Monday, September 22, 2003

Torquemada of American Law QUOTE OF THE DAY "In his 2 1/2 years in office, Attorney General John Ashcroft has earned himself a remarkable distinction as the Torquemada of American law. Tomas de Torquemada, you might recall, was the 15th-century Dominican friar who became the grand inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. He was largely responsible for its methods, including torture and the burning of heretics -- Muslims in particular." - - Walter Cronkite (from today's RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE) KNOW YOUR HISTORY - SEPTEMBER 22nd 1970 -- U.S. President Richard Nixon requests 1,000 new FBI agents for college campuses. RHINO HERE: Today's BOTTOM LINE is written by Walter Cronkite. It makes comparisons between the Spanish Inquisition & The Patriot Act. which in Rhino's opinion are "Fair & balanced." But first: Last week, Attorney General Asscraft continued the most favored activity of the shrub gang; lying. He claimed claimed that the library provision of the Patriot Act has never been used. It's amazing how stupid he thinks the American people are. Check out the following USA Today article from June 25, 2002: FBI Checks Out Library Records of Terrorist Suspects USA Today, 6/25/02 WASHINGTON (AP) - Across the nation, FBI investigators are visiting libraries and checking the reading records of people they suspect of being in league with terrorists, library officials say. The FBI effort, authorized by the anti-terrorism law enacted after the Sept. 11 attacks, is the first broad government check of library records since the 1970s, when prosecutors reined in the practice for fear of abuses. The provision of the Patriot Act that allows for business records to searched by government investigators. ...But the University of Illinois conducted a survey of 1,020 public libraries in January and February and found that 85 libraries had been asked by federal or local law enforcement officers for information about patrons related to Sept. 11, said Ed Lakner, assistant director of research at the school's Library Research Center. The libraries that reported FBI contacts were nearly all in large urban areas. http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2002/06/25/fbi-libraries.htm William Rivers Pitt spoke Tuesday, September 16 tat a Town Hall meeting in Austin, Texas on the eve of an historic vote; the capitol city of Texas is very near to joining hundreds of other American communities in passing a resolution that repudiates the Patriot Act. Below is a link to the text of his speech. The Managing Editor of truthout.org, Pitt is a New York Times and international best-selling author of three books including his upcoming "Our Flag, Too: The Paradox of Patriotism," available in August from Context Books. Patriot Act Finds Trouble in Texas By William Rivers Pitt , t r u t h o u t | Perspective, Monday 22 September 2003 I have listened to the defenses of the Patriot Act offered tonight. The essence of the defenses, the essence of the rebuttals to our reservations and complaints, is "Trust us. We're the government. We're the constitutional scholars. Trust us." I've heard that before. There are tons of mass destruction weapons in Iraq. Trust us. There are al Qaeda terrorists all over Iraq. Trust us. September 11 happened because of enemies who hate our freedoms. Trust us. With all due respect, I say hell no. The one thing this government's behavior has not created is trust. Ladies and gentlemen, I have come here today to appeal to your patriotism. We are all patriots here, every one of us. Let no one deny that or doubt that.... http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/092203A.shtml 7:11:20 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - US Battles Terror With a Touch of the Spanish Inquisition US Battles Terror With a Touch of the Spanish Inquisition by Walter Cronkite, Minneapolis Star Tribune, September 19, 2003 President Bush's televised answer to the growing concerns of many -- including some Republicans -- about the powers granted to him in the USA Patriot Act was to ask for even stronger measures, particularly the expanded use of "nonjudicial subpoenas." That means a federal agency such as the FBI can write its own subpoenas to conduct a search -- no judges needed. Unfortunately, security and liberty form a zero-sum equation. The inevitable trade-off: To increase security is to decrease liberty and vice versa. In the past, such trade-offs have been temporary -- for the duration of the crisis of the moment. But today, we cannot see an end to the war on terrorism, and that forces us to decide how secure we have to be and how free we want to be. By delivering the speech last week himself, Bush added presidential heft to the issue and took some of the heat off of his attorney general, who is seen by many as the heedless champion of security at any price. ... READ UNCLE WALTER'S ENTIRE PIECE AT: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0919-09.htm "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. Tell a friend about Rhino's Blog 6:31:38 AM    comment

© Copyright 2005 Gary Rhine.