Too Orwellian for comfort

Ever call or e-mail internationally?

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.
Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications.

We have friends and relatives outside the United States. And a substantial quantity of spam that originates overseas arrives in our e-mail daily -- not that it ever gets opened. And of course we have nothing to hide, but if the feds want to monitor our calls and e-mail they should demonstrate a need and get a warrant. Congress, perform some freaking oversight.
UPDATE: Look! Purple fingers!