Balancing national security for all with civil liberties for individuals is a tricky high wire act that all decent democratic countries try to maneuver. Democrats predictably criticize Bush and Company as crypto fascists, while gleefully wallowing in the National Security Agency's spying leaks, and try to kill the Patriot Act because of unfounded fears. Here are some examples of spying used by other countries that Bush critics use as a role model. Spying on e—mail and cell phone traffic without a warrant. Searching offices and residences without a court order. Locking citizens away for weeks or months without filing charges. Sound like your worst nightmare about the supposedly lawless Bush administration? Perhaps. But I refer to restrictions on civil liberties that are taking place not in the United States but, in the order in which I cited them, Canada, France and Great Britain. All three countries are cited as moral superiors to the rogue regime in Washington, where...(Read Full Post)