Bush slips another one under the radar

Ah, the Patriot Act. That well-thought-out piece of legislative irony that makes it so much easier for Americans to spy on Americans. Not only did we use it for its first term, but we reauthorized it for a second one. Way to go, America.

It should be pointed out that I am in no way trivializing the loss of life that occurred during the World Trade Center disaster in 2001. We lost nearly 3,000 American lives, and the lives of those from many other nations as well. It was a horrific series of events that should not ever be repeated.

That said, the Patriot Act makes it very easy for the FBI, CIA, NSA and any other governmental agencies that use surveillance to eavesdrop, search and seize without a warrant those that it suspects of "Un-American activities." Has this netted any real terrorists? Probably it really has. But the expansion of power that it grants to law enforcement, especially without a warrant, basically on suspicion, really rings to me of McCarthyism. While the renewal of the Act does include 30 new "Civil Liberties Safeguards," it makes one wonder what kinds of other people they're picking up with this thing, since it basically authorizes them to listen to and spy on anyone just because they think they might find something.

The scary part, though, is Bush's signing statement about the Patriot Act's renewal. He signed the bill at a White House ceremony on March 9th, saying it was ''a piece of legislation that's vital to win the war on terror and to protect the American people."

But wait, there's more. After all the guests and the press had left, the White House quietly issued a ''signing statement." For those who might not know, a signing statement is an official document in which a President lays out his interpretation of the law. He said, ''The executive branch shall construe the provisions . . . that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch . . . in a manner consistent with the president's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information . . . "

So basically, he's saying that he doesn't consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers are used, and even though the new provisions say he's supposed to, he can withhold information if he decides that it would ''impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties."

This is just another in a series of moves by the President to expand Executive power at the expense of the other branches. Yeah, the three branches have checks and balances. But they're really starting to balance heavily at one end.