Comments on: NSA ’scandal’ leak fallout continues – AT&T and Verizon being sued

By: Tel-Chai Nation

Tel-Chai Nation — Mon, 15 May 2006 11:34:55 +0000

House members want investigation of Border Patrol/

In related news, Michelle Malkin went to the National Cryptologic Museum in Maryland for a special report on the history of the NSA that gives a positive perspective about it, much better than what the horrible MSM is giving.

By: Baklava

Baklava — Mon, 15 May 2006 02:34:41 +0000

Michelle Malkin wrote, “The two lawyers filing suit are named Bruce Afran and Carl Mayer. OpenSecrets.org shows that a lawyer from Princeton, NJ named Carl Mayer donated $4,000 to Ralph Nader in the 2004.

A search also shows that Mayer contributed $5,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaigm Committee in 1997”

Oh really. I would’ve never guessed.

By: sanity

sanity — Sun, 14 May 2006 21:46:27 +0000

I wonder if they ever heard of a phone book….

By: Big Bang Hunter

Big Bang Hunter — Sun, 14 May 2006 14:20:25 +0000

Yesterday Dianne (If I say anything stupid just call my office) Feinstein was on TV shaking her head, and saying how this will have “far reaching effects” on Haydens nomination. Yes sweetie, Oh my G_d, the phone companies actually keep a record of you calls and BILL you…..Who knew!…. But thats not the worst….Your Dentist knows you name and Address so don’t piss him off…..(The Dembulbs obviously have become totally confused and unhinged…. Priceless)…..

- Bang

By: Big Bang Hunter

Big Bang Hunter — Sat, 13 May 2006 22:18:00 +0000

- Monday night will probably set the tone for the rest of the Bush term, act as a prelude to the fall Congressional elections, and maybe even have some effect on 2008. The WH knows what the people want. Many of us in the GOP ranks have emailed them portions of various posts, so there can be no mistake what the voters want. Its a question of whether they’re smart enough to weight the hispanic vote against the 50 times larger Conservative base.

- If Bush doesn’t dramatically seize this opportunity, then I think hes pretty much done for as far as doing anything positive for Republicans running this time around. If he does what Americans want he could ratchet up his popularity numbers 20 to 30 points overnight. If hes smart he can hit two out of the park, by taking steps to absolutely secure the border, and let the Dems make themselves look foolish and even weaker on terrorism with the upcoming Hayden comformation hearings. T

The Dems are on the wrong side of the biggest issue to voters, and they know it, but so far the Reps havn’t taken any advantage of it. The Dems hope and pray it stays that way, because if they stay in the weak on terror position theres no way they can win the WH.

- Bang

By: In Search Of Utopia

In Search Of Utopia — Sat, 13 May 2006 21:46:07 +0000

True American Patriots….

NOT! Clueless One has to wonder: when we get attacked again – and I say when, not if, because I do believe it will happen again, will the people who cheered and lionized the jerks who leaked this information to…

By: CARRY ON AMERICA » Blog Archive » NSA Flap-A Message for the Opposing Politicians

Sat, 13 May 2006 20:21:58 +0000

[...] Also blogging: Blue Crab Boulevard, Stop the ACLU, The Volokh Conspiracy, Outside the Beltway, Sister Toldjah, Betsy’s Page [link] [...]

By: Beth T.

Beth T. — Sat, 13 May 2006 19:25:11 +0000

Unfortunately the ONLY thing that seems to matter is how big of a mutant ray-gun blast of negativity can be shot directly at the Bush Administration. Again and again and again. Over and over and over. I think the reason is simple. See your next column, re: Love Affair with Bill Clinton. It would seem, according to the current POTUS ratings, that there is an ever-shrinking minority of us who don’t believe that the eight years endured with the Clinton Administration were a prime example of perfect government!

It matters not that the Clinton Administration participated in far more scandalous schemes, tarnished the image of the White House, that Bill Clinton was one of only two presidents to ever been impeached [Richard Nixon was not one of the two], blah, blah, blah. That the Clinton Administration did, on a far more enormous scale, what the Bush Administration is doing now is thoroughly ignored by the MSM:

During the 1990’s under President Clinton, the National Security Agency monitored millions of private phone calls placed by U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries under a super secret program code-named Echelon.

On Friday, the New York Times suggested that the Bush administration has instituted “a major shift in American intelligence-gathering practices” when it “secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without [obtaining] court-approved warrants.”

But in fact, the NSA had been monitoring private domestic telephone conversations on a much larger scale throughout the 1990s – all of it done without a court order, let alone a catalyst like the 9/11 attacks.

In February 2000, for instance, CBS “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft introduced a report on the Clinton-era spy program by noting:

“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.

The “60 Minutes” report also spotlighted Echelon critic, then-Rep. Bob Barr, who complained that the project as it was being implemented under Clinton “engages in the interception of literally millions of communications involving United States citizens.”

One Echelon operator working in Britain told “60 Minutes” that the NSA had even monitored and tape recorded the conversations of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond.

Still, the Times repeatedly insisted on Friday that NSA surveillance under Bush had been unprecedented, at one point citing anonymously an alleged former national security official who claimed: “This is really a sea change. It’s almost a mainstay of this country that the NSA only does foreign searches.”

[From Newsmax.com, December 18, 2005]

Ann Coulter nailed it in a recent column [Conservatives Need a 12-Step Program to Manhood, see Townhall, May 10, 2006]. Putting it bluntly, and not verbatim, the gist of what Ann said is that is it time for our GOP to put some balls on and quit prancing around patting each other on the back whilst snickering to each other that “we” are better than “them” by not resorting to “their” methods. Bullshit. It’s time to start playing the same game. The Republicans are playing Candy Land and the Democrats are playing Grand Theft Auto. If we seriously don’t want ANOTHER Clinton Administration, then it is high time for our GOP to make some significant changes in the strategy they will use to prevent it!