Friday, May 12, 2006
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross looks at the legal implications on the latest NSA faux-scandal:
No sense in a longer quote. You can read the article for the specifics. I find the program neither shocking nor surprising nor disturbing. I think it's quite reasonable. In fact, I think it would be unreasonable and even negligent were the government not doing this. Asking them not to examine these records would be like demanding the cops not look at you when you go out on the street because, after all, you've not been accused of any crime. But the cops should be keeping an eye on people's comings and goings, and if you were seen with a known criminal, or they keep seeing you going in and out of a known drug-trafficking area, then don't be surprised if they pull you over for a little chat and a closer look. That's all this program is to me.
PowerLine notes that most Americans (and Scott Ott) have the right view on this, notes a bit of hypocrisy in Qwest's policy, and has early reaction here. Michelle Malkin has a good round-up here, and PJ Media has another one, here.
Personally, I'm watching who makes the biggest noise about this so that later, should another attack come, and the partisans start screaming that the government didn't do enough to protect us, I'll know who to laugh at. This appears to be a simple, common-sense, non-intrusive program that makes sensible use of technology to protect us without bothering us or needlessly violating our privacy. Hey, I have an idea, since we're so concerned about our domestic rights, one way to protect them would be to put in a policy that makes it illegal for foreign intelligence gathering agencies to share information with domestic agencies. I know, we'll call it a "wall"...
This leak business has all the earmarks of a blog-swarm. One paper gets a big "scoop," then the others race to see what secrets they can compromise so that they don't get left out of all the attention, but each "revalation" just gets lamer and lamer. Hey, since some newspapers think we have a right to know everything, and think that the government overclassifies material (thus justifying their publication of whatever the hell they want) why don't we just get rid of the NSA altogether, or better yet, just put everything they have out in public? We could all have oversight then. So would the enemy, of course, but hey, that's the price you pay for a free society. /sarcasm
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Uhhhh Sol, are you drinking the Bush Kool-Aid or something? Where's the honest analysis that you are so famous for? Here's an administration that is blundering and blundering all over the place while trampling our basic civil and constitutional rights. Yet nary a word here in criticism, ever. Surely there is something the Bushies have done wrong in the last few years.
Sheeesh.
When I see a problem, I'll call them on it. The only thing they're doing wrong now is immigration, which does piss me off, and in a big way.
The trouble is that that issue doesn't excite the MSM and lefty blogs (where you get your kool-aid), so they can't attack him on that (since they agree with the administration) and instead they have to manufacture nonsense like this, which is about as far from a true Civil Liberties problem as it's possible to be. Should we be concerned? Sure. Why not? But what's the problem here? What's the scandal? There isn't one.
The only blundering going on here is that the administration hasn't hung a few more leakers out to dry.