Paranoia on parade
Patriot Act parnoids have been retching about the possibility that the US govenment might find out what they have been reading.
Attorney General Ashcroft responded Thursday. No library or book store had been asked to produce records.
"The Justice Department escalated its attack on opponents of the USA Patriot Act yesterday, ridiculing criticism of the anti-terrorism law and accusing some lawmakers of ignoring classified reports that showed the government has never used its power to monitor individuals' records at bookstores and libraries.
"In an unusually sharp and at times sarcastic speech to police and prosecutors in Memphis, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft labeled critics of the law 'hysterics' and said 'charges of abuse of power are ghosts unsupported by fact or example.'
"The fact is, with just 11,000 FBI agents and over a billion visitors to America's libraries each year, the Department of Justice has neither the staffing, the time nor the inclination to monitor the reading habits of Americans," he said. "No offense to the American Library Association, but we just don't care. . . .
"The charges of the hysterics," Ashcroft added, "are revealed for what they are: castles in the air built on misrepresentation; supported by unfounded fear; held aloft by hysteria."
..."There are members of Congress who ought to be held accountable for their statements, because they had access to this information but continually charged that abuses were taking place," Justice spokesman Mark Corallo said. "They knew better. . . . We hope that the release of this information will bring some rationality back to the debate."
"...At his speech in Memphis, for example, the attorney general said he sought to clarify who should be worried about government monitoring. 'If your idea of a vacation is two weeks in a terrorist training camp' or 'if you enjoy swapping recipes for chemical weapons from your 'Joy of Jihad' cookbook,' Ashcroft said, 'you might be a target of the Patriot Act.'"
Patriot Act parnoids have been retching about the possibility that the US govenment might find out what they have been reading.
Attorney General Ashcroft responded Thursday. No library or book store had been asked to produce records.
"The Justice Department escalated its attack on opponents of the USA Patriot Act yesterday, ridiculing criticism of the anti-terrorism law and accusing some lawmakers of ignoring classified reports that showed the government has never used its power to monitor individuals' records at bookstores and libraries.
"In an unusually sharp and at times sarcastic speech to police and prosecutors in Memphis, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft labeled critics of the law 'hysterics' and said 'charges of abuse of power are ghosts unsupported by fact or example.'
"The fact is, with just 11,000 FBI agents and over a billion visitors to America's libraries each year, the Department of Justice has neither the staffing, the time nor the inclination to monitor the reading habits of Americans," he said. "No offense to the American Library Association, but we just don't care. . . .
"The charges of the hysterics," Ashcroft added, "are revealed for what they are: castles in the air built on misrepresentation; supported by unfounded fear; held aloft by hysteria."
..."There are members of Congress who ought to be held accountable for their statements, because they had access to this information but continually charged that abuses were taking place," Justice spokesman Mark Corallo said. "They knew better. . . . We hope that the release of this information will bring some rationality back to the debate."
"...At his speech in Memphis, for example, the attorney general said he sought to clarify who should be worried about government monitoring. 'If your idea of a vacation is two weeks in a terrorist training camp' or 'if you enjoy swapping recipes for chemical weapons from your 'Joy of Jihad' cookbook,' Ashcroft said, 'you might be a target of the Patriot Act.'"
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