Local Man Publishes Results of Anthrax Investigation

   a Chronicle staff report

   Longtime activist Richard Ochs, a Lauraville resident, has issued a
   10-page report called "Government by Anthrax." The paper is a
   compilation of circumstantial evidence that Ochs believes justifies "an
   independent and open congressional investigation" of the origins of the
   anthrax letters that were mailed to some U.S. Senators in October 2001.
   The timing and targeting of the letters, according to Ochs, suggests
   that the perpetrators' motivation was to promote legislation, namely
   the passage of the USA Patriot Act. "Anthrax-laden letters were mailed
   to the Democratic Senate leadership on the same day that they blocked
   an attempt to rush the bill through without debate or amendments," says
   Ochs. "These threats frightened Congress in general and intimidated
   certain opponents of the Patriot Bill in particular." No Republicans
   received any anthrax laden letters.
   "The closing of the House and Senate office buildings made it difficult
   for members to read the bill," Ochs charges. "After the letters were
   received, the democratic leadership gave up their insistence on a
   two-year sunset clause [for the legislation]."
   Ochs notes that the day after the Patriot Act was signed, the Supreme
   Court was closed by a false anthrax scare. "Anthrax letters to the news
   media created widespread fear and a lockstep mentality in support of
   the Administration's policies,"
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References

   1. http://www.charm.net/~marc/chronicle/anthrax_jul02.shtml