Nov. 23, 2002 - 21:43 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Imagination Stagnation

In recent times there has been a big flap here in Denver about "Police Spy files," wherein dossiers and files were set up on a lot of people who peacefully demonstrated on something or dared say a public word of dissent or dared to think differently about things than our dear Police departmant.

Reluctantly the police were forced to open the files, but only to those who went in and jumped through the hoops to get said look at the scarlet letters.

I had a good laugh this morning over Bill Johnson's column in the Rocky Mountain News. I will try to shorten it a bit. "I am a bad man ! I just knew it. The cops finally have acknowledged I am a shady, dangerous character, a threat to the populace of this city, perhaps the state and -- can a man dream -- this very republic." Bill says that he was, "One of the first in line at Denver Police headquarters several weeks ago, seeking to get a peek at whatever intelligence information they might have on me."

First off after Bill filled out the paper work -- paper work ? Why the hell paper work ? A display of his Colorado Drivers License should have been sufficient -- he says that finally after an hour of waiting he was told there was no spy file on him.

Further on in time he received a letter on the City and County Of Denver's letterhead. "it read blah, blah, blah . . . . . . at the time of your request, we were unable to locate any relevant information in the files that were available." (What ? Do they keep different spy files in different buildings ?) "Subsequently, we were able to locate some additional intelligence files and found that your name was included some of the information therein."

"The letter was signed by intelligence bureau Lt. Judith K. Will, and said she would like to share the information with me." So now more spy file information is asked for. "She needed, though, to document it all, (another addition to the spy files ?) and left instructions on how to come by and obtain my spy file." So Bill frets a bit and says, "Now this is when your heart sinks. What, you ask over and over, could they possibly have on me ? Surveillance photos of me carrying a shotgun in a Lamar (Colorado town) goose pit ? Me madly swearing at my pals over yet another losing poker hand ? My big toe over the foul line at the bowling alley ?"

So they made Bill Johnson when he went in, "Sit for a time while they searched for my file. Then, out walked two somber-looking detectives. They intoned my name. I walked over to them. The male detective looked at me once, and then again. And he started laughing. "Your name is William Johnson ? William K. Johnson," he said through a wide smile. I nodded. "I don't think the information we have is on you," he said. "Uh, he said, the William K. Johnson in the file is a white male. And you you're not, and never been a skinhead, have you ?" he said still laughing.

Earlier while Mr. Johnson was in the worry process he thought, "Maybe I shouldn't worry so much. The spy cops, as far as we know, never really seem to catch anyone doing anything particularly criminally grievous. Just the other day it came out that both the Colorado Springs and Denver's police departments were spying on groups staging peaceful protests against nuclear weapons at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. A goodly number were priests, nuns and other religious folks. Still, the cops secretly watched them, recorded their license plates and jotted down their home addresses. Never mind that of the some 80 people attending the protests, not one received so much as a littering ticket. YET MANY NOW HAVE SPY FILES." (caps mine of course) So then of course the cops said silly things, things which sort of ring a bell in my mind on this Homeland Security bit. "A Colorado Springs police SPOKESMAN, for example, insults everyone's intelligence by calling the Peterson AFB protests and resulting spying, "reasonable and prudent." "Well he said, "there could have been criminal activity."

This seems to be the same line of thinking by our feds. Couple things like that with the fact that any one of us who come under suspicion in some dingbat bureaucrats mind because we said, "Isht," when we stubbed our toe can be apprehended and spirited away, nobody knowing why we turn up missing - ever. Our self not being able to obtain counsel or even have an open hearing. Then I think we should begin to worry about what we in our persuaded paranoia have allowed to come into being. This is all my personal opinion.

Thinking it over, I realize now that I don't see a damn thing funny about Bill Johnson's article, it seems to me to show there is in our upper echelon a great degree of paranoid Imagination Stagnation . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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