House Approves Warrantless Wiretapping

inKubus writes to mention an AP article about the approval of a warrantless wiretapping bill by the house. The legislation's goal would be to legitimize the wiretapping program President Bush previously authorized, with a few new restrictions. Despite this victory for the President, "Leaders concede that differences between the versions are so significant they cannot reconcile them into a final bill that can be delivered to Bush before the Nov. 7 congressional elections. The Senate also could vote on a similar bill before Congress recesses at the end of the week. For its part, the White House announced it strongly supported passage of the House version but wasn't satisfied with it, adding that the administration 'looks forward to working with Congress to strengthen the bill as it moves through the legislative process.'"

Comments

no, no, that's the way it used to be, before 9/11

[misanthrope101]

The 4th Amendment, while generally a great and noble idea, was written with a pre 9/11 mentality. The world has changed. Power doesn't corrupt any more--now it's necessary, even beneficial to freedom, to confer as much unchecked, unsupervised power on the Executive branch as we can, as quickly as we can. Now you can trust government! The old way of thinking required a suspicion that power, once achieved, would be abused, but we don't have to believe that anymore, not unless you want us stuck in a pre-9/11 way of thinking. Don't you get it? Everything is different now!

The only way things could ever change back to the way they were, the only way we would have to be cautious about how much power we give government, is if a Democrat is elected. Then, yes, it follows that power corrupts, and is inimical to freedom. But until that day, don't get stuck in a pre 9/11 mentality. If you need me to repeat it a few more times for effect, I can. Sorry about not being good enough at HTML to have a flag waving in the background as you read this.