new ACLU report & Pynchon re DOJ

[pynchonoid]

[...] Doublethink also lies behind the names of the
superministries which run things in Oceania - the
Ministry of Peace wages war, the Ministry of Truth
tells lies, the Ministry of Love tortures and
eventually kills anybody whom it deems a threat. If
this seems unreasonably perverse, recall that in the
present-day United States, few have any problem with a
war-making apparatus named "the department of
defence," any more than we have saying "department of
justice" with a straight face, despite well-documented
abuses of human and constitutional rights by its most
formidable arm, the FBI. [...] 
--Thomas Pynchon, Foreword to _1984_ 

Those of you with an interest in Pynchon's Foreword to
_1984_ and his comments therein regarding the US
Department of Justice might be interested in this
recent ACLU report:

ACLU Demands Truth From Justice Department; New Report
Details False Claims About Scope, Impact of PATRIOT
Act 
	
 
July 9, 2003

WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union today
said that it has found a consistent pattern of
factually inaccurate assertions by the Department of
Justice in statements to the media and Congress,
statements that mischaracterize the scope, potential
impact and likely harm of the now-notorious USA
PATRIOT Act.

The ACLU’s findings were released this morning in a
special report that contrasts the Justice Department’s
assertions about the USA PATRIOT Act with the language
of the Act itself, and in some cases contrasts the
Justice Department’s public statements with language
from internal Justice Department memoranda that the
ACLU was able to obtain through a Freedom of
Information Act request.  The report – “Seeking Truth
>From Justice” – cites about a dozen specific instances
in which Justice Department and other law enforcement
officials misrepresented the scope or impact of the
USA PATRIOT Act. 

"If the Justice Department wishes to convince the
American people and their elected representatives that
it carries the Constitution with it at all times
during its prosecution of the war on terror, it must
be conscientious with the truth," said Laura W.
Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative
Office. [...] 

continues:
<http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=13100&c=206>






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