Once again, the White House and its mouthpieces are criticizing the judicial branch for ruling against a Bush policy; this time it's their warrantless wiretapping program.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled on Aug. 17 that the administration's program "violates the separation of powers doctrine" and infringes upon citizens' privacy and freedom of speech.
At a fundraiser on Aug. 24 in Ohio, President Bush's right-hand man, Karl Rove, told the audience the program might have stopped the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "Imagine if we could have done that before 9/11. It might have been a different outcome," he said at GOP Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell's fundraiser. However, since the program's inception, it hasn't halted any attacks. If it had, the administration would have already shamelessly promoted it on Fox News.
Diggs Taylor's decision takes into account the importance of checks and balances. Our Founding Fathers did not want a king (his name was George, too), and they didn't want any single leader to have that kind of power.
Diggs Taylor's ruling is not only correct, it's patriotic. No one, not even the executive branch, is above the law.
MICHIGAN VOTERS ON WIRETAP VERDICT
Last week, Lansing-based EPIC-MRA conducted a poll asking 600 likely voters if they agreed or disagreed with the ruling of the federal court, which said the wiretapping activities of the National Security Agency are illegal.
• 46 percent agreed very much
• 10 percent agreed somewhat
• 9 percent disagreed somewhat
• 33 percent disagreed very much
• 2 percent were undecided, didn't know or refused to answer
Source: epicmra.com
