Erosion of Freedoms x 2

By | March 29, 2006

There are places where you expect to see people lashing out against the Bush administration’s civil liberties abuses, including DailyKos. And then there are places where you don’t expect it, such as on PC guru John C. Dvorak’s blog, Dvorak Uncensored. Dvorak takes the Bush administration to task in an entry titled “Erosion of Freedoms x 2”:

We old folks used to talk about Nixon and his imperial presidency. He was a lightweight in comparison to what’s going on these days.Erosion #1: DOJ: NSA Could’ve Monitored Lawyers’ Calls

The National Security Agency could have legally monitored ordinarily confidential communications between doctors and patients or attorneys and their clients, the Justice Department said Friday of its controversial warrantless surveillance program.

Responding to questions from Congress, the department also said that it sees no prohibition to using information collected under the NSA’s program in court.

Erosion #2: The Job of the FBI…

On March 14, [Common Cause President Chellie] Pingree participated on a panel on open government sponsored by the League of Women Voters.

A week after the panel, an FBI agent contacted the local League president, Susan Gilbert, to raise questions about Pingree’s published remarks at the panel.

For some reason, Roger Waters “The Tide Is Turning” keeps playing over and over in my head. I don’t know whether that gives me hope or makes me sad, though…