Slashdot Mirror
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft Resigns
andyring writes "In a move that will undoubtedly make many /. readers jump for joy (although perhaps not myself), Attorney General John Ashcroft announced he will resign, according to multiple news sources. While many here dislike him, others have more favorable opinions of him. He became the point man on the USA Patriot Act, which typically ignites harsh opinions on both sides of the aisle."
Reader cnsc1rtr , referring to the AP's version of the story, writes "He gave Bush a five-page, handwritten letter in which he stated, 'The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved.'"
In all honesty I can only say good riddance.
It's almost unbelievable that the USA would allow him to work on bills such as the Patriot act.
What I don't understand is why are you guys not protesting?
Have you given up?
-={ Security does not exist - give up }=-
Is it possible that Bush will appoint a more conservative replacement for Ashcroft? That's been the danger, especially since up to four Supreme Court positions may open up this term. How would a more conservative Attorney General affect the US?
US businesses that currently accept chip and PIN/signature
Thank God. I wish Ashcroft could read this.
I am a Christain and a Conservative and I am glad to see him gone. His record on states rights vs federal law proves that the current administration cares nothing about the will of the people and only about the power of Federal law. I dont want the state coming in and telling me what I can and can't put in to my body or who I can have sex with. I could just see this guy dragging homosexuals in if the amendment had passed. I dont want the state to come in to my marrage or a gay marrage anymore than I want the state to come in to my relationship with God.
This guy got his rocks off dragging people in to court over matters that should never have been law in the first place.
See you around John.....
Free Unix? Free Windows. http://www.reactos.com
Why, pray tell, are you not overjoyed by this turn of events?
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Is Mr. DMCA himself, Orrin Hatch.
You will long for the days of Ashcroft.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
You know, when you look back Ashcroft wasn't so bad. He turned the FBI around and changed its mission radically
You're aware that Ashcroft doesn't run the FBI, aren't you? Robert Mueller does. He's not a lightning rod because he's not a religious zealot with no respect for the constitution, see?
Compare that to the last AG, Janet Reno. The only thing I remember her doing was frying a whole bunch of fellow citizens down in Texas...and refusiing to prosecute/investigate a bunch of Clintonistas.
Again with the AG. All the Clinton investigations, incidentally, yielded one conviction. On a plea. Let's look at Reagan's stellar administration for contrast, shall we?
You are most certainly wrong. I'm not even sure if Palmer was the worst one. With all due (dis)respect to Mr Ashcroft, nothing even remotely like Palmer Raids happened during his tenure. Palmer was the key factor behind the 1917 and 1918 "Espionage Act" and "Sedition Act", comparing to which Patriot Act is a teddy bear. According to this law, an elected member of Congress was refused a seat because of his pacifist views - and sentenced to 20 years of prison just because he didn't believe that America should join the slaughter of World War I (more on Victor Berger you can find here. The Palmer Raids themselves rendered the question of American "constitutional rights" simply irrelevant - it appeared there were none of them. To quote Wikipedia:
Starting on November 7, 1919, Palmer's men smashed union offices and the headquarters of Communist and Socialist organizations without warrants, concentrating on foreigners. They arrested over 10,000 people (...) In January, 1920, another 6,000 were arrested, mostly members of the anarcho-syndicalist union Industrial Workers of the World. During one of the raids, more than 4,000 Communists were rounded up in a single night. All foreign aliens caught were deported.
The public reaction to these raids was favorable, stirring up a storm of anti-communist sentiment. In a murder eerily similar to the lynching of Germans during World War I, a group of young men in Centralia, Washington hanged a radical from a railway bridge. The coroner's report stated that the communist "jumped off with a rope around his neck and then shot himself full of holes." For most of 1919, the public seemed to side with Palmer.
