WASHINGTON - A statement attached to postal legislation by President Bush last month may have opened the way for the government to open mail without a warrant.
The White House denies any change in policy, but civil libertarians are alarmed, saying the government has never publicly claimed that power before.
Federal law has long required a search warrant to open first class mail unless postal inspectors suspect it contains something dangerous, like a bomb or a hazardous chemical, reports NBC News' Pete Williams.
But in signing a postal bill just before Christmas, President Bush said federal law also gives the government authority to open the mail "for foreign intelligence collection."
White House spokesman Tony Snow said that's nothing new. “All this is saying is that there are provisions at law for — in exigent circumstances — for such inspections. It has been thus. This is not a change in law, this is not new.”
"What the signing statement indicates is what present law allows, in making it clear what the provisions are," Snow said Thursday in his daily briefing.
What do I say about this story that hasn't already been said regarding President Bush's incarceration and torture of terrorist suspects with no legal rights? What can I say about the numerous reports regarding President Bush's domestic spying program on American citizens? And now we have this new story where President Bush is claiming the right to open and look at any mail without a warrant--all under the guise of the stale Global War on Terror argument.
What is really scary here is that I can't even get angry at this story or at this latest transgression by our failure of a president. I can't even find a comment for this story--oh, I can say the same thing I've said so many other times at how the Bush administration is breaking the law, disregarding our civil liberties, or even turning this democracy of ours into the equivalent of a neo-Nazi totalitarian dictatorship. But I fear I'm getting tired of saying the same thing over and over again, as I hear more and more of these same stories and scandals coming out of this administration. There were three major stories in the Washington Post this week, detailing even more prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay. I read them. I should be angry at the stories, but I'm not. Have I become so numbed and desensitized by the constant stream of crap coming out from this Bush White House? Or have I become tired of reading these same stories, with the Bush White House exclaiming same, tired, PR-spin of denials, or the insistence that these programs are needed to fight the Global War on Terror, or accusing the critics of harboring terrorists for investigating these transgressions. It is almost like living in a broken record, seeing these same stories of the Bush White House engaging in spying and torture, listening to the same Bush PR-spin, and going nowhere.
The broken record has been playing for six long years. The one change I am looking forward to is the Democrats investigation and oversight into these Bush scandals. I hope the Democrats will use their subpoena power to obtain records, and to grill the Bush officials responsible for these scandals. Instead of listening to the constant PR-spin from this administration, I can enjoy listening to these officials contradict themselves in their own lies, under oath. Perhaps we'll see a little justice and oversight come back to our country.
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