Bush spying on Americans

Two articles in today's New York Times are cause for serious concern. In the first, we learn that Bush has authorized the National Security Agency to spy on Americans without warrants, and that this has been going on since at least 2002. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people have been snooped on by the NSA. In the second, we learn that the Pentagon is mishandling data it has gathered about anti-war groups and other American citizens. Among other things, they are required to delete data on innocent civilians within three months, but they have failed to do so.

I find these developments especially disturbing as a threat to our freedoms and our democracy. Atrios points out that it's not very difficult to get a warrant if you need one to fight terrorism and that the real reason Bush is doing this is to prove that he can. I would add that he may also be doing it because he knows that no judge would grant him a warrant to conduct the kinds of spying he wishes to do.

If the President can spy on people willy nilly, as he seems prepared to do, there's nothing that would prevent him spying on the Democratic National Committee, for example, in order to find out what his political opponents are up to or to gather dirt on them. In this administration, which seems unable to separate policy from politics, I believe that's more likely than not. After all, all Democrats are traitors, aren't they? Traitor, terrorist, they're all the same thing, aren't they? I you're not with me, you're against me.

What I can't understand is why the libertarians aren't up in arms about this stuff.

We need to impeach this guy and impeach him now!