Authority granted

Imagine, they think they can decide who has authority over them and their activities.

The Justice Department, easing a Bush administration policy, said Wednesday it has decided to give an independent body authority to monitor the government's controversial domestic spying program.

In a letter to the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said this authority has been given to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and that it already has approved one request for monitoring the communications of a person believed to be linked to al-Qaida or an associated terror group.

You know who else gave the court that authority? Congress, when it passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 1978. So the Justice Department granted the court an authority it has had for nearly 30 years.

Last week, I wrote a letter giving police the authority to arrest me if I was caught robbing a bank. Someone throw me a fucking parade.

Click here for more of my thoughts about the Bush administration's domestic spying program.