By DOUG THOMPSON
Good God. Is there not any part of our private lives left that George W. Bush’s goon squads can’t snoop into without a warrant?
In yet another of his infamous “signing statements” attached to a routine piece of postal legislation, Bush said his administration would twist the law to allow “in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent permissible, with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances.”
That means the feds can open your mail and mine, without a warrant, simply because Bush has decided he has the power to do so.
Supposedly, federal law requires government agents to obtain warrants before examining first class mail sent to American citizens (or, for that matter, to anyone in the United States).
But laws mean nothing to Bush. He ignored the laws of both nations and morality to launch a lies-based invasion of Iraq. He ordered the National Security Agency to tap the phone calls of any American it wanted, a move that a federal judge ruled unconstitutional but that is also a ruling the administration continues to ignore until, at least, the matter can be heard by the Supreme Court.
His Gestapo-like Department of Homeland Security routinely spies on Americans, the Pentagon has unleashed battalions of intelligence officers to snoop into the private lives of anyone who dares question Bush’s policies and the Transportation Security Agency bars administration critics from boarding a commercial airliner.
Now he wants to examine our mail, a move that Constitutional scholars and civil liberties experts say is a direct violation of just about every so-called guarantee of rights that used to be the law of the land.
“This signing statement raises serious questions whether he is authorizing opening of mail contrary to the Constitution and to laws enacted by Congress,” says Ann Beeson, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.
New York Democratic Congressman Charles Schumer says Bush is, once again, ignoring the Constitution he swore to uphold.
“Every American wants fool-proof protection against terrorism, but history has shown it can and should be done within the confines of the Constitution,” Schumer says.
Bush, however, doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the Constitution. In 2005, two White House aides, independently of each other, told me other aides who attended a meeting on the USA Patriot Act claimed the President called the Constitution “just a goddamned piece of paper.” Although I’ve never been able to confirm that statement with anyone else inside the administration, I believe that Bush, given his record, made it. He holds that document, and the liberties it is supposed to protect, is callous disregard.
The ACLU plans to take Bush’s latest violation of basic American rights to court but to what end? He ignores federal court rulings at will and does whatever he damn well pleases. Those who disagree with him find themselves on the street. Just ask two Army generals who had the gall to suggest his failed Iraq war policies were wrong.
Can the new Democratic Congress stop Bush’s dictatorial abuse of power? Probably not. He has issued more “signing statements” than any President in history, each one stating that he believes he does not have to abide by any law passed by Congress because he is a “wartime president” with unlimited powers.
And, until somebody stops him, he can – and will – be exactly that.
64 thoughts on “Ding! You’ve got mail! No you don’t. Bush has got your mail — and he’s reading it!”
Maybe we all need to send President Bush all the snail junk mail we receive for the next month. He needs mail to read, why don’t we give it to him? 😉
What SPM is referring to is the idea that the CERN collider may create “small” black holes if it works as they suspect. They “don’t think” these will cause any problems. They don’t THINK so… but they are going ahead anyway. Just as when they exploded the first nuclear bomb, there was some concern that it would ignite the atmosphere, converting oxygen and nitrogen into nitrous oxide and/or helium. They went ahead anyway and luckily there fears were groundless. So… black holes… you know… those little buggers that are capable of swallowing whole galaxies.
People, people, people… take a DEEP breath and CALM down…
All this is piffling little stuff. The Large Hadron Collider goes online at full power in a few short months, and if it actually succeeds at doing what it was built to do, believe me, none of Crazy George’s silly, mischievous antics will have even the slightest importance to you.
You’ll be FAR too busy screaming with mindless, piss-in-your-pants terror to give a flying rat’s ass about what Crazy George was doing. Trust me.
Let’s DO try to keep some kind of perspective…
In fact, so you won’t be caught short at the last moment, why don’t you practice your screaming with mindless, piss-in-your-pants terror now? There will be so little time to do so properly later.
You are right Dave, nothing will change with two current power parties.
There seems to be little difference between them. They all lie to get in office, then they roll over like the rest of the pigs at the trough.
But how does a new party get a stage when money seems to be the deciding factor? It is all about money, money to buy votes.
And how does one get a platform when the mass media decides what is heard and what gets trashed? Complex mess we have. People need to not believe the mass media. People need to rely on their intuition and question everything that our leaders tell us.
Who would ever think that these leaders are elected by the people to serve in a government dedicated to be FOR THE PEOPLE and swear an OATH to UPHOLD and PROTECT the CONSTITUTION of these UNITED STATES? They are basically lazy freeloaders who prostitute themselves to the highest bribe. Ron Paul and a couple others are the only true representitives in government. The rest could not care less about the citizens except when they want your votes. It is a sad state of affairs for this Nation.
