new ACLU report & Pynchon re DOJ

[Terrance]

"As árvores-esqueletos, os macacos e as cotias...

http://www.monica.com.br/mauricio/cronicas/cron274.htm

pynchonoid wrote:
> 
> [...] 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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