Comments on: That NSA Poll

By: midderpidge

midderpidge — Tue, 16 May 2006 18:05:42 +0000

I seem to recall Yusef Islam approving the calls for the death of Salmon Rushdie at some point.

By: bryan

bryan — Mon, 15 May 2006 01:05:47 +0000

How about the non-allowance of Yusef Islam into the US. A man who has, since being Cat Stevens, only spoke for peace. Of course, you may think that this is minor, Frank. I say, why is the US Government afraid to let someone in who may disrupt the image of muslims as terrorists?

By: Frank_D

Frank_D — Sun, 14 May 2006 03:05:17 +0000

Wiretap, Shmiretap!

By: Frank_D

Frank_D — Sat, 13 May 2006 21:05:23 +0000

And plenty to show that it is being abused.
Plenty?
One example would suffice.

By: bryan

bryan — Sat, 13 May 2006 19:05:03 +0000

I don’t know of any unfavourable poll that wasn’t heavy on the responses of opposing people. Osama does not want a society like this, he opposes the police state that is Saudi Arabia. Oh, no, what they have there and what you are reffering to is Osama lite and Osama Extra lite. That said, you freedoms are being eroded, with very little to show as a benefit, and plenty to show that it is being abused.

By: pgg2

pgg2 — Sat, 13 May 2006 15:05:09 +0000

Mike3k must have missed the the disclaimer attached to the Sun-Sentinel’s “log on and click” poll:

These polls are not scientific. Poll results are not posted here if there is evidence of tampering that skewed results.

No effort to collect a representative sample, or to weight the sample that was collected. The results are useless.

By: Frank_D

Frank_D — Sat, 13 May 2006 12:05:50 +0000

In other words, “Thank goodness for the Sun – Sentinel poll, because it matches what I believe.”
It’s clear, if not painfully obvious that, if the respondents to that poll were roughly the same as the respondents to previous polls, they were decidedly left wing.

By: AlexCorrigan

AlexCorrigan — Sat, 13 May 2006 12:05:01 +0000

Given what we know about the Bush administration’s political proclivities, only an idiot would answer the questions as framed by the W.P. poll. The questions are framed in a way that assumes the wiretapping is strictly for investigating ‘terror suspects,’ and assumes that opposition to such investigation takes place with disregard to national security. In a sense, these are questions written by and for ignorant chickensh-ts.

The Sun-Sentinel poll doesn’t impute motive into the wiretapping, leaving the pollee to place the wiretapping in context. Also, the Sun-Sentinel poll has a much larger sample.

By: elrod

elrod — Sat, 13 May 2006 06:05:32 +0000

I’ll wait a few days to see where public opinion is on this. As with most privacy issues that appear abstract, Americans tend to be quite authoritarian.

By: mike3k

mike3k — Sat, 13 May 2006 02:05:14 +0000

The results of yesterday’s Sun-Sentinel poll were very different:

27.0%
I approve. Analysts use the information to search for patterns of terrorist activity, not to invade people’s privacy. (2006 responses)

69.6%
I disapprove. The government has no business collecting this type of information about ordinary Americans. (5166 responses)

3.3%
I’m not sure. (247 responses)