Bush's Thought Police Hits A Snag

President Bush is proving himself to be a uniter. What he didn't plan on was uniting Democrats and Republicans against illegal wiretapping. Senator Chris Dodd (D) summed up the new Republican stance on national security.

Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, a Democrat, said the Republican defections on security issues come down to ``every rat for himself.'' They are ``jumping ship pretty quickly'' to ``do what they can to protect themselves politically,'' he said.

Arlen Spector complained if the Senate doesn't pass the Terrorist Surveillance Program, which he is sponsoring, then the President will break the law anyway. The bill would be a reviewed once by a secret court. The public would not know why the court ruled a certain way. The White House would declare state secrets privilege. During this the White House would be allowed to ignore other court rulings and continue the NSA wiretapping. "The president has basically said: I'll agree to let a court decide if I'm breaking the law if you pass a law first that says I'm not breaking the law," Feingold said.

Now troop levels are at 145,000 in Iraq. The highest they have been during the war.

Bush argues, "If an Al Qaeda commander or associate is calling into the United States, we need to know why they’re calling. And Congress needs to pass legislation supporting this program." No rationale person is arguing that Al Qaeda should be protected from surveillance. It's law abiding American citizens who need protection from an Orwellian government.

At eleven he had denounced his uncle to the Thought Police after overhearing a conversation which appeared to him to have criminal tendencies.

The Bush administration's defunct Operation TIPS urged citizens to report on their neighbors. law enforcement experts rightfully argued that federal agents would spend too much time chasing bogus leads. Searching for terrorists is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The Bush administration's solution is to add more needles.