I often think one of Pres. Bush's few virtues is is seeming trust in authoratative women, but this one smells like John Ashcroft in a dress. Hat tip to Jessica at Feministing for this post about a terifying new Bush appointment to no less than the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) (where the invaluable 1994 Violence Against Women Act lives).

Mary Beth Buchanan, US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, is set to be OVW's Acting Director.

Buchanan’s claims to fame?

She’s an enthusiastic cheerleader of the Patriot Act. (It preserves civil liberties, she says!)

She spent $12 million on "Operation Pipe Dreams," taking down 55 people for selling bongs. This included actor Tommy Chong--in the courtroom, Buchanan introduced his fictional pot-smoking characters as evidence of his "frivolous" attitude towards drug laws.

She’s an anti-obscenity crusader, prosecuting people for written stories on the internet and going after any and all porn. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of violent porn and the like, but Buchanan strikes me as more interested in enforcing morality than the law.) The legal director for the Pittsburgh ACLU once called Buchanan "the vanguard of [former U.S. Attorney General John] Ashcroft’s attempt to impose his morality on others." Yikes.

I can see it now: morality classes at Family Court intakes.