Today the Washington Post gives us the breakdown on the results of Bush's illegal wiretap program. 5000 Americans were spied upon; 10 of them were sufficiently suspicious to merit further investigation. One in five hundred. But according to the article, the conventional legal standard is that one in two wiretaps need to bear fruit to meet the requirement of probable cause. Now it's clear why the Bush Administration knowingly violated the law; they couldn't meet its requirements. It's good to be the king.

I know we're all suffering outrage fatigue here, but this extension of executive power is a serious threat to orderly US government. It has to be stopped. I just got a letter from the ACLU saying they're raising $1,000,000 to work a ninety day ad campaign on the wiretap issue and the Patriot Act. The ACLU is one of the few effective organizations acting here, but they need money.

Donate to the ACLU!

politics
  2006-02-05 17:06 Z