park tomorrow at 4:00 and again on Tuesday at
5:00. (I am thinking of making a new sign that says “HI AGENT MIKE!”)
I also have a meeting on Monday night with those subversive Quakers.
We are going to plan our rally for the 28th. That should be a nice day
for you, as we expect a good turnout and it will be easier for you to
blend into the crowd.

As always, PEACE!!