The City Pages of Minneapolis, MN, is reporting on the recruitment efforts of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in advance of the Republican National Convention. The article tells the story of a University of Minnesota student who was solicited for undercover surveillance duty. The targets of the investigation are potential protesters. But the description of the assignment suggests a more far-reaching and ominous agenda.

“…What they were looking for, Carroll says, was an informant-someone to show up at “vegan potlucks” throughout the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protestors, schmoozing his way into their inner circles, then reporting back…”

So vegans are now a part of the “Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism?” I suppose the ranks of the domestic terrorists would also include peace activists, veterans against the war in Iraq, homeless missions, and senior citizens for health care reform. Obviously the FBI is casting a wide net in the hopes of suppressing dissent and chilling free speech. But it may be even worse than that.

The offer made to the would-be mole included payment, but only if an arrest was made. This arrangement, therefore, provides a financial incentive for participants to entrap subjects, or even to incite unrest. They might as well have placed an advertisement for “Agents Provocateur Wanted: No Scruples Necessary.”

This is another in a long list of initiatives by the Bush administration to pervert the mission of the Justice Department, turning it into a Republican Party Goon Squad. Does the FBI have a similar program for the Democratic National Convention? Who knows? We do know that the Bush Justice Department has prosecuted four times as many Democrats as Republicans. We know that they engaged in an unprecedented, partisan purging of U.S. Attorneys. We know that they have hired more personnel from Pat Robertson’s Regent University than any other single institution. And we know that they are responsible for the Orwellian tagged “Free Speech Zones” at public events where they fear that the voice of the people might be heard.

For now we can all rest a little easier knowing that Homeland Security is on the job protecting us from the unpatriotic cowards who refuse to murder animals for dinner.