Posted on 05/11/2006 10:40:07 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
The USA Today "scoop" on the NSA's massive telephone surveillance program isn't really news at all - though liberal media outlets have been blaring the story as a shocking revelation all Thursday morning.
The Agency, the paper announced ominously, "has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans . . . The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime."
But as NewsMax noted in December - back when the New York Times tried to ballyhoo a similar story about the NSA's terrorist surveillance program - CBS's "60 Minutes" blew the lid off the agency's domestic wiretapping in Feb. 2000, when the Clinton administration was using it for all sorts of unauthorized purposes.
"60 Minutes" host Steve Kroft introduced the segment by saying:
"If you made a phone call today or sent an e-mail to a friend, there's a good chance what you said or wrote was captured and screened by the country's largest intelligence agency. The top-secret Global Surveillance Network is called Echelon, and it's run by the National Security Agency."
NSA computers, said Kroft, "capture virtually every electronic conversation around the world." Echelon expert Mike Frost, who spent 20 years as a spy for the Canadian equivalent of the National Security Agency, told "60 Minutes" that the agency was monitoring "everything from data transfers to cell phones to portable phones to baby monitors to ATMs."
Mr. Frost detailed activities at one unidentified NSA installation, telling "60 Minutes" that agency operators "can listen in to just about anything" - while Echelon computers screen phone calls for key words that might indicate a terrorist threat.
Now, more than six years later, the big media is pretending that this is all brand new - something cooked up by President Bush in a mad rush to shred the Constitutional rights of every American.
But even USA Today had to admit in its own report that the NSA wiretapping program has "been done before, though never on this large a scale."
Do a Google for "Buy Phone Records"...
Only 57 MILLION entries get returned.......
How "Non-News" does it get, for chrissakes??
Oh, but I'm sure that's just coincidence! ;-)
I guarantee this story was in concert with the Rats.
who is america's real enemy ?
This was all to start trouble for the Hayden Hearings .. plain & simple
USA Today = whore on wheels!
Sure looks that way to me, just too big a coincidence. Even the source of the article admits it's not new. Sheesh!
bump for placemarker. Good find.
>>Do a Google for "Buy Phone Records"...
Only 57 MILLION entries get returned.......
How "Non-News" does it get, for chrissakes??<<
There have also been a number of legal actions against those firms
Thanks for post, good info.
(I have posted this on comment on Flopping Aces, Macranger and Strata-Sphere - I think it is appropriate here too)
Folks,
This is exactly why we can not abandon the republican party while we fight this war on terror. People whom think we should set an example with Bush and the GOP because of some policies differences are very short-sighted.
Policies differences do not matter if you are dead. We face an enemy that the world has never seen because they can obtain and are trying obtain weapons that could kill 100,000’s of innoncent people, including elderly, women and children.
First off, I will go on the record as a proud conservative that thinks POTUS Bush is a great president and a good man. We are lucky to have him during these times. NO PRESIDENT during our history has had to deal with so many big important issues during their tenure.
To PEGGY NOONAN and La Shawn Barber and other conservatives that want Bush impeached or for the GOP to lose power so they will learn a lesson. GROW UP. You guys make me sick. You are acting so darn spoiled and it is disgusting.
If we lose power to the dems, you will rue the day you played your games. The courts, including the supreme and legislation that has been enacted to advance our conservative agenda will be set back many years. You will have no one to balme but yourselves. How are you going to pay for gas when your taxes go up and the economy is wrecked and unemployment rises?
Yes, as you can see, I am very upset because the idea of taking your marbles and going home because you are not getting everything you want is truly ridiculous. Every relationship, yes we have a relationship with this administration, is difficult. There is give and take with any good relationship. If all you want is to take and when things do not go your way, you opt out, a realtionship fails. Noonan, Barber and others - if you are currently in a successful relationship you know what I am talking about. Maybe you should think about trying that same formula with POTUS Bush and the GOP.
Abdandoning POTUS Bush during these times does not reflect on him but you. Long after POTUS Bush is gone, we will remember your actions. If you stay home or vote third party in Nov. and we lose power, I hope the agenda of the dems affects you guys allot more than my family and me.
Shame, shame on you.
To those I offended with my above post, I apologize to you. I however will not apologize to Noonan or Barber for directing my comments to them.
If you attack POTUS Bush, you have to understand you are fair game to receive rebuttal from those of us willing to stand by him.
I stand by my comments. ADMIN if I am out of line, I apologize to you. Someone had to say ith though.
Thanks for the great post, I couldn't agree more.
This article is wrong...Echelon and phone call records are 2 different things.
Bush needs to explain to the American people just exactly what this program is all about and further explain that highly placed Democrats are opposed to this program because it is they whose phone numbers the computer will detect have been communicating/planning with the enemy.
Sometimes I wonder if NSA is merely telling the Europeans "If you spot something interesting, let us know."
WOW --- great post.
Hey you guys, read this wonderful post..#15
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