[Grovenet] Government paranoia redux . . . . .

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Let's see. The last time I  looked, some years ago, there had been a huge
battle with the FBI over declassifying a page they insisted would destroy
our national security of the contents became known.
 
After a protracted wrangle through the courts, the FBI was finally ordered
to release the blacked-out portions of that page.  
 
What it revealed was that John Lennon had taught his parrot to say "Right
on!" 
 
It's important to remember those were the Nixon years. Anyone who didn't
agree with the President was an "enemy of the state". 
 
It's something we don't want to forget. Ever. 
 
Ron D'Eau Claire 

-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Bob Browning
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 5:04 PM
To: Grovenet
Subject: [Grovenet] Government paranoia redux . . . . .



FBI releases final John Lennon files

12/20/2006 10:06 AM, AP


The FBI
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/ap/ap_en_mu/people_lennon_files/213
31774/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22FBI%
22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw>  has released its final surveillance documents
on John Lennon to a university historian who has waged a 25-year legal
battle to obtain the secret files.

The 10 pages contain new details about Lennon's ties to leftist and anti-war
groups in London in the early 1970s, but nothing indicating government
officials considered the former Beatle a serious threat, historian Jon
Wiener told the Los Angeles Times in Wednesday's editions.

The FBI had unsuccessfully argued that an unnamed foreign government
secretly provided the information, and releasing the documents could lead to
diplomatic, political or economic retaliation against the United States.

The newly released documents include a surveillance report stating that two
prominent British leftists had courted Lennon in hopes that he would finance
"a left-wing bookshop and reading room in London" but that Lennon gave them
no money. Another page states that there was "no certain proof" that Lennon
had provided money "for subversive purposes."

"I doubt that Tony
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/ap/ap_en_mu/people_lennon_files/213
31774/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Tony
%20Blair%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw> Blair's government will launch a
military strike on the U.S. in retaliation for the release of these
documents," Wiener told the newspaper. "Today, we can see that the national
security claims that the FBI has been making for 25 years were absurd from
the beginning."

Wiener first requested the documents in 1981, several months after he
decided to write a book about Lennon following the singer's murder. He
initially obtained some documents, but the FBI withheld numerous files,
saying they contained national security information and were exempt from the
Freedom of Information Act.

Wiener sued the government and received a number of files in 1997 as part of
a settlement with the FBI. Justice Department lawyers continued to withhold
the final 10 pages until a federal judge in 2004 ordered their release.

The previously released files showed that the FBI closely monitored Lennon
from 1971 to 1972.