Anti-war nuns branded as ‘terrorists.’
Anti-war nuns branded as ‘terrorists.’
Sisters Carol Gilbert and Ardeth Platte have been “secretly branded by Maryland State Police as terrorists and placed on a national watch list” due to their participation in anti-war protest activities. They were added to the list after Maryland state police spied on them:
“This term terrorist is a really serious accusation,” Sister Ardeth, a nun for 54 years, told The Washington Times on Thursday in the first interview that the women have given since being informed they were among 53 people added to a terrorist watch list in conjunction with an extensive Maryland surveillance effort of antiwar activists.
“There is no way that we ever want to be identified as terrorists. We are nonviolent. We are faith-based,” she said. [...] “Democracy is built on these elements on being able to speak out to speak what we believe is truth,” Sister Carol said.
The nuns said they were not involved in the protests that state police say they targeted. “The spying occurred during the administration of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican.”
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Look out, they have rulers!!!!
October 10th, 2008 at 11:05 amI applaud both of these Sisters for their bravery.
It sounds like the bad old days of Josef Stalin and the NKVD. What’s next? Shipping both of these women off to a Gulag?
October 10th, 2008 at 11:09 amThe mind boggles.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:11 amApparently, any kind of dissension can get you branded a “terrorist” these days, no matter how non-violent that dissension is. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King would both have wound up on the list if they were alive today.
I always thought that a “terrorist” was somebody who employs methods designed to invoke terror in people. You know — bombings, random sniper shootings — that sort of thing.
Of course, it’s possible that non-violent protesters invoke terror in our leaders because so many of the citizens agree with them.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:14 amWelcome to the Republican police state, Sisters. Gonna vote based on that abortion thing still?
October 10th, 2008 at 11:16 amMaybe they though they were “flying nuns”, veiwing old programming from the sixties, they concluded that Sally Fields probably could have had a concealed WMD under her robe..
October 10th, 2008 at 11:18 amThis would be hilarious if not for the direction this administration has been leading us.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:18 amWow, what a waste of tax dollars. Could you imagine how boring that must have been, spying on nuns.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:18 amEnd of Days, but in a new way. Nuns who speak up are terrorists now?
You’re going down, BushCo, and very soon. Pray God you don’t try to drag all the world down with you, as you seem to wish.
BTW, where is Cheney in all this mess he helped to create……
October 10th, 2008 at 11:19 amJust look at ‘em. Hardened, murderous, traitorous, unAmerican fanatics.
These are not people who see America as you and I do.
These are people who think their country is so imperfect that they pal around with terrorists.
/snark
October 10th, 2008 at 11:19 amAnti-war = terrorist = OXYMORON
October 10th, 2008 at 11:20 amLet’s never forget the flagrant abuses justified on a national, state and local level under cover of “security” and let’s never let the Republicans — or their cowardly Democratic enablers — forget their transgressions. Prosecute them all. No pardons.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:20 amWhere are the penalties and censures for these violations of individuals’ rights. Pacifism is not being a terrorist. This kind of chilling by the authorities is state-sponsored terror. Where are the consequences?
October 10th, 2008 at 11:20 amOne of the idiotic aspects of these stories about branding anti-war folks as terrorists is, I’m sure the terrorists are actually happy about the fact that America has sent troops right to the their doorstep. They WANT us involved militarily over there. They are NOT anti-war. Bin Laden predicted in the 80’s that America would be occupying countries in the Middle East in the future. Guess what George Bush, you helped to make BL’s prediction come true, helping to bolster his standing with his followers. I’m getting dizzy from the last eight years…I better go lie down.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:20 amWhat boggle’s my mind is piss ant palin’s rant’s, inciting near riot’s and calling Obama and his past friend’s terrorest’s all the while her and her husband are aligned with real weirdo’s…Jeebos I am tired of all the crap the reich are flinging…Blessings
October 10th, 2008 at 11:21 amhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/roberto-lovato/mccain-campaign-palling-a_b_133288.html Leave those nuns alone! THIS IS THE STORY THEY SHOULD BE FOCUSED ON!
