X-Message-Number: 21183
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 09:19:57 -0800
Subject: Ashcroft Seeks New Autopsy Authority
From: Peter Merel <>

Discussing the new "Domestic Security Act of 2003", also known as USA 
Patriot Act Part II, UPI reports 
(http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030212-050659-1163r):

  "Autopsies of the victims of terrorist attacks and other deadly 
crimes, as well as other persons, can be an effective way of obtaining 
information about the perpetrators," according to the recommendations 
drafted by the Justice Department Office of Legislative Affairs. "In 
addition to revealing the cause of death, autopsies sometimes enable 
law enforcement to retrieve forensic evidence (such as bomb fragments) 
from the deceased body.

Perhaps needless to say, autopsy will certainly ruin any chance its 
subject might have of obtaining an adequate suspension. Some groups, 
notably jews, oppose autopsy on religious grounds, so it may be that 
this particular measure won't survive. Then again, this is a pretty 
grim time in the USA, and few liberties seem able to withstand the 
culture's ever-increasing paranoia.

--

Thanks to Henri Kluytmans for slightly reducing my ignorance of world 
geography. I've plainly lived a sheltered life.

Perhaps Switzerland is a better choice for European cryonics: 
http://www.worldrtd.org/SwissAStourismNYT1.html

Peter Merel.

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