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I'd just like to point out that while bank records have indeed been SupremeCourtly decreed not private, what the Times and the Journal and others revealed IS illegal activity on the part of the Bush administration.
It is still a legal requirement that a warrant be issued, that a court of some kind say it's ok to snoop at bank records. The reason this is a newsworthy story is the pattern of abuse this program continues from the thread of the NSA phone surveillance method. Court approval and warrants could easily be obtained, and yet the Bush administration thumbs its nose at bothering. It's not so much what they do (since a court might allow it anyway), it's that they flaunt the American system of checks & balances, and instead insist on behaving like a dictatorship ... simply because they want to and want to establish unfettered powers for the presidency as an institution.
Same thing with the signing statements that Bush has issued, claiming his administration does not have to obey laws passed by Congress. He has issued more of these than all other presidents combined, and it's noteworthy that Republican senator Arlen Spector has declared an intention to sue the White House over this nefarious practice.
Bush is clearly demonstrating a doctrine of being unchecked by the courts and unchecked by Congress. If this is not trying to set up the presidency as a dictatorate, then I don't know what is.
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