Nothing to hide here
President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans’ mail without a judge’s warrant, the Daily News has learned.
The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a “signing statement” that declared his right to open people’s mail under emergency conditions.
That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have reviewed it.
And of course President Bush is the one who gets to decide what constitutes “emergency conditions.” As Ed Brayton pointed out, the President has always had the power to open our mail, but he at least had to obtain a FISA warrant after the fact. Now he says he can open anything he wants anytime he wants with no oversight. Republicans sure get up in arms when judges legislate from the bench. So why don’t they seem to care that the President is doing the same thing from the Oval Office? This is beyond ridiculous in a democratic government. Of all the things he has done, the complete lack of respect our President has shown our government by abusing these signing statements might be his most insidious and lasting legacy. Daily Kos notes:
They’re taking on a symbolic meaning, although it might actually be true that they were meant to have this meaning all along. And that symbolic meaning is that they demonstrate that Bush is reserving for himself the right to do anything. He just keeps planting stakes further and further out, noting well that nobody’s really willing to set boundaries. Don’t challenge me, he says, because I’ll make you prove you can make it stick. That’s how I measure power. If you can’t physically restrain me from doing these things, you can’t stop me.
It violates the law? Who cares? Have a signing statement. The government’s being sued? Who cares? We’ll appeal forever. Lose the appeals? Who cares? We’ll just change the terminology or continue in secret. Investigated by Congress for it? Who cares? We’ll just flood them with irrelevant documents. Subpoenaed to testify? Who cares? We just won’t show. Cited for Contempt? Who cares? We’ll appeal forever (if we even permit the U.S. Attorney to prosecute in the first place).
This is just disgusting to anyone who believes in the values of democracy. Values that we are supposedly trying to teach to the Iraqis. Is it any wonder they are failing at establishing a democracy when the model is broken?
The model is broken, so maybe we need to create a new and better government somewhere else, like our founding fathers did 230 years ago. The trouble is Iraq already has people and a government. Maybe outer space…