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-- Bush now reads your mail whenever the hell he wants

Bush now reads your mail whenever the hell he wants

Another signing statement, another infringement on our privacy. This Democratic Congress couldn't come soon enough:

quote:

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com W pushes envelope on U.S. spying BY JAMES GORDON MEEK DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU Thursday, January 4th, 2007 WASHINGTON - 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. Bush's move came during the winter congressional recess and a year after his secret domestic electronic eavesdropping program was first revealed. It caught Capitol Hill by surprise. "Despite the President's statement that he may be able to circumvent a basic privacy protection, the new postal law continues to prohibit the government from snooping into people's mail without a warrant," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the incoming House Government Reform Committee chairman, who co-sponsored the bill. Experts said the new powers could be easily abused and used to vacuum up large amounts of mail. "The [Bush] signing statement claims authority to open domestic mail without a warrant, and that would be new and quite alarming," said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington. "The danger is they're reading Americans' mail," she said. "You have to be concerned," agreed a career senior U.S. official who reviewed the legal underpinnings of Bush's claim. "It takes Executive Branch authority beyond anything we've ever known." A top Senate Intelligence Committee aide promised, "It's something we're going to look into." Most of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act deals with mundane reform measures. But it also explicitly reinforced protections of first-class mail from searches without a court's approval. Yet in his statement Bush said he will "construe" an exception, "which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection in a manner consistent ... with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances." Bush cited as examples the need to "protect human life and safety against hazardous materials and the need for physical searches specifically authorized by law for foreign intelligence collection." White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore denied Bush was claiming any new authority. "In certain circumstances - such as with the proverbial 'ticking bomb' - the Constitution does not require warrants for reasonable searches," she said. Bush, however, cited "exigent circumstances" which could refer to an imminent danger or a longstanding state of emergency. Critics point out the administration could quickly get a warrant from a criminal court or a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge to search targeted mail, and the Postal Service could block delivery in the meantime. But the Bush White House appears to be taking no chances on a judge saying no while a terror attack is looming, national security experts agreed. Martin said that Bush is "using the same legal reasoning to justify warrantless opening of domestic mail" as he did with warrantless eavesdropping. http://www.nydailynews.com/front/st...1p-408789c.html

Oh no, we're not expanding the government.....except into everyone's privacy, of course.

I think people are freaking out too much over this.
As if he's got time to send money to some Nigerian Prince...

^^ I think you'd make an obedient slave.

quote:

Originally posted by Fir3start3r I think people are freaking out too much over this. As if he's got time to send money to some Nigerian Prince...

Yes because Bush has proven himself trustworthy to use these new powers responsibly. This coming from someone who previously posted "The Bill of Wrongs".

See, this is where amatuers like Nixon screwed up and had to get all crooked to get information out of their political opponents. Here, you just call someone and they run around and tap everything, open the mail at the depot and problem solved without having to bother with anything messy like a warrant.
Never mind the little people, chances of them coming into contact with or involving themselves in with overseas terrorists is so minimal that it's really not worth the effort to pass laws like this. Yes, sure theres a chance of an international muslim terrorist plot eventuating in the USA but frankly, I'd be more worried myself in the US of coming afoul of an Iranian ex-pat taxi driver in NY squashing me like bug.

Seriously though, having the population living in stress and fear of outside enemies like this isn't good and now youre just lumping and unhealthy dose of paranoia into the whole mix.
Sure, you could be blown up by a terrorist tommorrow, doesnt mean you should live your lives worried about a plane coming out of blue sky and blowing up your house.
Wandering around like that looking to the skies just means you'll get run over by something down here on the ground!

quote:

Originally posted by Lilith Seriously though, having the population living in stress and fear of outside enemies like this isn't good and now youre just lumping and unhealthy dose of paranoia into the whole mix. Sure, you could be blown up by a terrorist tommorrow, doesnt mean you should live your lives worried about a plane coming out of blue sky and blowing up your house. Wandering around like that looking to the skies just means you'll get run over by something down here on the ground!

hate to say it, but the chick makes sense.

Course I am, fundamental laws of the universe.
1 Taxes
2 Death
3 Lilith is right and modest too, see point 2 for any contradictions.

so you idiots didn't know that law enforcement has always been able to open mail using "exigent circumstances"?


NYDaily spun you people real good.

edit- someone will get pissy about that even as a joke.

quote:

Originally posted by shaolin_Z ^^ I think you'd make an obedient slave.

Sorry, your sarcasm meter appears to be broken...

come on...Nigerian Prince?

"My phone bill? Sorry, I didn't receive it, I guess the president saw that as an act of terrorism"

quote:

Originally posted by Q5echo so you idiots didn't know that law enforcement has always been able to open mail using "exigent circumstances"? NYDaily spun you people real good.

Uhh, no. While true that law enforcement has the right to do this, they only have that right WITH A PROPER SEARCH WARRANT garnered by either the federal or FISA courts.

This new signing statement allows Bush to once again circumvent FISA and the federal court warrant process and open up mail whenever he sees fit.

Worse than that, take a look at the signing statement:

quote:

The executive branch shall construe subsection 404(c) of title 39, as enacted by subsection 1010(e) of the Act, which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection, in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent permissible, with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances...... http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/rele...20061220-6.html

What is subsection 404(c) of title 39? Welp, it's not from the bill that Congress created - rather, title 39 is from EXISTING FEDERAL LAW:

http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/ti..._chapter4_.html

IOW, Bush used this signing statement not just to modify the meaning of actual legislation created by Congress - he took it a step further and modified EXISTING FEDERAL LAW. How a signing statement can somehow perform this legally is rather bewildering.

quote:

Originally posted by Fir3start3r Sorry, your sarcasm meter appears to be broken... come on...Nigerian Prince?

That's because I wasn't being sarcastic lol .

Bush's presidency could easily become the end of signing statements, seeing how he's used them in a way contrary to the design. Regardless which side is in power, the way in which he's using them is in complete contradiction to America's founding.

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