Attorney General John Ashcroft told senators that ordinary Americans "won't mind" microphones and security cameras being placed inside their homes "or else we'll know that they're terrorists and detain them indefinitely."


Tipping The Balance


U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft went to Capitol Hill on Thursday, defending one of the crown jewels in the Bush administration's homeland security program: Operation TIPS.

TIPS (Turn In Perfect Strangers) is a Justice Department program that would encourage postal workers, truckers, and other citizens to report any suspicious behaviors they see.

Senators took issue with the program, worried that it might be misused or encourage a vigilante movement.

"Have no fear. This is not some 1984, Orwellian-type of operation where neighbors will be reporting on neighbors," Ashcroft said before pausing to flip through some notes. "Oh, wait a minute. I'm sorry, I guess it is one of those type of operations."

Since September 11, worries of further domestic terrorist attacks have increased a push for legislation that many fear infringes on the civil rights of innocent U.S. citizens. Ashcroft wants ordinary Americans to know that they are not the target of TIPS.

"If you're a hard-working, church-going, and God-fearing Republican you probably have nothing to worry about," he said, "we're looking for terrorist-types. Criminals. Non-conformists engaged in suspicious activities."

Ashcroft further outlined what suspicious behaviors someone might exhibit that would be worth turning their name in to TIPS so that they may be "examined with extreme prejudice".

  • Verbally criticizing President Bush.

  • Still having a Gore/Lieberman bumper sticker on a vehicle.

  • Being active in Green Peace or other known enviromental terrorist organizations.

  • Running a website that makes fun of the Bush Administration.

  • Living in California, New York or any other known hotbed of liberal terrorism.

  • Listening to the Grateful Dead or Bob Marley.

  • Not owning a firearm.

  • Owning a firearm.

  • Being non-caucasian.

    • "Only through citizens spying on one another can America ever return to the freedom and personal privacy it once so dearly loved," Ashcroft warned before taking pictures of all non-Republicans in the room.