The preesident signed a bill today with a signing statement that he is authorized to open anyone's mail without a warrant.http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2770381&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
This is from the same ABC that made the 9/11 movie, so please spare me the liberal bias knee-jerk reaction.
I've committed no crime. Why is my personal communication subject to scrutiny without a warrant?
2007-01-04 07:55:09 · 19 answers · asked by Schmorgen 6 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
Eddy E: So every American is automatically a suspected terrorist?
2007-01-04 07:58:06 · update #1
Two things:
First, the bill says "no, you can't" it's the signing statement that says, "yes, I can."
Second, I am very worried as I have given contributions to the DNC in the past. In a nation where people can be "disappeared" without due process, is it safe to disagree with the president?
2007-01-04 08:09:49 · update #2
Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
2007-01-04 07:59:39 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 2⤋
There is a risk you will be wrongly identified as a suspected terrorist and your mail is opened.
There is also a risk you will be blown up by savages trying to inflict damage on this country.
Government balances the risks, and the harm associated with each risk.
This is not new in American history.
But these days everything Bush does is grist for the partisan mill.
PS If you want to stay up nights in a cold sweat, read up on what J. Edgar Hoover and RFK did to break up the KKK. Did they cut corners, like Sipowitz on NYPD blue? You bet. Does it make me fear for my very existence, or convince me that we're living in a fascist police state? Um, no. Maybe it should . . .
2007-01-04 16:04:20 · answer #2 · answered by American citizen and taxpayer 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you a suspected terrorist or sending mail to a suspected terrorist? If not, then you should stop worrying. This will not affect you one bit. I personally don't care as many Americans shouldn't because I'm not doing anything I shouldn't be doing. Besides, the reason this was passed is to counter the terrorists reaction to the phone tapping law. We are trying to give them no options of communication around the laws. People talk about having to have search warrants. Well, the flaw with search warrants is that it could take weeks to obtain one. By this time, it could be too late. I'm all for it, and everyone who has nothing to hide should be also. this will only further protect this country from future attacks and I'm all for it.
2007-01-04 16:01:01 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
The president did not sign a bill to that effect.
He simply made a statement that the government had the right to go through personal mail.
Yesterday he was in a threatening mode. He told the congress that they would have to do what he said (BS).
I suggest you look up the meaning of megalomaniac
2007-01-04 16:27:25 · answer #4 · answered by Polyhistor 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Did you read the entire article?
It's based on a law that already existed, waaaayy before Bush that has to do with reasonable search and seizure, which has to be proven anyway. (As in, you sent a letter from your address and it had poison in it. Well, now don't ya think they're going to search your mail now? How about if it was a neighbor doing it, would you want them to be able to?) Look, I don't like Bush either, but you're making a mountain out of a molehill.
2007-01-04 16:02:21 · answer #5 · answered by jirstan2 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you have commited no crime, then why worry? They're problaby going to have this forced out of use anyways and this also creates another loophole for them to use that way cases can't be thrown out for violation of a defendant's rights by illegal search and seizure. This new law would probalby fall under the area of when you pull over a vechile for any offense, you can search the car with probable cause. (ie: he had drugs in his pocket, failure of a feild soberity test, ect.)
2007-01-04 16:05:33 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I don't understand why this come as a surprise to anyone. Did you read the Patriot Act or just take it at face value? The Country chose to give up freedoms for security. These are the consequences.
2007-01-04 15:59:28 · answer #7 · answered by Sun Spot 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
If you actually read the article you linked to...then yes you do...however, if you decide to send bombs, drugs or any type of suspicious package through the mail, then they have the right/responsibility to open it with due process.
2007-01-04 15:59:52 · answer #8 · answered by kerfitz 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The privacy you may have thought you have had in the past could easily have just been a mirage. They signed the bill so they no longer hide when they do that but have always done that.
2007-01-04 15:58:19 · answer #9 · answered by surfer_grl_ca 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
It's not a problem right now, unless you have something to hide. However, it is just one more pawn that will be in place if/when somebody becomes president and decides to be the next Adolph Hitler. That's when little things like this will add up to be a huge problem for freedom. Give an inch...
2007-01-04 16:01:20 · answer #10 · answered by Mickey Mouse Spears 7 · 2⤊ 4⤋