Re: [dvd-discuss] Hackers = terrorists, an analysis

[Steve Stearns <sterno(at)bigbrother.net>]

On Fri, 12 Oct 2001, John Zulauf wrote:

> Even more encouraging were Ashcrofts comments to Ted Coppel yesterday.
> When asked by Coppel if he was saying that constitutional rights were
> going to need to be limited for the duration of the "war on terror"
> Ashcroft stated that he absolutely opposes the idea of a restriction of
> our constitutional right "if I could decide to do that, this would be a
> dangerous gov't, and I would be not be a part of it..." He further
> stated

Funny but I don't trust Ashcroft's understanding of what our constitution
permits.

> (a) the gov't will be seeking to exercise its "full constitutional
> powers" but not beyond

That's right, and the executive branch's full constitutional power is
whatever the legislative and judicial branches will let them get away
with.  Right now the legislature is in the process of writing them a blank
check, leaving only the judiciary left to keep them in line.  While they
may in fact do that, how many years will it be before the mess they cause
gets straighted out?

Let us not forget that the Japanese internment camps in WW2 were declared
constitutionally valid at the time.  While I don't see anything coming
down the pipe that's as ridiculous as that, it does show what a frightened
government will do when it's in panic mode (and it doesn't even have to
burn the constitution when doing it).

---Steve