Begging the Messenger

John Ashcroft is asking the news media to help "inform citizens" about the actual -- not imaginary -- provisions of the PATRIOT Act. We've been trying, John, but it's pretty hard when the enforcement details are kept secret.

On a related note, the Department of Homeland Security asked a gathering of journalists in Los Angeles last Friday to help its "branding" efforts, so that the public knows where the buck stops on immigration cases. Officials then proceeded to spend more than an hour detailing the bureaucratic responsibilities and organizational flow-charts of literally scores of immigration-related federal agencies (the list of acronyms alone took up nearly two pages).

Comments

[Thomas Luedeke]

Just goes to show that all that "Reorganization" in the government to construct the Homeland "Security" Department had much more to do with increasing government erosion of civil liberties and diffusing the blame for incidents like 9/11, than it does actually helping prevent such incidents.

I still particularly love that while the government now presumably gets more information, it still does nothing useful with it (since it was an intelligence failure, and none of the intelligence communities was "reformed"). And it all comes at horrific cost to our freedoms...

[Warren]

Historically, when people like Ashcroft rise to power and behave the way he does, eventually they get taken out back and stood up against a wall.

[Anonymous]

I can help ol' Ashy with his branding. In fact, I've got the coals fired up already.

[Holly]

Ooooh, what a riot! You guys are particularly funny today. What is this? Friday? Oh, yeah! Of course!

Really! I mean it, you guys had me rolling on the floor with your comments. David 2 cracked me up with his Nietchze quote. And I'm still wiping the tears from my cheeks over the remarks from the anonymous cowboy just above me.

Whoooweee! Love it!

Thanks! You made my weekend. I'll be sure to repeat this humor around the pool tomorrow. (Rest assured the naked statues we have around it will remain uncovered.)

[Anonymous]

"[W]hile the government now presumably gets more information, it still does nothing useful with it (since it was an intelligence failure, and none of the intelligence communities was "reformed"). And it all comes at HORRIFIC COSTS to our freedoms."

Not to mention our wallets, Thomas.

[dhex]

wow. but then again, what do you expect from a guy who belongs to a cult which is afraid of the destabilizing effects of social dancing?

[Mark]

I'm sure the news media is more than capable of determining what stories to run, without need of directives from Mr. Ashcroft.

[Russ]

Tell him to buy infomercial time like everyone else.

[David 2]

Oh I get it... AG Ashcroft is basically saying "I'm not bad, I'm just written that way."

You know it's hard to trust any government body that first DEMANDS blind trust, and then questions your patriotism when you don't give them that blind trust. If he thinks that encourages cooperation, he's in the wrong line of work.

Mr. "I lost my last job to a dead man" should remember what Nietchze said about staring in the abyss for too long.

[Fred App]

I happen to think Ashcroft is right, and I'd like to be the first person here to volunteer to help him by listing all the good things the Patriot Act has accomplished.

(silence)

OK, I'm done. Is there anything else we can do for you, Mr. Attorney General?

[Anonymous]

Now let's see if we can list all the BAD things the Patriot Act has accomplished -- besides costing us a fortune.

1) $3,000,000,000.000

2) _______________

3) _______________

4) _______________

Thanks for nothing, Mr. Attorney General!

[Lending tree]

EMAIL: [e-mail]
IP: 62.213.67.122
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DATE: 02/01/2004 05:34:33
I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.