Editorial:

Spying, Spying and More Spying

It seems that every time we turn around, the Bush Administration is trying to find another way to spy on the American people.

The first we really heard about it was when we discovered that he had practically given the National Security Administration (NSA) permission to spy in-country, as it were, on the American people shortly after the tragedy of 9-11.  At that time, in our national grief, we allowed many things that would curtail our Constitutional freedoms to be enacted, such as the USA Patriot Act.  At this writing, many are working to if not completely repeal the Act, to shorten it's reach into our private lives.

Shortly thereafter, word got out that Muslim businesses, mosques and families were being targeted for surveillance, with the spies looking for signs of radiation. Apparently the Administration are profiling Muslim-Americans, suggesting they might be building bombs. It's funny, but I didn't see them looking to surveil members of other religions. It was just the Muslims who were targeted.

How odd.

And now, we hear that the Feds are subpoenaing search engine records from such companies as Yahoo and Google, purportedly to ferret out people looking for online porn. Yahoo has indicated they gave whatever records they had to Uncle Sammy. Google, on the other hand, has balked at passing on such information and have said they will not present what the subpoena demands. They cite privacy concerns of both the public and business secrets that might be revealed by the release of any such information.

At this time, the ACLU have filed suit against to stop the continued spying on the American people. Twice before the Supreme Court has ruled against spying on the American people. They indicated that such spying violated the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution.

But what does the current Administration know about Constitutional Law? Currently, the Administration are working hard to get their puppets on the Bench of the highest Court in the land, so decisions would go their way.

Someone needs to remind these people that the government was split into the Legislative, Judicial and Executive Branches for a reason. That reason was to prevent the assumption of power by a one-sided government.

Right now, George W seems intent upon being KING George...

Write your representatives on both the State and Federal levels and let them know how you feel about this situation.