"In 2005's waning days, Washington, D.C., Beltway developments pointed to 2006 as a pivotal year for American democracy.

The most far-reaching of these was George W. Bush's aggressive advocacy of his program of secret domestic spying by the National Security Agency (NSA). The only way the program can't be construed as a clear violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is if the president has the authority to override any law. And this is precisely Bush's claim.

Given that Bush and his cabal have predicted that their War on Terror may last up to 100 years, the president is actually claiming that the rule of law need not apply for several generations. Bush is proclaiming the right as "wartime president" to do anything he likes. Anything. Hey, why not disband Congress? (Hmmm.) Why not suspend the 2008 election?

This is deeply alarming.

A Dec. 23 Boston Globe story, essentially confirmed the next day in The New York Times, suggested that the NSA surveillance has operated by creating search terms and using computers to monitor not only suspected Al Qaeda operatives' but all Americans' international calls, e-mails, and faxes. If particular terms are a match, the communications are automatically culled and referred for follow-up.

This would certainly explain why Bush didn't use FISA courts to obtain warrants—no court would countenance surveillance upon countless millions of Americans. Even if the monitoring is automated, humans still must select search terms or target individuals. Done in secret, with accountability only to a highly politicized White House, there is absolutely nothing to prevent Bush and his cronies from using the NSA to illegally spy on anyone of their choosing."
http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/0601/geov-crisis.php

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Classic American liberal

Thats cute mix a Clinton Program with a Bush Program then blame Bush for both


Ah but a court did in Clintons case...



Bad reporting.
Past that the rhetorical ideological nonsense.."Cabal","illegal War ", "corrupt", iow the usual stuff splashed all over the article would and should make most people dismiss it anyway.

Whats deeply alarming to me is the quality of media reporting today and the willingness of many to accept it. Take a paper form today and get one form hell 1965 put them side by side..the paper today will almsot always look juvenile haphazard and full of more look here folks type of reporting then actual news reporting.

In a little article crammed between 4 other such little articles you got more reliable and informative information and facts in the past then you do now from an entire page.

TV/Radio is much worse.

"But even when no personal information intercepted by the NSA's computers make it to human eyes and ears, Rotenberg said, the mere fact that spy computers are monitoring the calls and e-mails may also violate the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court has never ruled on whether automated surveillance of phone calls and e-mails, without a warrant, is constitutional.

The closest comparisons, legal specialists said, are cases challenging the use of dogs and infrared detectors to look for drugs without a warrant. The Supreme Court approved the use of drug-sniffing dogs to examine luggage in an airport, but said police could not use infrared scanners to check houses for heat patterns that could signal an illegal drug operation."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/wa...rseas_contacts

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Classic American liberal