We received this email as to Ashcroft's Victory Act Tour:

Ashcroft's 10-day, 20-state tour to rally support for the PATRIOT Act and the draft VICTORY Act begins August 19 in Washington. Detroit, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Salt Lake City have been mentioned as planned stops.

Here's some of what Ashcroft will be pushing for, reported by Congressional Quarterly (subscription only) on August 7:

Senate Republicans are drafting a bill aimed at cracking down on drug trafficking and money laundering that would give the Justice Department broad new investigative tools to use in the war on terrorism. The measure is being written by Judiciary Chairman Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, and several other Republicans on the committee. Hatch is expected to introduce the bill next month.

....A draft of the bill contains provisions that would allow law enforcement officers to seek roving warrants to monitor cellular telephone and other wireless communications. It also would allow the attorney general to issue administrative subpoenas in the course of terrorism investigations.

The bill also establishes a new category of crime--"narcoterrorism."

The draft bill would establish a new category of crime, "narco-terrorism," to punish those who manufacture or distribute controlled substances with the knowledge or intent that the activity would benefit a foreign terrorist organization.

How's this for fairness?

Under the draft bill, the government would not be required to prove that a defendant knew he or she was aiding such an organization.

The bill would count as illegal money laundering money transfers into or out of the United States that are made to evade income taxes. It also would boost civil and criminal penalties for financing "narco-terrorist" and other terrorist activities.

Is all this sounding familiar? It should. It's just a re-dressing and re-naming of Patriot Act II.

Jameel Jaffer, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the new draft bill "would provide the FBI and other government agencies with more power, but it would not make us more secure. "Some of [its] provisions were originally proposed in the draft Patriot Act II. Congress needs to be wary of attempts to enact Patriot II, or parts of it, in other guises."

Actually, Ashcroft's tactic of passing Patriot Act II piece meal began back in May-see here.