Fw: [GSFP-ALL] in defense of the Catholic Workers-in the Season of Peace

Submitted by PAAMember on December 21, 2005 - 3:00pm. ::






This email came in from Celeste Zappala, Gold Star
Families for Peace.  I thought it would be good to pass around and share
with others (with Celeste's permission, of course!)

 

Peace!

Amy

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Dear Friends,

I have always admired the saintly people who are
part of the Catholic Worker movement.  It strikes me that they practice
Christianity in its purest form, caring
for the poor, relinquishing their own
possessions,living humbly and following the hard path of Jesus.  I have
been honored to speak at the Dorothy Day House in DC and to work with the House
of Grace in Philadelphia.  I am always touched by the
selfless
dedication of their mission, and the personal warmth and love they
offer to everyone. 

So I guess we should not be shocked to learn
that the current Administration considers them some sort of threat.  Yes,
they sure are, they threaten the worship
of materialism, the stylishness of
apathy, and the self serving religiosity that sanctifies and perpetuates wars,
poverty and narcissism.

Here are some articles about the Catholic
Workers, one in jest the others serious.  I would ask you to remember the
Catholic Worker Communities in your prayers and with your support.

Just
last week we learned that the venerated American Friends Service Committee was
under suspicion too.

Remember- to paraphrase another time -an other
country-
> "first they came for the Quakers, but I was not a
Quaker so
I did not speak, then they came for the
Catholic Workers, but I was
Protestant so I said
nothing" then they came for me and there was no
one
left to speak for me. "

They have already gone after everyone who
speaks against them,-Moms, ministers, congressmen, reporters, -if your integrity
and loyalty have not yet been
challenged, you just aren't making enough
noise!!

In this season of Peace I ask you to use your gifts and talents
to speak the truth- be the voice for Peace.  Speak for those whose voices
are forever stilled.  They would expect no less of us.

many
blessings and best wishes,
Celeste Zappala
Gold Star Families Speak
Out


>
>
> THIS JUST OUT!!
>
> The Government
has just announced raids on Catholic Worker communities around the
country.  Allies in the Coalition of the Damned carried
out simultaneous raids on Catholic Worker houses in other
countries.
>
> Troops searching for Weaons of Mass Compassion
have thus far been unable to
> find convincing evidence. 
Altho they alleged that vast quantities of warm
> blankets, sweaters,
woolen socks and heavy coats were being stockpiled, they
> have
not been found.  Captured Catholic Workers claimed that they were
all
> given to the poor, asserting that "Winter is starting". 
However, interrogators also elicited claims about 
so-called Global Warming from some of the Catholic Workers, which
flatly contradicts assertions about the so-called onset of
Winter.
>
> Chemical weapons investigators have
found significant quantities of powdered
> milk in most of the
Catholic Worker "soup kitchens".  Scientific reports indicate that
powdered milk can be used to ruin coffee.
>
> The search
continues for the elusive and secretive Leader of the Catholic Worker
movement.  After the death of Founder Peter Maurin in 1949,  a
woman fronted as the leader of the group until her death in
1980.  Investigators assume that Maurin's successor was  some
shadowy Jesuit agent -- or, at this point, 56 years later, some
number of Secret Leaders, but have not been able to identify any
of them.  Government spokesmen explained that such a close-knit,
coordinated organization obviously has
> a strong central leadership
structure, and they will "root him out!"
>
>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
>
> : 
todays Times
> Date:  Tue, 20 Dec 2005 06:47:05 -0800 (PST)
>

> Friends,  the FBI and the NY Times has outed the Catholic
Worker's "semi-communistic ideology" and lists us as among "extremist
special interest groups"  whose cells engage in violent or other
illegal acts, making them "a serious domestic terrorist
threat." thought you'd like to know.
>
> Brian Terrell
>

>
>
>
> New York Times
> December 20,
2005
> F.B.I. Watched Activist Groups, New Files Show
>
> By
ERIC LICHTBLAU
> WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - Counterterrorism agents at
the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous
surveillance and intelligence-gathering
> operations that involved, at
least indirectly, groups active in causes as diverse as the
environment, animal cruelty and poverty relief, newly disclosed
agency
> records show.
>
> F.B.I. officials said Monday that
their investigators had no interest in monitoring political or
social activities and that any investigations that touched on
>
advocacy groups were driven by evidence of criminal or violent
activity at public protests and in other settings.
>
> After
the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, John Ashcroft, who was then attorney
general, loosened restrictions on the F.B.I.'s investigative powers, giving
the bureau greater ability to visit and monitor
Web sites, mosques and other public entities in
developing terrorism leads. The bureau has used that
authority to investigate not only groups with suspected ties
to foreign terrorists, but also protest groups
> suspected of
having links to violent or disruptive activities.
>
> But the
documents, coming after the Bush administration's confirmation that
President Bush had authorized some spying without warrants in
fighting terrorism, prompted charges from civil rights advocates that
the government had improperly blurred the line between terrorism and acts
of civil disobedience and lawful protest.
>
> One F.B.I.
document indicates that agents in Indianapolis planned to conduct
surveillance as part of a "Vegan Community Project." Another
document talks
> of the Catholic Workers group's
"semi-communistic ideology." A third indicates the bureau's
interest in determining the location of a protest over llama
fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
>

