Posted on 05/12/2006 5:57:25 AM PDT by Mikey_1962
May 12, 2006 — Americans by nearly a 2-1 ratio call the surveillance of telephone records an acceptable way for the federal government to investigate possible terrorist threats, expressing broad unconcern even if their own calling patterns are scrutinized.
Lending support to the administration's defense of its anti-terrorism intelligence efforts, 63 percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll say the secret program, disclosed Thursday by USA Today, is justified, while far fewer, 35 percent, call it unjustified.
Indeed, 51 percent approve of the way President Bush is handling the protection of privacy rights, while 47 percent disapprove — hardly a robust rating, but one that's far better than his overall job approval, in the low 30s in recent polls.
This doesn't mean privacy intrusions aren't a concern. Nearly half the public, 45 percent, say the government is not doing enough to protect Americans' rights as it investigates terrorism. This concern is far higher than it was in 2002 and 2003, closer to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — but slightly down in this poll from its level two months ago.
Despite such concerns, however, the public continues to place a higher priority on terrorism investigations than on privacy intrusions. Sixty-five percent say it's more important for the government to investigate possible threats, even if that intrudes on personal privacy, than for it to avoid privacy intrusions if that limits its investigative ability. It was the same in January, although higher still in 2002 and 2003 polls.
The phone-records program, moreover, is not broadly seen as intrusive. Two-thirds of Americans say it wouldn't bother them if the National Security Agency had a record of phone numbers that they had called. A third would be bothered; fewer, about a quarter, say it would bother them a lot.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Really, there's no sense even commenting on these people who continue to argue that there's no state of war.
Watch your calling records waved before the judge. Watch the judgment against you.
Now, what were you saying?
Actually, those freedoms have been expanded.
What you may be referring to is painting your house with lead paint.
Gee, the general public is not so dumb after all.
100% agreed. At this point, to those that still insist we are not in a Jihad or in whatever term one wants to use for the conflict with radical Islamic terrorists and their sponsor states, I say they WILL NEVER GET IT. Just get out of the way, watch American idol and shut up so the adults can protect the nation.
Absolutely ~ I envision them as having the mental state of the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Their parts are getting chopped off and they refuse to admit it.
I love how folks love that quote from the only "socialist" Founding Father. Funny also is that they usually eliminate the word "essential" from the quote while using it.
Why bother? Pay phones and a pre-paid phone card work better. I don't mean to sound subversive or anything but the Government has NOT shown itself to be trustworthy by any stretch in most areas. Because of the abuses by agencies like the FBI, ATF, IRS, NSA, and others, I simply refuse to happily give them information willy-nilly.
Until they clean up their act and accept responsibility for some of the attrocities they have committed against US citizens and are continuing to commit, and lastly, they need to cease to commit, I refuse to make it easy on them.
Do you realize that there are several hundred people in prison due to false testimony by the BATF alone? Why should I be happy to let people like this be able to rifle through my personal life at will?
Mike
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