“The danger is they’re reading Americans’ mail.”
Charming. There’s something to be said about a government that uses tactics normally reserved for imprisoned criminals on its law-abiding citizens. Governments routinely filter and examine the mail sent to inmates and prisoners of war, and a recent article in the NY Daily News suggests that our Commander in Chief has seemingly pulled yet another Presidential Power (unauthorized by the Constitution, no less) out of his ass. Because I can’t imagine where else this shit comes from. And that’s what it is. Absolute shit.
I’ve freaking had it with the idea that “the law can be construed in thus-and-such a manner, and it might presumably authorize thus-and-such behavior in certain (emergency) circumstances.” I’m not going to trot out the same, tired libertarian Ben Franklin quotes about liberty and security. The powers granted to the President, or to any other branch of the government, are simply not open to interpretation. For whatever it’s worth, the Constitution is an explicitly binding document – it is binding upon the government, and spells out precisely what its various agents and offices can do. It’s that fucking simple. If it’s not in the Constitution, or an amendment thereto, the power simply does not exist.
“You have to be concerned,” agreed a career senior U.S. official who reviewed the legal underpinnings of Bush’s claim. “It takes Executive Branch authority beyond anything we’ve ever known.”
But hell, if you’re not doing anything wrong, you don’t have anything to worry about.
But hell, if you’re not doing anything wrong, you don’t have anything to worry about.
Unfortunately, this concept is accepted by many of our elected officials. “No harm, no foul” is their philosophy. Needless to say, this way of thinking is terribly dangerous and ultimately a threat to all law abiding persons. Any critical thinking individual should be able to see through that smoke screen…
I must’ve forgot my < / SARCASM > tag. Apologies.