ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET ASHCROFT?

In Robert Bolt's wonderful play A Man for All Seasons, Sir Thomas More is
subjected to a show trial because, for reasons of conscience, he will not
take an oath acknowledging King Henry's supremacy over the English church.
Found guilty by a rigged jury, and knowing he will be executed for his
"crime," Sir Thomas says the following:

I do none harm, I say none harm, I think none harm. And if this be not
enough to keep a man alive, in good faith I long not to live.

We all know, from the example of Waco, that doing none harm, saying none
harm and thinking none harm were not enough to keep a man -- nor a woman,
nor a child, either -- alive in the America of Bill and Hillary Clinton. I
forget whether Janet Reno was Hillary's third or fourth choice for the
affirmative-action slot of Female Attorney General; but along with everyone
else who cares about liberty, I shall not soon forget the cold-eyed cruelty
with which that sinister creature ("very big and very scary," testified one
of her victims, 17-year-old Ileana Fuster) dispatched those who were so
foolish, or so stubborn, as to cross her and her battalions of armed thugs.

But all that is behind us now, isn't it? We now have a Republican
administration, right? And an attorney general, John Ashcroft, who is not
keen on torturing 17-year-old girls, burning cultists alive, protecting FBI
snipers who had used the wives of eccentric mountain men for target
practice, or kissing Fidel Castro's backside. Don't we?

Well, you might have asked Tom Crosslin or Rolland Rohm. Up to a few days
ago you might, that is. This week they were both shot dead: Crosslin, aged
47, on Monday by an FBI agent; Rohm, aged 28, on Tuesday by a Michigan
state trooper. Crosslin was the founder and owner of Rainbow Farm in
Vandalia, Michigan, where Rohm also lived. As of the time of writing,
Rainbow Farm's website is still available, and I suggest you take a look at
it to see the background to this story. I particularly direct your
attention to the farm's "mission statement," which you can get to by
clicking the "Purpose" link on the website's first page.

Crosslin was a libertarian and a keen proponent of marijuana legalization.
When he bought the 34-acre farm 15 years ago, it seems to have been with
the express purpose of making it a haven for, as he says in that mission
statement, "the medical, spiritual, and responsible recreational uses of
marijuana." Rock concerts were held on the property. At one, in May 1998,
an expensive car that was about to be forfeited to the U.S. government as
part of a drug investigation was set in front of the concert stage where
concert-goers, egged on by the vehicle's owner, smashed it to pieces with
hammers. Another concert, last June, featured Merle Haggard, an old
favorite of mine. (Sample quote, for those who don't know the man: "Look at
the past 25 years -- we went downhill, and if people don't realize it, they
don't have their [expletive] eyes on ... In 1960, when I came out of prison
as an ex-convict, I had more freedom under parolee supervision than there's
available to an average citizen in America right now... God almighty, what
have we done to each other?")

Such blatant disrespect for the government's authority over our lives and
property did not, of course, go unnoticed. To further compound the offense,
Crosslin kept guns to protect his property. Marijuana! Guns! Pretty soon
the state police had a court affidavit filed to stop the rock concerts. In
testimony supporting the affidavit, witnesses reported seeing children as
young as 13 smoking pot in front of adults. If that doesn't shock you
rigid, another witness saw even younger children, aged 7 and 8, subjected
to the sight of adults walking around naked and embracing. When, last
Friday, Crosslin skipped a court date related to drugs and weapons charges,
the mighty engine of law enforcement rumbled into action. Not only local
police, but also the Feds were involved, because Crosslin was suspected of
shooting at a TV news helicopter -- a federal offense under Title 18 (I.2,
Sec. 32) of the U.S. code.

Tom Crosslin was not the type to yield meekly. There quickly developed one
of those "standoffs" we are so familiar with now, in which heavily-armed
and trained agents of the nation and the state surround a citizen who has
declined to bend over and squeal like a pig for their amusement. You might
suppose that the obvious tactic for the authorities in such a case would be
to cut off the suspect's electricity and water, hunker down, and wait him
out. This never seems to happen.

Spotting Crosslin walking across his property with a long gun in his hand,
an FBI man shot him dead. Rohm met a similar fate at the hands of a state
trooper the next day. In both cases we are told, by the authorities, that
the man "pointed his gun at the officers."

There is much more to the case than this, and you can read the details for
yourself if you feel inclined, on the news wires (available via Drudge) or
the pages of local newspapers like the Detroit Free Press (which, however,
does not seem much inclined to question the government line).

Crosslin seems to have been on the point of losing his property, in some
measure because of government harassment. Rohm was involved in a child
custody case. Bonds had been revoked, the legality of firearms questioned.
It's not a simple case. I must say, though, that in my own readings I have
come across nothing to prove that either man was a danger to anyone,
certainly not before the government began to threaten and intimidate them.
To the best of my knowledge they did none harm, said none harm, and thought
none harm. The general temper of the Crosslin project can be gauged from
the closing paragraph of that mission statement:

Rainbow Farm DOES NOT promote the use of illicit drugs by anyone, nor do we
condone or encourage the use of tobacco, alcohol, or marijuana by minors.
We do not encourage breaking laws. We work hard to change attitudes and bad
laws from within the system of government currently in place. We support
that system of government and we feel privileged to live in America.

The man who wrote that no longer lives in America, or anywhere else. He was
shot in the head late Monday afternoon by an FBI agent. That agent's boss,
new FBI head Robert Mueller, has made no comment on the case that I can
locate. Neither has his boss, Attorney General Janet Ashcroft. Oh, sorry:
that should be John Ashcroft, of course.