Posted on 11/22/2002 9:53:46 AM PST by dts32041
Attorney General John Ashcroft is getting what he wants ? a totalitarian government free to spy on its citizens, destroy the first and fourth amendments of the Constitution and undermine the very foundations of the Republic.
Armed with ominous tools like the USA Patriot Act and the Pentagon?s Total Information Awareness System, Ashcroft and his legions are turning this country into a police state where every American is a file number, every citizen is a suspect and every action a reason for suspicion.
Even worse, a lot of supposedly-smart people down at 1600 Pennsylvania are letting this airhead get away this rampant destruction of the Constitution and individual rights.
Ashcroft became attorney general because he couldn?t hold on to a job on his own. Elected to the Senate in 1994, he lost to the very dead Mel Carnahan in 2000, leaving the Senate with a 50-50 tie before Jim Jeffords bolted and put Tom Daschle in charge. Instead of a 51-49 margin that could have survived Jeffords? decision to split, we got Carnahan?s wife in a Senate version of affirmative action. Two years later, Jim Talent did what Ashcroft couldn?t do ? win the seat at the ballot box.
So Dubya caved in to conservatives who wanted Ashcroft in Washington, even if the voters of Missouri did not, and named him attorney general, a move that had most legal scholars shaking their head. Everybody knew Ashcroft as a bad senator, but the legal community also knew he was a lousy lawyer with Draconian views on long-standing American traditions of individual rights, privacy and due process.
Most expected Ashcroft to be a short timer but most didn?t expect Osama bin Laden to send his goons to the U.S. to hijack American airliners and crash them into buildings. In the wake of 9-11, anger has replaced reason, the need for revenge overshadows judgment and the John Ashcrofts of the world now have carte blanche to ride roughshod over the very freedoms that bin Laden and his thugs wanted to destroy all along.
Ashcroft has emerged as a power in the Bush Administration because he is willing to do what others find both unthinkable and unacceptable ? tear up the Constitution and unleash the massive information gathering capability of the federal government on average American citizens.
The attorney general is a zealot and zealots are always dangerous ? even if they are supposed to play on your side of the fence.
Since 9-11, Ashcroft has expanded the ability of the U.S. Department of Justice to spy on ordinary Americans, authorizing more wiretaps and surveillance than any attorney general in modern times.
He has authorized the creation of massive databases to track American gun owners, American travel and the day-to-day financial transactions of all Americans. The new databases will allow Uncle Sam to know how much money you have in the bank, how you spend it, where you go on any given day of the week, what guns you own, what cars you drive and when and where you buy gas, groceries or condoms.
?This brings back the old days of Hoover and his personal hit lists,? says retired FBI agent Alan Matthews. ?Most of us had hoped those days were long gone.?
Terrorism succeeds when the victims of terrorists change their way of life, when fear dictates policy and hatred replaces reason. Terrorism wins when freedom becomes secondary to the cause.
Welcome to John Ashcroft?s America. It ain?t the America envisioned by the founding fathers in the past but, sadly, it is the America of the future.
Get lost. I have no desire to live in a theocracy.
The fact that this bill passed blows my mind but I was under the impression that it dated back to clinton and I view it as more of a political (albeit a bad one) move rather than a tactical move.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Best Regards,
I haven't heard that one. I have heard it alleged that much of the Patriot Act was provisions that the Reno Justice Department had been seeking for years.
it just feels better when a Republican is trampling your Constitutional Rights!
You nailed it. Most FReepers desperately want the GOP to do to them what they feared from the 'RATS. They only want power, and they are willing to live in a police state to get it.
When the mestizo tidal wave of voters in elementary schools permanently install 'RATS in power, these same FReepers will cry foul because they were too stupid to understand that when you give the government power, that power does not vanish when the "good guys" leave office.
The more tools we give the Pubbies, the more tools the 'RATS will have to club us with when they get it back.
His main attitude was that these new authorities given to Ashcroft are necessary given our war against Al Quaida, and if history is any guide, will not become a permanent fixture.
That works right up until the gov't embarks on an endless war against a faceless enemy.
Not that that has happened....
Only when the first ten Amendments are replaced with the Ten Commandments will this country truly be God's country. It's a slow, painful process, but we're finally heading in the right direction.
When Jesus runs the country, I'll be with you. Until then, I'll take the Bill of Rights over a bunch of clerics determining who is in favor and who is out.
BTW, God has no obligation to bless the USA. It is modeled on Isreal's greatest oppressor of all time. The Ten Commandments are personal laws, not the laws of the land. The USA is never going to stand in judgment - only her citizens.
I have heard it alleged that much of the Patriot Act was provisions that the Reno Justice Department had been seeking for years.
Yes. The Justice Dept has been trying to get roving wire taps for years. Then, last summer, JA danced in the blood of 9/11 and got them.
Guess what? They are not for tracking terrorists. They are for tracking you, and your money.
Not to worry...the Pubbies will never abuse the power, and will be in power FOREVER!!!!
NO it is the power granted. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I am not too worried about what Ashcroft will do with his new found powers. Can't say I am too impressed with him, but I don't think he is as dangerous as the next Democrat Attorney General will be.
People in government use every bit of power they have to further their goals. If their goals are the same as yours, you tend not to mind. Just remember that they will not always have the same goals as you. Only fools give government unlimited power over their lives. The constitution and bill of rights is all about limiting the power of government.
Trust Ashcroft if you like but what are you going to do when Ashcroft is gone?
In other words, you cannot cite a section, and therefore put me in the position of trying to prove a negative. I counter by saying that I have seen nothing in the HSA that provides for what you posted, but I'm still reading it. If I find something, I will post it. If I don't, then you have to decide whether a negative has been proven. It would be a lot faster if you would e-mail those sources and ask them to provide a section they are referencing.
Until then, I'll stand by what I have read, and posted from Multiple sources.
Well, if you had read Safire, Gertz, Boortz and Doug Thompson, you would be convinced that HSA authorized TIA and it was a done deal. You would have been wrong. I'm no longer trusting these guys to give me the straight story - it took a week, but my researched opinion that Safire was wrong last week has been confirmed (in the meantime, I was again proving a negative) - unfortunately, his allegations have taken on a life of their own.
Sheesh... go live in Iran. They have a Theocracy there. I am sure you will be very happy. Their jack booted thugs persecute in the name of God. You can see how happy the people are.
Remember that the DC Snipers' plates were logged at road blocks after several of the shootings and yet there still was no connection as to who was doing the shootings (quite a coincidence there to always be at the scene of the crime).
The potential for this legislation does not make me happy but it's all what they do with it. A better security bill would focus of border security, driver's license fraud, technical training, etc.
I agree. Go, John, go!
You still misunderstand. All power granted is used/abused. Whither you see it as being used or abused tends to depend on whither it is being used against you or not.
In your case you will likely see Ashcroft as using his powers wisely and any Democrat successor as wildly abusing their powers.
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