DU this poll - Should Portland continue

[Viva_La_Revolution]

participating in the Joint Terrorism Task Force with the FBI without conditions? VOTE NOW

http://www.katu.com/news/news_poll_fbi_portland.asp

yes 73%
no 27%

[doubleplusgood]

1. Yes 62%, No 38%

[FtWayneBlue]

2. done - voted no.

Joint Terrorism Task Force
Should the City of Portland continue participating in the Joint Terrorism Task Force with the FBI without conditions?

Yes 62%

No 38%

Total Votes: 288
This is not a scientific poll.
Each person may only vote once.

[kaitykaity]

3. It still needs more help.

65% yes
35% no
512 votes

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. Update on the vote last night....delayed for 90 days...

March 31, 2005
Portland Delay's Task Force Pullout Action


By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER
Associated Press Writer
PORTLAND, Ore. - After four hours of often-passionate testimony, the City Council delayed voting on a motion Wednesday night that could have pulled the city out of an anti-terrorism FBI task force.

The FBI appeared to soften its stance on the prickly question of security clearances for Mayor Tom Potter and Police Chief Derrick Foxworth, who want the same level of clearance as the two Portland police officers assigned to the task force.

The motion would have removed Portland from the Joint Terrorism Task Force in 90 days if an agreement could not be reached, making it the first city nationwide to do so.

Potter made the motion for the delay, saying that negotiations with the FBI were at a critical juncture and three weeks would give the city time to see if an amicable resolution to the dispute could be reached.

more at link>
http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=76144

[0rganism]

5. Forget it -- Potter needs to cave on this one, IMHO

Honestly, I think Mayor Potter has the best intentions, but his efforts in this direction are going to be fruitless at best.

Check out how the corporatist media handles this issue. One-sided doesn't even begin to describe it. They've already put Potter on warning about the Critical Mass ride, they'll really dig into him for this. The notion that Portland could be the leader in a start of a series of municipal secessions from federal jackbooting is the elephant in their living room; they won't mention it directly, but it's there.

The Portland population at large is still sufficiently suggestible that having a 24/7 smear campaign by the local mass media outlets could seriously undermine the mayor's leadership. "Mayor Potter wants to weaken the nation's struggle against terrorism, why does he hate America?" will become the catchphrase of the month. Unless Potter wants to make this the defining issue of his first term, he'll drop it in return for some minor oversight concessions and a boost to his "willingness to compromise and negotiate solutions" rep.

Next to gay marriage and giving tax cuts to rich people, terrorism is probably the most serious concern of the general population. Anything that can be construed as "making us less safe" is going to be a political lodestone, and a very tough sell down the road.

Nor would it necessarily prevent the abuses that the JTTF naturally entails. There would simply be other means applied to achieve the same ends; the FBI hardly needs official Portland police collaboration to carry out all manner of intrusive investigations and suppression of dissident opinion. In some respects, having open involvment could be seen as an advantage, as it raises community awareness that this is happening. Much as I'd like to see us withdraw from the JTTF in principle, in practice the benefits are probably outweighed by the (political) risks.