On the Soapbox

Did you know that Italians conduct tens of thousands of wiretaps each year (source: Slate)? Or that new wiretaps are granted "every few seconds" in Britain (source: The Economist)? Or that even the prime minister of Greece was tapped? Or that, unlike the United States, there are no substantial angry reactions over wiretaps on the other side of the pond? And all this time, I thought that Europe was liberal about civil liberties; well, I guess this makes me feel much better* about the state of American politics.

* Of course, I would feel even better if Bush was censured (or even impeached) for these wiretaps. It's not that using wiretaps to fight terrorists is bad; I think that they are necessary, but the issue is that, by bypassing the secret and easy FISA court (it almost never turns down tap requests, and it also allows for retroactive warrants so that you can tap without asking first), the administration broke the law. It is the principle of the matter: one of the core values separating us from regimes like Saddam's or China's is that the law is supreme and that not even the President is above it. Adding insult to injury, this violation of principle is made worse by the lack of any mitigating benefit from circumventing a secret court that grants retroactive warrants. Perhaps Bush needs a refresher in American history?