Ray
Next he will decide its legal to bug the DNC?
Gee whiz! Everybody keeps voting the Redemopublicrats back into office and can’t understand why nothing changes. The Libertarians have been pointing this out for years and no-one has listened. So you get mad at the “R’s” and, in a hissy fit, vote for the “D”‘s. That’ll teach ’em! NOT!!! Nothing in this country will change until the citizenry votes BOTH parties out of office and turns the reins of government over to another party. Whether it’s the right party or not, it’ll take that change of both voting habits AND mindset to ever do anything constructive for our country. So until you’re ready to change your thinking and quit giving these parties your unquestioned allegiance, don’t hold your breath! We need to fire ’em all and make a fresh break if it’s ever going to change. Nuff said…
Dave
This is the last straw, I’m sick of this Son-of-a-Bitch and his goons. This bastsrd has got to my last nerve and the only way to rid ourselves of this MORON is to impeach him the sooner the better.
I like the idea of forwarding our mail directly to the White House too. Let’s start by sending all our rent, house payments, car payments, and utility bills.
A protest would have to be very massive and organized, or they will just make us go stand in the free speech zone, which is always away from where the tv cameras are. Speech is not free anymore under the new national security act. We need to have rallys like martin luther king had, or like the huge veit nam protests in the 70’s.
The effective way is to stop the money flow somehow. Like don’t go to work, or spend any money.
Hold back tax payments. Don’t borrow any money.
If ( big if ) enough people could muster the courage to do that, it would have an immediate effect. Problem is, too many people won’t bare the responsibility that comes with the privelage of a free society. Most lack the balls to stand up to evil rule. We can’t out gun them, but if we stopped paying them, it would end this fascist takeover. Just say NO!
The way I see it, we gut up and endure some pain now, or forever be enslaved, apologizing to our children for being gutless and cowards.
When the going gets tuff
The Tuff get going. Tell people how you feel. Challange the sleepers to discuss the events of the last six years and how it all relates to the insanity of the WAR ON TERROR. The only real terrorists are in DC.
I also agree that we should forward our mail to the white house. LOL, that is a great idea!
Ray
Hmmm — if Bush is so interested in our mail — let’s all just have our mail forwarded directly to at the White House.
Then, when Bush isn’t spinning his fantasies about taking over the world, he can peruse Lillian Vernon catalogs or collect all those Pizza Hut coupons. Since he is so adept at printing money, my bills should not be a problem.
i think george should not be opening people mail cause people should have their own pravacy.
Ray, Kent and others – I agree with you 110%. Now how do I convince my spouse who won’t even look at my favorite internet sites? Aren’t we all just waiting for the moment to arise when a large group of people start massive protesting so that we can join in? Would a war in Iran start it? a draft? another false flag attack?
Yes, Building 7. Plus reports from firemen on the scene of hearing explosions. Plus that particular side of the Pentagon just happened to be the first side they had super-reinforced. If so the wings should have snapped off the plane and should have been found outside of the building. There are lots of security tapes from several locations that may have filmed exactly what happened. Why can’t we see them? OH, yes… “national security”. Sure.
Vaccinations? Since the beginning of early childhood vaccinations we have gone from an autism rate of 1 in 20,000 newborns to 1 in 166. That should perk up a bit of interest but it doesn’t. Why isn’t the mainstream media screaming bloody murder over this alone? OH, its because the medical establishment says vaccinations can NOT be the cause. Case closed.
I just want to go off somewhere and hide, but there is no place to go.
Thanks to the gutless MSM, most Americans have no idea of the truth about 9/11. And, the lazy, cowardly, government-controlled MSM intends to keep it that way.
Yes Kent it would be interesting to see those missing pages. But on the same note, The pages that are visible in the official investigation are washed with nothing but untruth and cover-up, and nonsense.
Building seven demolition should be enough evidence by itself, to warrant serious questions by a committee not of the government. Major cover-up.
Why won’t they release video of the pentagon attack? Because it would show something quitr different than a 757 hitting the building. Does no one realize that the mass of a plane that size cannot simply disappear and punch a 16 foot diameter hole through all those rings of re-inforced concrete? Not possible.
It was a drone or a cruise missle.
People who really care for this nation and our childrens future MUST WAKE UP and do something. Start by educating the ones in denial. Make them pay attention and understand the reality that is taking away our beloved country.
It is problem, reaction, solution and it is obvious to see once one realizes that it is possible for very evil forces to be in control. Just look at Bush. He is not a rational thinking human being. Anyone who thinks he is, is delusional. He is murdering our kids and now he calls it sacrifice. For what? For him and his cabal.
