Maryland cops are now putting the names of peaceful activists on terrorist lists.

This follows on the heels of five paramilitary strikes against protesters just before the Republican National Convention.  Groups with no history of violence were violently raided by SWAT teams, handcuffed, fingerprinted, and terrorized by police thugs.  The cops then stole their political literature, cell phones, computers, cameras, personal diaries, and household items like paint, rope, and roofing nails.  In a two of the raids they arrested a couple of people after terrorizing everyone else, but in most cases they just left them shaken and angry.

What was even more appalling than the behavior of these thugs was the behavior of the media.  This should have been a national story, but it was pretty much ignored.  I guess the media bigwigs are either enthralled with the police state, or so used to it they no longer consider it news.

You can read some of the local coverage here. There is also a story about it on Salon.

Thomas E. Hutchins, thug responsible for putting peaceful protesters on the terrorist watch list, defends his actions, saying it was a defense against violence and “fringe people.”

Names put on these lists tend to migrate to other lists and are virtually impossible to have removed.  It took Ted Kennedy, one of the best known and most influential politicians in the country, eight months to get his name off the no-fly list.  How likely is it that anyone else can get their names removed?

These large databases are becoming increasingly common.  Big Brother loves them, and the general public doesn’t care.

Since we can’t get rid of these lists, I have a suggestion for any liberty lovers with access to them.  Please, whenever you have a chance to do it without getting caught, enter the names and personal information of the politicians and police chiefs who think they’re a great idea.  Start with Thomas E. Hutchins.  Then add the names of cops who participate on raids like the ones on the RNC protesters, and those involved with the War on Some Drugs. Put them on lists of terrorists, sex offenders, the no-fly list, “deadbeat” dad lists, and anything else you have access to.  Let them experience the joy of being in these databases, and the impossibility of getting out.  If enough people do this, over time the lists will become as useless as the thugs who rely on them.