I don't want to defend Bush & Ashcroft, but it's simply naive to see them as "the worst that happened". No, it's not the worst in American history. When you look on the whole American history it turns out that only the post-WWII period really resembles contemporary understanding of constitutional democracy (and even then there were authoritarian hiccups of McCarthyism or Watergate).
The entire text of the letter is here.
Taken out of context, it loses very little. The man claims we've beaten both crime and terrorism.
Have we?
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Tomorrow it's almost certainly Colin Powell. There is general agreement that he will leave, having been forced into an outsider's viewpoint by the ranks of the neoconservative faction of the Bush administration, i.e. Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Wolfowitz to name just a few.
While I am absolutely elated that Ashcroft has resigned, I have no doubt that we will most certainly see four more years of the same foreign policy that has dogged the US since Bush's first inauguration. That, combined with the fact that Ashcroft has already done significant domestic damage viz. the PATRIOT act paints a rather bleak picture for the US in the coming years - even if the inside players are different.
The stage has already been set.
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
Stalin's at the top left, Ashcroft's at the top right. They're both on the top, which is the "authoritarian" side. They differ on economic issues, but that's irrelevant, because the attorney general's job is not an economic one. On the relevant issues, they're similar.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
My guess would be everybody's favorite ex-Mayor Rudi Guilliani. He's got government experience. He's a former district attorney who fought the mafia. He's conservative. AND he's been shilling like hell for Bush the last few months.
My guess is that this has all already been worked out and the resignation and nomination were all worked out weeks ago. All part of the plan to groom him to run for Prez in '08 or '12.
--
RumorsDaily
His legacy lives even now; check the front page of CNN.com.
You'll see a huge photo of Ashcroft's face under the main headline, next to another headline, "Airport X-Ray Sees Through Clothes."
Paging Dr. Freud.
The ATF had been infamous for decades for being the shit-hole of federal law enforcement. It was full of unprofessional cowboys and jerks who did some pretty despicable things to innocent citizens. Waco was just another example of their dishonesty and incompetence.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
What IRS stats do you refer to - Bahrain's? The middle class in America has been being soaked into the lower class. Don't believe me? Is the US Census Bureau good enough for you? Here's an article:
. ap /
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/08/26/census.poverty
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3 million last year, while the ranks of the uninsured swelled by 1.4 million, the Census Bureau reported Thursday."
It was the third straight annual increase in a row under Bush. Just like during Reagan and Bush Sr., the wealthy have been doing very well, and the poor very poorly. And these numbers are actually worse than they sound, because many other expenses have been going up at the same time, largely due to administration policies (college tuitions due to state aid cuts, gas prices due to a tight reserve policy and the weak dollar policy (and that whole "invasion" thing), etc)
A stable Iraq? What, you mean like there was BEFORE we made it a terrorist haven and gave the middle east a rallying cry?
What if we had left Germany and France after World War II? You mean, we shouldn't leave countries that aren't resisting our occupation of them? Good idea! Now what are your ideas for countries that *are* resisting our occupation of them?
That's it, Mr. Giraffe, get all the marmalade.
Wait, are you going to pretend that he *hasn't* been one of the most "activist" attorney generals in recent history? From trying to overturn Oregon's ballot-initiative-created assisted suicide law, to doing the same sort of thing with California's medical marijuana law, to dredging up an obscure 1872 law to bring a case against a nonviolent greenpeace protest 15 months after the fact, to coming up with the "secret detention/secret trials" nonsense, to pretending to be the Supreme Court in declaring that the justice department has no authority over most cases of gun control regulation due to the second amendment, to *drafting*, using USDOJ resources the USA-PATRIOT Act, and then using government funds to go on a *cross-country tour* to promote it?
He's not just a postmodern bureaucrat. He's a bloody nihilist.
That's it, Mr. Giraffe, get all the marmalade.
inwhich they said that it is tradition for all of the President's staff to turn in their resignations and then the President decides whose he'll accept.
This is too late in the discussion, but I just saw it a little while ago and Ashcroft strikes a nerve. So here goes.
