I'm sure it was an oversight...

But Scott Tribe gets it exactly wrong when he finishes a post on Canadian-US security cooperation with:

Well put. Don’t do it. Dont divulge data, Dalton. (Not at least til we see who’s running the show in Jan/09).

It won't matter who's running the show in Jan, '09 unless the law itself is changed. Sad as it is to say, Bill Clinton was bad for US civil liberties (compared to his predecessors) too, though arguably less egregiously so than Bush.

If Hillary wins, I have no confidence the US will actually be a more responsible actor when it comes to not harassing Canadians. Remember: this is the same lady who invented -- out of whole cloth -- stories about terrorists crossing the US-Canada border immediately after 9/11.

In short, no, the person who's in the White House doesn't matter. A GOP Congress could -- um, in theory -- pass civil liberties legislation (stop laughing) just as easily as a Democratic one would. Moreover, it's worth pointing out that the USA Patriot Act was passed, and renewed, with overwhelming support from both parties.

If we shouldn't be cooperating with the US -- and I agree we shouldn't be -- then it's going to take more than an election to solve these problems.