What law have the telecom companies broken? They are definitely guilty of scuzzy behavior and screwing over their customers, but can someone tell me what specific laws?

The telecom companies can argue that they were merely complying with requests from their government in a time of war. They should have requested the supporting documentation for the records. They didn't, which was a betrayal to their customers.

Don't get me wrong. The telecom companies should not be given retroactive immunity. Unless maybe they can give us some actionable evidence against the Bush Administration. Giving the companies immunity would be a slap in the face to the companies that had the guts and good sense not to release customer records without a warrant.

I'm furious at the companies for not protecting the privacy of their paying customers--the ones to whom they should be first beholden. I'd just like to know the law and potential charges for their shoddy behavior.

Wow, this is something. Remember the Republican talking point that "Democrats are the party of negativity," but Republicans are "about something?" Turns out they're wrong! It seems the only thing the Republican Party is about right now is being against Hillary Clinton.

Republican voters know one thing: Hillary Clinton is running for president. And it's no wonder because she's all the Republican candidates can talk about it.

The National Guard are our weekend warriors. They have outside jobs but still serve their communities for natural disasters and rescue efforts, and, if absolutely necessary, supplement the troops on the battlefield.

Right now, there are over 40,000 (I've seen varying numbers) National Guard members serving in Iraq. There have been 430 National Guard casualties (icasualties.org). Their rotations can be long, with insufficient time at home in between rotations. If they're lucky enough to have time at home, they get to battle wildfires in California. And they still have obligations to family, their full-time employers and to their own mental health after their time in Iraq.

Aren't we asking a bit much of them?

The only contradictions are the inherent, wonderful mysteries of God. God can use the forces of evil (because he's all-powerful) to exact justice here on earth. Because God's got it like that.

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What pisses me off is the nature of the headlines at the bottom of the screen--and Fox News isn't the only one guilty of this. Shocking headline "FBI: Al Qaeda Detainee Spoke of Fire Plot," and then no one pays attention to what's actually being said that discredits the headline.

The purpose of watching the news should be to get factual information. But factual information tends to be more nuanced, doesn't make for a good headline and doesn't bring in the ratings.

If the National Guard members ARE mobilized to fight the fires after deploying from Iraq, then the timeframe in which they can be redeployed to Iraq must be altered to start at the end of the deployment for fighting fires. In other words, they will not have the time fighting fires ignored between deployments.

I'm note sure that this qualification matters when the Pentagon has abandoned its active duty limits for the National Guard.

Yeah, that sounds pretty incredible. But you know what FBI analysts and agents will do if they have internet access at their desks? They'll read Salon, gamble, and play World of Warcraft.

Re: Adequacy of the available tools. Either you have the adequate tools, and we don't need to do anything. Or you don't have the adequate tools and need new regulations passed. Why not just answer the question?

Because they want blanket immunity and free reign to do whatever they want.

If there ever were a Jack-Bauer-Ticking-Timebomb scenario (and seeing as the only successful example we have is fictional, I find this extremely unlikely), I'd still manage to sleep at night if an interogator used torture. But you know what? Even Jack Bauer suffers the consequences of his methods and the official policy remains the same--no torture. To put any sort of "torture is okay" language on the books or to condone official use of torture in any way would destroy what shred of credibility we have left in the world and put our own agents, soldiers and citizens in peril.

The answer to me is clear. There are virtually no dangers to being absolutely clear that the U.S. does condone torture. And definite dangers if we even appear to condone it.

The Fox report was based on speculation that Fox itself discredited later in the segment. Fox posted a sensational headline and then you had to pay close attention later for the discrediting information.

judyinnm, If I were a better theologian, I might have some better answers for you.

Just because Al Qaeda is part of God's plan doesn't mean it's not part of God's plan for us to do something about Al Qaeda. Because everything is part of God's plan.

And then you get into messy questions of free will--ideally, humans are supposed to freely choose to do what they can do to do God's will but at the same time whatever they do or don't do is all part of God's plan. And things we don't understand often fall into the "it's all part of God's plan" column.

Apologies for the vagueries and circular reasoning. Maybe this is the part you're just supposed to surrender to faith and pray on it.