A tie is like...

...kissing your Constitution goodbye.

Blogging at Eschaton, Robert Jeffers mines Harper's Index for some of the notable achievements of the Ashcroft Era, the time when "The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved."

Number of U.S. terror trials brought before a jury since September 11, 2001: 1

Number of terrorism convictions resulting: 2

Number of them dismissed due to a 'pattern of mistakes' by the prosecution: 2

Hey, we held the tarrists to a tie!

Of course, the numbers only tell part of the story. The part that doesn't get as much attention is the human toll. Here in the Seattle area, for instance, we've seen families torn asunder because of immigration problems born of erroneous accusations, a community of devout Muslims denied the halal meat their faith requires because of unproductive raids on local businesses and more denied the ability to provide financial support to their impoverished families overseas because of similar raids.

I imagine there are similar stories in your town. Got any?