John Ashcroft has been running around the country lately trying to convince the world that the Patriot act is completely constitutional and not used to do anything but prevent Americans from getting hurt by terrorists. Of course, all of his remarks presumably are similar to those found on the government paid for website for pro-police-state propoganda, Life and Liberty (how grand is democracy when the government needs to spend money to try and convice the people that it's not trying to take away their liberties?) but it's hard to tell since the meetings are closed to the public and he will only take questions from select media (how much faith can you put in a man's words when he's afraid to discuss them with newspaper writers?).

But according to the press, this kind of stuff is happening:

Federal prosecutors used the act in June to file a charge of "terrorism using a weapon of mass destruction" against a California man after a pipe bomb exploded in his lap, wounding him as he sat in his car.

A North Carolina county prosecutor charged a man accused of running a methamphetamine lab with breaking a new state law barring the manufacture of chemical weapons. If convicted, Martin Dwayne Miller could get 12 years to life in prison for a crime that usually brings about six months.

Who do you believe, John Ashcroft or the truth?