The new paradigm should be oversight of records mining and disposal. Surely efficient data

mining algorithms might discover some bad guys. Casting a wide net might be

key to discovering the info. needed (and perhaps domestic communications should be

thrown in as well). What we need, though, are courts that can oversee the algorithm

implementations themselves to make sure searches will discover terrorists and not

dissidents. We need laws that protect data bases from being searched in this way or that,

and the political discussion hasn't reached those issues

I was watching Ms. Rice on Meet the Press, and she kept saying that the powers of the Commander in Chief covered many things. And Russert would say "It isn't in the law, and the law lays it all out". And Condie would say "The powers of the Commander in Chief cover many, many... many things." Timbo.

I always get this sense that if there was something big, obvious, and evil, it wouldn't be too difficult to get every institution in America, including the ACLU, to do something about it. What I wonder about is what they were going after, why they had to do it this way, why they did not, and don't, see much of a problem.

So, you say it is a question of 'data mining'? I guess that's another way of saying "We spy on everyone, 24/7". OK, I tell my friend "Geez, the guy is now so unpopular, I hope no one assassinates the president". The data miners clip this out as 'assassinate the president', and I am off to Cuba Gitmo. It's hard to believe this will work.

I guess one kind of intelligence would be figuring out which people are unhappy, and why. Maybe you give them a voice. The other model is to wait until they are beyond unhappy, and find out how their unhappiness is going to explode. So, do we watch them as they get unhappy? Does the FBI sit around and say, "Wow, these folks are unhappy. It's just a matter of time before they will do something illegal, and then we move." Gosh, what if they were righteously and rightly unhappy about something? This seems like a pretty bad way to govern.

Isn't this the Left/Right divide? Shouldn't we have known that those folks in Iran were unhappy with the Shah? You remember, that guy we supported beyond any real reason? Wasn't it clear that the Palestinians were unhappy? Isn't it clear Darfur is a mess, that Rwanda was about to boil over. Will the data mining find any of this? Where's the money going?

In the GOParanoia Model, there are always people who have to be watched. There are always people who threaten them. There are never enough prisons.

History teaches us that the Battle of Britain in 1940 was won by Britain because they had a massive civilian network of "coast watchers" who quickly alerted central command of incoming German planes. Without these civilians, the radar and Spitfires would not have been enought. I wonder if the Bush WH would be able to muster that kind of support in America today in devense of the country. Sadly, I doubt it. Dishonesty in leadership always undermines the morale of the followers. This latest revelation of domestic spying is just another item on the long list of dishonesties of this administration. Clearly Bush and his neocons do not trust our constitution or the American citizen. I believe it is obvious that subverting our constitution is a far greater victory for bin-Laden than bringing down the twin towers and hitting the Pentagon. By ignoring the constitution and spending the US into bankruptcy, Bush is doing more to destroy our democracy than all of the terrorists in the whole world could ever hope to accomplish. I find it amazing that a Theocracy is the goal of both the Islamic militants and the Evangelical/Right-to-Lifers.