October 10th, 2008 at 11:21 amI hope the democratic governor of Maryland plans to reign in his police department.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:22 amI wonder when the McCain-Palin crowds will slip up and forget to take off their white robes and hoods.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:22 amI guaran-goddam-fuuking-TEE you Maryland is NOT the only place where this crap is going on.
This is the National Security State.
There’s is NO going back…None…once these systems are in place, they never go away. They transmogrify, they shape-shift, but they NEVER go away…
October 10th, 2008 at 11:23 amAre we all on the list for posting on this site? (I’m only half-kidding).
October 10th, 2008 at 11:24 amOnly in America would nuns be branded as terrorists, and people yelling and screaming to kill or behead an American politician running for office be acceptable.
It’s do or die time for this nation. If McCain manages to win, this country is done.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:25 amWitch1 Says:
What boggle’s my mind is piss ant palin’s rant’s, inciting near riot’s and calling Obama and his past friend’s terrorest’s all the while her and her husband are aligned with real weirdo’s…Jeebos I am tired of all the crap the reich are flinging…Blessings
But..But..W1, Sawah doesn’t see America the way you and I do: a few feet closer to Russia and off the U.S. map.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:27 amThis is just pucking fathetic. I understand, having gone to Catholic school from 4th through 12th grade, why the American government is afraid of nuns, but why do they hate our free speech?
October 10th, 2008 at 11:28 am@ 21, citizen_pain Says: Only in America would nuns be branded as terrorists, and people yelling and screaming to kill or behead an American politician running for office be acceptable.
It’s do or die time for this nation. If McCain manages to win, this country is done.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:25 am
you may remember the story of the American nuns slaughtered by the US-backed “anti-terrorist” soldiers in Salvador in the early ’80s.
McC(umst)ain’s just the evident rot on the system. But the decay is too deep ever to erase or repair.
We had a chance, in 2000.
Blown.
End of story…
Since then it’s all been denoument…
October 10th, 2008 at 11:29 amcitizen_pain Says:
Only in America would nuns be branded as terrorists, and people yelling and screaming to kill or behead an American politician running for office be acceptable.
Not only that, but he is a sitting senator. Aren’t there laws about public death threats to a sitting senator? Really? why aren’t these terrorists calling for the assination of an elected official in jail? Where was the security in the crowd at these events, who should have apprehended these terrorists? Why isn’t Homeland Security rabid about a senator and possibly the next president being publicly threatened? These are questions the cowardly media fear to ask. These are questions that the public should be demanding answers to.
Rotten traitors to America have infiltrated our government and are doing everything they can think of to destroy this country.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:29 amBHL, I’m absolutely sure that Ragnar Ulysses Cerious is on some type of watch list, be it NSA, FBI, YMCA?
October 10th, 2008 at 11:30 am“War is Peace”
“Freedom is Slavery”
“Ignorance is Strength”
and introducing:
“Democracy is Terrorism”
October 10th, 2008 at 11:31 amWe now live in a Country where people who speak out for peace are branded terrorists by the Bush Administration. If you excercise your right to free speech and peaceful demonstration you risk being branded unpatriotic, treasonous and put on terrorist watch lists. We live in a nation where lying the Country into a persoanl and illegal war for profit is considered patriotic and questioning it is treason. We live in a nation where nuns, students and poor people are denied their right to vote thanks to a Supreme Court decision despite laws banning a poll tax:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5960
We live in a nation rife with voter caging and intimidation by right wing influences while rampant GOP voter fraud goes unmentioned and uninvestigated.
We live in a nation where if you make or receive an international phone call from an American citizen the government will listen to your personal conversation, maybe even flag it for the entertainment of other government security workers. We now live in a nation where a government agency can decide without proof that you are a threat, detain you indefinitely, deny your right to haebeus corpis and they don’t even need a warrant! We live in a nation where our voice is but a whisper to our elected representatives while lobbyists gain direct access to wine/dine and influence legislation, heck they often write the legislation and hand it to our employees in Washington.
Thank you George W. Bush for all you have done to hobble democracy, rape our treasury and politicize the rule of law that once was the backbone of our Country. John Sidney McCain has been an admitted ardent supporter of Bush and his policies for the last eight years. Average Americans are considering voting for this man WHY??!!
October 10th, 2008 at 11:31 amOnly in Amerika.
