Government: Out of our mail

GOVERNMENT: OUT OF OUR MAIL
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] In yet another power grab that whittles away our rights without a plausible justification, President Bush has given the government expanded authority to read our mail. This White House has long signaled that it will do what it wants in the name of national security, laws be damned. It has reserved the government's right to detain and even torture suspects without due process, and has asserted for itself wide latitude to electronically eavesdrop on Americans without obtaining search warrants. So perhaps it should surprise no one that Bush would add a "signing statement" to a postal-reform bill passed by Congress that suggests the new law allows the opening of mail that would be "otherwise sealed against inspection" for broadly defined security purposes. However, history has shown the potential for government abuses in the absence of strong mail-privacy laws. Bush continues to roll back the clock -- and the Constitution -- with his signing statements.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/0...