Wow, don’t they teach English any more? I’ll repeat to you what I said to Jason, comment #9:

See the quotation marks around “libertarian”? That means I’m using the word in an ironic sense, not in a literal sense. (Learn to speak English! It’s useful!) I’m making fun of righties who call themselves “libertarian” and then support whatever new infringement of the Constitution the Bushies think up. Don’t tell me you haven’t run into some of these guys. If not, just follow the trackback at #14. He’s one.

Or is the problem that libertarians are irony-deaf? Here’s a definition of irony if that’s the case. Go here for a discussion of quotation marks and irony.

“don’t see that as a possibility. This is wherein the danger lies in the precedent set by the Clinton criminal administration. God only knows who will be in power next, but there are no checks and balances anymore. This is exactly the SORT of thing I’ve been protesting all along. Libs just don’t see this!
But when and where do they find this in the major media? They don’t even know!”

“As quietly as possible (although it sometimes breaks out into the open, usually with the sound of gunfire and the death of innocents), a “shadow government” has been set up all around us my friend. It’s foundation is not the constitution, but Executive Orders, Presidential Procalamations, Secret Acts, and Emergency Powers.
It has all the tools to be an absolute tyranny and those behind it (on both sides of the aisle) who crave power and their form of “governance” continue to move towards it while we are distracted by so many other goings on.”

“This is one of those ideas that has a valid purpose behind it, but is wide open to terrible abuse. And there’s no way to check to see if it is abused.
Like all things that don’t have the light of day shining on them, you can be sure that it is being twisted to suit the purposes of those who hold the power.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I read again all the comments…..I see a pattern from the commenters who seem ok with or even supportive of this domestic spying.
In every instance, the ’supporters’ make some kind of ‘no big deal’ argument. But what does it signify that they each and all ignore and refuse to address the very issue which is the theme of this post……”it’s being done outside the law”……which theme you patiently repeat for them?

I guess those posters don’t give a hoot about laws…..which makes me pleased to see Bush’s latest polled approval level drop to 29%. More and more folks are deciding to reject the ‘no big deal’ meme.

The issue is not whether surveillance or data mining can be used to protect America from terrorism. The issue is that it’s being done outside the law. If this program is so blameless, why is the Department of Justice locked out?

The NSA contends that they are simply looking for “patterns.” In fact, the kinds of patterns NSA analysts are looking for may be the key to winning the War on Terror.