Analysis: CIA program expands Bush's power

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON - A secret CIA-Treasury program to track financial records of 
millions of Americans is the latest installment in an expansion of executive 
authority in the name of fighting terrorism. The administration doesn't apologize 
for President Bush's aggressive take on presidential powers. Vice President 
Dick Cheney even boasts about it.

Bush has made broad use of his powers, authorizing warrantless wiretaps, 
possibly collecting telephone records on millions of Americans, holding 
suspected terrorists overseas without legal protections and using up to 6,000 
National Guard members to help patrol the border with Mexico.

That's in addition to the vast anti-terrorism powers Congress granted him in the 
recently extended Patriot Act.

Civil liberties activists, joined by congressional Democrats and some members 
of Bush's own party, suggest the president has pushed the envelope too far 
— usurping authority from Congress and abusing individual privacy rights in the 
process.

So far, the administration has been unapologetic.

But what we're really talking about here is data mining and I have two article links that may give some insight as to the effectiveness of the overnments snooping. The first article is called TIAin't and it examines some problems and fallacies of "data mining for terrorists". The second article Using Data Mining to Find Terrorists expands on the first article and shows some likely pitfalls faced by the miners.

In short, you must ask yourself whether it is worth giving up so much of your privacy and freedoms for what has be called a theoretical direction of attack against terrorists. Considering the Government refuses to give explicit examples of ANY terrorist caught by either phone tapping or money tracing, we must question the efficacy of such policies as well as the true intention of the Government

This we do know about our Government. It is corrupt beyond measure. Why they should expect us to believe anything they say or do is beyond fathom. That Bushs' approval rating is rock bottom is no surprise. We need a change for the better. We, and the rest of the World, deserve a change for the better.