Ashcroft reminds me of Ministers of Interiors in Third World dictatorships. He is a tool for the dictator and the regime, and not there for his main job, that is protect the people.
His argument that he did achieve his objectives in protecting America from crime and terror is much like the guy who sprayed pepper on his front lawn, to ward off elephants. When his neighbor told him there are no elephants here, he says : "See! It works!"
Not a single case in the past 3 years was prosecuted successfully as a terrorism case, with conviction. All of the high profile arrests where Aschroft made press conferences with huge pomp, touting them as major victories in the war on terrorism, are just for show. For example, the Lakawanna Six (Buffalo, NY) Yemeni-Americans all pleaded to lesser charges and were convicted. The case of the African American bunch in Oregon is similar. The same goes for the Holy Land Foundation in Texas, and other Muslim charity cases. Most cases that Ashcroft said to be terrorism end up getting convictions for immigration irregularities or ID fraud (SSN, Driver License, Food Stamps, ...etc.). No terrorism at all, except the constant drumming up of fear in the masses, and no one remembers what happened to the poor souls who got caught and made examples of.
Of course, the Patriot Act, Secret Evidence, and the eroding civil liberties that goes with it, is exactly what is wrong, since terrorists have achieved an objective with these things.
There are other incidents that show his short comings as well, such as making a big deal of a statue with the bare breast, his fundamentalist view, him attacking Islam while in office, and more.
Someone should really make up a web site about Ashcroft Watch or something, lest people forget all this.
Well, his letter of resignation says "I believe that my energies and talents should be directed toward other challenging horizons." What does that mean? Is a Supreme Court Justice position waiting for him (despite the poster above who said that it has to be someone with judge qualifications)?
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
Remember the Clipper chip? Ashcroft sided with the ACLU in opposing it. Even more ironically, Kerry supported it.
-- Will quantum computers run imaginary-time operating systems?
I've heard reports that he handed in his resignation on election day. Can anybody confirm this?
I have gas, but my car uses petrol.
Yet, I believe that the Department of Justice would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration. I believe that my energies and talents should be directed toward other challenging horizons.
So he wants to sit on the Bench with the other SCOTUSes and burn heretics?
mefus
In Open Society, GPL Software frees YOU!
blarg.
Middle class, definition:
A mythical group of people who are neither rich nor poor, generally believed to own real property of significant, if minor, value. They would have reasonable balances in savings accounts and/or retirement accounts, and the means to retire to a comfortable life before they die of old age. In much the same way that biology can prove that there isn't enough fish in Loch Ness to support a sea serpent, simple economic theory relegates a supposed "middle class" to works of fiction such as sunday paper editorials and presidential campaign commercials.
See also: compassionate conservatism, journalism, projected deficit
I see you are forgetting the fact that John Ashcroft fought for Muslim's right to wear clothing in keeping with their religion in schools.
Engineering and the Ultimate
There are people in the senate who, if the have to, will take turns ceding the floor to each other for 8 hours at a time until someone else gets nominated.
Ashcroft will not sit on the supreme court (besides...he is clearly biased and has predetermined verdicts on many possible cases) as long as there is somone reasonable on the floor or the senate.
Bottles.
I know I should not feed trolls but....
:gasp: observe someone's religious practices, but whether the state should be endorsing them. In a school setting, there is just too much pressure to participate. I also believe that schools should teach the "prevailing scientific view of the day" and to Hel with everyone's religious objections. Schools are here to teach people how to reason, not to be an accessory to the church.
Who will dilligently protect the Americans who would be murdered otherwise? Don't think unborn children are lives; then I guess a misscarriage would be a noneven in your family?
Given the realities of abortion in the US before Roe v. Wade, I don't think that it is any question that it is a good thing. But everyone should be happy because abortions are actually declining in the US.
Who will protect a terminally-ill patient who really wants to live out their remaining days from being pressered into giving them up by greedy relatives or physicians with a social agenda?