Dissent = treason.
off to Gitmo with them!
snark
October 10th, 2008 at 11:31 am# 20- Well of course we all are, bob, it’s a given with this type of “leadership.”
October 10th, 2008 at 11:32 amSame ol Bush mentalitity : You’re either with us or the teRORists crap.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:33 amNow they join Cat Stevens on the terrorist watch list. Two thoughts 1) When we become afraid of two elderly nuns with no POSSIBILITY of violence we have much bigger problems than terrorism and 2) The old quote, in a time of universal deciet telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act
October 10th, 2008 at 11:34 amThe watch lists are just refined data. Really, EVERYONE is suspect of terrorism unless you have enough money to be friends with the corporate masters.
Welcome to the fascist states of america, where our motto is, rule BY the corporations, FOR the corporations, and screw the people. (subtext: when can we stop hiding behind these silly games and just make it a slave state?… things are so much easier in a slave state….).
October 10th, 2008 at 11:35 amRUCerious Says:
BHL, I’m absolutely sure that Ragnar Ulysses Cerious is on some type of watch list, be it NSA, FBI, YMCA?
Well, what do expect with a name like that?
Now I know what to name my next kid!
October 10th, 2008 at 11:38 amIf nuns now are accused of being terrorists…then we in this country are in deep trouble.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:38 amThere is no way these two Sisters are going to join the war party.
To stigmatise them with a terrorist label for protesting the war is more than just insulting.It makes us as a society look like other societies who live under dictatorships that we constantly criticise.
Kay Says:
Same ol Bush mentalitity : You’re either with us or the teRORists crap.
And the irony there: that line was a misquote from the xian holy book (taken out of context, of course), intended to draw in some of the fringe xians who would recognize his comment as some kind of solidarity with them. Ironic juxtaposed with the nuns….
October 10th, 2008 at 11:39 amWell, if our soldiers in Iraq aren’t there to protect our freedoms, then what exactly are they doing?
“Like previous wars we have waged to protect our freedom, the war on terror requires great sacrifice from Americans. By their courage and sacrifices, today’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Marines are taking their rightful place among the heroes of history, and the American people are thankful and proud.” GWB, August 20, 2005
October 10th, 2008 at 11:43 amNext year, that’s the treatment Palin followers can look forward to.
(Oh, wait, some of THOSE guys actually HAVE advocated violence.)
October 10th, 2008 at 11:44 amhmmm… derth of trolls these days……
troll: “These so-called “nuns” broke into a military compound and drew bloody crosses on the silos. They saw the compund and thus gained strategic military information useful to terrorist plots, and we don’t know what was in that blood that was SUPPOSEDLY theirs. That is biological warfare, spreading diseases and such….”
My response: They actually did their prison time for that, and without much (if any) complaint. They knew they tresspassed, and they paid their penalty. They were NOT added to a watch list for that activity, however.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:44 amLet’s take this to its logical extreme:
Anti-war protesters = terrorists
Anti-war = Peace
Peace = terrorism????
October 10th, 2008 at 11:45 amtarazan: We are now JUST like the countries that we have long criticized for outrageous, inhumane, unjust, totalitarian rule. “We” have now become “Them”.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:47 amPeace = terrorism
As Palin said to a loyalist: “You got it!”
October 10th, 2008 at 11:49 amAt least the true terrorists can finally stop hating us for our freedoms. Heckuva job dubya!
October 10th, 2008 at 11:51 amIt’s another freakie Friday in bull shit bush’s world…May I make a plea…Witch’s and nun’s unite, vote, and march for Peace before the next burning time’s..No one carrying a match is allowed..Blessings all…Good post’s.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:52 amReich-wing fascism at it’s finest.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:52 amObama should meet these Nuns and spend a few minutes “palling” with them, and then ask McCain to bring it on.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:52 amThe Berrigans set the precedent with their Pentagon visit over 40 years ago.
History cycles itself, & it’s time again to call the Feds on BS.
When anti-war elderly Nuns are called terrorists, who’s next?
Oh, wait, I think I know…Obama!
Today’s news should be reporting outcomes on impeachment. Nancy?
October 10th, 2008 at 12:00 pmOoooOOOoooOOOooooh!!! Terrorist NUNS!!! Run for yer lives!!!!
