[Newspoetry] NY Times Quote of the Day

[William Gillespie]

> "In order to be a responsible American, you must behave responsibly."

I thought it was also necessary to be American. I learn something new
every day.

Hey, check this out:

Subject: Bush administration readies nationwide informant program

http://www.citizencorps.gov/

 From the Sydney Morning Herald Web site 15 July 2002
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/14/1026185141232.html

US planning to recruit one in 24 Americans as citizen spies
By Ritt Goldstein
July 15 2002

The Bush Administration aims to recruit millions of United States citizens
as domestic informants in a program likely to alarm civil liberties groups.

The Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, means the US
will have a higher percentage of citizen informants than the former East
Germany through the infamous Stasi secret police. The program would use a
minimum of 4 per cent of Americans to report "suspicious activity".

Civil liberties groups have already warned that, with the passage earlier
this year of the Patriot Act, there is potential for abusive, large-scale
investigations of US citizens.

As with the Patriot Act, TIPS is being pursued as part of the so-called
war against terrorism. It is a Department of Justice project.

Highlighting the scope of the surveillance network, TIPS volunteers are
being recruited primarily from among those whose work provides access to
homes, businesses or transport systems. Letter carriers, utility
employees, truck drivers and train conductors are among those named as
targeted recruits.

A pilot program, described on the government Web site
www.citizencorps.gov,
is scheduled to start next month in 10 cities, with 1 million informants
participating in the first stage. Assuming the program is initiated in the
10 largest US cities, that will be 1 million informants for a total
population of almost 24 million, or one in 24 people.