Justice and the lack thereof

MANIFESTO

Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice;
nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
—Lord Acton
The above can be applied to virtually everything the Bushies (and, for that matter, their Republican predecessors of the last forty years) have ever done, but today it has to do with that august organization, the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Washington Post is reporting this morning that the FBI used an illegal procedure to get thousands of phone records—then tried to retroactively legalize its actions, botching that too.

A Justice Department investigation turned up "uncontrolled" usage of "exigent circumstance" letters by the FBI. The letters "circumvented" the law by asking for call records from phone companies, immediately, and indicating that all the legal mumbo-jumbo would be set straight later. In many cases, it never was. Recently the FBI tried to "clean up" the problem by quickly scribbling requests for the information they had already requisitioned, violating the law again in the process. Investigations, hearings, and disciplinary action are sure to follow.

This is just another example of the flagrant attacks on Americans' liberties, which, unfortunately, they seem all too willing to put up with.