Ashcrofts Agenda: Comments?

[Ripsnort]

 

WASHINGTON –– John Ashcroft used his first
               interview as attorney general to take out after Bill
               Clinton over the war on drugs and his pardon of fugitive
               financier Marc Rich.

               In a television interview Wednesday night, the new
               attorney general said his top three goals were to
               increase gun prosecutions, reinvigorate the war on drugs
               and to stamp out racial discrimination.

               But he also looked back at some of former President
               Clinton's most controversial moves, including his
               pardon of Rich on his last day in office.

               "A pardon should be reserved for a situation where
               there is a manifest sense of injustice," Ashcroft said
               Wednesday night on CNN's "Larry King Live" program.
               "The American people are troubled whenever they think
               a pardon would be associated with political support or
               financial support."

               Although expressing "surprise" with the pardon,
               Ashcroft nevertheless said the Constitution gives a
               president a "pretty unfettered right" to pardon anyone.

               Clinton's pardon has been criticized because Rich has
               stayed in Switzerland rather than returning to face 51
               counts of tax evasion and fraud filed against him in
               1983.

               In addition, the pardon was requested by his ex-wife,
               Denise, who has given Democrats about $1 million
               since 1993. Clinton has denied any political or financial
               motivation.

               The new attorney general also blamed Clinton in part
               for a rise in marijuana use during the 1990s. In the 1992
               campaign, Clinton said he once had smoked marijuana,
               but didn't inhale. He later told an MTV town forum that
               if he had to do it again, he would inhale "if I could; I
               tried before."

               "I think that sends the wrong signal," Ashcroft said. "It's
               so important you have a president who will speak
               forcefully against drug use, rather than wink and give the
               nod in some sense, saying 'I didn't inhale, but I wish I
               had.'"

               Ashcroft said he and President Bush want to
               "concentrate on educating children away from drugs."

               Listing his three top priorities, Ashcroft said, "I want to
               stop gun violence, to reinvigorate the war on drugs, to
               end discrimination wherever I find it."

               He particularly mentioned enforcing voting rights, fair
               housing laws and putting a stop to racial profiling by
               police. "It's wrong for police to stop people based on
               race."

               After his civil rights record was bitterly attacked during
               a stormy Senate confirmation battle, Ashcroft is inviting
               Justice Department's civil rights division officials to a
               brown bag lunch in his private department dining room
               next week, chief spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said.
               Civil rights will be first, but he plans to hold these
               lunches with each division.

               With every news organization clamoring to talk to him,
               Ashcroft unveiled his priorities in an interview with
               King, known for polite questioning rather than hostile
               cross-examination.

               Ashcroft has three main civil rights issues in mind,
               Tucker said.

               "He wants to make sure no American feels outside the
               protection of the law," she said. "He wants to make sure
               all people have access and that no voting rights are
               violated."

               This includes the department's ongoing investigation of
               the presidential election in Florida, where black voters
               have complained were systematically turned away from
               the polls, but also reports of ballot access problems and
               voting fraud in other locations, she said.

               He also wants to "take a serious look at hate crimes,"
               Tucker said. He previously opposed legislation backed
               by the Clinton administration to expand the federal hate
               crimes law to cover attacks on homosexuals and to
               remove a requirement that a federally protected right be
               involved, which has been an obstacle to some
               prosecutions.

               One of the biggest backers of that legislation, Ashcroft's
               predecessor Janet Reno, was invited to visit on
               Thursday. Reno, Ashcroft and his top aides will hold a
               private lunch in his dining room.

               Earlier, Ashcroft reached out for advice to a batch of his
               predecessors, including Republican Attorneys General
               William Barr, Richard Thornburgh, Ed Meese and
               Democrat Griffin Bell.

               In an effort to reduce the incidence of gun crimes,
               Ashcroft said he wants to expand a federal antigun effort
               used in Virginia known as Project Exile. Under the
               project, federal prosecutors handle most gun crimes and
               seek stiff sentences. The National Rifle Association
               strongly backs the program.

               "There has been a lack of gun prosecutions in recent
               years," Tucker said, echoing a recent Republican
               criticism of the Clinton administration.

               Reno's aides acknowledged that federal gun
               prosecutions dropped for two years during the
               mid-1990s as they focused federal efforts on the biggest
               gun traffickers and referred smaller cases to local
               prosecutors. Combined federal and state gun
               prosecutions rose through the 1990s. The federal
               prosecutors also handled gun cases in states where
               federal statutes were tougher than state gun laws. And
               federal gun prosecutions rose for the final few years of
               the Clinton administration.

[-towd_]

a new war on drugs ? they gonna get even cheaper? lock more citizens up ?

same thing repubs always say. same s#$t different day.

[Ripsnort]

"They gonna get even cheaper?"

No, they will get more expensive, harder to get, thus out of reach of more children.

"Lock up more citizens?"

No, lock up more criminals.

[-towd_]

the net effect of the last war on drugs was nothing , millions spent hundreds of dead police men and drugs got cheaper and more available fighting drugs like that dosent work .
 and believe it or not "criminals" are usualy citizens, we already lead the world in the percentage of our population in jail(the vast majority still citizens )locking up more people makes no sense. but it is the standard conservative line so what if it leads to more professional criminals? ( and what does it cost to lock up somone 50k a year. you gonna like the tax hike?)

mindless dogmatic blather from a guy who lost a election to a dead guy. sad really but its not like his boss won with popular support is it?

[Ripsnort]

 

Originally posted by -towd_:
the net effect of the last war on drugs was nothing ,

Can you give me a source where it is showing that drug use went DOWN during the last 8 years?

'Nuff said.  

[StSanta]

Rip just to annoy the hell outta you:

StSanta: So rip how do you propose we deal with the problems of guns and gun related deaths?


Ripsnort: No, they will get more expensive, harder to get, thus out of reach of more children.


<tadaboom>

Are you flexing those biceps yet?

About Ashcroft, I am not sure a man who has principles higher than human law is totally honest when he says he'll "enforce" laws those morals goes against.

At best, he'll tolerate them and keep the status quo. At worst, he'll seriously downprioritize them.

Also interesting what kind of a raw model George Bush is with regards to drugs - essentially saying that if you're an immature 30 year old taking drugs can be tolerated. So it is ironic the "I did not inhale" comment.

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Baron Claus "StSanta" Von Ribbentroppen
9./JG 54 "Grünherz"
"If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up space"

[Udie]

 

Originally posted by -towd_:
a new war on drugs ? they gonna get even cheaper? lock more citizens up ?

 Actualy they got cheaper under the clinton administration, quite substantialy too. Well at least THC did  (Image removed from quote.)  an Oz cost $100-$150 in Tx back in 1992.  The last time I checked  (Image removed from quote.) won't say when hehe, it was $60-$100.

e thing repubs always say. same s#$t different day.

 Not all Republicans are for the drug war.  There's nothing in the constitution about drugs so the Fed's should have no pervue what so ever, yet once again they stick their nose's in the middle of our lives. (that's both Republicans and Demoncrats)

Udie

[Karnak]

Looks OK, except for the war on drugs bit.

The War on Drugs is a hugely expensive, boondoggle foisted on us by both parties.

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We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother

Sisu
-Karnak