VENTURA SUGGESTS U.S. STEPPING ON STATES' TOES

Gov. Jesse Ventura has expressed disappointment at the U.S. Justice
Department's challenge to states' rights.

In an interview with Salon.com published this week, Ventura said he's less
worried that the federal government might be trampling on civil rights in
its pursuit of terrorist suspects than he is that states' rights are being
violated in certain cases, such as one involving physician-assisted
suicide. "At a time of war, we're all going to pay a price," he said.
"We're all going to lose certain freedoms as a result of the safety that
needs to be put in place."

But he added that he's disturbed by Attorney General John Ashcroft's
challenge of Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law. Oregon voters twice
approved the measure, but Ashcroft issued an order Nov. 6 barring it.
Oregon is seeking to block the order.

Ventura said the medicinal use of marijuana is another issue where the
federal government has stepped on states' toes. Seven states have passed
laws approving the use of marijuana in medicine, but U.S. law bars its sale
for any purpose.

Ventura added, "When you have states' people passing these laws saying
'This is what we want,' and the heavy hand of the federal government comes
in and says, 'We don't care what your citizens said. We are the boss,' that
troubles me a lot more."

The governor said President Bush is disappointing him on the issue. "He
came in and told all of us governors that he was going to [follow] a
federalism of giving powers back to the states, and yet it doesn't seem
that that's happening at all," Ventura said. "In fact, it seems the
opposite is taking place."

On a separate matter, Ventura said he didn't believe schoolchildren must be
required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to demonstrate patriotism. "If
you look at the young people who are over defending our freedom right now,
every last one of them didn't have to do a mandatory Pledge of Allegiance,
did they?" he said. "And yet they're still over there, aren't they?"

He said patriotism comes from the heart. "You don't have to sit and recite
certain things en masse to prove you have patriotism ... " Ventura said.