Bush claims new rights to stamp out privacy protections

Add another item to the list of privacy violations our President has claimed for himself under his "war powers." Not satisfied with eavesdropping on our phone calls, intercepting our emails, conducting secret searches in our homes and personal records and compiling military dossiers on citizens who engage in ordinary constitutionally protected dissent, Bush has just declared open season on our domestic mail.

WASHINGTON - President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant, the Daily News has learned.

The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions.

That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have reviewed it.

Bush's move came during the winter congressional recess and a year after his secret domestic electronic eavesdropping program was first revealed. It caught Capitol Hill by surprise.

Doesn't it always catch Capitol Hill by surprise? Could it be because our Weasel in Chief sneaks these signing statements in when no one is looking? And what the hell kind of emergency condition would warrant opening your mail? It's a piece of effing paper that can be held until a warrant is issued. Can it any clearer that our Misleader in Chief has fallen into some sort of Nixonian madness and paranoia?

More importantly, can we really afford to tolerate another two years of this slimy criminality by our own president? Once again I implore the impeachment proponents to change their focus and start demanding the resignation of Bush and his key advisors instead.