John Ashcroft

DURING THE LAST presidential campaign, there was much "God-talk" from Vice President Al Gore and his running mate, Joe Lieberman. Some commentators decided that Mr. Lieberman's injection of God into the campaign was not only something new but something wonderful. When George W. Bush talked of God, and especially Jesus, however, that was something - according to these same people - that threatened the republic and made people who do not share his views feel inferior. I recall no senator, and certainly no liberal special-interest group, raising the type of concerns about Mr. Gore and Mr. Lieberman that they now raise about Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft.

Candidate asked to dump Steffen Editor's note: The following letter was submitted to the newspaper and was written to Aaron Kazi, a candidate for Harford County Council president. I was extremely disappointed to read in The Sun that you have hired Joseph Steffen, better known as "The Prince of Darkness" for his notorious smear campaigns, to work on your campaign. And I was surprised to see you posing with him for pictures, as if you were proud to be importing into Harford County the dirty tricks that he, by his own admission, employs and represents.

WASHINGTON -- At one point during John Ashcroft's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is weighing his nomination to be attorney general, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California wondered whether her eyes and ears were deceiving her. "I see a kind of metamorphosis going on, a mutation, if you will," she said. "Quite frankly, I don't know what to believe." The cause of her bafflement was the phenomenon of the former Missouri senator, perhaps the most adamantly outspoken foe of abortion rights and limitations on gun ownership when he was her Senate colleague, proclaiming himself to be rolling over in acceptance of both.

AFTER THE devastating disease of polio was finally conquered by vaccines in the 1960s, the number of people afflicted declined almost to the vanishing point. Some people then began to see no need to take the vaccine, since apparently no one was getting polio anymore, so who was there to catch it from? The result was a needless resurgence of crippling and death from this terrible disease. The kind of thinking involved in the polio fallacy has appeared in many other contexts. When some public disorder gets under way and a massive arrival of police on the scene brings everything under control immediately, many in the media and in politics deplore such "overreaction" on the part of the police to a minor disturbance.

Gilchrest was right to oppose canal dredging boondoggle Maryland and U.S. taxpayers owe Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest a debt of gratitude for leading efforts to prevent $40 million from being wasted on an U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to deepen the C&D Canal in eastern Maryland ("C&D Canal dredging put on hold" Jan. 23). Where other members of Congress would only see pork for their district, Mr. Gilchrest asked questions to ensure taxpayers were getting a fair deal. Those questions led to more questions, until it became apparent that deepening the C&D Canal would be a giant boondoggle.

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Dick Thornburgh will resign this summer to seek the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Republican John Heinz of Pennsylvania, who was killed in a plane crash April 4.President Bush made the announcement at a Cabinet meeting yesterday, confirming Thornburgh's long-rumored candidacy."

WASHINGTON - Civil liberties warriors are once again having a field day over a decision by Attorney General John Ashcroft, this time his sweeping new policy of mass fingerprinting and photographing of foreign visitors. About 100,000 of them coming here each year from countries that may have harbored terrorists and thousands more already in this country are to have their fingers rolled and their mug shots taken in what the critics attack as racial and ethnic profiling. Mr. Ashcroft already was their favorite target for a range of actions out of his Justice Department.

Criticism of Cabinet unfair to nominees and president-elect A recent Sun headline read: "Abortion foe is Bush pick to head HHS" (Dec. 30). And an earlier editorial alleged that Sen. John Ashcroft -- because his voting record raises concerns of his ability to enforce civil rights and abortion laws -- should be challenged by the Senate and not just accepted as attorney general ("Tough questions for nominee Ashcroft," Dec. 27). The news article concerning Gov. Tommy Thompson's nomination to head the Department of Health and Human Services sounded more like an editorial.

Mauling of child shows city needs to control pit bulls How many more horrendous pit bull attacks will our community tolerate before something definitive is done to prevent them once and for all ("Escaped pit bull attacks 7-year-old," Jan. 13)? Like so many of the previous attacks, this involved an innocent child who was viciously attacked without provocation, mauled and disfigured, which may result in permanent physical and emotional scars. The lives of her horrified family members and of the children who witnessed the attack will never be the same.

WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft found himself in a somewhat ironic situation the other day when he presided over the naming of the Justice Department building in honor of one of his predecessors in the job with whom he has little in common - the late Robert F. Kennedy. Mr. Ashcroft likes to compare his approach toward the war on terrorism with Kennedy's own war against Mafia kingpins and labor tough guys like Jimmy Hoffa, saying he intends to get terrorist suspects off the streets the way he says Kennedy dealt with the hoods: by catching them in any minor violation of law. But that's where the comparison ends.