Where’s Ralphie?? I need him to hold me!! I’m a’skeert!!
October 10th, 2008 at 12:01 pmDoes the catholic church, and particularly the Pope, have anything at all to say about this? Y’all gonna protect your own, or are y’all afraid of the big bad neo-con corporate regime?
October 10th, 2008 at 12:06 pmI think it’s time that I begin thinking about purchasing weapons.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:07 pmBHL @#34 Honored, sir, honored!
October 10th, 2008 at 12:10 pmsenilebiker @#46 ~ That’s a fantastic idea!!!
October 10th, 2008 at 12:11 pmHate to break it to you folks, but Obama will do nothing to change this.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:14 pmThis is what Republicans have made of this country, they represent HATE, BIGOTRY, CORRUPTION, CRONYISM, FASCISM, they are trying their best to start a civil war.
They are scum sucking, knuckle-dragging, subhuman, brown-shirt, jack-boot, neanderturd, thugs.
By the way Nuns follow the word of Christ and believe in love, that killing (war) is a sin, and forgiving….something that Repukian Fake Christians would know nothing about.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:15 pm@50:
Time to get a gun,
October 10th, 2008 at 12:19 pmThat’s what I’ve been thinking
I could afford one
If I did just a little less drinking … – Fred Eaglesmith
This is beyond disgusting. What has happened to our country?
October 10th, 2008 at 12:20 pmRepublicans are like spoiled little brats: they had all the power, and now everything is crumbling and they are losing their power and influence among the people. Since they can’t “take their toy and go home” (the “toy” being America) they will do everything they can to destroy it in a fit of rage.
Hate and kool aid are all the republicans ever had, and they are almost out of kool aid.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:20 pmBuckie, where’s Darlyy these days, I’d like to hear how he views these women who have dedicated their lives to X…?
October 10th, 2008 at 12:21 pmAlejandro @#53. I don’t believe that, but I do know for damned sure McIIIrd would make it more so.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:22 pmWhat a hopeless thing to say. It’s not the left that takes away our rights. You speculate but have nothing to back up such an assumtion.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:25 pmAlejandro Says:
Hate to break it to you folks, but Obama will do nothing to change this.
You know Alejandro, I for one am getting d a m n sick and tired of your proclamations about what Obama won’t do. Of course Obama can and will do something to change this. He may not do everything you want him to do, thereby you can call him a failure, but I have every expectation that he will right these wrongs as soon as he can.
So, right now, what I want to say to you is STFU.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:28 pmAlejandro Says:
Hate to break it to you folks, but Obama will do nothing to change this.
Sounds to me like the typical sad sack argument I hear from people who say it doesn’t matter who we elect.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:31 pmDo you think things would have been the same under Gore?
RUCerious Says:
Buckie, where’s Darlyy these days,
….at a gay resort praying the gay out.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:35 pm@60:
Has Obama said anything about dismantling the surveillance state? If so, I don’t recall hearing about it.
Joe Biden offered up most of the ideas that later became the Patriot Act, back in the 1990s. And then there’s his Rave Act.
I’m voting for ‘em, but I think they’ll do what’s convenient and use the tools available to them. The number of targets of surveillance won’t drop in number. They’ll just be different names. We’ll be paying to have government employees eavesdrop on Limbaugh listeners rather than Olbermann viewers.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:35 pmReasonable surveillance was never an issue. It is only the right wing that uses it to spy on Americans and their political opponants….see history.
You just see what you want to see. Wake up and smell the difference.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:42 pm@65:
Google “Rockefeller drug laws”
And speaking of Rockefellers, the Democratic one, currently in the Senate, was happy to cave in on the FISA thing.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:46 pmjust john Says:
Alejandro Says:
Google FDR and depression. If mccain gets elected and we are in the middle of the inevitable depression people will starve. If Obama gets elected those people will be fed.
google civil rights.
google who initiates these treasonous actions, clue for ya, just like deregulation, it’s never a democrat.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:52 pm@67:
And what does that have to do with anything I’ve said?
I said I was voting for Obama, but was talking about a specific issue: The Surveillance State.
