Because, IMHO, I gave up my right to privacy years ago — involuntarily.

So, since it’s gone, already, why squawk about it now, when that telephone information can be used against terrorists?

Can it be abused? Yes.

Will it be abused? That’s up to your handy dandy Congresshuman. If you stay on their ass, they stay off of yours.

Really. You and Jadegold make for a smorgasborg of stupidity.

[According to Russell Tice, a former NSA agent,] the technology exists to track and sort through every domestic and international phone call as they are switched through centers, such as one in New York, and to search for key words or phrases that a terrorist might use.

“If you picked the word ‘jihad’ out of a conversation,” Tice said, “the technology exists that you focus in on that conversation, and you pull it out of the system for processing.”

So the NSA has the tools (think Eschelon) to monitor EVERY domestic and international call. Notice, too, that they have the power to search for key phrases and terms. That’s quite a bit more detail than just a phone number. So are we supposed to believe that the current scandal only involves call lists? Or are those lists merely part of a larger eavesdropping operation?

intelligence analysts use the information to develop graphs that resemble spiderwebs linking one suspect’s phone number to hundreds or even thousands more.

So a terrorist suspect (and we know that that includes such die hard fanatics as the Quakers) calls someone, who has called many other “someones,” who in turn have all called many other “someones” and they all potentially make the monitor list. Now that’s efficient.

And JWG, thanks for proving my point with your link:

[The request must come from] the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or his designee in a position not lower than Deputy Assistant Director at Bureau headquarters or a Special Agent in Charge in a Bureau field office designated by the Director…

…request the name, address, length of service, and local and long distance toll billing records of a person or entity if the Director (or his designee) certifies in writing to the wire or electronic communication service provider to which the request is made that the name, address, length of service, and toll billing records sought are relevant to an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such an investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely on the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States;

So the request has to come from the F.B.I. and not the N.S.A. Notice, too, the use of such terrorist enabling terms as “authorized” and “relevant” and “Constitution.”

How about just good old fashioned police/spy work? The FBI infiltrated the mafia, we couldn’t do the same for some jihadist network? We can’t recruit informers from in the jihadist world? Of course not because the War on Terror is a WAR not a law enforcement problem. Only pussies think it’s a law enforcement problem.

Naturally good old fashioned police work won’t be enough in this WAR especially since this is a “war like no other war ever fought in the history of mankind.” Yes, my children, the war on terror is the proverbial “new thing under the sun” that we’ve been expecting for millenia. Yup, never been anything like it before in the history of all things. Indeed, no one has ever cracked a terrorist network/cell before using things like warrants, human intelligence, leg work and brains. It’s just never happened before ever.

Well, we haven’t heard from Dr. Pedro in a while…

No problem, you did it when you pointed out that:
 Phone customers names, addresses and other personal information are not being collected as part of this program.

Which as I pointed out, is irrelevant because of those uncanny inventions called “phone books”.

Yes or no. Are you in favor of recording all phone calls in the US, because some may be related to terrorism? I mean, since there is NOTHING that can be done to protect the homeland from nucular destruction, right?

How about installing two way video screens in everyone’s house, and in every public area? I mean, don’t you want to stop terrorism? Just looking for consistency here.

Same for “The Idiot Right” …

Key Dates for the Marshall Plan

* March 12, 1947
The “Truman Doctrine,” outlined in a presidential speech to Congress, makes it U.S. policy to protect nations threatened by communism.

* June 5, 1947
In a speech at the Harvard commencement, Secretary of State George C. Marshall calls for an American plan to help Europe recover from World War II.

* June 19, 1947
The British and French Foreign ministers issue a joint communiqué inviting twenty-two European nations to send representatives to Paris to draw up a cooperative recovery plan.

* July 12, 1947
The Conference of European Economic Cooperation, which became the Committee of European Economic Cooperation (CEEC), meets in Paris.
The Soviet Union declines to attend and pressures Czechoslovakia, Poland,
and Hungary into staying away.

* September 1947
The CEEC submits its report estimating needs and the cost of the
European Recovery Program (ERP) over four years. It provides for the
establishment of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation
(OEEC) to coordinate the program from the European side.

* February 1948
A Soviet-backed, communist coup occurs in Czechoslovakia.

* April 2, 1948
Congress passes the Economic Cooperation Act that authorizes the
Marshall Plan. President Truman signs it the next day.

* April 1948
Paul Hoffman of Studebaker Corporation is appointed Administrator of the Economic Cooperation Agency (ECA), the temporary American agency created to implement the plan. Averell Harriman is appointed special representative of the ECA in Europe.

* April 15, 1948
First official meeting of the OEEC in Paris to determine national needs prior to passage of appropriations bill by U.S. Congress.

* June 30, 1949
The Federal Republic of Germany officially enters the OEEC in the second year of the program.

* December 31, 1951
The ERP ends six months early because of the escalation of the Korean War, which had begun in June 1950. Transfer of funds from the U. S. to Europe had totaled $13.3 billion. {The War was over for over 6 years already – FD}

* July 5, 1972
In a speech at the Harvard commencement, West German chancellor Willy Brandt announces creation of the German Marshall Fund to thank the U.S. for its assistance.

I guess there’s a few years to wait…

I’m sure, duro62, you’d be more than happy to point out a war and post-war nation building that has gone better than Iraq has gone, to date. I’ll be waiting patiently for my history lesson.

-phil

Jesus H. Christ is this the stupidest thing anyone has ever posted here or what? Let me think, what alternatives might there be to keeping a permanent record of millions of people’s every phone call in violation of statutes? Oh ya, how about, GET A FUCKING WARRANT LIKE THE LAW ALLOWS?!?!?!?!?!

Idiot.

Unfortunately, Frame, it won’t take long until someone tops it. My money is on Jay C or JT.

By the time the plan had come to completion, the economy of every participant state, with the exception of Germany, had grown well past pre-war levels. Over the next two decades, Western Europe as a whole would enjoy unprecedented growth and prosperity.

Jackass.

Oh, and if you could be so nice as to point out where I made any claim that “there is no way, no invention, that could relate a phone number to a persons [sic] name and address”, I’d be very appreciative.

-phil

1. Stop funding terrorist regimes such as Israel and Egypt.
2. Secure our container ports.
3. Deport people who have overstayed their visas, properly fund INS.
4. Don’t fire Arabic Translators who are whistleblowers.
5. Stop threatening to nuke Islamic countries.
6. Pull out of Iraq.
7. Start allocating homeland security money to homeland security, not garbage trucks in Newark and high paid government jobs for Bush cronies.
8. Force Condi and Georgie to read their Daily PDB’s Maybe we could quiz them on it or something.
9. Stop Republican administrations from funding terrorist organizations, such as the Contras or the Taliban.

Oh Yea, there’s this

What an idiot.