OK, George, then tell us what spying on peaceful protesters has to do with preventing terrorism

C-Plus Stalin has been busted, and now the gargoyle that lives behind the smirking towel-snapper is beginning to come out:

President Bush said Saturday he has no intention of stopping his personal authorizations of a post-Sept. 11 secret eavesdropping program in the U.S., lashing out at those involved in revealing it while defending it as crucial to preventing future attacks.

"This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security," he said in a radio address delivered live from the White House's Roosevelt Room.

"This authorization is a vital tool in our war against the terrorists. It is critical to saving American lives. The American people expect me to do everything in my power, under our laws and Constitution, to protect them and their civil liberties and that is exactly what I will continue to do as long as I am president of the United States," Bush said.

Angry members of Congress have demanded an explanation of the program, first revealed in Friday's New York Times and whether the monitoring by the National Security Agency without obtaining warrants from a court violates civil liberties. One Democrat said in response to Bush's remarks on the radio that Bush was acting more like a king than the elected president of a democracy.

Bush said the program was narrowly designed and used "consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution." He said it is used only to intercept the international communications of people inside the United States who have been determined to have "a clear link" to al-Qaida or related terrorist organizations.

Appearing angry at points during his eight-minute address, Bush said he had reauthorized the program more than 30 times since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and plans to continue doing so.

"I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al-Qaida and related groups," he said.

Which means he intends to do so for as long as American citizens dare to question his policies. This is a president who cares not a whit for rule of law. He may not have been declared a dictator, nor has he publically declared himself one...yet. But he sure is acting like one. We have checks and balances for a reason. Perhaps if such surveillance had been limited to "legitimate" terrorist threats, there would be less of a fuss. But the minute they started spying on peaceful anti-war groups and others, all bets are off.

Here's another example of how the Bush Administration is spying on Americans in order to address the Al-Qaeda threat:

A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book."

Two history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through the UMass Dartmouth library's interlibrary loan program.

The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.

The professors said the student was told by the agents that the book is on a "watch list," and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further.

"I tell my students to go to the direct source, and so he asked for the official Peking version of the book," Professor Pontbriand said. "Apparently, the Department of Homeland Security is monitoring inter-library loans, because that's what triggered the visit, as I understand it."

[snip]

The eavesdropping was apparently done without warrants.

In George W. Bush's America, a college student can't even write a paper without being visited by federal agents. Read the wrong book, and you can find yourself under investigation. And they won't tell you what the "watch list" books are until you dare to ask for one at your local library.

For all you Bush apologists out there: How on earth do you justify this crap in a free society? Is this the country you want to live in?

(hat tips: Americablog and "Plutonium Page" at Daily Kos.)