If you’re just a Dem mirror of those professional McCain blog trolls we read about in Salon, well, that explains it. But I won’t pretend that you’re engaging in actual conversation.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:56 pmPS: Bye
October 10th, 2008 at 12:57 pmyou were talking about a specific issue and trying to lump Obama and all democrats into the same slimy pool that the republicans swim in. They are not the same.
buhy buhy.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:01 pmGood to see the tax dollars going to a couple fat state cops performing surveillance on a peaceful protest.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:11 pmFunny… IF “it doesn’t matter who you vote for” then why are you voting AT ALL? Every time I have seen that argument it has been from republicans (or republicans claiming to be something else). Sounds to me more like it is an attempt to disillusion voters who want some sort of change, because — if it REALLY does not matter who you vote for then there is absolutely no point in voting at all. If you do not believe in democracy, or that there are politicians who might just want to do some good FOR the COUNTRY and the PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRY, then don’t waste your time participating in what you decry as a sham, as you would be wasting your time. If it REALLY is a matter of “They are all exactly the same” then don’t vote.
Even a caveman can tell that all politicians are not the same.
Dumbest advice I’ve heard about voting — EVER!
October 10th, 2008 at 1:14 pmThe GOP is a terrorist organization. Their secret dream is death to America.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:32 pmOpposing eternal war for corporate profit now classifies you as a “terrorist”?
Gee, and I thought Nazi Germany was a thing of the past…
October 10th, 2008 at 2:15 pmclusterphuckTim; FLAGGED for spamming.
you WILL be flagged with EVERY post you make
October 10th, 2008 at 2:18 pmThomasMc Says:
Opposing eternal war for corporate profit now classifies you as a “terrorist”?
Gee, and I thought Nazi Germany was a thing of the past…
The Nazi dream migrated to America. The Bush family was one of several who held on to that dream, hoping to see it one day realized. (Grandpa Bushie was a HUGE Nazi supporter and sympathizer). Rove is one of those creeps who read Mein Kamph and thought it was the greatest piece of literature ever. Rove is not a strategic innovator: the strategies are the old nazi strategies. He has some talent at implementation, perhaps, but not at innovation.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:40 pmOh, and… saying anything that is not in line with the neo-con/fascist model makes you a terrorist.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:41 pmDAMN! Sure glad I don’t live in Maryland.
I have participated in numerous anti-war demonstrations, starting before Bush invaded Iraq. And I’m a retired Army officer and disabled Vietnam vet to boot. j
Just trying to show my continued support of the US Constitution.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:55 pmAnd thus part of the failure of the system. All it takes is one goofy State Patrol cop and you’re a terrorist.
Now these nuns will have trouble getting on an airplane (?and subjected to strip searches?) at the airport. They will have trouble traveling to meetings. If they go to an international meeting, they may have trouble getting back into the country. They will be singled out for special inspections. They could have trouble making certain financial transactions.
If the law is stretched much further, the terrorist list could be added to their financial record interfering with taking out a loan. Contributions made to terrorist groups (I assume they are part of the Catholic Church) may be frozen and/or seized.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:57 pmWell, we’ll just have to see. I’ve heard no rhetoric whatsoever from Obama against “terrorist watch lists” or really anything against police state tactics. I’m not saying that he hasn’t, but I haven’t seen it.
Please, if you can maybe link me to a youtube video or something, or an article talking about Obama’s direct opposition to terrorist watch lists or anything of the sort.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:05 pmDomestically, no.
Do you think that Gore was against the Comprehensive Terrorism Prevention Act in 1995-96? This is the predecessor to the USA Patriot Act. It rolled back search and seizure guarantees as well as legally allowed many surveillance techniques that previously were illegal.
Think Gore would have been against the Patriot Act or the institution of the Department of Homeland Security? Hell no. It was Democrats that championed DHS.
I don’t think that Gore would have invaded Iraq. That’s a major difference at least.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:28 pmGive a Republican a little power and they all go ape shit.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:02 pmHow long before those whose names are on the terror lists are refused the right to vote?
October 10th, 2008 at 6:58 pmThe Maryland State Police have obviously been taken over by the American Nazi Party, aka the Republican Party. All good Americans should place the Maryland State Police on their terrorist watch list and be prepared to hang these officers as traitors.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:29 am