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August 21, 2007 at 06:23:24     Permalink New surveillance powers are worse than we thought Diary Entry by Mary Shaw (about the author)

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Thanks a lot, Congress.

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In a hurry to get home for a nice, long vacation, Congress voted earlier this month to give Bush expanded authority to conduct warrantless surveillance, under the ironically named "Protect America Act". And now, according to The New York Times, these new powers "could allow the Bush administration to conduct spy operations that go well beyond wiretapping to include -- without court approval -- certain types of physical searches on American soil and the collection of Americans' business records, Democratic Congressional officials and other experts said." [Read the full article.]

And remember: They are no longer required to get a court warrant to justify their actions. (Of course they ignored that requirement in the past anyway.)

No accountability. No checks or balances. Just the Bush administration doing whatever it wants, whenever it wants, to whomever it chooses. And there's nothing stopping them from someday perhaps choosing you.

Hold Congress accountable:

>> See how your Senators voted.

>> See how your Representative voted.

>> Let them know how you feel about their voting records.

And keep it in mind the next time they're up for reelection.

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Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views (more...)
 

 

 
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