Attorney general boosts Patriot Act

[Judi Lynn]

Last modified Thu., September 25, 2003 - 01:23 AM
Originally created Thursday, September 25, 2003


Attorney general boosts Patriot Act


Ashcroft addresses Jacksonville law enforcement


By Dana Treen
Times-Union staff writer
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said yesterday in Jacksonville the nation is safer now than two years ago and refuted contentions the Bush administration's tactics in the battle against terrorism have put personal rights at risk.

"From the war on terrorism to the battle against violent crime, success is reflected in the fact that America is more secure today than it was two years ago," Ashcroft said. "In the past two years no major terrorist attack has been perpetrated on our soil." (snip)

(snip)....The act allows "sneak and peek" searches, Hurley said, and a new definition of terrorism and who can be investigated.

"You need not be the target of an investigation," he said. "Unknowingly, you could have ... talked with somebody who they are investigating and that subjects you to all the provisions of the terrorist act." (snip/...)

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/092503/met_13621777.shtml

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Yeah, sure

and the Germans were safer under the Nazis.

[matcom]

2. fuck you Asskroft

fuck you

[Q]

3. Can it be that no terrorist attacks have been planned for the last...

...two years? Ashcroft has absolutely no evidence that his gestapo tactics have made us any safer.

[joshdawg]

4. Ashcroft likes the so-called "Patriot Act" because

it gives him the opportunity to be police chief in a police state.

[Tom Arico]

5. george wills comment

Have you read george wills article on the Patriot act.

[indepat]

7. Do you have a link to George Will's take on the Patriot

Act? Thanks

[kayell]

6. One of the BIG reasons I support Kucinich

is that he's the ONLY only presidential candidate who voted
against the "PATRIOT Act" in October, 2001. And he's working hard to change it still.

From email newsletter last night.
"Congressman Dennis Kucinich continued his leadership today
on Capitol Hill today by introducing the first comprehensive
bill to repeal offensive sections of the misnamed "USA PATRIOT
Act." The Kucinich bill -- called the "Benjamin Franklin True
Patriot Act" -- is already supported by the ACLU, NAACP, a
Jewish group, an Islamic group, and 20 members of Congress.

Kucinich's bill would repeal sections of the original "PATRIOT
Act," that authorize 'sneak and peak' searches; warrantless
library, medical, educational, and financial record searches;
and the detention and deportation of non-citizens without
meaningful judicial review. Passage would be the final deadline
-- or death -- for the "PATRIOT Act."

Rep. Kucinich is the only presidential candidate who voted
against the "PATRIOT Act" in October, 2001. The other Democrats
in Congress currently running for president all voted for it --
and Howard Dean has said, "I never criticize them for that" in
view of the post-9/11 pressure. Congressman Kucinich stood up
to the pressure then...and now.

At a news conference today, Kucinich invoked the words of Ben
Franklin, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase
a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Kucinich added: "Will we stand by as the Administration formulates
a second more dangerous "PATRIOT Act" because, in the President's
words, 'the first bill didn't go far enough'? Or will we step
back from this atmosphere of fear and work to restore our basic
freedoms and rights? With the introduction of the True Patriot
Act, I say we take back our Constitution."