black…MYstory

Anybody remember when the law kind of meant something?

I know you have to go back quite a few years but, I’m sure you can vaguely remember when some were up in arms about a President’s sexual trysts with an intern and Congress’s need to “follow the rule of law.”

Now, it seems that, for those in the highest offices of our government, “the rule of law” is now more a suggestion than a requirement and anything goes.

The latest manifestation of that comes in the form the actions of the Justice Department and the FBI. In there supposed investigations of terrorists, these agencies managed to do what I thought was impossible. They violated the already-draconian Patriot Act.

Just look at this excerpt below:

The nation’s top two law enforcement officials acknowledged Friday the FBI broke the law to secretly pry out personal information about Americans. They apologized and vowed to prevent further illegal intrusions.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales left open the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against FBI agents or lawyers who improperly used the USA Patriot Act in pursuit of suspected terrorists and spies.

The FBI’s transgressions were spelled out in a damning 126-page audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. He found that agents sometimes demanded personal data on people without official authorization, and in other cases improperly obtained telephone records in non-emergency circumstances.

The audit also concluded that the FBI for three years underreported to Congress how often it used national security letters to ask businesses to turn over customer data. The letters are administrative subpoenas that do not require a judge’s approval.

This was the very type of concern cited by opponents of the Patriot Act. Now, we are to believe that the very agencies responsible for these transgressions are now going to investigate themselves properly?

Personally, I think they are doing the very job that they are supposed to do under this act, act with impunity and disregard for laws and civil liberties to silence dissenting opinion.

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