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Move Over, George Orwell - Here Comes The FBI! New anti-terror rules will now allow FBI agents to go where they have never gone before — at least since the early ’60s, when they seemingly were allowed to infiltrate anywhere they thought they could ferret out anti-Establishment radicals. During that McCarthy-like period, they secreted themselves — in outlandish costumes — such as those worn by Hippies during the tumultuous period. They proceeded to go around the country pulling anti-war protesters to the ground and being stalwarts of George Orwell’s "1984," where a police state ruled. Soon after, lawmakers said, "Why, you can’t do that. You’re violating people’s fundamental rights to, uh, everything. This looks just like George Orwell’s ‘1984,’ for heaven’s sake!" (Shrewd observers, those lawmakers). Anyway, things went the other way, to a degree, but rules will be rules, and the FBI had to pretty well toe the mark, having to look the other way when they saw mild insurrection here and there, allowing the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to proudly walk around like crowing roosters. People with a liberal frame of mind were ecstatic, while those more conservative were, well, angry that it appeared some were getting away with all kinds of stuff. That’s changed now. New rules now say agents can do things in the name of terrorism fighting that they haven’t been able to do for more than 30 years, such as go into public places, including churches, synagogues, mosques and even (heaven forbid) po-litical meeting places so they might observe possible criminal activity. Of course, they can surf the internet freely now, to see what might be happening on line vis a vis subversive movements. The agency will be taking some personnel away from normal crime-fighting activities, such as or-ganized crime and the such. It will also be hiring about 900 new operatives by September, boosting its anti-terrorism manpower capabilities to nearly 700, as opposed to a little more than 150 prior to 9/11. It looks like we all had better look over our shoulders in the near and far future. True, our freedoms will be cramped, but, if the agency and others like it had been doing this last year at this time, mightn’t the tragedy have been stopped? We’ll never know, will we? From this time on, we’d better be looking at those traffic-light cameras and notice if, as spy cameras, they move with us. You can also look carefully at anybody wearing a black suit and talking on a cell phone while walking down the street. And, oh, yeah, don’t forget to submit to frisks now and then, like when you’re out shopping in the supermarket.As they say in the New York Lotto, Hey, Ya never know! Here’s a thought: Since the FBI is taking its troops away from fighting "normal" crime, such as organized mobsters (Goodfellas, etc.), why don’t they recruit organized crime bosses to help them fight terrorists? FBI Director Robert Mueller could talk to one of the boys and just order a "hit" on Bin Laden. Case closed!
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