More on the working plan for universal net surveillance

Back here, I posted about a Raw Story article discussing Executive plans to monitor every aspect of every form of communication on the internet - everything you send in email, every file you transfer, every web page you visit, every search query you try, and, in summary, everything done by everyone - without hint, of course, of warrant or oversight. mathmuffin was kind enough in comments here to point to this opinion piece in Wired by Bruce Schneier discussing these plans, and this longer piece in the New Yorker, finally online, also discussing these plans.

It is generally my opinion with the current administration that if they're talking about doing something, they're probably already doing it, and have been, for some time. This assumption has generally proven valid when examined, and I see no reason - given the complete and utter lack of punishment for anything - that this would have changed.

Hopefully you will enjoy the carefully selected range of options allowed you by this, your new form of government, and won't brush against any of the many invisible wires around you, thus upsetting any of the many government employees and the software software packages watching over every aspect of your life for your own good.

Mr. Bush invents another Executive power

Following up on his previous declaration that he can spend money in direct violation of Congressional budget law, Chief Executive Mr. Bush has declared that he has the right to override Congressional spending law, essentially granting himself a line-item veto over Congressionally-authorised spending. This was already ruled unconstitutional after Congress passed a law unconstitutionally granting President Clinton that power; the law was - correctly - struck down in 1998. But it's not like anybody pays attention to that goddamn piece of paper anymore anyway, so why pay attention to any court rulings about it?

These combined rulings mean that Mr. Bush has taken direct control over government spending decisions. Congress can put together a budget, but then "the Decider" will overrule and add on to it as he sees fit. I'm not exaggerating. My links in this post and the previous post are to the published executive orders on the White House government website. He has declared that he can spend money Congress has not authorised, and which it has specifically forbidden; also, that can also order money Congress has authorised not be spent.

The degree to which this is beyond unconstitutional cannot be overstated. That's not even opinion; this latest assumption of power, specifically, has already been ruled unconstitutional. Courts, however, only matter when you have the rule of law, and here, there is no law, so there is no President, no Constitution, and you and I are not citizens. This will remain true until and unless Congress impeaches this administration, which the "opposition" leadership has repeatedly declared it will not even consider.

I really can't believe how completely things have fallen apart here, governmentally. I occasionally have to remind myself that this isn't some sort of nightmare. Sadly, all these things are now true: The United States is a torture state. The Chief Executive has claimed and continues to claim the right to detain anyone, anywhere, indefinitely, without charge or recourse to the courts. The Chief Executive has specifically declared himself above the law in a wide spectrum of areas, via the made-up-from-whole-cloth "unitary executive" theory. He has declared the right to spend money in direct violation of the law, and not spend money Congress has ordered spent by law, taking the proverbial "purse strings" away from Congress. He has claimed the right to edit or ignore law as he sees fit without Congressional recourse, via this action, and via his new form of signing statements. He has instituted a mass programme of domestic spying which the Senate is, as I write this, busily making retroactively "legal" for some value of "legal" which ignores the Constitution's warrant requirements, and immunising companies from private lawsuit for previous violation of other relevant laws. His administration has taken political control over the Justice Department, insuring it does not investigate, and refuses to cooperate with what few attempts Congress has made towards investigating any such matters, up to and including ignoring legally-issued subpoenas. The administration has further destroyed evidence demanded in similar investigations, such as the videotapes made of torture sessions.

Those are just things I can think of off the top of my head. They've all been post topics before, too, not that this means anything.

I'd like to have a way to wrap this post up coherently, but I really don't have one. I am reminded, I suppose, of Tsar Nicholas II, and his habit of granting himself extensive new powers after the 1905 revolution in Russia. But that, even, was handled through quasi-legal means, as a series of "blank" clauses had been left in... either the 1905 October Manifesto or 1906 Fundamental Laws, I can't remember which... specifically for these purposes. We don't have that here. We have whatever the Chief Executive feels like doing today. How sadly decrepit.