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Calling for the Removal of John Ashcroft

Talk Left recieved the following e-mail from a group of concerned citizens, calling for the removal of John Ashcroft from office:

November 12, 2002

Dear Friend,

We are members of the legal teams that helped overturn the convictions of Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi and Minoru Yasui in the mid-1980s for their refusal to obey the military orders aimed at Japanese Americans during World War II. Like all Americans, we mourn the loss of lives on 9/11 and remain concerned about the nation’s security. But through the lens of the unique Japanese American historical perspective, we have become extremely alarmed at the Bush Administration’s attempts, primarily through Attorney General John Ashcroft, to steamroll our civil rights and squelch any criticism or dissent.

We are concerned that the ugly precedent set by the Supreme Court’s infamous decision in 1943 and 1944, which upheld Korematsu’s, Hirabayashi’s and Yasui’s wartime convictions, are being revived by the Bush Administration to justify the mass internment of “suspected terrorists”. By exploiting the tragedy of 9/11, Ashcroft, on behalf of this Administration, has pushed through legislation and issued orders that are seriously compromising our civil rights.

Here are some examples of Ashcroft’s war on civil rights:

1. 
   * He has secretly arrested and detained over 1000 people “suspected” of terrorism and has withheld their names from the public;
2. 
   * He has proposed the creation of detention camps for U.S. citizens whom this Administration, without judicial review, secretly deems to be “enemy combatants”;
3. 
   * He has imprisoned U.S. citizens indefinitely in military brigs without bail, criminal charges, or access to attorneys, and has ordered people to be held in jail without charges, in violation of the Administration’s own USA PATRIOT Act, which requires charges within 7 days of their arrest;
4. 
   * He has breached the protective wall between criminal prosecutions and national security investigations, which was erected toprevent wiretap and surveillance abuse;
5. 
   * He has authorized the monitoring of privileged communications between attorneys and federal
   prisoners/detainees;
6. 
   * He has ordered the continued detention of people in custody even after an immigration judge has found them eligible for release.

There are more examples, but it is clear to us that Ashcroft presents a clear and present danger to the Constitution, to civil rights and to anyone who chooses to dissent against the Administration’s policies. We believe John Ashcroft is simply not fit for the position of Attorney General of the United States – he is a right wing extremist.

We believe it is now time to call for his removal as Attorney General.

Americans have been reluctant to stand up to Bush and Ashcroft because of the political authority conferred on them by the tragic events of 9/11. But silence now is the same silence which allowed Japanese Americans to go to prison with only a few isolated dissents. Ashcroft’s policies and actions demonstrate that he is incapable of understanding or learning this lesson.

We would like to reach out to the larger American public with our concerns through the mass mailing of a letter similar to the above. If you agree with us, please signify your agreement via email response to this email so that we can use your name to support another letter to be sent to as many like- minded friends demanding Ashcroft’s removal and offering specific ideas for breaking the silence and taking action. We will send you the final letter for your approval before we disseminate it.

If we receive an enthusiastic response we will coordinate an even larger public action calling for his removal. If we don’t get such a response, we will try to publish that letter as an op-ed or open letter.

Signed:

Fred Korematsu

Gordon Hirabayashi

Lorraine Bannai

Karen Kai

Dale Minami

Peggy Nagae

obert Rusky

Donald K. Tamaki

Eric Yamamoto

Gary Iwamoto

Rod Kawakami

Susan Kiyomi Serrano

Project Director

Equal Justice Society

131 Steuart Street, Suite 400

San Francisco, CA 94105

(415) 543-9444 x233

(415) 543-0296 fax

sserrano@lccr.com

www.equaljusticesociety.org

If you agree with the letter and want to sign on as a signatory, e-mail Susan Serrano, at sserrano@lccr.com.

Top Stories, Friday 15 Nov

Ruminate This gets angry about what’s included in the Homeland Security Bill:

The effects of this Homeland Security bill are far reaching – it attacks our civil liberties in a deep and penetrating way, insinuating itself into our most private lives; it goes after federal worker rights; it eliminates the committee to investigate 911; all this…while protecting corporate tax evaders and PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES FROM THIMEROSAL LIABILITY? Excuse me? Tell me again, won’t you…who is it that this Homeland Security bill is being established to protect?

