by James Glaser
December 29, 2005

On April 20th, 2004 President George Bush said, "By the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires—a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the constitution."

George Bush took an oath to uphold that Constitution he says we value, but even as he was saying these words, he knew he was lying, because he had already signed several executive orders allowing the government to wiretap American citizens... without a court order.

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

On December 17th, 2005, President George Bush conceded the fact that he had ordered secret spying on American citizens without getting a warrant from a court of law.

In August of 2005, the FBI admitted to secretly collecting thousands of files on nonviolent activists and anti-war groups here in America.

NBC News discovered the Pentagon had a database with information on anti-war groups, like a group of anti-war Quakers in Florida, who were described as a "threat."

President Johnson lied about North Vietnamese ships attacking American ships. That led to the war in Vietnam and the deaths of over a million innocent Vietnamese and over 58,000 American troops. President Nixon lied about knowing of a break-in at the Democrat Party National Headquarters. This led to his impeachment and resignation. President Reagan lied about selling arms to terrorists, and later admitted it on national television. The first President Bush lied about Iraqi troops killing babies in a neo-natal ward in Kuwait and about Iraqi tanks on the Saudi border. These lies led to the first Gulf War and the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis. President Clinton lied about having sex "with that woman." Now we have our new President Bush lying about spying on Americans without a court order.

Presidents lie. We can't trust them any more, and we have to watch them. It is a hard job being President and following all the rules. Many Presidents feel that they have a right to be above our laws, but no one has that right in the United States, and that is one of the reasons our country is so great. No one in America is above the law; we all have to follow the rules we have set up to protect ourselves from our government. George Bush might feel that he is doing the right thing by breaking the law, and his motives might be honorable, but he doesn't have that right.

President Bush should have to answer for the crimes he has committed. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. George Bush has been corrupted.