Privacy and Civil Liberties Not Bush Priorities

Today Newsweek's Michael Isikoff reports that the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board created by Congress in December 2004 has yet to hire staff or hold a single meeting. Isikoff reports that the panel will be sworn in by the White House next week. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Board was a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. Thomas Kean, the commission's chair alleges that the White House "was never interested in this."Yet another example of the Bush administration's contemptuous relationship with Congress, the Constitution, and the American people. Did anyone really think that the Bush administration was going to spearhead the initiative on protecting civil liberties? In the last 6 years has the Bush administration made a single effort to protect civil liberties? Civil liberties ranks pretty low on President Bush's priority list. Here's likely what Bush's priority list looks like:1. Transfer as much money from the Treasury to the wealthy. Just one example is the war in Iraq, the war is costing $4 billion every month. Who do you think gets that money? Here's a clue, Dick Cheney was the CEO of one receiving entity. The tax cuts are the clearest example of the Republican cash grab.2. Diminish or destroy any and all entitlement programs and government regulation of business.That's it. Everything else supports these two priorities. Everything the Bush administration has accomplished supported these two priorities. The Medicare bill was a boon for the pharmaceutical industry. The bankruptcy bill grossly favors the credit card industry over the American people. These two pieces of legislation, coupled with the war in Iraq and the tax cuts, have transferred billions of taxpayer dollars to the wealthy and the corporations they own. I ask anyone to find policy or legislation the Bush administration has promoted or supported that doesn't fit into the aforementioned priorities. This is the CEO administration, full of incompetence and powered by greed.Don't hold your breath for any action from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. The chair of the board is Carol Dinkins, a former law partner of Alberto Gonzalez.Watchdog: What Ever Happened to the Civil Liberties Board?