Cursor's Media Patrol - 12/16/05

Reporting the existence of a 2002 presidential order authorizing the National Security Agency to spy on Americans and others inside the U.S. without court-approved warrants, the New York Times also reveals that it sat on the story for a year after the White House asked that it not be published.

"This is as shocking a revelation as we have ever seen from the Bush administration," said the director of the Center for National Security Studies (CNSS), who also told the Washington Post that the secret order "may amount to the president authorizing criminal activity."

The ACLU has objected to a Patriot Act provision that according to one interpretation, "makes holding an un-authorized sign" at an event "designated by the Secret Service as a 'national special security event' a felony punishable by a year imprisonment."

Media reports find President Bush having "caved in" after being "humiliated and repudiated" on Sen. John McCain's torture ban amendment, but one "big, fat exception" could still allow 'Torture by the Back Door.'