Why do the good men get assanated while the evil sobs hang on to power? Because it ain’t what it appears to be. The media tells us what to think, what is real, how to act, what to beleve, etc.
Just like the forced vaccinations of our babies. Thirty some shots by two years of age. When it is a proven fact that those shots do nothing to reduce the very illness they are claimed to prevent. The statistics are there to review, but no media will talk about it because it is a controlled media. It is proven that a childs IQ is lowered from those vaccine doses, which contain all sorts of vile things. Its just like the flouride lie that it prevents tooth decay. That is pure poppycock. The program was started with false research for the purpose of disposing toxic waste and eliminating the cost of disposal. It is a poison. The documentation is there to prove it, but honesty and truth take a seat behind lies and deciet in this countrys leadership. Money corrupts, but lobbists fill the halls of the white house and congress. Why is it even legal for gods sake.
We need a new form of proceedure in government execution. The existing one is too corrupted to function as originally intended.
Yes, Jennifer, may the great spirit of creation help us, we surely need it now more than ever.
Ray
911? Well, I admire Doug for trying to hang onto a journalist’s objectivity. I’ve made up my own mind about it. Guess what. The perpetrators KNOW that WE know also what happened. Guess what else. They are sticking it right in our faces because they KNOW we don’t care enough about it to actually do anything but whine about it. You gonna fire the fist shot?
You hit the nail right on the head with all you said!
It is encouraging to know others, like you, are fully AWAKE.
http://www.911weknow.com is a place for those not sure or fully awake to go and read the true facts. May God/the Great Spirit help us all this year, we’ll need it!
Thank you, Ray.
Jennifer
Hey, Ray, wouldn’t you like to get a look at the 25 pages expunged at Bush’s order from the 911 Whitewash Report? I sure would.
There is no clause in the Constitution which gives Bush the right for these statements, or creating laws in any form, or fashion. What Bush has done is use his right to issue Executive Orders which are designed to establish procedures to enforce the requirements of a law, and has twisted that right to mean that he can write his own laws, or change an existing law. Bush should be brought up on charges of Treason along with all of his Cronies. At some point in the future I think that Congress should pass legislation to amend the Consititution to provide for early elections such as they do in many European countries when their leaders fall in disgrace, and mislead the country.
Why are you good people so darn surprised at Bushwackers last move against our freedoms and our rights? Was Hitler any different? If you want to know what is ahead, study the rise and fall of the third reich. It is all in there, and we are on course. 911 was our Riechstad Fire, orchastraded by our criminal executive branch. The PNAC Documents of 1997 spell it out. The plan is on course and is working very well for our Nazi leader and his Cabal.
Do you really believe that those people would not kill thousands of innocent americans in a false flag operation to gain the control that you see now?
In a heartbeat, they would, and they did. Time to wake up from the mass denial about the true terrorists that produced that tragic event on 911.
Research the truth and you will see what really took place that day. The evidence is overwhelming and undisputable. Once you truly wake up from denial, the wierdness of Bush and his crazy agenda will make sense to you. His mission is clear. To destroy the very thing our heroic forfathers fought and died for. It is not about politics, my friends. It is about world domination and total enslavement of a micro chipped serfdom society. Total control, total corporate ownership.
I keep reading of how amazed, how angry, how disgusted, etc. everyone is, yet nothing changes for the good. There is a reason and it is much bigger than political parties or partisanship.
What happened to Kennedy when he signed the bill to allow government to issue silver backed certificates in lieu of federal reserve notes( which have no backing)? He was killed, and not by Oswald.
The elite international bankers create money out of thin air, loan it out for interest, and reposess material goods when the loan defaults. Money for nothing started with the federal reserve bank. Not a government enity, they are just greedy bankers.
Then they team up with the military industrial Industry people( daddy bush, Carlyle group, Hallibarton, Raytheon, G.E,
etc.). How much money does that group recieve annually. Trillions of your tax payments. Enough to feed the world for 300 years.
It is not about terrorism, that is a fabricated smoke screen to instill fear and chaos so they can screw us.
PROBLEM, REACTION,SOLUTION.
Problem = Terror attacks.
Reaction = Protect Us!
Solution = Gut the Constitution. Eliminate personal freedoms and rights. Double military spending and conduct illegal foriegn aggression
in the name of WAR ON TERROR.
It has been done throughout history but people have short memories and are mind controlled through main stream media.
Just research who owns the major papers, magazines, publishers, tv and cable corporations. About seven people do.
