The feds, unlike the Verizon guy, may not hear us now. But they sure as hell know who you called.
A story in today’s “USA Today” revealed our buddies at the National Security Agency have tens of millions of phone records that were handed over from major phone companies including Verizon, AT&T and Bell South. I guess the NSA wants to check on all those calls they somehow didn’t get around to tapping into.
Of course, Incurious George (GW for short), says we just are targeting terrorists. Damn. Do terrorists make tens of millions of phone calls? Better go to Cingular and get better deals on nights and weekends. Here is actually what GW said this morning in response to this latest bombshell:
“We’re not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans. Our efforts are focused on links to al Qaeda and their known affiliates. So far we’ve been very successful in preventing another attack on our soil. As a general matter, every time sensitive intelligence is leaked, it hurts our ability to defeat this enemy. Our most important job is to protect the American people from another attack, and we will do so within the laws of our country.”
That is, within the laws of our country as GW sees them. It seems he has his own special interpretation of the laws.
The latest revelation about domestic spying is making folks on Capitol Hill nervous — elections coming up and all. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., vowed to haul the heads of the telephone companies in front of Congress for a chat. Good luck. I hope he has better luck than he did with the weasel attorney general, Al Gonzales, who bobbed and weaved from every constructive question in February Senate hearings on the NSA warrantless surveillance program.
Amb. Joe Wilson, wife of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, once said he would like to see Karl Rove “frog-walked” out of the White House in handcuffs. I’d like to see a whole line of folks frog-walked in handcuffs with GW and Tricky Dick Cheney at the front of the line.