Whatever you do, don't say "BOMB"

It's taken me nearly until the last minute to discover a topic that has had the right blend of absurdity, asininity and annoyance for my tastes. Thankfully, there is this from the Washington Post.

As it is widely known, the White House and the Pentagon have been monitoring emails, text messages and telephone calls that are entering or leaving the country under the suspicious Protect America Act (PAA). This becomes a very serious issue because it is very possible that the person on the US end of the transmission could, in fact, be a US Citizen with all the rights and good stuff that have been guaranteed by that pesky Constitution and its silly Bill of Rights.

Did I mention that all of this monitoring is down without any warrants? Just so we're clear: The United States Federal Government is monitoring the communications of US Citizens without constitutionally required warrants. This issue is disconcerting on a number of levels, paramount is the possibility for guilt by association. If one person on US Soil receives a call from overseas do his friends, family and business associates become fair game as well?

The ACLU, in another valiant attempt to preserve and protect the rights of the American Individual took their case to the US Supreme Court to prove that the actions of the White House are unconstitutional and therefore illegal. The Supreme Court decided, in a vote of 8-1, to stick their collective fingers in their ears and shout "LA LALA LALA LALA LA LA" and then refused to hear the case.

The Supreme Court's refusal is on the grounds that no individual can prove that they have been monitored. This is because, while the White House openly brags about wiretapping, they refuse to divulge the names of anyone that has been monitored for "National Security Reasons." Citing the aforementioned PAA.

Ignoring all of the potential political, industrial and financial abuses that one could slip under the PAA radar, the Bush Administration is now trying to extend the Protect America Act indefinitely while also expanding it to protect telecom companies from litigation for violating the rights of US Citizens.

What could possibly go wrong?