Ashcroft Fires Back at Patriot Act Critics

Fox News ^ | Sept. 18, 2003 | Andy Schwartz & Anna Stolley

[Pern]

WASHINGTON

[MatthewViti]

[reformedliberal]

Cool graphics.

You do know this is fiction and the year is 2003?

[MatthewViti]

ignorance?

[roses of sharon]

High drama, and conspiracy plots rule the emotions of those who have never known real war, poverty or pain. Youngsters still believe in utopia.

He can be forgiven, for now, we will check back with him when he grows up.

[Protagoras]

You do know this is fiction and the year is 2003?

I guess you didn't read the book. And that date was really a literary "sometime in the future" in case you don't recognise literary tools.

[Wright is right!]

Not included in this article BUT included in the AP version of the story is the fact that Ashcroft slammed HARD some members of Congress who get security briefings but still go out in public and make wild-eyed statements that they know are false.

Michael

[Protagoras]

High drama, and conspiracy plots rule the emotions of those who have never known real war, poverty or pain.

You are right, the steady erosion of our rights and advancement of the power of government is seldom dramatic. It's a frog cooking.

Jefferson predicted it several hundred years ago before heros like you who have experienced war, poverty and pain were born.

You can be forgiven, for now, maybe you are senile, certainly you are in denial. We will check back with you when you have a rare moment of clarity.

[wku man]

"No one's reading habits have been reviewed, not a single American's library records have been reviewed under the Patriot Act," he said while speaking in Kentucky."

Okay, fine. So you haven't read anyone's library records, tapped anyone's phone, or put a monitoring device on anyone's computer. Can you, Mr. Ashcroft, guarantee that your successor won't do it? Can you guaranteee your successor won't use this newly granted power to label gun owners, property owners, whoever, as terrorists, then snoop on, spy on, incarcerate and try us? That's what bothers me...the "Patrot" Act is way too much power for any government to have, and just because one administration may be trustworthy doesn't mean the next one will be.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[John Beresford Tipton]

"You can be forgiven, for now, maybe you are senile"

but surely she is servile.

[Protagoras]

but surely she is servile.

She? You mean the person who has suffered war, poverty and pain is a female?

[LandofLincoln]

Ashcroft is out of touch with the constitution

[VRWC_minion]

The headline and lead sentence piss me off. Notice that Ashcroft doesn't "answer" critic's like a good liberal might do. Nooo. He comes out with guns blazing and "fires" at his critics.

I'm disgusted.

[roses of sharon]

Good idea!

You check back with me when your neighbors have been sent to the "Ashcroft camps".

And thousands of "ordinary" citizens are in jail, denied of their rights, and other such boogyman myths.

Your dramatics don't work with me, and are unseemly.

[VRWC_minion]

Can you, Mr. Ashcroft, guarantee that your successor won't do it?

Yes, its provisions expire four years after enactment.

[F16Fighter]

"Ashcroft is out of touch with the constitution"

Yeah -- How dare he imprison suspected Al Qaeda members, terrorists, their aiders and abetters, and, snoop into emails of same.

I'd feel MUCH more secure letting these people go about their business of plotting and planning the destruction of America unfettered...

[Protagoras]

You check back with me when you finally spot the cameras on the steet corners and everywhere else. You check back with me when you understand the "know your customer" rule and the power the government gets under the so called "patriot" act.

Thousands of "ordinary" citizens are already in jail and my most basic rights are routinely denied to me.

Your dramatics don't work with me, and are unseemly.

Your insults to anyone who disagrees with you don't work, and are unseemly.

[Wolfie]

This just in:

Revised Patriot Act Will Make It Illegal To Read Patriot Act

WASHINGTON, DC—President Bush spoke out Monday in support of a revised version of the 2001 USA Patriot Act that would make it illegal to read the USA Patriot Act. "Under current federal law, there are unreasonable obstacles to investigating and prosecuting acts of terrorism, including the public's access to information about how the federal police will investigate and prosecute acts of terrorism," Bush said at a press conference Monday. "For the sake of the American people, I call on Congress to pass this important law prohibiting access to itself." Bush also proposed extending the rights of states to impose the death penalty "in the wake of Sept. 11 and stuff."

[joyful1]

Attorney General Ashcroft: the war has been lost. We've given the keys to militant Islam. The ACLU and Greenpeace, and the unwitting-well-meaning Freepers have joined forces and tied our hands from using the technology and means we required to rein in the militant Islam-supporters.

Had the funding and technology been rolled out in time, we would have had a chance. It's already too late.

The almighty polls have spoken. We'd rather be dead without the Patriot Act than alive with it. So it will be.

So it will be soon.

[Protagoras]

Yeah -- How dare he imprison suspected Al Qaeda members, terrorists, their aiders and abetters, and, snoop into emails of same.

I think YOU are a SUSPECTED terrorist. Therefore you shall be imprisoned after I snoop into your emails.

You will feel so much more secure in prison.

Amazing how quickly people will abandon their rights at the first sign of trouble. Amazing.