\jeff{krimmel}

Privacy? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Privacy

We just entered a new month, and as seems to happen quite regularly, we have another news story about how this administration is holding the privacy of American citizens in contempt:

President Bush says he and other government officials have the power to snoop through your mail without a judge’s warrant.

The president already goes through my email and taps my telephone conversations without a warrant, so why not now go for the mail? President Bush asserted this power in a signing statement he made on a postal reform bill last month. But this isn’t a new presidential power, folks:

But White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said today that the signing statement was meant merely “to clarify that he already has the authority” to open mail in certain emergencies.

That’s priceless. The president was just reminding us he already has the authority to pour through our mail. Just like when he reminded everyone he had the authority to detain people indefinitely without access to a lawyer, no way to challenge their detention in the court system, and without charges being filed against them. We seem to forget a lot of presidential powers, you and I. That’s why we have the president around to remind us.

Obviously I’m a little concerned. But I shouldn’t be:

Lawrimore said such presidential power would not infringe upon Americans’ privacy, because it “would only be used in extraordinary circumstances.”

Thank God. I should quit bitching and realize that George W. Bush is the one who will make decisions about whether my privacy is necessary or not. What reasonable person wouldn’t trust President Bush to make such decisions? It looks like I’m just being a crybaby.