Watching Us Watching All Of You

While the wingers are still screaming bloody murder at the DHS report on right-wing extremism, it seems the same DHS is also looking at left-wing extremist groups as well, as Greg Sargent points out.

I’ve now obtained, however, an internal DHS assessment for law enforcement officials that sounds equally dire warnings about “left wing extremists.” And it broadly defines these extremists as including people who embrace some components of “anticapitalist” or “antiglobalization” ideas.

You can read the whole thing right here.

While this new memo was mentioned tangentially by The Washington Times, reading the whole memo in full shows clearly that a similar approach was employed towards the left and deflates any claims of DHS “bias.”

Critics are upset with the right wing memo in part because it defines “rightwing extremism in the United States” as not just hate groups but also ones that challenge the authority of the Federal government. The outcry has been so vehement that DHS chief Janet Napolitano is expected to address it today.

But the memo I’ve obtained describes “left wing extremism” as including people who “embrace a number of radical philosophical components of anticapitalist, antiglobalization, communist, socialist, and other movements.” That seems equally sweeping.

There are crazies on both sides, folks. The point is that these are domestic terrorists, not foreign ones. And the wingers will never freely admit that domestic terrorists might in fact be right wing ones. All domestic terrorists are Leftists, you know (BILL AYERS! BILL AYERS! WEATHERMEN! BLOOGITY BLOO!)

But hey, isn't the whole point that a surveillance state will watch everyone, innocent or not? The GOP told us that it was necessary. When it was turned against them, only then did it become unconscionable fascism. It was perfectly fine when it was abused by Bush to watch treasonous liberals.

Only NOW do these idiots cry foul.