Our National Guard is stretched dangerously thin. But apparently some politicos think it would be better used to spy on the widows and children of veterans. The US military is investigating whether the California Guard -- the country's largest NG unit -- is being used to spy on citizens. That's the same sort of tactics the gov't used when protests heated up over Vietnam. This comes in the wake of public hearings planned in the state by a Congresswoman, so presumably its meant to stave off closer scrutiny. Nothing to see here; keep moving. Per SFgate:
The National Guard intelligence unit came to public attention after a story published Sunday in the San Jose Mercury News. The story referred to the unit's monitoring of a Mother's Day anti-war demonstration at the state Capitol that was organized by several peace groups — the Gold Star Families for Peace, Raging Grannies and CodePink.
An e-mail chain that began in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's press office culminated in an advisory a few days before the protest from Col. Jeff Davis, who oversees the National Guard unit: "our Intell. folks ... continue to monitor" the event.
Hart said the monitoring amounted to recording television coverage and reading newspaper articles about the protest. He said the unit did not infiltrate the groups or observe the rally.
And why the hell would members of the National Guard spend their days "recording television coverage and reading newspaper articles" anyway? That's their defense? Does that seem a valid, useful way to spend time in the war on terror? God knows there aren't any ports to guard or shipping containers to inspect.
