Sep 30
We need to remind Bush what his job is.
Whenever I hear the president mention, oh, every 12 minutes, that his greatest responsibility is “to protect the American people,” the insufferable civics robot inside my head mutters: “Actually, sir, your oath, the one with the Bible and the chief justice and the Jumbotron, is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. For the American people are not mere flesh whose greatest hope is to keep our personal greasy molecules intact; we, sir, are a body politic — with ideals.”
excerpt from:
Down With Torture! Gimme Torture!
By SARAH VOWELL
Published: February 5, 2006
The New York Times
May 14
The Fourth amendment to the constitution of the United States of America consists of one sentence and yet grants each citizen of the US with a great deal of freedom.
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.�
I am appalled that President Bush would blatantly violate the trust of Americans by authorizing the NSA to monitor the personal habits of US citizens.
The fact that americans aren’t screaming for impeachment is downright disheartening. It’s as if people don’t care that our personal freedoms are slowly (or not so slowly) being eroded. For now the NSA is only monitoring “call patternsâ€?. How long until that includes “call contentâ€? or worse?
More importantly why isn’t the Department of Justice able to get security clearance to review this “call pattern monitoringâ€? program? Putting the NSA, or any part of government, above accountability in this manner defeats the “Check and Balanceâ€? concept that is at the very heart of our constitution and smacks of authoritarianism.
President Bush’s actions have spoken much louder than his words. He has shown time and time again his willingness to unilaterally re-interpret the laws of this country in order to further his personal agenda and without regard to the constitution or any other branch of government.
