Permission

Kevin at PK, quoting Digby, has thrown down the gauntlet:

If the president was willing to authorize leaking of national security information to reporters for political purposes, why should we believe he won't authorize warrantless wiretaps on Americans for political purposes?

It's true, and most of us blogging from this side of the dial have written about it already: Bush, Cheney, Rove, Gonzales, and the rest are going to keep pushing as hard as they can against the constitutional and political limits on presidential power.

By the time evidence comes to light that they've committed one particular offense against the Constitution, they're already on to the next offense.

Case in point: The Attorney General's most recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary committee, earlier this week:

In Gonzales's testimony today, he asserted that Bush has the authority to order wiretapping of solely domestic calls. [ . . . ] Given what we've found out about how this administration works, it's probably a fair bet that that we should interpret this as "Bush has ordered wiretapping of solely domestic calls."

It's tax week. As Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. famously said, taxes are what we pay for civilized society. To pay your taxes this week and yet not get around to raising your voice about the offenses of the Bush administration is like saying "thank you" to someone who steals your wallet and burns your house down.

Pick up Kevin's challenge: Write your local paper and put them on notice, and yourself on the record. (Or contact your reps to Congress. Or do something to show we're awake out here--awake and outraged. Kevin offers more suggestions.)

Right now, Karl Rove has a little framed bit of needlepoint over his desk: "It's easier to get forgiveness than to get permission." Let's put an end to that.