What about those with sound mind who plainly claim that they don't want to suffer any longer? Are you requiring their lives to be prolonged?
Is it your suposition that Atheist students are so unsure of their quote faith that whitnessing others expressing this will shake it. Its it bad for someone born to an Atheist family to whitness others practing perhaps enjoinging their faith thus provinging opertunity to understand and perhaps decide personally if it might be for them?
The issue isn't whether it is so horrible that an atheist might
Look, I don't know if you actually believe what you are saying, so I am giving you the benefit of the doubt. But you seem to be arguing from the premise that everything should be organized around religeous principles. The only religion whose scripture teaches this is Islam, and this is only because Islam is the most pure (and extreme) form of monotheism. Indeed the idea that one can describe in any way the will of God perhaps leads one to this premise. And if you do this, then the clergy are the ones who are really in power (look at the role of the democratic institutions in Iran, for example).
No thank you. I don't want to live in a theocracy, and this is one of the great things about Western society-- we inherited from our pagan ancestors a healthy separation of church and state. While the complex cosmology which was the foundation for this is now gone, we have retained the institutions.
Abortion should be protected because it is good governance to do so. Evolution should be taught because it undermines the mission of our schools not to. School prayer should be banned in the interests of a more inclusive society. Marijuana should be legalized because it is good governance to do so. Terminally ill patients should be allowed to die in conditions of their own choosing, even if this is with the assistance of another, and simply because it is in the interest of the dignity of our people.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Sorry, but that is blatant political spin that is contradicted by the stories you link to. But, just to clarify things:
It is sad that the so many leading Democrats, like soon to be former Senator Daschle, just couldn't pass up the opportunity to twist the thank you to the sailors of the Abraham Lincoln battle group to try and make the President look like a fool. You apparently join them.
If the Bush administration wanted to get a mantra of "Mission Accomplished" out for the entire war they would have repeated it at every opportunity. That didn't happen. Why? Because the purpose of the "Mission Accomplished" banner was to thank the sailors. But hey, the truth be damned if a lie can hurt Bush, right?
By the way, who is it that keeps saying that the United States is in a war that is going to last years? The Bush administration.
Well, if it was a banner meant for the ship's crew, to celebrate the completion of their mission, why did the White House make up the banner and bring it to the ship? Not the sort of thing you would expect if it was just something the Navy does as a matter of course at the end of a long voyage.
This will no doubt come as a shock to you, being as you seem to be more acquainted with political spin than military considerations, but an aircraft carrier is a warship, not a floating print shop. If you want 20 F-18s with fighter cover and radar jamming support to drop 2 x 2,000 pound bombs each 250 miles away to help a Marine regiment take a beach, they can help you. You want a very large, professional, beautifully printed sign to thank the sailors, you go somewhere else.
But please, if you have some special insight into why it isn't possible for the President's group to print and bring the sign as part of their thanking the sailors, please tell us.
The President and his people are saying that the banner was the "Navy's idea" so they don't have to take responsibility for their gaffe.
There are, without a doubt, people in America who think that thanking American sailors for successfully completing their mission is a gaffe, but the members of the Bush administration aren't likely to be part of them. Apparently you are. That is sad.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
What I hate most about it is not the Act itself (though it has its despicable parts) - but the fact that as a citizen, I wasn't represented by my congressmen when they passed it. It came out of the blue, it was voted on, and nobody read it...
Worse, my fellow citizens don't seem to care about this important fact: that a law so broad and reaching as this Act became law without their so-called representatives reading it, understanding what it said, and debating its merits! This isn't what these guys were elected for, right?
But this is what America has become - don't read the fine print on that contract you sign - and don't read it if it only likely will affect others who elected you - fuck 'em, right? Because you are now in office, and who gives a damn about the people, right? Just give me some more cash, err, donations - Ms. Rosen and Mr. Valentti, all will be OK. The people - screw them!
