If the FBI is to be believed, Americans face a dastardly new terrorist threat: tourists. Specifically, those with the gall to stay in Las Vegas.
The FBI, fearing a terrorist attack on or around New Year's Eve, solicited the assistance of Vegas hotels ostensibly to assist them in the search for terrorists, demanding the names of people with New Year's Eve reservations. Only one hotel declined to honor the FBI's request, and for its reluctance was served a subpoena.
If the FBI has stooped to threatening hotel managers to discover new terrorist threats, then perhaps the people the government is stalking are doing a good job. The whole notion of trying to connect the dots among airline manifests, terrorist lists and hotel guests would seem to create a plethora of twisted arrows pointing in opposing directions, creating questionable leads that suggest imagined and preposterous conclusions. This situation indicates an organization grasping at straws. It is unlikely officials will find the name of a noted terrorist on a hotel list or airline registry, and this expectation is downright ridiculous considering the ease at which modern terrorists can concoct their papers. A terrorist would be indescribably foolish to fall into such a trap.
Beyond the wisdom of the decision, the FBI's actions are glaringly illegal. Taking the names of private citizens who are either on business or, more likely, simply enjoying a vacation infringes on Americans' Fourth Amendment rights and is a complete abuse of power. Heightening airport security is one thing, but this is indefensible. Allowing the FBI to obtain personal documents without judicial review soon after Sept. 11 may have seemed necessary at the time, but government officials need to note obvious infractions like this as evidence that the FBI's apparatus must be redirected and toned-down.
New overtime rules too easy on employersInstead of protecting workers' hard-earned wages, the Bush Administration's new proposed changes to overtime rules instead have given get out of jail free cards to employers, offering them advice on cost-efficient ways to deal with the new rules.
Some of the helpful hints offered by the Labor Department include: forcing employees to stick to a 40-hour work week; raising salaries to an annual threshold of $22,100, a figure that makes workers ineligible for overtime; or cutting employees' hourly pay so that with overtime, employees would be making only their original salary. Thus, working more hours for less pay.
And while the Labor Department estimates that between 1.5 million and 2.7 million workers will be affected, labor unions claim the number is closer to 8 million.
But the new messages from the Labor Department are comparable to high school gossip: in one instant, claiming to be workers' best friend by guaranteeing fair pay, but in the next instant whispering ideas of loopholes into employers' ears. If there is one thing we all learned in high school, it is that no one likes a two-faced gossip.
The Labor Department should protect low-wage workers, instead of acting in the interest of big businesses and penalizing employees' salaries.
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