Shocking!!!

Not really. It's been obvious to a wide and growing swath of the American public that the BushCo administration has been itself growing in its imperial aspirations with its trampling of civil liberties and the basic understanding of our Constitution. And today, BushCo got another smackdown from a federal judge, this time in regards to the illegal warrantless wiretapping program that was uncovered last December. Tim Grieve at Salon's War Room has more:

In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor wrote that the warrantless wiretapping program "has undisputedly been implemented without regard to [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] . . . and obviously in violation of the Fourth Amendment." Taylor also held that Bush's orders authorizing the program "violate the separation of powers ordained by the very Constitution of which this president is a creature."

Consistent with the Supreme Court's reasoning in the Hamdan case, Taylor rejected the Bush administration's claim that Congress gave the president power to engage in warrantless spying when it authorized him to use force in the wake of 9/11.

Quoting the late Chief Justice Earl Warren, Taylor wrote: "Implicit in the term 'national defense' is the notion of defending those values and ideas which set this nation apart. . . . It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defense, we would sanction the subversion of . . . those liberties . . . which make the defense of the nation worthwhile."

The ruling comes in a lawsuit the ACLU filed in January on behalf of scholars, journalists and others who feared that their calls might have been subjected to warrantless government monitoring.

OK, now I really am turning off the blogging to do some last-minute work before I undergo some extreme hydration before going through the TSA security checks at Sea-Tac airport sans any liquid refreshment, toothpaste, or hair gel in my carry-on baggage. I wonder if my solid gel-like deoderant will make it through? Hmmmm... looks like a no.

Khhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnn!

But at least I can take a cigar cutter and a toy transformer robot (!?!?!) in my carry-on. I guess the terrorists haven't won yet!

[PS] A vision of our flying future?


[hat-tip to Crooks and Liars, which features the catchy theme song to Snakes on a Plane]

[UPDATE] I've made it to my gate with all my belongings, but I didn't evade a bag check. It seems my Epic Gourmet (formerly Essential Sandwich) Cuban black bean burrito could be construed on the X-Ray machine as something potentially nefarious. Thank goodness, I got to keep it, as it's going to be a long flight to Honolulu.