Who cares about the people - they'll elect me again, right? Shit, Bush is the dumbest motherfucker on the planet (you know they are thinking this) - yet the people spoke up for him again, too. Me - I'm a shoo-in!
Damn - I would at least have a little more respect for my so-called representatives had they at least read it (how many pages was it - 500?), questioned it, debated it, discussed it - and then, only then - voted on it in full conscience on what they were voting for. Hell - you would have thought at least one of them (well, there was one guy - Russ) would have had issues. I also wonder why no one even bothered to ask how such a large piece of legislation just "suddenly" appeared out of thin air - like it was waiting in the wings for just this sort of thing (9/11) to happen.
Assuming, of course, that nothing more meets the eye on that little bit of history either - I still have my doubts on the why's, how's, etc of that day - questions that have yet to be fully answered in my opinion - things don't add up.
But maybe, just maybe, if we close our eyes, plug our ears, and scream "nyha, nyha, nyha!!!" - it will all go away - ya think?
At least, it seems that is how the rest of America is...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Don't forget the rights of folks on federal death row to be executed in Puerto Rico, where it's against their constitution.
"What else would you think he meant by saying he wanted to open himself up for new challenging areas?"
The same thing every politician means when he or she says that: private enterprise. As members of Congress keep grousing about every time they (unconstitutionally, IMO) pass yet another "cost of living" adjustment to their own paychecks, the private sector pays better.
The Power of nighmares
This is a bbc documentary series that questions the Bush administration spin.
It just goes to show the sort of people who are appointed to the top Gestapo office in the USA.
John Ashcroft is a member of Opus Dei, an ultra medieval Catholic cult approved by the Vatican. The Pope is a member and approves this organization which has only recently opened a major new address in New York, a new building near the UN.
Opus Dei, from what I've learned about them from Gore Vidals writing, is a sick cult of neofascist ultra fundementalists who have gone back into the Dark Ages as inspiration for a secret religious ideology where members are expected to reject modern science, feminism, and humanity as anti-god. Like thier medieval inspirations, members subject themselves to blood rites.
Ashcroft himslef is said to wear a spiked brace that cuts into his skin as a symbol of his original sin and Christs suffering on the cross.
That's kind of silly rubbish that runs the highest offices of law in the USA.
The USA is insane. Run.
As GBS pointed out in The Intelligent Women's Guide to Capitalism and Communism crime and many social ills are directly related to poverty. Rich people are the most affected by crime. Therefore it is in the interests of the rich to subsidise the poor. Even if the poor are lazy bastards who just don't want to work (there will always be a % of the population with this attitude, making them poor doesn't make them want to work), it is still in the interests of people who want to live without crime to keep them above the poverty line via handouts.
If I had created the world I wouldn't have messed about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers
Does any one notice that he hand wrote his note because he felt that his computer was not secure enough to keep his resignation a secret until he was ready? Does this not epitomize the whole problem? The Attorney General of the United States of American can not trust his own computer.
You are probably thinking of Earl Warren. He was appointed as Chief Justice after being the Governor of California. Because of his influence in getting the Californian delegation of the Republican National Convention to nominate Eisenhower, President elect Eisenhower promised Warren that he would be appointed to the Supreme Court with the first vacancy in the Court.
When Chief Justice Fred Vinson died, Warren expected Eisenhower to be true to his pledge. There was considerable out-cry about this because the nation was at the cusp of the Civil Rights movement and Warren was seen as too liberal by many at the time. They brought forward the argument that Warren had never been a judge in his life and that to make him the Chief Justice was clearly political graft. In the end Warren was a recess appointment and later confirmed.
Earl Warren is best remembered for his hard work to make sure Brown v. Board of Education was a unanimous decision and a(n in)famous quote attributed to Eisenhower about Warren is, "The biggest damn-fool mistake I ever made."
He certainly doesn't sound any better than Ashcroft.