Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Dear sir.
I know you're an orthodox jew and want to bury your mom right away and everything, but tough shit. Were going to cut her up and we dont care whether you like it or not. We'll call you when we're done to pick up whats left.
P.S. We have no king but Jesus.
Ashcroft Seeks New Autopsy Authority
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Attorney General John Ashcroft may use proposed changes to the USA Patriot Act to ask Congress for new authority to conduct autopsies on U.S. victims of terrorist attacks.
The Justice Department has quietly drafted proposed changes to the October 2001 USA Patriot Act that the department says are designed to improve the government's authority to battle terrorism at home. Critics have said the draft proposal, first obtained by The Center
for Public Integrity last week, would further limit public access to information, expand spy powers and hurt civil liberties.
But tucked inside the 87-pages of revisions is new authority for the Justice Department to authorize autopsies to learn more about terrorist perpetrators.
"Autopsies of the victims of terrorist attacks and other deadly crimes, as well as other persons, can be an effective way of obtaining information about the perpetrators," according to the recommendations drafted by the Justice Department Office of Legislative Affairs. "In
addition to revealing the cause of death, autopsies sometimes enable law enforcement to retrieve forensic evidence (such as bomb fragments) from the deceased body."
The department suggests that Congress, "create federal authority, in the attorney general, to conduct autopsies when necessary or appropriate in the conduct of federal criminal investigations. This authority is not limited and may be delegated to others."
The primary need for the new authority comes in cases outside the United States, according to the Justice Department. The draft also says the department will not hire new armies of forensic pathologists to handle the next terrorist attack, but rather "the autopsies will be
performed by local coroners, private forensic investigators, or the Armed Forces Medical Examiner and his staff."
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Diplomacy, Rumsfeld style.
"There are many countries that have indicated that they want to help the coalition with rebuilding in the post-Saddam Hussein era. And then there are three or four countries that have said that they want nothing to do with it: I believe that Libya, Cuba, and Germany have indicated that they do not want to help at all."
Thats right. Compare one of our allies that currently hosts over 71 thousand of our Military personnel and eleven of our Nuclear warheads to Libya and Cuba. They'll love that.
