Saturday, March 25, 2006

News? Not.

George W. Bush simply will not accept the fundamental American notion that no man is above the law. As the Boston Globe reports, he reiterates that with his latest 'signing statement' --an "addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers."

Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory explains why this isn't news:
"Yesterday, I received numerous e-mails from people asking why I had not written about this report from the Boston Globe, which reported:
When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.
"The reason I didn't was because, as extraordinary as this signing statement is in one sense, it really reveals nothing new. We really do have an Administration which believes it has the power to break all laws relating, however broadly, to defending the country. It has said this repeatedly in numerous contexts and acted on those beliefs by breaking the law -- repeatedly and deliberately. They are still breaking the law by, for instance, continuing to eavesdrop on Americans without the warrants required by FISA.

"This is not theory. The Administration is not saying these things as a joke. We really do live in a country where we have a President who has seized the unlimited power to break the law. That's not hyperbole in any way. It is reality. And the Patriot Act signing statement only re-iterates that fact."
Read more here.

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