George Bush: Landowners and Consumers Citizens of the United States, I present to you – The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board!

George Orwell: Dude, you’re good!

The first public meeting of a Bush administration "civil liberties protection panel" had a surreal quality to it, as the five-member board refused to answer any questions from the press, and stonewalled privacy advocates and academics on key questions about domestic spying.

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which met Tuesday, was created by Congress in 2004 on the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, but is part of the White House, which handpicked all the members. Though mandated by law in late 2004, the board was not sworn in until March 2006, due to inaction on the part of the White House and Congress.

The three-hour meeting, held at Georgetown University, quickly established that the panel would be something less than a fierce watchdog of civil liberties. Instead, members all but said they view their job as helping Americans learn to relax and love warrantless surveillance.

Call me crazy, but when we legislated the creation of this group in 2004, I think it’s safe to say we all assumed it would be to protect ourselves from civil rights infringements and one. privacy. debacle. after. another. In fact, it seems like the issue of privacy is a guaranteed, bipartisan no-brainer. But apparently, the radical right is only concerned about their own privacy and would rather spend less time protecting us from identity theft then in blaming it on the Mexicans. What better way to usher in Bill of Rights Day and Human Rights Week?

Of course, come January we might be witnessing an entirely different approach to getting things done, rather than the do-nothing Republican congress who last year, while setting a record for the fewest working days in congressional history, spent a full 25% of their time naming buildings.