http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=1849&blz=1
Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today that he was considering a "partial reinstatement" of the Bill of Rights, reversing his long-held opposition to reinstating them in any form.
The Attorney General said that the partial re-opening of the Statue of Liberty had inspired him to consider a partial reinstatement of the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution which, except for the right to bear arms, were mothballed during the first year of the Bush administration. “Much like Lady Liberty, the Bill of Rights is an American institution that a lot of our citizens, rightly or wrongly, have a sentimental attachment to," Mr. Ashcroft said. "They should be permitted to visit those rights from time to time.”
Under Mr. Ashcroft's plan, such long-suspended rights as freedom of speech would be in effect Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 until 5.
He said that such other rights as freedom of assembly would not be officially reinstated but might be brought back as a "premium service" of the Constitution, available to some Americans for a reasonable monthly fee.
Constitutional law expert Harland Bolton of the University of Minnesota criticized the Ashcroft proposal, saying, “While I welcome any return of the Bill of Rights, I seriously doubt that the framers of the constitution ever imagined that those rights would be subject to summer hours.” Mr. Ashcroft said that Mr. Bolton and others were welcome to criticize his proposal, “so long as they don't do it on Tuesday or Thursday.”
Elsewhere, presidential candidate Ralph Nader today unveiled his official campaign slogan, “Hemp is on the way.”