I need to step away from the blog for the rest of today. I am that inflamed and furious. Hopefully, I’ll simmer down long enough to make some congressional phone calls.

Alas, a Blog examines the claim that men are
equal victims of domestic violence as women:

Anyone who watch’s the men’s rights movement runs across the claim that men are equal victims of domestic violence. I disagree, and as it happens I’ve done a little research on this over the years, so hopefully people won’t mind if I present some contrary evidence.

Forgive how long this post is (and it’s a monster!). Refuting untruths takes time, and I want to be thorough.

Finally, this post may seem like nothing but dueling statistics. But I think there’s something more important going on here; there’s a subtext to this argument that anyone who supports feminism ought be paying attention to. I’m planning to post a follow-up examining this aspect sometime in the next few days.

New to the Left

Each day I list the blogs new to the linklist. Want to be added? Use the form, Luke. Entry does not guarantee winning. No purchase necessary. Offer void where prohibited. You must either be a fiery liberal spirit or be in the vanguard of the workers revolution to participate. At a pinch we’ll take dedicated left anarchists and the like as well. No wishy washy centrists need apply. The decision of the judges is final.

Ruminate This

News, views, activism and a smattering of something else. By Lisa English.

Top Stories, Thursday 14 Nov

P.L.A. has an angry, heartfelt piece about autism and how gross neglect or error of the Californian medical profession may have helped create a major rise in cthe number of hildren with autism:

The new vaccinations tripled the total amount of mercury contained in shots given to infants. During the 1990s, thirty million American children received vaccinations containing levels of mercury that exceed EPA guidelines.

We are not yet sure that mercury in vaccines causes brain damage and/or autism. More studies are needed. Thimerosal is no longer used as a preservative in vaccines. If thimerosal was the culprit, the incidence of autism should now drop as a result of its removal from the vaccines.

Nonetheless, the question remains:

HOW IN GOD?S NAME DID THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT COME TO GIVE MERCURY IN LEVELS THAT EXCEED EPA SAFETY GUIDELINES TO THIRTY MILLION CHILDREN?

In the comments, one Eli Edwards suggested sending this
piece to his congressperson and the local leftwing radiostation. You may want to do the same, especially
since Dick Armey (Rep. R-Texas) added a last minute
clause to the Homeland Security Bill which according to the New York Times would protect the responsible pharmaceutical company from lawsuits over the issue:

“In one last-minute addition, Representative Dick Armey, Republican of Texas, inserted a provision that was apparently intended to protect Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical giant, from lawsuits over thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative that some parents contend has caused autism in their children.

“I’m really quite surprised they would put in the fine-print provisions we never saw in any other versions, that never even went through committees,” said Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee.”

But Republicans, like Representative William M. Thornberry of Texas, said the additions were minor and paled next to the importance of creating a department to protect the nation’s safety.”

New to the Left

Each day I list the blogs new to the linklist. Want to be added? Use the form, Luke. Entry does not guarantee winning. No purchase necessary. Offer void where prohibited. You must either be a fiery liberal spirit or be in
the vanguard of the workers revolution to participate. At a pinch we’ll take dedicated left anarchists and the like as well. No wishy washy centrists need apply. The decision of the judges is final.

This Land is My Land

Anna Feruglio Dal Dan has been talking sense in newsgroups like rec.arts.sf.fandom for a couple of years now. She now has her own weblog to talk sense in too, focussing on Italy and Italian politics. Updated “irregularly”.

Them Durn Lib’ruls

Left-populist, pro-labor, pro-environment, and especially pro-civil liberties commentary from Arizona. Fairly Arizona-centric.

Trip Reports from Imaginary Places

a blog on humanism, atheism, science, politics and humor. By Bradford Holcombe.

P.L.A.

– A Journal of Politics, Law and Autism from the perspective of a leftist voter, a practicioner and a parent.

Smythe’s World

Politics, baseball and more.

(I’ve been getting some applications that are not entirely what I’m looking for, either from decidedly nonpolitical weblogs or
from people who are too far to the right to be listed here. I appreciate everybody who wants to be part, but please do remember
this is meant to be a list of progressive, leftwing blogs.)