U.S. military spying on "don't ask, don't tell" protestsors

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid23480.asp

A secret Pentagon document shows that the U.S. military has been spying on what they call "suspicious" civilian meetings—including protests over "don't ask, don't tell" held at various college campuses across the country.

NBC News was only able to get eight pages of the 400-page report, but it still shows that Pentagon investigators kept tabs on April protests at UC-Santa Cruz, State University of New York at Albany, and William Patterson College in New Jersey. A February protest at NYU was also listed, along with the law school's gay advocacy group "OUTlaw," and was classified as "possibly violent."

All of these protests were against the military's policy excluding gay personnel, and against the presence of military recruiters on campus. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network says the Pentagon needs to explain why "don't ask, don't tell" protesters are considered a threat.

SLDN Communications Director Steve Ralls called the surveillance a dangerous threat. "The military has a long history of spying into the personal lives of their servicemembers, including gay and lesbian servicemembers, but they crossed yet another line, and an inappropriate one at that, when they began spying on private citizens," he said.

...freedom is dead. I have to wonder if freedom ever really existed outside of our minds. Is this how it ends? How long has our own government been spying on us? I do not see the outrage with things like this... not like it should be. I suppose it is ironic, when people become free it is always loud and bloody, but as freedom is lost it is always silent. I suppose one day we will wake up and realize that freedom is dead, and then we will go on about our lives as if nothing happened.