911 was a conspiracy, not solely by Bin Laudin, but included key people in our government and military. It will be proven easily once the american people wake the hell up and demand the answers that they deserve. Can’t anyone see the obvious cover-up. Can’t anyone see the obvious takeover of our republic? My God, it is in your face.
Micro chips and retna scans. GPS to keep you under surviellance 24/7.
We are sliding into a Police State at a very rapid rate, all disguised as National Security Act.
It is likely too late to change the course, lest everyone wakes up and takes all this seriously.
Wait and See, my little pretties. Or just say No!
Don’t be a part of the sheeple mentality. Get the truth, not the crap they feed you at Fox News. Be smart and suspicious, ask and demand full disclosure,
full explainations. Demand accountability. If they won’t give it, don’t pay your taxes. Don’t support thier evil endeavors. Just say no. The power is with the people, please realize that. They have no power without support from us all. Are they doing the right things? No. Does the american citizen want wars and a police state? No. Then why is that the reality? I just gave you the answer. The clock is running and time is very short for this nation. The course has to change immediately or there will not be an opportunity for change.
Thanks for letting me Rant, Doug.
Ray
About signing statements (source is linked at my name):
Andrew Jackson, in 1830, was the first president to issue a statement while signing a bill.
Ulysses S. Grant was the first president to issue a signing statement that interpreted a new law in a way that overcame a constitutional concern.
Ronald Reagan was the first president to get his signing statements cited in Supreme Court cases.
The major problems with the current president’s signing statements are primarily 1) the number (In is first term alone, he issued more than all previous presidents combined), and 2) that many of the legal theories that are used have no judicial history (i.e. he and/or his lawyers made the excuses up). I agree with the ABA’s recommendations on the matter (permit direct legal challenge of signing statements, don’t treat them as a partial veto, publish them, use them responsibly).
Simple – the stock market is up – so the powerbrokers are happy. Do you honestly think that the majority of elected officials give a hoot about what the people think? As long as the corporate sponsors of our government are making lots of money, no change will come about.
The “patriot act” wasn’t implemented to keep “terrorists” from outside of this nation from doing damage to us, face it, it was created to keep the population of the United States from having a second revolution.
As for the “liberals” from the “big chill” generation – all I can do is quote the late, great Phil Ochs ….
“now I’m older and wiser, and that’s why I’m turning you in”
Peace
Steve
“Any truth to the rumors that random body cavity searches are next on the agenda?”
No, Joe,
They have said that they will target specific body cavities.
🙂
I am pissed at this latetest bit of King George madness, but not surprised.
Let’s see how much he likes reading our mail when everyone is trashing him, Turdblossom, Sleezy Rice, and the rest of the Bu$h Cabal to hell and back?
I said this in one of my eariler posts and I’ll say it again: It is way overdue time for people to put aside any and all political parties, etc, and take a solid, united front as Americans. This is just too much.
People, I predict that before the next six months passes, Mad King George will decide to violate the last of the Bill of Rights. Paragraph 3 that forbids the stationing of troops in citizen’s homes. I seriously and strongly suggest that American citizens get ready to go all out to defent hearth and home. What he did on December 20th last year was to declare an all out assault on the American people as a whole. Rich and poor alike.
‘Nuff said.
Why aren’t the people who have the power to say “Stop” standing up and screaming? What is going on? Obviously it is W and no one else who “hates us for our freedoms.” W is getting crazier and more delusional by the day. I blame his parents for creating this monster, a spoiled brat who always got his own way with parents who always got him out of messes so he never had to face consequences for his extreme aberrant behavior. If some had told me 10 years ago that this country could be in this kind of a mess, I would never have believed it. Stupid me!
Well, as Gomer Pyle (another brilliant military mind from the Vietnam generation) would say
Surprise, surprise, surprise!
Of course Georgie wants to look at your mail, find out what books you read (he’s jealous, as YOU can probably read without your lips moving, and YOU don’t need mommy or KKKarl there to explain those big words!), who you talk with on the telephone, the content of your email and the like.
Paranoid leaders ALWAYS want to invade the private lives of the citizens – and why not?
If you consider the constitution to be just another paper, does it really matter that you once swore to uphold and defend it?
Truth, privacy, personal rights and the like are really inconvenient for Bush, so he tramples them or uses “signing statements” to get around them.
Impeachment followed by arrest for crimes against humanity and treason are the only appropriate response – the question is – do the Dem’s have the balls to take those actions? As most of them seem to be “cocktail party liberals” to me, I doubt that any actions at all will be taken.
Screw the liberals, I’ll stick with the leftists, thank you very much.
Peace
Steve
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