> The documents, provided to The New York Times over the past
week, came as part of a series of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits
brought by the American Civil
> Liberties Union. For more than a
year, the A.C.L.U. has been seeking access to information in
F.B.I. files on about 150 protest and social groups that it
says
> may have been improperly monitored.
>
> The F.B.I.
had previously turned over a small number of documents on antiwar groups,
showing the agency's interest in investigating possible anarchist
or
> violent links in connection with antiwar
protests and demonstrations in advance of the 2004
political conventions. And earlier this month, the A.C.L.U.'s Colorado
chapter released similar documents involving,  among other
things, people protesting logging practices at a lumber industry gathering
in 2002.
>
> The latest batch of documents, parts of which
the A.C.L.U. plans to release publicly on
Tuesday, totals more than 2,300 pages and centers on references
in internal files to a handful of groups, including PETA, the
environmental group Greenpeace and the Catholic Workers group, which
promotes antipoverty efforts and
> social causes.
>
>
Many of the investigative documents turned over by the bureau are
heavily edited, making it difficult or impossible to determine the full
context of the references and why the F.B.I. may have
been discussing events like a PETA protest. F.B.I. officials
say many of the references may be much more benign than they seem
to civil rights advocates, adding that the documents offer an incomplete
and sometimes misleading
snapshot of the bureau's activities.
>

> "Just being referenced in an F.B.I. file is not tantamount to
being the subject of an investigation,"  said John Miller, a
spokesman for the bureau.
>
> "The F.B.I. does not target
individuals or organizations for investigation based on
their political beliefs," Mr. Miller said. "Everything we do is
carefully promulgated by federal law, Justice Department guidelines and the
F.B.I.'s own rules."
>
> A.C.L.U officials said the latest batch of
documents released by the F.B.I. indicated the
agency's interest in a broader array of activist and protest
groups
> than they had previously thought. In light of
other recent disclosures about domestic surveillance
activities by the National Security Agency and military
>
intelligence units, the A.C.L.U. said the documents reflected
a pattern of overreaching by the Bush administration.
>
>
"It's clear that this administration has engaged every possible
agency, from the Pentagon to N.S.A. to the F.B.I., to engage in spying on
Americans," said Ann
> Beeson, associate legal director for the
A.C.L.U.
>
> "You look at these documents," Ms. Beeson said,
"and you think, wow, we have really returned to the days of J.
Edgar Hoover, when you see in F.B.I. files that they're talking about a
group like the Catholic Workers league as having a communist
ideology."
>
> The documents indicate that in some cases,
the F.B.I. has used employees, interns and other
confidential informants within groups like PETA and Greenpeace
to develop leads on potential criminal activity and has downloaded
material from the groups' Web sites, in addition to monitoring their
protests.
>
> In the case of Greenpeace, which is known for
highly publicized acts of civil disobedience like the boarding of
cargo ships to unfurl protest banners, the
> files indicate that the
F.B.I. investigated possible financial ties between its members and
militant groups like the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal 
Liberation Front.
>
> These networks, which have no declared
leaders and are only loosely organized, have been described by
the F.B.I. in Congressional testimony as "extremist special interest
groups" whose cells engage in violent or other illegal acts, making
them "a serious domestic terrorist threat."
>
> In
testimony last year, John E. Lewis, deputy assistant director of
the counterterrorism division, said the F.B.I. estimated that in the
past 10 years
> such groups had engaged in more than 1,000
criminal acts causing more than $100 million in damage.
>
>
When the F.B.I. investigates evidence of possible violence or criminal
disruptions at protests and other events, those investigations are
routinely handled by agents within the bureau's
counterterrorism division.
>
> But the groups mentioned in the
newly disclosed F.B.I. files questioned both the propriety
of characterizing such investigations as related to "terrorism"
and
> the necessity of diverting counterterrorism
personnel from more pressing  investigations.
>
>
"The fact that we're even mentioned in the F.B.I. files in connection
with  terrorism is really troubling," said Tom Wetterer, general
counsel for
> Greenpeace. "There's no property damage or
physical injury caused in our activities, and under any definition of
terrorism, we'd take issue with that."
>
> Jeff Kerr, general
counsel for PETA, rejected the suggestion in some F.B.I. files that the
animal rights group had financial ties to militant groups,
and said
> he, too, was troubled by his group's inclusion
in the files.
>
> "It's shocking and it's outrageous,"
Mr. Kerr said. "And to me, it's an abuse of power by the
F.B.I. when groups like Greenpeace and PETA are basically
being
> punished for their social activism."
>



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