You know what tyreay, both you and the author Mr Risen are correct that this is not an issue covered by the Patriot Act. However, where you error is in the fact the warrantless surveillance is covered under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This act allows the President with the approval of the Attorney General to conduct surveillance.

The surveillance began immediately following the 9/11 attacks. And was initially directed at calls placed to Afghanistan, where we knew to be the base of operations for Al-Qaeda.

All this crying about the Patriot Act and now this spying issue is beginning to sound like a broken record. One thing is certain, since 9/11 there have been no further successful terrorist attacks on American soil. Unlike the 1990's where after the successful attack on the WTC we saw follow-up attacks on US Embassies, and the USS Cole. Instead of applauding the fact that the government has actually been successful in preventing further attacks, everyone wants to cry out about hypothetical evils.

Whistleblowers are great when they actually blow the whistle on misdeeds. However, before believing them whole-heartedly, one must ask what are their motives. Gvernment employees are almost impossible to fire, however, not always to the members of the bureaucracy support the administration. They become whistleblowers because they wish to embarass the current administration.

No act of surveillance can be directed at a US Citizen without the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. We have no idea what type of surveillance has been conducted. The only thing that we know is that it has been conducted. All these people running around like chickens with their heads cut off seems ridiculous.

It will be interesting to see what the whole story really is, and what results occur to the leaking of classified information. Thanks to the media al-Qaeda found out we were able to monitor and track them from their cell phone calls, so they stopped using cell phones. Now once again thanks to the media, foreign agents in this country now know that their calls were being monitored, so once again we see the aiding and abetting of our enemies in the name of freedom of the press. It seems more like treason to me.

Finally what purpose did your diatribe serve??? All you complaining about beng an american and your right to free speech is just more crying wolf. Obviously no agent of our government has knocked on your door to question you, for if they had we would have heard about it by now from you. No one has impeded your right to speech, or denied you access to this site. So your reservations are nothing more than an attempt to elicit an emotional response from your supporters. You have offered no proof for any of your contentions regarding the character of this administration other than the rantings of editorial writers.

And all those who jumped on the band wagon, no one has shown that these actions are illegal. What because you think they are, then they must be, if only it were that simple.

dmk