I too, attended school in the sixties, when one of the important lessons we were taught was that our freedoms were what made us better than our enemies. That what makes it SO painful to watch what's happening to our country. We're becoming exactly what our teachers warned us about!

I also had to pass a "Constitution test" in High School in order to be able to graduate.

I'm curious as to when we STOPPED teaching our children these things.

I hear that when the clocks turn over to the year 2000, all hell is going to break loose as well. Let me know how that works out......

nahhh...

I blame the state-run media...oh wait!

You'll find that much to your disappointment, many commenters here don't give a rats ass if the Clinton Whitehouse engaged in similar behaviors under current discussion. That is because we are interested in saving the Constitution from ANYONE who would abrogate it for personal or political gain.

The atrocities that motivated our Founders are well documented (sorta the whole point of the Declaration of Independence) and the understanding of human nature that requires a government which is turned upon itself with checks and balances is well described in the Federalist papers.

If you are unfamiliar with their contents, I suggest you take some time out to read them before coming back to spew further.

Do Americans really want the federal government compiling electronic dossiers on them with virtually no safeguards and no oversight?"

If they're anything like me, they've assumed that this has been going on (whether legally or not) for as long as the Internet has existed and are merely hoping that none of their activities are sufficientlt notable to draw human attention.

Of course history has shown, that once human attention has been drawn, stipidity is soon to follow.

http://www.sjgames.com/SS/

To:

Subject: No Subject

On behalf of President Bush, thank you for your correspondence. We appreciate hearing your views and welcome your suggestions. The President is committed to continuing our economic progress, defending our freedom, and upholding our Nation's deepest values.

Due to the large volume of e-mail received, the White House cannot respond to every message. Please visit the White House website for the most up-to-date information on Presidential initiatives, current events, and topics of interest to you. In order to better receive comments from the public, a new system

has been implemented. In the future please send your comments to comments@whitehouse.gov.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

Now I've gone and done it!

would be disastrous to allow nervous nellies to hamstring our military and law enforcement and thus enable a repeat of 9/11 or even a 100-fold greater catastrophe.

But the idea that he's afraid of a 100-fold greater catastrophe, yet he calls US nervous nellies is just too rich!

In case you haven't noticed, the whole reason the NSL letters in question are controversial (and illegal) is because they are NOT related to terrorism or national security. Otherwise this would be a huge non-starter.

generated as many comments as I think I've seen attached to one of your posts. Obviously this strikes a nerve with many people. The sad thing is, when we're referring to people who never outrgrew Jr. High, I think that actually describes many Americans. Its easy to forget how important status is during our formative years and how much of it is acheived with juvenile name calling.

What's really tragic though, is how this refusal to grow up actually ends up resulting in tens of thousands of fatalities, when carried to its logical conclusion.

It all seems trivial at one level but the stakes are huge.

Don't forget that a significant portion of Couter's income derives from speaking on college campuses. In her case, her target audience consists of barely post-adolescent males, none of whom are military. Its quite unsurprising then that she would engage in the sort of baiting that we observe.

That daleyrocks of "Dixie sluts" fame would get confused and mistake Ann Coulter's schtick as anything resembling debate.

why daleyrocks is so enamored with Ms Coulters debating talent.....

http://www.haloscan.com/comments/glenngreenwald/116194802175485338/#48997

after the one you highlighted.

We fully recognize that Congress's ability to conduct oversight is hampered by a failure to provide accurate information

It's as if the realization that they actually answer to Congress just dawned on them overnight. Maybe the fact that Scooter Libby faces jail time over a similar inabilty to provide accurate information, adds a little bit to the realization that were dealing with reality now and that playtime is over.

The issue at hand isn't simply the misuse of NSA's which is a problem related to the laziness of certain FBI folks, but the habitual lying that is brought to light when these abuses are revealed.

for certain trolls to understand the difference between criminals who unsurprisingly ignore the law and law-enforcment officials who also unfortunately ignore the law.

PS: I don't beleive the NSL's are being used as much for political reasons as much as they are simply being abused by officers who are too lazy to get a proper warrant.

Now you're just plain having too much fun!

feels good...donit?

According to your fans at Salon, you are not in power.

Lets see how much "in power" they are after Karl gets his first subpoena...

Is if the surge were such a brilliant idea, then why didn't we do it YEARS ago.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I would love to be wrong. I'd love it if the surge works wonders. I'd love it if sending in troops, made life better for everyone they come in contact with. I'd love it if our Iraq strategy was the greatest thing since sliced bread and it was all GW and Karl Rove's magic touch that accomplished it.

But you see, I have this reality problem.....