Surveil this!

The president has gone too far in authorizing an obviously unconstitutional wiretapping program. George Bush has repeatedly taken his position as the President of the United States to mean that he is essentially omnipotent, with far reaching powers over the Congress, Judiciary, and citizens. He disregards, manipulates, bullies and cajoles the congress to get what he wants and when he knows he won’t get it, he circumvents it entirely.

According to Gen. Michael Hayden, director of NSA when the program was authorized, “we have got information through this program that would not otherwise have been available.” Well, I have said it before and I will say i again, I don’t care how much information you got that you think that otherwise would not be available, it is not worth it. The constitution was brilliantly designed to allow the government to protect it’s citizens from external threats while at the same time protecting citizens from the government. The constitution protects people inside the US from unauthorized search and seizure, and that authorization must come from the court, not from executive branch.

The AG now claims that the war powers congress gave President Bush when the US invaded Afghanistan also gave him power to perform secret surveillance without any judicial oversight. That sounds like grasping at straws. Now that the cat is out of the bag the administration is searching for justification for something they know is not only utterly distasteful to the congress and the public, but is also illegal.

Senator Arlen Spector, a Republican from PA says he will hold hearing in the New Year. Thank goodness the congress, especially including Republicans, aren’t willing to let this pass or, even worse, to try to justify it somehow.

I am appalled and disappointed, but this simply reaffirms my long-held belief that the present administration is at best misguided and at worst outright dishonest. President Bush is unwilling to work within the limits of the already expansive powers granted to the President and he is using the excuse of “protecting the American people” to inappropriately expand his authority.

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