THE NINE Divines have struck again. Actually, only about five or six justices on our Supreme Court are in full-blown divine mode at any given moment. Of the high court's nine members, only three can be counted on to consistently rule as if they have any sense: Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. The others - some of whom have distinguished themselves as eager "penumbra raiders" - need full-immersion civics lessons about how and why the Constitution limits the powers of all three branches of the federal government.

When the Justice Department's massive lawsuit against the tobacco industry goes to trial today, the most striking aspect of the case might not be the whopping $280 billion in potential damages the government is seeking or its novel decision to pursue the cigarette makers under racketeering laws originally designed to bring down the Mafia. Instead, what stands out to observers on both sides of the nation's long-running tobacco wars is that the case has made it to trial at all. Brought late in President Bill Clinton's final term, the now five-year-old lawsuit was widely expected to face sudden death under a Republican administration.

EVERY DAY as I walk along west Towson's quiet, residential streets, I pass a sign in front of someone's house. Not one of the yard sale posters or lost dog notices often seen in this upscale suburban neighborhood, but a peace sign. The sign is small and unobtrusive, yet still manages to look out of place in a community not known for much activism beyond reminding people to keep their dogs on leashes. Its purple background highlights a white dove holding an olive branch next to a large caption that states: "War is not the answer!"

PLENTY OF John Ashcroft's former Senate colleagues had misgivings when George W. Bush nominated him to be attorney general. They knew him to be more ideological than intellectual, more judgmental than judicious, and altogether more small-minded than what might be hoped for in a candidate for the top domestic Cabinet post. Yet Mr. Ashcroft has not merely lived up to his colleagues' expectations during his first two years in office, he has wildly exceeded them, as documented in a recent profile by The Sun's Michael Hill.

Drug policies hurt people with medical needs Few Americans realize that the United States may soon be one the few Western countries that uses its justice system to punish otherwise law-abiding citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis ("Reefer madness," editorial, Feb. 9). Evidence of the U.S. government's reefer madness is best exemplified by the kangaroo court trial of Ed Rosenthal, who grew marijuana for medical use. By denying an officer of the city of Oakland the ability to use California's medical marijuana law as a defense, the judge foisted a predetermined guilty verdict onto a misinformed jury.

WASHINGTON - Civil liberties warriors are once again having a field day over a decision by Attorney General John Ashcroft, this time his sweeping new policy of mass fingerprinting and photographing of foreign visitors. About 100,000 of them coming here each year from countries that may have harbored terrorists and thousands more already in this country are to have their fingers rolled and their mug shots taken in what the critics attack as racial and ethnic profiling. Mr. Ashcroft already was their favorite target for a range of actions out of his Justice Department.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- At a Q-and-A session with voters here the other night, a woman asked Democratic Rep. Alan Wheat why he wasn't responding on television to hard-hitting, negative ads being aired by former Republican Gov. John Ashcroft, his opponent for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Republican John Danforth."

Condoning bigotry makes Ashcroft unfit to be attorney general John Ashcroft is unfit for the post of U.S. attorney general. He accepted an honorary degree from Bob Jones University and when informed of the school's racial policies, refused to return the degree. This, in conjunction with his interview in Southern Partisan magazine, disqualifies him for an office of this stature. Mr. Ashcroft refuses to acknowledge how organizations such as Bob Jones University and Southern Partisan magazine contribute to the challenges many racial minorities in this country face.

Constitution protects rights of gun owners Jules Witcover asserts that U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft changed the Justice Department's interpretation of the Second Amendment based solely on his "personal views" ("Ashcroft's gun views now policy," Opinion Commentary, May 10). In fact, this reversal of policy occurred in light of overwhelming historical evidence documented over the last two decades that the Second Amendment was intended to protect the firearm rights of all law-abiding citizens.

WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft found himself in a somewhat ironic situation the other day when he presided over the naming of the Justice Department building in honor of one of his predecessors in the job with whom he has little in common - the late Robert F. Kennedy. Mr. Ashcroft likes to compare his approach toward the war on terrorism with Kennedy's own war against Mafia kingpins and labor tough guys like Jimmy Hoffa, saying he intends to get terrorist suspects off the streets the way he says Kennedy dealt with the hoods: by catching them in any minor violation of law. But that's where the comparison ends.