BUSH WANTS TO KNOW WHAT'S IN YOUR MAIL

by Mags

So George Bush has once again used a signing statement to breach yours and my rights to privacy. His regime is again concerned about opening our mail. According to George, he can now construe anyone he wishes as a "threat" and open our mail. Vague language of the "proverbial ticking time bomb" gives him this right. Everything with George is vague.

If you think about it, he had to do it. He had the internets covered, and we all know our cell phone conversations are being listened to whenever Bush and his thugs damn well please. But, the US Mail? There was the new medium for keeping things secret. Imagine that. Snail mail became the most private means of communication.

I am sure this means that clubs and political organizations will have to mail their meeting notices earlier than they ever have so that George can sift through it all first to make sure that Grannies for Peace or Toddlers for Pelosi are not planning to topple HIS regime.

This is only the latest of the bizarre twists that we have experienced during this Bush madness that is publicly termed a presidency.

But, never let it be said that I am not one to do my patriotic duty. I am sure I can see my way clear to send to George periodically a large box full of all of my credit card company adverts as well as loads of useful coupons and catalogues that I cannot seem to stop from coming to my mailbox. That way whenever in his little pea brain he feels threatened by us big bad liberals, he can just pull out the boxes of mail and assure himself that most of us are busy struggling to pay our bills. But, for some this might be a relief. Grab a box and clean off the coffee tables and counters. George wants to know what is in your mailbox.


UPDATE: APPARENTLY MAGS ISN'T THE ONLY ONE WHO NOTICED!

Tomorrow's Washington Post is reporting that there are civil libertarians and Democrats questioning the whole premise of Bush's latest invasion of privacy. "Some civil liberties and national-security law experts said the statement's language is unduly vague and appears to go beyond long-recognized limits on the ability of the government to open letters and other U.S. mail without approval from a judge. Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington, said the government has long been able to legally open mail believed to contain a bomb or other imminent threat. But authorities are generally required to seek a warrant from a criminal or special intelligence court in other cases, Martin and other experts said. 'The administration is playing games about warrants,' Martin said. 'If they are not claiming new powers, then why did they need to issue a signing statement?'"

Shumer, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee referred to Bush's signing statement today as a "last-minute, irregular and unauthorized reinterpretation of a duly passed law." It's not likely Shumer will be as gentle lax about protecting the Senate's prerogatives and the citizenry's basic constitutional rights as were serial rubber stamper like Bill Frist, Mike DeWine, Conrad Burns, Rick Santorum, Jim Talent and other Republicans recently rejected by voters.