Could it be Obama didn't do a thing about data collecting

[rainy]

because he was advised not to by secret service so they could keep track of the violent skin-head types from trying to kill the president? This is not condoning I'm just wondering.

[quinnox]

1. I guess its possible

But I doubt we would ever know that for sure. If Obama said there were threats, then maybe it would be more understandable.

[bowens43]

2. could be he just likes the power.......

but even if this were true it would not justify what has been done to us by this and the previous administration.

[XemaSab]

3. This is the problem with calling everything "terrorism"

"Oh, but it's just terrorists/Nazis/crack dealers/the Mafia/gang members/pedophiles/pimps/tweekers/drunk drivers/women who smoke while pregnant/dog fighters/people who don't pay their overdue library fines, so as long as THOSE are the people they're going after, it's okay."

[OKNancy]

4. I bet eventually we will find out that there are a lot more

threats out there than we know about. Not just from jihadists, but from gun-nuts and other assorted loons.

[gcomeau]

5. No

...because what people don't get is that the data collecting isn't tracking. It's just wide scale information archiving.

You need a WARRANT to do tracking. To actually look at people's communication details, see what they're saying and sending to each other. They are two different things but everyone throwing a fit and screaming scandal about this pretends like they're the same and the government is currently actively spying on millions of Americans or something.


It was a scandal during the Bush admin because they were doing actual warrantless TAPS, looking at the details of people's communications illegally. That is NOT what is happening here under Obama.

[The Link]

6. They're are keeping us safe from stuff we don't even know about.

[Skidmore]

10. Perhaps they are.

You don't know any more than any one else does. I would wager you'd probably be demanding answers if something catastrophic did happen. Truth isno e of us knows.

[PsychoBunny]

13. That sounds humorous

until you actually think about it.

[LWolf]

7. Or maybe he didn't do anything

because, in all those meetings befriending the GOP, someone hypnotized him so he'd stick with their agenda; or kidnapped him, made some polyjuice potion, and locked him in their trunk.

I'm sure there's a good reason.

[wandy]

8. It could simply be Inertia........

Seriously, how would you go about fixing this problem by close of business today?
republicans have been trying to get rid of the EPA for years. Even St. Reagan could not do that.
Every GOP canadate promised to get rid of the Department of Education. Even with the vast amounts of money spent by special interest groups they have (fortunately) made little headway.

Getting the NSA's head straight and bringing some sanity to the patriot act are of great importance and must be addressed.

Getting this done by close of business TODAY. I don't think so.

[BlueCheese]

12. If this were June 2009, I might agree with that.

But it's June 2013. That's a lot of days whose closes of business have gone by.

[wandy]

16. This is in part our falut you know. Once we were rid of Bush, everybody.......

sort of got quiet about this. Ha! But now it's scandal time. Throw another scandal on the fire.
This won't go away by it's self. What we are seeing here is the effect of the problem. The cause lies in that whole misguided Total Information Awareness mess.
We need to stay on this!

Then and again, considering how little success Obama had with some rational form of gun regulation with 90% of the public behind him, I hold little hope. Maybe we should wait for the whole thing to blow over and wait for Jeb Bush to fix it.

Ya know sometimes I wish Obama WAS the dictator the right thinks he is. Then we could just blame him!

[Savannahmann]

9. So to identify 1% or perhaps as much as 2% of the population.

We are all being monitored 24/7 by the Government? If the warrant was for specific numbers, or specific individuals, that would be understandable. But to take everything on everyone and spend $2 Billion building a shiny new monitoring station to keep track of everyone online is not in the least justifiable.

[Myrina]

15. Gotta wonder who's on the board of Palantir, or who major stockholders are ..

... is that is indeed the company that originated and is running PRISM (which wouldn't surprise me given the CIA's propensity for opening legitimate 'fronts' for their nasty deeds).

Someone's getting REALLY rich. And IMO those folks (or their pawns) are the ones who convinced the Prez or the CIA that the country REEEEEEALLLLLY needs this program to 'save us all from terra'.

[Dreamer Tatum]

11. Oh brother nt

[librechik]

14. sure, among a lot of other reasons that convinced him it was necessary.

It's not like Obama is REALLY in charge. They only let him do what they will allow him to do, despite what we believe about "the power of the president"