Ashcroft After Eco-Scum

Latest
to appear in the crosshairs of John Ashcroft in his ongoing campaign
to strike fear in the hearts of civil libertarians and eco-weenies everywhere is John Passacantando, executive director
of Greenpeace in the United States. 15 months after two Greenpeace
activists spent a weekend in jail for boarding a cargo ship they said
was loaded with illegal mahogony, the Dept. of Justice has indicted
the ORGANIZATION itself for the same incident, using a 1890’s law enacted
to thwart "sailor-mongers" who would board ships with liquor, drugs
and loose women to lure about-to-be-paid sailors to disreputable boarding
houses.

"The heart of Greenpeace’s mission," prosecutors wrote, "is
the violation of the law."

For his part, Passacantando,
whose last name loosely means, if my Spanish serves me, "Goes-around-singing",
stays cool. "The federal government
is using 9/11 to come down harder on an action like this, which was a
good and dignified and peaceful action."

from
The New York Times