Compromised: How the National Security State Blackmails the Gov.

[leveymg]

3. Eliot Spitzer is another example of the wiretapping and compromise of targeted public officials.

But, this is only the latest incarnation of a very old practice of political spying in America.

Hoover had his Private Files, many, many file cabinets full of juicy dirt gathered on politicians, industrialists and movie stars he started collecting in the 1920s. He used that information for his own personal pleasure and political advantage until he keeled over in the middle of the Watergate scandal. No reason to think this ever stopped just because he died.

Starting under General Van Deman during World War One, Military Intelligence Division (MID) has been spying on and ratf-cking Leftists and progressives. When he died in the late 1960s, Van Deman and his Rightwing friends at Western Research (a prototype for privatized intelligence contractors) had a whole warehouse of files in California. No reason that stopped, either.

All this is on the public record, but up until now, it was easy to dismiss as or "conspiracy theory." Glad people are finally waking up, and it seems, many are refusing to shut up and go back to sleep. Snowden has done a tremendous national service in that regard.