blargblog

This Week's Cartoon (8/25/03)

The cartoon is up. Go read it. It will make you feel whole again.

Last Tuesday, John Ashcroft's speech before the American Enterprise Institute kicked off a three-state "roadshow" to defend the USA PATRIOT Act against rising opposition among liberals, conservatives and community resolutions. Simultaneously, the Justice Department launched a Web site with the predictably mawkish title Preserving Life & Liberty, explaining key and controversial features of the Act in predictably misleading and dumbed-down language.

Ashcroft is a bit defensive, yes, but he's on the offense, too. Like the ridiculous Jobs & Growth Tour recently conducted by the Secretaries of Commerce, Labor and Treasury, Ashcroft's roadshow targets key midwestern states where President Bush's support for re-election is tenuous at best. Yet at least Jobs & Growth was relatively open to the public and pretended to listen to those affected by Bush's economic policies (before blathering on about their success). Ashcroft is addressing law enforcement officials only. No public access, no chance for redress or protest or a simple expression of disagreement. Or, as the DOJ likes to call 'em, myths. Here the offensive is quite clear, and clearly offensive. Angered by the ACLU's lawsuit against what they consider the PATRIOT Act's "radical expansion" of surveillance powers, the Ashcroftians have targeted three main ACLU claims as myths: 1) the suppression of political dissent through intimidation, 2) the surveillance of library usage and 3) the "sneek and peek" provision delaying notification of surveillance skirts the Fourth Ammendment. Go read it for yourself to see if you can spot gaping holes in the DOJ's collective memory or some fine legal points it deliberately elides.