I was trying to think of a nice headline that would sum up my feelings of the NSA (that wacky agency that was supposedly just tracking calls to or from al Qaeda) has ACTUALLY collected a list of TENS OF MILLIONS OF AMERICANS phone records...that's all I could come up with. It was seriously the first thing that came out of my mouth.
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional Democrats demanded answers from the Bush administration Thursday about a report that the government secretly collected records of ordinary Americans' phone calls to build a database of every call made within the country.
"It is our government, it's not one party's government. It's America's government. Those entrusted with great power have a duty to answer to Americans what they are doing," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth telephone companies began turning over records of tens of millions of their customers' phone calls to the National Security Agency program shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, USA Today reported, citing anonymous sources it said had direct knowledge of the arrangement.
The telephone companies on Thursday declined to comment on national security matters, and would say only that they are assisting government agencies in accordance with the law.
"We have been in full compliance with the law and we are committed to our customers' privacy," said Bob Varettoni, a spokesman for Verizon.
The White House defended its overall eavesdropping program and said no domestic surveillance is conducted without court approval.
"The intelligence activities undertaken by the United States government are lawful, necessary and required to protect Americans from terrorist attacks," said Dana Perino, the deputy White House press secretary, who added that appropriate members of Congress have been briefed on intelligence activities.
On Capitol Hill, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he would call the phone companies to appear before the panel "to find out exactly what is going on."
Before the latest report, Specter said the committee "has been unable to perform our constitutional oversight responsibilities to determine the constitutionality of the program."
Leahy sounded incredulous about the latest report and railed against what he called a lack of congressional oversight. He argued that the media was doing the job of Congress.
"Are you telling me that tens of millions of Americans are involved with al Qaeda?" Leahy asked. "These are tens of millions of Americans who are not suspected of anything ... Where does it stop?"
The Democrat, who at one point held up a copy of the newspaper, added: "Somebody ought to tell the truth and answer questions. They haven't. The press has done our work for us and we should be ashamed. Shame on us for being so far behind and being so willing to rubber stamp anything this administration does. We ought to fold our tents."
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Folks, I know I bash this administration left and right (with plenty of good reason) but c'mon...what else can they do? What will it take before we get the impeachment hearings underway? THEY'RE GOING THROUGH TENS OF MILLIONS OF AMERICANS PHONE RECORDS!!! Even Nixon would've thought, "Whoa, that crosses the line."
Do they have to come into your house and knock up your sister? What if they told you it "was helping fight the War On Terror?" Would you just give them a high-five and tell your sister that if she hates America so much that she can go move to France?!
Don't think I'm just being a jackass here. They can do anything, ANYTHING they damn well please and back it up with 9-11 or Evildoers or Spreading Freedom and people just look the other way. It makes me sick.
But before all of you conservatives (if you actually even read this) tell me to "calm down and quit getting all hot and bothered over these lil' things," lemme ask you this...
What happens if nothing is done about all these spying programs and agencies keeping lists of ordinary Americans? What if we decide the President has the power to collect things like that? George W Bush can't be President forever. What if someone YOU hated had that power? Hillary collecting lists and watching over you in secret. Lying and misleading the public when it's uncovered? Bet you wouldn't be so "boo fucking hoo" then, would you?!
But that's the point. It has NOTHING to do with who the President is. WRONG IS WRONG. Spying on ordinary citizens is against our Constitution. You can't just rewrite that important piece of our Nation's history because we're in "war time." No other President has ever done so many illegal actions and just gotten away with it. Where's our Checks and Balances?! Where's the Opposition Party?
We've reached the breaking point. None of this is going to end well...
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