[NYTr] Bush Demands More Power -- More, More More!

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Here's Reuters on the Bush Regime's latest demands
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1927542620070919?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

Bush prods Congress to extend domestic spying law

By Tabassum Zakaria

FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - President George W. Bush urged
Congress on Wednesday to expand the government's domestic spying powers
permanently, saying a failure to do so would leave the country
vulnerable to another terrorist attack.

The Democratic-led Congress in August temporarily expanded the Bush
administration's authority to monitor phone calls and e-mails between
people in the United States and suspected terrorists abroad.

But the powers expire in February and many lawmakers are wary of
renewing them permanently, arguing that the Bush administration has
abused Congress' trust by not properly informing members of its
warrantless eavesdropping activities.

Bush said laws on surveillance were "dangerously out of date" and must
be changed to give intelligence agencies the tools they need to prevent
attacks on American soil.

"Without these tools it'll be harder to figure out what our enemies are
doing to train, recruit and infiltrate operatives into America," Bush
said during a visit to the National Security Agency, which conducts
surveillance of electronic communications on targets around the world.

"Without these tools, our country will be much more vulnerable to
attack," Bush added.

The debate over domestic spying was expected to surface in the
confirmation hearings of retired federal Judge Michael Mukasey, who was
nominated by Bush this week to replace Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales.

Gonzales resigned after months of criticism for the firing of nine
federal prosecutors, which Democrats said was politically motivated,
and his handling of a warrantless spying program, which critics said
was unlawful.

After the September 11 attacks, Bush authorized U.S. intelligence
agencies to intercept, without court approval, electronic
communications between people in the United States and foreign targets
overseas if one of them had suspected terrorism ties.

The revelation of that program caused an uproar, with critics charging
it was unlawful and could collect the communications of law-abiding
Americans in the surveillance net.

The eavesdropping program was put under court supervision earlier this
year, and in August Congress temporarily expanded the government's
power to eavesdrop on foreign conversations of an individual in the
United States without a court order for six months.

Under the temporary measure, the administration has to submit to a
secret court a description of the procedures used to determine that
warrantless surveillance only targeted people outside the United States.

The court, created by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,
would review the procedures and order changes, if needed, which the
administration could appeal.