Bush-Asccroft Repressing Speech. Now at UT Law School.

If you have nothing to hide...



If we get four more years, Clutch will probably be receiving subpoenas re: the liberal posters on the board.

 

i'm not about to defend Ashcroft...but is it possible this is just the DOJ tracking down terrorists? i mean, if they have credible information that this guy who they have very real suspicions about was at this conference, they would at least have a starting place to find his location now??

 

I think they're just hot for Islamic women. Give love a chance!

 

i think its a little more than that, if they said that they had evidence that terrorists lived in your area, would you approve them searching your home, especially twice over, because of your religion or 'matches' with the potential terrorists? today, more people are okay with it, but in the past, this would have been a travesty. as far as I know, the 911 terrorists had student visas, but they were not actual students in universities.

 

searching my home and asking for a list of people who attended a conference in a public university's law school are two very different things.

 

Intimidation is one of the purposes of asking for the list. Using the government's powers to intimidate those whom disagree with the governments' policies is not worthy of the ideals upon which the United States is founded. If they have some real reason then I don't have a problem with it but this just smacks of intimidation.

 

this is jumping to a conclusion based on facts we don't know. i agree...if this was just sort of thrown out there with no hint that some person of concern was really at this meeting, i have a real problem with this. but we just don't know that. i imagine there are meetings of muslim folks all the time, every day across the united states. i'm thinking/hoping there is something about the attendee(s) of this particular event that triggered this request.

 

I think us not knowing is much of the problem. If they said why they wanted it and it seemed like a legitimate interest, then folks might be ok with it. But for government -- and even Army -- agents to come in asking for stuff and don't make it clear why, it has a very intimidating effect. I'd like to think that a judge okayed a warrant, at least; something.

 

great point...and from what has been revealed in this article, it appears that wasn't done. i don't know what we don't know, though!

again...please understand i'm not giving ashcroft a pass. enough is enough.

 

Did you hear how they caught the soldier who wanted to seel secrets to AQ?

 

By monitoring jihadist websites, which cf.net hardly resembles.

 

Well, we don't know whether it was the government who saw his postings & then tracked him down, or if it was the admins of a few sites focused on the religion of Islam who reported him. The latter seems much more likely.

 

They monitor chatrooms. That's all you need to know.

 

I don't trust anything that Ashcroft has anything to do with. Apparently to make a point, he's willing to side with terrorists.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&e=4&u=/ap/terror_ashcroft_sued


Prosecutor in Terror Case Sues Ashcroft
Wed Feb 18, 9:02 AM ET Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo!


By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department (news - web sites) has exaggerated its performance in the war on terrorism, interfered with a major terror prosecution and compromised a confidential informant, a federal prosecutor has alleged in an extraordinary lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites).


Canadian Press Photo

Mueller: Al-Qaida is Fragmented, Active
(AP Video)



The lawsuit by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino is the latest twist in the Bush administration's first major post-Sept. 11 terrorism prosecution, a Detroit case jeopardized over allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.


Convertino was the lead prosecutor on the case, in which the government did not provide defense attorneys a letter alleging that a prosecution witness lied until long after a trial had ended.


In his lawsuit, Convertino says the Justice Department is retaliating against him because he has complained frequently and publicly about "the lack of support and cooperation, lack of effective assistance, lack of resources and intradepartmental infighting" in terrorism cases.


"These concerns directly related to the ability of the United States to effectively utilize the criminal justice system as a component in the `war on terrorism,'" says his lawsuit filed in federal court.


According to the suit, a senior official in the Justice Department's terrorism and violent crimes section informed Convertino that news reports concerning the department's anti-terror efforts were not accurate and that the "press gives us more credit than we deserve." The lawsuit alleges "gross mismanagement" in the terrorism and violent crimes section.


Convertino says he complained repeatedly to the Justice Department in Washington that it placed "perception" over "reality" to the serious detriment of the war on terror.


He is seeking unspecified damages under the Privacy Act for harm to his reputation.

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Yeah, but if they didn't give this guy the resources he needed to fight terror, they might not have enough resources left to go after the records of women who have had legal abortions.

 

Speaking of abortion, doctor patient confidentialitity doesn't exist according to the Bushies, unless are a right wing supporter like oh, Rush Limbaugh


http://www.naral.org/about/newsroom/pressrelease/pr021204_justicedept.cfm

Bush Administration Violates Doctor-Patient Confidentiality


Court Documents Reveal Position That is “Beyond Appalling,” Says NARAL Pro-Choice America Head


WASHINGTON, DC – The Bush Administration has claimed in recent legal proceedings that it does not believe that there is any legal protection for the confidentiality of the doctor-patient relationship, according to recently released court documents. The claim was revealed in a judge’s decision denying the Justice Department’s demand to subpoena the records of patients who’d received abortion care at a Chicago hospital.