For those interested in how this story of domestic spying is being covered in papers throughout the USA, see this dailykos thread by BarbinMD Spying: How's it playing in Peoria?

Here's an editorial from the [Bergen] Record {New Jersey} which was quoted in that thread:

"President Bush has ignored a bedrock principle in his decision to spy on people in the United States without search warrants: This nation is governed by the rule of law.

Not the whim of whoever happens to be in the White House - but the law.

The revelation that this administration has spied without search warrants on perhaps thousands of people in this country since Sept. 11 is only the latest example of its willingness to skirt the law and even the Constitution. Its indefinite detentions of people without formal charges or access to attorneys is another prime example.

But in spying on American citizens, residents and visitors without court approval, the administration is pushing the limits of the law further than we've seen.

Congress must conduct an investigation of the surveillance program, as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and some of his Democratic and Republican colleagues have demanded"