[Hugin]

Actually, ever since General Ashcroft pushed the U.S. Patriot Act through an overwhelmingly supine Congress soon...

I love the way Hentoff makes the Congress (inlcuding the Democrat controlled Senate) who are soley responisible for passing legislation mere pawns, and Ashcroft, who is only responsible for enforcing it gets the "blame" for a law Hentoff disagrees with. Since when did Daschle, Joe Biden, et. al. start taking orders from Ashcroft? If he doesn't like the Patriot Act, complain about the authors, don't use it to demonize John Ashcroft.

[jenny65]

I love the way Hentoff makes the Congress (inlcuding the Democrat controlled Senate) who are soley responisible for passing legislation mere pawns, and Ashcroft, who is only responsible for enforcing it gets the "blame" for a law Hentoff disagrees with. Since when did Daschle, Joe Biden, et. al. start taking orders from Ashcroft? If he doesn't like the Patriot Act, complain about the authors, don't use it to demonize John Ashcroft.

Ashcroft WAS one of the authors of the Patriot Act! The bush administration submitted it to congress on September 24th, and basically demanded that it be passed without comment. Luckily, some draconian provisions did get filtered out, but many made it through in the rush to get it passed.