protecting america

president bush is once again urging congress to pass his wiretapping bill. and who wouldnt pass it with such a lovely sounding name as Protect America Act of 2007. perhaps im just too cynical, but anything with a title like that to me screams 'JUDGE ME BY MY COVER! DONT READ THE FINE PRINT, WHATEVER YOU DO!'

this is an act that has resulted in 40 plus lawsuits against AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint for handing over call records and information to the federal government. why? well this bill more or less says that the country is having so much trouble finding osama that theyre looking through our phone records in hopes that they find a call from Afghanistan with 'Osama's Cave' as the caller id.

ok, so that was hyperbole. but the bill says that the govt can get our phone records from such companies without a warrant. and this is what has people upset. and what has them suing the telecom guys over invasion of privacy. and in reality, the bill of rights lays out a process for search and seizure that involves getting a warrant from the judiciary. to me this whole business is unconstitutional. if they want the info. give the judge enough evidence to get a warrant. he or she will provide such warrant. then you can find out who osama is calling.

maybe its me, but i think the best way to find osama would have been to continue pursuing him rather than chasing after a ghost in iraq. if you look at it now, we were making progress in Afghanistan, which is now becoming destabilized because we more or less left after toppling the taliban. now iraq is about as stable as a drunk on a merry-go-round, and we captured its former leader. he was a despot, but he was back when we were funding him during the iran-iraq war too. so what changed so much? and after all this, osama, who most believe is behind 2001's attacks is still on the run. all 6 foot 4 of him and a dialysis machine. must be some high tech cave.

so anyway, i think the bill is crap. the house is right not to pass, or even address it. maybe if they told us how it was doing good. but apparently no one other the bush is allowed to see that information. it all seems like a lot of smoke and mirrors to me. and laws, especially those that impact our most dear personal rights as citizens, need to be based on verifiable need, not shadowy pretense.

The post article that got this ball a rollin.