President Bush and his administration are taking away more human rights all the time, and even when the justice system tries to stop them, they keep fighting.

A week ago an appeals court ruled that the government’s warrantless wiretapping could continue as they appeal a judge’s ruling which stated that such acts were unconstitutional.

This is just one of many things the Bush administration has done to hinder human rights for Americans.

Even the ban on torture that Bush signed around the beginning of the year had a signing statement on it. The signing statement that Bush so often uses on the laws he signs stated that everyone must follow the law except for Bush. If Bush thinks he has to use torture, then it will be okay in that particular case.

Shouldn’t our president lead by example? If he doesn’t want the rest of the country torturing people, then he shouldn’t allow himself to do it either.

The biggest thing Bush has done to hurt human rights has been his lack of respect for a human’s right to live. More than 2,700 Americans have died in the war in Iraq, according to a CNN count. Bush has also admitted to at least 30,000 Iraqi civilian casualties of this war.

For someone who defends an unborn human’s right to life, he allows a lot of the older ones to die.

Bush also allowed a persons-of-interest list, which named people whose rights can be taken away as a matter of national security. For example, CNN reported that Steven Hatfill, the former U.S. Army bioweapons scientist, was put on the persons-of-interest list and fired from his position.

Some, like Bush, say these things are OK to take away when they have to be. When it’s a matter of national security we have no choice but to protect ourselves from whoever is attacking us. How is killing civilians – maybe even more civilians than the “terrorists” have – going to help with the war on terror?

Stooping to the level of a bully and trying to be a bigger bully doesn’t break the cycle of violence.

You have to somehow break the cycle and we could probably figure out a way with the billions of dollars we spend on these wars.